Like the narratives of Christ’s birth, the accounts of His crucifixion and resurrection are so familiar that we can miss the full intensity of the unexpected event. Though Jesus warned His disciples, they were not at all prepared for the trauma of His death or the shock of His resurrection. Because we know the outcome, it’s hard for us to identify with what they must have felt.
Although we may wish we could have been present at Jesus’s birth, who wishes to have seen His cruel, torturous death? Few want to read the details of what He suffered. We’ve sanitized Easter with aromatic lilies and colorful eggs.
But we must know exactly why the Father let His Son hang on the cross and why Jesus chose not to escape it. We need to grasp the glory of His resurrection. What blending of love and power can we see in these events? It’s almost as if Jesus could hear the tearful praises of future believers singing:
My sin—O, the bliss of this glorious tho’t—
My sin—not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!¹
The resources on this page help you better understand what really happened when Jesus died and rose from the dead, why there was no other alternative, and why it makes all the difference today!
1. Horatio Spafford, “It Is Well with My Soul.”
“Not to Worry . . . He's Risen!”
by Charles R. Swindoll
Chuck Swindoll explains that the satanic forces of death and evil were working up to the climax of Jesus’s crucifixion on the cross, where it seemed they had won the final victory. But the resurrection of Jesus proved God’s power over the very heart of evil. The varied responses to the news of Jesus’s resurrection mirror the kinds of responses Chuck says he sees today when he presents the gospel message. How have you responded to the call for a new life in Jesus?
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2011 Easter Messages: “A Morning of Unimaginable Joy” by Charles R. Swindoll
Luke 24:1-9, 11; John 20:3-10
Tombs, as a general rule, are not fun places to hang out! That is, unless you’re an archaeologist looking for treasures of the past. But most of us aren’t archaeologists; we’re just regular folks who have had some experience with tombs and graves—and none of it very fun or pleasant. Tombs represent finality, loss, and death. You go to tombs and graves to bury loved ones and to mourn—everyone knows that, including those who buried Jesus after His crucifixion. But what they didn’t know then, and maybe some of us don’t know now, is that a tomb can also be a source of unimaginable joy . . . if the tomb is empty.
Suddenly One Morning, Insight for Living radio theater production, MP3
The Darkness and the Dawn: Empowered by the Tragedy and Triumph of the Cross, CD series
2009 Easter Message: “Suddenly One Morning” CD
Easter Messages 2010, CD set
“The Cross”
April 1, 2011
Are you afraid that if God really knew you He would disapprove of you? Chuck Swindoll wants you to understand what Jesus’s death was all about.
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Browse through our list of products to find books, audio series, and additional resources to help you understand the significance of Jesus’s death and resurrection.
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Sunday to Sunday
by Charles R. Swindoll and Insight for Living
softcover book
Follow the Lord Jesus day by day as He walks the obedient path to the cross and then to His glorious resurrection from the grave. Stirring photographs of Jerusalem along with insights from Chuck Swindoll and others bring the depth and passion of Easter to every worshipper. You’ll revisit this beautiful coffee table book year after year as part of your resurrection celebration.
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The Darkness and the Dawn: Empowered by the Tragedy and Triumph of the Cross
study guide
Of Jesus’s three-and-a-half-year ministry, the gospel books devote one-third of their material to the last week of His life. Why devote so much time to studying Jesus’s passion, rejection, desertion, denial, betrayal, and abandonment? In His suffering we find the purpose for our own struggles. In His resurrection we gain the hope that the suffering will end—that, like Jesus, we will leave the darkness for the dawn.
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Suddenly One Morning (radio theater production)
CD
Based on the story by Chuck Swindoll, Insight for Living presents an original Easter radio theater production. Through the eyes of a Jerusalem shopkeeper, Zacharias, you’ll hear the account of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection as you’ve never heard it before.
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