Jesus Dies for Us

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

Bible Text:

From Matthew, Mark and Luke's Gospels.

Age Group:

Preschool to Grade 2.

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, "You have said so", for Judas was planning to betray Jesus and had already been given thirty pieces of silver to do so.  After the dinner, Jesus went to pray with His disciples to a place called, 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 so they took him before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor.  But although Pontius Pilate questioned him, Jesus and would not defend Himself.  Pilate 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.

Jesus Dies on a 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.  And 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 from the Dead:

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 and they knelt at His feet and worshipped Him.  And then they went on to find the disciples as He asked them to do.  Together they went to a mountain in Galilee, and there they saw Jesus, and worshipped Him.  Jesus told them 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 went up in the air towards Heaven.

Application:

We cannot see Jesus, but if you love Jesus, 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 bad 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!

Copyright © 2007 Sharon Children's Ministries