1 Peter 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Peter knew exactly what he was talking about. He was there the very evening after Jesus had been raised from the dead with the other disciples. They were shaking in their boots (I mean sandals) when Jesus walked through the wall right into their room. They saw the wounds in His hands, feet, and side. It wasn’t a vision or an apparition, Jesus was there in flesh and bone. That’s when the born again thing happened, just as the Father had breathed life into Adam at his creation, Christ breathed life into Peter and the other disciples. “Receive the Holy Ghost”, Jesus declared. Peter was never quite the same after that, he had been born again by the breath of the resurrection that first Easter evening. Here is how John Gill describes this verse.

“by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead; which may be connected either with the act of begetting again; for Christ’s resurrection is the virtual cause of regeneration, or regeneration is in virtue of Christ’s resurrection; had he not risen from the dead, none would have been quickened, or made to live, or have been raised to newness of life: his resurrection is the exemplar of regeneration; there is a likeness between them; as his resurrection was a declaration of his sonship, so regeneration is a manifestation of adoption; and as Christ’s resurrection was his first step to glory, so is regeneration to eternal life; and both are wrought by the same almighty power: or the clause may be connected with the foregoing, “unto a lively hope”; for the resurrection of Christ is what is the means of, and lays a solid foundation of hope….”

So Easter is a celebration of our new life, we have been born again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When Peter wrote this epistle many years after Christ’s resurrection he still had the resurrection life and power surging through his body. It was that same power that fell on him on the Day of Pentecost; just a stronger, more potent dose. Today, this resurrection life can be received by anyone who hungers for something real. Call on His name, just maybe He will walk into your room.