20 Powerful Easter Resurrection Scriptures to Give You Hope
Looking for resurrection scriptures to help you focus on Christ this Easter? In today’s post, Gina M Poirier shares some of her favorites and how they offer incredible hope.
As a child, I thought that Easter was all about the food.
My family didn’t go to church, so the holiday was all about chocolate, family brunch, and Easter eggs. My sisters and I got to put on pretty dresses, and if we were lucky, the weather was warm enough for an outdoor gathering and a celebration of the coming spring.
There was nothing inherently wrong with these fun activities, but we were missing a pretty important element of Resurrection Sunday: Jesus’s Resurrection. (Not to mention any reference to God, Jesus, or the Bible.)
Since I’ve become a Christian as an adult, I’ve reconsidered my Easter traditions a bit.
It’s easy enough to just throw going to church into the mix and call it a day. But hopefully, it’s evident to most followers of Jesus that Easter Sunday is one of the most important days on the Christian calendar.
Without the resurrection of Christ as King, we have no hope in new creation, no victory over brokenness and death, and nothing to put our faith in! It truly is incredible when you consider what the resurrection scriptures are saying.
Whatever your other traditions are on Easter Sunday, I hope you take some time to reflect on these resurrection scriptures as part of your day. You can meditate on them, pray through them, journal them, or read them as a family.
Scroll down to find:
Where is the Story of Easter in the Bible?
You can read the story of Easter in the Bible in Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-12, and John 20:1-31.
Here’s how Matthew tells the Easter story:
“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.’
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. ‘Greetings,’ he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’ –Matthew 28:1-10
While similar, each gospel account includes slightly different details about Jesus’s resurrection. You may want to read all of them and/or the surrounding passages to get a fuller picture of the first Easter Sunday in the Bible!
See also: What is Good Friday? And What Does it Mean to Christians?
Where is the “He is Risen” Bible Verse in Scripture?
One of the most well-known Easter Sunday Bible verses, the “He is risen” Bible verse can be found in Matthew 28:6, Mark 16:6, and Luke 24:6.
“He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.” –Matthew 28:6
“‘Don’t be alarmed,’ he said. ‘You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.'” –Mark 16:6
“He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee” –Luke 24:6
The fourth gospel, John, includes the Easter resurrection story but does not use the exact phrase “he is risen” or “he has risen.”
Today, Christians commonly cite these Resurrection scriptures when they greet each other with “He is risen!” “He is truly risen / He is risen indeed!” on Easter Sunday. These greetings aren’t exact quotes from the Bible, but they do reference these Scripture verses.
Easter Bible Verses About the Resurrection of Jesus
In addition to reading the story of Easter in the Bible, you may also want to read additional Bible verses about the resurrection of Jesus and what it means for us today. The following resurrection scriptures remind us of the power of Jesus’s resurrection as well as the hope it gives us today.
Please note: Due to space issues, these are verses pulled out of context, so I recommend reading them within the larger narrative to fully grasp what they’re saying.
Isaiah 26:19
But your dead will live, Lord;
their bodies will rise—
let those who dwell in the dust
wake up and shout for joy—
your dew is like the dew of the morning;
the earth will give birth to her dead.
This verse is so encouraging as it tells us that we do not need to fear death if we believe in God. He will resurrect us just as Jesus was resurrected.
Matthew 20:18-19
“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!”
This passage is especially impactful because Jesus spoke these words before his death and resurrection. These Easter verses assure us that Jesus was never taken off guard. He had a plan all along! And even when things look bleak, he still has a plan for us today.
Matthew 27:50-53
And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
God desires to have a deep, personal relationship with every one of us. He showed us this when the curtain of the temple was split into two, taking away the barrier between us and God. These Easter Bible verses about the resurrection of Jesus remind us what an incredible event this must have been to witness!
Mark 16:5-7
As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
Hallelujah! Christ has risen! These Easter Bible verses offer a message of hope that Jesus is no longer dead, but alive. The disciples did not understand when Jesus told them that they would see them again, but this passage shows that Jesus kept His promise.
Luke 24:46-47
He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Jesus was speaking to his disciples to show them that what they had read and heard was true – He had risen from the dead in order to forgive everybody of their sins. This is good news that needed to be shared — and that God still asks us to share today!
