Easter Sunday 2023

He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  It’s traditional celebratory verbiage for Christians at Easter.  The tomb was empty and that’s worth celebrating, but why was the tomb empty?  Because He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed! While a circular answer, that’s not what I’m asking.

Why was it necessary that the tomb be empty…that Christ rose bodily from the dead?

If His body was still there, we could say He was alive in spirit and had a new body, but there would be no evidence to back up our claim.  The empty tomb is one piece of evidence that He is Risen.

But there’s more to it than that. Ours will rise, just not yet. Our bodies—when we die and are buried—can yet be exhumed.  Our eternal life is already with soul and spirit but not with our bodies until the Return of Christ.  His Resurrection makes ours possible.

But there’s more still.  He appeared to people with His Risen body…which still bore the marks (the stigmata) of crucifixion.  He was Jesus, not a ghost, but flesh and bones as the significant piece of fish showed us on Lent 27.

Because He has a Risen body, we will get one too when He returns, the dead in Christ rising first (1 Thessalonians 4:16).  We will resemble ourselves but also perfected as God’s Image-bearers.

The empty tomb and the encounters of the early disciples with the Risen Lord to be witnesses (in real time and in Scripture recorded for us) are meant to encourage us and embolden us.  Matthew 10:28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

The body and soul (Image-bearing identity) are coupled in this life but separated at death.  Jesus’ Resurrection shows us that death no longer has a hold on our bodies and eternal life replaces mortality.  Death has lost its sting.

The demons in Hell’s prison know it and writhe now in eternal anguish, awaiting Judgment Day, and no longer laughing, mocking God’s people as under the same curse.  The curse has been broken and the empty tomb is Exhibit A.  Exhibit B is His Resurrection appearance to disciples, but adding to the compelling truth is this: At His Ascension, Jesus’ sacrifice was totally accepted by His Father. It was proven in the coming of the promised Holy Spirit to dwell in believers who are now fully clean and forgiven, born again to eternal life, and which will include resurrection bodies at Christ’s Return.

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow is ours
because He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!