“I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified, but he isn’t here, for he has come back to life again, just as he said he would. Come in and see where the body was lying…” Matthew 28:5-6. (TLB)
James Cameron, the director of Titanic, has announced he has found the bones of Jesus. Incredibly, has accomplished something that the mighty Roman Government could not! He did what the Temple Police and all the priests couldn’t do. He claims to have answered the question that has stymied unbelievers for two millennia. Where is the body?!
The news of Jesus’ missing body would have hit Jerusalem like a nuclear weapon. It would have been investigated with the detail we would use looking for a Presidential assassin. The religious authorities and the Roman government would have turned the city upside down searching for the body of Jesus! The Priests, their well paid informants, and the Temple Police could not find it. The mighty Roman Government could not find it. They feared the Messiah and his followers, and wanted to silence them before the word of his resurrection began to spread among the Jews. But that train had left the station!
Strong security measures were put in place at the tomb. It was sealed with the Official Seal of Rome. Anyone caught disturbing the grave would have been jailed. A squad of highly trained soldiers was given one mission; make sure his disciples do not steal the body! They were to guard a tomb cut into solid rock, with only one way in, and one way out. Falling asleep on duty brought a death sentence. Yet, the stunned and shocked soldiers accepted a bribe, and said they fell asleep! The truth of what really happened was unbelievable. They could do little else, for body was gone!
If Jesus had died on the cross and had not risen, his teachings would have stopped right there, becoming a dusty footnote in an obscure text. His devastated Apostles would not have undergone the torture, the imprisonments, and their own executions over a lie! Nobody dies for a lie! The Scriptures also reveal that he appeared to more than 500 people after His resurrection, many who were still alive and available for questioning when the Gospels were written! Are we to believe that James Cameron and his crew located something the priests, Temple Police, and Roman rulers could not find, with their unlimited resources, personnel, and a two thousand year head start?
The theory that someone defeated a detachment of soldiers, ignored a Roman seal, rolled back a massive stone, and then dragged Jesus’ unembalmed, decomposing, body through the streets of Jerusalem still choked with the Passover crowds from all over the Roman empire, without attracting attention from anyone, is ridiculous! His tomb is not "lost", it is empty! We serve a risen Savior!
Copyright 2007 Timothy E. Davis