Yes! In a
historical occasion, the [empty] tomb of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was
opened for a 60-hour period (October 26th to 28th, 2016).
The protective marble slab placed over the limestone rock on which the actual
body of Christ was laid by Joseph of Arimethea (before HIS resurrection) in the
year 1555 AD was temporarily removed for restoration and cleaning. This tomb is
in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.
WHY THE HOOPLA?
This is a once-in-a-lifetime-event!
This tomb may never be re-opened until the second coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
The tomb of
the Lord Jesus Christ is the most revered site in the Christian world. The
limestone rock that was revealed (when the marble slab was temporarily removed)
was the very place where Christ’s body was laid.
Those who
were in the tomb were enthralled, “"I'm absolutely amazed. My knees are
shaking a little bit because I wasn't expecting this,” said Fredrik Hiebert,
National Geographic's archaeologist-in-residence. "We can't say 100
percent, but it appears to be visible proof that the location of the tomb has
not shifted through time, something that scientists and historians have
wondered for decades."”1
It seems to
be an archaeological marvel that the location of this tomb has not shifted over
time. Notwithstanding that, viewing the
Holy Rock upon which the Lord was laid would indeed be a glorious moment for
every Christian who loves the Lord.
WHAT’S THE HISTORY?
Considered
a brilliant and a morally serious public intellectual, Eric Metaxas, who is a
Senior Fellow and Lecturer at Large for the King’s College in New York City,
offers a glimpse of the history surrounding this tomb, “According to the
historian Eusebius of Caesarea, the Roman emperor Hadrian, about 100 years
after Jesus' death and resurrection, had a temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite
built over the site of Jesus' tomb. This was not by accident.
Two
centuries later, the emperor Constantine had the pagan temple demolished and in
the process, discovered what was believed to be the tomb of Jesus. Constantine
ordered a church to be built around the tomb.
The church
we see at the site today is not the original. That one was damaged by
earthquakes and fires. It was repaired but later demolished by a Fatimid caliph
in the early eleventh century and then rebuilt again and damaged again, so
forth and so on.
Yet the
pilgrims kept coming, so much so that in the 16th century the burial bed in the
tomb was covered in marble to keep people from taking home souvenirs.”2
WHY SHOULD WE BE SURE?
How sure
are we that this is the [empty] tomb of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Dr. William
Lane Craig presents a compelling defense blended with history to demonstrate the
credibility of this tomb, “…how credible is the claim that the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre does contain the very tomb in which Jesus was laid? The site was
identified in the year 326, when the Emperor Constantine’s mother Helena went
on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in search of relics from the time of Christ.
She asked the residents of Jerusalem where the site of Jesus’ tomb was, and they
directed her to a spot where a pagan temple now stood. We might be justifiably
sceptical that the people in Jerusalem at that time would have known where
Jesus’ tomb once was and suspect that out of deference to the Emperor’s mother
they pointed to some site. But, in fact, there are pretty good reasons to think
that the historical memory of where Jesus’ tomb had stood still persisted in
Jerusalem.
In the
first place, the site they identified stood within the city walls of Jerusalem,
whereas the Gospels state that Jesus was crucified and buried outside the city
walls. In contradiction to the Gospels, the residents in Jerusalem pointed to a
site within the walls. It was later discovered that the walls of Jerusalem had
been expanded a couple hundred years earlier, and when the original walls were
excavated, it was found that the identified site did, in fact, lie outside the
original walls of Jerusalem!
Second, the
pagan temple that stood on the site had been there since 110, when it was built
by the Emperor Hadrian. So the memory that this was the site of Jesus’ tomb
appears to go back to within 80 years after Jesus’ crucifixion in the year 30.
Helena commanded the temple to be razed and the ground to be excavated. And
digging down, lo and behold, what did they uncover but a tomb! The memory that
the temple had been built on the site of Jesus’ tomb seemed to be historical.
Coincidence?
Maybe; but a good number of scholars think that the tomb which lies enshrined
within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is, indeed, the tomb of Jesus.”3
WHAT NEW REVELATIONS?
The very
fact of the tomb’s survival of the 1927 earthquake is a great revelation. The
tomb “survived centuries of damage, destruction, and reconstruction of the
surrounding Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City,” says Nat
Geo.4
The
original limestone bed was found intact, “When the marble cladding was first
removed on the night of October 26, an initial inspection by the conservation
team from the National Technical University of Athens showed only a layer of
fill material underneath. However, as researchers continued their nonstop work
over the course of 60 hours, another marble slab with a cross carved into its
surface was exposed. By the night of October 28, just hours before the tomb was
to be resealed, the original limestone burial bed was revealed intact.”5
Even the
original limestone cave walls were intact, “In addition, researchers confirmed
the existence of the original limestone cave walls within the 18th-century
Edicule, or shrine, which encloses the tomb. A window has been cut into the
southern interior wall of the shrine to expose one of the cave walls.”6
The opening
of Christ’s tomb revealed an aspect of peace - although we hold to different
religious worldviews - we could still live in peace and respect those outside
our religious worldview, “Outside the Edicule, Thephilos III, the Greek
Patriarch of Jerusalem, stood watching the events with a serene smile.
"I'm glad that the atmosphere is special, there is a hidden joy,"
said the patriarch. "Here we have Franciscans, Armenians, Greeks, Muslim
guards, and Jewish police officers. We hope and we pray that this will be a
real message that the impossible can become the possible. We all need peace and
mutual respect."”7
WHAT’S THE SIGNIFICANCE?
So what if
Christ’s tomb was opened? How does it matter to us now?
The
greatest significance is that the opening of the tomb is a reminder to every
Christian that Christianity is a faith rooted in human history, “It is just one
more manifestation of the fact that when it comes to the life of Jesus we are
dealing not with fairy tales or legends but with history,” said Dr. William
Lane Craig.8
The tomb of
the Lord Jesus Christ was empty! The
empty tomb represents salvation of those who believe in the Lord Jesus. The Lord
Jesus lived among us, died a gory death on the cross, and was raised again to
save those who believe in HIM, “The events that began on Good Friday and
culminated on Easter Sunday took place, not in some mythological time, but in
human history.
Think of
Luke's gospel and its companion volume, the Book of Acts. Luke names specific
Roman emperors and governors, not Zeus and Hermes…his description of the riot
at Ephesus in Acts 19 included details that only someone intimately acquainted
with the city could have known.
It could
hardly be otherwise. We are saved by a historical act: the Incarnation, Death,
and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God.
And one
day, that history will culminate in his return in glory. We know this because
the tomb that was opened last month was empty.”9
Endnotes:
1http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/jesus-christ-tomb-burial-church-holy-sepulchre/
2http://www.christianpost.com/news/opening-the-tomb-of-jesus-171757/
3http://www.reasonablefaith.org/excavating-the-tomb-of-jesus
4http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/jesus-christ-tomb-burial-church-holy-sepulchre/
5Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/10/jesus-tomb-opened-church-holy-sepulchre/
8http://www.reasonablefaith.org/excavating-the-tomb-of-jesus
9http://www.christianpost.com/news/opening-the-tomb-of-jesus-171757/
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