If I were to drive to our church building tomorrow morning and walk into the worship center at 10am, I would have to say, “we are not here.” It’s been very difficult to not be able to physically gather the last several weeks for worship. Not gathering on Resurrection Sunday to worship is unthinkable! We won’t be able to see our brothers and sisters in Christ and witness one another’s joy. We won’t be able to sing the glories of our Savior together. We won’t be able to sit together and delight in God’s Word.
As I have thought on this and lamented the fact that we will not be together tomorrow, the “we are not here” reminded me of something that brought me encouragement. On that first Easter morning when the women came to the tomb of Jesus the angel said to them, “He is not here, for he has risen, as he said” (Matt. 28:6).
The resurrection of Jesus was the beginning of the New Creation. The fullness of that New Creation will be realized at the second coming of Jesus when He makes all things new. On that day the shadows and glimpses we got of the New Creation in Jesus’ earthly ministry will be fully realized. For those who are in Christ by faith, all the blind will see, all the deaf will hear, all the lame will walk, all the diseased will be healed, and sin and death will be no more. Hold on, let me say that one more time, sin and death will be NO MORE (Rev. 21:1-5).
Not only that, but Jesus will gather all of the church to himself and we will be with Him forevermore. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, will cause any of His people to be absent on that day. We will gather together and witness the joy on one another’s faces. We will gather together and sing the glories of the resurrected King. We will gather together and delight in the Word made flesh for us.
We may not be able to gather tomorrow, but rest assured, COVID-19 doesn’t get the last word, Jesus does. Christian, because the angel said, “he is not here” on that first Easter, we can be sure we will all be there on that final Day.
Written by Matt Baker