Happy Easter! There’s something simultaneously beautiful and unsettling about the human experience — the same seasons cycle over and over. Spring training bleeds into the regular season. Tax day comes and goes. Elections happen. Your team makes the tournament and then loses early (sorry, Wildcats fans). As Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes, “Vanity of vanities… all is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.”
Repetition. Routine. Circles. And then — death. The one appointment none of us will miss.
But Easter changes everything. Today we celebrate that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and because He lives, we have hope beyond the cycle. Specifically, we have hope because Jesus is our Deliverer — He delivers us from the wrath to come.
Wrath Is Coming
Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10: “They speak of the way you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead — Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
Every sin stirs up God’s holy wrath. And the Bible teaches two future outpourings of that wrath:
The Tribulation — a seven-year period in human history when God will pour out His judgment on the sinfulness and arrogance of mankind (Matthew 3:7, “Flee from the wrath to come”).
The Great White Throne — the final judgment described in Revelation 20:11-15, where every unrepented sin is punished and those whose names are not in the Book of Life are cast into the lake of fire.
Romans 2:5-6 warns those who think they’ll escape: “Because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”
“The dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done… And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
— Revelation 20:12, 15
It Is Finished
So how does Jesus deliver us from this coming wrath? Through His death on the cross. John 19:28 records Jesus’ final words before giving up His Spirit:
“After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, ‘I thirst’… When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
— John 19:28, 30
“It is finished” means Jesus completed every requirement the Father had set. He fulfilled every prophecy of His first coming. He perfectly kept the Law. And most importantly — He paid in full the penalty for every sin ever committed.
The writer of Hebrews explains why His sacrifice was once for all:
“He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself… Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
— Hebrews 9:26, 28
The Righteousness of God
Romans 3:21-26 unpacks how Christ’s death satisfies God’s righteousness:
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly… God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
— Romans 5:8-9
The key word there is propitiation — Jesus is the satisfaction of God’s wrath. Think of it like a mortgage. When the bank says your debt is paid in full, you didn’t get a discount — someone paid every last cent on your behalf. That’s exactly what Jesus did on the cross. He paid the full debt for everyone who places their faith in Him.
And because Jesus lived a perfectly righteous life, God credits His righteousness to us when we trust in Him. We don’t stand before God in our own righteousness — we stand in Christ’s.
So What?
Here’s the question Easter poses to every person listening: Do you believe this?
John 14:6 records Jesus’ words: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
If you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ — His perfect life, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead — you can do that right now. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Easter brunch will come and go. The seasons will keep cycling. But God’s promise stands: “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). Jesus is alive. And He has delivered us from the wrath to come.
Scripture References
- Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 — “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity”
- 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 — Jesus delivers us from the wrath to come
- Revelation 20:11-15 — The Great White Throne judgment
- Romans 2:5-6 — Storing up wrath for the impenitent heart
- John 19:28-30 — “It is finished”
- Hebrews 9:26-28 — Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice
- Romans 3:21-26 — Righteousness through faith in Jesus
- Romans 5:8-9 — God demonstrates His love; we are saved by His blood
- John 14:6 — Jesus is the way, truth, and life
- John 11:25 — “I am the resurrection and the life”
- Romans 10:9 — The way of salvation