The Empty Tomb

Early Sunday morning, three women approached a sepulchre. It had been sealed off by a large stone to prevent disciples of the deceased from stealing his body and claiming he had been resurrected. (See Matthew 27:62-66.) These women had seen him die, they had followed his body to the garden, and they had seen where it was laid in the tomb. Merely coming to the tomb was an act of faith. They didn’t know how they would move the stone guarding the entrance, but they were determined to try. (See Mark 16:1-3.)

The first indication that Jesus was alive again was an empty tomb. The women saw it. Mary Magdalene ran to tell the apostles, who didn’t believe her until Peter and John ran and saw for themselves. Afterward, they saw Him. Afterward, they spoke with Him: Mary first, and then the apostles and others. But the first glimmer of hope after a devastating weekend was an empty tomb.

Hundreds of years earlier, Nephi had prophesied that Jesus would be crucified, “and after he is laid in a sepulchre for the space of three days he shall rise from the dead” (2 Nephi 25:13; see also 1 Nephi 19:10). His brother Jacob had testified that, because of the Savior, “hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies” (2 Nephi 9:12).

It’s easy to think of a tomb or a grave as a kind of prison, a place where people are separated and immobilized. In fact, in Joseph F. Smith’s vision of the world of spirits, he saw that people who had been deceased for a long time “had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage” (Doctrine and Covenants 138:50).

How wonderful then to know that we will be set free, that this final imprisonment which we will all experience will end, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! As Abinadi declared:

He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

Mosiah 16:9

Today, with all of you, I celebrate that reality! I remember the empty tomb and the light and freedom it represents for all of us! I rejoice that death is temporary, and that because of Him, life is forever.

Happy Easter!