Easter Sunday

Day 48
4-20-25

Why The CROSS and the RESURRECTION ?

Pray

Various Scriptures
Matthew 27:32-28:20; Mark 15:21-16:19: Luke 23:26-24:53; John 19:17-21:25; 1 Corinthians 15 (all of it)

The Cross

Q:  Do you ever think about the cross? And if you do, what do you think of when you think of the cross?

Q:  What is the meaning or significance of the cross?

A:  The most central symbol or image of Christianity is the cross. And, ultimately, what the cross stands for is Jesus Christ’s victory over sin and death, done out of love, not compulsion. What Jesus perfectly accomplished on the cross was precisely done according to God the Father’s perfect plan and purpose. God’s Son, voluntarily, and through great pain and suffering, willingly died on the cross to set us free sin and death, securing for those who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, eternal life in heaven. The resurrection validates, verifies and proves that Jesus is the Messiah, and that He perfectly fulfilled all that God, the prophesies and the Prophets and the Psalms said and predicted about Him and His ministry and purpose for coming to earth.  

Q:  What happened on the cross? Why?

A:  Jesus secured redemption for lost people who repent believe in Him. This is known as as the Atonement, or the “Great Exchange.” Jesus took our sin and guilt upon Himself, and, in return, gave us His righteousness, thus appeasing the wrath of God. Technically (if you are interested in such things), Expiation + Proptitiation = Atonement. 

This is also known as the penal substitution atonement. Jesus took our penalty (death) upon Himself, and in doing so, secured eternal salvation for those who believe in Him.

Q:  Did the cross have to happen? 

A:  Yes. God wrath had to be satisfied (appeased.)

Q:  Was there another way? 

A:  No. Hebrews 9:22 (NIV) says, “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”

Q:  Did Jesus WILLINGLY go to the cross? 

A:  Yes. He did it in love, for us. And He was under no obligation or compulsion to us.

Q:  What is the expiation and propitiation?

A:   The best answer is in this article. Expiation and Propitiation Explained

Q:  What was accomplished on the cross? For whom was it accomplished?

A:  The salvation of those who repent and believe in Jesus.

Q:  What does the cross mean to you personally?

The Resurrection 

Q:  What is the significance/the importance of the resurrection?

A:  Jesus’ resurrection, following His crucifixion, is so intimately and theologically connected to the cross that they are like two sides of the same coin, and cannot be separated. The resurrection is at the heart of the the Christian faith because it authenticates and validates Jesus’ teaching BEFORE He died, substantiating and proving His claims to be the Messiah. What He said would happen, happened. His own prophesies about Himself came true, as well as many Old Testament prophesies. 

His rising from the dead proved that He did indeed conquer death, our biggest foe. This gives us incredible hope for eternal life. 

His resurrection from the dead also accomplishes the stated purpose for coming to earth as stated in Matthew. An angel of the Lord, speaking to Joseph, says about Mary in Matthew 1:21 (NIV) 21 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

That Jesus willingly died on the cross for the purpose of paying for our sins, and appeasing the wrath of God that was against us, because of our sins, is proven and validated by His being raised from the dead. 

Q:  Who raised Jesus from the dead?

A:  According to many various scripture verses, Jesus was raised from the dead, by God, by the Holy Spirit, and by Jesus Himself. See Bible references below in the Relevant Verses section. 

Q:  What does the resurrection of Jesus from the dead mean to you personally?

Summary:  God has made many, many promises in scripture. Many have already been kept. The keeping of many more promises is yet in the future. And most importantly, He has never once broken a promise or failed to keep a promise. 

God is completely and totally trustworthy, as proven in the scriptures, both Old and New, over and over and over. 

But by far His greatest promise is His promise to send a deliverer, a redeemer; the promised Messiah, to save us from our sins and secure for us eternal life in Heaven, forever in the very presence of with God. He has done that perfectly and wonderfully and flawlessly in His one and only beloved and begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 

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RELEVANT VERSES

1 Corinthians 15 (the whole chapter is about the resurrection!)

Galatians 1:1-2 (NIV) 1 “Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers and sisters with me,“

1 Peter 3:18 (NIV) 18 “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.” ,

Romans 1:3-4 (NIV) 3 “…regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 8:11 (NIV) 11 “And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”

Romans 6:4 (NIV) 4 “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

Acts 2:24 (NIV) 24 “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”

Acts 2:32 (NIV) 32 “God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.”

Acts 3:15 (NIV) 15 “You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this.”

Acts 3:17-18 (NIV) “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.”

Acts 4:10 (NIV) 10 “then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.”

On The Road To Emmaus

Luke 24:25-27 (NIV) 25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.’

Luke 24:44-47 (NIV) 44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

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QUOTES

The resurrection of the body is the Christian’s brightest hope. Many believers make a mistake when they long to die and long for heaven. Those things may be desirable, but they are not the ultimate for the Saints. The Saints in heaven are perfectly free from sin and, so far as they are capable of it, are perfectly happy.

But a disembodied spirit can never be perfect until it is reunited to its body. God made man not pure spirit, but body and spirit and the spirit alone will never be content until it sees its physical frame raised to its own condition of holiness and glory. 
Charles Spurgeon

Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.
Martin Luther
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/resurrection-quotes

As a pastor in a Protestant church, my whole ministry centers on the conviction that by grace we are saved through faith. And it’s not our faith that delivers us, as if believing something, anything at all were pleasing to God. It’s the object of our faith – Christ’s life, death, and resurrection – that saves us.
Kevin DeYoung
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/resurrection-quotes

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Notes:

* Everything with an asterisk and is italicized and purple is my own added words and thoughts and are not part of the actual verse or quote. 

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Notes:

* Everything with an asterisk and is italicized and purple is my own added words and thoughts and are not part of the actual verse or quote.