The Cross and the Empty Tomb
By- Crickettt
John 20:1-18 (NIV)
1/ Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2/ So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!"
3/ So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4/ Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5/ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6/ Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7/ as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. 8/ Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9/ (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)
10/ Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11/ but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12/ and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
13/ They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?"
"They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14/ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
15/ "Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?"
Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him."
16/ Jesus said to her, "Mary."
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).
17/ Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' "
18/ Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the Lord!" And she told them that he had said these things to her.
The Bible teaches us that Jesus was crucified on a cross and on the third day He arose. Jesus' death and resurrection was prophesied even in the Old Testament Books prior to Jesus' birth. Jesus came to fulfill the promised scriptures which told of a savior being born and would also be put to death, but on the third day He would rise from the dead. God paved the way for mankind to receive salvation and be forgiven for their sins. In Matthew 27:51, the scripture says, at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split.
Before Jesus paid such a great price for our sins, the only way to be forgiven was through a very complex process which involved the temple priests, a chosen high priest and the sacrifice of animals. The veil of the temple mentioned above was the divider between the priests and the Holy of Holies. A High Priest who was chosen at an early age and trained thoroughly for many years was the only one allowed into the Holy of Holies. Behind the curtain was the Ark of the Covenant which contained the two tables of stone (Ten Commandments given to Moses by God), Aaron's priestly rod which budded and a pot of manna. By entering into the Holy of Holies, the High priest was in the very presence of God. This was allowed only once a year. However, when the veil was torn, it represented the fact that the way to heaven and direct contact with God was now open (Heb.10:19-22). Jesus conquered death, hell and the grave once and for all!
Let's take a moment to see the full picture of the crucifixion as it took place 2,000 years ago. First of all, during Jesus' ministry, He taught about a new covenant or promise made between God and mankind. The old teachings and old laws were considered the only way to get to heaven. When Jesus began to teach on receiving salvation through believing and not by works alone, the Pharisees would not accept His message and instead took it as an act of treason and blasphemy against God. Since Jesus did proclaim to be the promised Messiah they were expecting, the priests did not like His way of teaching. Jesus did not come to change the law but, to fulfill the law. He wanted them to see that they had been using the laws handed down to them wrongfully to meet their own needs and standards. The laws were given to govern the people and provide order among them.
The Bible says, Jesus was without sin and He was sent to teach that the way of salvation was only through believing on and accepting the Son, Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus was charged with treason and blasphemy by the very ones who should have known who He was since they were "priests". He was taken out and flogged and handed over to the Roman soldiers to be beaten, spit upon, mocked and literally mutilated. The whip they used to lash Him with contained several small razor sharp-spiked balls which when struck, would rip the flesh to the bone. Jesus' body was torn to pieces. And with each lashing He received, our diseases and our sicknesses were placed upon Him. I learned through research, that each lash Jesus received represented one major disease in which other diseases are derived from. So, the number of lashes Jesus received were not just by chance, but were actually planned by God to fulfill His complete plan through Jesus. The Bible says in Isaiah that Jesus' beard was ripped from His face, and He was mutilated beyond recognition as a man. The soldiers stripped His garments and cast lots for them. They placed a crown of thorns upon His head (the thorns were about an inch in length). Since the thorns were thick and solid, they were able to puncture through Jesus' head and to his skull. He was forced to carry a heavy cross strapped across His back to the place of His crucifixion called Golgotha/Calvary. There, He would be crucified between two thieves. However, during the process of Jesus carrying the heavy cross, He became extremely weak and a Roman soldier made a man named Simon of Cyrene carry Jesus’ cross the rest of the way to Calvary. Jesus had to walk through throngs of people who were spitting at him, shoving Him around and hitting Him. The humiliation from His own people laughing and mocking Him had to hurt Jesus tremendously. Isaiah 53 prophesied of Jesus' crucifiction. The Bible says, He was a man of sorrows, aquainted with grief, rejected by His own and by His stripes we were healed. It’s hard to understand why the people who were physically abusing Jesus, were the very ones He would soon die for.
Jesus’ face was torn and disfigured by all the lashings and by having his beard ripped from His face as well. He was covered in blood and swollen. He had been beaten beyond recognition as a man and yet, He still had compassion for all those who were there watching.
The Roman Soldiers laid Jesus down on the ground, stretched His arms out across the cross and drove large spikes into His wrists. These spikes were very large in diameter and several inches long. Then, they overlapped His feet and drove a single spike through both feet and into the wood of the cross. I cannot begin to imagine the horror of such pain that Jesus experienced during the entire ordeal of His crucifixion. When I learned what Jesus went through and that He died for all sinners, I realized His love for man was greater than His suffering. His desire was to draw all people unto Himself so no one would perish. Jesus was not thinking of Himself, He was thinking of us all. He willingly laid down His own life to become the final sacrifice once and for all, for the atonement of sin.
The soldiers stood the cross upright and dropped it into a hole in the ground. The jarring from the cross being dropped, ripped the flesh in His hands and feet where they had driven the spikes. There was so much blood already from the crown of thorns they stabbed into His head, His mutilated body and face, and now from His hands and feet. Jesus hung on the cross and suffered for 6 hours before He died. While He hung on the cross, Jesus was emotionally moved by seeing His mother Mary and His disciple John weeping. The Bible says Jesus told His mother, “Woman behold your son, son behold your mother”. From that day forward, John took Mary into his house to take care of her. The followers who loved and believed in Jesus as God's only Son, were devastated at what was taking place. Jesus knew no sin and yet, He became sin for the propitiation of all sin.
