Empty; /ˈem(p)tē/. Adjective. containing nothing; not filled or occupied.
People of Christian faith from all over the planet will be rising today to celebrate Easter. Millions all over America will put on their new Easter clothes and head off to church. Afterwards there will be family time spent around the dinner table, enjoying the company of loved ones while sampling tasty foods in abundance. But what is Easter? What is this holiday besides hunting eggs and maybe the semi-annual trip to church? Easter summed up is one word….empty.
You see, since Adam and Eve committed that first egregious guilty act against God in the garden, mankind has never been the same. That single sinful moment separated men and women from God forever. But we serve a God of pure Love. And out of pure love flows mercy and grace. God, ever wanting fellowship with mankind that He created in His own image, created a way. A way for men and women to stand in His presence after their physical bodies take their last breath. And that way was based on one word….empty.
He sent His only Son, Jesus, here to this Earth to do a job. To serve a purpose. To pay a price. You see, the Old Testament sacrifices were no good for what God had in mind. These sacrifices had to be done every time new sin was committed. This required a constant, unrelenting stream of innocent animals to be marched to the altar, their lives to be given for the sins of the people they represented. But Jesus is different. He is perfect, He is Holy, He lived an entire life without the spot and blemish of sin. God had sent the perfect sacrifice. And this perfect, one time sacrifice would be fulfilled because of one word….empty.
Jesus came here with one purpose. To pay the great price. The great price of every sin that mankind had ever committed and would ever commit. And He would pay for them once and for all. So, because of this was He was treated with great fanfare and love? No. Jesus was denied. He was rejected. He was called a liar and He was arrested. He was shuffled from court to court as they determined His punishment for being guilty of nothing but unconditional love. He was chosen to suffer and die over a condemned murder, the people hungry in their lust for His blood. He was beaten, He was mocked, He was tortured. He suffered at the very hands of the men He came to save. They clothed Him in purple and gave Him a crown of pain. They gave him a rugged old timber and marched Him to Calvary, a broken body walking to His death. The soldiers nailed him to the tree and hung Him there on that cross. Left Him there to die. An innocent man, a perfect man, the Son of God, struggling to take a breath that sinful men easily enjoyed. Death would come soon. But the job that He came to do would soon be completed because of one word…empty.
His dead body was placed in a tomb by the few that had not abandoned Him. Out of the thousands that followed Him, only a few remained. His body was placed in Joseph’s tomb, a borrowed tomb. Rome would not be mocked or tricked by His claims of resurrection and the tomb entry was blocked by a huge stone, the official Roman wax seal clearly applied across the face of the stone for all to see. To tamper with this seal was death for anyone involved. But three days later the world changed. As Mary came to the tomb early on that morning, she saw a strange sight indeed. As sight that her human mind could not process. What? Where? How? The stone was rolled to one side, the Roman seal lay upon the ground. She peered inside…darkness, stillness, quiet...empty.
You see, today, this Easter Sunday 2024, its about just that. It’s about understanding that one word…empty. Jesus rose from the dead. He conquered the grave. Because of that empty tomb some 2,000 years ago all can truly live today. Jesus came here and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice. The lamb that washed away the sins of the world. Because He lives, our sins can be washed white as snow. You and I are both guilty of sinning against a holy and righteous God. This sin separates us from a perfect God. But because of that empty tomb, there is a way. Believe in Jesus. Believe in that empty tomb. Call upon the name of Jesus to save you from the death of your sin and it will be done. His salvation is a gift and today you can have the single best Easter gift that mankind has ever known. The security of an eternal home in heaven with the very one who walked out of that tomb and left it empty...the Lord, the Messaiah, the Savior of the world, the King of Kings...Jesus Christ.
"He is not here; He has risen, just as He said." Matthew 28:6
He is risen indeed.
Happy Easter.
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