AN EMPTY ROOM AND AN EMPTY TOMB

THE EMPTY ROOM

"Set up this Tabernacle according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.  For the inside of the Tabernacle, make a special curtain of finely woven linen.  Decorate it with blue, purple, and scarlet thread and with skillfully embroidered cherubim.  Hang this curtain on gold hooks attached to four posts of acacia wood.  Overlay the posts with gold, and set them in four silver bases.  Hang the inner curtain from clasps, and put the Ark of the Covenant in the room behind it.  This curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.  Then put the Ark’s cover, the place of atonement, on top of the Ark of the Covenant inside the Most Holy Place" (Ex. 26:30-34 NLT).

The Word of God says this about the Crucifixion of Jesus:  "And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent" (Mt. 27:51; see also Mk. 15:38; Lk. 23:45).  Because of its massive size, only God could have torn the veil, and notice that the tearing of it was from the top to the bottom.  With the veil being opened, all could see that the "Holy of Holies" was nothing but an empty room! 

"The Ark of the Covenant disappeared off of the pages of history by the time of the Babylonian Captivity.  Nothing in the Bible is said about the Ark in the Old Testament after the return from Babylon.  Thus, the Holy of Holies in the Second Temple was an empty chamber, without the Ark of the Covenant.  When the Roman General Pompey conquered Jerusalem around 63 B.C., he demanded the privilege of entering the Holy of Holies. When he did, he came out saying that he could not understand what all the interest was about the sanctuary, when it was only an empty room" (The Levitt Letter).

Interestingly enough, there are hints of this in the Gospels.  God calls the Temple "My house" up until it was clear to all that Jesus was rejected by His people (Mt. 12:4; Lk. 14:23), but then tells the Jews He no longer considers it His house, but theirs (Mt. 23:38; Lk. 13:35)! 

 

THE EMPTY TOMB

"He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay" (Mt. 28:6). 
"And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen; He is not here: behold the place where they laid Him" (Mk. 16:6). 
"And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus" (Lk. 24:3).
 
"And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.  Then saith He to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing.  And Thomas answered and said unto Him, My Lord and my God.  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (Jn. 20:26-29).

DO YOU BELIEVE?