As a young man, Josh McDowell considered himself an agnostic. However, Josh has since accepted Christ and written or co-authored over 120 books and led many people to put their trust in the life-saving faith of Jesus Christ.

In this series of videos, Josh investigates the critically important question: Why did Jesus have to die?

“Why Did Jesus Have to Die?” series video list:

1. Introduction
2. How Can a Loving God Send Someone to Hell?
3. Who is God?
4. We Know God Through His Attributes
5. Understanding Romans 3:21-26
6. Understanding Romans 3:21-26 continued
7. How Can God Justify the Ungodly?
8. What does Propitiation Mean?
9. An Illustration of Redemption
10. An Illustration of Propitiation

Have you lost someone in your life? We want to pray for you.

“Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment” (Luke 23:56).

Only Luke - a New Testament author known to include details – offers a glimpse into life on the day after Jesus’ crucifixion and the day before His resurrection. I have often thought that the weather on the Saturday before Easter should always be gray and gloomy; the atmospheric conditions matching what must have been the emotions of Jesus’ friends and family. In addition to grief, they obviously were bewildered because Luke also records a conversation two had as they walked away from Jerusalem, from the scene of broken hearts, ”we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem Israel”

I, too, have known the heavy weight of grief, a weight that causes the body to slump into mindless sleep only to awaken in the dark hours, in those first moments, denying the reality of death and then almost immediately becoming aware of all that has happened. But I also have discovered comfort in “obedience to the commandment.”

By faith in the One who loves me, I laid my anxiety at His feet, I thanked Him for His sovereignty and presence, I prayed for myself and the weeping others, and then “The peace of God, which transcends all understanding” put a guard on my heart and mind so that I could go about the daily-ness of life. The women prepared spices and perfumes; I prepared meals and made beds. In a few short hours those women would experience the joy of the resurrection. One day I, too, will fully experience that joy.

It’s not always easy to go about the daily rituals when the heart is heavy, Lord, but I thank you for the balm those rituals bring to sorrowing souls. Thank you for being a God of the daily. Amen.

Questions: How do you respond to grief? What difference has Christ made in your time of grief?

What would you do in your last moments on Earth? Likely we will never truly know, because we don’t know when that moment of reckoning is coming. In this video, the event of Jesus’ crucifixion is told, but this time the story focuses on one of the two others crucified that same day.

Jesus was not the only one crucified that day. On two other crosses, on either side of him, two others were nailed to crosses. We do not know their names, or their stories. They are identified in the Bible only as “criminals” (Greek kakourgos). We do not know what their crimes were, but usually they were guilty of what were considered the most heinous crimes, like being terrorists or military deserters or rapists. Jesus, however, was guilty of none of these crimes, and even the supposed crimes for which he was being crucified were fabricated.

One of the criminals mocked Jesus. But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23:39-40)

What is your reaction to who Jesus is and what Jesus did for us? You may not have committed crimes as bad as these criminals, but like them, your reaction to Jesus has eternal implications. What will you choose? To mock, or to embrace?

After you have watched the video above, consider the following:

Take a look at your life. How would you describe it?

Contented? Rushed? Exciting? Stressful? Moving forward? Holding back? For many of us it’s all of the above at times. There are things we dream of doing one day, and there are things we wish we could forget. In the Bible, it says that Jesus came to make all things new. What would your life look like if you could start over with a clean slate?

Are you ready to choose a different path?

Jesus came, and died, and rose again to wipe the slate clean. He was scourged, tormented, and finally nailed on the cross for humankind’s sins – this was all part of God’s plan to bring you and I back into relationship with him. God wants to be a part of your life … in fact, not just a part of your life, but wants you to live in full fellowship with Him. Is this the life for you?

God loves you and created you to know Him personally. He longs for you to have the kind of full life you were always meant to have. So why do people not experience this kind of life? People are lost and separated from God, so we cannot know Him personally or experience His love. Because of our sins, we justly deserve judgement. But God provided his Son, Jesus Christ, as the only provision for our sin. He died in our place, then he rose from the dead.

