It is Easter season as I write this. In fact, Easter was yesterday. Many Christians, myself included, prefer to use Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday instead of Easter. Of course, the important thing is that He is risen! Upon dying on the cross His body was placed in a borrowed tomb. But He didn’t stay dead and He didn’t stay there. Upon rising from the dead He went to hell to retrieve the keys to death and hell from the devil. Some of His followers discovered that the large stone which was used to close the tomb had been rolled away. That did not happen for Jesus to exit the tomb. He didn’t need it rolled away for Himself. He could walk right thru solid rock. The stone was rolled away so that His followers could enter the tomb and find that He was not there.

Most people never think of that, but if you carefully read the Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John you will see that it is true. Matthew is the only Gospel that explicitly mentions the angel sitting on the stone. The stone wasn’t rolled away to let Jesus out—
He was already risen and had left the tomb. The stone was rolled away to let witnesses in.
The angel sitting on it is like a divine statement:
• The grave is defeated
• Death has lost its authority
• What was sealed by man is undone by God

The stone used to seal off the tomb was quite heavy. It took several men to move it … or one angel. There were guards posted to ensure that the tomb stayed sealed. It did stay sealed, but Jesus was gone. Later the stone was moved while the guards slept. When they woke up they discovered the stone had been moved … opening the empty tomb. Of course, upon discovery of the sealed tomb being open the first thought the guards had was “Houston, we have a problem”. They feared for their lives since this happened while they were there to prevent it.

It wasn’t long after that time when Jesus started making appearances unto His followers and eventually unto a crowd of at least 500 people. So there was plenty of eye witness accounts of His resurrection. He said of Himself … I am the Resurrection and the Life. His Word says that He is the first fruit and more will follow as people give their lives to Him and trust in Him for their salvation. They are assured of resurrection as well at the end of their earthly life.

I am happy to say that the grave could not hold Him … could not keep Him. He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! When You are God, nothing is impossible for You. He even raised Himself from the dead. Of course, both God the Father and the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead as well. All 3 Persons of the Holy Trinity were involved.

So how long was Jesus in the tomb? Not long at all. We know this because of the fact that He had to go to hell to complete His mission. He spent some time there. The tomb was only slightly used. He was placed in it Friday late in the afternoon and the stone sealing off the tomb was rolled away by Sunday morning. Technically that is only about 1 1/2 days.

I serve a risen Savior Who is my Brother. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Someday soon every knee will bow unto Him and every tongue will confess unto Him that He is indeed the King of kings and Lord of lords. It is far better to do it now by choice then to wait and be forced to do it. There is a big difference between the two … a very big difference. You will like the former, but you won’t like the latter. We all have eternal life but we won’t all spend it in the same place. Choose Jesus now while you can. Call on His Name while you can. Putting it off is foolish and dangerous.