Luke 24:6 is the angel’s announcement that Jesus is not in the tomb because he has risen from the dead. The words are spoken by two men in dazzling clothing to a group of women who had come to anoint Jesus’ body, and they correct their search for a body among the dead. The women are the first to hear this news, and they carry it back to the eleven apostles and the others gathered with them.
He isn’t here, but is risen. Remember what he told you when he was still in Galilee…
Luke 24:6 (WEB)
What Luke 24:6 Means
The verse opens with “He isn’t here,” a plain statement that the body the women came to honor is gone from the place where they expected to find it. The angels do not leave the matter there. They add “but is risen,” which turns an empty tomb from a mystery of loss into a sign of life. The verb points to a completed action, so the message is that Jesus has already been raised, not that he might someday be.
The second half of the verse asks the women to “remember what he told you.” It calls them back to words Jesus spoke earlier in Galilee, where he had said he would be handed over, killed, and raised on the third day. The angels are not introducing a surprise. They are showing that the events fit a pattern Jesus had already described. The verse does not promise that every hard moment will end in a dramatic reversal, but it does tell readers that God’s word about Jesus is reliable and that God keeps what he has said.
The Context of Luke 24:6
Luke wrote the Gospel bearing his name, and the Acts of the Apostles, to a reader he addresses as Theophilus. Tradition identifies the author as Luke, a companion of Paul, though scholars continue to discuss the details of his life. The Gospel is written with careful attention to order and to the eyewitness testimony that shaped the early church, which helps explain why the resurrection account includes so many named and unnamed witnesses.
Just before verse 6, the women find the stone rolled away and the body missing, and they are “greatly perplexed” when two men appear beside them. After the verse, they “remembered his words” and return to tell the eleven. Read in that setting, Luke 24:6 is the hinge of the scene. Confusion turns to recollection, and recollection turns into witness. The verse therefore is not only about the resurrection itself but about how the women come to understand what they have seen.
Key Phrases in Luke 24:6
1 Corinthians 15:4
That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…
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Paul summarizes the gospel by saying that Christ was buried and raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. His words echo the same pattern of death followed by resurrection, and they help readers see that the women’s announcement was part of the church’s earliest confession of faith.
Romans 6:4
We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.
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Paul connects the resurrection of Christ to the new life of those who believe. Just as Jesus was raised, believers are invited to walk in newness, which gives Luke 24:6 a personal dimension for anyone who has put their trust in him.
A Short Prayer From Luke 24:6
Lord Jesus, you are not in the tomb, because you have risen and you are alive. When I look for hope in the wrong places, remind me of your words and of your faithfulness. Help me to remember what you have said, and to trust that the same power that raised you can meet me in my fear, my grief, and my uncertainty. Let the empty tomb shape the way I live today, with courage and with joy. Amen.