We must individually trust Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; then we can know God personally, receive forgiveness for our sins, and experience His love: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12)

We trust God through faith. You can trust Christ right now by faith through prayer! (Prayer is just talking with God.) God knows your heart and is not so concerned with your words as He is with the attitude of your heart. The following is a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.

Does this prayer express the desire of your heart?

If it does, pray this prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life, just as He promised.

Are you struggling with loneliness and grief? We would love to talk with you.

Perhaps you have read on an Easter card the legend of the dogwood tree. The legend suggests that the wood of the dogwood tree may have been used for Christ’s cross–and that is why the dogwood never grows to be very big.

In each of its flowers’ four petals (which are roughly in the shape of a cross) is what looks like rusty dents, which remind us of the nail prints in Christ’s hands. The dogwood’s red berries are reminders of the blood Jesus Christ shed for our sins. To me the white flowers stand for the way Christ’s blood cleanses us of sin and makes us white as snow in God’s sight. It is also interesting that this tree blooms in the spring, when our Lord was crucified.

Meditating on the tremendous sacrifice our Lord made for us reminds us of His love and convicts us of carelessness in our Christian lives.

Consider these things. Jesus told Peter that He could call ten thousand angels to His rescue. Jesus went through all that suffering because of His love for us. He knew it was the only way we could be forgiven and saved.

Jesus went through terrible physical suffering for us: the crown of thorns, the vicious lashings, the incredible pain of crucifixion. But consider the awful psychological torture He endured: (1) the trumped-up trial to which He was dragged early in the morning; (2) lying testimonies; (3) mocking and spitting; (4) rejection by His people; (5) betrayal by His friend; (6) desertion and denial by those closest to Him; (7) His shameful death by crucifixion.

But the worst suffering He went through for us was this: When our sins fell upon his shoulders there on the cross, our Lord Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” For the first and only time in all eternity, God the Father and God and Son were separated–because of our sins! Oh, to me that is love beyond understanding!

Now if God the Father and God the Son love us THAT much, how in the world can we help but truly love them with all our hearts, souls, and minds! How can this great truth not affect every part of our lives and thinking?

Would it not help us to stay close to our Lord Jesus if we think of the dogwood, and then remind ourselves of Christ’s love and sacrifice? This reminder also can help us to have faith that our loving Lord is with us through every trial of life. Jesus cares. He really cares!

Father God, Thank you for the death and resurrection of Jesus and for the promise of eternity to those who receive Him as their guide throughout life. Thank you for Your incredible demonstration of such great love for me….. even me. May I bask in that love this Easter season and learn to love You back with all my heart and soul and mind. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Questions: As you enter the Easter season on this Palm Sunday, offer the Lord your love with all your heart and soul and mind.

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for March 28th, AM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2011.

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19

The love of Christ, in its sweetness, its fullness, its greatness, its faithfulness, surpasses all human comprehension. Where will language be found which describes His matchless unparalleled love towards His children? It is so vast and boundless that, as the bird skims the water and does not dive into its depths, in the same way all descriptive words merely touch the surface, while the depths of God’s love rest immeasurably beneath. As an unknown poet once said, “O love, thou fathomless abyss!” This love of Christ is indeed measureless and unfathomable. No one can claim to have fully comprehended it.

Before we can have any right idea of the love of Jesus, we must understand His previous glory in its height of majesty, and His incarnation on the earth in all its depths of shame. When He was enthroned in the highest heavens He was very God of very God. By Him were the heavens made, and all heaven’s hosts. His own almighty arm upheld the spheres. The praises of cherubim and seraphim perpetually surrounded Him. The full chorus of the hallelujahs of the universe unceasingly flowed to the foot of his throne. He reigned supreme above all His creatures, God over all, blessed forever. Who can tell His height of glory then?

