Key Texts: Matthew 16: 21 – 26; Matthew 17: 1 – 9; Matthew 17: 23 – 24; Matthew 26: 36 – 56; John 18 – 20; Luke 24: 1; John 20: 1; Mark 16: 2 – 4; Matthew 28: 1 – 6; Matthew 5: 17 – 19
Additional Texts: Genesis 3: 15; Isaiah 53; Matthew 24: 35
It’s Easter! He is Risen! I wish you every blessing as we celebrate! May it be a time of reflection and gratitude for God’s sacrifice of His Son for us. I love having time to reflect on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection at this time of year, but also give thanks to God all year for making it possible to have a relationship with Him.
There are several Scriptures attached to this entry; it will be helpful to read them as well, but the messages may still be understood if you don’t have time to do so immediately.
In the previous entry, we explored the reality that it is not only significant to remember Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross, but also to learn from His journey to the cross in the three years of His earthly ministry. In a similar way, the resurrection we focus on in this entry is the most significant truth for Christians – God sent His Son to redeem us, and that sacrifice gives anyone who accepts Him the gift of the eternal life He promises.
All four gospels describe the days leading to Jesus crucifixion and resurrection. We celebrate the resurrection but it also helpful for us to recall the agonising time Jesus spent in the Garden, asking God to spare Him of the gruesome death. Each time He prayed, He also asked for God’s will to be done. Because of His love for us, God did not spare His Son of suffering despite His pleas, but still answered Jesus’ prayer – for His will to be done. His will involved torture, betrayal, mockery, flogging with lead-tipped whips that tore Jesus’ flesh and even worse – immense sorrow at feeling forsaken by God in a most excruciating death. The thought of the pain and suffering Jesus endured helps me to understand His love, but admittedly also makes me cringe, and may have a similar effect on you.
Jesus endured those dark days before He rose. Imagine also being the disciples who travelled with Him for three years, but fled when a mob sent by the religious leaders, armed with clubs and swords came to ensure that He was arrested. They believed in Him, but were also fearful and anxious. Their leader was snatched away (temporarily), and their dreams seemed shattered.
Prior to that, Jesus had predicted His suffering, death and resurrection to the disciples, who did not quite grasp what He meant until it happened. Likewise, from the Old Testament, there were prophecies of a coming Messiah who would suffer and rise again and Jesus embodied those prophecies. He is risen, and that resurrection fulfilled a promise spoken hundreds of years before, but He had to endure the suffering to resurrect Himself from death. Whether through prophecies revealed to the Old Testament prophets or through Jesus Himself, suffering would precede the resurrection.
Why is this significant? Jesus’ endurance to fulfil His earthy purpose is a reminder of God’s character on this day that we celebrate the resurrection, the reason for our hope – He keeps His promises.
We may hope in God fulfilling His promises and believe that He will because of the resurrection. In the key texts, both the prophets (as instructed by God) and Jesus foretold His death and resurrection. It was a gruesome journey for Jesus, but His suffering ended – He was buried and rose again! It was filled with humble acts of submission and love to His Father, and Jesus rose again! He was mocked and spat on and He arose! His followers forsook Him and He arose. His flesh was punctured and torn, and He arose. He was arrested and surrounded by a hate-filled mob during the Passover week and questioned them about why they didn’t arrest Him while He taught in the temple daily, but as Jesus told them, it was because prophecies recorded in the Scriptures had to be fulfilled. He was rejected by those He came to save and He arose.
Both parts of the prophesy have been fulfilled! Yes, He suffered – prophesy fulfilled. Yes, He arose – prophesy fulfilled! Jesus could have quit when He realised the extent of suffering He’d endure, but He endured so both parts of the prophesy would be fulfilled. The blessing of the resurrection may not be a concern of yours now, but perhaps you are holding to a promise from the Word too. Could you be in part one of a promise too?
There are hundreds of similar promises in the Bible (of suffering followed by joy). Only a few are detailed below but they’re reassuring nonetheless.
1. Weeping endures for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30: 5). Weeping or sad times precede the joyous morning.
2. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them from them all (Psalm 34: 19). Afflictions (compounded problems) and cries to God for help often precede the deliverance. If you are suffering, have you reached the stage of crying to God for help yet? His help sometimes comes in forms that we do not anticipate, but trust that He has a plan that is bigger than we may imagine.
3. Whenever trouble comes your way, count it an opportunity for joy. The testing of your faith leads to endurance, and this leads to maturity, and this ultimately prepares us to handle anything (seasons of joy and even less joyful ones). (James 1: 1 – 4). Are you in a season of trouble? Maybe you are learning the endurance needed to handle a responsibility that God has for you in the future. Perhaps you are enduring it to grow in faith. It is incredibly difficult to be joyful in times of sorrow – some manage that more readily than others. However, even if you cry your way through, are you still not enduring and growing?
4. After you have suffered a while, God will stablish you and make you perfect (1 Peter 5: 10). After suffering. It’s a difficult one to accept but suffering often precedes the wholeness and deliverance, in any way that God has ultimately decided.
God did not spare His own Son of embodying a promise that first required some dark times before the dawn. Even the amazing, triumphant, destiny-altering resurrection itself as recorded in the key texts, was during the night – a dark time. When Mary Magdalene arrived at the tomb, it was early in the morning, while it was still dark. A new (resurrection) day of hope had dawned, but it seemed contrary on the surface. In the same way, your deliverance may not be obvious yet, or it may be slowly emerging. God’s timing can be frustrating, but trust that His plan is the best. Jesus wanted to avoid Calvary, in the same way that you want to avoid your suffering, but he carried the cross, endured the suffering and in the resurrection, did not only open the path for redemption but ascended to the ultimate position of power – at the Father’s right hand! Perhaps your deliverance will be profound too, drawing others to Christ through the miracle. Perhaps in the process of waiting for it, you will grow and mature in ways that will transcend the pain you endured.
Fellow pilgrims, Jesus is alive, and this fulfilment of a two-fold promises offers us hope today. The resurrection may be the last thing you want to hear about or believe today for a number of reasons. Praying may be the last option you want to consider – I completely understand that feeling and will not judge you! Dark days (like Christ’s journey through to Calvary) are anything but pleasant. Wherever you are today, remember that Jesus kept stepping, endured His cross to the end, and received the ultimate reward for sacrificing His life for us (1 Peter 3: 22). If all you can muster is a few moments, a minute or five today, try talking to God about your journey. He hears and understands, even if He seems silent, and even if it seems dark like it did in Jesus’ resurrection morning.
Heartfelt Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You for the assurance that Jesus is risen. He fulfilled a two-fold promise of pain and resurrection, giving us a model for hope in Your promises. The resurrection is good news, but I admit that I don’t always believe the hope it brings. I sometimes forget that it is the ultimate proof that You will keep Your Word. You spoke of a coming Messiah hundreds of years before He appeared. Waiting on Your promises can sometimes seems futile when You seem silent, but today, I put my hope in You again. You did it for Your Son – You gave Him a new dawn after a period of suffering, and You are able to do the same for me, in a way that suits Your will. When I feel discouraged or anxious, help me to remember that the resurrection was preceded by this suffering and could not have happened without it, giving me hope of seeing similar two-fold promises fulfilled in my life. I ask these mercies in Your resurrected Son’s (Jesus’) name. Amen.
