Luke 24:6 Meaning: Remember What He Told You

The Greek behind “He is risen” is a single verb, ēgerthē. It means “he was raised up”, from sleep, from the ground, from death. The form of the verb points to an action done to him by another. The Father raised the Son. This is not a metaphor or a spirit surviving. A body that was dead now lives.

The command to remember is mnēsthēte, a strong word that means “be reminded” or “call to mind.” It is the same word used when God “remembered” his covenant with Abraham. Memory here is not a casual recollection. It is an active, deliberate turning of the mind to what is true. The women are told to reach back past the shock of the empty tomb and the terror of the angels. They are to recover the words of Jesus spoken months earlier, in Galilee, before the cross was even a shadow on the road.

The little word eti, “still” or “yet”, marks a boundary. He spoke those words while he was still in Galilee, before the journey to Jerusalem, before the arrest, before the nails. That time is over. Now a new time has begun. But the words spoken then still hold. The resurrection proves they were true all along.

Christians across traditions have seen this verse as a hinge between prediction and fulfillment. The Geneva Bible Notes simply restate the command to remember, assuming the women knew the words because they had walked with Jesus from Galilee. Matthew Henry’s Commentary emphasizes that the resurrection is not a surprise but the completion of Jesus’s own teaching. Wesley’s Explanatory Notes observes that after the resurrection Jesus never again calls himself “the Son of Man”, that title belonged to his earthly work. The Cambridge Bible points back to Matthew 17:22-23, where Jesus first told his disciples he would be killed and raised. All traditions agree: the empty tomb does not stand alone. It is anchored in what Jesus said beforehand. The angels are not bringing new information. They are waking up old memory.

Some readers assume the phrase “He is not here” means Jesus’s body was simply moved to another location. In fact, the angels are declaring a resurrection, not a relocation. The women came expecting to find a dead body. The tomb is empty because death could not hold him. The command to remember Jesus’s own words shows that this was not a last-minute plan. He had been telling them all along what would happen. The resurrection is not a new idea; it is the oldest promise they had forgotten.

This week you may find yourself staring at an empty space, a relationship that ended, a hope that died, a prayer that seems unanswered. The temptation is to assume the worst, to think God has failed or that you misunderstood. The angels’ words to the women are for you too. Remember what Jesus told you. He said he would rise. He said he would prepare a place. He said he would never leave you. The resurrection does not erase the pain of Friday, but it proves that every word he spoke is true. Take one promise of Christ that you know by heart and hold it against the empty tomb. Let the memory of his words become the ground beneath your feet.