And who, on the other hand, can tell how low He descended? To be a man was something, to be a man of sorrows, far more. To bleed, and suffer, and die, these were much for Him who was the Son of God. But to suffer such unparalleled agony – to endure a death of shame and desertion by His Father, this is a depth of condescending love which the most inspired mind must utterly fail to fathom.

Herein is love! And truly it is love that “surpasses knowledge.” Let this love fill our hearts with adoring gratitude, and lead us to practical actions to live out its power in our own lives.

Question: How does love demonstrated in the life of Christ inspire you to live out a life of love yourself?

About the Author: Charles Spurgeon

Are you facing life after divorce, abortion, sexual, physical or emotional abuse? We can pray for you.

Join us for our Daily Devotional Chat today in our Women’s Chatroom at 10:30 am EDT.

“The angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay’” (Matthew 28:5-6, NIV).

As we prepare for Easter, it isn’t too difficult as modern day believers to put ourselves in the place of those first followers of Christ.  Those were dark days. Before Jesus’ resurrection, His disciples viewed His arrest, crucifixion and death as events that crushed their hopes. They had believed Jesus was the Messiah, that He would conquer evil and issue in a new kingdom – the kingdom of God. They were confused. Where was the deliverance that Jesus had promised?

We also live in dark days. A girl from my son’s high school was murdered this week. The evil of the world invades our lives.  After His resurrection, when Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised that He would return to earth and take us to be with Him in heaven. So, like the early disciples, we find ourselves in the days between – waiting for His promise to be fulfilled.

The angels’ words, “He has risen, just as He said” is good news indeed. Though there was doubt during the days of waiting, He did fulfill His promise.  Praise God that we have the Holy Spirit indwelling in us, reminding us of His promise to return, strengthening us as we wait, providing us with hope, and filling us daily with the courage to face difficult times.

Although the time seems long and evil surrounds us, Jesus will return, just as He said.

Dear Jesus, thank you for your resurrection, by which we are saved. Thank you also for Your promise to return. Help us to cling to that hope. Amen.

Questions: Do you think about Jesus’ return? How does remembering that the promise of the resurrection was fulfilled help you believe Jesus will return?

About the Author Suzanne Benner

Please open your Bible and read: Matthew 26:36-46

Sometimes following the path God sets for believers requires that we trek through a personal Gethsemane. In the Garden of that name, Jesus struggled, knowing His impending crucifixion meant separation from His Father. At no other time in the gospels do we see the Son of God more brokenhearted than in these last few hours of freedom before He is seized by the Pharisees’ men.

We, too, experience periods of intense turmoil and distress, and the Word of God can be a beacon at such dark times. Matthew’s illumination of the Lord at Gethsemane teaches us how to respond to sorrow so that our painful experiences are not wasted.

God does not squander hurt or brokenness; rather, if we willingly accept His ministrations, He utilizes our vulnerability to teach us faith – building principles. Jesus asked that the cup of suffering be removed. The metaphorical chalice was filled with the wrath of a holy God against sinful mankind. When Christ drank, He accepted all the wrongs of man – and the righteous fury of God – on Himself. As a result, He effectively severed His tie with the Father, who cannot tolerate or associate with sin. But in Gethsemane, the Son did not plead for release from the pain; instead, He prayed three times that the Father’s will be done.

As we follow Jesus’ example and release ourselves to God’s will, inner turmoil is calmed by a sense of peaceful contentment. External circumstances may be unchanged, but in our inward Gethsemane, we are hand in hand with a loving Father.

Question: What examples can we take away by observing, with awe and reverence, Jesus’ sacrifice at Gethsemane?

About the Author: Charles Stanley

Please open your Bible and read 1 Corinthians 15:12-28.

The foundation of Christianity is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul tells the Corinthian church that without belief in this primary tenet of our faith, then our faith is in vain.

Since we believe in Jesus’ bodily resurrection from the grave after His crucifixion, then we also believe in the promise of our bodily resurrection into eternity. The alternative is to believe in nothing that is real, nothing that is hopeful or redeeming.

