Seeing the Wonder in the Miracle of Jesus’ Resurrection

The Bible’s resurrection narrative begins with the discovery of Jesus’ empty tomb. In Matthew 28:5-6, an angel tells the women who are visiting Jesus’ grave: “‘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.” The emptiness of the tomb is not a void but a testament to the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to rise from the dead. To embrace the miracle of the empty tomb is to step into a space where our finite understanding collides with the infinite power of God. It requires us to shed preconceptions and enter with hearts open to the extraordinary. Consider God’s words in Isaiah 55:8-9: “‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” We should approach the empty tomb with a willingness to be surprised by God. 

The empty tomb echoes with the resonance of redemption so profound that it reverberates throughout all of history. In Colossians 2:15, the Apostle Paul vividly describes the aftermath of the cross: “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” The empty tomb is the culmination of this triumph – a resounding victory over sin and death. In Romans 4:25, Paul points out that Jesus “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” Jesus’ empty tomb represents not just the absence of a body but the fulfillment of God’s promise to save humanity from sin. As we ponder the empty tomb, we can let the reality of our redemption from sin fill our hearts with awe and gratitude. 

Jesus invites us to believe when we reflect on his empty tomb. He challenges us to move beyond doubt and embrace a faith that transcends what our eyes can see. John 20:24-29 reports how Jesus’ disciple Thomas refused to believe that Jesus has been resurrected until Jesus appeared and gave Thomas the opportunity to verify that it was really him. John 20:27-29 records a conversation between Jesus and Thomas: “Then he [Jesus] said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” We can’t physically see and touch the risen Jesus right now like Thomas did, since Jesus has already ascended to heaven. But Jesus appeared to hundreds of different people during the 40 days he spent on Earth between his resurrection and his ascension (1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and Acts 1:1-11), and his work from heaven as our living Savior is evident in each of our lives. So, we can accept Jesus’ invitation to believe, with the confidence that God’s resurrection power is not confined to the past but is available to us now in relationships with Jesus.

Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/KatarzynaBialasiewicz 

Encountering the Risen Jesus

The heart of the resurrection miracle is our encounter with the risen Jesus. When Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection, John 20:20 says that “… The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” His resurrected presence defied the laws of nature, ushering in a sense of wonder. We can also connect with the risen Jesus through spiritual practices that help us notice his presence with us throughout each day, such as prayer and meditation practices. Jesus is the same God who encourages us that when we seek him, we will find him. He tells us in Jeremiah 29:13: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” 

Encountering the risen Jesus involves opening our hearts up to the miraculous. It means looking for the wonder of God’s work in our lives with a strong faith that is ready to believe and trust. That challenges us to suspend our disbelief, to set aside the limitations of our rational minds, and to open ourselves to the possibility of a tangible encounter with Jesus. Just as the disciples touched and beheld the risen Jesus, we can seek relationships with Jesus that are both personal and experiential. Psalm 34:8 urges us to: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” As we encounter the wonder of Jesus’ resurrection, we become hungry for closer relationships with him and eager to taste the goodness he can bring into our lives. 

Jesus’ resurrection isn’t confined to the pages of history. It’s a present reality in our lives, because we can enjoy relationships with the risen Jesus right now. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus tells us: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Jesus is not a distant figure from history, but a part of the living God, who knows and loves us completely and wants to have a close relationship with us. So, we can invite Jesus into the everyday moments and ordinary spaces of our lives. We can do that by praying about everything, as the Bible encourages us to do in Philippians 4:6 – keeping a constant mindset of expressing our thoughts to Jesus, listening for his guidance, and relying on him to provide what we need. 

The resurrection gives us ultimate hope. That’s definitely something to celebrate by praising God! In 1 Peter 1:3-4, the Bible declares: “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,”. The resurrection assures us that we can experience eternal life with God because of Jesus’ redemptive work. In John 11:25-26, Jesus talks with Martha and says: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” Jesus asks us the very same question: Do we believe this? If we do, we can live forever with God. The wondrous miracle of the resurrection gives us confidence that, when we trust Jesus, death is not the end but the gateway to everlasting life. 

So, let’s immerse ourselves in the Bible’s resurrection stories. We can read the reports and imagine ourselves personally witnessing the scenes they describe. As we engage our emotions with what goes on, we let ourselves feel the shock and awe of the experience. We become humbled by the wonder of God’s work saving humanity. We allow God’s limitless love to wash over us. Let’s embrace the mystery of something that can’t be logically explained. Not everything needs to be neatly explained. We can let the unknown spark our curiosity and motivate us to keep seeking God every day through lifelong learning. As Romans 11:33 points out, there is so much that is valuable to learn about God’s mysteries: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” While we can’t logically understand the miracle of the resurrection, we can find inspiration from it every day as we place our hope in Jesus. Whenever we need to renew our hope, we only have to read the Bible’s stories of the resurrection to remind ourselves of its reality. We can also enjoy wonder walks in nature and let creation remind us that our Creator brings us renewal – daily sunrises, fresh rains, blooming flowers, and more. The physical renewal we encounter can inspire us with gratitude for the spiritual renewal Jesus gives us. 

In conclusion, the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection welcomes us into a powerful encounter with wonder. It challenges us to consider the greatest event in history when God saved the world and proved that we could trust him completely. As we explore the miracle of the resurrection, we open our hearts and minds to a deeper reverence for Jesus that inspires us to develop closer relationships with him. We discover that God has given us ultimate hope! When we encounter the reality of the risen Jesus in our lives, we’ll be so awestruck that we’ll exclaim along with Thomas in John 20:28: “My Lord and my God!”

To continue reading this series on the wonder of Lent and Easter, click here.

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Whitney Hopler helps people discover God's wonder and experience awe. She is the author of several books, including the nonfiction books Wake Up to Wonder and Wonder Through the Year: A Daily Devotional for Every Year, and the young adult novel Dream Factory. Whitney has served as an editor at leading media organizations, including Crosswalk.com, The Salvation Army USA’s national publications, and Dotdash.com (where she produced a popular channel on angels and miracles). She currently leads the communications work at George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being. Connect with Whitney on her website at www.whitneyhopler.com, on Facebook, and on  X/Twitter.