Here Comes Easter!

 Here Comes Easter!

            For most people in this part of the world, spring and Easter represent new life after a dormant winter. Plant life shows up as buds and blooms pop out and green grass appears proving there is life after death. It is almost like a message and reminder from God that resurrection is real. So where did Easter come from?

Centuries ago, the Jews’ hardened hearts and lack of devotion to their heavenly Father led to subservience in a foreign land. The blood of a lamb on their doorposts brought forgiveness and freedom from slavery. (Hebrews 9:22 [ESV] “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”) Delivery was a reminder of God’s mercy and compassion. Today Passover is a solemn remembrance of that event. He provided a chance for a restored commitment to Him once again.

Easter season in the Christian community is similar to the Passover. Deliverance was provided for all of mankind through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ through His shed blood on the cross.  Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), has given all of mankind a chance to receive forgiveness from sin by way of salvation. This act paid for our freedom around the time of Passover – our Easter. To all who choose to follow Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, there is hope and assurance of one day being resurrected even as Jesus was for eternity. 

Followers of Jesus, join the family of believers in celebrating Jesus' resurrection on this day. Once enslaved to sin and the devil’s schemes to defy God, we have been released from Satan’s bondage into the loving care of the one true God. This is indeed a day for thanksgiving and praise to the only wise God and forever King Jesus!

I Cor. 15:20-23 (NLT): Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So, you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back.

EASTER

 EASTER

Acts 2:29-33 (AMP)

“Brothers, I may confidently and freely say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, being a prophet and knowing fully that God had sworn to him with an oath that He would seat one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke [prophetically] of the resurrection of the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), that He was not abandoned [in death] to Hades (the realm of the dead), nor did His body undergo decay. 32 God raised this Jesus [bodily from the dead], and of that [fact] we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted [d]to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this [blessing] which you both see and hear.

Good Friday

 

Good Friday

This is a day to truly reflect on the goodness of God toward mankind. Perhaps that is why it is Good Friday and not bad Friday? Scripture tells us that because God rescued His Jewish people and they were His, He had a confidence that they wouldn’t betray Him (Isaiah 63:7-8). But time and again God was betrayed, and loyalty was dismissed by those He cared for - through many many years.

The Psalmist describes the reward for loyalty in Psalm 85:9-11 (AMP).

“You (God) are ready to rescue everyone who worships you, so that you will live with us in all your glory. Love and loyalty will come together; goodness and peace will unite. Loyalty will sprout from the ground; justice will look down from the sky above.”

And here we are at Good Friday, when Jesus – over 2,000 years ago – paid our sin’s debt with His life on the cross. God’s love and loyalty to His created beings came together and He rescued us from the power of sin and death! It sprouted from the ground on a cross where Jesus hung. Sacrificing His life – for three days - that we might receive the goodness of God through salvation as determined with Jesus sacrificial blood and life. God’s goodness and Christ’s kindness deserve our loyalty and love from that day throughout eternity as we look on His glory.

[To review Jesus’ crucifixion and see how the heart of God most certainly suffered as His son went through one injustice after another and died cruelly, read Matthew 27. It is the reality of what Jesus did so that we can be rescued and share in the goodness, loyalty, and love of God.]

by Joy Pedersen

Maundy Thursday

 Maundy Thursday

Holy Week is filled with many traditions commemorating events that occurred before and after Jesus crucifixion and resurrection. The one day that is often overlooked is Maundy Thursday.  This is the day that relates to the last supper attended by Jesus and His twelve disciples. After eating together, Jesus washed their feet, prepared them for His going back to Heaven, and then He gave a mandate. Maundy is a shortened form of mandatum (Latin), which means "command."  

This is the day memorializing what Jesus left as a mandate with His disciples – and us. We read this command in John 13:34 ^(ESV):

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. “

It almost seems the same as Mark 12: 31 where the second commandment to love others as much as you love yourself is given. But this edict is  an even greater  challenge. Here the standard of love is Jesus – not us. Wow! These words ring in our hearts and our minds struggle to comprehend just what we must sacrifice to love everyone around us as He did.  He loved those with unclean hearts – and feet, the betrayers, the legalistic, the demon possessed, the diseased, the impoverished, the abusers, the rich, and all classes and races of people.

And the reason for loving in this way? Jesus tells us in verse 35:

^“ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

He could have added: just like I have, but He is too humble. So we can ask ourselves: Do I want all people to know that I am Christ Jesus’s disciple? If yes, then I will focus on His love and reenact it as I engage with those around me. May your Maundy Thursday (and every day) be committed to loving as Jesus does.

by Joy Pedersen

Easter On Our Mind

 Easter On Our Mind

Easter is on the minds of Jesus’s followers. Surrounded by new life – budding flowers, emerging leaves, and a rejoicing sun, at springtime, we are drawn to contemplate the amazing kindness of God. Though we have so often failed to walk His way, His mercy rings out and His forgiveness calls softly saying we are His beloved children. Fixing our eyes on the wondrous cross, where Jesus sacrificed His life and recalling the empty tomb where He was once laid is cause to worship the One who gave up His son for our freedom from sin.  

God’s love so deep He designed a plan to preserve us for eternity. Jesus agreed to the plan giving His life’s blood for the forgiveness of our sin (Hebrews 12:2). It was required once and covered all that accept this gift of forgiveness. No matter our past, present, or future He has shed His innocent blood for our guilty soul. He remembers(d) us and with grace proves(d) His love. Easter – a time to consider deeply God’s riches at Christ’s expense.

by Joy Pedersen

Ephesians 1:7 (NLT)

He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.