What does the empty tomb mean?

And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. Mark 16:6

 Try to put yourself in Peters place that first Easter morning. The night before He died you ate the Passover meal with Him. You were with Him the garden when He was arrested. You followed Him to the High priest house where you denied Him three times. They take Jesus to Pilate to be condemned to death and then to  the place of execution.

There is no direct Biblical information that tells us where Peter was during the crucifixion. Some speculate he was there and reference the following passages, and all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things (Luke 23:49) and “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.  We are witnesses of this” (Acts 3:15).

It is now the third day and John 20:1-2 tells us, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Peter along with John run to the tomb. When they looked inside we are told in John 20 that John saw and he believed and in Luke 24 that Peter marveled (wondered) at what he saw. Even though Peter denied Christ three times the scripture tells us the first Apostle He appeared to was Peter, For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in  accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he        appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Peter?  He could not stay awake with Jesus during His greatest hour of need. He said he would die for Jesus (John 13:37) but denied Him three times just as Jesus predicted he would do. Now you look into the tomb and you see it is empty and you wonder what happen. Then later that day Jesus appears to you and the other Apostles. Peter’s world which was turned upside down on Friday has now been made right by seeing the resurrected Savior. Every emotion of fear, confusion, and despair melted away at that very moment because HE IS ALIVE!!!

What does the empty tomb mean? It means that sin has no hold  on those who belong to Jesus. The resurrection is the promise of God that all who trust Jesus will be the beneficiaries of God’s  power to lead us in paths of  righteousness and through the  valley of death.

Without an empty tomb we would die in our sins and be condemned to hell but now we have eternal life through Christ Jesus are Lord.

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord    Jesus Christ.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark