'Where are you?' - Genesis 3:9
'Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?' - Matthew 2:2
'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?' - Matthew 27:46
'Why do you seek the living among the dead?' - Luke 24:5
If you have children in your family, or worked with them as a teacher or at Sunday School, you may remember their demanding stage as a toddler, when they continually asked “why?” It was their way of learning as they navigated life.
The first question God asked man in Genesis 3:9 was, ‘”Where are you?” God knew Adam and Eve were hiding because they had disobeyed His command. Humanity’s relationship with God was broken by sin. Mankind was cut off from the presence of God - it was a dark day in history.
However, God was not taken by surprise.
We read His first promise about the coming Saviour in Genesis 3:15, when God says to the serpent “… he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”Throughout the Old Testament, God prepared the way for Christ to be born.
The first question in the New Testament comes in Matthew 2:2, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” News of great joy for all the people had been announced to the shepherds!
Jesus is no longer a baby in the manger. Neither is He on the cross, where He asked the heart-wrenching question recorded in Matthew 27:46, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Christ was forsaken by God when He was dying for our sins so that we can be free and never be forsaken in life or death!
We know He is not in the tomb, as the women who gathered there were asked, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5) Rather, Jesus is exalted at the right hand of God today! (Acts 2:33)
The manger is empty - the cross is empty - the tomb is empty. Is your heart empty because you have never invited the Saviour in? Will you make room for Jesus today?
What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be;
Someday your heart will be asking,
“What will He do with me?”
An extract from ‘Jesus is standing in Pilate’s Hall’, by Albert B. Simpson (1905)