Palm Sunday
Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was revolutionary. He spoke of love and grace and His Kingdom of peace.
Like the narratives of Christ's birth, the accounts of His crucifixion and resurrection are so familiar that we can miss the full intensity of the unexpected event. Though Jesus warned His disciples, they were not at all prepared for the trauma of His death or the shock of His resurrection. Because we know the outcome, it's hard for us to identify with what they must have felt.
Although we may wish we could have been present at Jesus' birth, who wishes to have seen His cruel, torturous death? Few want to read the details of what He suffered. We've sanitized Easter with aromatic lilies and colourful eggs.
But we must know exactly why the Father let His Son hang on the cross and why Jesus chose not to escape it. We need to grasp the glory of His resurrection. What blending of love and power can we see in these events? It's almost as if Jesus could hear the tearful praises of future believers singing:
My sin—O, the bliss of this glorious tho't—
My sin—not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!1
We hope these resources will help you better understand what really happened when Jesus died and rose from the dead, why there was no other alternative, and why it makes all the difference today!
¹Horatio Spafford, “It Is Well with My Soul.”
Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was revolutionary. He spoke of love and grace and His Kingdom of peace.
Few things solemnize the finality of death like making funeral arrangements and choosing a coffin, or arranging the details of a memorial service. Death comes to all; Good Friday reminds us of that grim reality.
Aron Lee Ralston’s story of being trapped under a boulder is just as unbelievable as Jesus’ Resurrection. But that doesn’t make it any less true.
We dare not allow Easter to pass without sufficiently rejoicing in and declaring our hope. It is Jesus Christ—the miraculously resurrected Son of God—who remains the object of our worship and the subject of our praise.
Just before Christ died on the cross he said, “It is finished!” His death covered over our sins completely. There is nothing left that needs to be finished by man.
First John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to will forgive us our sins....” Forgiveness is what the cross was all about.
Join Chuck Swindoll in his Easter message, As Dawn Arrived…He Arose, and allow the light of Christ’s Resurrection to give you hope today. Remember that “weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5).
In John 20:24–30, John described the stirring scene when Jesus appeared to His disciples—except for Thomas—following His Resurrection. Naturally, they were huddled in a closed room in fear for their lives.
The Devil, darkness, and death may swagger and boast, the pangs of life will sting for a while longer, but the forces of evil are breathing their last. So there’s no need to worry...He has risen! He has risen, indeed!
Had Christ not taken a drastic step, sinners like us would’ve never survived the fall. We would never have been rescued. We would be permanently lost. The cross was God’s incredible response to our extreme dilemma. Christ did something radical.