What do you do when you can't see what God is doing?

In John 20:1–10, Mary Magdalene arrives at the tomb of Jesus while it is still dark. She sees the stone rolled away and immediately assumes the worst: someone has taken the body of Jesus. But Mary doesn't yet realize that while she is still grieving in the darkness, Jesus has already risen from the dead. Reality has changed before her perception of reality has changed. 

That is the powerful truth at the heart of this message: our emotions can accurately describe what we're experiencing without accurately describing everything God is doing. We may feel abandoned, hopeless, confused, or convinced that our story is over, but the resurrection reminds us that our present circumstances never tell the entire story. The resurrection had already happened while Mary was still crying in the dark. 

John 20 takes us through three powerful movements: darkness gives way to light, death gives way to life, and sight gives way to faith. Mary encounters the removed stone. Peter and John run toward the tomb and discover the burial cloths Jesus has left behind. Finally, John enters the tomb, sees the evidence, and believes. 

The empty tomb also challenges us to stop running from the painful places in our lives. Our culture gives us countless ways to avoid what is happening inside us—work, entertainment, scrolling, achievement, consumption, travel, and constant busyness. Yet Peter and John run directly toward the place associated with death. Christianity does not deny pain or pretend that tombs don't exist; it declares that there is no tomb so dark that the risen Jesus cannot transform it.

The grave clothes provide another remarkable picture of resurrection. When Lazarus was raised, he emerged still wearing his burial clothes because he had been restored to ordinary mortal life. But Jesus leaves His grave clothes behind. He has not merely survived death—He has passed through death into resurrection life. The tomb still contains the evidence of death, but it can no longer contain Jesus.

And that's where the resurrection becomes personal. Jesus did not rise simply so we could admire an extraordinary event from two thousand years ago. Resurrection is not simply something to believe; it is a reality we learn to live inside. If Jesus actually rose, then resurrection reshapes our relationships, generosity, sexuality, forgiveness, ambitions, priorities, identity, and even the way we face suffering and death. 

John also tells us that all of this happened on “the first day of the week.” The language echoes the beginning of Genesis: darkness gives way to light, and in the garden where Jesus was buried, a new creation begins. Humanity's story began in a garden where sin brought death; resurrection morning takes us into another garden where Jesus defeats death. Easter is not simply God repairing the old creation—the resurrection of Jesus announces the beginning of something new. 

That means your past may explain some things about you, but because Jesus rose from the dead, your past no longer has the authority to define your future. Your failures don't get the final word. Your circumstances don't get the final word. Your sickness doesn't get the final word. Even death itself doesn't get the final word.

Jesus does.

So whether you are walking through uncertainty, grief, disappointment, fear, failure, or a season where God seems silent, don't stop in the darkness.

Come closer.
Look at the evidence.
Listen to the testimony.
Open the Scriptures.
And do what John did:

See and believe.

The tomb is empty.
The King is alive.
And because Jesus lives, there is always hope beyond the darkness.

Scripture: John 20:1–10 (ESV)
Big Idea: The empty tomb turns our darkness into hope because Jesus did exactly what He said He would do—He rose from the dead.

Let's get ready to find hope in Jesus, by listening to this message. 

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