Monday, March 29, 2010
Time to Party!
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah! How amazing that truth is: that Jesus has risen from the dead! All of His suffering, all of His sorrow, all of His blood shed to pay for our sins and wash us clean is finished. Our salvation has been accomplished! No more suffering for sin, no more working to earn God's pleasure, no more fear of hell! All of it has been handled by Jesus on the cross! And now He is risen, never to die again! And because of all these things which He has done for you, you have the same resurrection to look forward to! Hallelujah! Let's party!
One of the things I love about following the church calendar is how it informs the rhythm of our lives. What we experience in our lives is reflected in the pattern of worship we follow throughout the year. At Advent we live in anticipation of our future hope, at Christmas we wonder at the mystery of God taking on flesh, during Lent we endure the heavy load of sinful burden, learning to cast it upon Jesus in repentance, and during Holy Week we mourn over the wages of our sin being nailed to our Creator on the cross. And then Easter arrives! We are caught up in the splendor of God's glory as we dance and sing around an empty tomb where our crucified and risen Jesus once laid. We can sing and celebrate because we know the sacrifice has lead to resurrection, death has brought life, the old world is passing away and the new has begun!
Throughout Lent we have been reading through the book of Leviticus and focusing in on the system of sacrifice God had graciously given to Israel as a provision for their sins. We saw how all of these sacrifices were insufficient but wonderful in that they pointed to the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sin of the world. Well, such a sacrifice leads to celebration. So, during the season of Easter, we are going to move into a time of joy and elation, rejoicing over the resurrection of Jesus. We are going to do this by examining the festivals in the Old Testament, especially those found in Leviticus 23. We'll find the Israelites were a very festive people. They found much joy in the love that their God had for them. We too are given the same kind of joy, only perhaps better in that we know the fulfillment of that joy, Jesus! We will see how even these festivals served to point us to Jesus and prepare our hearts for the final, eternal celebration we will experience with Him when He returns! He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
One of the things I love about following the church calendar is how it informs the rhythm of our lives. What we experience in our lives is reflected in the pattern of worship we follow throughout the year. At Advent we live in anticipation of our future hope, at Christmas we wonder at the mystery of God taking on flesh, during Lent we endure the heavy load of sinful burden, learning to cast it upon Jesus in repentance, and during Holy Week we mourn over the wages of our sin being nailed to our Creator on the cross. And then Easter arrives! We are caught up in the splendor of God's glory as we dance and sing around an empty tomb where our crucified and risen Jesus once laid. We can sing and celebrate because we know the sacrifice has lead to resurrection, death has brought life, the old world is passing away and the new has begun!
Throughout Lent we have been reading through the book of Leviticus and focusing in on the system of sacrifice God had graciously given to Israel as a provision for their sins. We saw how all of these sacrifices were insufficient but wonderful in that they pointed to the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, who takes away the sin of the world. Well, such a sacrifice leads to celebration. So, during the season of Easter, we are going to move into a time of joy and elation, rejoicing over the resurrection of Jesus. We are going to do this by examining the festivals in the Old Testament, especially those found in Leviticus 23. We'll find the Israelites were a very festive people. They found much joy in the love that their God had for them. We too are given the same kind of joy, only perhaps better in that we know the fulfillment of that joy, Jesus! We will see how even these festivals served to point us to Jesus and prepare our hearts for the final, eternal celebration we will experience with Him when He returns! He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah!
<< Home