The 2 Pieces of Forensic Evidence Jesus Left at the Tomb

Do you like true crime shows like I do? Well, you know how they go. You're watching the documentary and you've already decided by episode two who did it. And then you watch episode four and it completely flips everything on its head. The best investigators would tell us the same thing happens to them every single time. Don't trust your assumptions. Follow the evidence at the scene. Why? Because the clues don't lie. Now here's what most people don't realize. The empty tomb of Jesus is actually a crime scene. And when you look at it the way a detective would, two pieces of evidence left behind that first Easter morning will change your perspective of Jesus's death, burial, and resurrection. Why? It will destroy the fear you have over death. It will shatter the doubts you have about the resurrection. And here's what it will finally do. It will reframe the entire story of Jesus in a way that most people have never considered before. So you're gonna wanna stay with me to the end because I'm gonna show you two insights about the tomb you've probably never noticed before and then I'm going to reveal something about Jesus's return back to Earth one day. ♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey ♪

♪ Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey ♪ Welcome back to Get Into the Word. My name is Robbie Gallaty. If you are genuinely enjoying the content and don't wanna miss any upcoming episodes, make sure you subscribe to the channel. And after watching it, if you enjoyed it, do me a favor and hit that like button. It really helps us out. Today, we're gonna uncover two clues in the text. Clue number one is this. The linen cloths at Jesus's death in the tomb reveal that Jesus came to die, not just to live, not just to teach, but to die. I wanna take you to the scene, John chapter 20, verses one through six. This is after Jesus was put into the tomb. On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark. She saw the stone had been removed from the tomb, so she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, they've taken the Lord out of the tomb. We don't know where they've put him. At that, Peter and the other disciple went out heading for the tomb. The two men were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter

and got to the tomb first. I love the fact that John wants you to know who is faster of the two men. Peter's a little slower, probably runs like me. I was never very fast either, but they get to the tomb. Verse five, stooping down, don't miss this, stooping down, they saw the linen cloths, make note of that, lying there, but he did not go in. Then following him, Simon Peter also came. He entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there. Here's what I want you to see. John makes a point to mention the linen cloths, not once, but twice. We just had a friend of mine, Dr. Jeremiah Johnston at Long Hollow to speak about the man of the shroud. It's been debated for years. I'm convinced it's real. It's the Shroud of Turin. If you haven't seen that message, I'll put a link below for you to watch it. The Shroud of Turin is the linen cloths that wrap Jesus's body after he was taken off the cross. And there's something significant about these cloths in the ancient world. Every year at Passover, the nation of Israel was required to offer a sacrifice to the Lord, the Lamb of God sacrifice.

This requirement, don't miss this, was a simple non-negotiable opportunity. It wasn't an option. The Lamb was to be spotless and without blemish. You couldn't have marks on the ear. You couldn't have bruises on the legs. It had to be perfect. And the only lambs that were approved for temporal sacrifice came from one city not far from Jerusalem. Take a wild guess as to what city that was. You got it, the town of Bethlehem. Have you ever wondered why Jesus had to be born in Bethlehem? Well, now you know because he's giving us a picture that just like those temple sacrificial acceptable lambs only came from one city to Jerusalem and that was Bethlehem. Here we have, as John said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now here's the thing most people don't know. When a lamb was born back then, it could barely stand. I used to have sheep and goats so I'm familiar with this practically. When a lamb was born, the legs are pretty fragile. They're wobbly. If they fell, it would bruise them. It would bruise itself. And immediately they were disqualified from sacrifice, written off, no longer acceptable. So the shepherds, get this,

had to practice a form of protection in Bethlehem. The moment the lamb was born, they would immediately wrap it tightly from head to toe in strips, get ready for this, of linen cloth. They weren't just any rags. These were purposeful swaddling bands that they would wrap around the animal to protect itself from bruising or hurting itself. They wanted to keep it spotless. They wanted to preserve it for sacrifice. After Jesus was born, I know where you're going here. Your mind's already thinking. The angel appears to the shepherds working in the fields. Where are they working? What town? Take a wild guess. Bethlehem. Now you can assume and deduce that these shepherds were tending for the sacrificial lambs that were meant for the temple. We're going to go to what the angel says to Luke in Luke chapter 2, and here's what I want you to see. Verse 12. This will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a what? In a manger. Now that word manger is the word for feeding trough, and so it's where the animals would come to feed and eat. Now don't miss this. I don't have time to unpack this, but isn't it interesting that the one who quenches our thirst and gives us bread for life is in a manger, a feeding trough. He's going to satisfy not our physical hunger, but our spiritual needs. But notice how the baby was wrapped tightly in cloth. It's the same picture as a Passover lamb being swaddled at birth to protect it for sacrifice. From the moment, feel the weight of this, from the moment Jesus enters the world, God is announcing one thing. This right here is the lamb of God. Jesus entered the world wrapped in linen cloths, and then he exited the world in the same linen cloths he was wrapped in when he came. The bookends of Jesus's life, you could say, are sacrifice. He didn't come just to be a great teacher, although he was. He didn't come just to be a moral example. He was that. He came to die for your sins and mine as the Passover lamb. Now here's the second thing that the linen cloths tell us, and this is the one for skeptics, people who are skeptical of the resurrection. Notice that the body was not stolen. There's a theory that's been floating around for years. It really goes back to the first century, and it's this idea that Jesus's body was taken off the cross and stolen by his disciples to make it look like he was risen from the dead, but he didn't really die. John tells us in the text that the cloths were still lying there, lying in place, and the head wrapping was folded separately to the side. Now think about this from an investigative perspective, an investigator

