We celebrate today because there is an empty tomb! They laid Jesus’ broken body in the grave on Friday, but today—and forever—there is an empty tomb! Our hope is renewed, our joy is restored, our victory is won because there is an empty tomb. Dead faith has been revived, tears of sorrow have been replaced with tears of delight because there is an empty tomb. The symbol of our faith is not the cross, but the empty tomb.
The empty tomb is our battle cry. We have not just been commanded to tell people that He died, but we’ve been commissioned to declare to the world, like Peter on the Day of Pentecost, that, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).” The empty tomb is our assurance, for Peter also told us in his first recorded epistle, “Through Him [we] believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so [our] faith and hope are in God (I Peter 1:21).”
The resurrection is the foundation of our faith. It means that we all enjoy new life. As Christ died on Friday and rose on Sunday, so we, who embrace the empty tomb, have an opportunity to rise from the despair of this worldly existence into new life in Christ, which promises to be better and more fulfilling than anything this world can offer.
The empty tomb is the promise of another chance; it reminds us that the Good News of Jesus Christ still is, “I have come so they can have life. I want them to have it in the fullest possible way (John 10:10).”
The empty tomb gives us a new outlook. We can look beyond conditions and see Jesus making a way for us. The empty tomb gives us a new purpose. We know that there more to life than the things of this world. The empty tomb gives us a new future. We may never see an end to the struggles that plague us on this side, but we can know that our future is secure.
Blessed Resurrection Sunday!
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