Does the Bible have Easter eggs?

Taylor Swift fans adore her for many reasons, but one is the ‘Easter eggs’ she rewards them with – deliberate hidden clues, cryptic hints, or subtle references planted in her lyrics, videos, social media posts, or live performances. Her ‘Easter eggs’ are fun and spark anticipation and curiosity. I don’t even pretend to be up on pop culture these days. Usually, I keep my mouth shut about what little I do know so I don’t look ridiculous. But it feels like, just as Swifties obsess over Taylor, I’m obsessed with Jesus and the Bible – partly because of its ‘Easter eggs.’ Jesus was a master at hiding them. And yes, the Bible really does have Easter eggs.

Jesus was a master at planting them. In his gospel, John calls them signs. A sign is a miracle that communicates a particular, often subtle or hidden, message. In essence, these are miracles with ‘Easter eggs.’ And I am all about them!

We see Easter eggs in God’s creation.

God has been planting them from the beginning. Scripture tells us God created the heavens and the earth. Although the heavens are not so subtle a hint, the psalmist points out the Easter egg:

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Psalm 19:1

Glory.

Handiwork.

The wonder of God.

My husband and I recently celebrated our wedding anniversary, which happened to fall on a holiday. We were blessed to spend the morning hiking in a national park I’ve visited hundreds of times. Yet on this cloudy, foggy day, God seemed to have hidden a few Easter eggs of His own.

As we entered the woods, flower petals covered the trail. They weren’t rose petals, but bright yellow blossoms with orange centers. Yellow happens to be my husband’s favorite color. Orange was my dad’s. They were breathtaking, and I found myself scanning the woods for signs that a wedding had taken place the night before. In all my years of hiking there, I had never seen anything like it.

No signs of a wedding. So, we walked on. As we did, we continued to see these flower petals on the trail. And every so often, we would come across a whole blossom.

It turns out these were tulip tree blossoms that had fallen during the night. The blossoms grow high in the tulip tree canopy, and the only way to see them is when they fall to the ground.

I had walked these trails for years and never seen them before. It felt like one more little delight from a God who loves to delight His children. That morning, I felt as though He were winking at us and wishing us a happy anniversary.

We could spend a lifetime discovering the Easter eggs God has hidden throughout His creation. From the heavens above to the tiniest blossom beneath our feet, everything points beyond itself to the One who made it.

Our God loves to delight His children.

And He loves to be found.

We also see Easter eggs throughout the Bible.

Personally, I am back in Simply Bible: The Gospel of John. This study is especially dear to my heart because it was the very first Simply Bible workbook. Every time I return to John’s Gospel, I discover something new.

What I love most is that John invites us to see and journey with Jesus. Not merely to learn about Him, but to encounter Him. Near the end of his Gospel, John explains why he recorded Jesus’s signs:

“These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31)

The more times I walk with Jesus through John’s Gospel, the more Easter eggs I discover.

This week, I found myself back in John chapter 2, where Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding in Cana. I’ve read this story countless times, yet somehow I had missed many of the clues hidden in plain sight.

If we grew up in church, we probably remember the flannel graph: large stone jars filled with water. It’s easy to focus on the miracle itself and overlook the details. But John wants us to notice those jars. They weren’t ordinary containers. They held gallons upon gallons of water and were used specifically for Jewish purification rites.

Meanwhile, a crisis is unfolding.

Mary comes to Jesus with a simple observation: “They have no wine.”

She could have said, “This wedding is an absolute disaster! The wine is gone, the families will be embarrassed, and everyone will be talking about it.”

We might think, “Oh, the wine is gone. No big deal! The party’s over. But in that time, Mary had a valid point.

Jesus responds by reminding Mary that His “hour” has not yet come. Another Easter egg. Another clue pointing ahead to the reason He took on flesh and blood in the first place.

Yet Jesus has compassion.

He tells the servants to fill those stone jars to the brim with water. Then He instructs them to draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.

The master tastes it and is stunned. The best wine has been saved for last.

Oh yes, this miracle is the first sign John records. But the Easter eggs are everywhere.

The wine points ahead to Jesus’s blood shed on the cross. The abundance of good wine hints at the lavish grace He would pour out on His people. And those stone jars? They are not incidental details. John tells us they were used for Jewish purification rites.

For generations, God’s people had washed and purified themselves according to the Law. Yet those rituals could never truly cleanse the human heart. They pointed to a greater purification still to come.

Those stone jars were never the point. They were always pointing ahead. Ahead to Jesus. Ahead to the day when purification would no longer come through washing, but through Him.

Standing before those jars was the One who had come to do what no amount of washing ever could.

As Paul later writes:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

The water becomes wine. The old gives way to something far better. The rituals that could only cleanse the outside give way to the One who makes us new from the inside out.

Glory.

Handiwork.

The wonder of Jesus.

The wedding feast in Cana offers Easter egg after Easter egg, and I know I have not spotted them all. That is part of the joy of walking with Jesus through His Word. Every time I slow down and pay attention, I discover something new about Him. Not because the Bible changes, but because God delights in revealing Himself to His children.

Perhaps that’s why I find the whole idea of Easter eggs so compelling. We delight in finding them because they reveal something about the person who planted them. Taylor Swift delights her fans with hidden clues because she enjoys the relationship she shares with them.

How much more does our Creator delight in revealing Himself?

From the heavens that declare His glory, to tulip blossoms scattered across a trail, to signs hidden throughout Scripture, God is constantly inviting us to notice Him, know Him, and enjoy Him.

Our God loves to delight His children.

And He loves to be found.

Father God, thank You for Your Easter eggs! Help us to be ever curious to know and to enjoy You.