God created the universe and human beings. He gave a special promise to Abraham.

After Adam and Eve sinned, God promised that someone would come to save them from their sins. Genesis 3:15-18

The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 

          But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.

One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), who was called Didymus. was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”

      Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

         
           “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.

                     Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

That Sunday evening [In the evening of that day, the first day of the week.] the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. 

         Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! “Peace be with you,” he said. As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 

                 Again he said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.

“Mary!” Jesus said.

        She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”).

              “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. 

        “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”

                  She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”

Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. 

         She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. 

                “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”

Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 

         She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!” Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in.  

               Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 

                          Then they went home.

Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus’ body. 

          When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes. 

                  Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus’ body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. 

                            And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover, because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out. (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.) 

        These things happened in fulfillment of the Scriptures that say, “Not one of his bones will be broken,”and “They will look on the one they pierced.”

So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men crucified with Jesus. 

        But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they didn’t break his legs. 

                One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

It was the day of preparation, and the Jewish leaders didn’t want the bodies hanging there the next day, which was the Sabbath (and a very special Sabbath, because it was the Passover). 

        So they asked Pilate to hasten their deaths by ordering that their legs be broken. Then their bodies could be taken down.

Jesus knew that his mission was now finished, and to fulfill Scripture he said, “I am thirsty.”

       A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. 

               When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.

Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary Magdalene. 

         When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, “Dear woman, here is your son.”  And he said to this disciple, “Here is your mother.” 

                  And from then on this disciple took her into his home.

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided his clothes among the four of them. They also took his robe, but it was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said, “Rather than tearing it apart, let’s throw dice cast lots for it.” 

         This fulfilled the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among themselves and threw dice for my clothing.”  Ps 22:18. So that is what they did.

And Pilate posted a sign on the cross that read, “Jesus of Nazareth, Or Jesus the Nazarene. the King of the Jews.” 

          The place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek, so that many people could read it.

                 Then the leading priests objected and said to Pilate, “Change it from ‘The King of the Jews’ to ‘He said, I am King of the Jews.’”

                          Pilate replied, “No, what I have written, I have written.”

So they took Jesus away. Carrying the cross by himself, he went to the place called Place of the Skull (in Hebrew, Golgotha). 

          There they nailed him to the cross. Two others were crucified with him, one on either side, with Jesus between them.

When they said this, Pilate brought Jesus out to them again. Then Pilate sat down on the judgment seat on the platform that is called the Stone Pavement (in Hebrew, Gabbatha). 

          It was now about noon on the day of preparation for the Passover. And Pilate said to the people, “Look, here is your king!”

                    “Away with him,” they yelled. “Away with him! Crucify him!”

                        “What? Crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

                                 “We have no king but Caesar,” the leading priests shouted back.

                                                           Then Pilate turned Jesus over to them to be crucified.

Then Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”

Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it were given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

When they saw him, the leading priests and Temple guards began shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

           “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”

                  The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.”

                          When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” 

                                  But Jesus gave no answer. “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”

Pilate went outside again and said to the people, “I am going to bring him out to you now, but understand clearly that I find him not guilty.” 

              Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said, “Look, here is the man!”

Then Pilate had Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip. 

           The soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they put a purple robe on him. “Hail! King of the Jews!” they mocked, as they slapped him across the face.

But they shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!”

Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”

         Pilate said, “So you are a king?”

                Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked. 

                      Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime. But you have a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the Jews’?”