4-1-19
How
do most of us prepare for Easter?
I
am sorry to say that, often, in the same way we generally prepare for
Christmas by buying presents and planning meals; and prepare for
Thanksgiving by buying turkeys and inviting relatives. The arrival of
Easter often is consumed by coloring eggs, dressing well for church,
and deciding between lamb and ham.
Jesus
prepared for Easter, although of course it was not called that in His
day, in ways we know. Before His Incarnation, Father God prepared the
way. The prophet Isaiah described it seven
hundred years before
Jesus’s birth:
Chapter
53: Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed?
For
he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a
dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see
him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He
is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely
he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem
him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed.
All
we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own
way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He
was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he
is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her
shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
He
was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his
generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the
transgression of my people was he stricken.
And
he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;
because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hand.
He
shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his
knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear
their iniquities.
Therefore
will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto
death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the
sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors….
Preparing
for Easter. Seven hundred years earlier (in our own perspective, if
we can imagine, that would be like two hundred years before the birth
of Columbus), a Prophet of God described Jesus, even to whether He
was handsome or not; His persecution and trial; and how He would die.
And why.
But
there was a prophecy that was closer in time to Jesus’s own day. We
do not often connect it with Easter. From Luke chapter 2 –
The
angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings
of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For
unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is
Christ the Lord. And this shall
be a
sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger.
And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men….
There
was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was
Simeon;
and the same man was
just
and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost
was upon him.
And
it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see
death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
And
he came by the Spirit into the temple where the parents brought in
the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then
Simeon took him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
For
mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before
the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the
glory of thy people Israel….
Simeon
blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child
is
set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign
which shall be spoken against;
Yea,
a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of
many hearts may be revealed.
So.
Isaiah foretold the Person of the Christ, and details of His life and
death; angels announced His birth; the holy man Simeon explained the
holiness and mission of the Messiah, with attendant violence and
sacrifice.
But
let us back up to the angels in the hills above Bethlehem. Tidings
of great joy…
referring to this baby who was certain to be unjustly persecuted,
tortured, and executed? Tidings of great joy about a someone the
Bible also calls a “Man of Great Sorrow”? Tidings of great joy
about the person who will be “despised and rejected”… by God
Himself?
Does
this make sense at all? Especially to call it “joy”?
Praise
God, it
doesn’t make sense.
It
is God’s way, however. He loved us so much – even when we were
yet sinners – that He provided the ultimate pathway to find eternal
life with Him. We cannot earn it ourselves.
We
cannot earn it ourselves. Isaiah knew it; the angels knew it; Mary
knew it; Simeon knew it; Jesus, of course, knew it.
Do
you know it? Go thou and prepare for Easter.
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Click:
Alas!
And Did My Savior Bleed?
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