We have made it to the final post of my Lessons from the Holy Land series. There is so much more to say, but it seems that, at least for now, we will end here. Although this is the end of my series of lessons, praise God it really is just the beginning!
The lifeless, human body of Jesus was laid in that borrowed tomb. The deed was done. Death had come. And that was the end of that, right? I mean death is death. So when Jesus cried out from the cross, “It is finished”, it really was over. Well, Yes. Now stay with me here. I have not brought you this far to share something ridiculous. Just think with me for a minute and then do your own research. The plan of salvation was complete. The sins of the world had been atoned by Jesus Christ, the spotless lamb. The curtain to the Holy of Holies was torn. The earth shook and trembled. Jesus died. The victory was won once and for all. Access to the Creator of the Universe, God, the great I Am was opened through Jesus Christ. It was finished. And yet, there is so much more! Praise God there is so much more.
God desires to have a relationship with us. Genesis 3 speaks of God walking in the garden and Adam and Eve hiding from Him because they disobeyed. So it seems that He may have walked in the garden with them before. They sinned and were basically kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Their sin created a separation from God that could have lasted for eternity.
Isaiah 59:2 “But your iniquities have separated you from your God.”
But then….Jesus
John 15:13-17 “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.” NKJV
I love my friends. I want to be with them and get to know them. I want to serve them and support them. Friends are valuable and needed. I rely on my friends and I enjoy them. I love to spend time with them! Friends “do” life together.
Rom 8:35-39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” NKJV
That separation that came when Adam and Eve allowed sin into the world and made that really, really bad choice was bridged when Jesus died and the curtain was torn. You can read about it in Matthew 27:51.
John 1:12-13 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” NIV
Friends and adopted children…both chosen, both loved, both valued. This is how God describes us in scripture.
So now we come to the most amazing part of the story. Salvation had been gained; the victory against sin had been won.
But, God…….
Oh sweet friends I hope and pray that you will hear me now.
It says it in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Our penalty for sin was death. No alternative programs or special steps to make amends. Just death. But through Jesus Christ, death was defeated.
God loved us to much that He wanted to spend eternity with us. Not only was sin defeated, but the wages of sin were paid. The lifeless body of Jesus began to breathe again. The very breath of God that began all humanity filled the human lungs of my Savior and He came back to life! I believe it with all my heart. I have felt His presence in my life. I have drawn in the very breath of the Holy Spirit when I felt that there was no physical way to live through the heartache or the fear. My Savior lives!
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, live a victorious life! The Great I Am is real! Jesus Christ is alive! The Holy Spirit is present! Live like it! Let the sunrise of the risen Savior shine through you to a lost world!
Hallelujah He lives, He lives, He lives!
For those of you who are still on the search my prayer is that you have heard the message today and will receive Him! Don’t wait. He loves you. He died for you. He rose again – for you!