Sunday, March 23, 2008

Easter Reflections.....


I am excited this year to celebrate Easter with a greater view of what Christ's death and resurrection means to me. For many years I have enjoyed celebrating Easter as a way to remember and reflect on Jesus sacrifice for me. Honestly for many years I celebrated His resurrection with joy for the simple fact that He triumphed over death making His death all the more meaningful and powerful. I thoroughly enjoy singing all the glorious songs that are sung specifically at Easter. (why don't we sing them all year round???)
For so long, I viewed Christ's death as primarily a means for me to be cleansed from sin and right with God, and on my way to heaven, and missing out on all the rest of the gospel. BUT, it was so much more! Here's a quote I enjoyed reading by Don Baker, he says this;
"I enjoy contemplating the following facts written by the Holy Spirit in Scripture:

that Luke opened Acts by referring to his gospel, in which he wrote about "the things that Jesus began to do" while in a body on Earth. For the early Church, the gospels were merely the gateway to understanding how Jesus was speaking to them currently, through his Spirit living inside them.

That the resurrection proved God had accepted Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf, and set the stage for Jesus going back into heaven to be presented as the Lamb that was slain in the heavenly Temple -- and beginning his role as our perfect High Priest!

That from this position, he could do what God had told the prophets he would one day do: Send the Spirit of Jesus to live inside us, ensure we're not orphans, give us hearts of flesh instead of stone, write his law on our hearts, give us his own mind, and share his throne-authority over the enemy as his co-heirs!!!!

That with this new, elevated position in Christ, we can rightfully take (loving) dominion over the Earth, work with him to "destroy the works of the devil", and help him to build a kingdom of worshipers who will become so overwhelmingly beautiful in sanctified holiness, that the Father will no longer be able to restrain himself, but will gladly release Jesus to claim his beautiful Bride while destroying, forever, everything on Earth that has continued in rebellion against the proclamation of his Good News!

That after these things, we will not live as disembodied spirits in heaven, but will live once again as human beings with the same perfect body Jesus now occupies, on a beautiful restored Earth -- never again to be tempted to sin! We may even get angry or upset, but will never experience anger leading to sin! We will also never again experience fear, shame, rejection, the bitterness of loss, envy/jealousy, a sense of futility or worthlessness, or the pain of aging bodies! We will also ALWAYS experience the unveiled presence of God in and around us, and be able to appreciate fully everything God has made us AND OTHERS to be and become! We will then truly rejoice in all things at all times, pray without ceasing or effort, and encourage others without hesitation and in total unity of spirit!" - 

For so many Easter is more a reminder of what Jesus accomplished at the cross in regards to our sins, but there is so much more. There is so much power in the resurrection of Christ - and I want to live in it! 
I just have to include yet another video of my favorite worship band, Hillsong, singing "Worthy is the Lamb." 


3 comments:

Aida said...

Wonderful post, Lydia. For years, all I heard was that Jesus died so we could be forgiven of our sins and go to heaven when we die but there's so much more.

"That after these things, we will not live as disembodied spirits in heaven, but will live once again as human beings with the same perfect body Jesus now occupies, on a beautiful restored Earth -- never again to be tempted to sin!"

For some time now, I've believed that Father's plan is not to take us all off to heaven but it's to bring heaven to this Earth. I really like how Don Baker describes our salvation.

That song is one of my favorites. I don't listen to a lot of praise music any more and I forgot how beautiful this one is.

Thanks for sharing it.

BTW, I added that widget to my blog and I'm having fun with my new toy.

Aida

lydia said...

Thanks Aida,
I am just reveling in ALL of the Gospel - it's almost too much to take it all in isn't it, it's just too GOOD!
Yeah, Don has a lot of great things to say!!!
Your welcome for the song, I heard it on my friend Dan's blog awhile back and during a worship session done at City Church International, Rob Rufus' church and it really meant so much to me!
Glad you are having fun with your widget....!!!!
Grace and peace to you!

Aida said...

You're right. It is too good to be true but it is. Yippee!!

I'm checking into the site meter too. It looks good but I haven't had much time to do anything about it yet.

Aida