Happy Easter, everyone! This day of celebration is so important to our Christian faith! It is THE turning point in our redemptive and hope-filled history! As we stood hopeless, living in the brutality of a world broken by sin — Heaven and earth collided! “The Son of Man — the One who is the stairway between heaven and earth” (John 1:51), entered our world to win YOU back! And, He didn’t just die for us, but as us. “Immanuel” means GOD WITH US (Isaiah 7:14). A King unlike any other — who did the unthinkable — out of character from any other type of royalty in all of history — He stepped off His throne to enter our mess. He didn’t call for the reverse or for us to step toward Him first. He came to us! He didn’t merely send instructions on how to get to Him, He didn’t even reach down and simply offer His hand to pull us up to Him, He didn’t offer a to-do list to gain entry, He also didn’t come down to merely show us the way up the stairway — surpassingly, Jesus became the “stairway”. Through His coming, His life, His sacrifice, His death, His resurrection, His overcoming. He Himself became the way. He became the point of access. He became the “stairway”, the ladder, the steps, the rungs, the bridge, the connection, the intermediary, the go-between — for you and for me. No more reaching for rungs, all striving can cease. Our Savior is not a God who demands that we reach Him. No, He gave up the heavens to come for us — and to absorb our debt and to suffer in every way — not for the beautiful things about us, for the illustrious or prized pieces of our hearts, but for the darkest, the abominable, and for the most detestable things about us. “He came not to be served, but to serve!” (Matthew 20:28) He “emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant” (Phil 2:7) for you and for me! “The punishment for our peace was upon Him”.(Isaiah 53:5) “But when the kindness and love of our Savior appeared, He SAVED us — not because of righteous things we had done, but because of HIS MERCY!” (Titus 3:4-5) “I have come into the world as a LIGHT, so that no one who believes in me remains in darkness!” (John 12:46) (Continued in comments)