Tag: Resurrection

The Beginning of Months

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This Time of Year

The spring season is a special time of year for many reasons.  March-April is the time of the biblical new year- the beginning of months.  It is the time of Passover which commemorates God’s instructions to the Israelites in Egypt to mark their houses with the blood of a sacrificed unblemished lamb so that the Lord would pass over their houses thereby protecting them from plague and destruction.  The Lord’s Passover celebrates the Israelites’ exodus and ultimate freedom from slavery in Egypt- a foreshadowing of the ultimate passover and freedom from the slavery of sin and death through Jesus Christ.

This time of year is also the time of Holy Week which commemorates the final days of Jesus Christ who is the lamb of God and our ultimate passover lamb fulfillment. From Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem riding on a colt to the culmination in Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection, Holy Week memorializes the passion of Jesus Christ in His momentous journey to the cross and His trial, suffering and death on our behalf. 

The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ

As Christians in this world we will face suffering as followers of Jesus Christ but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price by His sacrifice which delivers us out of all our earthly trials and gives us the gift of eternal life. And though we may find ourselves weak at particular point in times in our lives, as the disciples were before Jesus’ arrest in the garden at Gethsemane, we must not be caught unexpectedly off guard.  Jesus said to His disciples in the garden at Gethsemane, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”.  Jesus knows our willing spirit and wants us to be aware of the weakness of the flesh also. 

As we remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ in this special time of year, let us also remember that the temporary suffering we face in this life is nothing compared to the suffering Jesus Christ endured for us to take hold of eternity in His presence.  And let us remember our suffering is also the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

“Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”   Philippians 3:12-14 ESV

Fulfillment

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:1-5 ESV

Love and Sacrifice

The feeling and action of fulfillment is satisfaction and completion.  Fulfillment derives from something that was accomplished and the resulting integrity of that accomplishment. Fulfillment remedy’s debt- it counteracts and eliminates something owed.  The necessary steps that were taken to meet a requirement or condition was successful according to a process.  And in the midst of the process of fulfillment is love and sacrifice.

Our debt was paid long ago on the cross in fulfillment of God’s law.  Jesus Christ died for our sins.  He fulfilled the law of sin and death by taking the burden of our sins upon Himself and defeating death in resurrection.  God made Him who knew no sin to be an offering for our sins so that we could be made right with God. And since this time of fulfillment in Christ, we have been brought close to Him that we may attain absolution and the resulting joy associated with His promise of forgiveness. 

Our Advocate

In Jesus Christ we have an advocate who intercedes for us as we stand before God in judgement. Jesus Christ clothes us with righteousness and lives within our hearts as we are in Him also.  He testifies to God on our behalf that we have been redeemed by His sacrifice- the shedding of His blood, and our receipt of grace and mercy through faith in Him who died for our sins.  This fulfillment brings us atonement and reconciliation with God through Christ.  

We are justified, and the promise of this fulfillment is everlasting. We have moved from a place of sin and injustice to the state of grace and justice.  And when we receive justification through faith, our obligation changes from slave to sin to freedom from sin.  

The Courts of Heaven

There is a cost for sin < the price was paid < fulfillment made.

And in the courts of heaven God sees our condition. Have we moved from a state of sin to a state of righteousness? Has the accuser of Job, the enemy of God and man succeeded in his accounts to discredit us before God? Or are we confident in our position- having joy and peace in believing the fulfillment of Jesus Christ, His forgiveness, and God’s everlasting love.

“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” Romans 8:31-34 NKJV