It is Easter, and it is the time when people recall the passion of Jesus Christ: the last supper, the agony of His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, His betrayal by Judas Iscariot, and His trial and crucifixion. We are reminded that He died to provide for our salvation, and that He rose from the dead bodily.
These events have been portrayed in movies and in the theater. The town of Oberammergau in Bavaria is world famous for its passion play, which has been performed every 10 years since 1634. Pastors and regular church members everywhere often put on a passion play at Easter.
Praise God for all the depictions of what Jesus Christ did for us, so that we may be saved. Over the years I have seen conversions take place when the passion of Christ is portrayed. Nothing that follows is intended to detract from that in any way.
There are more things we should consider, however, and meditate on, pray about, and study further:
· Jesus of Nazareth was God living among us in a human body. He is the Second Person of the Trinity, who lived in unimaginable splendor and glory in a perfect love relationship with God the Father. He existed before the creation of the universe, and through Him everything was created. (John 1:1-5,14) His power holds the universe and everything in it together. Yet, He willingly gave all that up to live among us as a man, and to die an unspeakably cruel death on the cross to fulfill God’s plan to save us by paying the penalty for our sins.
· Not only did Jesus die for us, but He arose – bodily – from the dead. If He had not done so, we could not hope to rise from the dead like He did. In His resurrection, He conquered death, for Himself and for us if we hold fast to our belief in Him. (1Corinthians 15)
· After rising from the dead, Jesus met with the faithful and then ascended up to heaven in a cloud. But - there is more. God restored Him to the splendor and glory He had before the incarnation. He is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Not only that, but because they are in vital union with Christ believers are also seated there in Him.
· Why? Well, for one thing we have all sinned, and we need a Savior. (Romans 3:9-18) Yet again, hallelujah, there is more. He broke the power of sin and death, and He sealed the doom of Satan. By doing the will of the Father, Jesus fulfilled the requirements of God’s plan for the ages; that God will put all things in submission to Jesus and under His control, and that we who believe will share in His glory when the time comes.
Praise God! To Him we owe our thanks, worship, and our very lives.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. (Colossians 1:15-23 NIV) (emphasis added)
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-10 NIV) (emphasis added)
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. (Ephesians 1:18-23 NIV) (emphasis added)
But because of his great
love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it
is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in
the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the
incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ
Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and
this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:4-10 NIV)
(emphasis added) *
* All verses copied from: https://biblehub.com
