I love Spring! Where I live, it is the time of the year when plant life reappears, grass grows, flowers bloom, and thunderstorms come often to water the earth. As the temperature rises people began outside activities. The sounds of laughter of children playing resonate through the air. Along with that comes the covering of pollen that leads to sneezing, itchy eyes, and runny noses. All of these signify a change, it is an exhibition of life. These are signs of life, but not life from death. When a plant dies it cannot be revived. If it revives it was only in a dormant state. The greatest signs of life are the signs we as Christians point to as proof we too will live after we die.
We love the new signs of life. There is something built within us that brings a happy smile when we see the exhibition of life in the Spring. However, the greatest sign of life didn’t hold any of these symbols. No flowers growing, outside activities, or baby chicks running around. The greatest sign of life was an empty tomb. A cave in a mountainside that was used as a burial place for my Savior. My Savior walking out and leaving the tomb empty was proof that there is life after death for us. We were created by God, for God, and with a spirit that lives forever. Many cultures believe there is some form of life after death, but they don’t understand, nor believe in the resurrection of the body. The empty tomb means nothing to them. Yet, for the Christian, it is the greatest sign of life because it points to the resurrection of Jesus.
The empty tomb validates Jesus was who He said He was. In John 2:19-22, Jesus entered the temple at Jerusalem because it was the time of Passover. He found the temple being used for monetary gain and He begins to clear it out. The Jews wanted to know by what authority He was doing this. He answered them in a way they didn’t understand. They were referring to turning the tables upside down and clearing out those who were defiling the temple, but Jesus turns the conversation to the temple of His body. He tells of His physical death that is approaching and the resurrection to come. In verse 22, after His resurrection, His disciples remember this statement. In John 2:19, Jesus proclaims He will raise His body from the grave in three days.
John 2:19-22 “Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he has risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said.”
When Jesus was buried, the Pharisees and priests came to Pilate and reminded Him that Jesus had told of His resurrection. They wanted to make sure His disciples didn’t steal the body and tell others He had resurrected. Soldiers were sent to guard the tomb, but no soldier and no army could hold Jesus in the tomb.
Matthew 27:62-66 “Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He has risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.”
On the third day, the women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body, but it was not there. The stone was moved, and the tomb was empty. At first, they didn’t understand what had happened. They had watched Him die, now they had taken the items needed to anoint Jesus’ body. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James are mentioned by name, but Luke 24:10 and 24:1 tell us that other women were with them. The angel appeared to them to tell them Jesus has risen. He tells them to go tell the others also.
Luke 24:10 “It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.”
Matthew 28:5-6 “And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”
In the next 40 days, Jesus would appear to many. He ate with His disciples, talked with other followers, and even appeared to over 500 people at one time. Paul doesn’t give us any more information about the 500, but it strengthens the validation that Christ was undeniably alive!
I Corinthians 15:3-8 “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last, of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”
This sign of death, the tomb filled with Jesus’ bloody body, was now a sign of life. The empty tomb is still an emblem today that we point to when speaking of Jesus’ resurrection. One day all the graves where loved ones have been laid will also open and we will be given a new body that will reunite with our spirit. The resurrection gives us great hope. For Christians, life will be better than we could have ever imagined. Though we are not buried in tombs one day our graves will too be empty!
I Thessalonians 4:13-17 “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this, we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord, himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord”
