the empty tomb the empty tomb can we trust it by the late wilbur m smith d d when jesus was on earth he made an amazing prediction about himself and frequently repeated it let me quote it for you behold we go up to jerusalem and the son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes and they shall condemn him to death and shall deliver him to the gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify him and the third day he shall rise again matthew wholly different from the normal experience of men jesus who had never done anything worthy of death even deserving reproval knew he would die before he was years of age he knew the very city where he would die he knew that the religious leaders of his own race would condemn him to death he knew that one of his own would betray him he knew that before his actual death took place he would be mocked and scourged he knew exactly how he would die by crucifixion all this is in itself remarkable but more amazing than the minute particulars of his foreknowledge was what he predicted would follow shortly after he was buried that he would rise again he even designated the time on the third day but since it is on this central fact the death and resurrec tion of jesus christ that the whole truth or untruth of chris tianity turns let us examine it more closely the body of jesus was embalmed in long sheets of cloth between the layers of which a great abundance of spices and ointments was distributed the body was placed in a tomb which had never before been used and a great stone was rolled against the entrance the jewish authorities fully aware that jesus had predicted he would rise again had the stone officially sealed and on saturday placed a guard before the tomb to prevent the disciples from carrying away the body early sunday morning some of the women who were faithful followers of christ went out to the tomb to further anoint the body to their utter astonishment they found the stone rolled away the body gone they rushed back to tell the disciples shortly two of jesus friends peter and john utterly skeptical about the whole affair came and found the tomb empty just as the women had said even the guards came hurrying into the city to tell the sanhedrin that had hired them to guard the tomb that the body was gone matthew how did this tomb become empty one of the most famous new testament scholars in america professor of new testament literature in a large theological seminary wrote to the author in answer to my question of how the tomb became empty and wrote it in a letter not marked by bitterness or sarcasm that he could no more explain how the tomb became empty than he could explain how santa claus comes down the chimney at christmas time but he didn t realize that santa clause never did come down any chimney at christmas time because there never was a santa claus and there is a jesus he died he was buried in the tomb of joseph of arimathea and on sunday the body was gone those are facts of history no one can escape the responsi bility of coming to some conclusion about what really happened by mentioning a myth we all abandoned before we were eight years old another professor dr kirsopp lake of harvard university tried to explain the empty tomb by saying what no other scholar in the field of new testament criticism has ventured to adopt that the women went to the wrong tomb the facts are these first so far as we know there was no other tomb nearby to which by mistake they could have gone second it is contrary to all similar experience for three or more people to forget the place where they have buried their dearest loved one within less than three days even if the women did miss the tomb when peter and john came did they too go to the wrong tomb third were the soldiers guarding the wrong tomb there is of course a record of an attempt to escape the evidence of the empty tomb in the new testament itself now when they were going behold some of the watch came into the city and showed unto the chief priests all the things that were done and when they were assembled with the leaders and had taken counsel they gave large money unto the soldiers saying say ye his disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept and if this come to the governor s ears we will persuade him and secure you so they took the money and did as they were taught and this saying is com monly reported among the jews until this day matthew this is a good illustration of many later attempts to escape the fact that the tomb was empty you will notice at once that the chief priests and the elders never questioned but that the tomb was empty they never even went out to see if what the guards had reported was true they knew it was true another fact about this story makes it ridiculous to maintain that the tomb was empty the soldiers were told to say that jesus disciples came and stole the body away while they the soldiers were asleep how could they know what was going on while they were asleep obviously such testimony would be valueless in any court even aside from the shallowness and sordidness that make us reject the explanation the very character and the later history of the disciples compel us to believe they did not steal and secretly carry away the body of jesus first as professor heffern points out the leaders of judaism in jerusalem who had put the lord jesus to death had nothing to offer to contradict these disciples as they continued to preach jesus and his resurrection because all jerusalem knew the tomb was empty if there had been trickery here sooner or later it would have been suspected then proved second surely one of the disciples even most of them would have confessed the fraud under the terrific persecution they underwent it may be possible to live a lie but men seldom die for a lie and most of these men did the result ultimately would have been that the message that christ had risen would have suffered the fate of all such unfounded stories it would have lost it power instead this truth swept the world closed pagan temples won millions of disciples brought hope to a despairing humanity was the very foundation truth of the early church and is today as believable and as freshly glorious as ever but not only did jesus come alive again he did not disappear to leave the disciples speculating through all the subsequent days as to what had happened to him instead he appeared to them literally visibly frequently he appeared to the women at the tomb on resurrection morning matthew later that day to mary magdalene alone john and to simon peter also alone luke in the afternoon he walked with two of his followers toward emmaus luke and that night he appeared to ten of the apostles gathered together in an upper room at jerusalem mark luke etc a week later he appeared to all eleven of the apostles probably at the same place john once he was seen by above brethren on a mountain in galilee i corinthians and finally to the apostles just before his ascension mark luke acts as with the fact of the empty tomb so in regard to these histor ically recorded appearances all kinds of theories have been proposed attempting to deny their literalness but these theories are unreasonable without supporting evidence none has ever won the unanimous approval of those who refuse to believe in the reality of the appearances moreover while it is true we are living in an age when may of our leading scientists and agnostics and many of our philosophers are antisuperanaturalistic let us not forget that some of the greatest thinkers of the ages have firmly believed in this great miracle increase mather president of harvard timothy dwight president of yale nathan lord president of dartmouth edward hitchcock president of amherst mark hopkins president of williams john witherspoon president of princeton these men and countless others have believed it but suppose christ did rise from the dead what of it what has it to do with my life what has it to do with your life just this it seals with certitude the teachings of christ jesus taught many great truths especially many about himself he claimed to have come down from god he said he was the way to god he said he was the son of god who alone knew god perfectly he said that whoever believed on him had eternal life and no one else had it he said that whatever we ask god in his name he would grant it to us thus when he did rise from the grave on the third day he revealed that in these amazing unparalleled predictions he spoke the truth do you know any reason any good reason why we should not believe that his words are all true the point is does not the truth of the resurrection convince us that he is none other than the one he claimed to be the son of god and then of course the fact that christ rose from the dead testifies that he has broken the power of death and that he will some day raise us also up from the grave as he promised in other words if this person jesus christ the son of god in all this he should be the cornerstone of the foundation of your life for he said a life built on him would know forgiveness of sins his compan ionship and help a joy that no circumstances can ever take away and a hope that shineth more and more unto a perfect day those who have tried it down through the ages and there have been many have given their testimony and we today who believe also know
