Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

“For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,” Says the LORD of hosts, “That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; And you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves (Malachi 4:1-2 NKJV).

On Good Friday we celebrate one of the most critical turning points in the history of humanity. As we look ahead to celebrate what Jesus did on the cross, let us look at the actual crucifixion and reflect on some of the events that took place on that momentous day.

At this point in history there had been silence for 400 years since the last prophet of the Old Testament, Malachi, spoke. He told us about the coming of the Lord and how Elijah would precede him. This mirrors the time when God sent Moses to physically deliver his people from oppression in Egypt. Now the spiritual deliverer was here and John the Baptist told his hearers to listen to him. This deliverance would not occur by the angel of death striking down those who were not covered by the blood of the lamb as in Exodus; but would occur by the son of God conquering death itself and offering up his own blood as a spiritual sacrifice for our salvation.  

The day arrived and some fantastic things happened.

1. Pilate agreed to crucify Jesus and had the sign “This is Jesus king of the Jews” placed over his head (Matt 27:37). This was written in Latin, the language of the ruling class, in Hebrew, the language of God’s people and in Greek the language spoken by everyone, so that all could see. The religious people tried to get Pilate to change it but he refused.
2. He was crucified between two thieves; one of them joined in with the crowd and mocked him whilst the other pleaded for mercy.
3. When Jesus died, darkness fell on the land from midday until 3pm. This is opposite to what happened when Joshua prayed to God and the sun stood still (Joshua 10:13). Now the body of the Son was still whilst his spirit was doing war with Satan to get the keys of death and hell.
4. There was an earthquake and the curtain in the temple on which blood was splashed for hundred of years, was torn in two, from top to bottom (Matt 27:51). The old covenant was ripped in two and the new one instituted.

This day changed the history of the world. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies spoken centuries before he was born and for us 21^st century people he is coming back again soon and once again every eye will behold him.

Easter is not about Easter eggs, it is about the death of Jesus for the salvation of humanity.

Pray with me; Thank you father for sending your only son to die in my place so that I may live eternally, in Jesus’ name amen.

Read Malachi 4:1-6; Luke 23:26-43; Matthew 27:32-56.