//------------------------------//
// Chapter 15: Loads of Regrets, Road to Redemption (Part 2) 
// Story: Bermuda Beginnings 
// by ScarFox9700 
//------------------------------//

Taylor then took a deep breath. "The Bible says that the wages for Sin is Death. Those who sin are following in the footsteps of Adam, the first Human, and they deserve God's punishment for what they have done. But That's why Christ came to Earth; to take that punishment, from Adam, all the way down to the last believer in Christ, (known as 'Christians') on Earth, all on Himself, so that we can escape God's Wrath, and spend eternity with Him in Heaven when we die." 

Celestia was staring at him with wide eyes. "He, he took it all on Himself?" 

Taylor nodded.

"But, how?" 

Taylor sighed before he continued. "Well, like I said before, He had to die a hideous death. First, He was sentenced to be whipped; whipped with a whip that had bits of metal, rocks, and even bones in it to rip His flesh off. The beating was so brutal, that He was no longer even recognizable as a Human anymore. Then, He was publicly mocked, as well as forced to carry a heavy crossbeam up to the place where He was to die." Taylor was almost crying now as well. "Do, do I continue, Princess?" 

She nodded. "As disturbing as this story is, I must know how to be made right with God, so please continue, if you are able." 

Taylor then took a few deep breaths, and after wiping away a few tears, he continued. "Once he and the soldiers guarding him arrived at the sight of the execution, on a hill outside of the Earth city of Jerusalem, known as 'Golgotha', or, 'Place of a Skull', they took the piece of wood that Jesus had been carrying, attached it to.....to a...... larger, piece of wood in a T shape configuration. Once......that was done, they.....laid Christ down on it, and, they......they......." 

Taylor was sobbing now. Celestia held him close to her until he was strong enough to continue the story. After a good few minutes, Taylor sat back down on the floor in front of Celestia, and continued. 

".....They drove, metal spikes through His wrists and ankles!" He finished mournfully. 

Celestia was horrified. "What?! How could they do that?! Jesus was innocent!" 

"Aye, that he was. Jesus knew the death that was in store for Him, so before He was executed, He prayed to God His Father that if there was any other way that He would not have to die, that for it to be done. Deep down though, Jesus knew that His death was the only way that Man could be made right with God again. In the end, he did His Father's will." 

Celestia still wanted to know more, so Taylor did continue, although he was still sobbing slightly. 

"After they nailed Christ to the cross, the soldiers who were executing Him hoisted the cross vertically, and Christ was condemned to hang there until He was dead."

"I....I can't even imagine this anymore." 

"I know", Taylor whispered. "I can't either. As Jesus was hanging there though, many people came by to mock him. 'If you are the Son of God' they railed, 'come down from the cross!' 'Save yourself!' Others cried. 'He could save others from Death, but He couldn't save himself!'" 

"But I take it that Jesus didn't listen to them though?" 

Taylor nodded. "He actually prayed for the crowd saying, ' Father, forgive them. They know not what they do!' There were also two other men, robbers and traitors, who were also crucified with Him as well, one on His right, and one on His left." 

"And how did they take it?" 

"Well, one of them railed at Him like many in the crowd did. 'If you're the Son of God, save yourself and us!' One of them cried. The other criminal though, although he did revile Jesus at first like the others did, eventually had a change of heart. He turned to the other criminal. 'Do you not fear God?' He asked. 'Are we not both under the same condemnation as He? We both deserve our punishments, but this man is innocent!' He then turned to Jesus. 'Lord, remember me when you come into your Father's Kingdom!' Jesus said to him, 'Truly I say to you, Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.' 

"Wait, so the criminal who had the change of heart confessed his Sin to Christ, and went to Heaven when he died?" 

Taylor smiled through his tears. "Yes. As wretched and vile as he was, when he confessed his sins, and put his faith in Jesus, He forgave him of his sins, and said that when he would die that day, he would be with Him in Paradise; Heaven." 

Celestia's curiosity kept her asking questions. "What happened next though?" 

"Well, by this time, it was about 3:00pm, and for Supernatural Reasons, the sky suddenly became as black as night. Then, Jesus cried out, 'Father, into Thy Hands, I commit my Spirit. It is finished!' And then, he died." 

"That's.... that's how Jesus died?" 

Taylor nodded. "Yes. In Death, Jesus had taken the full punishment for Sin fully onto himself. He paid the full price for our Sin. Now, we could come to God again through Jesus Christ. God's ultimate rescue plan was complete. Now it was time for the effects of this new redemption to be felt." 

Celestia was puzzled. "Um, effects? What effects?" 

"Well, for starters, after Christ died, there suddenly came an earthquake." 

"An Earthquake? Did God do that?" 

