We are in the middle of “Holy Week”. which is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. Holy Week begins with the commemoration of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, marks the betrayal of Jesus on Spy Wednesday (Holy Wednesday), climaxing with the commemoration of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday and the Passion of Jesus on Good Friday. Holy Week concludes with Christ's rest in death and descent into Hades on Holy Saturday. It is believed Jesus rested in death from the ninth hour (3 pm) on Good Friday until just before dawn on Sunday morning, the day of his resurrection from death, commonly known as Easter Sunday.
Acts 2:24 “But God raised him [Jesus] from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.” Jesus, the Christ, the Son of the living God came from heaven to earth as the perfect sacrificial Lamb without blemish, sinless and blameless, in order to die for the sins of the world on the Cross at Calvary. The Savior of the world paid a price for sin that He did not owe, because all mankind owed a price for sin that they could not pay. Jesus Christ died that you who receive Him may live.
Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We are not justified based on the good works that we do but on the good works that Jesus has done. In the “Great Exchange”, Jesus put our sins upon Himself on the cross, and we put on His perfect righteousness. In a legal and positional sense, we are righteous once we are justified because when God looks at us He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ. But this righteousness is not something that we have within ourselves or something that we do. It is a declared righteousness. Jesus died for your and my sins, but death could not hold Him, because He was sinless. Death was not His penalty for sin, so He didn’t earn that sentence; we did. So death had to release Christ, and on Easter Sunday, He rose from the dead in glorious resurrection, conquering death, once and for all. For you and for me, that is why Jesus came.
Look Seriously into your heart, and ask it this one plain question: “Am I truly religious?” Meaning, Is the love of God the governing principle in my life? Do I walk under a sense of His continual presence? Do I converse with Him day in and day out in the exercise of prayer and praise? And am I, on the whole, making His service my business and delight, regarding Him as Lord, master and my heavenly Father? Keep Holy Week Holy and count your many blessings.
In Christ, Brian
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