The Empty Tomb

We loved having everyone at the lake this past weekend! There is nothing like having everyone together. Kate, we missed you and Charlotte.

I wrote this blog last year for Easter. The message of Easter doesn’t change so it bears repeating. God willing, you’ll see it again next year, ha. We love ya’ll!

Matthew 28: 5-7 “The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead’”

Everything hinged on the tomb being empty when the women arrived early that morning. We have many symbols for our Christian faith - the manger, the fish and the cross, to name a few. But without an “empty tomb,” what would they really mean?

Christianity was born during Jesus’s public ministry which started around 30 A.D. His entire ministry lasted a short 3 1/2 years before his death on the cross. He was condemned by the Jews and put to death by the Romans. Amazingly, the Roman Empire became a Christian nation about 350 years after the crucification and resurrection.

Roman Emperor Constantine began to give Christians protections under his reign around 300 A.D. He was not even a Christian at that time but did come to the faith in his final days. In 381 A.D., almost 50 years after Constantine died, Christianity became the state religion of Roman Empire - the same Empire that put Jesus to death.

Christianity would have died right after the crucifixion had the tomb not been empty. The promises made in the Bible about the Messiah would not have been true if the tomb had not been empty. The Roman Empire would not have become a Christian nation three centuries after the crucifixion if the tomb had not been empty. Christianity wouldn’t have subsequently spread all around the world if the tomb had not been empty.

What would your life look like right now without an empty tomb? That is an extremely unsettling and depressing thought because the entirely of our lives are based on the fact that it was.

I Peter 1:3 "He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

The empty tomb fulfills the promise of a Messiah that showed us how to live and then saved us through His death. Easter celebrates the “new birth” that we all experienced when we became Christians as well as the “living hope” that helps us navigate this life as we live with the promise of eternal life with God. The empty tomb made it so.

Stay Hungry,

Big E

Matt. 5:6