Read Matthew 28:1-10

“He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.” (Matthew 28:6)

Imagine being there that joyful Sunday morning. At first, you woke up with a heavy heart of depression on your way to seek the tomb of Jesus. But to your surprise you are welcomed by a glorious angel who announces that Jesus is alive! How would you take the news?

We cannot overlook the special emphasis that the angel places on the words: “as He said.” The Lord Jesus said He would rise again, and the Lord Jesus did as He said He would!

As shocking as it was, this extraordinary event wasn’t meant to be a complete surprise. During Christ’s earthly ministry He constantly told His disciples and others that He would die and rise again from the dead on the third day. Sometimes Jesus went into exact detail:

“From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.” (Matthew 16:21)

““Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”” (Matthew 20:18–19)

What a wonder that the disciples hid themselves in fear after the crucifixion rather than wait in anticipation of what Christ said He would do. For even after it was reported by the women that Jesus was alive, the disciples continued to disbelieve! In even more tragic fashion, when Jesus appeared right before the disciples’ eyes for the first time, some still did not believe.

“And [Jesus] said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38)

Oh, how easily our foe named Doubt can intimidate us and trip us up at the heels. Just as that serpent of old deceived Eve in the garden, so does Doubt make its same mark upon us to deceive us.

Are we living in fear and doubt of Christ’s resurrection power today? If so, you have forgotten the promise of Christ’s Word — and He always keeps His Word.

We cannot think that our faith is strictly a matter of seeing — it is a matter of believing the word of promise that Jesus gave. And just as certainly as He rose from the grave, He promised to raise you up by the same power and Spirit!

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25)

Just as Jesus is risen, “as He said.”, so too will you be risen “as He said.” And though your mortal body is passing away, your spirit is risen to new life even now through the quickening of Holy Spirit.

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.” (Romans 6:8–9)

So live in this great hope! Don’t hide away in fear, but live in the reality of His resurrection life and anticipate His coming with joy when the corruption will put on incorruption, and this mortal, immortality.

For on that day, our new anthem will be:

““O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?”” (1 Corinthians 15:55)

It will be just as Christ said. Do you believe this?