-Still Empty!-

The other day I got a text from a friend…with NOTHING in it. Most of us have received those. I’m sure, like me, you’ve gotten emails with no
content. I even got a package once…you guessed it…EMPTY!

There are a lot of things you don’t want to find empty: a bank account, your refrigerator, your gas tank, your memory during finals! On the other hand, there are a couple of things that I’m very thankful are empty.

The Cross is EMPTY: Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph. He was a member of the Jewish high council, 51 but he had not agreed with the decision and actions of the other religious leaders. He was from the town of Arimathea in Judea, and he was waiting for the Kingdom of God to come. He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. Then he took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in a long sheet of linen cloth and laid it in a new tomb that had been carved out of rock Luke 23:50-53 NLT


I’m thankful Jesus didn’t stay on a cross. Someone had to take the penalty for our sin; Someone sinless! Jesus was the Sacrificial Savior. At His death He cried out, “It is finished!” The phrase in Greek was ‘Tetelestai’. It meant: ‘completed’ or ‘finished’, but was an accounting term that was affixed when a debt was settled & meant, “paid in full.” Our sin debt was paid on the Cross. To ‘seal the deal’, however, Jesus had to overcome death, hell, and the grave.

When the Apostle John (the Revelator) saw Jesus on Patmos, Jesus told him to write down things to come. John had fallen on his face in awe & fear. Jesus said,
I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave. Rev.1:18
He didn’t just die, He overcame death!

I’m extremely glad the Tomb is EMPTY. When Jesus’ disciples came to anoint His, presumed, dead body, an angel was waiting to set the record straight for them:

“Why are you looking among the dead for Someone Who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Remember what He told you back in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be betrayed into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and that He would rise again on the third day.” Luke 24: 5-7 NLT

Jesus was crucified almost 2000 years ago (accounting for the glitch in the Gregorian calendar that had Him born around 4-6 B.C. & the 33 years He walked on earth). He was placed in a tomb & on that Sunday He conquered death, hell & the grave!

I’m thankful that there is an EMPTY cross & an EMPTY tomb or else our faith, our hope, and our lives would be EMPTY!
For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.
I Corinthians 15:13-19 NLT

Across the globe there are graves, mausoleums, sepulchers, & tombs encasing the bones/dust of dead religious rulers. Jesus not only claimed He would overcome death, He walked out of His grave! Because of what Jesus did for us-the empty cross & tomb-our lives can truly be full!


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