What if everything you’ve ever regretted, every shameful thing you’ve ever done, could be wiped away? Every affair, every lie, every theft, every mean and greedy action, every unkind word. Gone.

What if you—your soul—could live forever and some day, after your body has died, you could be given a new body?

That’s what Jesus Christ did for you when He allowed the Roman soldiers to scourge Him, drive heavy nails through His hands and feet, and suspend Him on a rough, wooden cross to die. That’s what He did for you when He sat up in the darkness of the tomb, laid aside the burial cloths in which He’d been wrapped, and walked out into the light of day. When He rose from the dead.

He did this so that you can stand clean before God on Judgment Day. All that bad stuff you did? God won’t hold any of it against you—if you’re in Christ.

And this is what we celebrate at Easter.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Satan will accuse you, but Jesus is alive and will show God the wounds of the cross, the price He paid for you, and God will see you as He sees Jesus—clean, pure, holy. Without sin. Worthy of eternal life in heaven with Him and of a new body when God replaces this world with a new heaven and a new earth.

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were shut out of paradise. Sin separated them from God—as it separates us. God is perfect, holy and just. He doesn’t coexist with sin. It has real, deadly consequences. Justice requires it. God requires it.

But God deeply loves His creation—you. He is merciful and wants you with Him in paradise again. So He sent Jesus, His perfect and precious Son, down from heaven to live as a man.

Jesus experienced our joy and suffering. He healed the sick, cast out demons, calmed the wind and waves, and raised the dead. He could have avoided the cross. He could have stayed away from Jerusalem and the priests and officials who plotted to kill Him. He could have called down an army of angels to stop the Roman soldiers from crucifying Him.

But He didn’t.

He trusted and obeyed His Father, because He loves us. He knew it was necessary.

Without the crucifixion, there would have been no resurrection. Without the resurrection there would be no eternal life.

When He was crucified, our sins died with Him eternally. Because He was resurrected, we will be resurrected eternally.

His Holy Spirit can live within you today, guiding you away from sin. Will you still make mistakes and sin? Yes. You’re still human. But you are already forgiven—now and forever if you’ve accepted Jesus’ gift of salvation.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

And one day, in heaven with Jesus and His Father, you won’t make those mistakes anymore.

This is God’s gift of love to you. You can’t earn or buy it. You receive it. How do you receive it?

You have to believe that Jesus is God’s Son, that His death on the cross was the price for your sins, that He rose from the dead and is alive in heaven.

Then He can transform you. You can be clean. Forever.

The messages and articles below dive deeper into the meaning of Easter.