JCSM's Weekly Devotions (click here to listen!)

"Jesus Christ's Empty Tomb"

Luke 24:1-9  "Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.  But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb.  Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.  Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, 'Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here, but is risen!  Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’  And they remembered His words.  Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest."

1 Peter 1:3-5  "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

John 11:25-27  "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?'  She said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.'"

Matthew 27:63-65  "'Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise.’  Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead.’  So the last deception will be worse than the first.  Pilate said to them,  'You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.'"

1 Corinthians 15:17, 18  "And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!  Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished."

Insight: Jesus' resurrection is the foundational element of Christianity.  Critics have opposed it.  Unbelievers don't want to think about it.  However, after 2000 years, it still hasn't been disproven!  There is more evidence for the resurrection than most people realize.  Since Christ was raised, we can have faith that we can be raised as well.

Prayer: "Dear Lord, bless us and make us like You.  Praise You for beating the grave!  There is no other like You!  Forgive our sins and purify us.  Heal us and lift us up.  Thank you for loving us more than we understand and thank you for your amazing grace and mercy.  Let us see You as You really are.  Sanctify us with your Holy Spirit.  In Jesus' name, Amen."

Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), the 14th President of the United States, asserted in his Inaugural Address, March 4, 1853:

"Recognizing the wisdom of the broad principles of absolute religious toleration proclaimed in our fundamental law, and rejoicing in the benign influence which it has exerted upon our social and political condition, I should shrink from a clear duty if I failed to express my deepest conviction that we can place no secure reliance upon any apparent progress if it be not sustained by national integrity, resting upon the great truths affirmed and illustrated by Divine Revelation." ¹

He concluded the address at his inauguration by acknowledging his:

"Dependence upon God and His overruling providence." ²

¹ March 4, 1853, in his Inaugural Address. Stephen Abbott Northrop, D.D., A Cloud of Witnesses (Portland, OR: American Heritage Ministries, 1987), p. 361.

² Inaugural Address, March 4, 1853. Benjamin Weiss, God in American History: A Documentation of America's Religious Heritage (Grand Rapids, Ml: Zondervan, 1966), p. 86. Willard Cantelon, Money Master of the World (Plainfield, NJ: Logos International, 1976), p. 120.

If you'd like to have the citations for the footnotes above, please email us.  If you'd like to see more quotes from those who framed and founded America, please click here: http://jcsm.org/AmericasFounders/.

(This explanation came from "The Skeptic's Annotated Bible: Corrected and Explained", by Dr. Jason Gastrich.  This book is on CD and gives over 4,000 answers to alleged Bible errors, regarding the entire Bible at http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.org.  There is also a 300 question workbook that accompanies the CD-ROM.)

When your heart stops dancing on Earth, it starts dancing in Heaven.

If God can raise Jesus to everlasting life, then He can raise us, too.

The resurrection is the foundation of our faith.

The resurrection is the most crucial event in the Christian gospel.

Without the resurrection, there is no Christmas.

We know that Christ's sacrifice for our sins on the cross was sufficient because He rose from the dead.

Christ's death on the cross was Jesus' payment for our sins and His resurrection was God's receipt.

Attacks on the church are big business around holy days.

It takes a lot of faith to believe in the skeptic's preposterous claims.

There are so many attacks on the resurrection because if they could destroy it, they'd destroy Christianity.

Because Christ rose from the dead, you don't have to bargain with your life or worry about death.

Christ's resurrection guarantees us a future home.

If God created earthly things in six days, imagine how awesome Heaven will be, since He has been preparing a place for us for 2000 years!

When you understand eternity and realize that Heaven is your home, it helps you make sense of this life.

Easter is a lifelong experience.

If you'd like to read more quotes, we have thousands in our archive!  Visit http://quotes.jcsm.org.