The Empty Tomb

When ‘finding nothing’ becomes everything.

~Adams Allison~

Two old ladies were walking around a somewhat overcrowded English country church yard and came upon a tombstone. The inscription said: “Here lies John Smith, a politician and an honest man.” “Good heavens!” said one lady to the other. “Isn’t it awful that they had to put two people in the same grave?!”

In that lady’s perspective, that was a “whitewashed tomb… full of dead men’s bones” (Matthew 23:27). Although she was mistaken, it is important to note that her perception, wrong as it may have been, would be the reality we’d all face if Jesus had not risen from the dead; we would have a crowded tomb instead of an empty one.

I once posted this on my Facebook page:

The Empty Tomb!
What is this empty tomb?
It is when ‘finding nothing’ becomes everything.
It is when you go for that HIV test that has been positive all year long and the result comes back negative. 
It is when you wait for that street gangster to make good on his threat and surprisingly no one ever shows up.
It is when you’re in a terrible accident and you search frantically for a broken bone or broken skin and you find none.
The empty tomb says nothing and yet it speaks volumes.
We found an empty tomb and that means everything to us.
Alas, He is risen.

That is the kind of tomb I want to have. In a sense, I can say I have had a foretaste of that already.

My very own empty tomb experience.

Very recently, I was ill for a period of about two months. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. I have been sick before but never to the point where I feared the outcome. It wasn’t a fear of death, it was a fear of something worse. I feared I would end up a vegetable of some sort. I feared that I would sentence my wife to a life of misery taking care of an invalid. Yes! It was that scary.

In that moment of horror and almost despair, I was strung to a hospital bed, pumped full of several medication and mostly experimented on by reckless nurses and doctors.

The first diagnosis was malaria, typhoid and blood infection, then after some superficial treatments administered by some so called doctors I felt better for a while only to have a severe breakdown again. I had to change hospitals and run some more tests. When the results came back, the doctor said I had, “Community acquired pneumonia, adult stage asthma, and lung disease.”

My tomb was more than full, it was crowded.

But God in His infinite mercies surrounded me with His angels – the Allisons, the Ezeokekes, the Baloguns, the Iboks, the other Baloguns, my spiritual father – Pastor Tunde Bakare, Pastor Ike, Pastor Kate, Pastor Biola, Doctor Umeizudike, my dearest aunty Mosun, my wonderful friend Osas, the Adesanyas, the Adeoyas, my comrades Olumide and Sylvester, Kenneth, Jeffrey, Alan and a host of several other family and friends and above all, my lovely wife Pearl – I was surrounded with love and prayers.

Pearle-and-Adams-White-Wedding-6009
The Baloguns, Famuyides & Olusanyas

After I ran new tests and went back to see my doctor, he tells me, “Your system is all clear. You can stop taking your medication…”

Hallelujah, my tomb is empty once again. Christ is risen. I cannot thank Him enough.

I decided to write this as a thanks giving offering to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ for saving my life from the jaws of death and for the vessel(s) He used. May my offering be acceptable to Him – a sweet smelling aroma well pleasing to Him. Amen.