This Sunday is April 5, 2026, Resurrection Day! If we have been following the Gospels concerning Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection we have much to think about. Jesus has been betrayed, arrested, abandoned, denied, beaten, tortured, scoffed at, forsaken by His Father, crucified, died, and was laid in a grave. The grave was sealed and guarded. BUT that was not the end. On the first day of the week Jesus arose!
We can get rather emotional when we follow all that Jesus went through. I remember watching the movie, The Passion of Christ. It vividly showed those things. Just watching it brought tears and sorrow to the heart. Just to think that Jesus suffered all of that for me. Then comes the resurrection of Jesus from the grave and our emotions change from great sorrow to great joy. At that time, we should seek the implications of the resurrection for our lives. Each of us who believe should be profoundly affected by the resurrection of Jesus.
How deep is our affection for Christ? Paul writes some of his feelings in Philippians 3:7-11; “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
Paul is willing to lose everything he has, for the sake of Christ. His passion is to know Christ better and to understand and know the power of Christ’s resurrection as well. Paul also says he wants to identify with Christ’s sufferings so that he might even become like Christ in his death. There are many believers in the world who have grasped this very thing. Throughout the persecuted church believers die every day. Many go to their death refusing to deny their faith – standing like Christ in his death. They have grasped the power of the resurrection for themselves and know that even in death they will rise again.
Knowing Christ and the power of his resurrection not only helps a believer to die but also helps the believer to live. As the power of the resurrection is released in our lives by faith in Christ, we live not for our own interests but for the interests of others. The mind of Christ is the mind we should have. (Philippians 2:1-5) It is this power as we read several places in God’s Word, that gives us lives that bring glory to the Father. It is a power to help us face persecution, suffering, and death.
In John 10:10 Jesus himself says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” We live in a broken world. A world that brings suffering and eventually death. What better way for a Christian to live than to know that in the resurrection, Christ gives abundant life, but also gives the power to face death in a way he himself did. I am encouraged by what I read in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We who believe, no longer have to worry and fret over death. The sting of death to a believer has been removed. When we die, we simply pass through death’s door into life eternal.
When we live in the power of the resurrection, we will face hard times because we live in a hard world, a world that looks to bring persecution upon the believer. We can expect nothing less because that is the very nature of the evil one. Following Jesus isn’t a sweet, incident free, wonderful experience. No, following Jesus is a hard life and yet He gives us fullness to live it to the glory of God. In that glory, there is joy unspeakable.
To know the power of the resurrection is sweet. To know the power the resurrection will give us a boldness to testify to the resurrected living Lord even as the apostles did after they had been filled with the Spirit at Pentecost. We as believers have the same Spirit within us and can experience this power to speak boldly as well. Yes, and in sharing the Gospel we may well face persecution.
The resurrection is really the game changer. Everything about our faith depends upon the resurrection and yet often we fail to grasp it or live in it. So, I ask today, how is the resurrection of Christ going to make a difference in your life?
I want to leave you with the words of Peter found in 1 Peter 1:3-9. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Think about those words, ponder the resurrection and what it means to you.
How our life as a believer is lived, depends upon the resurrection of our Lord. It is my prayer that you experience a blessed Resurrection Day and grasp the power of Christ’s Resurrection in your own life.
In Christ,
David ‘PK’ VanderKlay