[Note: This is the final part of a 7-part series on walking with Jesus from temptation to triumph.]

The Morning Everything Changed

The stone was rolled away. The tomb was empty. The women came expecting death and found life.

They had watched Him die. They had seen the spear thrust into His side, the blood and water flowing out. They had watched Joseph and Nicodemus wrap His body in linen and lay it in the tomb. They had seen the stone rolled into place. They knew He was dead.

Now they came at dawn to finish the burial rites–spices for a corpse, tears for a friend, grief for a shattered hope. What they found instead rewrote everything.

And because of that morning, Paul can say something astonishing: you have been raised with Christ. Not “you will be someday”–you already are.

Where We’ve Been

We’ve walked a long road together this Lent.

We began in the wilderness, where the Spirit led Jesus to be tempted by the devil. We watched Him defeat Satan with the Word of God, standing on the Father’s promises rather than grasping for shortcuts. We traced the three temptations and discovered they reveal the pattern of all human vulnerability.

We followed Jesus as He set His face toward Jerusalem, knowing what awaited. We knelt with Him in Gethsemane, where He wrestled with the cup of God’s wrath and surrendered: “Not my will but yours.” We stood at the cross as darkness covered the land and the Son cried out in abandonment.

Now we reach the third day. The darkness breaks. The wilderness ends. Life conquers death.

The Text

Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. (Matt. 28:1-10)

He Is Not Here: The Historical Reality

“He is not here, for he has risen.”

Christianity stands or falls on these words. If Jesus did not physically, bodily rise from the dead, Paul says, our faith is futile and we are still in our sins (1 Cor. 15:17). Everything depends on this being real.

The resurrection is not a metaphor for spiritual renewal. It’s not a symbol of hope that lives on after death. It’s not the disciples’ way of saying Jesus’ teachings would endure. The tomb was empty. The body was gone. Jesus appeared–eating fish, showing wounds, inviting touch. This was bodily resurrection, the same Jesus who died now alive in transformed flesh.

The early Christians didn’t proclaim a comforting idea. They proclaimed an event. Something happened on that Sunday morning that reversed death itself. History pivoted. Creation began again.

What Resurrection Proves

The empty tomb is not just good news–it’s vindication. It proves what the cross accomplished.

The Father accepted the sacrifice. If Jesus had remained dead, we would have no assurance His death accomplished anything. But the Father raised Him, declaring publicly: “This offering is accepted. The debt is paid. Justice is satisfied.” Resurrection is the Father’s “Yes” to the Son’s finished work.

Death is defeated. Jesus didn’t escape death–He went through it and came out the other side. Death did its worst and could not hold Him. “Death no longer has dominion over him” (Rom. 6:9). And because He conquered, death’s grip on us is broken.

New creation has begun. The resurrection is not a resuscitation–Lazarus was resuscitated and died again. Jesus rose to transformed, imperishable life. He is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20)–the first harvest of a coming crop. In His risen body, we see what awaits all who belong to Him. New creation has already begun; we await its completion.

Jesus is who He claimed to be. His radical claims–to forgive sins, to be one with the Father, to give eternal life–were either true or blasphemous. The resurrection settles the question. God does not vindicate liars. Jesus is Lord.

Raised with Christ: Already, Not Just Someday

Here is where Easter becomes personal.

Paul doesn’t say you will be raised with Christ someday. He says you have been raised with Christ–past tense, accomplished fact.

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Rom. 6:4)

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. (Col. 3:1)

Through faith, we are united to Jesus. His death becomes our death. His resurrection becomes our resurrection. We don’t merely benefit from what He did–we participate in it. We are “in Christ,” and everything true of Him is now true of us.

This means the decisive battle is already won. Yes, we still struggle with sin. Yes, we still face suffering and death. But we fight from victory, not for it. The outcome is secured. We are resurrection people living in a not-yet-resurrected world.

The Wilderness Is Over

Remember where we began? The wilderness–that barren place of testing, exposure, and dependence.

Jesus entered the wilderness and emerged victorious. But then He entered a deeper wilderness: Gethsemane’s darkness, Golgotha’s abandonment. He passed through death itself–the ultimate wilderness, the final desolation.

And He came out the other side.

In Christ, so do we. The wilderness is not the end of the story. Every barren season, every testing, every dark night of the soul–Jesus has gone through it ahead of us and behind us and with us. And He leads us out.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Ps. 23:4). The resurrection proves He can bring us through. Death itself could not stop Him. Nothing we face is beyond His power to redeem.

Living as Resurrection People

What does it mean to live in light of resurrection?

It means we die daily–and rise daily. The old self was crucified with Christ. The new self is alive with Him. Every morning is a small Easter: we wake to grace, we live from our new identity, we reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.

It means we grieve with hope. We do not sorrow “as others do who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). Death is real, and grief is appropriate. But it is not the end. Resurrection reframes every funeral as a temporary goodbye.

It means we face suffering differently. Paul wanted to know “the power of his resurrection” and “the fellowship of his sufferings” (Phil. 3:10)–in that order. We enter suffering knowing resurrection power is at work. Friday’s darkness always yields to Sunday’s dawn.

It means we live now from what is coming. “Your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:3-4). We are not yet what we will be. But we live toward it, drawn by the gravity of future glory.

Application Points

• Celebrate Easter as present reality, not just past event. You have been raised with Christ–already, now. Let this truth reshape how you see yourself and live today.
• Live from your new identity. You are dead to sin and alive to God. Don’t try to become what you already are. Live from who you are in Christ.
• Let resurrection hope reshape suffering. When you walk through wilderness seasons, remember: Jesus went through death and came out alive. He will bring you through too.
• Grieve with hope. Mourn what deserves mourning–but not as those without hope. Every Christian grave is temporary. Resurrection is coming.
• Face each morning as a small Easter. The same power that raised Jesus is at work in you. Rise to walk in newness of life.

Reflection Questions

• What difference does it make to know you have already been raised with Christ–not just that you will be someday?
• How should the certainty of resurrection change how you approach the wilderness seasons of your own life?

The Road Behind and the Road Ahead

From wilderness to resurrection, Jesus walked the road for us and with us.

He faced temptation and did not sin. He trusted the Father’s Word when shortcuts beckoned. He set His face toward Jerusalem knowing what awaited. He surrendered in Gethsemane when the cup was bitter. He bore our sin on the cross and cried out in our place. He died and was buried.

And on the third day, He rose.

Lent ends not in darkness but in triumphant light. The tomb is empty. Death is defeated. New creation has begun. And because He lives, we live also.

He is risen.

He is risen indeed.