The Hope and Glory of Easter
11/04/2020 23:55
Recently, when my last bottle of dishwashing liquid had reached its end stages, I prised open its lid and peered inside. There was a decent quantity of thick green liquid still in there after all. It was a shame to throw the bottle away but the liquid wouldn’t flow out of it. And then … like a dainty bird that landed on my window sill, a wee idea popped into my little head. I opened a tap, filled the empty-is bottle with water and swirled it around.
Surprise! Surprise! My new-fangled watery dishwashing liquid was much easier to use than the original un-adulterated version. The instant I turned my bottle upside down, liquid spurted out of it like a hose being squirted at full throttle. It made my washing up super easy.
There are times the smooth flow of life comes to an abrupt end and it’s easy to feel we’ve lost the plot. Like … this moment, for instance? Life as we knew before COVID-19 has been thrown out of the window. A strange apocalyptic world is our new normal. How do we navigate ourselves in this bizarre new territory?
Is God on holiday?
Has the Easter message been emptied of its power?
Why does God not step in?
Is it time to discard our faith, like I was ready to toss out my empty bottle?
No! No! No!
And NO! Like the brilliance of a star in a cold dark night, the hope of Jesus shines brighter than ever! Lately, my bottle of hope had been emptied. But as I re-fill it now with the refreshing waters of God’s Word, there gushes forth the glory of an Easter miracle. Early on Easter Morning, Jesus’ disciples went to His tomb in deep grief. Their Lord and Master had been crucified. All hope was gone—like our world today, where a tiny virus has caused chaos, death and destruction!
But then ... it happened.
The Unexpected.
The Unprecedented.
But ... unprecedented not as in COVID-19 but unprecedented as in miraculous!
Death had stared those disciples in the face and they’d been heartbroken.
But not anymore!
Jesus burst the gates of hell. He was alive!
He IS alive.
Death and sin have now been defeated for all time.
So here’s the best news ever:
COVID-19 brings … The Good News of Easter brings …
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Death Life
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Isolation Reconciliation
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Loss of Hope Sure Hope of Eternal Life
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Fear Perfect Love that never ends
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Sadness Joy
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Temporary Tragedy Everlasting Victory
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Financial Ruin Eternal Riches
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Broken, shattered lives Peace with God and peace with each other
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A Changed Life A New Life—the best is yet to be!
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Meaningless suffering Beauty. Truth. LIFE Eternal
Perhaps today is the day to move into the reality of God and His Truth,
as you consider His offer of Eternal Life.
Perhaps today is the day when He will surprise you with the joy and
hope of the Easter story?
Perhaps today is the day you have been waiting for all your life?
And for us who believe in Christ, COVID-19 is not the end of our story. We have a God who weeps with us. We have a God who has promised to work all things together for the good as we trust in Him and look to Him. We have a God who is never surprised by the worst of circumstances because He is bigger than the Universe and holds everything together by the power of His Mighty Hand.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,
since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18
So you and I can rejoice through our tears! The cross has not been emptied of its power and never will. Death has been transformed into Life. Sadness has been over-turned to joy. Earth's misery will only point us to the glory of God our Father and the joy-filled Eternity that awaits us.
Thomas said to him “My Lord and my God!”
Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed;
blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not
recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the
Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
John 20:29-31