Surprise! – Easter Devotional

Then they are urged to share. When they have discovered the fact of the Risen Christ, their first duty is to proclaim it & to share it with others. "Go, tell!" is the first command that comes to the one who has discovered the wonder of Jesus Christ. That was also one of the last things Jesus told His followers to do. In what has come to be known as The Great Commission Jesus told His disciples, “ 19go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19)

Finally, they are urged to rejoice. Anyone who has a relationship with the Risen Lord shall live forever in the joy of his presence from which nothing can ever separate him. That is a cause to pray & rejoice without creasing!

No doubt the women were shocked & overwhelmed by their Lord’s presence. They knew with certainty that the empty tomb was not a mirage; it was not the result of grave robbers. What they witnessed was not the product of an overactive wishful imagination. Jesus is alive! They fell at His feet to worship Him. He now stands before them. Upon seeing the angel and hearing his words, they had been filled with joy and terror. The only appropriate emotion left is "humble worship." The women fall instinctively at His feet and pour out their sincere adoration. They hold Him by the feet perhaps to ensure their fragile emotions and quaking hearts that what they are experiencing is real.

For those who believed what Jesus said, who thought He would die on the cross & then rise again on the third day, hope played a big part in strengthening them to endure the sadness & grief that followed Jesus’ death. As the day of resurrection was approaching imagine the joy bubbling up within them over what they knew was going to happen.

We have that same hope & joy today, even in the darkest moments of life. No matter what you have walked through, no matter who you are, God remains the same & He keeps His promises. He is entirely faithful & always good. He does not abandon us. He is always at our side. Psalm 23 tells us that even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is close beside us & we don’t have to be afraid. His rod & His staff comfort & protect us. When we trust in the Lord & know that He is who He says He is this hope & joy is possible regardless of what we are going through.

We join centuries of Christians in marking Easter as the day that changed everything. We celebrate the amazing truth that although Jesus was dead, He’s now alive forevermore. Jesus Christ rose victorious over death! He is Risen! Christ’s resurrection gloriously demonstrates that God’s sovereign love has the last word. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

The resurrection is God's way of announcing that our life does not have to be a one-way journey to the graveyard. God is saying we don't have to be stuck in our past. And we don't have to worry about what's ahead, because we know by faith in Christ that God is holding our future in His sovereign hands. The apostle Paul tells us in the Book of Romans that nothing can take us from the love of God. Paul writes, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Did you hear that? Paul said, “…nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God” There is absolutely nothing in creation that can break us away from the love of God! Nothing! Hallelujah!