Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Easter morning should be the most joyful and hope-filled day in the Christian calendar. We gather to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ — the foundation of our faith and the guarantee of our future. But if we are honest, many people celebrate Easter more with a positive attitude than with a deep, Scripture-grounded conviction.
We say, “Christ is risen,” and respond, “He is risen indeed,” but do we understand what it means? Do we believe it in a way that shapes our everyday fears, anxieties, grief, future, and daily life?
The disciples themselves struggled with this. They walked with Jesus. They heard His voice. They saw His miracles. They listened to His teaching. And yet — when the moment came, when the tomb was found empty — they were confused, uncertain, and filled with doubt.
John 20:1–10 gives us a window into that moment — the bewilderment, the running, the shock, and the gradual understanding. And in verse 9, John himself explains why they were slow to believe and so confused:
“For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (John 20:9, ESV).
Jesus had told them about this many times. Scripture had foretold it for centuries. But they still did not understand — and did not believe until they saw with their own eyes.
The problem was not that the disciples had never witnessed a resurrection — they had seen Lazarus raised from the dead only recently. The problem was that they never expected Christ to die. Therefore, resurrection was not even on their horizon. And every time Jesus spoke about it, His words seemed to go in one ear and out the other.
The question for us is simple: Do we understand, from Scripture, the promise of our own resurrection? Do we believe what God has promised about our resurrection? Or are we still like the disciples before the resurrection — confused about life, fearful, uncertain about the future, hoping that something comes after death, but not convinced?
The Empty Tomb
“Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him’” (John 20:1–2, ESV).
Mary comes early, while it is still dark. She does not expect a resurrection. She expects to find a dead body.
When she sees the stone rolled away, she assumes the worst: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb…” — yet another calamity.
Her conclusion, though natural, is wrong. The thought of resurrection has not yet entered her mind. Jesus Himself will appear to her later, but for now she can only think that the body has been stolen.
The Race to the Tomb
“So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in” (John 20:3–5, ESV).
This is one of the most vivid scenes in the Gospels. Two grown men running through the streets of Jerusalem in the early morning. They were certainly not out for a training run. They had heard the news — news that would change their entire lives. They ran because they could not wait to see whether what they had heard was true.
John runs faster — he is younger. But he stops at the entrance. Peter, impulsive as always, goes straight inside.
They do not know what to expect. They have heard what the women said, but frankly, they have their doubts.
The Evidence in the Tomb
“Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there, and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed” (John 20:6–8, ESV).
John sees the linen cloths and the face cloth, folded separately. They realise: this does not look like a body theft. No one would neatly fold the burial cloths if they intended to steal a body. And why remove them at all? There is order in the tomb. Everything is deliberately in its place. This looks like a miracle. This looks like a resurrection.
John enters, sees the evidence, and believes. He does not yet understand everything. He does not yet grasp the full theological depth. But he believes the fact: Jesus is alive.
The Heart of the Text: They Did Not Yet Understand the Scripture
“For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead” (John 20:9, ESV).
This is the heart of the passage. It is both a tragedy and a warning. Jesus had told them many times. Scripture clearly testified to it. But they did not understand. They did not believe — until they saw.
Consider how clearly and frequently Jesus spoke about His resurrection:
“And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly” (Mark 8:31–32, ESV).
“For he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.’ But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:31–32, ESV).
“See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise” (Mark 10:33–34, ESV).
They heard the words. They remembered the sentences. But they did not grasp what Jesus was telling them. It went in one ear and out the other, and they were even afraid to ask Him.
Scripture had foretold this long beforehand. John says they did not understand “the Scripture” — meaning the Old Testament, since the New Testament had not yet been written.
Where exactly does the Old Testament speak of Christ’s resurrection?
“Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:10–11, ESV).
How can one who has died “see his offspring”? How can the stricken Servant “see and be satisfied” after being crushed? Only if He rises from the dead.
“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption” (Psalm 16:9–10, ESV).
Peter quotes this psalm in Acts 2, explaining that David was not speaking about himself, since his body did see corruption and his tomb remains to this day. This psalm is about the Messiah, who would rise again. The Jews knew this well.
From Christ’s Resurrection to Ours
The resurrection of Jesus is not merely a historical event. It is the forerunner and guarantee of our resurrection. It is like the firstfruits that guarantee the coming harvest.
In agriculture, before the first sheaf appeared, the farmer lived in uncertainty. Would the crop survive? Would disease or pests destroy it? Would there be enough food for the family? When the first ripe ears appeared, it meant: “The harvest is real. It is here. And more is coming.”
The firstfruits are the guarantee of the future harvest. And it is no coincidence that Scripture calls Christ’s resurrection “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
Does Scripture give clear promises of our resurrection? Let us look first at the Old Testament.
“Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead” (Isaiah 26:19, ESV).
This is not merely Isaiah’s poetry or an allegorical description. It is a prophecy of real resurrection — the hope of the righteous.
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:2–3, ESV).
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:25–27, ESV).
Even the most ancient book of the Bible — the book of Job — contains the hope of resurrection.
When the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, tried to trap Jesus with a riddle about seven brothers who each married the same wife, Jesus proved the resurrection from a text they probably heard every day. Since the Sadducees accepted only the five books of Moses as Scripture, Jesus used the Pentateuch rather than Daniel or Isaiah. He said simply: God says, “I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And He added: “He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” In other words, God does not say, “I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,” but “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” — He continues to be their God, because they are alive and awaiting resurrection, not dead and gone.
What does the New Testament say about our resurrection?
“For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:22–23, ESV).
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16, ESV).
Not figuratively rise, not symbolically — but literally, bodily.
“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself” (Philippians 3:20–21, ESV).
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11, ESV).
The same power that raised Jesus will raise us.
The Bible — from beginning to end — testifies to the hope of resurrection. From the most ancient book to the book of Revelation, Scripture speaks of the hope of our resurrection.
The Call
Do we now understand Scripture? Do we believe it in a way that changes our view of the future? Or are we still like the disciples — confused, doubting, fearful, and uncertain?
The disciples believed only after they saw. Let us not wait for our own resurrection to believe.
Jesus said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29, ESV). In these words to His disciples, Jesus did not only mean the future believers who would come to faith in His resurrection. He also meant that if the disciples had believed His words when He told them again and again that He would rise, they would have been blessed — and would not have been afraid, and would not have scattered, when He died on the cross.
This applies to us as well. To believe now, before it happens, has an enormous impact on how we live right now — when life is hard, when we receive a diagnosis, when we lose everything. It is precisely now, by believing in the resurrection, that we will be blessed, if we truly understand and believe.
Resurrection is not a vague hope and not merely a comforting idea. It is not a symbolic story. It is a historical fact with consequences for our future.
And God calls us to believe it. The resurrection of Jesus demands a response from us as well.
Do you believe the Scripture? Do you believe in the resurrection of Christ? Do you believe in your own resurrection?
If not — turn from your unbelief. Trust in the risen Christ. Receive forgiveness, new life, and the hope of resurrection.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!