![Three wooden crosses](/uploads/2/1/4/4/21449656/829712914.jpg?219)
But His death on the cross has put us in the time of grace. His death was the marriage proposal, beckoning the Church to be His Bride.
God died so that we may live. He is our Anchor so that we are ". . .stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 15:58). He took the keys of death and hell from the devil. Now Jesus has power over death.
Now, in order to be forgiven, we only need to come to the feet of the cross to repent and God will forgive us. Being a "new creature" is letting go of worldly activities, and living perfectly with the grace of God. God gave us a second chance to make it to the promise land. Death has died, love has won. And now through the bloodshed at Calvary, we are free to serve The Lord. The devil’s not our master anymore.
And all of this is thanks to the Easter story, it goes like this:
It was almost the Passover. The jealous chief priests and scribes were plotting on killing Jesus. They needed to stop Jesus from spreading His Word. Suddenly, one of His followers came to them. "I know how to give you this Man unto you." This traitor was Judas Iscariot. He traded his Lord and master for 30 meaningless pieces of silver. He told them where He would be, and offered to lead them to Jesus. Why, Judas, why?
Jesus said to the twelve, “One of you disciples that eat with Me, will betray Me.” They all asked, “Is it I? Is it I?” And He said, “It is one of the twelve, who dippeth with me in the dish.” Then He gave bread and said, “Take, this is My body.” And He gave wine and said, “Take, this is My blood, which will be shed for many.”
“Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder." (Matthew 26:36). As Jesus was praying, He asked God for His will to be done. Then He went to the disciples, only to find them asleep.“What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?” (Matthew 26:41). Then He went back to pray a second time, and later found them sleeping again. So He left them and went to go pray again. Then, He returned to them the third time, only to find them asleep. But this time He said, “Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.”
Then Judas appeared in the garden. Following him was "a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people." (Matthew 26:47). The traitor came up to Jesus, and betrayed Him with a kiss. It was the sign that Jesus was the one the multitude wanted. Immediately, He was held by the soldiers. Simon Peter quickly drew out his sword "and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear" (John 18:10).
However, Jesus took the ear and healed the man. I find it amazing that Jesus was able to do that. He had anticipated the moment with earnest prayer for strength to go through with the pain. In fact, His "sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground". (Luke 22:44). Then, the moment finally comes, and He even heals the ear of someone that was bringing Him to a death sentence.
And so, He heals the man, and "then took they him, and led him and brought him into the high priest's house. And Peter followed afar off." (Luke 22:54).
The next morning, the chief priests came together with the elders and scribes and bound Jesus and carried him away (Mark 15:1).
They delivered Jesus unto Pilate, and he asked Him, "Are you the king of the Jews?". Jesus replied, "Thou sayest it." They accused Him of many things, but He answered none of them. Wise choice. At that same time, Peter was outside the temple in which Jesus was held. They asked, "Aren't you one of Jesus' disciples?" He replied no three times. He cried when he’d realized his wrong.
Meanwhile, when Judas Iscariot, the traitor, heard of Jesus' capture, he gave back the 30 pieces of silver and hung himself, due to guilt (Matt 27:5). It's hard to believe that it took the capturing of our Savior for Judas to realize that 30 pieces of silver wasn't worth it.
Back at the temple, Pilate asked the chief priests and the people who should be released, Barabbas or Jesus? They released Barabbas, a murderer, over an innocent man. But out of his beautiful unchanging love for us, He did nothing, and allowed them to carry on.
And they all cried out, 'Crucify Him, crucify Him!" And they put upon Him a crown of thorns. And they spat upon Him, mocked Him, beat him and led Him out alongside two thieves for crucifixion. It's disgusting, that our Savior was alongside thieves. That alone is a proof of humility. And they took Him to Golgotha, meaning, "the place of a skull" and crucified Him, and nailed Him to the cross.
On the ninth hour, Jesus cried out saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani!" This means, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Some of them thought that Jesus was looking for Elias. And straight away they took a sponge filled with vinegar, and gave it to Him to drink. They mocked Him saying, "Let us see whether Elias will come to save Him."
Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost (Matthew 27:50). Then began an earthquake. "Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God." (Matthew 27:54). When the evening came, a man named Joseph, which was also one of Jesus' disciples, begged Pilate for the body of Jesus. Pilate commanded the body to be delivered unto him. He wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, "And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed." (Matthew 27:60).
The next day the chief priests and Pharisees went to Pilate. They said that the deceiver (which was supposedly Jesus) claimed that He would rise from the dead after three days. Pilate told them to make sure that His tomb was secure. They didn't want to risk the chance of the disciples stealing His body and say that He had risen from the dead. Also, they made sure His tomb was watched by guards.
Then, on the third day, Mary Magdalene and a few other women went to the sepulchre. Suddenly, a great earthquake shook the place. Angels appeared unto the women. Bewildered and afraid, they "bowed down their faces to the earth." (Luke 24:5).
However, the angels comforted them saying, "Fear not ye; for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. . ." (Matthew 28:5,6). Whenever I read this passage, I feel joyful. The women must have been overwhelmed. After all, some had witnessed Jesus' last breath when He died. Now, angels told them that He was risen. Some might have been in disbelief, others might have been overjoyed. But the fact remains that Jesus had risen. And He's alive forevermore.
God did this for us. If you were the only sinner on earth, Jesus would still have died for you. Imagine that. The Creator of the universe died in the hands of the people He created. He died on the wood He created. He endured abuse for our sake. Try to put yourself in His position. If you had people spitting, mocking, and beating you, would you fight, or humbly accept persecution? To be honest, I know I wouldn’t be able to accept that, I really don't know what I’d do. So for God to shed His precious blood, for wretches like us, is a true act of pure love. He gave all of Himself for you.
So think about it, are you giving all of yourself to Him?
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