He Is Not Here

I consider Easter the most important holiday.  Not because it happens to fall on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox, but because of the empty tomb that it commemorates. 

As a youth, I never really captured the importance of the empty tomb.  Just like when Mary looked inside and couldn't quite comprehend, I didn't realize that, as Gordon B. Hinckley put so well,

"Here was the greatest miracle of human history.  Ealier He had told them, 'I am the resurrection, and the life' (John 11:25). But they had not understood.  Now they knew.  He had died in misery and pain and loneliness.  Now, on the third day, He arose in power and beauty and life, the firstfruits of all who slept, the assurance for men of all ages that 'as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive' (1 Corinthians 15:22)"

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is real and it means that there is hope.  No matter the circumstance, no matter the depth of our sorrow or pain, no matter the duration--it is temporary.  Our Savior descended below all things and overcame them.  He outlasted all provocation.  He defeated all enemies, and the last enemy that was defeated was death. 

Here was the only Man in the history of the earth who had power to voluntarily give up his life whether He were hanging on a cross or sitting comfortably in a chair--the only Man with power to take that life back again with the same ease. 

Because the tomb was empty--because He was not there--we can have hope in knowing that all of our struggles will be temporary; that if we are faithful, all things will work out for our benefit.   I know that He died, and I know that He rose.  We will all live again.  We will see His face and the marks in His hands. 

Here is hope. 

In Others' Words...

"He is Not Here."