Dear Church Family,

Thank you for your patience and flexibility for our “Old Fashioned Church on the Grounds” service and fellowship last week. It was a big help for our construction phase of our stage remodel. I’m so grateful for all of our teams that put in so much work—First Impressions, tech, worship, facilities, security and medical, student ministry, and our Holy Smokers. As we get closer to Resurrection Sunday (which I realize is every Sunday, but I like this term better than Easter), as you are sharing your faith and inviting guests to come, please let us know if you have a baptismal candidate for that day. It’s always a great encouragement and witness.

I saw this article this week and thought it would bless you:

Five Reasons Why the Evidence Points to an Empty Tomb

1. All Four Gospels Report the Empty Tomb

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all affirm that Jesus was buried and His tomb was found empty.

These are all eyewitness accounts
• Matthew was one of the Twelve.
• John was a disciple
• Mark wrote based on Peter’s testimony.
• Luke carefully compiled his Gospel from eyewitnesses.

Different perspectives, same conclusion: the tomb was empty.

2. The 1 Corinthians 15 Creed

This early Christian creed, dated to within a few years (or even months) of Jesus’ death, says:

“Christ died… was buried… and was raised on the third day.”

This affirms a known burial site and a body that was no longer there.

This creed predates the Gospels and shows that belief in the empty tomb was part of Christianity from the very beginning.

3. Enemy Attestation Confirms It

The earliest explanation offered by Jesus’ opponents wasn’t, “The body is still there.”

It was: “His disciples stole the body.”

That means even the enemies of Christ were admitting the tomb was empty.

If the tomb wasn’t empty, they could’ve just pointed to it. But they didn’t—because they couldn’t.

Even the enemies of Jesus confirmed, indirectly, that the body was gone.

4. Joseph of Arimathea Buried Jesus

All four Gospels say Jesus was buried in a tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Jewish council.

This matters because Joseph was a known public figure. If Christians were inventing the story, attaching it to someone so easily disprovable would’ve been reckless.

Instead, all accounts agree—Jesus was buried in Joseph’s tomb. And that tomb was found empty.

5. Women Were the First Witnesses

In 1st-century Jewish culture, women’s testimony wasn’t considered credible in court.

Yet all four Gospels report that women were the first to find the empty tomb.

If the story was made up, the authors would’ve said men discovered it. This is what historians call the criterion of embarrassment—details unlikely to be fabricated are likely true.

Press on,

Mark