The God of Easter

Revelation 20:4-6

I was a very small child when I was told about Easter; mother would go to the store and buy a dozen eggs and a kit that had dye and little paper images that you put on the eggs.  I remember that the images would be very light on the egg until you put the egg into the dye and then it would standout because all the surface of the egg was colored but the image.  It was a mysterious trick, it was magic to my young mind, but mother would explain that where the image was placed the dye would not cover.

Mother also made sure that we understood that Easter was not about eggs and bunnies but about God’s love and His only Son being willing to step out of glory, out of being worshiped, to take on flesh and become one of us.  That he came not as a king, though he was Creator God, and in coming He knew that His Father’s requirement was the shedding of His blood, for the forgiveness of sin.  Hebrews 9:22 states; “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin.”

Mother would explain that Jesus met all the requirements of God; that Jesus was our Lamb without blemish before God, and that by faith we could enter into a relationship with Him, and that life is eternal.   In fact Jesus would become our life that is called the exchange life the apostle Paul give a great account of that in Romans Chapter 6.  His life and His blood can be compared to the image on those eggs we dipped into the dye, where the image was place on the egg, the dye was not allowed to color.  Very much the same has happen in the life of anyone who has enter into Jesus Christ, by His blood, that was shade on the cross.  When the Father sees Jesus life living in you, His life blocks out the coloring of sin, and the Father sees you without blemish, clean, and purify before Him.  Hebrews 1:3, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.”

Mother also told me about the resurrection of the dead, and that was to a young child just as mysterious as the image on the egg. She told me that Easter was not about Jesus dying for mankind but about His resurrection to life over death.  Now I understand and believe that we were crucified with Christ and that the life we now live is Christ living life in our earth suite, and that is why it was so important to place all our faith in Jesus Christ; the risen God.  In Revelation 20:4-6 we have this account of the first resurrection; “Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.  Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.  They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.  The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.  This is the first resurrection.  Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!  Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.”

The first to be resurrected are the ones who have gone through the seven years of the “great tribulation” and were faithful to Christ, they did not take the mark of the beast, they were killed and many were beheaded for the faithful testimony of Jesus the Christ.  Many believe the “Church,” will be taken out by Christ before the seven years of the “great tribulation” takes place, and that the “Church,” the “Bride of Christ” will reign with Him for the thousand years.  I pray that is true, but this I know, it is of the utmost importance to be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, so that by faith through God’s grace you enter into a relationship with the God of Easter. The Lamb!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice