By 
“He is risen! He is risen indeed!”
These were the words I used to hear and say every Easter morning when I was a child. My mother or father would greet my siblings and me with the proclamation, “He is risen!” and our reply would be, “He is risen indeed.” Then we could rise up out of bed and hunt for eggs around the house.
When I became a mother the tradition changed a little. During our outdoor egg hunts, when one of the children would find a numbered egg they would shout, “He is risen!” and their sibling would respond, “He is risen indeed.” After the egg hunt was over, each of the numbered eggs would be opened in order and they would tell the story of the betrayal, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus.
Easter Sunday is the celebration of the most glorious event in history—the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. Each of these names points to the truth of the gospel He preached and that was prophesied all through the Old Testament. Jesus means “God is salvation” from the Hebrew name Joshua, which means “Yahweh is salvation”, and comes from the Semitic root y’sa, meaning “to deliver; to rescue.”
Peter and John stood before the Council in Jerusalem and said, “Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:11-12, NIV). The men who heard this marveled when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men (Acts 4:13, NIV).
Earlier in this same speech Peter called Jesus “the Holy and Righteous One” and accused them of killing “the author of life” whom “God raised from the dead”, then boldly declared they were “witnesses of this” (Acts 3:14-15). They were testifying that they had seen Christ alive from the dead.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul spoke before a crowd that was divided over the resurrection:
If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God. …And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins. Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished. For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.
—1 Corinthians 15:13-19, NET
Read those words again, slowly, and let them sink in.
The resurrection is the crux of Christianity. The word crux means, “the decisive or most important point at issue; a particular point of difficulty.” It was then, and it is today, the most decisive and difficult point for unbelievers. Yet many, in their search to prove Christianity wrong, have found exactly the opposite. Lee Strobel is one of those people. He spent months trying to disprove the claims of Christians and instead found the truth—he was loved by God and forgiven of his sin. Since then he has dedicated his life to sharing his testimony in his books, movies, and sermons proclaiming the truth that Christ indeed is risen from the dead.
Just before Jesus was crucified He told His disciples, “If you love me, you will obey my commandments” (John 14:15, NET). If you read the whole chapter you will realize His commandments included to believe He was God’s Son and God (John 14:11). Hard to understand, right?
Maybe the most precious part of Jesus’ promise to the disciples that night in the upper room was the promise of the Holy Spirit. Only by faith and the power of the Spirit is it possible to understand: “(It) is the Spirit who reveals the truth about God.” Jesus said, “When I go, you will not be left all alone; I will come back to you. …When that day comes (speaking of the resurrection), you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me, just as I am in you” (John 14:17-20, GNT).
Jesus knew the days ahead were going to be rough for all of them, so He promised them a helper who would lead them into all truth (John 16:13); give them strength to stand (Luke 22:32; Ephesians 6:13); and the power to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8).
I will never forget Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013. We had just buried our daughter the day before, after a brief illness. And yet, I stood there singing hymns of celebration at the top of my lungs knowing every word was true. Jesus had conquered death and given me strength to stand. Now, every day, I look to His power to be His witness and testify of His great love.
The words of one of those hymns sing within my soul:
O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
—George Matheson, 1882
Rejoice that Christ’s word is true. He is risen! He is risen indeed! Have a blessed Easter celebrating our risen Lord!
Kim Prothro
Kim fell in love with Jesus and studying God's word in the eighth grade. That eventually led to a dream of attending seminary which she did after her children were grown. She graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2013 with a Masters in Theology and was part of the original group of women who founded Womenary in 2008. She has been a past professor for Womenary and is currently the Director of Soul Care at Living Well Holistic Counseling and Wellness Center. Kim can be contacted at kim.prothro@gmail.com. 
