Who is Jesus and Why Does Easter Matter? - Easter Devotion

This week in preschool, we share the Easter message using anything and everything you can possibly imagine. We use different crafts to represent the cross. We use jellybeans to represent the message of salvation. We use plastic eggs and fill them with different items representing the crucifixion and resurrection.  Today we are making my personal favorite, an edible empty tomb with chocolate donuts! We sing a simple song everyday that the children love, “God’s not dead. He is alive…God’s not dead. He is alive.”

And you know what is really cool? Three and four year olds get it. They don’t need elaborate sermons or a debate in theology. They grasp the simple message of Jesus. Their hearts willingly receive the love story of Easter. Because that’s what Easter really celebrates, God’s love story for us.  So I thought, “What if I use mostly scripture to explain what Easter means to me? Will people who read it feel God’s love for them?" I pray you do. Because God’s Word is alive! It will speak directly to your heart if you let it.  Just pray, “God, I want to know You. Reveal Yourself to me through Your scriptures.” And He will. 

In the beginning, God created mankind in His image; He loved Adam and Eve. He walked and talked with them in the garden. God surveyed His creation and declared that all was good. But when sin separated man from the holiness of God, God provided a way to restore that intimate relationship He designed for mankind.

JESUS IS THE WAY

For God so greatly loved the world that He gave up His only begotten and unique Son, so that whoever believes, trusts, clings to and relies in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

A child has been born for us. We have been given a son who will be our ruler.
His names will be: Wonderful Advisor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace.
His power will never end; Peace will last forever.
He will rule David’s kingdom and make it grow strong.
He will always rule with honesty and justice.
The Lord All-Powerful will make certain that all of this is done.  Isaiah 9:6-7

And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him. Luke 2:40

Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized, and while He was still praying, the visible heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, saying, “You are My Son, My Beloved! In You I am well pleased and find delight!” Luke 3:21-22

JESUS HEALS, SAVES, AND REDEEMS

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free…” Luke 4:18-19

So for three years, Jesus ministered to the people with compassion and grace. He opened the scriptures and taught. He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead, fed the hungry, and loved the lost. He showed us how to love and serve God. HE was GOD with us – Immanuel (Matthew 1:23).

YET

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.  Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6

But God shows and clearly proves His own love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ the Messiah died for us. Romans 5:8

Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. Hebrews 9:14

THE GRAVE COULD NOT CONTAIN HIM

But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life. Just as we will die because of Adam, we will be raised to life because of Christ.  Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us.  But we must each wait our turn. Christ was the first to be raised to life, and his people will be raised to life when he returns. 1 Corinthians 15:20-23

He was buried, and three days later he was raised to life, as the Scriptures say. Christ appeared to Peter, then to the twelve. After this, he appeared to more than five hundred other followers. Corinthians 15:4-9

So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God. Mark 16:19

Where He is preparing a place for us to spend eternity with Him. John 14:3

JESUS’ SPIRIT LIVES IN US

Then I will ask the Father to send you the Holy Spirit who will help you and always be with you. The Spirit will show you what is true. The people of this world cannot accept the Spirit, because they don’t see or know him. But you know the Spirit, who is with you and will keep on living in you. John 14:16-17

So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 2 Corinthians 3:18

JESUS IS COMING BACK

With a loud command and with the shout of the chief angel and a blast of God’s trumpet, the Lord will return from heaven. Then those who had faith in Christ before they died will be raised to life.  Next, all of us who are still alive will be taken up into the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the sky. From that time on we will all be with the Lord forever. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and MY reward is with ME, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Revelation 22:12-13

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” Revelations 22:16

JESUS IS OUR HOPE

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved… For whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans 10:9, 13

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It is an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up His permanent post as high priest for us...Hebrews 6:18-20

So, that is God's love story for you. He wants to fill your heart, mind, and soul with His love. He wants to take away your pain. He wants to carry your burdens. He wants to walk and talk with you daily. He is offering you eternity in His Glorious Presence. Is He knocking on the door of your heart? If He is, let Him in. You'll never regret it!

And that is why Easter matters.
Happy Easter.
Love,
Yolanda