The Empty Tomb
Welcome to another day God has made and another opportunity to worship the One who made us, saved us, and is preparing an eternal place for us.
I hope you already know this, because every believer should: our life’s entire purpose and perspective is grounded in the belief that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, never to die again. That’s the one core truth that binds everything else together and gives it ultimate meaning.
If Jesus was not physically raised from the dead as Scripture testifies, then the Bible has little relevance beyond the basic ethics and morals it teaches.
If Jesus was not physically raised from the dead, you and I are no better spending Sundays worshipping with the church than others are going to their temples, social clubs, or frat parties.
If Jesus was not physically raised from the dead, all the people we love who have died in faith are gone for good, never to be seen again.
If Jesus was not physically raised from the dead, you and I have no hope for anything better than whatever we can scratch out in this dog-eat-dog world.
But Jesus was raised. His tomb was found empty. He appeared to hundreds in His resurrected state, and the power he displayed in His ministry continued to flow through the evangelists and prophets in the early generations of the church as a sign to the truthfulness of what they taught in His name. God may (or may not) choose to use the same methods in our time and place, but God still speaks to us through the same gospel—the same good news—of the Son who came to love us, to teach us, to die for us, AND to be raised for us in a way that gives us hope. This morning, we’re talking about that Jesus.
Patrick Barber, preaching minister
The Empty Tomb, Mark 16:1-8
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