In the Judeo-Christian tradition, March and April are the season of rescue and resurrection–a time of great joy but also a time of profound sobriety. In natural terms, there must be a death, total surrender, before there can be a resurrection. The same is true with God… God must die and surrender sovereignty before God can be resurrected. Understanding why and how God accomplished this wondrous feat reveals a sobering reality: how great He is and how much He loves people. There is another closely related aspect of the season which is mostly overlooked and follows in the wake of the Bible’s narrative. To pique the readers’ interest the third part is identified in the latter body of this essay. Grasping the outcome of His passionate love and plan instills a precious joy in one which anticipates the future and is forever grateful.
“This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalm 118:24 (KJV)
Psalm 118 is all about rescue and resurrection, a worthwhile read in its entirety. The writer exudes in grateful joy, in worship and praise that is birthed from a deep, intimate knowledge of God and His ways.
The all-knowing God has a complete handle on good and evil. He is good, Jesus said, “No one is good—except God alone” (Luke 18:19 NIV). One must understand that God’s nature is good and that He does not create evil. Take note: in order to correct and combat evil, God will do hard things, sometimes described as evil. Caveat: A conversation of good and evil is not the purpose of this essay but must somehow be acknowledged since it is evil from which God must rescue us.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
James 1:17 (NIV)
The first thing that needs to be restored or resurrected is man’s relationship with God. Once one has acknowledged that God exists, then lines of communication need to be established. God provides the open door for communication through Jesus Christ. The process is pretty simple: surrender to Jesus and accept His offer of salvation. In a symbolic sort of way, this is dying to oneself. Personal spiritual rescue and resurrection begin with a new birth, which God gives freely to those who ask. This is possible by the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
Easter Sobriety
For God to be resurrected, He had to die. To die, He had to live. To live, He had to be born. This marvelous sequence was accomplished through the Trinity. God the Father could retain life, while God the Son could experience birth, death, and complete surrender. The Holy Spirit held everything together. The function of the Holy Ghost is so important here because God the Father would have been emotionally compromised seeing His Son die the gruesome death that took place. He would also have been compromised when Christ took the totality of sin upon himself. God cannot tolerate sin (Habakkuk 1:13). The Holy Spirit held things together. To know God, one must understand and accept the Triune God by faith. No words or reasoning can clarify it; it is just the way God is and has always been.
The Lord requires us to surrender our personal dominion in order to fully embrace Him; it is nothing compared to the personal sovereignty He gave up on the cross so we could become part of His family. Yes, sons and daughters!!!
Oh, what joy! At some point, we will experience a day that the Lord has made; it is even called the Day of the Lord. The King will have had enough of the evil unrighteousness and return in a glorious, resurrected body to correct all things. With Him are the resurrected Saints, those who have embraced the Life of Christ and accepted His Kingship. Oh, what joy!
After the resurrection, Jesus spent 40 days mingling with seekers and believers. The event on His last day on earth, often forgotten in the Easter narrative, is The Ascension. This is the day that Jesus moved from representing God on earth to representing mankind in Heaven. The Son moved from being God’s servant on earth to being man’s servant and advocate in Heaven. Believers witnessed Jesus taken up and disappear into a cloud, a heavenly veil, if you will. At this point, they were asked by angels, “Men of Galilee, why do you stare into the sky?” Then comes the great declaration, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). This prophetic declaration is more; it is also a promise. The day comes near.
Many of the events that surrounded the Day of Calvary parallel the Day of the Lord, the Day He comes back. For the naysayers and disrespectful it is a day of clouds, a time of doom (Ezekiel 30:3). It is a day in the valley of decision (Joel 3:14). People tremble at the darkness, pitch-dark without a ray of light (Amos 5:18, 20), the land splits by earthquake and the temple veil is ripped in two (Matthew 27:51). It happens very quickly for those who are not watching. At the same time, those who know God heard the promise and recognized the warnings and are now able to say, “This is it!”
Calvary, The Cross, The Resurrection, The Empty Tomb, The Glorified Body of Christ, The Ascension, The Clouds, and The Return cannot be separated from one another in the Easter Narrative.
Now then, celebrate Resurrection Sunday with all your might; with family, friends, brothers, and sisters in the Lord. Do this with a great joy tempered by the great meekness (power under control) that comes from knowing Him and His triumphant victory over death. Consider this: a scripture search of the Day of the Lord will reveal a great chorus, “He is coming soon!”
Easter? The term for the spring celebration is not really Bible-based. It most likely came from the Old English word for the month of April, Eosturmonap. The month was named after the goddess of spring, Eostre. In most other languages, the holiday is called Pascha, Greek for Passover. Probably the best term and most accurate would be Resurrection Sunday. The important thing to remember is that it’s all about the Passover, the Cross, and the Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST.
Feature Images: Tomb at sunrise GENAI Text to Image; Unless otherwise attributed, scripture quotations are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible.
