What Was Really Left Behind In That Tomb
My daughter and I love the animated movie Pilgrim’s Progress. One of my favorite scenes is when the burden is finally lifted from Christian’s back and rolls into the empty tomb. It is such a beautiful picture of what happens to our burdens. As I watched it again recently, it reminded me that the tomb wasn’t really empty after all and that is what this week’s post is about. I called it The Tomb Wasn’t Empty because it was full of my sins, shame, guilt, sorrow, and death itself. My friend, I want us to take a closer look at what was really left behind in Jesus’ empty tomb.
The first one is the easiest one for most people to guess because most everyone knows that Jesus bore our sins. The not-so-empty tomb was full of:
Our Sins
– 1 Peter 2:24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
Isaiah 53:5-6 But He was woundedfor our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripeswe are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
The tomb wasn’t empty because it was full of our sins. He carried them on the cross and left them behind in the tomb. To better understand what some of those sins were, we are going to read a couple of verses to help us out. Galatians 5:19-21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The tomb was full of all of these things as well as unforgiveness, anger, bitterness, lies, and deception. But that’s not all; it was also full of things like failure, addiction, ungodly attitudes, and judgmental ways. Obviously, this is just a partial list, but it gives us an idea of not only the things that nailed Christ to the cross, but what was left behind in the tomb. It is possible to still do all of these things as a believer, but the truth is that we do not have to do them. Romans chapter six assures us that we no longer have to do these things. We are now free from sin’s control; we do not have to sin. All of the things that we are talking about today are things that were left behind in the tomb, which is exactly where we need to leave them.
Romans 6:11 tells us that we are to “reckon ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” And verse 14 of the same chapter says that “sin shall not have dominion over us”. Verse 18 tells us that we have been “set free from sin”. Jesus destroyed sin’s grip on us, and those sins were left behind in the tomb. Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” We don’t have to go back to the tomb. We have been set free. We can walk in the Light. We do not have to let sin have any power over us. We can leave our sin in the tomb where it belongs.
Our Shame
Shame is defined as a negative emotion caused by an awareness of our wrongdoing or guilt. It is usually a result of guilt, but it can also be a result of something that has happened to us. I love Romans 8:1 because it assures us that “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus…” Because of the cross, we no longer have to bear the shame of our guilt because Christ has removed our guilt. The tomb was not just full of our sins; it is full of our shame. It doesn’t matter if it is because of something we have done or something that was done to us. We have no reason to carry shame. We are forgiven and cleansed through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Some of the things that came to mind or were brought to my attention when I was thinking about shame were things like weakness, hurt, insufficiencies, abandonment, rejection, and addiction. All of the shame that we feel from things like this were taken care of at the cross. The blood of Jesus is powerful enough to wash away the shame from any and all of these things. As daughters of the King, we can leave all of our shame in the tomb. Jesus carried our shame so that we wouldn’t have to carry it any further than the cross.
Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Isaiah 54:4 “Fear not, for you will not be put to shame; And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced; But you will forget the shame of your youth, And the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
I love the fact that we do not have to carry our shame any further than the cross. Shame is a very heavy load to bear and what a relief to know that it too, can be left behind in the tomb. We were never meant to spend our lives covered with the heavy cloak of shame. Jesus bore our shame to calvary and left it behind Him in the tomb.
Our Guilt
Guilt is a very close cousin of shame, and they are often found together. We associate the word guilt with a feeling but in the Bible, the words sin and guilt are often interchangeable. Guilt is what happens when we violate God’s Law and praise God, because of the cross, we have been declared not guilty. Because of the cross, our guilt has been covered and it too, can be left behind in the tomb.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Micah 7:19 He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
Our sins, our shame, and our guilt all lie in the dark tomb that Jesus left behind. He left them behind so that we could leave them behind as well. Sin, shame, and guilt are no longer ours to carry. The original language of Isaiah 53 says that Jesus took away, lifted up, and removed these things from us. He carried them to the cross so that we could leave them behind us when we turned to Him.
There is another thing that was left behind in that tomb.
Our Sorrows
The Biblical definition of sorrow is grief, pain of mind or spirit, and affliction. There isn’t a single one of us who will make it through life without experiencing sorrow. It is simply a fact of life that at some point or another we will experience sorrow. No matter how good a person we are, we will be hurt; we will experience sorrow. How great is it to know that we don’t have to carry that sorrow any further than the cross either? Isaiah 53:3 tells us that Jesus was a “Man of sorrows” and that He was “acquainted with grief”. Our Savior became a Man of sorrows so that we wouldn’t have to. He carried our sorrows to the cross and means for us to leave them behind in the empty tomb.
This means that while we cannot avoid experiencing sorrows, we do not have to continue carrying them. It means that when we get hurt, we don’t have to keep carrying that hurt. We can give these feelings we are struggling with to Him. We can let Him cast them into the empty tomb and allow Him to heal our hearts. If I did not do this in my own life, I could not bear it. There are still times that the pain, the sorrow of the rejection I have faced rises up and is like a knife stabbing my heart. I have to choose to give it to Him before I am carried away with the pain of it. There are wounds that hurt so badly that if I did not take it to the cross I could not bear it. But when I take my sorrows to Him, when I leave them behind in the tomb where they belong, I am strengthened and encouraged.
Psalm 34:18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
John 11:35 Jesus wept. The word used here in the original language means loud, tearful weeping. Honestly the reason Jesus was weeping isn’t what is important to me. What speaks to my heart is that Jesus understood sorrow enough to loudly weep and that lets me know that He understands my sorrow. He understands and He can help me. I am not meant to carry the weight of my sorrow. I may face sorrow but the weight of it is for Him to bear, not me. The full weight of sorrow belongs in the tomb because He came to carry them for me. And everything like that, that He carried for me, He left behind in the tomb when He came out of it.
Death
The last thing that I want us to look at today that was left behind in the tomb is death itself. When Jesus walked out of that tomb, death itself was left behind! 1 Corinthians 15:55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” Death no longer has any power over a child of God! Jesus has forever destroyed deaths power!
Rev. 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?
What a relief to know that death is not the end, that death too, was left behind in the empty tomb! If you know me very well, you know that I am a huge fan of the movies inspired by J. R. R Tolkien and I have shared this quote before, but I wanted to share it again today.
“PIPPIN: I didn’t think it would end this way.
GANDALF: End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path, one that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass, and then you see it.
PIPPIN: What? Gandalf? See what?
GANDALF: White shores, and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
PIPPIN: Well, that isn’t so bad.
GANDALF: No. No, it isn’t.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
For the believer, death is not the end. It is just another path that we all take. One that leads us straight into the arms of our loving Savior. What a day that will be my friends! There’s been a lot of talk lately about death and while none of us are looking forward to that day, it is important for us as believers to remember that death is not the end for us. Nor is it something to be feared. It is simply the path that will lead us to our real home.
The tomb wasn’t really empty because it was full of our sin, our shame, our guilt, our sorrow, and finally, death itself. None of these things are anything we should be carrying anymore. None of these things are something we should fear, because although we didn’t have time to go as in depth as we could today, fear itself was also left behind in that grave. I hope that you have been encouraged and reminded that none of these things are yours to carry any further than the cross. And in closing, I want to read a few quick verses to remind us of who and what we should be now, since all these things have been left behind in the tomb.
Galatians 5:22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Colossians 3:12-13 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.
Dear heart, walk in the freedom He died to give you. May you have a blessed week and a wonderful
Katrina Douglas
