Easter 2026 - but God...
- Apr 6
- 7 min read
Here is the honest truth. If you take a good look at the world right now - and I mean a real look, not the filtered version we all scroll past - it looks like a mess. And I am not just talking about out there. I am talking about in here, in our minds or hearts. In the quiet parts of your life that you do not post on social media. The stuff you think about at 2 in the morning when nobody's watching.
We hit walls. We hit bottom. We hit dead ends. And there is that moment where you go - is this it? Is this as good as it gets?
And I want to tell you today - Easter is the answer to that question.
But not in a bumper sticker kind of way. Not 'hang in there' energy. I am talking about something that literally changed the physics of the universe.
In the ESV translation of the Bible, there are two words that show up over and over again - and every single time they show up, they flip the script. They turn funerals into festivals. They turn victims into victors. They walk into the middle of every 'it's over' moment and refuse to agree.
Those two words are: But God.
When the world said, 'It's over,' God said, 'I'm just getting started.' When the enemy thought he'd “checked” the King, God flipped the board.
Today we are going to look at three moments where God stepped into the middle of our mess - and what each one means for the thing you are carrying right now.
1. Our Condition: The Love That Wades In
Romans 5:8
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Before we can celebrate the rising, we have to acknowledge the dying. And before we can talk about what Jesus did, we need to be honest about what we were.
We were not just 'off track.' We were not just 'having a bad season.' Paul says we were sinners - stuck, dead in our trespasses. And here's the thing about dead - you can't 'good deed' your way out of a grave. You can't 'self-help' your way out of a spiritual autopsy.
Look at that word while. 'While we were still sinners.' In the Greek it is eti - it means 'still in the state of.' Not cleaned up. Not improved. Not trending in the right direction. God did not look at us from a safe distance and say, 'I'll help them if they can just reach up a little higher.'
God waded in.
Think about this - you have seen a parent with a toddler who is absolutely covered in mess. Dirt, grease, whatever they found on the ground. A clean person? They wait. They hand over a wipe from three feet away. But a parent? A parent ruins their own clothes. They scoop that kid up and get covered in the same mess just to hold them.
That is what God did. He did not wait for you to clean up. He did not wait for the quarterly earnings of your soul to look profitable. He moved - while you were still in rebellion. While you were still a mess. While you were the version of yourself you would be most embarrassed for people to see.
God didn't fall in love with the 'future' version of you. He died for the version of you that is right here right now
Application:
Take an honest look this week at the 'shame narrative' you are holding onto - that thing that makes you feel like you need to hide from God before you approach Him. Read Romans 5:8 over it out loud. That verse was written for exactly that thing.
And if you have been performing - trying to earn God's smile, trying to get to a place where you feel worthy enough to come to Him - let me say this as directly as I can. Jesus is never ashamed of you unless you are ashamed of Him. Stop performing. Just come to the one who paid it all. Jesus.
2. Death's Power: The Stomach Ache of the Grave
Acts 2:24
God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death,
because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
I love that phrase - 'it was not possible for him to be held by it.'
The word translated 'pangs of death' in the Greek is odin - and it specifically means birth pains. Not death pains. Birth pains.
So here is what that means. Everyone standing at that tomb on Saturday thought they were at a funeral. But what was actually happening was a delivery. The agony of the cross was not the end of a life. It was the birth of a new world.
Think about a seed. You plant it in the ground - it is dark down there. It is under crushing, suffocating pressure. To the seed, it feels like the end. But that pressure is not destroying the seed. It is activating its life. The thing that looks like burial is actually the beginning.
Now let me take you back to that Friday.
The disciples are hiding. The tomb is sealed. The enemy is taking a victory lap. Every human eye in range of that situation said the same thing - this is over. The plan failed.
But God.
Death tried to swallow the Author of Life - and it got a stomach ache. It could not digest Him. The resurrection was not a Plan B because Plan A fell apart. It was the culmination of a plan set before the foundations of the world. God did not scramble. He did not panic. Friday was part of Sunday all along.
And because God raised Him up - because it was not possible for death to hold Jesus - we know this: death does not get the final word on your situation either.
A broken marriage. A terminal diagnosis. A financial collapse. A relationship that feels like it has been buried for years. A loss of any magnitude. None of those are beyond what happened in that garden on Sunday morning. None of them.
When the world puts a period on your story, God shows up with a comma.
Application:
This week, I want you to identify the 'Friday situation' in your life - the thing that feels final, sealed, done. And I want you to pray this:
God, this feels like a funeral. But I am asking You to make it a birth.
You are the God who raises the dead.
You are not surprised by this.
Thank you for Sunday!
3. Our SECURITY: The Strength of the Grip
Ephesians 2:4-5
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).
Paul says God is 'rich in mercy.' And I want you to sit with that word - rich. This is not a budget-conscious God checking his balance before He decides to forgive you one more time. This is overflow. This is abundance. The mercy does not run low.
Now look at verse 6 - let me read it to you
and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
it says He 'seated us' with Him in the heavenly places. Past tense. That is not future language. In the mind of God, your victory is not something you are waiting for. It is something you are already standing in.
We are not fighting FOR victory. We are fighting FROM victory.
Here is the image that gets me every time. Think about a child holding a parent's hand while they walk through a crowd. If the child is the one doing the holding - the moment they get scared or distracted, they might let go. But when the parent is the one holding the child's hand? Even if that kid lets go, the parent doesn't.
Your salvation is not a 'maybe.' It is not something you have to wake up and re-earn every Monday morning. You are not holding on to God by the strength of your discipline or your quiet time or your church attendance. He is holding on to you.
And if the grave could not hold Him - if death could not keep Jesus down - then your past cannot hold you. Your shame cannot hold you. Your worst moment does not get the final word.
Your security is not based on your grip on God. It is based on His grip on you.
Application:
If you have been waking up anxious - wondering if you are still okay with God, wondering if you messed up too bad this time - take this with you: He is the one holding your hand. He did not let go. He is not going to.
'But God' appears over 40 times in the Bible. It is not an accident. It is a pattern. It is the signature move of a God who cannot help but step into impossible situations and change the outcome.
We were hungry - but God provided. We were weak - but God is the strength of our hearts. Joseph was sold into slavery - but God intended it for good. The world was dark - but God said, 'Let there be light.' And two days into a sealed tomb - but God raised His Son.
Death does not get the last word. The enemy does not get the last word. Your worst decision does not get the last word. Your worst year does not get the last word.
God gets the last word.
This week, I want to challenge you to replace your 'I hope so' faith with a 'He said so' faith. When anxiety hits - stop. Say it out loud: 'The tomb is empty. The throne is occupied. And I am safe.'
Let's live like people who know the end of the story.