Jesus Dies for Us

Application:

Jesus died so that we can live in Heaven with Him for ever.

Bible Text:

From Matthew, Mark and Luke's Gospels.

Lesson:

Jesus and his disciples sat together eating the Passover dinner. And Jesus said to them, "One of you will betray Me. All the disciples were very sad and each one asked, "Is it I, Lord?" And when Judas Iscariot asked, Jesus replied, "Yes, it is you", for Judas was planning to betray Jesus and had already been given thirty pieces of silver to do so.

After the dinner, Jesus went into a garden to pray with His disciples knowing that His end was near. And then Judas came leading a crowd of men to arrest Jesus. Judas kissed Jesus so that the men would know which one to arrest, and although they loved Jesus, all the disciples ran away in fear.

Jesus is Tried:

Jesus was taken before the high priests and was accused of calling Himself the Son of God. When morning came, all the chief priests and elders voted to put Jesus to death, and took him before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. But although Pontius Pilate questioned Him, Jesus would not defend Himself. Pilate then gave in to the crowd and sentenced Jesus to be crucified. The soldiers pressed a crown of thorns on Jesus' head and spat on him, and then led Him away to nail Him to a cross.

On the Cross:

And as they were going to a place called Golgotha, they came upon a man called Simon of Cyrene, and they made him carry Jesus' cross. And when they came to the place, they nailed Jesus to the cross. The Roman soldiers gambled for His clothes and divided them among them, and then sat down and kept watch. It became dark and after many hours of suffering on the cross, Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have You left me?" And then He died. And at that moment, an earthquake shook the earth and the soldiers exclaimed, "Truly, this was the Son of God!"

Jesus is Buried:

That evening, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, received permission from Pontius Pilate to take Jesus' body down from the cross. Joseph wrapped Jesus' body in clean linen and laid it in his own new tomb which had been cut out of the rock. He then rolled a great stone over the door of the tomb and went home. The next day the chief priests went with some Roman soldiers to seal the stone of the tomb so that no one could remove Jesus' body. And they set a guard on the tomb.

Jesus Rises:

On the third day, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, went to see the tomb. And there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord had rolled back the stone. The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for He has risen, as He said. Come and see where He lay, and then go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead. He is going before you to Galilee and there you will see Him."

With joy the two women ran quickly to tell the disciples and Jesus met them on the way, and they knelt at His feet and worshipped Him. They then went to the other disciples as He asked them to do. Later Jesus told the disciples to go out and make disciples (followers) of all people, and teach them to obey all that He had commanded them. Jesus said to them, "I am with you always" and then rose up into Heaven.

Jesus Wants to Live in Our Hearts:

We cannot see Jesus, but if you love Him, He is with you wherever you go. Jesus is the Son of God and loves us all very dearly. He died to take the punishment for all the sin and wrong things we have done. If you ask Him, He will forgive you and come and live in your heart as your Saviour and Best Friend. And that means that you will go to Heaven when you die and live with Jesus for ever.

God bless.