One of the things I find so encouraging in the Easter story is how God fulfilled His word through it. Just as with the Christmas story, we see Scripture fulfilled in the events at Easter time: Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday (Zech 9:9), Judas’s betrayal of Jesus for money (Zech 11:12-13), the scattering of the disciples (Zech 13:7), the fact that not a single bone of Jesus’s body was broken (Ps 34:20). Two of the seven ‘words of Jesus’ uttered on the cross refer directly to Scripture (Matt 27:46, quoting Ps 22:1 and Luke 23:46, quoting Ps 31:5). Even as He hung on the cross in agony, Jesus’s mind was so saturated in Scripture that His last words reflected His life’s focus.
I find the quotation from Ps 22;1 especially poignant. It is often called the cry of dereliction (‘My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?’) Yet as with so many psalms, the prophetic element means it does not remain in despair. This psalm, which also describes the crucifixion in vivid terms (Ps 22:12-18), ends with the powerful declaration, ‘Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim HIs righteousness, declaring “He has done it!”‘ (Ps 22:30-31)
We are part of that future generation foretold by David who can declare with confidence on this Easter Sunday ‘He has done it!’ Jesus has died for our sins and been raised to life; the shame and pain of the cross replaced by the exultant joy of the resurrection. God has done all He promised to do, and therefore we have hope because Jesus is alive forever more.
Easter is a vivid reminder that despair and defeat do not have the last word. Jesus’s cry of dereliction on the cross ends with the continuing declaration that the work of salvation is finished. He has done it! Because He lives, we can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because we know He holds the future, we can live with confidence and hope.
May we live with Scripture firmly embedded into our lives so we can be equipped to keep on proclaiming that there’s nothing left for us to do to be saved except to believe in our resurrected Saviour. He has risen; He is alive!