“He’s Not Here”

When you must reach someone in a life-or-death crisis, and the voice on the other end of your call says flippantly, “He’s not here,” that’s not what you want to hear.

Many Sundays ago two forlorn women trudge to where on Friday they’d seen their hero executed like a devilish felon.

They’d come to anoint His battered, bruised body. Suddenly the ground starts churning. An angel descends and perches on a huge stone blocking the cave. The ladies fight off the glare emanating from the angel.

It’s too much information for the guards who faint, posted there lest the deceased’s posse attempt history’s most notorious heist. What they hear next is breaking news, not only for that Middle Eastern morning, but for all people, all time. The angel addresses the gob-smacked duo, “I know you’re looking for JESUS who was crucified. He’s risen from the dead, just as He said. He’s not here!

If you and I stood on that holy ground where the Savior stood In your place and mine, we’d peer into that tomb, we’d agree – “He’s not here; He’s risen!”

“God makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in JESUS.” Do you? (Romans 3:26)

The Old Rugged Cross - Jerry Lee Lewis