Jesus could have called ten thousand legions of angels to rescue Him and destroy all mankind from off the face of the earth. His love for us was so great that He knew He had to complete His Father's will in order to save man from eternal death.
Jesus hung upon that cross in such agonizing pain and in the middle of it all, He cried out to the Father to "Forgive them, for they know not what they do". You see, Jesus loved you so much that He allowed Himself to become disfigured for you. He literally died just for you so that through His death and resurrection, you would be saved from eternal damnation. The Bible clearly says, He bore our sickness and carried our sins to the cross. At His moment of death, every sickness and disease which has ever been known to man or will ever be known to man (past, present, and future); every sin ever committed or would ever be committed, came upon Jesus. When He carried all our sins upon His body, God had to look away because Jesus could no longer be in the presence of His Father who is Holy. Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46) For the first time, He was abandoned by His Father because of our sins. Not only did He literally suffer from them, but those diseases and sins died and became non-existent when Jesus died. Jesus truly paid the price for us with His life!
Instead of breaking His legs to speed up the process, the soldier noticed He was already dead so, he took his sword and ran it through Jesus' side to make sure He was dead. When he did that, blood and water poured out of Jesus’ body. This fulfills the scriptures which said, Jesus shed his life's blood for you and me. Then, the sky grew black and a great earthquake occurred. The veil of the temple was ripped from top to bottom. This meant that anyone could have direct access to the Father because Jesus had paid the price for all sins. One of the soldiers standing nearby said, “Surely, this man was the Son of God”. They removed His body from the cross and a man named Joseph of Arimathea asked if he could bury His body in his new tomb. He wrapped Jesus' body with linen cloths and buried Him in his tomb. Then, they rolled a large stone in front of the opening. The Jewish leaders demanded it to be guarded by Roman soldiers so Jesus’ disciples would not come and take His body and claim He arose from the dead.
That's not where it all ends though. For you see, Jesus did arise on the third day just as He had promised He would. He was seen by His disciples and also by other followers. Jesus gave us the greatest gift that man will ever receive. He gave us eternal life! When the third day arrived, an angel of God came and rolled that huge, heavy stone away like a piece of candy. Jesus stepped out of that tomb in all of His glory while the heavens rejoiced in song and praise!
"Holy, holy, holy to the Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!" Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the Alpha and Omega (the Beginning and the End). He is Omnipresent (ever present everywhere). He is the Great I Am, He is the Prince of Peace, Mighty God, Holy One, Emanuel (God with us), and He is the Creator of everything! There is no other god beside Yahweh! He is the Almighty One!
We have the opportunity of a lifetime to reach out and grab hold of this free gift just by simply believing. Yes, Jesus is no longer on the cross and Praise God, He definitely is not in that tomb. That tomb is empty!
He is God, who came in flesh as a man to walk with us, talk with us, and teach us His ways. Jesus, the One who created us, humbled Himself and died for us. He left His glorious home in heaven with all its splendor to suffer upon a cross and take upon Himself the sins of the world. What "Great" love Christ bestowed upon all mankind. I don't know of a single person today who would ever endure what Jesus did for a bunch of sinners who didn't even care about Him; people that hated Him and wanted Him dead. People, that cursed His very name and still do to this day. Jesus paid the ultimate price to give us life efernal if we will only accept it. Don't let His death be meaningless to you. Read this again and again until you can fully picture in your own mind what Jesus' death and suffering meant for you.
We celebrate Easter because it symbolizes not only the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, but also the beginning of new life that Jesus has given us. Life can be different for you today! Maybe you have never accepted Jesus into your heart and you know there are areas in your life that are not quite right. You can ask God to forgive you right now. Repent of your sins and ask God to become the center of your life. Let this be a new beginning, a new life for you today! We're not guaranteed tomorrow, so why not do it today. If you have fallen away from once trusting in God, repent and ask God to forgive you and start obeying Him so you can move forward in Christ. No matter where you are in your life, what you’ve done, how you've lived it or how impossible it may seem, Jesus is calling you to "Come" just as you are. Jesus took the most difficult situation and turned it around in Victory. You can too! There are a few things you have to do in order to receive His free gift of salvation. You must first repent of all your sins. Jesus promises to wash them away and give you a new heart and new desires to follow after Him and leave the old ways behind you. He gives you the strength to move forward as a new born again Christian. Secondly, you simply ask Jesus to come into your life as your Lord and Savior and obey His commands. He will give you His Holy Spirit to live inside of you to help you in your daily life. His Spirit will guide you and teach you as you read and meditate on His Word (the Holy Bible) and apply it to your life. It won't be easy I can assure you, the devil will not stop trying to cause trouble. However, you now have the power of God working in and through you and His Word is a mighty Sword to use against the devil. Remember, you are now a child of the living God since you have repented of your sins and asked Jesus to come into your life. The Bible teaches, with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible! All power is in the name of Jesus and He has given you the authority to take His Word and use it against every attack of the enemy (the devil).
I pray that you will see for yourself the true meaning behind Easter and exactly what took place in order for you to have that victory. May you grow stronger in the Lord because of this message and I know God will always be with you urging you in the right direction.
I read a poem once which to me says it all:
"I asked Jesus," how much do you love me Lord?" And He replied, "This much." Then He stretched out his arms and died.
You are in my prayers!
Your friend in Christ, Crickettt
(All scripture used in these lessons were taken from the NIV Version unless otherwise noted)
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