“Why do you look for the living in the place of the dead?” (Lk 24:5) This question, posed by the angel to the women who came to anoint Jesus’ body highlights the futility of seeking a living relationship with Him by looking in dead places.
He is not to be found in dead works, the kind that spring from our own self-righteousness rather than being inspired and empowered by the Spirit of God.
He is not to be found in dead religion, the kind that centres on ritual and ceremony, on crossing all the “T”s and dotting all the “I”s, but never introduces anyone to the Person to whom it is all supposed to point.
He is certainly not to be found in dead occultism, which counterfeits the things of God whilst pulling people further and further away from His reality.
All that is true, and I have ministered along those lines a number of times in the past. But today as I have meditated on this verse again in light of the approaching Easter season, it seems to me that the Lord wants to bring a deeper understanding to us as individuals, particularly as those in ministry, and to the Body of Christ as a whole.
When Israel wandered in the wilderness after the Exodus, they were led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the pillar stopped in one place, they camped there, but when the pillar moved they had to move on. It didn’t matter how much they liked the place where they had been: it was no longer the place where God was, and if they wanted His presence they had to leave. That season was over.
Likewise, on that resurrection morning, Jesus’ season of death was over. It had been a brief but busy season, not merely sleeping in death, but descending to Hades where He preached to those held there in prison. (1Pet 3:19) Now that season was over and He had moved on, leaving the grave to the dead. To find Him, the women would have to go to the place where He now was.
All too often, we want to linger in the places where God used to be. The old vision, the old victory. That place that was familiar and comfortable. Even, sometimes, the place that was distinctly uncomfortable, but at least is familiar.
We need to lift up our eyes. The tomb is empty. The pillar of fire has moved. The old was good while God was there. It was a place of life. But God is no longer there, and wherever He is not, is the place of the dead. We need to seek Him where He is today. To hear His vision for today. To receive His power for today.
So often I hear Christians wishing we could return to the Book of Acts. The season of God recorded in Acts was amazing. But that season has passed. God has greater things ahead for us, but we will never enter into them by longing to return to what was.
I believe we are on the cusp of a season that will make the Book of Acts look like kindergarten. God is doing a new thing. There has been a seismic shift in the heavens that will soon be felt upon the earth. To be part of it, we have to stop looking for Him in the place of the dead, in the seasons of the past that are now over, and move into the daily moment-by-moment newness of His life.