Because The Tomb Is Empty!

Because the tomb is empty. Mat 28:1-10. WBC Easter Day 16.04.06am

The empty tomb. This is it! This is what it is all about. The cornerstone of our faith!

If we had each person that witnessed the resurrected Lord come up here this morning and talk for 15 minutes giving a testimony to what they saw…. About the empty tomb

If we listened to the testimony of all the people that Jesus appeared to, we would be here all day, and all night, and Monday and Monday night and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and sometime early Friday morning they would just be wrapping up the testimony.

It would take over 128 straight hours just to hear, for 15 minutes each, the testimony of those that saw the Lord after he rose.

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And three V’s as to what the empty tomb shows

VINDICATION of Jesus

It means He was right! Vindicated in all he said and stood for

1) About Himself

- yes: truly He is the Son of God. He is just who He says He was. The I AM. Because the tomb is empty

o RO 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God-- 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his human nature was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

o Illustr: The cross, as poignant as it is, is understandable from a human perspective: an innocent man was murdered by crooked politicians and religious leaders. But the empty tomb-- what can you say? Only a supernatural God could accomplish that.

Jim Cymbala - "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire"

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God the Father vindicated Him and put His seal of approval on Him. We know this because the tomb was empty

Wanna know who Jesus is? The Father, angels, and the church birthed by this miraculous event say "look! The tomb is empty! That will tell you who He is!"

2) About what He said

- and everything Jesus said about how to live and how to get to heaven is true! Because the tomb is empty

We can be a bit selective about what we believe of Jesus words

- I like the bit about loving my neighbour… but I’m not buying into that "I am the way the truth and the life…. No one comes to the father except by me" bit

o Or that ’lay down your life to find it’ bit

o Or that ’seek first the Kingdom… and I’ll look after everything else’ bit

Everything Jesus said is vindicated and validated. Because the tomb is empty

- and if we build on His words, teaching and self- we’re building on a rock

o Illustr: there is no doubt about it: Christian’s lives are different and better. I’ve heard others say ’if this stuff isn’t true it ought to be!’- because it works! People make such pigs ears of their lives because they don’t follow Jesus or His teachings

o Truth is- it works because it’s true. Jesus is true!

Here’s the second V- because the tomb is empty

VICTORY over death

Death has been conquered and knocked for six.

The last enemy has been defeated- because the tomb is empty….

- this thing that holds people in bondage… fear… trepidation… stops them making the most of this life

o it’s power is gone!

Death still hurts. Stings. In a human sense

- because we still die…. And we miss those who have gone before

- … and we wait for the day when even that will be conquered when there will be no more death ("because of you!")

But it has lost its power. Totally. Over you. Because the tomb is empty

- death is, for us, just the gateway to life eternal. Our mortality being clothed with immortality

1CO 15:50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."