We Celebrate a Risen Savior

Most people anticipate springtime after a long, dreary winter. Gone are the frosty mornings and the early sunsets. People are ready to go outside and enjoy the warm sunshine. The changing season also signals a time of rebirth as plants and trees spring forth. Animals start to reappear after hibernation. New life is all around.

But nothing in nature compares to the glory of the new life that sprang from the tomb the first Easter morning 2,000 years ago. Three days after enduring a horrific death on the cross, Jesus conquered sin and death by rising again in a glorified body.

Can you fathom the disciples’ overwhelming joy when Jesus appeared to them (Luke 24:36–42)? Mary Magdalene and the other women had already told the disciples that they saw the risen Lord, but the disciples thought the words to be “an idle tale” (Luke 24:11).

Time and time again, Jesus had told the disciples that He would be crucified and rise three days later to fulfill the Old Testament Scriptures (Matthew 16:21–23; 17:22-23; 20:17–19). But the disciples never fully grasped what He had told them until He appeared to them.

Have you fully grasped the profound significance of Jesus’ resurrection? It’s not just a feel-good fairy tale for children. Unlike the disciples, we have the full Bible at our fingertips, and we can trace God’s plan to redeem humanity from Genesis to Revelation. And the entire redemption plan hinged on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Further, as the Apostle Paul points out, because Jesus conquered death, Christians can celebrate that one day they will also experience a bodily resurrection: “For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality” (1 Corinthians 15:52–53). Death is not the end for Christians – it’s only the beginning.

Praise God that we serve a risen Savior who accomplished God’s plan to save His fallen creation. And because He lives, we also will live once again.

Join all of us this year in celebrating Jesus’ resurrection this Easter. He is risen!