Christianity in a Nutshell

Easter

Good Friday - Saturday - Easter Sunday

Bigger than Christmas?
Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem on a hill called Calvary, or Golgotha, (both meaning skull) on the Friday morning and during the afternoon He died. He was buried in a tomb and a heavy stone was rolled in front of the entrance. There His body remained all through Saturday. On the Sunday morning God breathed life back into Him and He was resurrected. The stone rolled back from the tomb entrance. The first people to meet Him and talk with Him were women. Not long after, His male disciples met with Him too. After 40 days He went back to heaven, but one day He will return as promised.

At Christmas vast amounts of money change hands as businesses and shops cater for the fact that Christmas is a time of tremendous celebration. Quite right. So it should be. Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, our Saviour.

Easter celebrates the miracle of the Resurrection. Jesus' enemies managed to have Him crucified and buried, yet two thousand years later He hasn't gone away. If the crucifixion and burial had been the last two events on the last page of the Bible, then Jesus would scarcely be remembered by anyone now, let alone be a figure of controversy and the leader of the world's largest religion. It was the enormity of the event called the Resurrection that has helped to power Christianity for 2,000 years. Many people had suspected that death is not the end - Jesus proved it!

If the birth of Jesus Christ justifies all the two or three months of frantic activity that is called Christmas, doesn't the fact that Jesus defeated death justify something even more tremendous? Believe in Jesus and you'll never die. When your heart stops beating your "death" will only be a tiny blip in your eternal life. Christians live forever.