He Is Not Here But He Is Risen!

Before we finally bid goodbye to the Easter season this year, we visit another of its aspects. Unlike the aspect we considered last week, this is one we all know very well. We love the resurrection even as we shun the suffering and the death. What you may not appreciate is how this week’s topic relates to you. When the bible says: He is not here but He is risen, is there a promise in there for you?

There certainly is. And is there any way we can be sure that we can appropriate that promise for our particular situation? The answer is yes for some and no for others. When the religious leaders crucified Jesus, they thought they had won. Consequently, they wished Him to remain dead. And when the reports of His resurrection got to them, these religious leaders would not believe.

They even went as far as to claim that there was a conspiracy among the disciples. Religious leaders postulated that some of the disciples stole the body away to confuse. There was no way He arose. And yet the bible is quite clear: He is not here but He is risen.

The fact that He was not where the world supposed Him to be was not in any doubt. The issue was where He was. Keep in mind, even the disciples did not know where Jesus was. All they could see was what others also saw. Jesus’ absence from the grave where they expected Him to be equally perplexed the disciples.  

You Are Not There

For the believer in Jesus, that last sentence will bring joy. It is the promise of a divine relocation. But you have to believe what Jesus said and is saying even now. That is why at the start, we said that the promise is for some while it may not be for others. If you are a believer, you relocate with Jesus, in whom you believe. Because He is not here but is risen, you too are not here but you are risen.

However, let us take this one step at a time. First, you are not there; what does that mean? It means that you are no longer in the position where the enemy dumped you. You see, that is the same way they dumped Jesus into the grave. This is what the enemy specializes in doing. He catches a man, perhaps in some sin or another. Then, he puts him in a cage, in lockdown, fully assured that he cannot escape.

However, when next the enemy comes to look in on you, he is flabbergasted and disappointed. You are not there. I pray that, concerning your life, the enemy will always be disappointed in the mighty name of Jesus. But it is only the name of Jesus that the cage doors open. He is the first of whom it was said, “He is not here but he is risen.”

He Is Not Here But He Is Risen Is A Promise

To the untrained eye, that statement that He is not here but he is risen sounds like a mere statement. But for the believer, the one who knows that his life is hidden in Christ, it is an awesome promise. Where Jesus is, that is where you are also. You remember that Jesus gave us that other promise when He said He would come back and get us. He would then take us to His Father’s house so that we could be where He is.

As we learn to dwell with Him in His Father’s house of many mansions here, His experiences become ours. We become joint-heirs with Christ. That means that everything that God gives Jesus can also become ours. So, when you read that He is not here but He is risen, you can readily appropriate it for yourself. But only if you are in Christ Jesus.

That condition is the reason the promise is for some but not for others. There are others who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord. Such people may even be very active in the church but in their hearts, Jesus is not Master.  And even if you don’t know the state of their hearts, God knows. The bible says that God knows those who are His own.

Such people see the promise and shrug their shoulders. Their attitude is, so what? He is not here but He is risen, so?  We who are believers can respond to them: so that where He is, we may be also. And since He is not in His previous location, neither are we. We have relocated from where the enemy dumped us? Did I hear an alleluia? Amen

We Shall Rise Because He Is Not Here But He Is Risen.

The promise for us does not end with relocation because a person can relocate downwards. Therefore, to avoid any such confusion, the bible is specific about our new location. When He relocated, Jesus did not go any which way. He arose. Jesus went up. Christ is risen. Praise God. He is not here but He is risen. The bible cannot be any more specific than that and that is the basis of our joy.

And please note that our joy does not depend on the size of our bank account or our circumstances. Our joy depends on what I like to call our “innerstances.” Who is on the inside of you? That is what brings you joy, regardless of your circumstances. If your innerstances consist of Jesus, then your joy is full.

It is a position that finds endorsement in the book of James. That sage says let the brother in lowly circumstance rejoice as much as the one in a lofty position. Why? It is because since He is not here but He is risen, we too have risen. We relocated and went up, not down. Praise God.

If someone looks for you down there, where you used to be, you are not there. Before anyone can locate you now, they have to look up. For me, that is an astounding promise. That alone is enough to make a person a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Maranatha!