The Secret of the Empty Tomb
So besotted are we by the blood-red message of the Cross, that it’s all too easy to remain there at Calvary, glorying in what Christ did for us, without ever moving on to the second part of the Easter story.
And little wonder!!
But the message of Easter is a message of two equal parts. A message that takes place in two places. Up on a hill, and down in a garden. Up on a cross and down in a tomb. It’s a message about a new beginning … and an amazing future.
So let me ask you a question, also in two parts: What is the secret of the empty tomb? And what does it mean for your life, here and now?
Every year thousands of people climb a mountain in the Italian Alps passing the “stations of the cross” to stand at an outdoor crucifix. One tourist noticed a little trail that led beyond the cross.
He fought through the rough thicket and, to his surprise, came upon another shrine, a shrine that symbolised the empty tomb.
It was neglected. The brush had grown up around it. Almost everyone had gone as far as the cross but there they had stopped.
Far too many have gotten to the cross and have known the despair and the heartbreak. Far too few have moved beyond the cross to find the real message of Easter.
That is the message … of the empty tomb.
– Lavon Brown
(Romans 5:8-10)
We believe by faith that we are forgiven and saved through the cross of Christ. That belief is the centrepiece, the capstone of our faith. Without it, we have … nothing.
But do we believe then with the same faith, that we now have a new life; a victory life; an eternal life, through His empty tomb? I wonder …
As I said, the powerful truth of Easter is a two-part truth. The first part – the forgiveness of the Cross – is our starting point (and what a new beginning it is!). The second part – the newness of life through the empty tomb – is about a radically transformed life. It’s about an eternity that begins the instant we believe in Jesus.
(Romans 6:4)
How different would your walk with Jesus be, if you believed in this newness of life with the very same faith with which you believe in the forgiveness that you have in Christ? How different would your life be if you believed that the resurrection is just as important as the death … in your life? That without the resurrection, without this promised newness of life, you are completely, absolutely and utterly, wasting your time believing in Jesus?
If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
(1 Corinthians 15:17)
How much more would you be filled with the joy and the power and the certain hope, by knowing beyond doubt that every breath, every heartbeat, every step are actually part of the new life that you now have in Christ? The resurrection life that has already begun.
Welcome to the secret … the secret of the empty tomb.
And please … please don’t waste it.
Other Easter Blog Posts:
Honest Answers Poll #4 – What Does Easter Really Mean to You?
What You Really Think About Easter
Nailing Easter – Warning: Confronting Message
Appalled by the Easter Messages of Some Prominent Church Leaders
Good Friday: Easter Art Evokes Anger
Alternative Explanation for the Empty Tomb, #4:
Martians done it!
Late Saturday night, a Martian mothership hovers over the tomb of Jesus. The commander, a sinister fellow with one eye, commands five of his Martian soldiers to teleport down to the ground, enter the bodies of the Roman soldiers, roll back the stone, and take the body. The body is levitated into the mothership using a tractor beam.
The Martian-possessed Roman soldiers go to the Sanhedrin and report that an angel has stolen the body. The members of the Sanhedrin all soil their undergarments and tell the soldiers to tell the people, “The disciples did it.”
The soldiers leave the Sanhedrin and are immediately teleported up to the mothership which returns to Mars, where a slave class is created from the Roman soldiers…who continue to live on the red planet…to this very day.
“Preposterous!” complain Christians.
“Just as preposterous as your supernatural tall tale!” I retort.
Hi Berni and everyone reading this. may the God of all peace keep us all in his amazing love and peace. As the angel said to the women at the tomb – “why seek ye the living among the dead?” Luke 24:5 KJV, so we too must not go wondering back into the tomb as it were to search for sins that have been forgiven. Our old selves are crucified with Chirst and are dead, burried, forgiven and gone forever.
Praise the Lord! Amen.
As we heard at our Service this morning – the Resurrection is the “Linchpin” of our faith. It is critical to the reason for Christ coming to us in human form,& is an integral part of His mission. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 : 14, without the resurrection the sacrifice of the Cross would be meaningless, as would be our faith! The resurrection gives us the hope of eternal life with the Lord & thus is the reason for & connection with the crucifiction!
