Why Did Jesus Die? To clean up Our Sin.

"So the Lord God said to serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all the live stock and all the wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust, all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.

He will crush your head and you will strike his heel." Genesis 3:14-15 (NIV)

Have you ever wondered why God had to die for our sins? Before Jesus died, believers offered God sacrifices for their sins. The high priest would take the lambs, goats and calves without blemish and sacrifice them and ask God's forgiveness for the believer's sins. If the high priest was unclean, because of his sin the animals died in vain, the high priest died and the sinner's sin was still a problem.

Jesus life and death on that cross completed what God the Father wanted for a sin sacrifice. Jesus was the sinless lamb that would take away the sin of any sinner who simply acknowledged God, accepted His son as the ultimate sacrifice and truly allowed Jesus to be their savior. After his burial he went to hell to crush Satan's head. Yes, Jesus heel was bruised by Satan. But Christ beat death of all the believer's soul that day. Like Jesus your body will one day die. Because he rose from the grave and defeated Satan, you too shall live if you've accepted him as your savior.

I don't have the space to type all of the words in 1 Corinthians 15:35-50, but they are well worth your time to read these verses right now. Just as Jesus Christ was born with an earthly body, he also had a soul living inside that body. ( Jesus was God's son, but he was also God. The deity of God is sometimes hard to understand, but I'll explain it another day.) God made man in His own image; therefore, we also have a human body and a soul. One day in heaven we will also have a heavenly body that our soul will be housed in.

Death is Swallowed up in Victory!

"Listen I tell you the mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash,in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet . For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe it's self with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (NIV)

"Where, O death, is your Victory?

Where, O death, is your your Sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore my dear brothers stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give your self fully to the work of the Lord, because you know your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:55-58 (NIV)

On this Easter Sunday as always I feel like jumping up and singing a song we sang at the Baptist College in Grand Rapids Michigan. "Rise Up O Man of God! Have done with lesser things. Bring forth the Royal Diadem and Crown Him LORD OF ALL!

Christ the Lord is Risen today Hallelujah! This is the best of all the holidays we celebrate. Through the ultimate gift of God's only son we have a direct path to God the Father. I'm enjoying life in Christ with a whole bunch of my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus! Finally, I know that heaven a waits as soon as my soul departs from my dead shell! GOD IS SO GOOD.