"And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him." Matthew 27:28-31
Do you know what Easter really means? It isn't Easter eggs or little chicks. The real meaning of Easter is Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins and our diseases. Do you know about the pain he was in? Yet he willing did this for each of us. He did it for you!! He loved you that much!! But that is not all that he did. He descended into hell and won the battle with Satan and brought back the keys to the kingdom. Then the third day he arose from the grave.
"And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout. Behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words."
"And he said unto them,'Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentence and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem".
Later He ascended into heaven to sit on the right hand of God the Father.
"And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven."
"So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God."
This is what Easter really is. It is about Jesus arising from the dead. It has been proven that He was alive again. There were over 500 people that saw Jesus after His resurrection. Then He went to heaven to sit on the right hand of the Father to interceed for us. So often we only celebrate His dying on the cross for us. But Easter is about His resurrection. Praise the Lord!!!
I have graphics showing this in my last year's Easter. To see this click the back button at the end of this message.
I asked you earier if you had ever thought about the pain and everything that Jesus went through. I want to share with you an email I received about this:
The cross is placed on the ground and the exhausted man is quickly thrown backwards with his shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square wrought
iron nail through the wrist deep into the wood. Quickly he moves to the other side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flex and movement.
The cross is then lifted into place. The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees flexed.
The victim is now crucified.
As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists, excruciating fiery pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain - the nails in the wrists are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he
places the full weight on the nail through his feet. Again he feels the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the bones of his feet.
As the arms fatigue, cramps sweep through his muscles, knotting them deep relentless, and throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward to breathe. Air can be drawn into the lungs but not exhaled. He fights to raise himself in order to get even one small breath.
Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream, and the cramps partially subsided. Spasmodically, he is able to push himself upward to exhale and bring in life-giving oxygen.
Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-renting cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from his lacerated back as he moves up and down against rough timber. Then another agony begins: a deep, crushing pain deep in the Chest as the pericardium
slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart. It is now almost over. The loss of tissue fluids has reached a critical level. The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues. The tortured lungs are making frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. He can feel the chill of death creeping through his tissues.
Finally, He allows His body to die.
All this the Bible records with the simple words,
"AND THEY CRUCIFIED HIM.."
(Mark 15:24).
What wondrous love is this?
This pain and suffering our Lord Jesus Christ went through for us.
"Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid."(Isaiah 12:2)
Now for the remaining of this Easter message I want to sing songs and Easter hymns like I did in my other holidays. The following are songs and hymns that we sing at Easter:
Because He shed his blood for us and singing about the blood of Jesus keeps Satan away, let us sing some songs about the blood. Singing or using the words- the blood of Jesus-is a form of spiritual warfare.
And another song we sing is that Jesus Arose:
Here is a song that I learned as a child. I sing it anytime but it fits into our Easter theme. It is one all children can learn.
That song says it all. He died to save our souls and make us whole. And it doesn't cost us anything--no money. it is a free gift. All we have to do is ask Him into our hearts. We just have to open the door to our hearts. He is there waiting for us to come to Him.
Now let us sing one of my favorites--We are going to sing only the Chorus:
Because of Jesus dying on the cross for us and triumphing over Satan and arising and going to heaven to sit by the Father, we can have victory. So I think this song is appropriate:
We can have victory in any situation, any habit with Jesus' help. All we have to do is call on His name. This isn't a thing that happens all at once. It is a growing process. I still have areas in my life that I am working on. We can't do it without His help.
The Bible tells us we are overcomers through Christ Jesus. That is because He died on the cross for us and arose. That is how we have victory. All we have to do is ask Him into our hearts. Then He lives there in our hearts. Have you asked Him into your heart? If not, pray this prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father:
I believe that Jesus is your son. I believe that He died on the cross to save me from my sins and to heal my diseases. I believe that He arose from the dead and is in heaven right now. Jesus, please come into my heart and life today as savior and Lord of my life. I give you my life today. In Jesus' name Amen.
Now please email me and tell me your decision. Or, if you have a prayer request, please email me. See email button below. God Bless each of You.
I would like to close with this song:
The border on this page is a picture of Jesus as Lord in heaven after the resurrection and is done by artist Danny Hahlbohm. The border and other graphics were made by Graphics by Janette.
I have permission from them to use it. Please do not use them in any way without consulting them. Thank you. To go to their sites, click on their banners.
