His tomb isn’t lost — it’s empty

April 5, 2007

By Gary Rogers

Recent headlines have focused on the Talpiot Tomb, named after its location in Jerusalem. The site is also being called “the lost tomb of Jesus.”

It’s really an old story, but it has gained new life with a recent documentary. A construction crew working on an apartment complex in Talpiot, Jerusalem, discovered the tomb on March 28, 1980. The Israeli Antiquities Authority conducted an excavation. Found within the tomb were 10 ossuaries or limestone bone boxes dating back to the time of Christ. From the Israeli perspective it was a tremendous find of antiquities that gave insight into the burial practices of the era.

The problem comes not from the Israeli Antiquities Authority, but the “experts” who then take the data and attempt to interpret it from their own point of view. It never ceases to amaze me what people can misread as truth when it is presented as an assumption.

The assumption that Talpiot is the burial place of Jesus is based entirely on the names written on the limestone bone boxes. The translated names include Jesus, Matthew, Joseph, Mary Magdalene, and Judah son of Jesus. It is as if no one else from that era could have these same names. “Experts” also cite these names to claim Jesus must have been married to Mary Magdalene and together they had a son named Judah.

Why is this information being shared now? Why is an Academy Award-winning producer responsible for filming a documentary of this find? Why did the documentary premiere March 4?

From a Christian perspective, I believe part of the answer has to deal with living in the last days. There is rampant deception in our world today. Jesus warned us it would be this way. The New Testament writers told us to expect deception. It should not surprise us it is happening.

The information shared by these “experts” is assumption and theory, as they themselves admit. It is just another attack at the very foundation of Christianity.

My prayer is people will be wise enough not to mistake assumption and theory for undeniable truth. Anyone can make any assumption and develop any theory about anything they want.

In 1 Corinthians 15:12-20 we are reminded everything we believe and everything we stand for finds its validity in the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. No wonder, then, attacks against Christianity focus on that truth.

This should stir every Christian to invite every lost friend they know to Easter Sunday service to hear the truth. Easter is this Sunday. Who are you bringing to church?

Gary Rogers is senior pastor of First Assembly of God in Coweta, Okla.