Tuesday, March 25, 2008
John 20:6-8 And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.
SIGNS OF THE RESURRECTION: THE EMPTY TOMB
There are numerous accounts in the Bible of those who saw the empty tomb: Mary Magdalene, the other women, Peter, John, as well as others like the Jewish guards.
Mary Magdalene, when she saw the stone rolled away returned immediately to tell Peter and John that someone had come and taken the body of Jesus away. Of course that was not the case at all. The tomb was not the chaotic scene of a grave robbery, and the Jewish leaders surely wouldn't have taken the body of Jesus. (In fact they took efforts to make sure that others wouldn't take His body!)
Jesus later appeared to Mary to assure her personally that the empty tomb did not mean that His body had been taken, but it was a sign of His resurrection! The grave could not keep Jesus prisoner. He was alive just as He had promised.
