April is Resurrection month. We remember that someone very dear to us, someone so full of love and kindness, healing and deliverance, breaks free of the dark finality of death, and blesses us with the certain hope of ever-lasting life where we will dwell with Him forever in heaven, gazing alongside myriads of choiring angels on the beauty and the splendors of God.
Heaven is the promise that shakes the earth and brings to nothing the burden of sin and guilt, the fear of death and the achievements of the devil. No matter the hardships that injure our souls in this earthly Good Friday world, Christians are confident that all shall be well in the Promised Land of our salvation, made vividly known to us at Christ’s resurrection. The first Easter Sunday teaches us to believe firmly in heaven. There is no sadness there- no infirmary, no grieving, no tears, no frailty, no guilt or remorse, no unpleasant memories, no tremors of past trauma, no meanness, no unhealthy vices or appetites- just perfect joy, total restoration of our bodies and souls, indescribable peace and the light of God bestowing a fullness of life on His new creation (that’s you and me).
I am in earnest to celebrate with you our Lord’s victory over death. It is so very wonderful and rich to be a Christian and to have Jesus, who makes Himself our own that we might be saved by Him. I think by now, most of you know my very favorite Scripture verse: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich (II Corinthians 8:9).
The Lord Jesus be with you.
Pastor Andrew