Easter
Easter Sunday: Christ is Risen!Lesson
This Sunday Christians will celebrate the biggest holiday of the year – Easter, the celebration of Christ rising from the grave. Without His Death on the Cross how hopeless our existence would be, with His Resurrection how glorious our future is. Let’s celebrate God’s great love and sacrifice for us as we study about His resurrection this week.
There are many things which separate the Christian faith from all of the religions of the world, but key among them is we are the only people who serve and worship a living savior. Jesus is the only person to fulfill all of the Old Testament prophecy about the coming Messiah, and He is the only person to have died and been raised from the grave back to life. Forty days later he became the only person following resurrection to be bodily taken to heaven and he’s the only one who will fulfill all of the coming prophecy about His return and the end of this age – something we’ll study beginning next week.
As you reflect on His resurrection this week think about it – do you know anyone else who could be killed, buried, and come back to life? Then be taken up into heaven in front of so many witnesses? Christ is the only one, and as such it is only through Him we have eternal life.
Let’s look closer at this resurrection and the evidence of its reality this week as we celebrate His great victory over death for us.
- Why is it significant that after Christ’s death He rose from the dead? (Verses like Acts 17:30-31, Matthew 16:21 and Luke 18:31-34 will give you some clues.)
- How do we know he actually rose from the dead – maybe it is just like the Pharisees’ story they made up – his body was stolen from the grave - Matthew 28:11-15? How do we know he actually rose from the dead? (Luke 24:13-35, John 20:1-31, and Acts 1:1-3)
- How do we know he actually died? Because of who declared him dead – who was that? Was it a disciple, an apostle, one of his family or friends – or someone who wanted him dead? (John 19:31-37)
- List the people who saw Christ alive after His death. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)
- What was the reaction by those who hated Christ to the news he had risen from the grave? (Matthew 28:11-15)
- What can we learn from their reaction about other’s reaction to the same good news today?
- What does Christ tell us about how the world will react to us as we celebrate His resurrection and testify about Him being the real Messiah? (John 15:18 through John 16:4)
- What did Christ tell His disciples about the time when He will return? (Matt 24:4-6, and verse 27)
Let us celebrate His resurrection and keep our eyes open for the signs of His coming. Today we are two thousand years closer to His coming, let us live and act as the people of God, anxiously awaiting the return of our Savior. Knowing that if our death precedes His coming again we will pass from death into life and be immediately in His presence. As He told us, God is the God of the living, not the dead. Praise Him for his great love and sacrifice for us.
God Bless you all during the Easter Season.
In Christ,
Wes