Inspiration & Worship

from Smart Living Elite - April 2022

Memorably Monstrous Golf Holes

Inspiration & Worship He is Risen!

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was executed by civic and religious leaders in Jerusalem in about 33 A.D. This event opened an era of human history in which eternal life is offered to anyone who believes in Christ Jesus, the Messiah.

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” - Galatians 3:28 (NIV)

Easter marks the fulfillment of many Old Testament prophecies, including those by Isaiah, 1,000 years before Christ’s birth. Isaiah said a savior would be born in Bethlehem to a descendant of King David. He would be exalted, beaten and rejected; would be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver; would be silent before his accusers and would die with no bones broken. He would rise from the dead, in a rich man’s tomb, after three days and nights. All of these prophecies, and many more, came to pass.

What the prophets did not know was that Christ’s grace would extend to all people of the earth who believe, not just to Israel. Why didn’t they know it?

Because God didn’t wish to reveal His plan and give Satan/men a chance to foil it.

“None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory,” Paul explains in I Corinthians 2:8 (NIV).

Jesus fulfilled Mosaic law and replaced it with a far more powerful law of love and grace. Asked to name the greatest commandments, he said:

“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.” (Matt. 22:36-40 NIV)

It’s no coincidence that the resurrection of Jesus occurred during the Passover season, as Jews celebrated their ancestors’ miraculous escape from Egyptian slavery. The 10th plague was death to a first-born child in each household. Israelites who marked their doorposts with the blood of a spring lamb were “passed over” by death. Jesus is the innocent “lamb of God” who spares us from eternal death. ❚