Christ Dies and Rises to New Life

April 20, 2025 Background Scripture: Matthew 27:24 - 28: 10 Lesson Passage: Matthew 27:39, 40, 45 - 54; 28: 1 - 10 The death and resurrection of Jesus is the central tenet of the Christian faith. Everything God has revealed, and we believe, about sin and death is resolved in Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection. Sin separates people from God, who is holy. Sin has destined mankind to eternal damnation. Mankind was created by God as His representative image in His created world. Mankind was created in the image of God and according to God's likeness. Mankind was created to reflect some of God's characteristics amid His creation. Sin distorts the image of God in mankind and separates us from God's presence. God's love for us would not allow us to remain in this state with a destiny of eternal damnation. God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, as an offering for sin to pay the penalty for our sin. Jesus' physical birth into the world was welcomed as the beginning of the fulfillment of God's promise to redeem mankind from sin, The good news is that God's promise was fulfilled in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. This is what makes Easter such a wonderful time of celebration for Christians. We thank God for Jesus' death, and we rejoice in His resurrection from the dead. However, a closer look at the historic events surrounding the arrest, trials, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is a somber reminder of the consequences of sin. Those events depict many people behaving at their worst. Jesus was betrayed to be arrested by one of His handpicked disciples, Judas. Those who arrested Him and tried Him first were the religious leaders of the Jews. They believed Jesus deserved to die. They delivered Him to the secular government to be put to death because they were forbidden from doing so. After the secular government had its own trials and exonerated Jesus of any crime worthy of death, an angry Jewish mob insisted on the execution by offering to bear the blame for it along with their children. When given the option of not doing so, they accepted the release of a convicted murderer in exchange for the state execution of Jesus. Jesus was mocked and spat on by those given the task of nailing His body to a wooden cross while He was alive. While He was suspended between earth and heaven on the cross and suffering, others who were nailed to their own crosses mocked Him as well. Eyewitnesses on the ground below the cross taunted Him and mocked Him while looking for the moment when life would leave His body. In His suffering, Jesus cried out to His Father who had forsaken Him as accursed because of the cross. Now that He had become sin on the cross, all that remained was for Him to yield His life as a ransom for the people of God. With a loud cry, life left Jesus' body and earth trembled in response. His lifeless body was removed from the cross, wrapped in linen cloths, and placed in a cave prepared as a sepulcher. A large rock was rolled across the opening to secure the burial place and to prevent entry. Soldiers stood watch to prevent anyone from attempting to remove Jesus' body and fabricating a reason for its absence. This had begun and occurred Thursday night and into the day on Friday. The Sabbath Day was quiet and many felt despair who had hoped that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. Despair turned into confusion and then joy as some went to visit the burial site on Sunday morning. An angel was the first to herald the good news, He is risen! The sin debt was paid, God was satisfied, and the door was now open for eternal salvation for mankind. Jesus appeared to some of His followers to assure them that He was indeed alive again. He commissioned them to tell the others to meet Him in Galilee. From the Galilee meeting, the good news began to ring out around the world, He is risen! Robert C. Hudson March 24, 2025