But
the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you
seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as
he said. Come, see the place where he lay.” Matthew 28:5,6 (ESV)
Easter
is upon us once again, the day the church has chosen to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
When
most of us speak of Christ's resurrection it is with a view to the
change we will experience when we meet Him in the clouds (1st
Thessalonians 4:17). But the historical event of the eye-witnessed
bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead is the hub around which
our Christian faith revolves. Without it our belief is futile and we
should be pitied (1st
Corinthians 15:17-19).
Did
you know there are 103 times in the Bible where God the Father, and
God the Son tell us not to be afraid? Matthew tells us at the
resurrection there was an earthquake and the appearance of heavenly
beings announcing the event. The men guarding the tomb were so
frightened they fell down 'as dead men' (28:4). People are still
afraid of Him today. Maybe not falling down as dead men, but to the point they refuse to investigate the evidence of those who were
there and wrote their accounts. Some might be afraid of negative
peer pressure, of being ostracized by friends and family, physical harm, or having
their unrighteous lifestyles cramped.
Today all the claimed burial sites of
the historic figures of the Bible are empty, if they can even be
found, and some will say “So what?”. But there is one that yet
remains an empty evidence, its existence hovers at the back of the mind an ever
distant perplexity that there might be something to it.
If God's word is true, and it's proved itself to be so many times over, then that nagging little voice may be telling you
something you need to hear. An empty tomb or an
empty heart that refuses to stay filled? If you've been whistling in
the dark concerning Christ I'm here to tell you there's good news.
The Son has risen. Take another look. The tomb stands empty in the
Light. He is alive. All you need to
do is accept Him and believe He is God's supreme sacrifice for the
forgiveness of your sins. That is the good news of the gospel in an
empty tomb. He is not there for He has risen indeed.
Ken