Taylor nodded. "Yes, to both questions. The ground shook, rocks broke into pieces, the curtains of the Temple in Jerusalem, (which were about the thickness of four encyclopedia volumes) ripped in half from top to bottom all by themselves, and even the occupants of several nearby tombs were brought back to life!" 

Celestia was somewhat skeptical of this claim. "Are you serious about this, or are you pulling on my hoof?" 

Taylor shook his head. "No look, it says so, right here." Taylor pointed to the scripture in Matthew. "The Bible was inspired by God, and since God is incapable of lying, every single word written in the Bible is Absolute Truth." 

"By my Grandmother's beard! So it is! The dead really did come back to life! This story is incredible!' 

Taylor nodded. "Yep, it sure is. Anyway, the leader of the soldiers, a centurion, cried out when he saw what was happening. 'Surely this man was the Son of God!' 

"For real?!" 

"Yes. It's really incredible when you think about it. That captain didn't even believe in God!" 

"And now he's crying that the man he'd just had killed was God's Son? That really is incredible!" Celestia finished.

"You can say that again. Anyway, after Jesus died, a wealthy man named Joseph, from the town of Arimathea, went to the leaders who had had Jesus killed, and requested the body so that it could be buried properly. The request was granted, and he had Jesus buried in his own new tomb. A huge rock was rolled into place to close the tomb, and guards were placed outside the tomb to guard it." 

"Um, I still don't see how this plays into the plan for Salvation. Jesus is dead. How can we be with Him in Heaven?" 

Taylor smiled. "Because although the world would have you believe that this is the end of the story, it isn't." 

"It's not?" 

"Nope, not by a long shot! Although all of the Demons of Hell were rejoicing, thinking that the World was now theirs forever, and all of Heaven was weeping, God was still fully in control, and everything was still going according to the rest of His plan. Three days later, the unthinkable, impossible, and unimaginable happened." 

Celestia was dying of suspense. "What? What happened?" 

"The most glorious story in all of Scripture, which will be rivaled only by Christ's Second Coming at the end of time."

"Christ's Second Coming?" Celestia interrupted, "What's that?" 

"I'll explain that in a minute. It ties into this story, but it comes afterwards just a bit." 

"Oh, ok. Well then by all means, please continue Mr. Taylor." 

"Ok. Well, the guards were standing at their posts early that morning, when all of a sudden, an Angel of God appeared right in front of them!" 

"Um, what's an Angel? You keep mentioning them, but what are they?" 

"Angels are God's warrior's and messengers. They do His bidding, and praise Him in Heaven. This Angel was sent to deal with the soldiers. The Bible doesn't say exactly how, but it does say that they were so scared that, 'They became like dead men'. Basically, they passed out from sheer fear, or the Angel made them pass out." 

Celestia didn't want to interrupt Taylor, so she just let him keep talking, while she quietly listened.

Once the guards had been dealt with, the Angel then rolled the stone away from the tomb! Sometime after this, three women, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James and John, two of Jesus's Followers, went to visit the tomb. When they arrived though, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, and that the tomb was empty! 

Then, when they looked up, they saw two Angels sitting on top of the stone! The angels told them that Jesus had risen from the dead, and that they were to tell his Followers in Jerusalem. Of course, none of them believed the women, but when a group of them were sitting in the upper room of a house, with the doors and windows all locked, Jesus suddenly appeared among them! 

All of them were terrified, thinking Him to be a ghost! Jesus told them not to be afraid, and then he showed them the nail marks on his hands and feet. Then, they knew Him to really be Jesus, and they rejoiced." 

"Again, I can't even imagine this. One minute, your Master is dead, and the next, he appears in your midst?! He really did rise again from the grave. No amount of magic could ever do that. Only by the power of God!" 

Taylor agreed. "Yes, but one of Jesus's followers, a man named Thomas, wasn't with the others when this happened. They all tried to tell him that Jesus had risen from the grave, and that they had seen him, but he didn't believe them. 'Unless I see the nail marks on him, then I will not believe!' He said." 

"What happened to Thomas? Did he ever believe in the end?" 

"Yes, but it took an encounter with Jesus to convince him. One day, sometime after this, Jesus's followers were all back in that room, all doors and windows locked, and this time, Thomas was with them as well. Suddenly, Jesus appeared among them again. 'Thomas, come put your hands on my wrists. Know this and believe!' Jesus told him. Thomas fell down on his knees and cried, 'My Lord and My God!' He believed that it was all real now!" 

"Is this the end of the story?" 

Taylor shook his head again. "Again, not quite. Jesus stayed on Earth for about a month after He had risen from the dead. He was seen by many during this time, once by over 500 people at the same time!" 

"Wow. That must have been really something. I really wish now that my mother could have witnessed all of this, as it did happen during her reign over Equestria." 

"Yeah, that would have been really amazing. After Jesus had been with his Followers for about a month, Jesus led them to a hill outside of Jerusalem. 'The time has come for me to return to My Father', He told them. Then, he gave them the Great Commission." 

