Thomas Fuller, the English theologian and historian, wrote in 1650, “It’s always darkest just before the dawn”. As I was going to sleep Saturday night, I was thinking about that, how dark it must have been the night before Easter morning. The disciples had left everything behind, their families, their jobs, their homes, to follow the man they believed would save the world. They expected him to be a great military leader, who would overthrow Rome. They did not expect, nor did they understand, when he offered himself as a sacrifice, to be crucified.

The disciples had walked with Jesus for three years. Spend every waking hour with him, listening to him teach, watching him perform miracles, healing the sick, calming a storm on the sea, and even bringing the dead back to life. Now, their world was gone. Crucified on a cross, the worst possible punishment; they huddled in an upper room in fear of which of them would be next! Interestingly, the women did not seem to be as afraid. I am not sure if their duty to Jesus overtook their fear, as they walked to the tomb with spices and oils for preparation of Jesus’s body. The gospel of Matthew describes what happened next. “After the Sabbath, at the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an Angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were as white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they stood and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” (Matthew 28:1-6) Can you imagine! The overwhelming grief they had felt as they watched Jesus suffer and die-and now-He was alive! How could this be?

As I was thinking about the significance of Easter, I thought about the darkness that often overtakes us today. There is so many things wrong in this world—so much suffering, selfishness and evil. I am often overtaken by the darkness and my anxiety spikes making it hard to breathe. That is when I must remind myself that God is in control. Nothing happening in the world today—the leaders who are in power, the economy, Covid—none of these things have taken God by surprise. He is still on the throne and he is still in control! The prophet Habakkuk, who lived 600 years before Christ, also knew great suffering and uncertainty. “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pin and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my savior. The sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”

Dear friends, do not let the worries of this world, lock your heart away in fear and dread! Go to the tomb and see—HE HAS RISEN! HE HAS RISEN INDEED! Our hope is found in no one else but Jesus Christ. No matter what the world throws at us, we can find our strength to continue through the trials of this broken world. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7)