Every year, at the time we know as the Easter season, Christians celebrate the death of Jesus on the cross, his burial, and his resurrection from the dead, three days later. BUT, there was a LOT more to it than that. According to eyewitness accounts, from what we know as the New Testament scriptures, just before Jesus died on the cross, he said "It is finished".
But, there are billions of people on the earth today, including millions here in the USA, who do not believe any part of what we call the Bible, much less the account of Jesus' resurrection. Hey, nobody on earth today, was alive 2000 years ago, when these things supposedly happened. So, basically, it all boils down to whether a person believes that the Bible is truly the inspired Word of God, or not. Everyone is free to believe, or not believe. And today, especially in some countries, as we have seen on the news this week, it is not popular to believe the Bible and profess to be a Christian. It costs some their lives, to admit they are Christians.
But, in this country, at least for now, most of us are allowed to profess Christianity, as long as we don't try to push it on others in the wrong public places. So, we who live in the USA should be glad that we live in a country where we are allowed to be a Christian, or to practice any religion we choose, or none, if we choose. There are probably hundreds of different religions practiced in this country. And there are probably many thousands of US citizens who are confessed atheists or agnostics, who don't believe in Jesus or anything else in the Bible. Some think they are far to educated and intelligent to believe such foolishness and utter nonsense. And, here, we are all free to believe as we will, and still be US citizens.
Now, I can't force anyone to believe in this Jesus, who the Bible speaks of, or that anything written in the Bible is true, or that God even exists. But, this post is for those who do or will believe. If you watch most of the TV preachers this, or any other Easter Sunday, you'll hear most of 'em preach that when Jesus said "It is finished", then died on the cross, God's plan of redemption was finished. BUT, THIS IS NOT TRUE ! The plan of redemption was NOT finished. Even tho Jesus had suffered LOTS of pain, before his death, his suffering was not over, when his body died.
No, when a human body dies, it ain't over. Human beings were created with, not only a physical body, but also with a soul and spirit, which the Bible sometimes refers to as the "inner man". So, according to the Bible, when Jesus' body died on the cross, his soul, or spirit man, went to hell. That's right. I said, he went to hell !
He had to suffer the consequences of a life of sin, not his own, but the sins of all humans who have or will live on the earth. That means that he HAD to go to hell, to pay that price, that no other human was qualified to pay.
BUT, after He had paid the price, and was still in the pits of hell, his father, God himself, being satisfied that the price for the forgiveness of man's sin had been paid, reached down into hell and caused Jesus's spirit to be "reborn". And this reborn "Spirit Man" had more power than all the demons in hell, including satan himself ! So, while he was there, Jesus had a battle with all the forces of evil. And the Bible says that he spoiled principalities and powers, making an open show of them. It says that had the princes of this world known, they would not have crucified Jesus. They thought that when they persuaded men to kill his body, they would then have all power on earth,
BUT, after the resurrection, Jesus said, among other things, "I have the keys of death and hell'. ALL POWER is given unto me. Where did he get this power and authority ? He won it, in the battle with satan and his buddies, which took place in hell ! That's total victory !
But wait, "It ain't over til it's over". After Jesus' resurrection, one account says that he told one lady not to touch Him, because He had not yet ascended to the Father. He ascended and offered the blood that He had shed, on the heavenly mercy seat of God. This completely satisfied God's plan of redemption for mankind. So, Jesus came back to earth and said "Handle me, a spirit hath not flesh and bone, as ye see me have". He told "doubting Thomas" to check out His body and see for himself that He was indeed the same Jesus who had been crucified.
Well, he walked the earth for several days, after his resurrection, and was seen of over 500 people, including all of His disciples. Before he left, he gave them the commission to heal the sick, raise the dead, and preach the Gospel, which they did, and many are still doing today--believe it or not. The choice is yours. I choose to believe it ! How about ya'll ?
PS---With today's technology, you don't even have to open a Bible to find out what it says. You can go online and Google most any question you have and the scriptures that pertain to that subject will appear on your computer screen. So you see, the internet was not created for pornography or recruiting radical Muslims to kill Christians, but was allowed by God to help spread His Gospel.