"What's the Great Commission?" 

"It was Jesus's last command for His Followers, and for every Christian since. He said, 'Go therefore, out into all the nations of the World, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And I will be with you always, from now, until the end of the ages.' Then, as they watched, Jesus ascended into Heaven. 

After he disappeared into the clouds, an Angel appeared to them. 'Jesus has left to return to God', he told them. "But you will see Him return in the same way that he has left you.' And this concludes that story, which brings us back to the question that you asked earlier about the Second Coming. Do you still want that answered?" 

Celestia nodded. "Yes, Yes I would." 

"Ok then. At the end of time, all of those who follow Christ will be taken by Jesus up to Heaven, to spare them from the wrath that is to come. I'll spare you the details, both because it's incredibly difficult to explain, and there is heavy symbolic language as well. In a nutshell, God will finally destroy Sin once and for all, and then destroy the entire universe, and remake it to be perfect again. Before this though, all of the wicked people who won't come to Christ must be destroyed. This will be the final battle ever fought on Earth, called the Battle of Armageddon. 

Just prior to this, Christ will return, and lead God's armies against the armies of the world. Christ will win, and everything as we know it gets destroyed, so that it can be made perfect. All of this is written down in the Book of Revelation, which is the last book of the Bible." 

Taylor then looked up to make sure that Celestia was still following all of this. She looked up from Taylor's Bible, which she had turned to Revelation. She nodded, and then asked Taylor if he could pray for her, as well as all of her subjects, so that they could come to know Christ as well, and escape God's punishment for sin. 

Taylor looked at her with tears in his eyes, and a smile on his face. "Princess Celestia, nothing would make me happier in all the world than to do that right now." He then took her hooves gently into his hands, and after she bowed her head, he bowed his head, and prayed, "Dear God, I know that you haven't heard from me in a while, but I now know that it's high time that I started praying to you again. I see now that the reason that you spared me from Death and brought me here was so that I could spread the Gospel. 

I also now lift Princess Celestia up to you, as well as all of her subjects. I pray that you would work on their hearts, and bring them back to Your Kingdom. The Princess saw the wrath that comes to those who sin against you, and she asked me to show her Your plan for Salvation. I pray to you now that you give me the wisdom and guidance to to teach them your Word, and to help them along on their journey down the path that leads to the Land of Glory.

Names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life long before the foundations of the Earth, or Equestria, were laid, and I pray that the names of those in this land are in there as well." Taylor then opened his eyes to look at Celestia. "Um Princess, do you have anything to add?" 

She nodded. "Yes. I would like to say that, Lord, please forgive me for what I did to Mr. Taylor earlier this evening. What I did was so wrong on so many levels, and I would like to bring that before you now, to lay at the feet of Your Son Jesus, to take instead of me. I would also like to ask for forgiveness for all of the impure thoughts that I had about Mr. Taylor before I committed these acts." Celestia then nodded to Taylor to continue. 

"Yes. Thank you Princess. And Yes, I do forgive you, and so does God." Taylor then finished praying. "Show us the way from here Lord; we are in Your Hands. Please be with us in everything that we do, from now, until the end of the Ages. In Your Name I pray, Amen." 

After Taylor had finished his prayer, Celestia cried, and he held her close while he cried as well.

"Um, I don't mean to interrupt, but um, is there any room in here for one more?" 

They both looked up, and there in front of them, stood Tinker. He was holding his helmet in one hoof, and he had tears in his eyes as well. "I heard what you guys were talking about in here, and I felt compelled to join you. May I?" 

Taylor nodded. "Heaven's Joy knows no bounds when a sinner recognizes his need for forgiveness, and comes to ask how he may be made right with God again." 

Both he and Celestia let Tinker into their group hug. 

After a few moments, Celestia spoke. "Thank you, My Sunshine", she whispered to Taylor. 

"For what?" 

"For not only showing us the way to Salvation, but also for fulfilling a prophesy that was given to my grandmother from God when she first came to Equestria." 

Taylor was curious. "What prophesy was that?" 

"God told her that her actions would bring a terrible suffering to her children, and that only a descendant of the Man Adam, who had both the favor of Him, as well as His Son, would be able to stop it. For a long time, I always thought that the suffering would be caused by a monster of some sort, but now that I've heard everything that you've told me, Now His message is perfectly clear. It was our Sin and rebellion that was causing the suffering. God then sent you to us to teach us about the way to Salvation,  and how we can be made right with Him, so that we can spend eternity with Him in Heaven." 

Celestia smiled at Taylor through her tears. "You have the favor of God, and His Son, Jesus Christ, and you showed us the errors of our ways. By all of that, you fulfilled the phrophesy." 

Taylor didn't say anything, but then again, he didn't need to; with his smile and tears, his face spoke volumes.