The Empty Tomb of Jesus  

                                                       What Did It Mean ?

The Watchtower said:-  “God disposed of Jesus’ body" (WT Nov 15 1991, p.31)

 Jesus said :- I will raise it again in three days (John 2: 19-21)

 The Watchtower Society said :- “We deny that He was raised in the flesh, and challenge any statement to that effect as being unscriptural” (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol 7, p 57)

 The empty tomb of Jesus Christ is one of the most powerful pictorial statements ever made. Its meaning is clear and simple. The angel stationed at the tomb put it into words when he said “He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come see the place where He lay”  (Matt 28:6 )

 But the Watchtower Society attaches a different meaning to the empty tomb. According to The Watchtower of November 15, 1991, it means that “God disposed of Jesus’ body, not allowing it to see corruption and thus preventing its becoming a stumbling block to faith.” (page 31) Some years ago The Watchtower explained how this disposal allegedly took place, saying that Jesus’ body “was disposed of by Jehovah God, dissolved into its constituent elements or atoms.” — (WT September 1, 1953, page 518 } 

 What then was the real meaning of the empty tomb: disposal of the body, or resurrection of the body?

 Jesus himself told ahead of time what would happen to his body. He said, “I will raise it again in three days.” (John 2:19) Certain Jews listening at the time thought he was talking about the temple in Jerusalem but the Bible explains that, “the temple he had spoken of was his body.” (John 2:21 )

So, what did Jesus say would happen to his body after three days? Did he say it would be “disposed of” ? No! He said, “I will raise it up.” (John 2:19 )

Even the Watchtower Society’s own New World Translation at John 2:19 has Jesus saying, “I will raise it up.”

The Watchtower Society has long claimed that “the man Jesus is dead, forever dead” (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 5, page 454) even though the Bible says plainly that our one mediator is “a man, Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:5 NWT) The Society’s reasoning is as follows:                                                                                                                                              

 Having given up his flesh for the life of the world, Christ could never take it again and become a man once more.   — You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, page 143

 But Jesus himself said,

 I lay down my life for the sheep... I lay down my life—only to take it up again.  I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.          —  John 10:14-18

 So, like the first century believers who believed what Jesus said and who believed what the angel said (but never heard what The Watchtower said) we too can accept the empty tomb as proof that Christ is risen!

(Courtesy David Reed}