“Then the angel spoke to the women. ‘Don’t be afraid!’ he said. ‘I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He has been raised from the dead, just as he said would happen. Come, see where his body was lying.’” (Matthew 28: 5–6 NLT).

To follow Christ is to have faith…but following Christ is not a blind faith. “Come, see where his body was lying” the angel said as he invited the women into the tomb.

Take a look inside the empty tomb. Did you know that among all those that were staunch opponents of Christ, not one of them ever challenged its vacancy? Not one Pharisee or Roman soldier ever led a fact-finding contingent back to the burial site. No one ever went back and declared, “Wait a minute! The angel is wrong! The body is still here! It was all a trick, a cruel hoax!”

They would have loved to do it…to prove that all of this stuff about Jesus was a hoax…but they couldn’t. And within weeks of the discovery of the empty tomb, disciples occupied every street corner in Jerusalem announcing that Christ had risen.

What quicker way for the enemies of Jesus and of the church to shut them all up and prove them all wrong than to produce a cold, lifeless body. But they couldn’t do it. They had absolutely nothing to put on display for the world to see.

Jesus’ resurrection is the key to the Christian faith. Just as he promised, Jesus rose from the dead and because of this we can be confident that he will accomplish all that he has promised…including the certainty of our resurrection. The power that brought Jesus back to life is available to bring our spiritually dead selves back to life as well, enabling us to be a part of God’s kingdom here on earth as well as in heaven.

When the Apostles argued for the empty tomb, the people looked to the Pharisees for a quick rebuttal. But the Pharisees remained silent. They had no reply. Maybe A. M. Fairbairn put it best when he said, “The silence of the Jews is as eloquent as the speech of the Christians.”

See you Sunday!

Keith