Just As He Said

“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said”(Matt 28:6).

 

Easter morning my social media sites were going crazy with people posting and tweeting the good news that Jesus is alive.  I loved it!  There’s nothing better to broadcast than the truth that changed the world.  Many friends displayed pictures of the empty tomb with the caption “HE IS RISEN!” gracing the image.  That saying is surely so and comes straight from scripture, but it’s only part of the verse. In our haste to abbreviate, we sometimes miss an important part of the message—“He has risen, just as he said”(Matt 28:6)

.

“Just as he said.” Those words, announced by the angel to an astonished Mary Magdalene, were not a taunting “I told you so” but a tantalizing “He told you so.”  They were meant to jolt memories and make God’s people realize that His words are not hopeful intentions or helpful ideas but holy truth. To quote a great and Godly man, “There is a living God.  He has spoken in the Bible.  He means what He says and will do all He has promised”(Hudson Taylor).  God will do all—not part, not much, not even most. God has promised many things, and the fact that Jesus came back from death, “just as He said,” is the unconditional guarantee that He will keep them ALL.

God has said that He has adopted us as children(Eph 1:5) and forgiven and forgotten our sins(Heb 8:12).  He has said that no one can snatch us out of His hand(Jn 10:28), that nothing can separate us from His love(Rom 8:31), and that He will finish what He started(Phil 1:6).  He has said that He will provide what we need(Phil 4:19), fill us with His presence(Jn 14:23), and take us to be with Him forever(Jn 14:3).

That’s saying a lot, but God will do it all—“just as he said.”  His words are never empty; they are actions.  He spoke forgiveness on the cross and faithfulness in the cemetery.  The tomb is empty because He said so, and so He did. 

Since God kept His word on Sunday, we can trust Him to keep it on Monday.

“Just as he said.”

Hallelujah!