“Because He Lives!”
~ Dwight D. Garrett ~
Matthew 28:6 He is not here: for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.
What a wonderful and glorious event this was (and still is). Within these very words lies the undeniable truth that our Saviour lives and that through His unselfish act upon the Cross - we too can have the promise and hope of life everlasting.
These glorious words (as found in Matthew 28:6) spoken by an angel brought, fear, great joy, and much confusion to those who heard them. The events just prior to the amazing and wondrous fulfillment of the promise that Jesus would rise from the dead, surely must have been a confusing and anxiety filled time for those who followed Christ --- they had seen their Messiah, the Lord Jesus, raise Lazarus from the dead, enter triumphantly into Jerusalem as their King, and then be betrayed, arrested, beaten, bloodied, spat upon, mocked, ridiculed, humiliated and hung on a cross to die between two criminals. They thought He was the One who would deliver them from their enemies and lead them into His kingdom. Now, early in the morning, they had gone to see His tomb - and He was not there!
The news that He was alive should not have come as a surprise to them though. Many times He had foretold of His crucifixion and resurrection. In fact, time after time, He told them that He would go to Jerusalem, die, and rise again. The importance of His resurrection is as great as that of His death. “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” (Romans 4:25).
Through His death the penalty was paid for our sins. Through His resurrection we are given a living hope, the proof that His promises are true: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5).
Without a living Saviour, there would be no hope. "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins."
(1 Corinthians 15:17).
But Halleluiah – Praise’s to Jesus - He lives! "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Revelation 1:18).
Because of His resurrection, Jesus lives as the glorious hope of the believer and as the Judge of the unbeliever. Have you come in faith to Jesus Who died for you, repenting of your sins, and claiming His gift to you of eternal life? "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
If you have not, won't you come to Him right now? Coming to Jesus means believing that He alone is able and willing to be your personal Saviour and Lord – and knowing and believing that He died and rose again: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9).
If you have trusted the living Saviour, consider this: "He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:15).
He has died for you and rose again to raise you from spiritual death to spiritual life. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:1-3).
Come to Christ today and see what great things the living Lord has done for you - and what He can and will do for you in the here and now – and in and throughout eternity! And come and celebrate the only true meaning of what we know as Easter. Come to the tomb of Jesus and see for yourself that; "He is not here: for He is risen, as He said."
The words that were spoken by an angel at the empty tomb of Jesus were not “just empty words spoken in vain”, but instead are an undeniable factual truth and gives us the peace, comfort and joy that we so desperately seek – and which gives us a wondrous and glorious hope – all ... “Because He Lives!”
Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?" (John 11:25-26)