Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. — Luke 24:1 & 2

There are a lot of events throughout history that I often look at and ask the question, what if that had never happened? For example, what if September 11, 2001 never happened? So many things in our world changed as a result of the attacks that day. I even think about the recent COVID pandemic. Our society and world has changed tremendously due to this.

No doubt you were already thinking about events that you lived through or experienced in your own life. What about the events that we did not live through? For example, what if the Revolutionary War never happened? What if Rome had never fallen?

Or what if the stone was never rolled away? The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is a foundational truth of Christianity. Without Jesus resurrection, our faith is no different than that of many other religions around the world. Muhammad did not rise up after death. Neither did Buddha or Joseph Smith. Jesus is the only one.

The only way for us to receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life is if our Savior conquered sin and death. Had the stone not been rolled away, Jesus would be no different than the founders or leaders of other world religions that are still dead. Thank God that is not the case.

Our Savior is not still in that borrowed tomb. When they arrived that morning, the stone was rolled away proving that our Savior is not like the others. He rose from the dead and lives forever more! Reflect and rejoice today because He defeated sin and death, providing us forgiveness and eternal life.

Jared Dyson