"Now upon the 17rst day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the s~pulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. A~d they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus" (Luke 24:1-3).
All four of the gospel writers mention the fact that the tomb of Jesus was found empty on the morning of the first day of the week. Some of the women who had followed Jesus came earlier that morning to place spices upon His body as a last thing they could do for Him. Instead of finding His body, they found an empty tomb! Angels announced to the women that Jesus was not there, that He had in fact risen fi.om the dead. This event brought fear, astonishment and disbelief to those who saw it and heard about it that morning fear to the Roman soldiers who guarded the tomb when the angel came down and rolled back the stone sealing the tomb (Matthew 28:4); astonishment to the women who saw these evems an.d heard the angels proclaim Jesus' resurrection, and disbelief on the part of His apostles and disciples who heard the news.
Unlike other world religions which can claim a tomb or a place where the bodies of their founders are buried, Christians have an empty tomb. One of the lessons we can learn from this is the truth of the prophecy that God would not allow His Holy One to see corruption (Acts 2:27). In other words, God raised Jesus Christ from the dead never to die again. The empty tomb declared that God has appointed Jesus to be the judge of the world (Acts 17:31). We learn also that because of Christ's resurrection we also will be resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:21-23). These are but three of the many lessons that we can learn from the empty tomb of Jesus Christ. It is my hope that this week you will study your Bible and come up with several more lessons that you have learned from the empty tomb of Jesus Christ.