It’s Resurrection Sunday! Yes, I wanted to scream that out loud, but I refrained.

I have no idea where the first half of April has even gone. It kinda just flew past in a flurry of every day life. Here we are at Resurrection Sunday though, and I am super excited.

Each time I pause to think about the Resurrection of our Lord it sends a shiver of excitement through me. Have you ever thought about what the morning of that third day must have been like? You wanna talk about a serious plot twist! Wow, that was it! Satan thought he had won the victory, but Jesus was not defeated! Death could not hold Him in the grave.

I can’t even imagine the torment Jesus’ disciples and followers were feeling those three days and nights as Jesus was in the grave. They had watched The Creator of the universe be brutally beaten and nailed to a roughly hewn cross. But He wasn’t just the Creator of the universe — He was their Jesus, their KING. He was the one who knew them better than they knew themselves and loved them more than anyone ever could. He was the One who had tenderly cared for them and cherished them with a love so deep that their minds could not comprehend it. He was The One who saw worth in them when no-one else did.

He was The One they had seen hanging on a cross with stakes driven through His hands and feet. He was The One they had seen mocked by the crowds that had gathered to watch him be killed. He was The One they had heard cry out with his last words, “It is Finished!”

I have to think that their hearts were shattered beyond repair when His body was laid in that cold tomb, lifeless and bloody. Their Lord and Master had just been killed. They surely must have felt a heaviness that seemed as though it would crush their very beings. I would imagine that hope must have seemed to die during those three days. The Light of the World had just been slaughtered. Surely they must have mourned with an anguish that threatened to shatter their souls.

We of course know that Jesus’ resurrection had been planned by the Father since before time even began, but to the disciples during those three days, all hope seemed to be lost. They doubted that He would rise again as He had said He would. His crucifixion had been such a brutal, cruel death that I’m sure it seemed beyond hopeless that he would live again.

I love pondering what it must have been like for the women who came to the tomb early on that third day though! That is one historical event that I wish I could travel back in time and witness. They came in the early morning hours to the garden where the tomb was, just as morning was beginning to dawn. They were probably emotionally drained from the terror and grief they had endured the past three days since they had seen Jesus crucified, but still they came with spices to the tomb. Can you imagine the initial shock when they found the stone rolled away from the tomb and the soldiers laying as though they were dead? Also, think about poor Mary. The scriptures tell us that she was weeping when she found the angels sitting where Jesus had been. The angels asked her, “Woman, why weepest thou?” She replied, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.”

What rapture must have been filling their souls though when they heard the angel tell them, “He is not here, for he is risen as he said!”

In that moment, I’m sure, hope must have broken through the darkness that had enveloped them. Their Lord had risen just as he had said he would! Death wasn’t able to hold Him. The grave had lost its sting!

This is literally the greatest story ever told! It was the greatest display of The Timeless Anchor’s hand moving in history! His hand has moved in mighty ways all throughout time, but this is the greatest display of His love and might. Why would he love us so much? Why would he face death and the grave for us so that we could be free from its grip—its sting?

That is why I love Resurrection Sunday so much. Of course we celebrate His Resurrection all year round, but today is a day that we focus on it even more.

We have victory through Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection! Hope is alive, and we have a reason to live because He is risen!

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” ~ 1 Corinthians 15:55

A. M. Watson

Hebrews 13:8