Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (22 page)

people who don’t know and love the Lord.

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That evening the disciples took Jesus’ body down

from the cross and laid Him in a grave with a

large stone rol ed over the entrance. The Pharisees

asked Pilate to put soldiers to guard the grave. That

was Friday night. Saturday passed quickly, and

Sunday morning Mary Magdalene and some others

went down to visit the grave and to put ointment

on Jesus’ body. When they got there they found that

the stone had been rol ed away and the grave was

empty. The disciples with Mary left to go home, but

Mary stayed.

Suddenly she saw two angels standing near the

grave.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and

I don’t know where they have put Him.”

Then Mary turned and saw Jesus standing there,

but she did not recognise Him through her tears.

Jesus asked her why she was crying. Thinking He

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was the gardener she asked Him where Jesus’ body

was so she could go to Him.

Then Jesus spoke her name. “Mary.” Immediately

she knew it was Jesus, and she was filled with joy to

see Him. Mary Magdalene was the first person in the

whole world to see Jesus after He rose from the dead.

It was the greatest gift a person could have, and I think

Jesus chose her because she loved Him so much for

changing her life. Jesus sent her to tell the disciples

so she ran to tell them the news. The disciples would

not believe Mary, but later Jesus suddenly came and

stood beside them in the room, and they were very

afraid. They thought He was a ghost.

“Don’t be frightened,” Jesus said. “Why do you

doubt? Didn’t I tell you I would rise again?”

The disciples felt ashamed they had not believed,

but Thomas was not with them. Later when they told

him Thomas said, “Unless I see the holes in His hands

and touch the hole in His side, I will not believe.”

A few days later Jesus came again, and Thomas

was there. Jesus turned to him and said, “Thomas,

why don’t you believe? Come here, Thomas. See My

hands and the hole in My side.”

Thomas touched Jesus’ hands and saw the holes.

He kneeled down in front of Jesus and said, “My

Lord and my God.”

Then Jesus disappeared again.

Well, the disciples were not too sure just what

they were supposed to do, so some of them decided

to go back to their fishing. There they were out

fishing when they saw a man on the beach. They

were coming in to the shore with an empty boat. They

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hadn’t caught a thing. The man called to them to put

down their nets on the right side of the boat and they

would find some fish. So they did, and immediately

the net was so full of fish they had a difficult job

getting them all in boat. Now where have we seen

something like
that
before?

Then Peter realised it was the Lord. He leapt

over the side and swam to the shore. He ran up to

the Lord full of joy. When the others got there they

saw that Jesus had cooked them a breakfast of fresh

fish and bread. He told them how He was going back

to heaven and that He would send the Holy Spirit so

they would have the power of God living in them. He

told them to wait in Jerusalem, and He also told them

they must go and make disciples and baptise them.

Then they watched as Jesus just lifted off the ground

and went up through the clouds.

So off they went to Jerusalem. There they waited.

Some other people who believed Jesus was God

joined them. There were 120 of them in the room

praying together when suddenly they heard a sound

like the rushing of wind. And then the strangest

thing happened. On top of their heads little flames

appeared, and they started to speak in languages they

had never learned. Their hair didn’t burn, which was

a good thing because burning hair really smells bad,

but a wonderful thing happened to every person in

the room.

The Holy Spirit of God came to live inside every

person who believed and trusted in Jesus Christ

as their Lord and Saviour. Every one of them felt

different, like a newborn person, as if they had been

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born again. Now they were Christians. Now they

were God’s children. John had said they would be

baptised with the Spirit and with fire, and that is

exactly what happened.

Outside a crowd was standing, and Peter preached

a message to the people about Jesus rising from the

dead. That first day of Christianity three thousand

people became born again. There were no flames on

their heads, because that was a special first time, but

they were still filled with the Holy Spirit just like the

very first disciples.

So the church had begun. It didn’t have big fancy

buildings or statues or organs and musical instru-

ments as we do today; they just met in people’s

homes. They would sing and laugh and read the Bible

and pray, and of course they had bread and wine to

remember what Jesus had done.

And what about old you-know-who? Well, when

Jesus died He took our sins and dropped them off in

hell. There in that awful place were the angels who

created the Nephilim before the flood, and Jesus told

them that they had lost the battle, that Satan had lost.

Satan got his head crushed. It didn’t mean Jesus did

karate or something on him, but it meant his authority

was crushed. You see, in the Bible the head stands

for the power or authority, like the president is the

head of a government, so Satan’s power over people

who believe and trust in Jesus as their Lord and

Saviour was broken. And, most important, the power

of death was broken so that believers can live with

the Lord forever. Satan must have begun to realise

God was always in total control, but nowadays that

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nasty old devil keeps running around trying to make

people believe every stupid thing you can imagine,

Just Because he knows his time is short and Jesus is

coming back again.

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The church grew and grew. Many people trusted in

Jesus by faith and were born again. Some people

like Paul, who wrote a lot of the new part of the Bible,

tried to stop Christianity, but then they met Jesus for

themselves and became Christians. Over the next

three hundred years Satan used his nasty servants to

try to destroy Christians. Some of the Roman Caesar

kings were evil men. They burned Christians and let

wild animals kill them and did many nasty things.

There are many true stories about people who truly

loved Jesus and were killed for loving Him. But they

didn’t die for nothing. Satan wanted them to stop

loving Jesus. But when they refused to stop loving

Him, even when they knew a lion would eat them,

many other people became Christians because they

saw how these people had no fear of dying. They

knew they were going to be with the one they loved,

and He welcomed them home to heaven.

And now we are at the end of the story, but not

quite. Jesus said He would come back in the last

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days. The last days mean the last days before He

comes back. Many people have thought He was

coming back for the past two thousand years, but

He will not return until everything has happened as

the Bible says. The prophets said that before Jesus

returns there will be a great increase in knowledge.

Now that doesn’t mean people will get really brainy

or something but that people would learn and create

many new things before He returns.

My granddad was born in 1898, and he went to

heaven in 1991. When he was a boy there were no

planes, not many cars, no rockets or satellites, no

space station or play station, and not even a televi-

sion. But in his lifetime people made planes and jets

and submarines. People walked in space and on the

moon, and people made computers, nuclear bombs,

mobile phones, and all kinds of stuff, all in one

hundred years. Now that’s what I call a great increase

in knowledge.

Jesus also said in the last days there would be

wars and earthquakes and floods and famines and

it seems as if He was saying the weather would go

crazy. Does that sound like the weather report or

what? Jesus didn’t say
why
the weather would go

crazy, but we think it is because of pollution and

stuff; but it sure is going crazy. And of course there

are wars as well.

When will Jesus come back? No one knows, but

one thing is for sure. Every day is one day closer to

His coming back and one day closer to being with

Him in heaven. While we wait for Him we must

obey our father and mother as He said. We must trust

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Him as our Lord and Saviour, and we must never

stop telling other people about Him, even if they

think we are a bit crazy. And remember that He has

a special purpose for every person’s life. No matter

how bad things get, NEVER stop trusting Him, Just

Because He can turn bad into good and Just Because

He knows our future and Just Because He loves us

forever and ever and ever.

Amen

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