Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.

                - John 11:25

       Easter celebrates the greatest and most significant events that have ever taken place on this planet, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus crucifixion and resurrection was planned by God from the foundation of the world (Acts 2:23, Rev.13:8, John 1:29) as the one and only means of dealing with every sin that has ever and will ever be committed. (I John 2:2). God has redeemed us back to Himself (Titus 2:11). We have the opportunity to enjoy an intimate, personal and loving relationship with God and with Jesus throughout eternity (John 3:16, John 17:3).

The Bible records many prophecies about the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, given during the 4000 or so years between the fall of Adam and Jesus birth. (Psalm 22:1, 16, 18) (Zach 11:12, 13) (Isa.53:12). Jesus also prophesied about these events. (Matt. 26:24), (Luke 18:31).

Although God planned Jesus death, He was not responsible for it. In His wisdom and foreknowledge, God   knew that Jesus ministry and message would place Him in direct opposition to the devil and his followers. He knew that their hatred of Him would result in them killing Jesus of their own free will. He decided to use their rejection of Jesus to accomplish His will. He did not force anyone to kill Jesus.

      The full account of Jesus crucifixion, resurrection and ascension can be read in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John).After 3 years of public ministry during which Jesus did many miracles, preached the gospel and declared Himself to be the Christ (Messiah) and the Son of God. Jesus and His disciples travelled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. Jesus had many enemies among the members of the religious sect and they looked for an opportunity to kill Him. Judas, one of Jesus disciple, agreed to betray Him (Matt 26:14-16) and led His enemies to Him. They captured Jesus and after mocking and beating Him, brought Him before the council of Jewish religious leaders where He was falsely accused and found guilty of blasphemy (Matt. 26:57-66) (Mark 14:55-64).

        He was then brought before the Roman Governor Pilate, who had the power to free or crucify Him. Pilate sent Him to king Herod where He was again mocked and ill-treated, but Herod determined that Jesus was not guilty and sent  Him back to Pilate. Pilate also decided that Jesus had done nothing wrong. Nevertheless, out of fear that he would be accused of treason if he let Jesus go free, Pilate scourged Him and handed Him over to be crucified.

        On the day of the Passover Jesus, our Passover, was crucified (I Cor. 5:7) between two thieves, died and was buried. During the crucifixion, amazing and miraculous events took place. For three hours darkness covered the whole land and at the moment Jesus died, the 60’ – 90’ high thick curtain which separated the holy place from the holy of holies in the temple, was suddenly torn from top to bottom. 

Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead, and over the next 40 days He appeared to many of His followers, including a group of over 500 people (I Cor.15:6). Finally, watched by His apostles, He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:10).

Why did Jesus have to die, why did He have to suffer what was one of the most excruciating means of death that man has ever devised?

The reason was – sin. At the moment Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen.2:17, 3:6) they introduced into the world a spiritual power so evil that  it infected and enslaved not only them, but every human being that came after them (Rom. 5:12).

        The power – sin – not only killed – separated mans’ spirit from God and introduced all manner of evil into his heart (Jer. 17:9, Mark 7:21) it brought death and all its effects (sickness, depression, fear, etc) into his personality (soul) and made it impossible for him to live a godly life. (Rom 3:9,10,23) or even to understand the things of God (I Cor. 2:14). Sin and its companion-death, made it certain that spiritual death and physical death would be the ultimate end of every man and woman.

That was the devil’s plan and once Adam had sinned man could do nothing about it. He was totally enslaved to sin (Rom 6:16-17).

      The only one who could do anything – and it involved paying an incalculably high price – was God. To reverse the effects of Adam’s sin was not an easy process. Although God owned the universe and all that was in it (Exo.9:29, Psalms 24:1, Psalms 89:11). He had given man authority to rule the world.

     After man had listened to the devil’s lies and sinned, man began to wrongly use the power derived from that authority. As a result all the terrible events which took place on earth throughout history came about. Because a man (Adam) had effectively given away man’s authority, God’s plan for dealing with sin had to involve a man taking back that authority. God’s solution was to send His Son, Jesus to become a man (John 1:14, Matt 18:11) and through living a sinless life (John 8: 46, Heb. 4:15) and dying for all, to take back that authority.

       As he hung on the cross at Calvary, Jesus took all our sins – everyone’s sins – even those of the people who would never accept His sacrifice on their behalf – into His body. God made Jesus to be sin for us. (I Peter 2:24, John 1:29, I john 2:2,   2Cor.5:21).

      Jesus suffered the punishment of God so that we would not have to do so.  He defeated the devil (Heb. 2:14 the originator and instigator of that sin, and made us righteous (2 Cor. 5:21, 1 Cor. 1:30). During the hours Jesus hung on the cross on a hill outside Jerusalem, He reversed the effects of the fall. Jesus took all our sicknesses and infirmities (Isa.53:4-5, Matt.8:16-17, IPeter 2:24) brought deliverance, prosperity, justification, sanctification and glorification and then died and was buried. Between His crucifixion and resurrection He went into hell and devastated it (Psalm 16:9-10, Acts 2:25-32). Hell was divided into two parts, a place of torment and a place of blessing. There was a gulf between the two and at Jesus resurrection he led forth the spirits of the godly dead of this region, leaving only the wicked dead in hell (Psalm 68:18, Eph. 4:8-10).

       Jesus then ascended into heaven and there as our great high priest Jesus presented His own blood to God (Heb. 9:11,12,14). This blood constituted the life of God Himself (Lev 17:11 and purchased our salvation, cleansing us from all sin and providing eternal redemption. It instituted the New Covenant. Jesus brought peace between man and God and even purchased the Church- Jesus bride, who will be with Him forever (Col.1;14). Once the blood had been offered, Jesus sacrifice was complete.

       Jesus died for man to make it possible for every person to receive a full and complete salvation (Titus 2:11, I Tim 2:4) He made it possible for each one of us to have our old sinful spirit removed and replaced with a new, pure spirit, no longer enslaved to sin but united to God (2 Cor.5:17, I Cor.6:17, Eze.36:26) for man’s soul (personality) to be renewed overtime (Rom 12:1,2, Eph.4:23-24) and ultimately, for him to receive a new spiritual body and live eternally with God                           (I Cor. 15:52-54, John 17:3). Jesus dealt with sin to restore unity with God. This is what Easter is all about.