I want to reflect on the time of year around Easter. We are heading into the fall season and with fall comes the changes of getting colder and the plants start to die out, the animals begin to migrate south or prepare to hibernate, and the world at least where I live prepares to quiet down and rest for the incredible spring season and the life it brings.

Easter is more than just about a bunny, and some eggs, and chocolates. While those are cute, fun, and yummy; Easter is when Jesus sacrificed his life and went to battle with the devil for our souls.

Some of you have been Christians for many years and some of you that are reading this today do not even know the true meaning of Easter. It is my prayer that as I write this that God would change your heart and reveal His story.

 

Isaiah the Prophet spoke about Jesus 700 years before His birth.

Isaiah 28:16-17 (msg)

But the Master, God, has something to say to this: “Watch closely, I am laying a foundation in Zion, a solid granite foundation, squared and true. And this is the meaning of the stone: a trusting life wont topple. I’ll make justice a measuring stick and righteousness the plumb line for the building. A hailstorm will knock down the shantytown of lies, and a flash flood will wash out the rubble.”

Isaiah 7:14-17 (msg)

So Isaiah told him, “Then Listen to this, government of David! It’s bad enough that you make people tired with your pious, timid, hypocrisies, but now you’re making God tired. So the Master is going to give you a sign anyway. Watch for this: a girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She’ll bear a son and name him Immanuel (God-With-Us). By the time the child is twelve years old, able to make moral decisions, the threat of war will be over. Relax, those two kings that have you so worried will be out of the picture. But also be warned: God will bring on you and your people and your government a judgment worse than anything since the time of the kingdom split, when Ephraim left Judah. The king of Assyria is coming!”

 

God sent His Son- Jesus Christ to die for our sins.

Hebrews 2:14-15 (msg)

Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death. 

While the cross seemed like the end, in reality, it was just the beginning!!!

Some of you lost all hope, you feel like your life is over but I’m here to tell you that it is not over! It is the beginning of something great!

 

Why the cross you may ask?

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 (amp)

And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death and {afterward} you hand him on a tree {as a public example}, his body shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall most certainly bury him on the same day {for he who is hanged is cursed by God}, so that you do not defile your land which the Lord God gives you as an inheritance.

 

Galatians 3:13-14 (amp)

Christ purchased our freedom and it redeemed us from the curse of the Law and it’s condemnation by becoming a curse for us- for it is written “Cursed is everyone who hangs {crucified} on a tree (cross)- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might also come to the Gentiles, so that we would all recieve {the realization of} the promise of the {Holy} Spirit through faith. 

 

Why did He die?

We had an unpaid bill, our sin.

Hebrews 9:22 (amp)

In fact under the Law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness {neither release from sin and its guilt, nor the cancellation of the merited punishment}. 

 

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 (msg)

Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin it’s leverage, its destructive power. Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gace sin it’s leverage, its destructive power. 

 

God had to send His son to pay a debt (sin) He didn’t owe, because we, His creation and most loved creation, owed a debt (sin) we could not pay. All we have to do is accept His gift of salvation.

How do I receive Salvation?

Acts 4:12 (amp)

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among people by which we must be saved {for God has provided the world no alternative for salvation}.

 

Romans 10:13 (amp)

For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord {in prayer} will be saved.