Christ’s Death and Resurrection
Verses
Specific Info
Epilog
The true meaning
of Christ’s death and resurrection is love. The unfathomable love
of our Heavenly Father for us before the beginning of time. A love that
created us, a love that made a sacrificial plan of salvation for our sins. A love that enabled our Lord to give His only begotten Son to die
for us. The great love of Jesus to do His Father’s will, to become one
of us. A love that would make Jesus lay down His life for us, to die as
atonement for our sins. The love of a Savior who would have
all come to Him and be saved. The important part of Christ’s death for
our sins is not the physical pain Christ had to endure, but the spiritual
reason our Savior died for us. Because He loved us! And those who
have Jesus in their hearts cannot help but love their Savior back, willingly
following His commands, gladly living as our Master would have us live, and
loving others as ourselves.
The celebration of Holy Week and Easter
commemorates the events leading up to Christ’s death and resurrection, and the
beginning of God’s New Covenant with us. These events happened during the
annual festivals of Passover and The Feast of Unleavened Bread. These Old
Covenant ceremonies were required by God and held annually in Jerusalem in either March or April. God
instituted these ceremonies as He freed Israel from 400 years of slavery to
the Egyptians. The Lord put plagues on the Egyptians so they would free His
chosen nation of Israel
from them. The last plague was the death of all the firstborn sons in Egypt. To
protect the Israelite’s first born from this plague, God told them to choose a
lamb without blemish on the 10th day of what was to become their
first month. On the 14th day of that same month, at twilight, they
were to slaughter the lamb, marking their doors with its blood so God would “passover” their homes, their firstborn sons would then be
spared. After this plague occurred Israel
was set free and hurriedly left Egypt,
eating unleavened bread as they traveled, not having time to use yeast. The
Lord commanded them annually to celebrate the Passover on the same day it
occurred, 14th day of first month, followed by the Feast of
Unleavened Bread which would begin on the 15th day of the 1st
month and would last for seven days. During the Feast of Unleavened Bread no
yeast was to be eaten or in their possession. They were to eat as they did in
their flight from Egypt.
The first and last days of this Festival were to be Sabbaths. Our Lord wanted
the Israelites to always remember their bondage and that He alone saved them
from captivity. But our Heavenly Father also wanted to use these celebrations
as illustrations of the Messiah who would come as the lamb, until these
celebrations fulfilled His plan of salvation through Jesus. A plan devised
before creation, promised to us when Adam and Eve first sinned, and completed
when Jesus became the New Covenant Passover lamb to save us. Jesus became the
Passover lamb, with no blemishes, no sins. Our Savior was sacrificed for our
sins, willingly died in our place. Our Heavenly Father can now “passover” any transgressions covered by the blood of
Christ, forgiving our sins, remembering them no more. Jesus also instituted the
Lord’s Supper, offering His body and blood to replace the lamb as our Passover
Supper of life. Jesus is and always will be the Lamb of God who takes all of
our sins away. Jesus is Christ, the promised Messiah of the Heavenly Father who
saves all believers from sin. Jesus is the New Covenant of grace which allows
all believers to be saved. But Jesus is more, Jesus is the Son of God, and on
the third day He arose from the dead. Jesus is alive, He has risen indeed! But
we must go farther than that. Just as Israel was set free from Egyptian
rule, we also have been freed. Christ has freed us from the power of sin. He
has set us free from the power of Satan, our sinful flesh, the evil of the
world. He has set us free from the fear of death. He has set us free from the
threat of eternal damnation in Hell. He has freed us from all ceremonial laws
and regulations. We need not worry about religious festivals, new moon
celebrations or the regular Sabbath. We no longer need a priest or anyone else
to approach God for us, Christ is our mediator. We can go directly, anytime, to
Jesus, our eldest brother, our best friend, and talk with Him, have our sins
forgiven by Him. We are free from worry, for our risen Redeemer has promised to
prepare a place in Heaven for all believers. This is what Christianity is all
about. Faith, love and hope in a risen Savior who has set us free to be
Children of God. And the greatest of these is love. May the love of Jesus
Christ remain in our hearts forever.
