This weekend we are celebrating Easter. Now the word Easter is not found in the Bible, but we know this day as Resurrection Day. This is the day in which we celebrate Jesus being raised from the dead three days later after he was put to death on a cross.
As Christians, we know that this day is the most important day this world has seen in history. Without this day, we would not be gathered here today. Without this day there we would have no hope of life after death, or even living an abundant life here and now.
So let's turn back the clock to 2000 years ago, it was the time of the Passover. Jerusalem was very busy with people who had come to town to celebrate this tradition. This was a celebration that Jewish people had celebrated since the time of the Exodus when the angel of the Lord went throughout Egypt and passed over all of the doors that had blood painted on the front of the house. But if not, the people were killed. This would lead to Pharaoh finally allowing the Israelites to go.
So now Jerusalem was in the middle of the Passover celebration, but this was also the setting that God chose to bring his redemption plan. Now this word redemption means to 'buy back,' so why did God send Jesus to buy something back? And what was being bought back?
Let's go back all the way to the very beginning. So, if you are walking in the street of Jerusalem at the time of the resurrection, now we are going back 4000 years to the creation of the world. Because to understand why Jesus died and rose again, we have to see what happened that put God's plan of redemption into motion.
In the first two chapters of Genesis, we see the account of God speaking creation into existence. The heavens and earth, the land, the seas, light and darkness, the animals, and even the first man and woman. Everything was perfect, there was no sin. A perfect God was able to walk in the Garden and fellowship with Adam & Eve because there was no sin. And one important thing to remember is that God cannot be in the presence of sin. Everything was good.
Until Chapter 3. In chapter 3 we see how Satan shows his ugly mug and lives up to his name of the deceiver. ...
Revelation 12:9 (ESV)
9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
I love how the first book of the Bible and the last book of the Bible, separated by at least 6000 years point to the deception from not only Satan but Satan in the form of a snake.
So because Adam and Even gave into sin, now sin was on the Earth. Remember what I said, God and sin cannot be in the same place, so God put his redemption plan into motion. 4000 years would pass until we see the plan revealed.
This plan begins with the birth of a baby, but not just any baby, the Messiah, God's son Jesus Christ. But he was God. All of the prophecies over the last 4000 years that we see in the Old Testament pointed to a Messiah being born in Bethlehem, from the line of David. This birth would begin the last stage of redemption. This baby would grow up, teach of a coming new kingdom, reveal that he was God, and ultimately say that if someone wanted to go to heaven it must be through him. But again, what does all of this have to do with Easter?
The only way to enter heaven is through Jesus, but sin was still a part of this world and we could not stand in his presence because of sin, so someone had to buy back our holiness. Someone had to be the perfect sacrifice, the Sacrificial Lamb. That, someone, was Jesus. God in the form of a man. John the Baptist said it prophetically before Jesus began his earthly ministry,
John 1:29 (ESV)
29 ...Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
God knew before he created the world that man would sin, and his plan of redemption was set up long before Eve took the first bite. Peter stated this...
1 Peter 1:19-20 (ESV)
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
God knew that Adam and Eve would sin, and he knew what his redemption plan would be. So let' s look at the final stage of this plan of redemption.
The Pharisee's hand been is Jesus' face for nearly three years. They did not recognize him as the Messiah, and what's more, they said that when he spoke the words about his deity that he was blaspheming. They made it their mission to shut him up, to kill him. But little did they know, that as the ones who were most educated in the Scriptures, they would fulfill prophecies themselves that are mentioned in the Bible.
How did they do this? They brought false charges against Jesus and used their influence to get Jesus arrested and hopefully put to death. And it worked. First, he was passed from one government official to another then finally because no Roman official wanted to be the one that charged him, he turned the decision over to the people, a crowd that was enraged by the accusations of the Pharisees and Scribes.
What I want us all to understand this morning is the price of redemption. As a Christian, we are happy that Jesus paid the price for our sins, and to those who trust in him, will one day go to heaven. But do we really stop and think about the redemption price. What did Jesus go through? Now remember he was God, but he was also wrapped in human flesh. He felt pain, he needed water, he even felt compassion and cried.
On the night Jesus was arrested, he prayed this prayer…
.
Luke 22:42 (ESV)
42 saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.
Jesus knew the pain, the suffering, the anguish that he was about to take on. Even before he was put on a cross, look at all of the physical and mental pain he endured:
1. He was betrayed by one closest to him: Judas
2. Those who were closet to him ran when trouble came
3. He was mocked
4. He was beaten
5. He was flogged (cat of nine tails)
6. He was made to carry his cross through the streets to Golgotha. (Calvary)
Then, he was nailed to a cross. Crucifixion was the cruelest form of punishment and death given to people of that day and used frequently by the Roman government. Someone would not die because of the nails in their hands or feet, they would die because of suffocation, not being able to get air into their lungs. As Jesus hung on that cross, his body would be weak and would slide down. With his arms above his head, he could not get air so he would have to push up on his toes with his feet to lift his body up to get air into his lungs. After a while, there was no more strength is Jesus' legs, and he could no longer push up to get air.
Luke records his final words:
Luke 23:46 (ESV)
46 ...Father, into your hands I commit my spirit! And having said this he breathed his last.
Two verses before that, Luke also records what happened at the moment Jesus said these words..
Luke 23:44-45 (ESV)
44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,
45 while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.
Now don't miss the significance of the curtain in the temple being torn in two. First the tear this curtain was no easy task. An Early church writer (Josephus) outside of the pages of Scripture wrote that even if you tied a rope to both sides of the curtain two horses could not tear it apart.
Secondly, the curtain separated the middle of the tabernacle from the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was where, up until that time, the presence of God dwelled. This is where the High Priest would go once every year so that the sins of the people would be forgiven. But now it was cut, there was no more separation. This was a symbol that no longer did you have to go through a high priest to pray to God, because of the sacrifice of Jesus, we can go straight to the Father ourselves.
But this is not the end of the story, after three days something happened that Jesus said would happen...
Matthew 12:38-40 (ESV)
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.
39 But he answered them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Even those people who wanted him dead knew of what he said and asked Pilot for help...
Matthew 27:62-63 (ESV)
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
63 and said, Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, After three days I will rise.
You know how it happened, three days later God raised Jesus from the grave.
Read Matthew 28:1-10 (ESV)
The Redemption Plan had been carried out. What was lost in the garden God brought back through an empty grave. The question is will you take this plan of redemption and apply it to your life?
First, you have to realize that you are a sinner, and you, as a sinner, cannot stand in front of a Holy God because of your sin.
But it's not enough just to know that this happened. Paul talks about those who know in their mind, but it doesn't change their lives
:
Romans 1:21 (ESV)
21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who hear the Gospel and respond, giving their lives to Christ and following him, and those who hear what Jesus did and go on their way living according to their own desires.
Which one are you?
