Three — The Stone

Surely the most startling sign would have been the gaping hole, for the stone that had covered the entrance to the tomb was missing.

When they sealed a sepulcher, a tomb, in the days of Jesus, the body of the deceased was placed inside a hewn–out stone. Then a piece of granite, usually in a round form, was rolled in front of the mouth of the tomb to keep animals from desecrating the corpse and to protect the dignity of the buried person. In front of the tomb, they would create a groove, an incline, and they would roll the stone up the incline and put a shim under it. After the burial, they would roll the stone in front of the grave and seal it to officially close the sepulcher.

But when the women came to the garden that day, there was no stone in front of the tomb. In fact, the Scripture explicitly describes what had happened:

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it (Matthew 28:1–2).

By reading the other Gospel accounts, we gain an even clearer picture of what happened that day. Mark tells us this stone was extremely large—twenty men could not move it. And according to John’s Gospel, John had to bend over to look inside when he arrived at the tomb.

Scholars believe the tomb in which Jesus was buried had an opening about 4½– to 5–feet high. Several studies have been conducted to determine how large the stone would have been in order to cover such an opening.

Conservative estimates indicate that the stone would have weighed 1½ to 2 tons.

But when the women arrived that day, the stone was not in front of the opening. It wasn’t even in the groove that had been placed there to help move the stone. John says, “The stone had been taken away from the tomb” (John 20:1). And the words John uses to describe the displacement of the stone mean “to pick something up and carry it away.”

The stone hadn’t been merely rolled back up the incline where it had started; it wasn’t near the opening of the grave. Rather, the stone was over by itself, as if someone had picked it up and moved it over. And then, of course, there was an angel sitting on top of it. Something miraculous was going on that day.

Four — The Sepulcher

Examining the tomb of Jesus, the visitors discover the fourth sign of the Resurrection: the sepulcher itself.

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee” (Luke 24:2–6, NIV).

When they looked inside the tomb, there was no body. Past the soldiers, past the seal, past the stone, and in the security of the sepulcher—Jesus’ body was gone.

Five — The Shroud

When Peter and John peered into the grave that day, the tomb was almost empty, but not quite. There wasn’t a body, but there was a shroud—the grave clothes were still there.

John 20:3–8 says:

Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple [John], and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed.

In Jesus’ day, people weren’t buried in robes; they were buried in layers of fabric, similar to what we would think of as a mummy, with spices wrapped between each layer of cloth. And as Peter and John peered into the grave where Jesus’ body had lain, they saw something startling.

There were the grave cloths that had encased Him, still in the shape of His body, slightly indented and caved in, like the empty chrysalis of a caterpillar’s cocoon.

That was enough evidence to make a believer out of anyone. And the Scripture says the sight of the empty grave cloths—undisturbed in their form and position—caused John to believe.

I don’t know exactly how their conversation went, but John’s explanation to Peter must have gone something like this:

Don’t you see, Peter? No one has moved the body or even disturbed the grave cloths. They’re lying exactly as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea left them on the eve of the Sabbath. And the body is gone. It hasn’t been stolen. It’s not been moved. Clearly, His body had to have passed through the cloths, leaving them as we see them now. Jesus must be risen!

Theologian and teacher James Montgomery Boice commented on this fact:

This sign of Easter destroys the idea that the body was stolen. The linens would not have been there. This sign destroys the idea that Jesus resuscitated Himself and walked out of the grave. Leaving the grave clothes in the shape of His body in the tomb? A glance at these grave clothes proved the reality of the resurrection.¹

Following that experience, John and his fellow disciples became courageous evangelists for the Gospel.

In fact, the Bible says these men of God turned their world upside down as a result of the Resurrection. And a careful reading of the book of Acts, which records the history of the early Church and the teaching of the apostles at that time, reveals that the Resurrection is the theme of every one of their messages. They were changed dramatically by what they saw at the tomb that day.

Six — The Scars

After the Resurrection, there was an occasion when Jesus’ apostles were gathered in the Upper Room and He appeared to them. The Bible says He did not come through the door; He just appeared. (Remember, Jesus was in His resurrection body.) All the disciples were present except for one, Thomas. After the meeting, the disciples told him about their encounter with the Risen Lord; but Thomas replied, “I won’t believe it until I see it myself.”

Eight days later, the Lord returned. This time Thomas was among the disciples.

After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:26–28)

Thomas knew he had seen the Risen Lord because of the scars in Jesus’ body.

Seven — The Sightings

Even beyond the scars, there is yet more evidence for our Risen Savior. After He was resurrected from the grave, Jesus didn’t immediately ascend to heaven. He spent several days here on this earth. And during that time, Jesus was not only seen by the apostles on two occasions in the Upper Room but also by men, women, children, individuals, and groups at various times of the day. In every situation you can imagine, Jesus Christ was seen. Paul records an occasion when Jesus revealed Himself to more than five hundred people, most of whom were still alive at the time Paul wrote his letter (1 Corinthians 15:6). Any of those people could have refuted his statement if they had chosen to do so. One writer has calculated that if all the witnesses who saw Jesus in His resurrected body were brought to court and given six minutes to speak, it would result in more than fifty hours of testimony about the Risen Christ.

The evidence for Christ’s resurrection is overwhelming! We can say with absolute certainty that Jesus Christ is alive. He overcame the grave. He walked the dusty streets of ancient Rome two thousand years ago, and He is living today at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

¹James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John, vol. 5(Grand Rapids, Zondervan Press, 1979), 273.