Inspiration & Worship
When Love Came
W
hat we call Easter is a celebration of the ministry, arrest, execution and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as recorded in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But the story really begins much earlier. Throughout the many centuries encompassed by the Old Testament, the birth, death and resurrection of a savior, or Messiah, is foreshadowed in detail. Isaiah is among Old Testament prophets who told fellow Jews that God would someday send a Messiah to save them from the power of sin. About 1,000 years before Christ’s birth, Isaiah said a Messiah would be born in Bethlehem to a virginal descendant of King David. This Messiah would begin his ministry in Galilee after someone else paved the way (Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist); he would heal the brokenhearted; be both exalted and beaten; would largely be rejected; would take the blame for the sins of all mankind; would be silent before his accusers; would be executed with criminals; would die with no bones broken, his body pierced; and would rise from the dead after three days and three nights spent in a rich man’s tomb. All of these prophecies, and many more, were fulfilled. What Old Testament prophets could not predict was the magnitude of impact this Messiah would have on the world. They didn’t know that by his death and resurrection, all people of the earth who believe on him – not just Jews – would receive holy spirit and eternal life. Neither did they know that Christ would preach the law of love, saying “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36-40) Several women in Christ’s life were the first to discover he had been resurrected. For the next 40 days, Jesus appeared and spoke to many people. On his final day on earth, he told his apostles to wait in Jerusalem to receive holy spirit and to “be witnesses to me both in Jerusalem, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Easter is not a story of death but of death conquored. He is risen! ❚ 14
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