Death & Resurrection

We need to understand that Christ's offer of peace came, not when everything was going well, but just hours before His disciples' world fell apart.

We must remember this in our moments of loneliness, when we feel as though we have been abandoned by friends or perhaps even betrayed by our own family. When you feel as though no one cares about you, you have a glimpse of what Jesus went through.

The Last Supper, which took place hours before the Lord’s crucifixion—was a Seder (Passover observance). Previously, the feast’s symbols had only pointed back to the Hebrews’ redemption from Egypt. But that Thursday night, Jesus revealed the messianic significance of two symbols: bread and wine.

To feel the love of Christ in the laying down of his life, it helps to see how utterly intentional it was. Consider these ways of seeing Christ’s intentionality in dying for us.

Artists and poets have speculated over the centuries about hell, but the clearest revelation of hell is given at the cross.

God was going to save the world through the death of his Son. God, in his divine nature, doesn’t die. So how was God going to get this done?

Hidden in Deuteronomy is yet another prophecy about the Messiah; it predicts the way in which the Savior would die and the length of time he would remain on the cross.

When God gave Moses and Aaron the rules for the Passover, some might have sounded unconventional—for example, the clear prohibition against breaking any bones of the lamb that was sacrificed and eaten by each household. Why did God insist on this?

Jesus was in pain and dehydrated on the cross, and His statements were often short. But his longest saying comes from Psalm 22 and reveals much about Him.

The first statement Jesus made from the cross was, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Maybe we would have understood it more if He had said, “Father, condemn them,” or “Father, judge them.”

Christ’s passionate love for the world is evident in His statements from the Cross.

Can you think of someone right now whom you cannot imagine ever being a follower of Jesus Christ? I would challenge you to start praying for that person by name. No one is beyond the reach of God's hand. Jesus prayed for the very people who crucified Him. Can you pray for someone who has wronged you?

Of all the teachings of Christianity, no doctrine is more central than the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The truth of the resurrection has been attacked from every angle. So, what proof is there?

Some skeptics find believing in a bodily resurrection too difficult to accept and point to other theories to explain what happened to Jesus’ body.

The resurrection changed everything. As Christians, we must embrace the reality of this transformation.

A cursory reading of the resurrection in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John reveals a few differences in the recorded facts. But we examine more closely we see those “contradictions” disappear.

The ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven is one of the most important events recorded in the New Testament. Usually we focus on the crucifixion and the resurrection. But the ascension is pivotal, especially in the writings of Luke.

Have you ever wondered what Jesus is doing, now that He has ascended to heaven?

What most clearly foretold the ascension of Christ to heaven is in Psalm 68:18, which is quoted by the apostle Paul and applied to the ascension of Christ.

It is impossible to omit from that ascended and reigning One the wounds He bears.