Empty Tomb
Some time ago, I either read or heard that Easter is not about the empty cross, but rather is is about the empty tomb. I found that rather profound, having never truly considered the difference between the two. However, for me, Easter is about the risen Christ, which is appropriate. But without an empty tomb, that would not be the case.
The empty tomb is the testimony of a risen Christ. If it was about an empty cross, it would be all about Christ’s death, for that is where he died. That is not our focus. In some churches, Christ is still depicted upon the cross, then it is all about suffering. Also, not our focus.
Risen Christ is our Focus
Our focus is the Risen Christ. The empty tomb is the confirmation that Christ rose. It is not a thing of myth or mystery, it is a fact. The tomb’s emptiness is a historical record. Findings inside the tomb, the empty grave clothes still lying as if a body had been within them, are testimony that nobody came to steal Jesus’s body, as many tried to make people believe. In fact, the presence of guards to protect the tomb and their fright, the massive stone moved away either by a powerful hand or an earthquake (under God’s control), as well as the two angels who greeted Mary Magdalene all testify to miraculous intervention.
Christ rose from the dead. He is alive.
He is the first of all of us, who will one day join him.
Hallelujah, He has risen! He is Risen Indeed.
Blessings,
Jana
PS. If you are someone who likes to peruse an unbelievers’ perspective on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, check out Frank Morrison’s book, Who Moved the Stone? He was an unbeliever or at least a skeptic of Christ’s resurrection and thought to write a definitive treatise about it. By the end of his research, however, he, very much like Lee Strobel, became a believer. It is what the TRUTH of God does. It convicts our hardened hearts, breaking them and releasing God’s truth and light into our lives. It makes us new.