*Please allow this powerful Easter message from my friend Ray Majoran to speak to you and bless your life as it has mine. Blessings, Ed đ
âAnd we are witnesses of all that He did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree, but God raised Him on the third day and made Him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that He is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name. (Acts 10:39-43ESV)
This Easter Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the Son of God, the promised Messiah, the hope of the world. After suffering a brutal death on the cross, God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it (Acts 2:24).
For Christians, this is a day of great celebration. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
For many, though, today is just another day on the calendar, one that is sometimes celebrated with Easter bunnies and chocolate eggs. Our public schools teach that the Bible is just a book written by a bunch of men who, for whatever reason, sought to gain some sort of power through myths and fairytales. Others believe that Jesus was real but only view Him as a good man or some sort of prophet.
While several people have debated the legitimacy of God and Jesus, secular historians can at least generally agree on the period when each of the 66 books of the Bible were written. The Old Testament was written between ~1500 BC and ~400 BC, while the New Testament was written between ~30 AD and ~100 AD.
If youâre a person who doesnât believe in the God of the Bible, or if youâre a person who thinks that Jesus was just another man, or perhaps youâre a person whoâs never really taken time to think about eternity â then on this Easter Sunday, I invite you to consider three things:
1) The Good News: The Bible lays out the narrative that we are all sinful human beings. Because God is holy and we are sin-filled creatures, we cannot enter into His presence. God and sin cannot exist together. To remedy our helpless state, He sent His one and only Son into the world who lived a sinless life and died as a sacrifice for our sins. As John 3:16 notes, you can enter the Fatherâs presence by putting your faith in Jesus. We are saved by no works of our own (Ephesians 2:9); instead, itâs by faith in Jesus Christ.
The Gospel message is really that simple: The Father made a way for you through Jesus Christ so you can live forever in eternity. Your sin is atoned for through Jesus. In heaven, God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for the former things will have passed away (Revelation 21:4).
2) Jesus is the Only Way: Jesus himself declared that He is the only way to ever come to the Father and enter heaven (John 14:6). Whoever believes in Him has eternal life; whoever does not obey Jesus shall not see life, but the wrath of the Father remains on him (John 3:36). Therefore, it is impossible to say, âI believe in Jesusâ and then in your next breath say, âbut I think there are many ways for someone to get to heaven.â To do so would be to claim Jesus as a liar.
There is no other way, no other religion, no other reality. Buddhism wonât save you, Islam wonât save you, Hinduism wonât save you, Bahaâi wonât save you, Judaism wonât save you, Wicca wonât save you, being a monk wonât save you, Sikhism wonât save you, sitting on your butt and ignoring reality wonât save you, and not even âcalling yourself a Christianâ will save you. Only a true, honest faith in Jesus Christ will save you. That and only that will allow you to go home and live with your Heavenly Father for eternity.
3) Some Simple Math: The Old Testament contains over 400 prophecies about the coming Messiah. When Jesus came into the world, He perfectly fulfilled every one of them. Do you know what the odds of that happening are? Think about it: one single man fulfilling every prediction about the coming Messiah, the Savior of the world. A professor named Peter Stoner worked with 600 students to figure out what the probability would be of just eight (of the over 400) prophecies being fulfilled in any one person who had lived up to the present time. The result: 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. Would you bet your life on those odds?
Lee Strobel, an atheist-turned-Christian, performed some calculations to try to figure out what this would look like in real life. Lee notes:
âI imagined the entire world being covered with white tile that was one-and-a-half inches squareâevery bit of dry land on the planetâwith the bottom of just one tile painted red. Then, I pictured a person being allowed to wander for a lifetime around all seven continents. He would be permitted to bend down only one time and pick up a piece of tile. What are the odds it would be the one tile whose reverse side was painted red? The odds would be the same as just eight of the Old Testament prophecies coming true in any one person throughout history!â
Listen, if one is bent on refuting God and Jesus, nothing youâre going to read here is likely to change your mind (including these crazy mathematical odds). You can argue until youâre red in the face. You can be a skeptic and declare, âThereâs no way 400 of those prophecies are about Jesus.â But the fact of the matter remains: they are real. Even if you can argue away half of them, the other half will still taunt you. Heâs created too much evidence for you to just ignore it. As Lee Strobel puts it, even if Jesus only fulfilled eight prophecies, you would still be walking across the earth hoping to flip over that one red tile.
God is real, and Jesus is the Son of God, Messiah, and King. Today, we rejoice in the fact that Jesus is alive, and one day, we will meet Him face to face.
If youâre reading this today and have never given your life to Christ, I encourage you to do it. Tomorrow is not promised.
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Heavenly Father, I humbly acknowledge that there is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10). I am a sinner in need of Your mercy and forgiveness (Titus 3:5-7), for without it, I will be separated from You forever. Your wrath will be revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (Romans 1:18).
Father, I desire to be made right in Your eyes. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus, who died on the cross in my place, taking the punishment I deserve (Romans 5:8). Please forgive me for my sins, as I put my trust in Jesus Christ as my Savior. I believe that Jesusâ death and resurrection have provided forgiveness for my sins, and I put my trust in Him alone as my personal Lord and Savior. Thank You for forgiving me and saving me.
*If you prayed this simple prayer, please let Ray know by tapping on his name or tap this link to let Ron Hutchcraft walk you through a simple process that you can follow after you invite Jesus to be Lord of your life.
Walking With Jesus 