The Tomb Is Empty- Now What? Series

The Tomb is Empty- Now What?

John 20:1-10

A father gave his little boy 2 quarters to put into the Sunday school offering. After Sunday school the little boy came back upstairs from the church basement and he still had the two quarters in his hand. The father said, “Son why did you not give your offering to Jesus today.” the little boy with the innocence of a 4 year old leaned over to his father and replied in a whisper, “Dad Jesus never shows up down there.”

Many churches would be shocked if Jesus showed up because they worship as though he is still dead

The disciples were shocked to find out that Jesus was alive, the women didn't believe it.

Yet the resurrection is not just a part of our Christian faith it is the every essence of what we believe and preach.

No resurrection=No faith, no purpose, no gospel, no hope, no salvation

Time and time again Jesus taught his followers that he would rise again from the dead

Mar 14:28 But after: I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee."

Jhn 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Jhn 2:20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

Jhn 2:21 But he spake of the temple of his body.

The resurrection is so important to our faith because if it did not happen then everything about Jesus written in scripture is false and he was not the messiah the son of God. Not only that but it would discount everything written by the prophets and we would have no faith left

1Cr 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

1Cr 15:18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

1Cr 15:19 If in Christ we have hope [fn] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1Cr 15:20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep

thats why when someone makes a confession of faith it's not just that I believe in the bible, or believe in Jesus but look at what the Bible says in Romans

Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

This morning I want to examine the empty tomb then I want us to see the reaction of three different people who were at the tomb that day.

Since the resurrection of Jesus is the most important event in history and to our faith it is also the most criticized and examined

there are some critics who have a theory they call the swoon theory (not possible, water and blood came from his side) One time a man said that his pastor believed in the swoon theory, that Christ didn't actually die on the cross and he was writing in to a newspaper columnist for advice on what to tell his pastor

the columnist replied, “Take your pastor and beat him with a cat of nine tails, pluck out his beard, and force him to carry a cross, nail him to the cross and let him hang all day and then take a sword and pierce it into his side until it hits his heart and wait three days to see if your pastor is up and walking around town.”

There is also the hallucination theory which doesn't hold any weight because Jesus was seen by over 500 eyewitnesses at one time

Today there are some who discount the whole thing and claim it never happened, yet that's impossible to do with any amount of intelligence because even the guards and chief priest who didn't believe in Jesus admitted the tomb was empty

Mat 28:11 ¶ Now when they were going, behold, some of the watch came into the city, and shewed unto the chief priests all the things that were done.

Mat 28:12 And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers,

Mat 28:13 Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him [away] while we slept.

All the evidence from scripture and history points to the fact that the tomb was left empty on the first day of the week, a tomb that was highly guarded and sealed shut with a roman seal

Today what I want to focus our attention on is not so much the fact that the tomb was empty but the reaction of three people who went there this day