Easter Sunday

BY Beverly Berrus

When our kids were toddlers, we taught them how to play Hide-and-Seek. Our daughter caught on pretty well. She’d hide and stay hidden. Our very extroverted son, on the other hand, would hide for thirty seconds, then proudly reveal himself by yelling, “Here I am, Mommy!” He understood the game. He just wanted to be found.

We finally come to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which initially feels like a game of Hide-and-Seek. Over two thousand years ago, those faithful women rose early to visit their friend’s tomb only to find His body gone. The disciples were baffled even though the angels had already explained where He was. It was when Jesus revealed Himself in His resurrected state that the picture became more clear for them.

This was the moment that all of redemptive history had been hurtling toward. Luke and John emphasized that the resurrection fulfilled the Scriptures and Christ’s own words (John 20:9, Luke 24:6–7). He was not there; He had risen. Death, the grave, and the gates of hell could not prevail against our Savior. “God raised him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by death” (Acts 2:24).

Think with me about what it would mean if God had not raised Jesus back to life. It would mean our redemption was incomplete, God’s righteous wrath was not satisfied, and our adoption was void. If Jesus did not rise from the grave, we would still be guilty before God, responsible for paying the wages our sins deserved. If Jesus had not risen, we would never know the joys and pleasures of God’s presence, and we would still be in bondage to the power of sin and death.

But the fact is, He is risen. He is risen indeed! And in defeating death, He reversed the curse for good and crushed the serpent’s head. God and people are no longer separated because the true and better Adam glorified God in all the ways we never could. What joyous news—our hope is living, and our heavenly inheritance is unfading (1Peter 1:3–4). Christ’s resurrection power is at work in us even now (Ephesians 1:19–20)! And as if all this wasn’t enough, the Bible says Jesus’s resurrection guarantees our own resurrection (1Corinthians 6:14). 

The resurrection is a historical fact that all Christians have based their lives on. Like my son, Jesus revealed Himself so that He may be found (Acts 17:27). And if we have found Him, it’s because He found us first. Sisters, our resurrection hope is an everyday hope which sustains us through all of life’s seasons and each part of our earthly pilgrimage. We have the assurance that God is for us because “He did not even spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). I pray that the hope of the resurrection would bring us great joy and anticipation for the coming day when we will see Him face to face—forever.