standpoint. Think about this. If someone broke into that tomb that night to steal a body, why would you ever stop in your heated moment to take the body and steal the body? Why would you ever stop to unwrap the person? Nobody takes time to carefully undress a corpse when they're trying to smuggle out a body. You see the linen cloths being there left behind is evidence that Jesus stepped out of those cloths himself. He didn't need anyone to move the stone to escape. By the way, Jesus didn't move the stone for him to get out. You're gonna love this. Jesus moved the stone so that we could look in. Clue number two, the folded face cloth is a picture of Jesus coming back. Now we have another clue at the scene of the crime, and this one is a detail most people tend to skip over. And in order to feel the weight of this and get the full picture, you have to understand the Hebraic culture of Jesus's day. I want to show you what the text says. If we go back to John chapter 20, verse four, after verse six, it says this. Verse seven, the wrapping that had been on Jesus's head was not lying with the linen cloths, but was folded in a separate place. Now, if you know anything about history, this cloth is called the sudarium or the quote other shroud, not the shroud of Turin, but another shroud. Now there is some debate about this in theological circles, so I want to be honest with you about the research. You don't need this clue though to prove that Jesus is coming back, but it is nice to see the connection. The cultural context behind this is striking. In the ancient Near Eastern world, when a man would sit down to eat a meal with his family, his servant would watch over him for a particular signal. When the master was finished eating, he would do something with his napkin. And when doing this, he would signify what he wanted done by the servant. If he would crumble his napkin up and toss it on the table, it means that he was done with the meal. Clear the table, I'm done. But if the master stood up from the table and he folded the napkin carefully and laid it down on the table, that was a completely different signal. Here's That's what it meant. It meant that he was coming back. Hey, I'm not finished. Don't touch anything. Wait, I'll be back. Now, let's go back and look at the tomb. Notice what it says in verse seven.

It says that Jesus, when he came back or when he left, the wrapping had been on his head. It was not lying with the linen cloths, but it was what? Folded to the side. Jesus is saying, without saying anything, I am coming back. I have deliberately placed this napkin to show you something. He didn't crumble it up. He folded it to show us something. And in case that's not enough, in case you need something more than a cultural gesture, listen to the words of Jesus himself when he tells his disciples in John chapter 14 this. He says, do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you so. I have told you that I'm going away to prepare a place for you, and if I go away to prepare a place for you, watch this, I will come back again to take you to myself, so that what? Where I am, you may be also. Aren't you glad Jesus is coming back? His work in heaven is not finished now. He's building, not just mansions that we live in, he's building rooms and adding rooms onto the home and insulas, as they were called in the Jewish culture, and he's coming back to get us one day.

You see, the folded cloth is his calling card. It's a clue that Jesus left at the tomb for me and for you. And here's what he's saying. I have one more thing to do, and that's to come back and get you. So what do these clues tell us? Together, they declare one thing. Death is not the end. When my boys were little, they were terrified of bees, and honestly, after what happened to my youngest son, Ryder, I can't blame them. When he was eight years old, one summer month, he was stung by a bee, and it traumatized not only him, but it traumatized both of my boys, my older son, Rig, and my younger Ryder. Well, one day, we had a bee get into our house, and as you can imagine, absolute chaos broke out. Candy and the boys were taking cover behind the couch, and Rig, my oldest, honestly, was ready to call 911 to get help, and I was perfectly calm, and you're probably wondering, why in the world, how are you perfectly calm with a bee flying around your home? Well, I learned something in middle school that I took with me later in life, and that was, in middle school, I learned if you step lightly on a bee, by the way, don't try this at home, but if you step lightly on a bee, and you reach under and pinch its wings,

you could take the bee, place it on top of your fabric of your shoe, and if the bee stings the fabric, it pulls the stinger out and basically removes any chance or any threat of pain, any threat of stinging you. The sting is gone, and so after the ensuing chaos, I caught the bee in a napkin, and I was about to show off my elementary school skills. Everyone started to breathe a sigh of release in the home, and as I started to extract the stinger, the bee turned around, and he stung me. Something obviously went totally wrong, and the bee flew from my hand, and the ensuing chaos started again, and the kids started to take cover, but what happened was I looked at my hand and realized that the stinger was in my hand, and so as everyone's running around, that's all I simply did was this. I raised my hand high, showing them the sting in my hand, or the stinger, and I lifted my voice, and I said, hey, there's no need to be afraid. Why? He's not gonna hurt you anymore. He's not dangerous. He's not a threat. Here's why. I took the sting for you. Friends, 2,000 years ago, our Savior, Jesus Christ, died on a cross we deserved to absorb our sins

so that the sting of death would be removed for anyone who believes in him, and this is why Paul could say with jubilation when he says in 1 Corinthians 15, 54, death has been swallowed up in victory. Can I get an amen? Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God, who gives the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. The sting is gone. Jesus took our sins upon his body before he was placed in the tomb. If you're a born-again believer, you don't have anything to fear as it pertains to death, not now, not in the future, not ever again. Why? Because the moment you close your eyes for the last time here, you will open them for the first time there to see Jesus with his nail-scarred hands. stretched wide, saying to you and to me, come here, you have nothing to fear. Why? Because I took the sting of death for you. On that day, he will wipe away every tear from our eyes and make all things new. So the question as we close is this,

when Jesus returns, will you be ready to meet him? If you've never surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, today is the day. Not just with words, but through a transformed heart. You do that by acknowledging your sin before a holy God and placing your trust in what Jesus did through his death, burial, and resurrection. If this video helped you see something new maybe you've never seen before, would you do me a favor and share it with a friend? You can text it or email it to them, someone who needs to hear this. And also, if you're new here, make sure you subscribe and hit that bell so that you're notified every time a new video comes out. Until next time, get into the word until the word gets into you.