'The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.'"' (Matthew 28.5-7)
I am never afraid because Jesus is with me. My real experiences with God have never been in a church, or in a conference. It was first in my teenage cry for God – then in my cancer – then in my prison that I found God. The next step of power in my ministry began when God touched my life in that prison!
God is always a God of miracles! Yes, I have experienced the power of God in my life! Not some emotional experience in a conference, but step by step walking closer to God – my teenage cry for fire, the cancer, the prison – and many other problems and miracles.
What amazes me is the disciples' reaction to the resurrection. Even after walking with Jesus, they were shocked when the tomb was empty. In Matthew’s Gospel, it says there was an earthquake, and angels rolled away the stone. The authorities feared the disciples would steal His body, so they sealed the tomb and posted guards. Yet even with all they’d seen – Jairus’ daughter raised, Lazarus resurrected – they didn’t believe Jesus was alive until they saw Him.
That’s the truth: conviction comes through personal experience. We can believe in God, sure – but so does the devil. What we need is a personal encounter with Jesus.
In John's account, Mary and John reached the tomb, but only Peter dared to go inside. Thomas missed Jesus' first appearance to the disciples, and he refused to believe until he touched the wounds himself.
The first time I went to New York more than 60 years ago, I was invited to visit a very famous drug rehabilitation centre run by a pastor who worked with boys and men from the streets of New York. David Wilkerson became famous because of his book, ‘The Cross and the Switchblade’. I was shown round the centre by a young man who had been a drug addict but was now converted.
I went into some of the rooms and saw the young men with the terrible withdrawal symptoms. But to my amazement in one of the rooms a message was scrawled on the bare wall, written by one of the inmates: ‘I know Jesus is alive – because I talked to Him this morning!’ The reality of our relationship with Christ is not in repeating prayers and phrases, it’s in knowing Him. I talk to Him, He talks to me!
I know Jesus! I am the living evidence of the Power of God. In 1964 when I had throat cancer, God miraculously healed me: the doctors saw the scar where the Hand of God cut the cancer out of my throat.
At the empty tomb, the angel of the Lord said, 'Don't be afraid... Come and see the place where He lay!' I want to tell you, don't be afraid, trust Jesus! Then accept the invitation of Jesus, and experience the miracle of new life for yourself.