Lessons from the Tomb

This Easter weekend, more than a billion people around the world will gather in churches to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ! If His resurrection really happened, it’s the greatest news to ever hit the planet. It would mean that the claims of Christ are all true, His sacrifice for sin was accepted by God the Father, new life is possible in the present, and we will be raised after death. So, is it true? Did it happen? Is Jesus alive? In the first nine verses of this chapter, the Apostle John shares a great deal of what the Bible elsewhere refers to as “convincing proof” (Acts 1:3) concerning the bodily resurrection of Christ: the stone had been removed (verse 1), the tomb was empty (verse 2), and the grave wrappings used in Jesus’ burial were undisturbed (verses 3-9). Now John adds the coup de grace, the irrefutable evidence of Jesus’ personal appearances. Three are selected. As we examine these appearances and Jesus’ messages to the people who saw Him, we will gain some practical instruction for our lives today.