Remember Christ this Easter Sunday

Dear Friends.  On this week, one thousand, nine hundred and eighty-four years ago, our Lord ate his last meal before his death.  He was betrayed by one that walked with him during his ministry on earth.  He gave himself willingly to be tortured, mocked, humiliated, spit upon, and ridiculed by lesser men.  His beard was yanked out by the roots.  There was a crown of thorns shoved down on his head. Most the flesh on his back was torn off through beatings.  Last of all, he had to carry his own cross.  Even our Lord, after he spent the entire night and most of the next morning being tortured, was so weak in his body, that he couldn’t endure the weight of the cross, and fell in the street a bloody mess.  He allowed himself to be nailed to that cross, and hung up to die one of the most excruciatingly painful death ever devised. 

Isaiah 52: 14  As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:  The word astonied comes from the Hebrew word shamem.  It means to stun: grow numb; stupefy; be shocked; make amazed; be astonished; wonder.

He did all of this willingly, for you.  The God of glory, the creator of heaven and earth himself, took on the body of man, and willingly gave up his life, to redeem us from the curse Adam put us under.  And believe me, his pain was every bit as severe as ours would have been under the same circumstances.  He was God, but also just as human as we are.

All he asked of us is one simple thing.  Believe in him.  Paul explains it as we give our lives to him and allow him to live through us.  We put away our old ways, and become a new creation.

I Corinthians 11:23 – 26  23) For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you.  That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:  24) And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, “Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.”  25) After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.”  26) For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.

Notice this scripture ends with ‘till he come.’  That tells us he will come again.  But if we die before his return, we can have confidence that we shall be with him.  Give him thanks this weekend, and give thanks to the Father God for allowing his Son to endure this for us.  There are none of us that deserve the price paid for our chance to have eternal life.  The Lord gave himself for us, so please accept his gift.  You will be eternally grateful.