Five Reasons an Empty Tomb Changes Everything
The Best empty
Ahhh, spring is in the air. You know what that means: rising gas prices, trying to keep your kids’ grades from tanking before summer break, and nature’s gravity blanket of greenish-yellow pollen entombing your car.
Spring, of course, also means Easter and the opportunity to once again formally celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! Whether you’re a relatively new believer or a longtime follower of Jesus, we should never lose sight of the unending spiritual blessings that are ours through the resurrection. Jesus’s empty tomb is the greatest empty in the history of emptiness!
This is the basis for my new illustrated children’s book, Empty!, which I’m very excited about. Written for kids ages 4-7, Empty! humorously explores the bad “empties” in life (piggy banks, cookie jars, and your parachute pack while skydiving!) and the good “empties” (kitchen sink, laundry basket, amusement park lines!) before exploring the greatest empty in history—the tomb of Christ!
But it’s worth asking: Why is the empty tomb such good news? Why does an event that occurred 2,000 years ago hold relevance for our lives today? Why should we celebrate the resurrection and teach this truth to our kids? I’m glad you asked! Here are five reasons why Jesus’ empty tomb changes everything for us today.
The Resurrection Proves Jesus is the Eternal Son of God
“Whether you’re a relatively new believer or a longtime follower of Jesus, we should never lose sight of the unending spiritual blessings that are ours through the resurrection. Jesus’s empty tomb is the greatest empty in the history of emptiness!”
During his three years of ministry on earth, Jesus made some audacious claims of his own divinity. These declarations shocked his disciples, befuddled the crowds, caused his own family members to question his sanity, and infuriated the Jewish religious leaders.
In one particularly heated confrontation at the temple, Jesus directly linked himself to God by using the language God had spoken to Moses in Exodus 3:14, which says, “God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’” Jesus told the religious leaders, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). In another temple confrontation, Jesus told the leaders, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
These were explicit claims of divinity, and both sent the religious leaders into a frenzy of hatred for his alleged blasphemy. Jesus was not only saying he was sent from the eternal God, he was saying he is the eternal God.
These same religious leaders orchestrated Jesus’ crucifixion (under the perfect plan and sovereignty of God). Had Jesus stayed dead, his claims of divinity would’ve faded into nothing. But, praise God, Jesus didn’t stay dead! Three days later, he gloriously rose from the grave, eventually prompting his disciple Thomas to exclaim what the resurrection proves about Jesus: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
The Resurrection Makes Our Salvation Possible
Without Jesus’ resurrection, our desperate need for salvation from our sins would never be met. A dead person can’t save those who are spiritually dead and under sin’s curse of physical death. But a Savior who lives a perfect life, dies on our behalf, and rises again can save us completely! He can justify us—or make us righteous—before a holy God through faith. As Romans 4:25 says, Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
The Resurrection Authenticates the Bible’s Claims about Christianity
Just like Jesus made audacious (and true!) claims, the Bible does too. According to the Bible, orthodox Christianity is the world’s only true faith. Not Islam. Not Buddhism. Not Hinduism. Not Mormonism. Not any New Age philosophy or any of the other myriad of religions out there. Only Christianity—the belief that salvation is possible solely through repentance and faith in the redemptive work of Christ. Jesus said it very plainly in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Acts 4:12, Ephesians 4:5 and many other Scriptures support this. And Jesus validated his claim as the only one who can give life by defeating death!
The Resurrection Gives Us Daily Purpose and Power
When you think about the power required to bring a dead body back to life after three days, it’s astounding. But don’t miss this equally incredible truth: The very same heavenly power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to us as followers of Christ! In Ephesians 1, Paul expresses a desire for believers to “know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places” (vv. 18-20). Jesus’ resurrection gives us heavenly power to live out the purposes God has for us every day!
The Resurrection Makes Eternal Life with God Possible
Because Jesus defeated death, we can too! While our bodies may die, physical death will not have the final say for anyone who trusts in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:17-22, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection from the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.”
Yes, gas prices will still go up, your kid will still need help with long division, and pollen will still blanket all of us in its allergic embrace. But amidst all the daily routines of life, remember this: Our great Savior died for your sins, rose again, and offers you new life today and great hope in eternity! The resurrection and the empty tomb mean everything to us. Jesus is risen … he is risen indeed!
Introducing EMPTY!
Some things in life are terrible when empty, such as piggy banks, cookie jars, and giftwrapped Christmas boxes. But empty can be amazingly good, like Saturday chore lists and that beehive you just bumped into. Two thousand years ago, outside Jerusalem, a group of people found a miraculously empty tomb—and the world has never been the same.
Join New York Times bestselling author Joshua Cooley in a funny, meaningful journey into Jesus’ empty tomb—the greatest empty in the history of emptiness!—and what it means for us today.