John 6:40
For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”
Jesus is telling us that it is the will of His Father (God) that everyone would join them in Heaven. God wants us to believe in Him so that we can spend eternity with Him. Jesus’s death wasn’t the end of the story. It was part of God’s master plan all along, and that’s good news for us!
See Also: What Does Heaven Look Like, According to the Bible?
John 11:24–25
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
These are Jesus’ words to Martha as she and Mary are grieving their brother Lazarus’ death. Martha knows that her brother will rise from the dead in the future, but Jesus is telling her that he is the resurrection; in other words, eternal life with him starts now.
She probably didn’t fully understand him, and I don’t know that most of us do either. But what this says to me is that not only do we have a future hope, but that hope is also in the present, as we live life to the full in Christ our Savior, waiting for the fullness of his kingdom to come.
Acts 1:3
After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.
Jesus is showing His disciples that He is alive. This can help us to increase our faith and push ourselves to share the good news with our friends and family. It isn’t enough to meditate on the resurrection scriptures ourselves. We need to share them!
Acts 4:33–34
With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them.
In the early church, the apostles were focused on preaching about one thing: the resurrection. And it wasn’t all talk; all of God’s people were taken care of and frequently saw miracles among themselves. The power behind the resurrection was still at work, and it continues to work today!
Romans 1:1–4
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God—the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
With Jesus risen from the dead, he was proven to be God’s Son and made Lord of all, with power over all creation, even the power of what many of us fear most: death. And what’s more, this was God’s plan from the beginning, which he revealed through the Bible.
Romans 5:6-8
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Let that sink in: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. What an amazing love God has for us! No matter what we have done, God still loves us and He sent His son to die for us so that we can live with Him in Heaven forever.
Romans 6:4–9
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
What these resurrection scriptures are saying is that those who are united with Christ benefit from the same power that he used to rise from the dead.
In his power, we’re set free from our sins, shortcomings, and weaknesses — they’ve lost all of their power over us. They’re nailed to the cross; they’re dead; and we’re fully alive. Now that’s good news!
Romans 8:11
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
The Holy Spirit is within us and we can have everlasting life by believing in God. Knowing these truths should give us joy and hope, no matter what we face today.
Romans 8:34
Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
In this Easter scripture verse, Paul reminds us that God is the ultimate authority and that Jesus is in Heaven advocating for us. We can take comfort in those reminders as we face challenges in our lives today.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.
This passage reminds us of the life-changing nature of Jesus’s sacrifice. His death and resurrection isn’t merely an old-fashioned Sunday School story. It’s the power of God Himself–both for the believers alive then and for us today!
1 Corinthians 15:12–19
But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Paul reminds us in these resurrection scriptures that Christ’s being raised from the dead is foundational to our faith.
He writes this at the end of a letter that is full of some serious instructions about how the people in the church in Corinth were living. And he brings it all back to this: Belief in the resurrection is why we do everything, and our hope in the age to come gives meaning to everything we do now.
Philippians 3:10
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.
While most of us want to avoid suffering whenever we can, Paul is so committed to becoming like Jesus that he would voluntarily suffer just to be more like him. If only we all had that level of commitment and faith! May these Easter Bible verses about the resurrection of Jesus inspire us to live out our faith more fully today and every day.
Philippians 3:20-21
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
We are directed to keep our eyes on our ultimate goal: Heaven. Our lives should be lived in a way that shows our love for Jesus.
Colossians 1:13-14
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
God has rescued us from our sins through the resurrection of his son, Jesus. We no longer have to live in the darkness and shame because God has saved us from that.
See also: How to Find Freedom from Past Sin and Shame
1 Peter 1:3–4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade.
Peter’s words in these resurrection scriptures remind us to praise God because we have hope in a “new birth:” living the way he always intended us to be. And what’s more, because Jesus defeated death, the new way of life we inherit lasts eternally.
Whatever you do to celebrate Easter and all that it represents, I hope these and other resurrection scriptures fill you with awe and hope.
What are some of your favorite resurrection scriptures for Easter? How do you use these Easter Bible verses about the resurrection of Jesus each year?
