Many centuries ago, the sun set and Jewish people in Goshen, in Egypt, sat in their houses trying to eat as Moses had instructed them, while frightful and terrible noises filtered through their walls and doors from the dark streets outside. They couldn't look outside to see what was happening, and they probably didn't want to. The important thing in their minds was that they were shut away from it all, protected by the sign on their doorposts that Moses had said was all God needed to turn death away from them--the blood of an innocent lamb. What a grim thing, but it had shielded them from the tears and sorrows that stalked Egypt that night. An innocent thing had died to save them all!
Death came again later and stole each of them away, anyway. There was a glimmer of hope, however, because God had already begun His plan to rescue them for good. It was just going to take a few years...
Many years later, a man was killed on a wooden cross outside the walls of Jerusalem--a sinless man named Jesus. People everywhere in the city were celebrating Passover, but even those who knew Jesus the best had failed to see that He was their symbolic lamb. He faced death alone for them that night.
This time, however, God took away the grim sting of death. He raised Jesus from the dead because, due to Jesus' sinlessness, death had no jurisdiction over Him. Now, Christ has offered us that same resurrection, this gleam of hope in a very dark world, so that we can escape from death with His help!
Today, if we know Jesus and have committed ourselves to Him, we are hidden in Him, like the people who sat inside their homes long ago in Egypt (1 Peter 1: 18-21). This is what Good Friday and Easter Sunday are all about. We are celebrating the fact that those who are covered by the Lamb are no longer exposed to the curse, but are safe and alive because of Christ!
If you want a deeper explanation of what Passover and Easter are all about, read my post here about the meaning of substitutionary atonement. If you are still wanting more, click the "sacrifice and atonement" tag at the bottom of this post for more posts where I talked about it.
I was looking for a good Easter weekend song to share, and decided to share this worship song about committing ourselves to Jesus. It is called "To the King," and it was written by Annie Herring of the group The 2nd Chapter of Acts. Here it is sung by her younger brother, Matthew Ward. Have a wonderful, worshipful Easter, everyone. Spend it with Jesus as King of your life!
Death came again later and stole each of them away, anyway. There was a glimmer of hope, however, because God had already begun His plan to rescue them for good. It was just going to take a few years...
Many years later, a man was killed on a wooden cross outside the walls of Jerusalem--a sinless man named Jesus. People everywhere in the city were celebrating Passover, but even those who knew Jesus the best had failed to see that He was their symbolic lamb. He faced death alone for them that night.
This time, however, God took away the grim sting of death. He raised Jesus from the dead because, due to Jesus' sinlessness, death had no jurisdiction over Him. Now, Christ has offered us that same resurrection, this gleam of hope in a very dark world, so that we can escape from death with His help!
Today, if we know Jesus and have committed ourselves to Him, we are hidden in Him, like the people who sat inside their homes long ago in Egypt (1 Peter 1: 18-21). This is what Good Friday and Easter Sunday are all about. We are celebrating the fact that those who are covered by the Lamb are no longer exposed to the curse, but are safe and alive because of Christ!
If you want a deeper explanation of what Passover and Easter are all about, read my post here about the meaning of substitutionary atonement. If you are still wanting more, click the "sacrifice and atonement" tag at the bottom of this post for more posts where I talked about it.
I was looking for a good Easter weekend song to share, and decided to share this worship song about committing ourselves to Jesus. It is called "To the King," and it was written by Annie Herring of the group The 2nd Chapter of Acts. Here it is sung by her younger brother, Matthew Ward. Have a wonderful, worshipful Easter, everyone. Spend it with Jesus as King of your life!
0 comments:
Post a Comment