Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52, 55 (NIV) – “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed – in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we will be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.  When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’ ‘Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?’”

Isaiah 25:7-8 (NIV) – “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever.  The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.  The Lord has spoken.” (bolded for emphasis).

Hosea 13:14a-b (NIV) – “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.  Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?” (bolded for emphasis).

Message: I struggle to see the Easter season as anything but a season of grief.  I remember being heavily pregnant on Easter Sunday, having mild contractions, with a baby scheduled to arrive via C-section the following Wednesday – a baby who took his last breath in my arms, seven hours after birth.

I may struggle, but I also hold tight to hope because Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection.  God is the God of Transformation.  He brings dead things back to life.  He gives beauty for ashes, laughter for mourning.  He changes a twisted instrument of torture and execution, into a symbol known around the world for faith and renewed life.  Death becomes Salvation.

Does it seem strange to celebrate the murder of Someone we love?  Only from the outside.  We, who have been baptized into the life and death of Christ, see the fuller picture: our Father has transformed the sacrifice of His Son into a beautiful path which leads to restored relationship and fellowship.  This glorious miracle reigns as the reason we who are broken and burdened can lift our heads with confidence and ask, “Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”.  Christ defanged death when He walked out of the grave.

Perhaps the best part is while we are promised to be changed in the twinkling of an eye, we need not wait until the Second Coming to experience the blessing of transformation in our lives.  Just as an acorn dies in the ground and reemerges as a mighty oak, we who choose to share in the death of Christ can experience a remaking where we arise from the grave with hope and joy.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I extol Your Name and thank You for the gifts of redeemed life and renewal.  I praise You, for You alone can transform death into salvation, hope, and rejoicing.  Be near to those of us who are experiencing grief in this Holy season and lift our heads to look to You.  Amen.

Amy Recktenwald

Life Church Huntsville, Alabama

Revised:  January 29, 2026