Unlocked Devotional: EasterSample

GRAVE CONQUEROR

Why did Jesus have to die? That’s a big question for us today, and I bet it was an even bigger question for Jesus’s disciples when He started talking about His upcoming death and resurrection. They were Jesus’s closest friends, and they didn’t understand what He was saying.

Peter really didn’t like to hear Jesus talking about His own death, so he pulled Jesus aside and rebuked Him. But Jesus wouldn’t have it, and He rebuked Peter instead. Peter didn’t yet understand how Jesus was going to establish God’s kingdom.

When Jesus died by public execution, His disciples panicked. Some said they never knew Him. Others sank into despair. Jesus had prepared them, so why couldn’t they understand? They believed Jesus was the promised Messiah, but their perspectives were limited. They couldn’t comprehend God’s plan to defeat death.

It’s easy to be hard on the disciples, but we are often like them, lacking perspective and understanding. We look at what’s happening in our lives and our world, and we panic. We struggle to see how God is working. We sink into worry and despair.

But Jesus is here. He loves us. And He conquered the grave, raising from the dead after three days, just like He had promised! When Jesus showed Himself to His disciples (execution wounds and all), they were overjoyed! After Jesus ascended, He sent His Holy Spirit to be in them, just like He had promised, and then they truly understood the good news: how Jesus Christ, fully God and fully human, died and rose again to give us new life. As His forgiven followers, they began urging people everywhere to put their trust in Jesus.

We might not understand God’s ways or see how He’s working in the midst of all the brokenness we experience. But we can trust Him. He is the victor over sin and death and keeper of His promises. God prepared for ages and generations to save humanity through Jesus’s death and resurrection, and even now He is working in all things “for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Our God defeated death. What do we have to fear?

– Becca Wierwille

THINK ABOUT IT

How might it be freeing to know that Jesus doesn’t expect us to understand without His help?

In Christ, death does not have the final word. Jesus will return to resurrect His people to live eternally with Him. How does this promise give you hope today?

KEY VERSE

“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:55 (NIV)