He Is Risen!

From Charles Spurgeon, April 8, 1855. The sermon was titled “The Tomb of Jesus”.

I had a friend, who, standing by the side of a piece of frozen water saw a young lad in it, and sprang upon the ice in order to save him. After clutching theboy he held him in his hands, and cried out, “Here he is! here he is! I have saved him.” But just as they caught hold of the boy, he sank himself, and his body was not found for some time afterwards, when he was quite dead.

Oh! it is so with Jesus. My soul was drowning. From heaven’s high portals he saw me sinking in the depths of hell. He plunged in.

“He SANK beneath his heavy woes,
To raise me to a crown;
There’s ne’er a gift his hand bestows,
But cost his heart a groan.”

Ah! we may indeed regret our sin, since it slew Jesus.

Now, Christian, change thy note a moment. “Come, see the place here the Lord lay,” with joy and gladness, He does not lie there now. Weep, when ye see the tomb of Christ, but rejoice because it is empty. Thy sin slew him, but his divinity raised him up. Thy guilt hath murdered him, but his righteousness hath restored him. Oh! he hath burst the bonds of death; he hath ungirt the cerements of the tomb, and hath come out more than conqueror, crushing death beneath his feet. Rejoice, O Christian, for he is not there-he is risen. “Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”