Easter

Matthew 26:20-50; 27:1-2; 28:1-7; John 13:33; 14:1-3, 28

Our true story comes from parts of the Bible called the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John. Matthew and John were disciples of Jesus. That means Jesus was their teacher. And the word gospel means “good news!”

Do you know why Easter is such a happy day? Because Easter is when we celebrate that Jesus is alive! And that is what our Bible story is all about. It begins with God’s love for us.


God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus, to be our friend forever. But before Jesus could be our friend forever, something sad had to happen. One night, while Jesus was having dinner with His friends, Jesus told them He was going away but that He would come back.


After dinner, Jesus went to pray in a garden. While Jesus was in the garden, some angry people came and took Jesus away.


The people hurt Jesus, and He died. All of Jesus’ friends were so very, very sad.


After Jesus died, His friends put Jesus’ body in a tomb with a big stone in front of it. Then three sad days went by. Count to three with me: One . . . two . . . three!


On the third day, some of Jesus’ friends went to the tomb.


His friends saw that the stone had been rolled away. When they looked inside, Jesus wasn’t there!


Here’s the GOOD NEWS! Jesus came back, just like He said He would! Jesus is alive!


Now you know what we’re celebrating on Easter.


We celebrate because Jesus is alive and He wants to be our friend forever!


Who is alive? Jesus is alive!






Bible Paraphrase: “I am alive for ever and ever!” —Revelation 1:18, NIV

Text Truth: Jesus is alive!



Family Devotional

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
—Matthew 28:5-7

In our Bible, Jesus came back, just like He said He would! Jesus is alive!

“I am alive for ever and ever!” —Revelation 1:18, NIV

Jesus is alive and He wants to be our friend forever. So, write down the names of you family members on a piece of paper. Have each family member write down their name. Then, have that family member stand up, and everyone say, “Jesus wants to be [family member’s name]’s friend forever!” Repeat this with each family member, having them write down their name, and then having everyone say, “Jesus wants to be [family member’s name]’s friend forever!”

Pray with your family. Allow any family members to pray if they wish. In your own words, say, “Dear God, thank You so much for giving us Jesus. Thank You that Jesus is alive! Thank You that Jesus loves us. Thank You that Jesus wants to be our friend forever. You are the best, God, and we love You very much. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

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Story illustrations are the copyright of Sweet Publishing and licensed by FreeBibleimages (http://freebibleimages.org) for free download under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike 3.0 unported licence.
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