Jesus' resurrection is like the clutch of Christianity. A car without a clutch is useless; the gospel without the resurrection is useless and can't save. We might understand the importance of the resurrection, but how - like a clutch - does it grab us and drive us forward each day? As Jesus appears to His disciples, we see how His resurrection connects to life through providing certainty about salvation, about Scripture and about our mission. 

Peter's denial painfully illustrates how confidence placed in ourselves leads us down a dangerous path. Yet, grace flows to Peters like us. Jesus turns and looks at Peter in redeeming love. He then turned and went to the cross to pay for Peter's sin. It is in looking to Christ that we are freed from a misplaced confidence in ourselves and know the joy of His love which is greater than all our sins.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, we see Jesus preparing to drink what we couldn't drink - the cup of God's wrath. He is also the One who remains vigilant, watchful and awake while the disciples fell asleep. This account reminds us that Jesus bore the wrath we deserved and keeps watch over our souls. 

After dedicating 5 chapters to the Last Supper, John finishes his gospel with Jesus' resurrection appearance at a breakfast. In sharing a meal with his disciples, Jesus displays the open access and fellowship His people enjoy with God through His work. There is now, in Christ, no guilt in life and no fear in death. 

Jesus’ trial before Pilate confronts us with the question, “What shall we do with Jesus?” Though we have all rejected Him, we are called to turn to Him as the King who rescues us from God’s wrath.

The evidence of Jesus' resurrection is radical, but verified. However, the women's response was to flee and stay in frightened silence. What is exposed is the importance of not just receiving evidence, but embracing the One to whom the evidence points: the risen Lord Jesus.

As the sky turns dark in the middle of the day, Jesus cries from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This cry reveals Jesus' great agony in bearing God's wrath for sinners. Thus, this cry shows us that Jesus is forsaken for our sin. Having paid our penalty, we can be reconciled to God and be assured of His presence in our suffering.

Paul explains the significance of the resurrection by exposing the fact that no resurrection means no hope. Then, Paul shows how the fact that Christ gives hope for the future and meaning for the present. The death nail hammered into death itself provides us with assurance in suffering and reorients our priorities in life.

Jesus is crucified during the Passover feast. The Passover reminded the people of God's deliverance from Egypt. The second last plague was the plague of darkness. Ominously, darkness descends on Jesus at the cross. Yet, instead of God bringing judgement on the world, He brings it on His Son. The temple curtain was torn in two, symbolising that the way was open for people to be reconciled to God.