Resurrection Sunday

Informational Background

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. It is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, which occurred on the third day after his crucifixion. Easter Season lasts for fifty days until Pentecost (Eastertide, the season of Easter, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts until the day of Pentecost, seven weeks later). Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover not only for much of its symbolism but also for its position in the calendar. The Last Supper shared by Jesus and his disciples before his crucifixion was a Passover meal.

In Western Christianity, Easter marks the end of the forty days of Lent, a period of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter which begins on Ash Wednesday. The week before Easter is very special in the Christian tradition. The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday and the last three days before Easter are Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Silent Saturday. Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday respectively commemorate Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem, the Last Supper, and the Crucifixion.

The Betrayal, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection

(a wonderful depiction brought to you by ChristianAnswers.net)

Jesus knew that His hour to die had come, so He gathered His disciples together for a Passover dinner. As they ate, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to them, saying, “Take, eat: this is My body, broken for you. This do in remembrance of Me.” This is what Christians today call communion.

He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, he gave it to them; and they all drank. And He said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I say unto you, I will not any more drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it again with you in My Father’s kingdom.” Jesus said, “Don’t let yourselves be upset: you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions, and I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again to get you, so that you can be with Me. And you know where I am going and you know the way to get there.”

But Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going, so how could we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father except through me.” That evening, Jesus also warned the disciples of difficult times to come. He said, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated Me before it hated you. He that hates Me, hates My Father also.”

After supper, Jesus walked to a garden called Gethsemane for a time of prayer. His disciples followed Him to this secluded place. After His prayer, the chief priests and captains of the temple and the elders arrived there, looking for Jesus. Judas, who had just eaten with Him, was leading the group. Judas approached Jesus, greeting Him with a kiss of betrayal. Suddenly, Jesus identified himself to the mob by saying, “I AM.” The crowd went backwards and fell to the ground. After that, Jesus allowed himself to be tied up and brought into the high priest’s house. The temple officers who held Jesus ridiculed Him and spit in His face. And when they had blindfolded Him, they punched Him and slapped Him on the face, and then said, “Prophesy you holy man. Who hit you?”

Early the next morning, the crowd led Jesus to the Roman governor, Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, “We found this fellow corrupting our Jewish nation.” But after questioning Jesus, Pilate told the chief priests, the rulers and the people; “He has done nothing worthy of death. I’ll just order Him to be beaten and then release Him.” But they called out all at once, saying, “Get rid of this man. Crucify Him. Crucify Him.” Pilate, wanting to satisfy the people, had Jesus brutally whipped, and then turned Him over to be crucified. The Roman soldiers braided a mock crown of thorns, placing it on His head, and they put a purple robe on Him. They said, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they beat Him with their fists.

Afterwards they took Jesus and led Him away, making Him carry a wooden cross up to a place called Calvary, also known as Golgotha or the place of a skull. There in the same area, where many years before God had told Abraham to sacrifice his only beloved son Isaac, they nailed Jesus, God’s only beloved son, to the cross. As they did this, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they are doing.” While Jesus hung between two criminals who were also being executed, soldiers took His clothes, gambling for His robe, which fulfilled the prophetic words spoken by David. For three hours, the people watched. The rulers with them mocked Jesus, saying, “He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.” Then a darkness came on the land which stayed for three more hours as the prophet’s words were fulfilled: “The Lord laid the sins of us all on Him.”

Jesus then cried out with a loud voice, saying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?” Jesus, knowing that everything was now accomplished, fulfilled scripture when He said, “I thirst.” The soldiers ridiculed Jesus as they offered Him vinegar by saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” Jesus tasted the vinegar, then called out, “It is finished. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Then He bowed His head, and let His spirit go. As He died, the sun darkened and the earth quaked, and the thick veil of the Temple ripped down the middle. Now when the Roman captain in charge saw what happened, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God.” Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two thieves who were hanging on the crosses beside Jesus. But when the soldiers saw that Jesus was already dead, they didn’t break His legs. Instead, one of them pierced His side with a spear, allowing blood and water to pour out. All of this happened so that the Scriptures would be fulfilled: “None of His bones will be broken,” and “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”

Afterwards, two believers (Joseph and Nicodemus) took Jesus’ body, wound it in linen grave clothes dipped in spices, and laid His body in a tomb. Then, as requested by the Jewish leaders, the tomb was sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers. Now, after three days, there was a great earthquake, and an angel of the Lord rolled back the stone from the tomb’s door. In fright, the Roman soldiers trembled and then ran away. When followers of Jesus came to the tomb and saw the stone moved, they were confused. Suddenly, two men stood by them in shining garments, saying, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead? He is not here, He is risen. Remember how He told you before that He must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and the third day rise again?”

Then they remembered His words.

The same day in the evening, Jesus came to the disciples and stood among them and said, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a spirit. So He said, “Look at my hands and my feet, it is really Me. Touch me and see, for a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones, like you see I have. Everything happened as I told you it would because all the writings that described me in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, had to be fulfilled.” Then He opened their understanding, saying, “It is written in the Scriptures that Christ must suffer and rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name among all nations. And you have seen these things.”

Jesus continued appearing to many people, showing them that He was alive, which gave infallible proof of His resurrection. And He instructed His disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel.” At the end of forty days, Jesus announced to His disciples, “You shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall tell others about Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.” As they watched, Jesus was taken up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. Two men in white clothing said, “Why are you standing there staring up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was just taken up into heaven, shall come back again in the same manner as you saw Him go.”

So the followers of Jesus went throughout the land, preaching and baptizing, telling everyone that Christ the Savior was risen from the dead. They showed in the Scriptures how by Adam came sin and death, but by Jesus Christ came forgiveness and the resurrection of the dead. They told how one day all the new bodies of those who have trusted God and believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior will be raised from the dead and, together with those who are alive, will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. God’s book also says that Heaven will open, and Jesus will return to earth as the conquering King and righteous Judge. And the name written on his clothes will be KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. And the armies which are in heaven will follow him upon white horses.

Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives (just as the prophet Zechariah said), and the mountain will divide. And Christ will reign over all the earth. But when a thousand years expire, Satan will once more go out to deceive the nations, but fire will come down from God and devour those who follow Satan. Then finally, Satan, the deceiver, will be thrown into the lake of fire and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And then, in front of a great white throne, the dead, both small and great, will stand before God; and who ever is not found written in the Book of Life will be thrown into the lake of fire.

But in a new heaven and a new earth, God will be with His people. And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away. And there shall be no night and no need for candles, nor light from the sun; because the glory of God and the lamb will be the light; and They shall reign for ever and ever. And the Tree of Life will be there and the curse on mankind will be gone.

Jesus says, “Let those who are thirsty come. Let them freely drink the water of life. Behold, I come quickly; blessed are they who obey My words. He that hears My word, and believes on Him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not be condemned; but is passed from death unto life.”

This is God’s Story for you. These are the wonderful things God was working through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

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