Imagine how Jesus’ followers must have felt on the first Easter. Their friend and mentor had just died in horrific circumstances. Some of them had even witnessed it. His body was in a cold tomb. They were alone, scared, and without guidance. They would have been grief-filled and probably had no idea where to turn. Jesus had told the disciples what was going to happen to Him, but they hadn’t really understood it: ‘”Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed to the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. They will sentence him to die. Then they will hand him over to the Romans to be mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified. But on the third day he will be raised from the dead”’ (Matthew 20:18-19 NLT). The disciples had heard this promise, but they were still frightened by what the future held, and went into hiding when Jesus was arrested. After everything that had just happened, it must have been difficult to believe that Jesus really would be raised back to life. But the Bible’s full of times when God’s kept His promises, and there was no reason why He shouldn’t keep it this time too. And the disciples witnessed the promise coming true for themselves. It changed their lives, it changed everything. We might come across people disputing the truth of the resurrection, but nobody can argue with the truth of the lives it has changed and the people who’ve been transformed by it, from the first disciples centuries ago, to people all over the world today. Let’s praise God for His generous gift of hope through the resurrection.

What now?

Think about how you would have felt if you’d been there that first Easter – from the despair of seeing Jesus crucified, to the immense joy of the resurrection. Thank God that we can trust Him to keep His promises.