The Empty Tomb: What would have happen if the resurrection had not happen?

This is an excerpt from the book – Examining the Great Commission, A Call to Study

God in His wisdom has done everything right and in its own time. Solomon the wisest man and king that ever lived said this. He added that God has done this so that man will look at what God has done and fear Him! This is no little observation by Solomon.

Jesus was buried in a new tomb that no one has ever been buried in prior. Why is that important? One might ask. Just think about it for a minute, a new tomb, no one has been buried in it before, before Friday and sometime during Friday this new tomb was still sitting there empty. Friday late afternoon this new tomb sees its first dead body. It is important to observe here that no one else could have been buried in the same tomb till after the Sabbath due to Jewish traditions and customs.

On Sunday early morning the first report caused an uproar, the dead body is not in the new tomb, one could easily have said that someone came and removed or relocate the dead body. One small problem with that, the tomb was being guarded by no other than Roman soldier. Besides those who could have moved it were all so culturally conscious of their traditions that they had to wrap the dead body up and just leave it in some ones tomb hopping to come back after when religious observances were over to bury the body properly. Secondly, these people who could have stolen the body had to observe the Sabbath, Jewish day of rest, from Friday night to Saturday night. And I doubt anyone would have gone to work on the dead body Saturday night right after the Sabbath.

The only real time that anyone could possibly have had first contact with the body after placing it in the new tomb on Friday night was early Sunday morning. So then, if the first witness or witnesses at the tomb saw nothing but an empty tomb, then the tomb was nothing but empty. Empty because it had only one dead body in it and that body was gone. The tomb being new with only one body buried in it ensures that that tomb can only account for only that one body so that when that body is gone it is gone. So then since no other body had been buried in that tomb before then, the empty new tomb is the conclusive evidence that Christ was not in the tomb.

On the other hand if the tomb had seen even one burial before Christ’s body was placed in it, we could not conclusively say that the tomb was empty because at least one other body had been buried in that tomb. This would have presented difficulties for the witnesses, because they could not truly say the tomb was empty and if the tomb was not empty, then we could not say conclusively that Christ arose truly. It would have been disputable. But God had it all worked out so there will be no dispute! So then, the empty tomb meant that the tomb was empty! Also time crunch and religious practice, political and military circumstances made stealing the body and hiding it impossible.

The Christian's hope is sure because the new tomb was empty on Sunday morning. The Christian's future is because Jesus Christ had risen from the dead.