Is It Called Easter or Resurrection Sunday

Resurrection Sunday is a day of rejoicing. Christ came to fulfill all the prophesy of His life, His death, His burial and His resurrection in order to make us free! When we don't understand why He had to go through all this, we see it as an unfortuneate event in history and may not understand how a loving God let this happen? But, when you are securely rooted and grounded in Christ, these events were all foreordained by a loving God who loves us enough to fulfill this prophesy.If you care to take a trip with me through the scriptures you will see what I mean.

Each and every event from Jesus' triumphant arrival into Jerusalem to the time He rose from the dead, was all a master piece of God in which to set us all free from our sins.Read Mt. 21:1-9 for the account of the donkey. This was no mistake. This was foretold in Isaiah 62:11 and Zechariah 9:9.

The donkey was the key element to proclaim the person of Jesus. It symbolized a meek and lowly entrance. Jesus was all about peace and love of His Father.

Everyone loved Him and cried Hosanna and waved palm fronds in front of Him. But, when the Pharisees saw this, things began to change. People grew afraid for their own safety and they pulled away from Him. The lesson for us is that we should not be afraid of what others say or think.

We need to believe in Christ no matter what.Read Mt. 26-27 about His betrayal by Judas Iscariot. This was an event also foretold.

Since the Pharisees saw Jesus as a threat to expose them for who they really were, they needed to be rid of him. Judas who was used by Satan was the man for the job. He accepted the 30 pieces of silver which were worth approximately $21.60 and handed Jesus over. The Pharisees believed that if this Christ was really God He would've chosen something more noble to ride on, such as a horse. But, in reality they didn't get it.

A horse symbolized war, and Jesus was all about peace. The lesson we are to learn from this is, when we repent, unlike Judas, it must be to God not to men. Judas realized his sins but never took them to the Lord and so he died going to hell.Read the Passover Supper in Mt. 26.

Jesus fulfilled this prophesy when He broke the bread and told His disciples to remember His body which is broken for them and His blood as they drank wine as it was shed for them. This is the covenant that God made with Moses in their exodus from Egypt. It's called the Passover because when God saw the blood on the doors, the Angel of Death passed over them.

Read in Ex. 12:23. Our lesson is when we are covered in the blood, God will passover us and give us our freedom.Read Mk.

14:32-42 when Christ entered the garden to pray. It was here that He was full of dread for what was to come. He asked a few of His disciples to pray with Him. But all they could do was sleep. Since Christ was fully man as well as fully God, He was afraid of what was to come. He asked His Father to take this cup from Him but He remained obedient and said He would do His Father's will, not His own.

The lesson we are to learn here is that just as Christ needed to pray for strength, so do we.Read Jn.19:1-5 and Mt. 27:26-31.

Time to face His deepest fears and anxieties came when the Roman soldiers approached Him. This can be read in Is. 50:6 as He was scourged.

"I gave My back to the smiters and My cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting." Is. 53 also gives a detailed description of these events.

The lesson from this is that He gave Himself as the sacrificial Lamb. God loved us so much He gave His only Son for us. (Jn. 3:16) This is pure love!.Read Mt.

27:29-31 about the crown of thorns. The soldiers of Rome made a mockery of Him. They thought if He was the Son of God then why didn't He save Himself. They couldn't understand that this was an act of obedience. He was rejected, are you rejecting Him today? They made a mockery of Him and punished Him. All He ever wanted was for us to love Him because all He gave us was love.

Our lesson to remember is to love others as we want to be loved. If you're not sure if Christ and God are One in the same read these Scriptures that are accurate, Titus 2:13; Rom. 9:5; Phil. 2:5-6; 1 Tim. 3:16.

Christ is part of the Diety of God. Many people have a hard time understanding this. I pray you're not one of them.Read Jn. 19:16-22 and Lk.

22:37. This describes how He was nailed to the cross like a common criminal. Again in Is. 53:12, this was prophesied.

It had to be in order to save us from our sins. The only price God would accept was the crucifixion of His perfect Son on the Cross. We just can't pay for sin on our own. God put this plan into play back when He cursed Satan for deceiving Adam and Eve. But as Christ hung on that Cross, it was His love and obedience that kept Him there. Our lesson, we need to be obedient with our love to God by accepting Christ and what He did for us.

Read Jn. 19:23-25 about the dice the soldiers rolled as they gambled for Jesus' clothes. Even they had no idea what they were doing, but this event was foretold back in Ps. 22:18. "They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

" God knew! As they were doing this, Jesus cried to His Father from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Lk. 23:34) Our lesson from this is to forgive others, no matter how much they may have hurt us. God says if we don't, He won't forgive us. This is the hardest lesson of all for us to learn.

When we can pray for those who have hurt us, God will elevate us and bless us. This is freedom!.Read Jn. 19:31-37 to read the prophesy that was fulfilled in Ex. 12:46, Num.

9:12 and again in Ps. 34:20. God said that the passover lamb would not have one broken bone. And the piercing of His side was described in Zech.

12:10, "I will pour out upon the city of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and unmerited favor and supplication. And they shall look upon Me Whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him as one who is in bitterness for his firstborn." It's also mentioned in Rev. 1:7, that this must be.

His body was pierced for our transgressions. Our lesson is to realize that Jesus died for our sins. It was the only price that God would accept.Read Mt. 27:57-61 about Joseph of Aramathiah. Even his part of the burial was foretold in Is.

53:9. At first he was afraid to proclaim Christ for fear of what would be done to him. But, he bravely came foreward and took Christ's body to have a proper burial. He was no longer ashamed of his belief in Christ. Our lesson is the same, we should not be ashamed of who we are in Christ.

God tells us that we are not ashamed when we are one in Christ. We need to be like Joseph and risk everything for the love of Christ.Read Mt.

27:64-66 and 28:1-3 to learn about the stone that was rolled away. Guards were paid to make sure that no one came by to rob the body. But, in spite of this, the stone which weighed about as much as a car was moved and the tomb was empty. The guards were very afraid because it could be their lives.

As Mary Magdalene and Jesus' mother Mary came by, they saw this and couldn't understand what had happened. Jesus had told them ahead of time that He would be back. Did they forget His promise? Our lesson in this is we can't forget His promises either.Finally, read Mt.

28:5-8. As the two women stood in complete amazement, an angle of the Lord told them that no one stole His body. He was alive! Can you imagine their excitement? Then Jesus appeared to them first and told them to go and tell the others. When you read on, you will see how the Pharisees tried to pay the guards to cover up this news, like no one would ever know! Their selfish plan backfired! Jesus appeared to over 500 during the course of His stay on earth. People touched Him, saw Him and talked with Him. He had definitely overcome death, sin and hell just as God had promised from the very beginning! Because He did this, we are no longer held captive to death.

You can read more about these accounts in 1 Cor. 15:3-7 and Jn. 20:27-28.

This really happened. Our lesson is this, it's our job to go and tell everyone the good news today that Jesus is alive! If your heart is empty like the tomb, you need to ask Christ to come live in it today!.This Resurrection Sunday as you look at the Cross, see it in a whole new way. It's the CROSSroads to heaven.or hell. How are you going to cross it?.

By: Vivian Gordon