All God’s plans were made before creation
and it is easy to notice the little things that fit perfectly into place, which
made it possible for Christ to die for our salvation, to arise as the Son of
God. The situation at the time, Rome’s occupation of Israel, the Jewish Church
trying to remain as a functioning body and not be destroyed by the Roman
oppressors, made the perfect background for Christ’s crucifixion. The church’s
leadership was trying to keep their people from striking out against the hated
Romans, scared of Roman reprisals which would strip power from the Jewish
religious leaders. The High Priest and other leaders of the Sanhedrin believed
it was better for one man die, than have Rome turn on the whole nation. Killing
Jesus would bring political peace, stability, removing a self proclaimed
Messiah that many incorrectly believed would set them free from Roman
oppression. But Jesus was not trying to establish a physical kingdom here on
earth. Jesus was the true Son of God, the Messiah who came to establish His
Father’s Spiritual
Kingdom once more. Jesus
came as atonement for our sins, so believers could become holy, could be
children of God once more. Our Savior’s battle is not for physical things, but
is for our souls, trying to push out all evil so He alone can live in our
hearts.
Jesus had raised Lazarus from the grave in Bethany. Word of this
miracle had spread, Jesus’ notoriety was at its highest and growing. This made
Jesus a serious threat to the Church leadership, they had to respond, they
wanted to kill Him. The chief priests also wanted to kill Lazarus so there
would be no miracle. But they had to be careful not to stir up the crowds who
supported Jesus and would be coming for the Passover and Feast of Unleavened
Bread celebrations. The chief priests eagerly accepted the offer of Judas to
help capture Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. Judas would now be looking for
the first opportunity to turn Jesus over to them.
Jesus had avoided His enemies by going away
to Ephraim which was near the desert. Here Jesus would not be caught
prematurely, our Savior could die as the lamb of the Passover celebration.
Jesus avoided Jerusalem
on the regular Sabbath before Passover, for the chief priests had many watching
for Him. Jesus came out of seclusion on Sunday Nisan 9 by going to Bethany, where He was
well known, where His most famous miracle had been performed, to be with
friends and believers in Him. Many of these believers would be at Jerusalem for His
triumphant entry riding a donkey the next day, Monday Nissan 10. They would
also get the word around so Jesus would be accepted, cheered while being chosen
as the Passover Lamb of the people. Yet this entry on a donkey meant Jesus was
claiming to be the Messiah, a claim which would infuriate the Jewish leaders
even more. Just as the Passover Lamb had to be tested, it could have no
blemishes, so Jesus must be tested by the people, the Pharisees, the Chief
Priests, and all the leadership of the church. Their accusations would keep getting
more severe until the end. They would try and make Jesus an imposter, someone
who did not know the law, someone who should be killed for teaching against the
Word of God, blaspheming God’s holy name, opposing Caesar. Jesus withstood all
testing, some believed in Him, others still refused to believe even with all
the miracles He had performed. Jesus on Preparation night, Nissan 14, the night
before the Passover Lamb was to be eaten, offered His own body and blood in the
Lord’s Supper to replace the Passover Lamb that was eaten (see Lord’s Supper).
Later that night Jesus had to face the most agonizing test He would ever face,
to follow His Father’s will and be crucified for the sins of the world in the
morning. It was more than the physical punishment He would suffer. It was
having the sins of the world placed on His shoulders, dying with everyone’s
sins, as a replacement sinner for all believers which would be the most
painful. The Heavenly Father hates sin, would reject Jesus, forsake Him, for
the sins He bore as our Savior physically died. But as night turns into day, so
Christ’s pain turned to glory for He endured the cross, physically dying to
defeat death, saving all who would ever believe in their Savior. When Christ
died the ground shook, dead believers arose from their graves. The curtains in
the temple that kept all from going directly to God were torn, they are needed
no more, all can now go directly their Savior. Guards who crucified Jesus
trembled with fear, knowing they had crucified the Son of God. Though Christ’s
physical body was dead, was laid in the grave, His Spirit never died.
Spiritually Jesus ascended into the Kingdom of God to announce His victory over sin and
Satan. Spiritually Jesus gave all redeemed souls under the Old Covenant laws
complete forgiveness, and brought them to their eternal home in Heaven.
Spiritually Jesus welcomed home to Paradise
the thief on the cross, the sinner who had found faith while dying with our
Savior. Spiritually Jesus lectured those in Hell. Then just as Jesus had
foretold, on the third day from His death, the Heavenly Father would restore
Christ’s spirit into His dead body, making it physically alive once more. Jesus
physical resurrection was announced to the world by a violent earth quake as an
angel rolled away the stone to the grave. The guards at the tomb were so scared
that they became like dead men. Jesus showed Himself alive to the women, to
Mary Magdalene, then to the men on the road to Emmaus, to Peter, then to His
disciples. Before Jesus ascended into Heaven over 500 hundred would see their
risen Savior. Christ has risen indeed! As Christ died and was raised from the
dead, so to will all believers, death has been defeated, we will live in Paradise with our Lord forever.
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