Thank you John lu that is exactly how I feel
The empty tomb is the realization that as for Mary, the joy of seeing her master/teacher as alive when expecting to only be able to serve him one last time in her grief is that the cross of suffering will one day give us as much joy as she was able to experience then.
Its very easy to take this new life and believe it came without a cost. I have to remind myself constantly that before I came to know Christ my life was not this good. Yes I still have challenges and I serve Christ all the more but there is always His presence and His help. Above all that God could love me this much and want to make Himself fully available to me is something I cant comprehend but am forever grateful. My new life in Christ is constantly surprising me and challenging me and I try not to take it for granted just because I did nothing to deserve it. I am ALIVE in Christ. Thanks for remembering what a great gift this truly is. Jesus sacrifice is our gain.
The Empty Tomb to me mean Hope – hope for a new life in Christ and eternal life with Him. Love – other than my kids I didn’t know what pure love was, when they ran to me for a cuddle or safety – now I know I am loved and can look to Christ Jesus always for love and safety. Grace – how gracious our God is to give His Son for our sins and because He loves us. He loves me, ME!!! I have to remind myself or I forget and Satan tells me no one really loves me, but now I can say with confidence, Jesus Love Me..Jesus loves me and He died for me and arose for me and lives for me and in me. Amen
I will soon turn 6o not bad for a 7 month old premature child given 24 hours to live.My question to God is sometimes why did you not take me then like my sister Dominique who died aged 8 days old? All I can say is along my path in this earthly life I have had numerous signs pointing to the eternal life only Jesus offers through his death and resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit ,He is the first born among the dead and many more to come!Death has been swallowed up by His Victory and He is coming again soon as He has promised let us rejoice in this reality and enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts .Maranatha, Maranatha !
Hi Berni,
I was looking forward to this 2nd part…
I’m not sure how to answer your questions, So I will just say it.
As my faith grows year after year, and this may shock some of you, I’m finding my life is more and more a 5mins act in a marionette show controlled by GOD. Everything that happens in my life happens because GOD wants it to happen, so I don’t leave HIM. (as sheep, we always want to wonder around, BUT GOD always finds a way to rack up the bunch)
And So, I ask myself the following question…
If Death is not the end as proven by GOD through Jesus…, What else am I afraid of?
I see HIS promise of Resurrection as a reward, but I also know that a reward must be earned, and I earn it it through my continues faith and complete utterly dedication to OUR LORD and OUR SAVIOR!
For me, the empty tomb symbolises my death is cancelled out. Death has no power, there is no mystery of after-life as the world knows it. But I had to die to self first just as God Himself died to self. -NOT MY WILL BUT THINE~! even God Himself in Jesus died to his human self……so why not me.
The reason is – that the self (in me) is so strong. (eversince a child – I was trained to make my choices. Unfortunately, made wrong decisions that affected my life -permanantly and some not) Every attempt made by myself is bound to fail because of sinful me and the world and the EVIL one. So I need to just TRUST in HIm for that Grace to ASSURE and REASSURE me of my righteousness (not sinlessness!) I, now, with HIS resurrection, am taught and am learning a NEW thing. The resurection symbolises a wakening, a dawning of the KINGDOM of God in me. Its at hand! Its now and its here -within (with and in) me! Now the world that I see – is with HIS EYES. All His Promises are now with and in ME. I have died to self and now I still live but could not without His help. So its not like I am a chess piece or a puppet on a string but MYSELF ACTIVELY FULFILLING HIS PURPOSE with a determined choice to follow His WAY, to walk in His footsteps, to deny myself in my everyday routine chores, job and friendships, music or things that I buy, things that I look at or when my mind tempts me take charge of my own life – I do what Jesus did on the Cross, NOT my will but yours. A conscious effort to be/walk in His light and stay there. With His Holy Spirit that He left behind in me, I am now able to live His life abundantly. THAT is resurrection. ONE DAY there will be that glorious, warming and joyful ascension….looking forward to that – Hey Man!! AMEN!
John… you may see the resurrection as a reward… something that you have to work for and earn… this is not true my friend… it is a free gift…
your birthright… once you have accepted Christ as your saviour… and you can never loose it… God Bless… Mark.