During the trips I've made to Israel, no site we visit evokes more emotion than does the traditional site of the garden tomb. Tucked into the stone wall within a garden area, an empty tomb quietly heralds to the world that something special happened here one morning long, long ago. Early in the morning, while the sun merely peeked toward a new day, God was at work, rolling stones away and preparing human hearts. The sky was still dark. Night tried to prevail, but it couldn't.
Darkness never can.
The creation story reminds us that night is followed by day, darkness is followed by light. The Holy Spirit reanimated the lifeless corpse of the crucified Galilean. At that exact moment, all heaven broke loose. The powers of darkness and evil were ultimately destroyed. Jesus was up and out of the tomb before the rooster crowed, before the soldiers awoke, before the women arrived, before Thomas doubted, before the religious leaders trembled, before the world believed.