(Easter Weekend 2011)
Greatest Story Ever Told
Jesus Christ and the Cross
Chapter 5
In the first chapter we looked at the beginning of all beginnings. That is when God existed before anything else was created. We looked at the creation of angels and the universe after them. We briefly noted how Lucifer, the greatest angel of them all, kind of got a big head about himself and thought that he could be just like God. Maybe even greater.
In the second chapter we learned who God was and is.
In the third chapter, we jumped ahead to the Second Advent, to learn what is ahead in history.
In the fourth chapter, we learned the details of salvation and why it is so very important to each one of us, and how it affects us for the rest of eternity.
And now we need to know how and why and by who, our future is made secure for us, lest we fall into the hands of evil and end up in a place like the Lake of Fire, forever.
Our life is not simply being born, growing up and retiring and then on to some paradise for the rest of eternity.
The world would have you think that all you need do is ignore God, have fun, make a life for yourself and then nothing terrible will happen to you. And that is very wrong.
But then Satan told Eve in the Garden, that very thing, ‘Surely you will not die!’ In other words, not to worry. Just grow up, learn a lot, and you’ll be as smart as God and you can secure your own life easily, by means of your own efforts.
Unfortunately history has seen over a hundred generations, numbering people into the trillions, who have come and gone, never having achieved their own eternal life on their own.
But we still have births followed by funerals. We still have accidents, and injuries, and birth defects, and sickness, hunger and poverty, prejudice, unfair circumstances in life, and the problems go on and on.
But this is the devils world and it is run by his rules, ‘Surely you won’t die. You’ll be as smart as God.’
And people believe that and continue to believe that, as they ignore God, His truth, and His solution.
Without God nothing would exist. So it stands to reason that without God in your life, nothing in your life will ever amount to anything. You can live your entire life and become a billionaire even, but in the end, if there is nothing of a legitimate spiritual nature in you, then your whole life will get you only into the Lake of Fire, which means a totally wasted life.
So, God hatched a plan by which we can all have a great eternal future, by means of His plan. Because it is only by His plan that we can obtain that good future. We cannot do it our self.
So, on a specific date and time, the second person of the Trinity, became a human being. He was born by means of a miracle, into this world, and became known as the Son of Man, heir to the throne of David, and will become to the King of kings, and Lord of lords. His name is called Jesus Christ.
He grew up as we all did. He was raised by his mother and father. He learned the rules of his home, he received an education, he learned right from wrong. But one thing he was that most of us are not. He was very smart.
By age twelve, Jesus knew the scriptures, better than the priests of his day. And one more thing. He knew who he was and why he was here in this world.
Most were expecting a savior to come riding in to save the world, to defeat the enemies, and then all people could continue living their lives as before and without interference.
But that was not his purpose for his first trip to this earth.
What humanity needed was a means of salvation, for without that, no one would have a life even now, let alone in eternity.
So, Jesus lived his life and he lived his life without committing even a single sin. He grew up perfect.
Satan tried to trick him and make him sin, and therefore fail, but Satan was unable to do that.
So Satan tried to have Jesus tormented, tortured, and even crucified on the cross, in order to get even the slightest complaint out of him. But that effort failed too.
It was Gods plan all along to go to the Cross, not because Satan maneuvered him onto the cross, but while hanging there, the Father took over and applied the punishment of all of the sins of the world, onto Jesus, while he was still alive and hanging on the Cross. Satan wanted Jesus dead and gone, but God took that effort and turned it into our salvation.
At noon, on that fateful day, Jesus was on the Cross, and God turned the entire world into darkness. It was then that he applied the punishment of all sins, onto Jesus. Jesus cried out, not in pain, but to let us know that the punishment was occurring.
For three hours, Jesus shouted and the punishment continued and then all became silent.
Daylight returned and the punishment for mans sins was completed. Jesus said out loud, ‘Finished.’
Then he pushed his head forward and said his last words, ‘Father into thy hands I commit my spirit.’ And thus Jesus died immediately.
A great storm and earthquake ensued telling the world that their savior was now absent from this world and that salvation was at hand.
His body was placed in a tomb, and there remained for three days, so as to prove his actual physical death.
On the afternoon of the Feast of the Passover, on a Wednesday afternoon, Jesus Christ hung on the cross and paid the price for mans sins, and was then placed in a tomb. Then on Thursday evening, the first day ended as he was laying in the tomb. On Friday evening the second day ended as his body laid in the tomb, and then on Saturday evening, the third day ended, as his body laid in the tomb, and then sometime after nightfall, on Saturday evening, He arose.
By the morning of Sunday, he was not there but had arisen. We celebrate the resurrection of the first of many every Easter Sunday, for that is the first day of eternal life, secured by Jesus who went to the Cross and paid the penalty for sin in our place.
Such that if we believe in Him, if we believe in Jesus Christ, then we will too, have eternal life, and will never ever see the Lake of Fire, but only heaven.
And so we celebrate this Easter, and every Easter, because of the work which God did on the Cross. And more important, we celebrate His resurrection, which is the defeat of death, and our insurance of salvation.
Jesus Christ is both God and man, the unique person of the universe, our Lord and Savior, and whoever believes in Him, will have eternal life.
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