Easter

RESURRECTION DAY

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Luke 9:51 (NLT) As the time drew near for him to ascend to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.

• But why?

Isaiah 62:5 NIV: As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

Ephesians 5:25 AMP: Husbands, love your wives [seek the highest good for her and surround her with a caring, unselfish love], just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

John 13:1 NLT: Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.

Psalm 63:1-3 NIV: You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.

• “He descended into the anguish of death by following in our footsteps so that he might call us back to life by following in his footsteps.” - Ambrose of Milan (c. 340–397 A.D.)

Isaiah 53:2-9 NLT: My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. 7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. 9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave.

• “Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. - Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153 A.D.)

Psalm 86:13 AMP: For great is Your lovingkindness and graciousness toward me; And You have rescued my life from the depths of Sheol [from death].