Fact #7: The Tomb of Jesus Christ was Empty

According to the research of Dr. Habermas, this fact does not have the almost unanimous acceptance that the other four facts (plus our obvious 3) have. Only about 75% of the scholars accept the empty tomb as a historical fact. This is still a strong majority of critical scholars and it must be remembered that many of these historians and researchers are very liberal and skeptical in their approach to the New Testament. The New Testament affirms in all four Gospels that the tomb was empty and the reason that it was empty is because the occupant rose from the dead – namely Jesus Christ. This is the clear and concise message that is explained and proclaimed over and over again in the New Testament. It must be pointed out that the crucifixion and resurrection events took place in the city of Jerusalem and Jesus Himself was a very public figure. The crucifixion was done in public view and the apostles began to openly claim that Jesus had risen from the dead. The enemies and opponents to this new message could have simply demonstrated to the public that the tomb was indeed occupied if Jesus’ body was still present. They could have even placed another corpse in the tomb if they desired to. Instead, they made the false claim that Jesus’ disciples had stolen the body. This evidence points to the fact that the religious leaders and high priests believed that the tomb was empty. – Matthew 28:13.Christians in the early church and Christians today do not enshrine or hold the tomb of Jesus Christ as a sacred place. In Jerusalem, the actual physical location of this tomb is open for debate. Christians certainly have and do find the potential tomb sites places of deep significance. However, the tomb is empty and the occupant is not there. There is no evidence in the New Testament of any visitations to the tomb after the resurrection by believers in Jesus nor any mention of it beyond the obvious claim that it was empty. There are four groups or individuals who viewed the empty tomb. The women who came to anoint Jesus’ body – Mark 16:5; Luke 24:3; Peter and John – John 20:3-8; Mary Magdalene – John 20:11 and the soldiers who were guarding the tomb – Matthew 28:2-4,11-15. All of these witnesses confirmed that the tomb was empty because they looked inside and Jesus’ body was gone. Any theory that the appearances of Jesus to His disciples and other individuals was some type of spiritual phenomena, cannot be based on a tomb with the body of Jesus inside. All of these witnesses confirmed that the tomb was empty.It must be remembered that the empty tomb does not mean that Jesus rose from the dead. Just as Mary Magdalene supposed when she answered the man she thought was the gardener – “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away” – John 20:15. Someone could have moved the body with the help of the authorities or they could have stolen the corpse. But even the soldiers who were guarding the tomb from the actions of thieves, told the truth and “reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened”. – Matthew 28:11. The response of the authorities (the chief priests) was to tell the soldiers to lie and report to Pilate the governor that the disciples had stolen the body. They provided money to encourage this lie and then offered the soldiers assistance in supporting the claim if and when the chief priests discussed the matter with Pilate.

“Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, saying, Tell them, His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept. And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure. So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day”. – Matthew 28:11-15. By the very response that these leaders provided in their deception, they confirmed that the tomb of Jesus Christ was empty. The plausibility that the defeated, cowardly disciples stole the body of Jesus and proclaimed that He had risen from the dead only to die as martyrs for this confession, does not fit with reality. There is no viable mechanism that could have provided for the theft of Jesus’ body by His disciples. If this did occur, the Roman and Jewish authorities would have had every motivation to recover His body, but we see no record of any attempt to do so. Matthew states that this story “is commonly reported among the Jews until this day”. – Matthew 28:15. Most New Testament scholars date the authorship of the Gospel of Matthew to have been around A.D. 60-70, approximately 30-35 years after the resurrection of Christ.

All five of these lines of evidence and witnesses confirm that the tomb of Jesus was empty – the women, the soldiers, Peter and John, Mary Magdalene and the religious rulers.