"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus" (Luke 24:1-3). The empty tomb is crucial to the Christian faith. In fact, it is "the proof of his triumph over sin and death...It's the basis of Christian hope. It's the miracle of all miracles" (The Case for Christ, Lee Stroebel, p. 206). No one could have taken his body.
- He was absolutely buried in the tomb. The empty tomb is mentioned in Mark which was written too soon after the resurrection that the idea could have become a legend.
- The stone would have taken several men to actually open it.
- Roman guards at the tomb would have lost their lives over the body being stolen.
- Since women did not have a strong standing in society, if someone were to make up the story about someone stealing the body, they would not have chosen women to have been the first to find the empty tomb.
- If the tomb were not empty, the lives of the disciples would not have changed from scared, depressed men to bold preachers who were willing to give their lives for the truth of the gospel.
- History shows that no one thought that Jesus' body was still in the tomb; the question was always, "What happened to the body?"
- "As long as the existence of God is even possible, it's possible that he acted in history by raising Jesus from the dead" (William Craig as quoted in The Case for Christ by Lee Stroebel, p. 222)
Lord, thank You for your victory over death. Produce in us the same boldness the disciples had knowing the truth and power of the resurrection.
