Easter is About the Death & Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Is this a myth? A story? What is it all about?
The Short Answer:
- You and I are sinners - and we sin. (If you think you haven’t take a test here)
- This means we are separated from God & deserve to be
- A law has been broken and the Penalty must be Paid...
- The Penalty is DEATH. So we all must die to pay for our sins.
- Thankfully God sent Jesus to earth to pay the penalty for us!
- He was the LAMB OF GOD - and paid for the sins of the world!
- ...but wait there’s more!
- HE ROSE AGAIN! Giving us power over sin!
- It’s not about trying harder but about Him changing us so we don’t want to sin
- And then He helps us on a daily basis in every area!
- We can now be united with God now and for Eternity.
What’s with the LAMB?
- Well God put in place a law (like Gravity) that sin must be paid for with the blood of a lamb
- This Sacrifice was meant to be performed regularly & didn’t cleanse from guilt fully.
- Years later a man (Joseph) was sold into slavery by his brothers & ended up in Egypt
- God used this man to save the entire population (pagans and Israelites)
- The Israelites grew in number & the pagans were scared.
- They then treated the Israelites badly & forced them to be slaves.
- After around 400 years Moses is born & God uses Him to show the Egyptians His power (the 10 Plagues)
- The Egyptians refuse to let the Israelites go despite 9 plagues of increasing consequence
- The last plague was the death of the firstborn son of everyone without lambs blood on their door.
- This is where God PASSED OVER the house of everyone with the Blood of the Lamb but didn’t kill the firstborn
- Because of the death of every firstborn Egyptian male (animals and humans alike) the Israelites were allowed to leave.
- Then God Drowned the Egyptian Warriors in the sea when they tried to re-capture the Israelites...
- They were FREE - no longer had to work for other people for free or be beaten
- The Israelites were told to celebrate and remember PASSOVER - when God rescued them.
- Years later when Jonn the Baptist saw jesus he said “look, there is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”
- On Palm Sunday - Jesus rode through Jeruselem on a donkey - the same day thousands of people were selecting their PERFECT LAMB for the passover meal.
- The Jews wanted someone to save them from the roman rule - But Jesus was a different type of King!
- It was on this PassOver celebration that Jesus was tortured and murdered on a cross
- He suffered humiliation, pain, torment, torture, rejection..
- Whipped with a whip designed to tear flesh off the bone.
- A crone of long thorns, His beard pulled out & punched
- Naked, forced to carry his own cross & abandoned by friends & family.
- But then the BIG one - He cried out “My God My God Why have you forsaken me?”
- He BECAME your sin and was alone - separated from His Father.
- The closest and most powerful union in the universe was severed because of you & me!
- The ground shook, lightning flashed & the veil of the temple was torn in two...
- He died - right at the same time the Passover lamb was killed in the temple
- His side was pierced and he was laid in a rich mans tomb
- Guarded by roman guards the entire population determined to quash any memory of this fraud.
- But then on Sunday HE ROSE BACK TO LIFE! An angel rolled the stone away to allow the people to see He was not there.
- He presented himself to His disciples and some others and ate food prooving He was truly raised from death (not just a spirit)
- He promised the Holy Spirit and returned to Heaven where He sits at God’s Right Hand.
- He is Alive and Waiting for you to allow Him to be your Master!
- He gave it all - you have nothing to loose
THIS EASTER I HOPE YOU ALLOW JESUS INTO YOUR LIFE - HE IS THE AUTHOR OF LIFE AND PEACE!
It is finished - don’t be fooled by religion or ignorance ;)