“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the friend comes, the spirit of Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself but will make sense out of what is about to happen and indeed out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine.
That is why I’ve said, ‘He takes from me and delivers to you.’ In a day or so you’re not going to see me, but then in another day or so, you will see me.”
~ John 16: 12-16 ~
Before the beginning, God knew.
Before the end, God knows.
From the beginning, in the days gone by, today, tomorrow, and the days yet to come, He holds it all. All of creation is held together by our creator, sustainer, our healer, protector, and keeper. There is a pivotal moment in the scripture that describes Immanuel’s death...
“But Jesus, again crying out loudly, breathed his last. At that moment, the Temple curtain was ripped in two, top to bottom. There was an earthquake, and the rocks were split into pieces. What’s more, tombs were opened upon and many bodies of believers asleep in their graves were raised.
(After Jesus’ resurrection, they left the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.)
The captain of the guard and those with him, when they saw the earthquake and everything else that was happening, were scared to death. They said, ‘This has to be the Son of God.’”
~ Matthew 27: 50-54 ~
The darkest day in history, the end and the beginning, one pivotal moment that completely ratified all of history. Every soul that had passed and soul yet to come, it was at this moment, the separation between God and man was abolished. The reality of his omnipresence made visibly tangible. The condemnation and shame stemming from sin are no more. Only through His ultimate sacrifice are we as fallen men restored.
Easter is not simply a celebration of what Jesus did for us. It is a day that reminds us who we worship, who we live for, who has saved us. For we live for him, through him and to Him and him alone. He is our audience, our director of one.
Without him, we are nothing.
Without his perfect sacrifice, we are hopeless.
Without his resurrection power, we are dead.
This easter, may you come and behold Him. He is the reason we sing. He is the reason we worship. It’s for Him we go through daily struggles and chose to say he has won. No matter our temporary reality, in our secure eternity, there is freedom.
“This is what I want you to do: Ask the Father for whatever is in keeping with the things I’ve revealed to you. Ask in my name, according to my will, and he’ll most certainly give it to you. Your joy will be a river overflowing its banks! I’ve used figures of speech in telling you these things. Soon I’ll drop the figures and tell you about the Father in plain language.
Then you can make your requests directly to him in relation to this life I’ve revealed to you. I won’t continue making requests of the father on your behalf. I won’t need to. Because you’ve gone out on a limb, committed yourselves to love and trust in me, believing I came directly from the Father, the Father loves you directly. First I left the father and arrived in the world; now I leave the world and travel to the Father.”
~ John 16: 23-28 ~
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