What Do I Learn About God from Easter?

Jesus is risen!
He is risen, indeed!
And, today, as we affirm that glorious truth with our sunrise breakfasts and Easter lilies, with our celebratory singing and ham dinners, we’re coming close to the heartbeat of God. For most of us, it will be a busy day, so let’s fortify ourselves with truth strong enough to carry us into the full wattage of this blinding, bright holiday.

God is relentless in his determination to connect with humanity. From the first pages of Scripture, we find him pursuing Adam and Eve in their cowering lostness, and God’s heart is unchanged in his final words of welcome and invitation in Revelation 22. The question we bring to the celebration of Easter, then, is, “What Do I Learn About God in the Resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ?” Here are three suggestions:

We Learn that Death Alone is Not the Same as Death with a Promise of Resurrection

There is nothing as irreversible as death. Whether it’s a goldfish or a grandfather when life leaves the body, that creature is gone from us, and we mourn the loss. We miss the person or the pet, and we lament the horror of separation.

Jesus’s ministry in a human body opened the door of hope for a reversal of death: the son of a poor widow, the daughter of a synagogue official, a friend in Bethany who had been dead for four days. Death’s door was suddenly permeable, and with his own resurrection, Jesus blew the door off its hinges.

In the end, the risen Christ will raise us up with him. “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you (Romans 8:11). For the believer, death has been defanged and disarmed, because it is not the worst thing that can happen to us.

We Learn that Easter is Permission to Believe the Unbelievable

When Mary Magdalene and her friends arrived at Jesus’s tomb in the early morning hours, they were looking for death. A missing body spelled trouble and thievery–certainly not victory and life! Even the appearance of an angel barely convinced the women, for Mark’s gospel tells us they left the tomb with “trembling and astonishment,” and “they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid” (Mark 16:8).

Jesus’s in-person appearances pretty quickly resolved the disciples’ unbelief, and from the resurrection on, we see a different band of believers. No longer a quibbling band of disciples arguing over who should get the corner office, belief in the resurrection galvanized and sustained a band of martyrs, willing to die for the truth Jesus stood for.

From that morning beyond belief, we are emboldened to believe that evil can be transformed, sin can be forgiven, anxiety can be diminished, and hope can be restored.

Easter, the morning beyond belief, emboldens us to believe that evil can be transformed, sin can be forgiven, anxiety can be diminished, and hope can be restored.

Tweet

We Learn that Only Christ Crucified and Resurrected Can Bear the Weight of Human Hope

What are you hoping for today?

If your hope is resting on the success of your parenting venture, your career, your ministry, or your own health, strength, beauty, or competence brace yourself because none of this is lasting. Our hope is rooted in God and his promises, because “He who did not spare his own Son… delivered him up for us all.” This is huge because in that delivering up, we have the assurance that he will “freely give us all things” that we require (Romans 8:32).

Only Christ crucified and resurrected can bear the weight of your hopes and dreams. Anything else will collapse under the weight.

If we picture the offering up of Christ as a 2,000-pound stone, and if we agree that God willingly lifted that weight, can we believe him when he promises to lift the pebble of our broken relationships? The comparatively small weight of our struggle with anger or selfishness or loneliness?

You are never beyond the reach of hope, and Easter is God’s reassurance that Christ’s scars will one day eradicate your scars. Christ’s death was not the end of a failed movement but the gateway to glory. His imperishable life is your invitation to live in unquenchable hope.

So rejoice!
Jesus is Risen, and your faithful, day-by-day embrace of this living reality provides the proof this world needs for the real existence of another, better world.

Holding You in the Light,

You are never beyond the reach of hope, and #Easter is God’s reassurance that Christ’s scars will one day eradicate your scars. Christ’s imperishable life is your invitation to live in unquenchable hope.

Tweet

Did You Know that I Also Publish a Monthly Newsletter?

Every month I send a newsletter with biblical encouragement straight to my subscribers’ email inboxes. Frequently, I share free resources, and the newsletter is where everything lands first. I’m committed to the truth that women can become confident followers of God and students of his Word, and it’s my goal to help you along that path.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees. If you should decide to purchase any of the books or products I’ve shared, simply click on the image, and you’ll be taken directly to the seller. If you decide to buy, I’ll make a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Photo by Bruno van der Kraan on Unsplash