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The Reality of the Unseen
“The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning.”
Ecclesiastes 7.4a
And so it was for those that day. The darkness of the sixth hour led to the dawn of an empty tomb. On the morn after the news was confirmed, I imagine those closest to Him awoke with a sense of great hollowness. The sudden unconquerable agitation of the heart.
“Remote in my darkened exile, the days dragged by so slowly. Without grace. Without inspiration. Without tears. Without life. Without love. Then my spirit woke and you… you appeared again. Like a transient vision. Like pure beauty’s spirit.”
Alexander Pushkin
Huddled together in a small room, the events of the past few days were simply unimaginable. Could it be that He was truly gone? It seemed like a dream. One moment they were listening to Him speak words they've never heard before on the shores of Galilee. And then, He was gone. They simply could not accept the sheer fact of His absence. The news of the empty tomb shook them still. "Where have they taken my Lord?" (John 20.11-15).
Myrrh is mine
It's bitter perfume breathes
A life of gathering gloom
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying
Sealed in the stone cold tomb
John H Hopkins, ‘We Three Kings of Orient Are’
Where once they portrayed an austere aspect being distant, and somewhat numb to the recent events, their demeanor changed. And when the austerity vanished, their expressions radiated vibrancy and warmth. For they could assert in detail what they saw. We need only ask Thomas.
“My Lord and my God!”
John 20.28b
Their earliest experiences are inexcusably explained. They became eyewitnesses of our resurrected Lord. Cephas, the twelve, Paul, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, Salome, Cleopas and his companion, to more than 500 at one time (1 Corinthians 15.3-8). Figures all who appeared from the dust of history. Of that there is no doubt. Eyewitnesses of His majesty as Peter described it.
"For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty."
1 Peter 1.16
How do we explain these eyewitness reports and their persistence throughout time? Can we simply dismiss them out of hand? And if not, how then should we respond? Honestly, what are we to make of it all? What pray tell would be their motivation? To concoct a most elaborate illusion? A plan that may very well conjure ridicule. Some flesh and blood presence must have been manipulating the variables. Right?
The empty tomb.
Eyes drawn to what some would describe as puerile points that they conclude had nothing whatsoever to do with their perceived reality. “Undoubtedly absurd!” they would exclaim with rising indignation. A childish triviality. Such are the asperities of a harsh and cynical world.
"Everyone knows the difference between imagining a thing and believing in its existence; between supposing a proposition and acquiescing in its truth."
William James
It seems perhaps not everyone.
It was Darwin who first taught that we were not necessarily godly creatures. But rather there was a physical mechanism at work. Suddenly we were machines evolved in a mechanistic matter over eons. Descended from apes. That when men died, they simply ceased to exist. Eternity a myth best suited for children’s fairy tales.
Their quest? To confirm there was nothing out there beyond the ether. Death, you see was finality to those who fail to comprehend the eternal. But there are currents below that have begun to shift. And some want with equal ardor to debunk and mock such pursuits. For theirs is an incredulous reaction to the facts laid bare before them.
“So they are without excuse.”
To them, faith in the unseen is scientific heresy. Frivolous thinkers at best. They fail to recognize what Paul told the Roman brethren (Romans 1.20). His invisible attributes are clearly seen. His eternal power. His divine nature. Yet they never open their eyes to such possibilities. Skeptics. And so the resurrection of the Christ is a farce. Chicanery even. And if so, then “we are of all men the most pitiable” (1 Corinthians 15.9). Becoming the stark conclusion to the unthinkable suggestion that Christ had not been raised.
Perception shapes mind. But it is equally true that mind shapes perception. It is what lets us believe in the existence of God despite the vast record of atrocity and despair that, for some, argues against such a belief. And then there’s the empty tomb. The pivotal event where God raised Jesus from the dead. Both the nature and truth of Christianity uniquely stands or falls on this central tenet.
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile (1 Cor 15.17)
So what do we conclude? Those of the faithful are searchers. Some among us want to prove that there is indeed another world beyond the vale. And with the resurrected Christ, proof has been attained. For He conquered death and thus showed the way to life eternal. Through His death, burial and resurrection, we too, when buried with Christ, walk in hope. Hope of eternal life with the Father forevermore.
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
John 20.29
It is a miserable state for any man, whether he be atheist, agnostic, or yes, even a religious individual who has no hope of a resurrection. Jesus didn’t simply fade into the ether. Nothing could be farther from the truth! And we are rather of all men most blessed.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Peter 1.8-9
Many throughout history have been appalled and astonished by God’s Servant. There are those who actually heard and saw “the arm of the Lord revealed” (Isaiah 53.1) in Palestine and still did not believe. Why then are we surprised at the disbelief by many today? For they fail to acknowledge the unveiling arm of the Lord. They simply cannot grasp the foolishness of the cross nor that of the resurrection. If you wish to upset the law that all crows are black, you mustn't seek to show that no crows are. It is enough if you prove one single crow to be white. There’s a rational simple explanation. It is historical reality. All of this was done publicly, with the full intent to spread that news both near and far. The conclusion definitive.
He lives!
Be enthralled. Be filled with wonder and delight. Hallelujah the Savior is risen! And thus, our lives are a prelude to eternal life and the joy that awaits us there with Him. The Sanctified One. It is the glory of King and country. Where saints and angels sing: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain" (Revelation 5.12b). Christ succeeded in His redemptive work.
“Those who have never been told of him will see,
and those who have never heard will understand.”
Romans 15.21
Men commonly think of death as something to be shunned. However there are times when its hand falls as tenderly as the touch of a mother’s hand. And when its coming is welcomed by those to whom hopeless suffering has brought the last bitter dregs of life. Death is not the end. It’s not a period at the end of a maudlin refrain. Nor a desperate tragedy to be forever avoided. Death is the beginning. Of something glorious.
We need to always be reminded that no one goes alone. The reality of the unseen provides hope. Hope for the weary. The downcast. Those who are hurting. Hope itself is already buried and walked out of the grave. It’s the “salvation of His presence” (Psalm 43.5). We but need to look at the world through tears. And then perhaps we can discover things that dry-eyed we could not see. Those that first Lord’s Day did. And so can we. Through His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord “was declared to be the Son of God” (Romans 1.4). It was ever thus.
The reality of the unseen shapes us all. And calls us to a new hope. A living hope. Grounded in the historicity of the empty tomb.
