EASTER SUNDAY … THE DAY COMMEMORATING … THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS THE CHRIST … THE SON OF GOD.
IN CERTAIN PARTS OF THE WORLD AND AMONG SOME RELIGIOUS ORDERS, THIS DAY IS ALSO REFERRED TO AS “THE FESTIVAL OF THE RESURRECTION. “
REGARDLESS OF THE NAME WE PLACE ON THE CELEBRATION OR THE DATES SOCIETY HAS SET ASIDE FOR ITS COMMEMORATION. THIS DAY GIVES ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO THE EVENT UPON WHICH ALL CHRISTIAN FAITH IS FOUNDED. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD. WHETHER A PERSON IS A BELIEVER OR NOT. THIS IS THE SINGLE GREATEST EVENT SINCE THE DAY OF CREATION.
EASTER IS THE DAY OF REMEMBRANCE. TRADITION HAS MEMORIALIZED THIS DISTINCT DAY TO CONTEMPLATE AND CELEBRATE THE DEATH OF JESUS ON THE CROSS AT CALVARY… HIS BURIAL IN A BORROWED TOMB … AND THE CELEBRATION OF HIS BEING RAISED FROM THE DEAD … THREE DAYS LATER
THE DATES AND THE ORIGINS OF THIS CELEBRATION HELD BY SOME ARE CONSIDERED TO BE CONTROVERSIAL AND CONTRADICTORY.
THE UNCERTAIN HISTORY ABOUT WHO HAD THIS HOLIDAY FIRST, THE CHURCH OR THE DEVIL, IS INCONSEQUENTIAL TO THE SIGNIFICANCE … OF WHAT TOOK PLACE AT CALVARY FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL MANKIND. WHETHER CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE ON THE FIRST SUNDAY FOLLOWING THE SPRING EQUINOX, WHICH IS APRIL 9TH THIS YEAR, OR WE CHANGE EVERYTHING AROUND AND CHOOSE TO CELEBRATE HIS RESURRECTION ON THE 4TH OF JULY. IT MATTERS NOT AND DOES NOTHING TO UNDO THE ETERNAL WEIGHT OF WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED ON THE THIRD DAY, FOLLOWING HIS BRUTAL DEATH FOR THE PAYMENT OF SIN FOR ALL MANKIND.
MEL GIBSON’S MASTERFUL DEPICTION OF THE CRUCIFIXION IN HIS FILM “THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, “WHICH SOME CRITICS CLAIMED WAS OFFENSIVE … I THINK WAS FEEBLE IN RECREATING THE GRUESOME CONDITION OF JESUS’S BODY … AS HE HUNG ON THAT CROSS, SUSPENDED BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH.
JOHN 19:1 SAYS THAT BEFORE JESUS WAS LED TO BE CRUCIFIED … HE WAS SCOURGED.
SCOURGING WAS DONE WITH WHAT WE KNOW AS A CAT OF NINE TAILS. NINE THICK LEATHER STRAPS CONNECTED TOGETHER. ON EACH OF THE LONG THICK L STRAPS, THERE WERE NINE SHARP FLESH-PIERCING OBJECTS MADE OF GLASS, STONE, OR METALS ATTACHED. WITH EACH LASH OF THAT WHIP, ALL NINE STRAPS WITH NINE FLESH-TEARING WEAPONS CREATED EIGHTY-ONE DEEP BODY WOUNDS INFLICTED ON THE OPEN FLESH OF JESUS.
THE TRADITION OF THE DAY WAS TO WHIP A PRISONER THIRTY-NINE TIMES AS PUNISHMENT FOR WHATEVER CRIME THEY WERE CONVICTED OF OR, IN THE CASE OF JESUS, THE CRIME THAT HE WAS ACCUSED OF BUT NEVER COMMITTED. THIRTY-NINE LASHES TIMES EIGHTY-ONE LASERATIONS CALCULATES TO 3,159 GAPING, OPEN, BLEEDING WOUNDS WHICH NO DOUBT LEFT HIS BONES, MUSCLES, AND SOFT BODY TISSUE ALL EXPOSED, RESEMBLING RAW ANIMAL MEAT MORE THAN HUMAN FLESH.
THAT WAS BEFORE HE CARRIED THE CROSS, STUMBLED, AND MADE HIS WAY ALONG THE DUSTY ROAD OF THE VIA DELAROSA. ONCE HE ARRIVED AT GOLGATHA, WHICH MEANS … “THE PLACE OF THE SCULL. “HISTORY RECORDS THAT GOLGATHA WAS A FILTHY GARBAGE PILE OUTSIDE THE CITY OF JERUSALEM. HIS HANDS AND FEET WERE NAILED TO A CROSS … AS ALL OF HEAVEN WATCHED … IN WEPING DISBELIEF.
I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ THE ACCOUNT FOR YOURSELF BEFORE THIS EASTER HOLIDAY WEEKEND HAS CONCLUDED. YOU CAN FIND IT IN MATTHEW CHAPTER 27, MARK CHAPTER 15, AND LUKE CHAPTER 23.
IN JOHN 12:24 (NIV), JESUS SAID … VERY TRULY I TELL YOU, UNLESS A KERNEL OF WHEAT FALLS TO THE GROUND AND DIES, IT REMAINS ONLY A SINGLE SEED. BUT IF IT DIES, IT PRODUCES MANY SEEDS.
IN THIS STATEMENT FOR THE AGES, JESUS SPOKE OF HIMSELF AND THE HUMAN SPECTACLE THAT WOULD BE MADE OF HIS LIFE AND BODY … IN THE DAYS FOLLOWING.
JESUS WOULD DIE FOR SIN … SO WE COULD DIE TO OURSELVES … AND ALLOW HIM TO LIVE AND EXPRESS HIMSELF THROUGH US … TO THE SAME UNBELIEVING WORLD WHICH REJECTED HIM OVER 2000 YEARS AGO.
THREE DAYS LATER, HE ROSE FROM THE GRAVE IN FINAL TRIUMPH OVER ALL OF THE WORKS OF SATAN, PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE.
1 JOHN 4:17 (NLT) … AND AS WE LIVE IN GOD, OUR LOVE GROWS MORE PERFECT. SO WE WILL NOT BE AFRAID ON THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT, BUT WE CAN FACE HIM WITH CONFIDENCE … “BECAUSE WE LIVE LIKE JESUS HERE IN THIS WORLD. “
DOES YOUR LIFE SHOW THE DEATH OF THE PERSON YOU USED TO BE?
ARE YOU DAILY DYEING TO YOURSELF AND LETTING THE LIFE OF CHRIST FLOW THROUGH YOU … IN PLACE OF “SELF” FLOWING THROUGH YOU?
HAVE YOU BEEN RAISED FROM SIN AND RESURRECTED INTO THE NEW LIFE OF CHRIST
DOES YOUR LIFE SHOW THE RESURRECTION POWER OF CHRIST?
ARE YOU LIVING IN TRIUMPH OVER ALL OF THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL IN YOUR LIFE?
I CAN HELP YOU … RIGHT NOW. PLEASE REACH OUT TO ME IF YOU NEED SOMEBODY TO PRAY, ENCOURAGE YOU, OR HELP YOU PUT SATAN IN HIS PLACE IN ALL AREAS OF YOUR LIFE.
