The Tomb is Empty!

J. MARK MARTIN | Senior Pastor, Elder and Co-Founder of CalvaryPHX

Imagine the headlines in Jerusalem nearly two thousand years ago in the days immediately following Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Maybe they read something like this: “Galileans Claim That Itinerant Preacher Raised From The Dead!” or “Emotionally Distraught Disciples Claim Their Executed Teacher Is Alive And Well!” From the moment that the women rushed from the empty tomb of Jesus to proclaim that their Master had risen from the grave, people have been trying to understand and even explain away the greatest miracle in the history of humanity. The earliest champions of the faith boldly proclaimed that their Lord had conquered death and made it possible for all people to be saved from their sins. The earliest opponents of the Gospel tried to cover up a miracle that they couldn’t refute. Matthew records their lame attempt to stifle the greatest news of history with a bribe to the Roman soldiers commissioned to guard Jesus’ tomb. Their explanation? “You are to say, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’” (Matthew 28:13). It’s clear that some have found in the empty tomb the foundation of faith and hope, while others believe the resurrection of Jesus to be a fanciful fable and hoax.

Over the centuries a handful of natural explanations have been offered in an effort to convince people that Jesus’ physical resurrection from a garden tomb in first century Palestine was really nothing more than a fraud perpetrated on the spiritually gullible. Is it possible that the resurrection of Jesus was just a hoax? Is there a natural explanation for the spiritual passion that Jesus’ followers felt in the days following His crucifixion other than the truth that He had in fact risen from the dead? Let’s take a moment to consider the possible natural explanations that people have raised over the centuries to account for Jesus’ empty tomb.

Natural Explanation #1 – Jesus’ tomb wasn’t really empty. The Disciples just made up the story about His resurrection.

As far as attempts to explain away the truth of Jesus’ resurrection go, this explanation seems to be the most unbelievable. First of all, we need to remember that when Jesus did rise from the dead, His disciples were as surprised as anyone by this turn of events. Luke 24 reveals several times that Jesus’ followers had to be convinced that He had in fact risen. Think about it: the women came to Jesus’ tomb to finish his burial preparations (Luke 24:1-12). They were obviously expecting Him to be dead! On the walk to Emmaus, Jesus had to show from the Scriptures how the things He had experienced at the hands of His executioners were part of God’s great plan of salvation for humanity (Luke 24:13-35). In reality, it wasn’t until Jesus physically appeared to His disciples that they became convinced that He was really alive again (Luke 24:36-49).

Jesus’ followers would never make up the story that He had risen from the grave. That possibility was the furthest thing from their imaginations. Beyond that, to suggest that Jesus’ followers would ultimately die martyrs’ deaths to protect a hoax they themselves made up and knew to be a lie is absurd. People just don’t do that! Someone would have confessed the lie. Instead, the apostles faced martyrdom, boldly knowing that the One who rose from the dead would raise them up as well.

Natural Explanation #2 – Jesus’ tomb was empty because His disciples stole His body.

This explanation suggests that Jesus’ resurrection was nothing more than a big fraud. This theory tries to convince people that Jesus’ body was not in the tomb because the disciples had stolen it. To accomplish this they would have been forced to sneak past a Roman guard unit consisting of 16 seasoned legionnaires, roll a massive stone weighing two tons out of the way, grab Jesus’ body, and run off without being noticed.

A Roman guard was stationed in front of Jesus’ tomb, and Caesar’s seal was stamped on the stone sealing Jesus’ grave. The soldiers knew that if that seal was broken, they would be executed. All the power of Rome stood behind the seal on Jesus’ tomb, and the Roman guards were well-trained fighting machines who would have been able to hold their ground (Matthew 27:57-66).

But this explanation asks us to believe that these seasoned veterans—with their lives on the line—all fell asleep, and not one of them stirred while Jesus’ rag-tag band of disciples noiselessly moved a two ton stone and made away with His body. This just doesn’t stand to reason. Jesus’ disciples didn’t steal His body. In fact, they ran and hid when their master was tortured and killed at the hands of His opponents (Matthew 26:56).

Natural Explanation #3 – Jesus’ tomb was empty because He didn’t really die; He only fainted.

This is an old theory. It was made popular by a man named Hugh Schonfield in his book, The Passover Plot. This theory proposes that Jesus’ followers drugged Him before He was placed on the cross. He only appeared to be dead when the time of His crucifixion was over. Those who hold to this explanation say that once Jesus’ body was laid in the cold tomb, He revived, rolled away the stone, and made His escape.

Anyone who knows anything about Roman scourging and Roman crucifixion will quickly see that this explanation is ludicrous. Jesus was so brutally tortured by a Roman beating that He was left completely disfigured and battered. He was then forced to carry a heavy Roman cross up a steep hill, nailed to it for six hours in an effort to suffocate Him to death, and then pierced through His heart by a Roman spear. Someone who had been this tortured and abused never could have revived and rolled away a two ton stone on his own strength. Add to this the fact that a Roman centurion, a man well acquainted with death and a trained executioner, certified Jesus’ death—and this theory becomes even more unbelievable.

These three natural theories ask us to believe things that don’t make any sense. No matter what Jesus’ critics say, His followers didn’t make up the story about the empty tomb. Jesus’ tomb wasn’t empty because His disciples stole His body. Our Lord didn’t fake death and then revive from a slumber to roll away the stone that sealed His grave. The fact of the matter is that Jesus’ tomb is empty because He did what He said He would do! In Matthew 17:22-23 Jesus told His disciples that He would be killed and then raised on the third day: Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” That is exactly what happened. This is the only explanation for the empty tomb that doesn’t insult human intelligence. It’s the only possible explanation that would send eyewitnesses of Jesus’ resurrection to martyrs’ deaths without flinching. Jesus did rise from the dead! 

Saved by His life

Because Jesus did rise from the dead, there are certain things that we can count on. His resurrection is the promise that we, too, will rise again from the grave. We don’t grieve like people grieve who don’t know Jesus. Because He rose from the dead, we know that we who know Him will also rise from the dead when He comes again. (1 Corinthians 15:20-23).

Not only does His resurrection mean that the dead who belong to Him will rise from the grave when Jesus comes again, but His resurrected life is the guarantee that we who know Him have eternal life. When we trust Jesus with saving faith, He saves us at that moment. In God’s eyes, we are seated from then on “in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). This miracle of eternal life occurs in us by the same Power that raised Jesus from death. Even more, this same Power—the Holy Spirit—is at work in us when we believe in Him, equipping us to live holy lives according to His plan for us (Ephesians 1:18-20; 2:10; 3:20-21). Therefore, we can know that when we accept Jesus, the rest of our lives on earth will be filled with the same Power that raised Jesus from death, and we can also know that this Holy Spirit will also bring our bodies to eternal life one day (Romans 8:9-11).

There’s also one more thing we know because of Jesus’ resurrection. We know that, because He rose from death and ascended to His Father, He is always at work for us, helping us when we are tempted (Hebrews 2:18). Because He lives in heaven interceding for us, we can freely come before our Father and receive mercy and grace in our times of need (Hebrews 4:14-16; Ephesians 3:12). 

Jesus shed His blood to reconcile us to God. He rose from death to give us life and the promise of eternal hope (Romans 5:8-11).

Jesus is who He claimed to be: God the Son. And since all of this is emphatically true, Jesus has a claim on our lives. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and His empty tomb forms the foundation for our faith in Him and our hope of eternal life. He is the Risen Lord.†

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—Republished from Proclamation!, March/April, 2006.