Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 195
TRANSCRIPT
It is impossible for us to put ourselves in the place of the women who watched Jesus die a horrible death on the cross and then watch Him be buried in a borrowed tomb, and then watch a huge stone be rolled in front of the tomb, sealing it forever. Can you imagine what it was like for Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, to go to the tomb to place spices and find that it was empty? Then, when they went back to tell the disciples what they saw, the men did not believe them. Typical, right, ladies? Yet these women were the first people to know that the tomb was empty. In this podcast we are going to look at the significance of the tomb being empty for us today.
I’m Lee Whitman with Restoring the Foundations and I welcome you into this Hope Healing and Freedom podcast. This weekend was Easter Sunday. It is a day when we celebrate the most important event in human history, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many good leaders have died for their cause throughout history, and all of their bodies still lie in their graves. There is only one in all of history who has risen from the dead. The fact of the empty tomb sets Jesus apart from all the others. C.S. Lewis states that the empty tomb is the central historical fact affirming Jesus’ resurrection and victory over death. The resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, validating Jesus’ identity as the Son of God and proving His victory over sin and death. In this podcast I am going to attempt to show the significance of the empty tomb to our lives today. Realize that I am not a theologian, so much of my explanation is going to come from my simple understanding of the Gospel.
The question for today is, why is the empty tomb so important to us today? Jesus’ resurrection gives validation to His identity as the Son of God. Jesus told the world in Matthew 16:21 and Mark 8:31 that He would rise again.
“And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.”
Jesus made a very outrageous claim that He was going to come back to life after three days of being dead. If He were not the very Son of God, this would have been heresy. But since He is the Son of God, it is a fulfillment of the words of prophecy. The resurrection fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy found in Psalms 16:10, which says,
“For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol (the place of the dead); You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.”
The Apostle Paul also teaches that Jesus resurrection from the dead validated the message of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 15 is an entire chapter talking about the importance of the resurrection of Jesus. I will not read all of it on this podcast, but I will quote from it. Paul’s teaching was being called into question, specifically that Jesus could not have been resurrected from the dead since no man in history had ever been resurrected from the dead. This was the cornerstone of Paul’s preaching that Jesus would die for our sins, and then on the third day be brought back to life, leaving the tomb empty. They even had their own version of social media back in Paul’s day, where the sceptics and naysayers had a forum. Paul is about to give a brilliant rebuttal to these naysayers. In verse 14, Paul says,
“how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain.Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.”
Some of these naysayers must have been believers in Jesus, or at least pseudo-believers in Jesus, as I am afraid many are today. They believed in part of the Gospel, but they rejected the parts that are more difficult for the human intellect to understand. Things like how a person who was once dead could now be alive again. Or in today’s world, many are calling into question the validity of prophecy because there have been some who have been shown to be false prophets. The fact that there are some who have given false prophecies does not invalidate the fact that God speaks to and through people today. In Paul’s rebuttal, I interpret him to say to the naysayers that the gospel is a package deal. It is either all true, including that Jesus rose from the dead, or none of it is true. We can’t pick and choose. But since Christ has been raised from the dead and was seen by many people after his resurrection, then all of the Gospel is true.
The empty tomb also verifies that we are forgiven for our sins. There is a wonderful song written by singer-songwriter Don Francisco and also made famous by an obscure country artist named Dolly Parton, called He’s Alive. If you have not heard this song, I recommend that you go to YouTube and do so. In this song, Francisco is speaking the thoughts and feelings of Peter after Peter has denied Christ. The chorus to this powerful song is…
“He’s alive, He’s alive
He’s alive and I’m forgiven
Heaven’s gates are open wide
He’s alive, He’s alive
He’s alive and I’m forgiven
Heaven’s gates are open wide.”
That is the importance of the empty tomb. The resurrection of Jesus proves that He is the Son of God and that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Our sins created a debt that we could not pay. According to Hebrews 9:22
“without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.”
In the Old Covenant, the sinner had to bring an animal to the temple to be sacrificed in order for their sins to be forgiven. Wow. I had so many sins in my lifetime I would have had to bring an entire herd of lambs in order to pay the blood price for my sins. But now, because of the shed blood of the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, He paid the price for all of our sins for all time. And the fact that He did not remain dead but was brought back to life proves that His sacrifice once and for all satisfied God’s requirement.
The empty tomb also proves that we have been justified with Father God. Romans 4:25 says,
“He who was delivered over because of our wrong doings and was raised because of our justification.”
Justification by faith is the belief that God declares sinners righteous solely through their faith in Jesus Christ’s atonement rather than by human works or merit. Hallelujah, thank You Jesus! We could not have done enough to pay the price for our sin, but the good news of the empty tomb is that we don’t have to. We can receive that justification by faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. Romans 5:1 says,
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”
The empty tomb also guarantees our victory over death. Jesus defeated the power of the grave. As I write this podcast, we have a friend who is dying of cancer. I find myself hurting more for her husband than for her. She is going to leave her cancer-plagued body and go to be with Jesus because of the empty tomb. Her dear, sweet husband of more than 50 years is going to have to suffer through her loss. Death for believers is no longer the end, but a transition to real life. Jesus could have just avoided death, but instead he conquered death by rising from the dead. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57 says,
“But when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I have a bit of an unusual view of death. For the believer, death is not a negative. We leave this life with all of the struggles that go along with it, and we get to go to a place that is going to be amazing. If you doubt how amazing heaven is going to be, I encourage you to read Revelation chapter 4. Death is not the worst thing that can happen for the child of God. The struggle with death is for those of us who are left here to deal with the pain of loss. Even in that, God is ever present to give us what we need to adjust to this life without our loved one. I can’t talk about death without thinking of my friends Dennis and Debbie Jordan whose young son was taken much too early by cancer. They have fought through that loss and are now able to help others who experience loss. They have written a wonderful book called “Grief’s Deception: Overcoming the Twelve Lies Whispered to a Broken Heart” which is available from my friends at Amazon. I would recommend that you get a copy because you will know of people who have experienced loss, and this book will help you know what to say, and more importantly, what not to say to the grieving.
The empty tomb also guarantees that believers in Jesus will also rise again. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 says,
“But the fact is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.For since by a man death came, by a Man also came the resurrection of the dead.For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.”
I can’t even imagine what that will be like, but I know it is going to happen. One thing I believe is true: we will be resurrected with perfected bodies. Can I get an amen? No more knees that don’t work right, no more allergies, no more any of those things that hinder our bodies here on planet earth. Perfected!
The empty tomb guarantees our union with Christ. A believer’s complete identity has changed at the moment of salvation. We are now placed into Christ. Romans 6 describes this new union we have with Christ. Romans 6:1-11 is so powerful that I am going to read all 11 verses.
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Far from it! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for the one who has died is freed from sin.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all time; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Because of the empty tomb, we have union with Christ. We are new creatures in Christ. We have been adopted into God’s family, and we are equal heirs with Jesus to everything the Kingdom of God has to offer.
PRAYER
I pray that this Easter Season we will recognize the amazing blessings that is our inheritance because of the empty tomb.
