He Is Not Here

This Easter Sunday in churches around the world, pastors will be saying “He is Risen” and the people will respond with “He is risen indeed!”  What a great statement from the gospels;

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.  -Matthew 28:6

But what about those first words……He is not here.

Those bring about a sense of wonder in and of themselves.   People were looking for the dead Jesus, the one they saw crucified and hanging on the cross just a few days previously.  But the angel says to them….”He is not here.”   He is not in the place of the dead.  He is not here where his body will decompose and lay for all eternity.  He is not here where his bones will turn to dust and blow away.  No he is not here.

He has risen to give us new life.  He is risen to defeat death.  As the Newsboys song says, “God’s not dead, he is surely alive!”

Have a blessed Easter everyone!