Spring's New Life

The ravages of winter are over and new life is bursting forth everywhere. Barren trees with the look of death are budding new leaves to cloth their naked branches with beauty. Tulips, daffodils, and wild flowers are beginning to pop their heads up out of the ground to bring color to the desolate looking earth. Warm gusty breezes have replaced the cold blustery winds that chilled to the bone. The air is filled with the songs of birds returning from their winter migration. Nostrils are cleansed of the staleness of winter as they are filled with the odors of the newness of spring.

Spring the time for new life to come forth. A fitting time for Resurrection Day. What day did I just say? Resurrection Day, most people know it as Easter. It is the day that the Lord Jesus the Christ rose from the grave, bringing forth new life for all those who believe.

God created man in His own image, and placed him in the garden of Eden. Adam, the first man, and his wife Eve fell to the temptation of Satan and rebelled against God, believing that they too could be as gods by eating fruit from the tree which was forbidden for them to eat from. Because of that rebellion, man as well as the earth and all creatures was placed under a curse. Even though the world was under a curse, God also had a plan of redemption for mankind, which He begin to reveal as the curse was being pronounced.

God came to Abram and made a covenant with him. Through Abraham’s seed the nations of the world would be blessed. The nation Israel was born and as it grew God raised up Moses to lead the children of Israel out of bondage of Egypt into the promised land. Before Pharaoh released the people of Israel God sent plagues upon Egypt, the last one being the death of the first born son in every house which did not have the blood of the Passover lamb upon the door.

After releasing his captives Pharaohs heart was hardened and he pursued Israel to destroy them. On the third day of their journey Pharaoh caught up to Israel at the Red Sea. God opened the waters so the children of Israel could pass through to safety, but He closed the waters upon Pharaoh destroying him and his armies. With the death of Pharaoh the children of Israel were no longer legally slaves to Egypt, they were free.

God gave Moses the law, but the law did not bring salvation to mankind because man was and is unable to keep the law. The prophets came after Moses foretelling of the coming Messiah who would bring salvation to the world.

( It is truly amazing to study the prophesies concerning Jesus. The life of Jesus is plainly foretold in Old Testament Scriptures. The main features, events and even accompanying incidents down to the most minute detail. This is overwhelming evidence of the existence and working of a mind that transcends the human mind to a degree that awes us into wonderment.)

Jesus who was and is very God of very God, left His divinity behind and came into the world in the likeness of man. He was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit. As a man God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and with power. Jesus went about teaching peace, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom, He went about doing good, healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.

Four days before the Passover feast the priests would bring the Passover lamb into the Temple to be examined by the people to ensure the lamb was perfect, without spot or blemish. Four days before Passover Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey. Jesus, the perfect Passover lamb provided by God, entered the Temple to be examined by the people and religious leaders. Jesus was found to be without spot or blemish, no one could find anything wrong in Him.

Jesus was betrayed by one of His own into the hands of the religious leaders. He was put on trail by false accusers before the religious leaders, Herod the king, and Pontus Pilate the Roman governor. Pilate sentenced Jesus to death on the cross. (Pilate was a Roman not Jew.)

At the ninth hour the High Priest would say it is finished as he sacrificed the Passover lamb. At the very same ninth hour Jesus cried out it is finished and gave up the ghost.

They laid the body of Jesus in a tomb. But on the third day as they returned to the tomb, they found that it was empty. Luke 24:4-7 (NKJ); And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.

By His resurrection, Jesus has conquered death and the grave, giving eternal life to all who believe.

The angel of death passed over the houses which had the blood of the Passover lamb upon the door. On the third day following Passover, God brought His people to freedom and safety, up out of the Red Sea which became the grave to those who would enslave His people.

By our faith in Him, Jesus our Passover Lamb, by His death burial and resurrection on the third day, leads us out of the world in which we are enslaved to sin and death, into the Kingdom of God, to eternal life with Him.

By one man, the first man Adam, sin and it’s consequences, which is death, was brought into the world. By one man, the first fruits of the resurrection, Jesus the Christ, abounding grace and life was brought into the world.

Jesus came so we may have life and that we may have it more abundantly. Celebrate the newness of Spring with the newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is the gift of God. John 3:16 (NKJ); For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

The gift is free and it is this easy to receive. Romans 10:8-10 (NKJ); But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

No matter where you live, there are many churches close to you that teach and preach the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is easy to find one that you will like.

Praise God, Halleluiah, Amen.