The Good News is Jesus

In Luke 24:5-7 it says

In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”

This scripture took me back several decades. For Easter one year, our church decided to do an adaptation of Carman’s story/song “The Champion” to demonstrate the battle that was being waged in the heavenlies, over man. People were surprised when they arrived for the Easter Sunday morning service, there was a boxing ring set up on the platform! If you haven’t heard Carman’s retelling of Jesus’ death and resurrection, you should give the video below a watch. Now imagine this being played out during service with strobe lights and fog machines – it was quite the captivating event.

The story started millennia before, when Adam was first introduced in Genesis 1:26-27 and given dominion over all the earth. In Gensis 2:16-17 God gave one command to Adam “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

In Genesis 3 Satan takes this dominion away by luring Adam and Eve into eating the fruit that God forbade of them. This action introduced sin into the world, resulting in a fractured relationship with God and a cursed creation.

The good news is Jesus. Through His life, death, and resurrection, Christ reestablishes the kingdom of God and offers redemption to humanity.

Colossians 1:13-14 states, “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

The story does not end here like in Carman’s song.

Yet to Come! The final restoration of dominion as depicted in Revelation 22:5 – the eternal reign of the saints: “There will be no more night in the city, and they will have no need for the light of a lamp or of the sun, for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.”

Centuries have passed since that morning in Jerusalem, but the echo of the angel’s words still resounds: “He is risen.” The power that rolled away the stone continues to roll away every obstacle between us and God. The risen Christ still meets us where we are—at the tombs of our disappointments, along the roads of our confusion, and in the locked rooms of our fear—speaking peace and offering new life.

To celebrate Easter is not merely to remember an event, but to participate in it. The same power that raised Christ from the dead now works within every believer. That power gives courage to forgive when wronged, strength to endure when life is hard, and grace to love when love seems undeserved.

This Easter, let’s not only celebrate Christ’s resurrection but start living as witnesses of its truth. Let our lives reflect what that empty tomb proclaimed: that Christ’s love is stronger than death, God’s grace is greater than sin, and hope or in other words “confident expectation” is everlasting. May our actions be a seed that ignites a spark of light in someone’s life.