Rejoice - He Lives!

​

​Let us not

​dare to ​

drink your morning coffee or eat our toast

​today

without a serious and thoughtful pause at the final hours before

​our sin-debt was paid in full.  After His betrayal and arrest, during a very long night, Jesus was moved from Annas to Caiphas to Pilate to Herod then back to Pilate - bound, beaten, and deprived of sleep.  Driven by political ambition and public outcry, Pilate finally condemns Jesus to death by crucifixion, reserved for the vilest of criminals

​ ​

-

​ ​

a slow, painful, and tortuous means to

​ ​

death.  Severely weakened, Jesus begins the journey from the Praetorium (Pilate's palace) to Golgotha, outside the city walls.  Jesus falls beneath the

​painful ​

weight of the cross

​, and ​

Simon of Cyrene is ordered to carry it the rest of the way. Affixed to the cross by Roman spikes

​, ​

Jesus is ridiculed and mocked.

​ ​

​He

struggled for

​ ​

every

​ ​

breath

​ ​

as death dr

​ew near.

​ ​

From noon to three o'clock, darkness

​settles over

Jerusalem and in one final gasp and cry,

​ ​

Jesus commits His spirit to The Father

​, ​

our sin-debt paid in full.

​ ​

The Jewish Sabbath

​ ​

near,

​ ​

Joseph of Arimathea, "a good and righteous man,"

​ ​

takes the

​Savior's ​

body and

​ ​

wraps

​and

lays

​it

in a

​ ​

new

​ ​

tomb

​. The stone in place, an eerie silence must fallen but not so in the temple where the curtain had been completely torn in two - from top to bottom - fully exposing the holiest of temple chambers.  ONCE AND FOR ALL TIME man is given access to God through a newly declared and perfect High Priest – Jesus Christ!  Three days later, the tomb is empty!  As promised, the Messiah lives!  Death is defeated!  And, as promised, His return is imminent and sure!  We may

be living in a world that resembles "Good Friday,"

​ ​

but those who

​ ​

believe in the Risen One

​ ​

are gloriously declared Easter People!  We can and do rejoice in the finished work of Jesus Christ – the Risen Lord!
Hallelujah! Praise the Lamb!

Have a blessed Resurrection Weekend!
Until Monday, April 9 --

​ ​

Miles of Smiles, Beverly ​