But that’s not all there was!

For the Christian world, Christmas is a commemoration and celebration that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” If, however, that first Christmas was all there was, and there was no Easter, there would be no fulfillment of that promise of eternal life.

But that’s not all there was!

Jesus, as He lived and walked among men, did so as a man. He faced the same temptations that all humanity faces. He had the exact needs and desires, choices between good and evil, and all the other problems of being human. In the end, His supreme faith in God, prayer, willingness to submit Himself to God’s will, and His love for us led Him to the agony and humiliation of the cross.

As He anguished in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” The “cup” was not the beatings, the crown of thorns, public humiliation, scorn, or His agonizing crucifixion on the cross. It was the knowledge that He would be separated from His Father as He bore the burden of all humanity’s sins and sacrificed Himself for their redemption so that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”

If that’s all there was, that Jesus died a horrible and painful death for that in which He believed, most of His followers would have considered Him a hero. Like thousands of heroes and martyrs before and after Him, He would have either been lost in the sands of time or, at best, become a memory in the pages of history.

But that’s not all there was!

At various times during His ministry, Jesus had predicted His suffering and death and that He “would be raised up on the third day.” The same political and religious power that led to His suffering and death on the cross went to great lengths to ensure that didn’t happen. They sealed His body in a tomb with a large rock and placed Roman soldiers to guard its entrance.

But that’s not all there was!

As Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early on the third day, she found the rock rolled away and the tomb empty. The guards shook in fear, and an angel of God said, “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.” In the following days, His disciples and many others saw the living Lord, Christ, Jesus, the Son of God, alive and interacted with Him.

Praise God! We have a risen Lord! One who lives and loves each one of us enough to pay for our sins, those of yesterday, today and tomorrow, by sacrificing His own body and shedding the full measure of His blood on our behalf. All we must do is accept His gift, for “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”