No other word in all our vocabulary is more expressive of the message of Christ than the word “resurrection.” At Calvary the little band of disciples watched their Lord Jesus die, and they saw His broken body taken from the cross. Earlier, one of them had betrayed Him for 30 pieces of silver. Another had cursed and had sworn that he never knew Him. Most of them, turning and running for their lives, had forsaken Him. When Jesus’ body was placed in the tomb and the stone was rolled against it, it seemed that this was the end of all their hopes.
Then came Easter morning, and the midnight of despair was turned into glorious dawning. It was the resurrection of all their hopes.
But Calvary does not tell the whole story. Jesus died for all our sins, but the Bible says that Jesus “was raised again for our justification.”(9)
Several years ago I talked with Chancellor Adenauer, of Germany, and he asked me, “Do you believe that Jesus Christ is alive?”
I replied, “Yes, I do.”
He said, “So do I. If Jesus Christ is not alive, then I see no hope for the world. It is the fact of the resurrection that gives me hope for the future.” As he spoke those words, his eyes lighted up.
Indeed, the resurrection of Christ is the only hope of the world: “If Christ be not risen, then our hopes and dreams and faith are in vain.”(10) “The resurrection of Christ is the only hope of the world.”
But Christ is alive. And because He is alive, that makes all the difference in the world. In His resurrection evil has been defeated, Satan has been defeated, death has lost its sting, love has conquered hate, God has accepted the atoning work of Christ on the cross, and all of creation bursts forth in a new song. Because Christ is alive, we can face death with confidence.
View of Dresden at Sunset (1822), by Carl Gustav Carus pic.twitter.com/pzfP9U1wmP
— The Art Curator (@SeekAfterBeauty) April 14, 2026
Daily Archives: April 22, 2026
Billy Graham for Easter–‘Jesus died for all our sins, but the Bible says that Jesus “was raised again for our justification.”
More Tim Keller on Easter
“The resurrection was not preached in the early church as a symbolic representation of wonderful higher spiritual truths like, “We must always keep hope.” The resurrection was preached as a hard, bare, terribly irritating paradigm-shattering, horribly inconvenient but impossible to dismiss fact.”
–From his sermon entitled Jesus vindicated which may be found among other places there.
Blue Skies and a sharp Easterly breeze. 12°C. Butterflies. pic.twitter.com/r5WPd8XBHV
— Yorkshire Wolds Weather (@WeatherWolds) April 22, 2026
John Chrysostom for Easter–‘Let all then enter the joy of our Lord!’
From there:
Whoever is a devout lover of God, let him enjoy this beautiful bright Festival!
Whoever is a grateful servant, let him rejoice and enter into the joy of his Lord!
And if any be weary with fasting, let him now enjoy what he has earned.
If any have toiled from the first hour, let him receive his due reward.
If any have come after the third hour, let him with gratitude join in the Feast.
If any have come after the sixth hour, let him not doubt, for he too shall be deprived of nothing.
And if any have delayed to the ninth hour, let him not hesitate, but let him come too.
And he that has arrived only at the eleventh hour, let him not be troubled over his delay, for the Lord is gracious, and received the last even as the first.
He gives rest to him that comes at the eleventh hour as well as to him that has toiled from the first.
Yea, to this one he gives, to that one he bestows; he honors the former’s work; the latter’s intent he praises.
Let all then enter the joy of our Lord!
Read it all.
Springtime woodland in
— Matt Edwards (@Matedwards7) April 22, 2026
Suffolk, UK. pic.twitter.com/rOI7ajfkmJ
More Music for Easter–Pilgrim’s Hymn – Stephen Paulus
Lyrics
Even before we call on Your name
To ask You, O God,
When we seek for the words to glorify You,
You hear our prayer;
Unceasing love, O unceasing love,
Surpassing all we know.Glory to the father,
and to the Son,
And to the Holy Spirit.Even with darkness sealing us in,
We breathe Your name,
And through all the days that follow so fast,
We trust in You;
Endless Your grace, O endless Your grace,
Beyond all mortal dream.Both now and forever,
And unto ages and ages,
Amen
More Poetry for Easter–‘Resurrection’ by John Donne
_Moyst with one drop of thy blood, my dry soule_
Shall (though she now be in extreme degree
Too stony hard, and yet too fleshly,) bee
Freed by that drop, from being starv’d, hard, or foule,
And life, by this death abled, shall controule
Death, whom thy death slue…
Easter Sunday – Mary Magdalene meets a 'gardener' BM, 17thC)
— John McCafferty (@jdmccafferty) April 5, 2026
Happy Easter!
Beannachtaí na Cásca Oraibh! pic.twitter.com/kCh6UQhfry
A prayer for the day from the Church of England
Almighty Father,
who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples
with the sight of the risen Lord:
give us such knowledge of his presence with us,
that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life
and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
About that sunrise this morning!!!!! I have seen this a few times over the years, but these rays behind the BC mountains were AMAZING!!#sunrise #whatcomcounty #pnw #canada #britishcolumbia #mountains pic.twitter.com/HYQPkgSwLu
— Randy Small – Whatcom County Weather (@RandySmall) April 22, 2026
From the Morning Bible Readings
He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him, provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
Colossians 1:15-23
Wasdale Head 💙#WallsOnWednesday #LakeDistrict pic.twitter.com/XbhXusUMld
— Hiking Manchester 🐝 (@HikingManchest1) April 22, 2026
