Recall that Jesus left not a hair or a bone fragment in that cave. The religious leaders would have used that as proof he was not risen. Even today the religious leaders of Israel cannot adequately answer the question of habeas corpus – “you may have the body.”
Habeas Corpus – Jesus’ body never found
Don’t you just love the way God takes care of the details?
There are two passages from the Bible that explain the total absence of Jesus’ body as a fulfillment of the law as well as a deterrent to critics.
First, the sacrifice of the Passover was to be totally consumed.
Leviticus 7:17 But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire.
And Jesus was resurrected on the third day. In most cases the priest saw to it that the blood sacrifice was totally consumed, but when Jesus was in the tomb there was no priest present. God, however, still had that chance to show Jesus’ sacrifice was accepted by the father so God did it Himself, as in this passage:
God consumes the sacrifice Himself
2 Chronicles 7:1 King James Version (KJV) 7 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices.
Jesus as a single once-for-all sacrifice
The book of Hebrews reminds us that there is no additional sacrifice for sins. Jesus paid it all, that one time, never-to-be-repeated complete sacrifice for every sin of history now, in the past and in the future, if we as individuals will accept it. Ah, but that is the question.
So when the disciples, and the women looked into the tomb, they found the grave clothes and no Jesus, no corpse, no nothing, not a hair. God accepted the sacrifice.