HE IS RISEN 

          "And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay" (Matthew 28:5, 6). Jesus had been openly crucified three days prior to the women coming to the tomb to anoint His dead body. While the Apostles were hid away somewhere out of their fear of the Jews, the women had no fear until they saw the empty tomb and the angels sitting on the stone. They were in a strange city far from home, and yet they came to the tomb in the darkness before the Sun had risen. How many women do you think would have been that brave? They could not have come earlier because of the Feast Days of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and the weekly Sabbath that were being observed until the Sabbath ended. The Sabbath had ended at sundown the previous day, so the women came just as soon as they could.

          The resurrection of Jesus should not have been a surprise to His followers. He had declared numerous times that He would be betrayed and crucified but would rise again after three days. (For example, read Matthew 12:40; Mark 8:31-33; 9:30-32; 10:32-34.) There should have been a large welcoming committee waiting outside the tomb when the three days and nights had ended. However, the only ones to remember His promise to rise again were the ungodly Jews. They went to Pilate, "Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again" (Matthew 27:63).  

          The problem with Jesus' believers was not they had not heard, but they just failed to remember what they had been told. In verse 6 above, Matthew wrote "he is risen, as he said". Luke put it more specifically: "He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words" (24:6-8). They had all spent the last three days and nights distraught and brokenhearted at what they had observed at Calvary, but they could have been filled with anticipation and excitement if they had only remembered His promise and the prospects of soon seeing the empty tomb and their risen Lord.

         I have always been amazed that none of His followers remembered any of the many times He had clearly promised His resurrection to them. I have no explanation unless it was just a "God thing" that prevented them from remembering. It may have been for their protection to keep them away from the burial site until the announcement could be given, "He is risen!"

          I also have no explanation why so many people live today as if they do not remember that Jesus died for them on a rugged cross and rose again leaving an empty tomb behind to return to Heaven to sit at the Father's right hand for them. That is the central message of the Bible and the Gospel we should be proclaiming. "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4).

          Don't fail to remember that Jesus arose from the dead to live for you so you can live with Him and for Him! "And that 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). Also, don't fail to remember that Jesus is not only the risen Savior, but also our coming King of kings and Lord of lords! "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him" (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Jesus lives so you can be risen spiritually with Him to give you a good taste of Heaven! "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1).