We cannot separate these truths. Jesus is the first fruits of those raised from the dead. When Paul says this in verse 20, he uses a verb tense in the Greek that means Jesus not only was raised but is still alive. He lives forevermore.

George Sweeting writes: “In Glendale, California, at Forest Lawn Cemetery, hundreds of people each year stand before two huge paintings. One pictures the crucifixion of Christ. The other depicts His resurrection. In the second painting the artist has pictured an empty tomb with an angel near the entrance. In the foreground stands the figure for the risen Christ. But the striking feature of that huge canvas is a vast throng of people, back in the misty background, stretching into the distance and out of sight, suggesting the multitude who will be raised from the dead because Jesus first died and rose for them.”

Question: What does Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection mean to you?

About this Author: Charles Stanley

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for November 22nd, PM.

Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2008.

Please open your Bible and read Philippians 3:7-11.

The truth of the risen Saviour is ever so precious. The resurrection is the cornerstone which supports the entire building of Christianity. It is the keystone in the arch of our salvation. It would take a volume to set forth all the streams of living water which flow from this one sacred source, the resurrection of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But to know that He has risen, and to have fellowship with Him by possessing a risen life, this is even still more precious.

Because He left his tomb, we are able to leave the tomb of worldliness ourselves. The truth of the resurrection is the basis of the experience, but as the flower is more lovely than the root, so is the experience of fellowship with the risen Saviour more lovely than the bare fact itself.
I encourage you to trust wholeheartedly that Christ rose from the dead, so much so as to be moved to sing about it and to derive all consolation from it. But I urge you, don’t merely rest contented there. Although you can’t see Him visibly like the disciples did, you should seek to see Jesus through spiritual eyes. And though like Mary Magdalene you may not “touch” Him, you are still privileged to converse with Him, and to know that because He is risen, you too both are and will be risen to new life in Him.

While it’s truly wonderful to know crucified Saviour who died for my sins, but to know a risen Saviour who has given me new life is incomparable. Short of this knowledge of the head and heart there can be no ultimate satisfaction of our deepest longings. May you today know Him and the power of His resurrection. Rise, for the Lord is risen!

Question: Where do you see head knowledge of Jesus’ resurrection overlapping with your daily heart life?

About this Author: Charles Spurgeon

Jesus established the act of remembrance we call communion when He associated His coming broken body and spilled blood with the bread and the wine that He offered to the disciples in the upper room (Matthew 26:26-28; Luke 22:19-20).  This symbolism is clear and easy for us to grasp.

Is this the only symbolic significance of communion?  I believe that in addition to the symbolism of the elements themselves, a deep, intimately personal meaning is revealed as the elements are consumed.

Many think that, although the Romans carried out the horrible act of the crucifixion, the Jews were ultimately responsible for Jesus’ death.  After all, they were the ones that cried out, “Crucify Him.”  But each time I celebrate communion, I am confronted with the sobering fact that the blame belongs to neither the Romans nor the Jews.  It lies squarely on me.  I killed Jesus!

As I crush the bread representing His body with my teeth, I cannot deny that I am the one responsible for His crushed and broken body, the penalty He paid for my sins.  Then, after eating the bread, the crumbs remaining in my mouth are a powerful reminder of how tainted I am by my glaring sin and guilt.

Fortunately, I need not remain at this sobering and desperate place as I am soon able to drink from the cup and wash away the crumbs.  I rejoice because, in like manner, Jesus’ shed blood washes away my sin and guilt and leaves me bathed in His righteousness.

Father, I pray that each time I celebrate communion, You will remind me as I crush the bread, that I killed Jesus when He took my place on the cross.  Thank You that, as the wine washes away the crumbs in my mouth, so His blood washes away my sin and guilt.  Thank You for the pictures You give so that we might understand and glorify You.

Questions:  Have you come to terms with the fact that you are one responsible for Jesus’ death on the cross?  If so, thank Him for His amazing grace that has given you eternal life and cleansed you from the stains of sin and guilt.

About the Author: Doug Emberley