He Took My Grenade
The Easter story begins with the greatest, most overwhelming demonstration of love the world has ever known. To understand the significance of Easter, we need to look at the significance of Good Friday.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Monsoor was part of the force fighting for an overseas city. He and three other Navy Seals were fighting from their sniper position on a rooftop when a grenade bounced off his chest and landed right by the group. Michael was the only one next to the steps - the only one who could get away in time. With only a split second to make a decision, Michael chose to fall on the grenade and absorb the blast in his own body. That day, Michael Monsoor saved the life of his friends at the sacrifice of his own.
It's not often you see a President choking back tears, but President Bush was pretty emotional when he presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to this true battlefield hero. The President said, "Mike had a clear chance to escape, but he realized that the other two Seals did not. In that terrible moment, he had two options - to save himself, or to save his friends. For Mike, this was no choice at all. He threw himself onto the grenade and absorbed the blast with his body."
One of the survivors put it this way: "Mikey looked death in the face that day and said, 'You cannot take my brothers. I will go in their stead.'"
That's exactly what Jesus did for you. Two thousand years ago, on that first Good Friday, the best friend you could ever have "took your grenade" with God. Jesus looked death in the face and said, "I know Ron deserves the hell that goes with the sin he has done, but take Me instead."
The Bible says of Jesus, "He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24a).
The death penalty for us running our own lives was paid by Jesus Christ in those brutal hours on that cross. This ultimate love story begins at the moment your penalty with God was paid, your grenade was taken, your hell was absorbed by Jesus on the cross.
That is why more than anything else, Easter is a personal event, because it really is so much about you. This was not only 72 hours that rocked the world. This is 72 hours that can rock your world.
Take a Walk Up Skull Hill
In this season of Good Friday and Easter, I invite you to take a walk in your mind up a hill where millions of people have found the love and peace of a lifetime. You'll walk just outside the city gate of Old Jerusalem to Skull Hill - the garbage dump outside the city. The rock formations actually look like the haunting features of a human skull. There are three crosses on that hill. You can ignore the one on the right and the left where two criminals are being executed, but whatever you do, don't ignore the Man on the middle cross. You probably won't know who it is just by looking, because He is battered beyond recognition. He is the only Son God has. He is the Lamb of God, who died there in your place.
Would you put your name in this powerful statement of God's love?
"God loves _________________ so much that He gave His one and only Son, that if _____________ would believe in Him, then _______________ shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
The greatest agony Jesus experienced was not the nails; not when they dropped the cross into a hole with a thud, jarring His whole body. In those last three hours on the cross, Jesus Christ takes all of the separation from God that you and I deserve. That's why He finally cries out, "My God, why have You forsaken Me?" It's because of you! It's because of me!
God turned His back on His only Son as He was carrying my sin - all the junk I've ever done by doing things my way instead of God's way. If God would turn His back on His own Son because He carried your sin and mine - surely you and I don't stand a chance unless we go to the cross and ask Him to apply what He did there to forgiving our sins.
God is inviting you to bow at Jesus' feet and say, "Lord, You bought me. You've got me. I know this isn't religion. I know this isn't about the Ten Commandments, being good, being baptized, or being confirmed. I know this is about grabbing You like a drowning person would grab a lifeguard. Jesus, You are my only hope! My Lord! My God! I want the Savior to be my Savior."
If you come to the cross where Jesus bought and paid for your sin, and give yourself to Him, you can finally find your way to the love relationship with God that you were made for - that you've been looking for all these years.
Easter Sunday, Jesus blew the doors off His own grave. Because He is alive, He has the power to rescue you from a life separated from God. Your sins can be wiped out! This living Jesus can come to live in you. Your life will never be the same. Why don't you choose right now to belong to Him? Tell Him something like this:
"Lord, I have been running my own life, but I resign as of today. I was made by You... I was made for You, but I've been living for me. I'm sorry for that self-rule You call sin. But I believe Your Son, Jesus Christ, paid my death penalty when He died on the cross, and right now I am turning from a life of "my way" and I am putting all my trust in Jesus Christ to erase my sin from Your book, to give me a relationship with You, and to get me to heaven. Lord, from today on, I am Yours."
To hear more about beginning your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, visit ChatAboutJesus.com, where you can text, chat, or phone someone right now to help you know, trust and follow Jesus. If you have begun this relationship and would like more information on the next step, email .
Excerpt from "72 Hours That Rocked The World," by Ron Hutchcraft.
To read "72 Hours That Rocked the World," click here.
