I Hear the Savior Say...

For nothing good have I

Whereby Thy grace to claim

I'll wash my garments white

In the blood of Calvary's Lamb

Jesus paid it all!

All to Him I owe

My sin, had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow!

O praise the One who paid my debt

And raised this life up from the dead!

Jesus Paid it All

****

Words written in red. Signifying importance, the color of His blood, the words of Jesus.
"It is finished."
These were the last words Jesus' few but faithful disciples at Calvary, at the foot of His cross, were to hear from their Rabbi.
Many had fled in fear of facing the same death for being associated with Him.
Few stayed...John-the disciple that Jesus loved-stayed, and at Jesus' word, became Mary's son. Mary, the mother of Jesus, stayed at the foot of the cross. Knowing well before His birth, what He would have to suffer. But could she truly comprehend the total agony she would have to watch her son face hanging on the cross, knowing He was fully God at the same time?!
One denied Jesus three times, when only twenty-four hours earlier, he swore he would never do such a thing.

  "It is finished."
The fulfillment of every prophecy of old. The completion of the rescuing of mankind.

Luke 4:18-21:"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." 

These were Jesus' words in the synagogue, directly quoting a prophecy of Isaiah.
John 19:16-30
So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”


Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

“Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”
This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said,
“They divided my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.”
So this is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.


   Living He loved, dying He saved, buried He carried sin as far away as the east is from the west.
The three nails, one in each hand, the last pierced through His feet, were like heavy stakes, more than tiny nails today.
    He took them for me.
For me? How can this be?
Once we were separated from God, an inconquerable barrier of sin. Sacrifices were made in former days, to atone for sins. Offerings of fire, smoke and spices rose for Yahweh to praise, and ask for forgiveness and from Him.
Then Jesus came; completely blameless...fully God, fully man. God's only Son.
Sent to earth to not just teach man about the Lord, to prophecy about times to come.
     But to die.
To die for what? Why?
    
Not only to die, but to rebuild the temple in three days. To conquer sin and death. To vanquish it for all eternity. When religious leaders tested Jesus when He had been teaching in the synagogue one day, Jesus told them He would tear down the temple and rebuild it again in a mere three days. It had taken over forty years to build this temple, and religious leaders scoffed at Jesus' words. These religious leaders did not remember the prophecies of old where Isaiah proclaimed that the Messiah would speak in parables.


Jesus did not speak in literal terms when He spoke about the temple. He spoke about His body being broken for the sins of all mankind; the act of an ultimate sacrifice to take away God's wrath and bridge the great divide between God and man.
The blood that would not stain but wash clean, white, our sins in God's sight.
This was one of His many prophecies that He would be killed, and then rise again.
     He would walk on the earth after three days, the spotless Lamb of God, fully God and fully man; bearing the scars that took away our, MY, sins!His is the ultimate sacrifice. He was the perfect, blameless Lamb of God, sacrificed for the forgiveness of all of mankind's sins.
Fully God, fully man.
   How can this be?


He is the Great High Priest, whose name is Love. Just as He prophesied, He is now sitting at the right hand of God, making intercession for us by showing His Father the nail wounds in His hands. The holes in his feet, His pierced side.

Everyday, we should be aware and thankful of just how great Jesus' sacrifice was to reconcile us with the Father. Not just today, Ressurection Sunday, but everyday, we should allow the radical freedom His death and ressurection brings to change our outlook, actions, thoughts and words, our very lives, from our selfish ambitions to doing God's work.
Not because we need to earn God's love, favor and grace, but out of gratitude for what Jesus did for us, widely celebrated in varying ways on this day.


Christ the Lord has risen today, alleluia! the old hymn goes.....if I might close with words not my own, but words from a new 'hymn' we sang today to celebrate this blessed Ressurection Sunday.

In Christ alone, who took on flesh

Fullness of God in helpless Babe

This gift of love and righteousness

Scorned by the ones He came to save

Til on that cross as Jesus died

The wrath of God was satisfied

For every sin on Him was laid

Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay

Light of the world by darkness slain

Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory

Sin?s curse has lost its grip on me

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death

This is the power of Christ in me

From a life's first cry to final breath

Jesus commands my destiny

This Our Hymn of Grateful Praise

For the beauty of the earth,



For the glory of the skies



For the love which from our birth,
Over and around us lies

Lord of all to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise

For the wonder of each hour,

Of the day and of the night

Hill and vale
And tree and flower

Sun and moon and stars of light

Lord of all to Thee we raise
This our hymn of grateful praise

For the joy of human love,

Brother, sister
Parent, child

Friends on earth and friends above,

For all gentle thoughts and mild
Lord of all to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

I'm grateful for all these little things on the beautiful spring day we had yesterday. The littles creativity and curiosity, the beauty of Creation, and a fresh breeze blowing through our home.

"For the Beauty of the Earth," by Folliot S. Pierpoint and Conrad Kocher

Rain is a Good Thing

Here in S.W. Pennsylvania, winter seems to have finally come to an end. And today especially, spring seemed to be right around the corner. The high was in the 60's, and a refreshing breeze blew through our home, whisking away the last of the dreary, long winter that was filled with more than one familial bout of some illness!

     Alas, spring is not quite here yet. Tomorrow's forecast is back down in the 30's, with possible snow showers! For today, the Lord gave us a literal breath of fresh air, a physical reminder of His promise that winter is not forever.

"For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth."

Song of Solomon 2:11&12

The rain is not over and gone quite yet, though. Clouds quickly overtook the sky today as the temperature grew cool through out the day, but the windows stayed open. Dark clouds rolled in, promising rain. But for most of the afternoon, the breeze stayed and the rain hesitated.

   When the rain did come, it came in torrents. At the risk of sounding cliche, these April showers bring May flowers. The snow of the winter mostly past has soaked into the soil, enriching its barren state and crocuses, daffodils and tulips begin to bud. Their bulbs, lying stagnant through summer, fall and winter, have re-awakened, because of the snow and rain. The winter season is almost past, but there are still hard days ahead, for all of us, when it seems to be always raining. Even if outside is sunny and cloudless.

"Where are Your blessings?!"

    "Why aren't You providing?"

         "Where is Your direction, O Lord?"

***

Through countless trials, snares, imprisonments, physical hardships, captivity, isolation, Paul learned to be content. Not only that, but to give thanks(?!) in all circumstances. It was an ongoing learning process, I believe...one of many that made him learn to continually have a God-focused gaze in spite of the circumstances threatening to choke out his life.

   It was a refining process; the Lord stripped away pretty much everything pleasant or easy in Paul's life from the day on that road to Damascus. The Lord stripped away everything, until Paul had nothing but the Gospel of Christ, the testimony of what God had done, and his faith.

    Faith that was yet imperfect, faltering at times, like we all do.

Most of all, Paul came to realize quickly, that even when torrential downpours of trials and suffering threatened to drown him, everything was loss compared to knowing Christ Jesus, the Lord.

   He realized that everything in this life was temporary, yes-even suffering. He cried out to God from prison cells! He didn't attempt to understand the why's of all he had gone through!

Paul came to know that even if he couldn't see God working, God was still right beside him.

***

I am thankful....

That there has been a multitude of rain today...

For a rare embrace from my 9 year old brother...

For the Lord's protection as I drove through the rain...

And for a row of daffodil and tulip leaves budding through the sodden soil.