From the Editor

Never The Same Old Same Old

STACEY MCKENZIE

Celebrating Resurrection Sunday

In a few days from the time of writing, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday will be marked by Christians worldwide. Pentecost Sunday will follow 50 days later. Many will observe these commemorative days out of routine or even obligation, but for many more, their meaning in 2026—as it has been for centuries—remains clear and respected. Whatever is happening with us personally, we are reminded every calendar year of the central purpose for which we live—and the end we are all moving towards. With the sliver of a life span that we have each been granted, what will be most valuable about us when all of human history is reviewed at the judgment? It is that seed of faith that the Holy Spirit sparked in us and to which we responded, to put our trust in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. It is all the fruit that came out of the change in our hearts that followed, and our determination to walk in the Spirit, trusting God’s power to work in and through us despite life’s ups and downs.

Revelation 19:11-13 reminds us of the outcome we are hoping for and the reality we are promised we will see: “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.”

In that Word we have put our hope, and in His faithfulness we can rely.

A two-year Bible reading plan I adopted dives into the Book of Exodus for several consecutive weeks. One of the many things that struck me was that the Israelites, who had witnessed possibly the most awe-inspiring miracle of nature of all time, the parting of the Red Sea, forgot what God had done after travelling through the desert for three days without finding water they could drink (Exodus 15:22-24). The waters receded so that they could escape the powerful Egyptian army—a feat so amazing that even Moses’s father-in-law, Jethro, had heard about all God had done for the Israelites while he was still living as priest in Midian (Exodus 18:1). The parting of the Red Sea wasn’t the only miracle of nature the Israelites had witnessed: they had lived through 10 plagues, at least three of which did not affect the land of Goshen, where they lived, although they impacted the Egyptian communities all around them (Exodus 8:20-23; Exodus 9:22-26; Exodus 10:21-23). Those memories also faded quickly when trouble appeared overwhelming in the wilderness. With a few exceptions like Moses, Joshua and Caleb, they would spend the next 40 years wrestling with their ability to trust God consistently with their present and future.

Later, the author of Hebrews invites us to consider their story, and to remember the great hope we now have. Jesus, who laid His life down for us, can be trusted to bring us to our final destination (Hebrews 3:1-6). That destination doesn’t mean that God can’t identify with our struggles on the way there. “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (Hebrews 2:17-18). No one will understand or relate to our earthly struggles more than our Lord will (Psalm 147:3-5). Trusting in that reality is part of our journey of faith (Hebrews 11:6).

We may not have been present at Jesus’s crucifixion or resurrection, but we can pause to remember what He has done in our own lives; His acts are a part of His redemptive story in the world and point to the first Resurrection Sunday. Our ongoing confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit does the same; the same Spirit at work in the lives of the apostles in Acts 2 will be with us until the end of the age.

This article appeared in the April/May/June 2026 issue of testimony/Enrich, a quarterly publication of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. © 2026 The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.