No Longer Here…

Jesus is not here
Matthew 28:6

Have you ever lost or misplaced something? Even continued searching in familiar places yields no result. Ultimately you go back and re-check the same places you’ve already looked even though it was clearly not there. Eventually you discover your lost treasure in a completely different place. You have it back, you’re happy again and you take care not to repeat the experience.

In today’s verse the 2 Mary’s have just returned to keep vigil at Jesus tomb. This was the place where Jesus was meant to be. On their arrival an angel tells them Jesus is not there. Then the angel tells them 3 very important things… “Jesus is risen from the dead”, “Jesus is going on ahead of them” & “They’ll see him there”

It would’ve been useless for Mary to stay and keep checking the same old tomb in the hope that Jesus would suddenly appear. If she truly wanted to see Jesus again, she’d have to follow Him because He was now ahead of her. Jesus was in her future. As believers, we often look to our past in the hope we’ll find Jesus where He used to be. The truth is Jesus has moved ahead of us. He’s now in our future and when we follow Him, we’ll see Him. Standing at the tomb of our past failure, defeat or hurt will not produce a result. It’s when we get up, get on and follow Jesus that we receive what we need.

This week let’s leave the tombs of death behind – Jesus isn’t there. It’s time to passionately pursue Him into our future by obeying God’s Word. As we take steps forward, leaving death behind, we’ll see Jesus. He is our life, future and hope but only if we decide to leave the tomb and follow Him!