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May 24


Nothing

“What’s all the fuss about?” the skeptic asked. “What are you Christians celebrating anyway?” “Nothing,” I responded, absolutely “nothing.”

The angel of the Lord proclaimed: “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.” (Matthew 28:6 NASB)

“Nothing” makes the message of Christianity unique. Most world religions have a monument that enshrines their founders in marble and granite as a tribute to their lives and teachings.

Christians have no monuments with the remains of their founder. They took Him from the cross and placed Him in a borrowed tomb. Death and Hell could not keep Him. On the first Easter He burst through the ashen grip of the tomb, defeating the powers of Satan, leaving “nothing” where His cold body was!

“Nothing” gives us power. Sin had a death grip on our lives. It defeated us and lead to spiritual death. He gives us power to live a productive spiritual life. The risen Lord transforms our lives because He breaks the power of sin.

“Nothing” gives us hope. They stripped Him of His clothes, beat Him, and placed a crown of thorns on His head. They drove spikes through His flesh onto a cross made from rugged timbers. The heat of the sun beat upon His head as they spit in His face and mocked His name.

They thrust a sword under his rib cage and pierced His heart. The Romans took His cold, sweaty, pale body from the cross and threw it into a cold damp tomb. This was a dark, bleak, hopeless day.

What was in the tomb Easter Sunday? “Nothing!” Blessed be the name of the Lord. “Nothing!”


Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Start Devotionals (Fresno, CA: Willow City Press, 2009).

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