Bones in a Box
Scripture Reading: Exodus 13-15; Matthew 19; Psalm 25
It’s difficult to choose just one portion of Exodus this week for reflection. These chapters are an explosion of Christological typology. The Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the pillar of fire and the cloud, the crossing of the Red Sea, the bitter waters made sweet—every scene brims with meaning, each one pointing us forward to Christ, who fulfills all these signs and shadows.
But instead of focusing on the more prominent moments, I want to turn your attention to something easily overlooked: a box of bones.
In Exodus 13:19, we read, “Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.’”
Think about this for a moment. Depending on how you calculate Israel’s time in Egypt, Joseph’s bones were kept for somewhere between 250 and 400 years. Through slavery, suffering, and generations of waiting, Joseph’s final instructions were remembered. His bones were preserved, not as relics, but as a testimony. They were a tangible reminder of a promise: God will surely visit you.
Imagine what those bones represented to the people of Israel. They were a symbol of hope, a declaration that their suffering would not last forever. They were a silent witness to the faithfulness of God and a call to trust in His promise to deliver His people.
But here’s the good news for us: we don’t have bones in a box.
We have something far better.
We have an empty tomb.
Joseph’s bones pointed forward to the day when God would visit His people and bring them out of slavery. The empty tomb of Jesus points back to the day when God Himself came down, bore our sin, conquered death, and rose victorious. It is the ultimate sign of our freedom and our hope.
When we look at the empty tomb, we see not just a promise remembered, but a promise fulfilled. It declares that sin and death have been defeated, that Christ has gone before us to prepare a place for us, and that eternal life with Him is secure.
Unlike Joseph’s bones, which needed to be carried to a distant land, Jesus has already made the way for us. We don’t carry His remains; He carries us. We don’t look to a grave filled with bones; we look to an empty tomb that proclaims, “He is not here, for He has risen!”
The resurrection of Jesus is our guarantee of eternal life. In His resurrection, we see the promise of our own, when we will rise to be with Him forever. So let us look to the empty tomb and find in it an enduring hope, a living Savior, and a faith that can carry us through every trial and every generation.
