Easter is Jesus' Story: He's Alive!

The Bible contains the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament tells how God spoke into existence the world, animals and man in 6 days then rested. Hundreds of years later, God gives the twelve commandments to Moses - rules for his people to follow, yet they failed over and over to obey. The commandment that gave them the greatest trouble was Exodus 20:3 You shall have no other gods before me. Even in the first chapter his son is spoken of and a promise to his people, the Jews, about a savior. If they could not obey his commandments they were doomed to everlasting punishment. The only way for God's people to obtain eternal life was obey his commandments, which they could not, or believe on his son who would give himself as a sacrifice for their wrongs, for breaking his rules. Throughout the Old Testament, promises are made of God's son who is to come to earth.

The New Testament starts with the birth of Jesus. God sent an angel to tell Mary, a young virgin girl, that God had picked her to be the mother of his son. By supernatural means, Mary becomes pregnant with Jesus before she was with a man. Her fiancée, Joseph, is told by God that this is his plan to bring his son into the world. Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem for a census and while there Mary gives birth to Jesus in a stable because there was no room for them in an Inn. Angels appear in the sky to shepherds, celebrating the birth, and the shepherds go to the Inn to see the baby.



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Jesus is raised by Mary and Joseph in Nazareth. Joseph was a carpenter and Jesus worked with him while he was growing up. When he was 33 years old he began his ministry. He called disciples to follow him. He taught people about God and his love. Once, when asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus said Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and, Love your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 This was very similar with the first commandment that the people had such a hard time obeying but God and Jesus had a plan. Jesus was not accepted by many of the Jewish rulers of that day because they couldn't believe he was really the son of God and because they did not want to give up their high positions to a lowly son of a carpenter.

Jesus was falsely accused of crimes and arrested. The Pharisees, who were the Jewish rulers, beat Jesus with a whip studded with nails, they pressed a crown of giant thorns into his head and they spit on him. Finally Jesus was laid out on a crude wooden cross, his hands were stretched out on the crossbeams and spikes were driven into them, his feet were nailed to the vertical beam and the cross was dropped into a hole so that it stood upright. Jesus suffered horrible torture during this time and even asked God one time why he had forsaken him. God knew that the only way the people he had created could be free of sin was for Jesus to die on the cross. In his death, he took the sins of the people upon himself but not only the sins of people up to that time but also to those who would be born in the future and believe on his name.



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Jesus had told his disciples over and over that this would happen, that he would die, but they didn't believe him. When he died they were all terrified but two of his followers took his body down from the cross and buried him in a cave that was prepared as a tomb. They rolled a heavy stone in front of the tomb and two Roman soldiers were set to guard the tomb lest anyone try to steal his body. On the third day, though, Jesus came back to life. The stone was rolled away from the tomb and Jesus walked out. The Roman soldiers had fallen into a deep sleep.

On the morning of the third day, three women who were followers of Jesus, came to his tomb and found the stone rolled away. One began to cry, thinking his body had been stolen, when a man approached her and asked why she was crying. The woman said Jesus' body had been stolen. The man spoke her name "Mary" and she said "My Lord and My God." This was Jesus, whom she had seen crucified, and he was alive again.

Following that, Jesus was seen by a number of his disciples. Jesus visited with disciples at Emas and the picture depicts that meeting. My face would show fear too if I was talking to a man whom I had seen die, but Jesus comforted the disciples. Jesus then went back into heaven to sit at God's right hand but he sent a "comforter" who we call the Holy Spirit. Jesus will come to earth again someday and those that believe in him await that day. Believers in Jesus that have died before he returns will arise to go with him into heaven. When we believe that Jesus is God's son and that he died on a cross and was raised again, and when we believe that we can't obey all the rules perfectly and accept that Jesus' death on the cross, his sacrifice, can save us, and when we are not ashamed to tell others of Jesus and we accept him as our savior, we become children of God. This is the story of Easter, when Jesus arose from the Grave.



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