EASTER = FORGIVENESS
Jesus Died so We Could Live
Easter 2026
For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 1 Corinthians 15:3-8
We are taking a pause on our series called Our Postures to celebrate the greatest event in all of history—the Death and Resurrection of Our Savior, Jesus Christ. Believers around the globe will gather together in multiple services this week to commemorate Holy Week, culminating in Resurrection Sunday. The Gospel is fully expressed and wholly contained in the Cross and the Empty Tomb.
The Gospel can be divided into two parts. First, Jesus died for our sins, and the proof that He died is that He was buried. People are buried because they are dead. Second, Jesus was raised from the dead and walked out of the tomb on the third day. The proof of the resurrection is that people saw Him. Not just Peter and the disciples, but over 500 people saw Him at one time. The resurrection of Jesus is one of the most historically attested events. That’s the Gospel. Jesus died and rose from the grave. Hallelujah!
Why did Christ die? He died for our sins. He died so that we could be forgiven.
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the Cross. Colossians 2:13-14
Jesus shed His blood as full payment for the sins of the world. In so doing, He stamped “PAID IN FULL” on the promissory note of our sin debt and nailed it to the Cross for all of Heaven and Earth to see. Because all of our transgressions were forgiven, when He rose from the dead, He brought us out of the grave and gave us His life in exchange, setting us free from the domain of sin. He died the death we deserved in order to give us His life, which we didn’t deserve, and restore us to a relationship with the Father.
After His resurrection, Jesus had a conversation with His disciples that is recorded in Luke 24:46-49. As He gave the disciples their final marching orders, He summarized the Good News for them. “Thus it is written, that Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem…” Notice, Jesus did not stop with His death and resurrection as the reason He came. No, the Cross and the empty tomb were necessary parts of the greater plan. To Jesus, the message of forgiveness is the intended outcome of the incarnation. He endured the Cross and conquered the grave to proclaim forgiveness to us and to the world.
The foundation of the Forgiving Forward message is the Cross of Jesus Christ, where Jesus paid our debt so that we could be forgiven and restored to a relationship with God. True forgiveness must be Gospel-centric because only at the Cross is the debt issue resolved. The message of Gospel-Centric forgiveness has both a vertical and horizontal thrust to it. When we receive God’s forgiveness vertically as it comes down to us from His Throne, we are obligated by His grace to extend His forgiveness horizontally to those who have wounded us. The forgiven forgive. The good news is that through His resurrection, we have the power to choose to forgive. In fact, to not forgive is to dishonor Christ’s death and resurrection.
Forgiving Forward exists to help the Body of Christ worldwide experience the freedom of the Gospel through the power of forgiveness. That is why we teach, coach, write, record, and travel. It is the reason we do everything we do. With that in mind, we are honored to offer a free digital version (Kindle) of Forgiving Forward every Easter weekend. Please click the link below to access your copy.
