This Sunday we celebrate what is certainly the most significant event in Christian history – The Resurrection of Jesus Christ! Jesus’ victory over death was our victory! But Jesus paid a horrific price for that victory. During the hours leading up to and including His crucifixion, Jesus experienced mind numbing torture, ridicule and abandonment. And according to His prayers to the Father in the garden, He was agonizingly aware of what was approaching for Him, asking God if there was any other way to accomplish His plan. Yet, Jesus’ ultimate desire was God’s will to be done no matter what it meant for Him. And indeed, He fulfilled that plan. He was our substitute. He bore our sins and our sicknesses with every lash and every nail. There is no greater love than this. God’s love extends to His followers and His ridiculers alike because God so loved the “world”. Even the thief on the cross was embraced by the love of Christ. Our prayer for you this Easter is that you realize and experience the boundless, life-changing, unconditional love of Christ!
42 “Father, if you are willing, please
take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not
mine.” Luke 22:42 (NLT)
3 He was despised and rejected— a man of
sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked
the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was
our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a
punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we
could be healed. Isaiah 53:3-5 (NLT)
13 There is no greater love than to
lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John
15:13 (NLT)
43 And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today
you will be with me in paradise.” Luke
23:43 (NLT)
16 “For God loved the world so much
that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will
not perish but have eternal life. John
3:16 (NLT)