Page 8 - Grace Connections December 2021

them a place in heaven, but
money isn’t enough.
Many have tried
formulated religious rituals, but
the rituals were useless. Since
it was impossible for people to
get to God, so God decided to
become a human being and
come to us. Jesus was born to
provide a way for us to have a
relationship with God.
The Bible says, “The price
for sin is death, but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ.” Because of our sins, we
deserve to die and to be
eternally separated from God.
But thank God, it was
never His plan for us to be
separated from Him, so He sent
his only Son Jesus Christ to be
born here on earth. Possibly the
most quoted verse of the Bible
is John 3:16 “For God so loved
the world that He gave His only
begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not
perish but have everlasting
life.”
It was this love that would
take this baby, now a man into
the next step of His journey,
from the cradle to the cross.
Jesus grew into a man and
lived a sinless perfect life, a
spotless lamb. He had done
nothing to deserve to die, but
He willingly gave up His life to
provide a way for people to be
reconciled to the Father. Jesus
stretched out His hands
allowing Himself to be nailed to
a cross. Crucifixion in Roman
times was considered such an
inhuman way to die that it was
applied mostly to slaves,
disgraced soldiers, Christians,
and foreigners—only very rarely
to Roman citizens.
His death paid the price for
your sin. The cross that Jesus
died on is the bridge between
heaven and earth. He died so
that you and I might live.
But that is not the end of
His journey because Jesus did
not stay dead. His body was
taken from the cross and
placed in a tomb, with Roman
guards assigned to guard it. The
Roman leaders, as well as the
Jewish leaders, breathed a sigh
of relief believing they had seen
the last of this Jesus. But……
After three days, Jesus rose
from the dead! HE’S ALIVE, HE’S
ALIVE TODAY! He is sitting in
heaven at the right hand of the
Father, with a crown on His
head, and He is the Lord of