Hello everyone! This week is Holy Week (Mandy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter), so I created this board to discuss things like...
1. What do you celebrate most during Easter (I am especially curious about anyone who is not a Christian)?
2. What are some favorite Easter traditions and what are you doing this year?
3. Why do you think Easter is less-celebrated than other holidays, such as Christmas? I read an article that had what I thought was an insightful perspective on this https://www.vox.com/2018/3/29/17168804/why-easter-celebrate-big-secular-holiday-like-christmas-bunny-egg-pagan
I know it's not a typical topic for a creation-evolution forum, but I am looking forward to your responses.
Christ is risen!
Below is the text of the hymn "Awake my Heart with Gladness." If you prefer, you can listen to it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vkwarcV5kI.
Awake, my heart, with gladness, See what today is done; Now, after gloom and sadness, Comes forth the glorious sun. My Savior there was laid Where our bed must be made When to the realms of light Our spirit wings its flight.
The foe in triumph shouted When Christ lay in the tomb; But lo, he now is routed, His boast is turned to gloom. For Christ again is free; In glorious victory He who is strong to save Has triumphed o'er the grave.
This is a sight that gladdens-- What peace it doth impart! Now nothing ever saddens The joy within my heart. No gloom shall ever shake, No foe shall ever take The hope which God's own Son In love for me hath won.
Now hell, its prince, the devil, Of all their pow'r are shorn; Now I am safe from evil, And sin I laugh to scorn. Grim death with all his might Cannot my soul affright; It is a pow'rless form, Howe'er it rave and storm.
The world against me rages, Its fury I disdain; Though bitter war it wages, Its work is all in vain. My heart from care is free, No trouble troubles me. Misfortune now is play, And night is bright as day.
Now I will cling forever To Christ, my Savior true; My Lord will leave me never, Whate'er He passes through. He rends death's iron chain; He breaks through sin and pain; He shatters hell's dark thrall; I follow Him through all.
He brings me to the portal That leads to bliss untold, Whereon this rhyme immortal Is found in script of gold: "Who there My cross has shared Finds here a crown prepared; Who there with Me has died Shall here be glorified."
Source: Lutheran Service Book #467
Hi ekrause1406 thank you for posting this forum as it is important for us all to reflect on the real meaning of Easter at this time. A wonderful man of God named Watchman Nee wrote much about our spiritual walk with our Lord when he lived Shanghai, China in the 1920's. His description of the sacrifice that Jesus our Lord and Saviour gave for us should give us all cause to be truly grateful for the incomprehensible Love that our Lord, Saviour and God has for us all. The following text is Watchman Nee's insight into the reality of that event around two thousand years ago: -
Adam’s sin is construed to be the sin of all men and why the judgement upon Christ is counted as judgement for all. It is simply because at the time Adam sinned, all men were presently in his loins. Likewise, when Christ was judged, all who will be regenerated were present in Christ. His judgement is hence taken as their judgement, and all who have believed in Christ shall no longer be judged.
Since humanity must be judged, the Son of God – even the man Jesus Christ – suffered in his spirit, soul and body on the cross for the sins of the world.
Let us first consider his physical sufferings. Man sins through his body and there enjoys the temporary pleasure of sin. The body must accordingly be the recipient of punishment. Who can fathom the physical sufferings of the Lord Jesus on the cross? Are not Christ’s sufferings in the body clearly foretold in the Messianic writings? “They have pierced my hands and feet”(Psalm 22.16). The prophet Zechariah called attention to “him whom they have pierced” (Zechariah 12.10). His hands, His feet, His brow, His side, His heart were all pierced by men, pierced by sinful humanity and for sinful humanity. Many were His wounds and high ran His fever for, with the weight of His whole body hanging unsupported on the cross, His blood could not circulate freely. He was extremely thirsty and therefore cried out, “My tongue cleaves to my jaws” – “for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink”(Psalm 22.15, 69.21). The hands must be nailed, for they love to sin. The mouth must suffer, for it loves to sin. The feet must be pierced, for they love to sin. The brow must be crowned with a thorny crown, for it too loves to sin. All that the human body needed to suffer was executed upon His body. Thus He suffered physically even to death. It was within His power to escape these sufferings, yet He willingly offered His body to endure immeasurable trials and pains, never for a moment shrinking back until He knew that “all was now finished”(John 19.28). Only then did He dismiss His Spirit.
Not His body only, His soul as well, suffered. The soul is the organ of self-consciousness. Before being crucified, Christ was administered wine mingled with myrrh as a sedative to alleviate pain, but He refused it as He was not willing to lose His consciousness. Human souls have fully enjoyed the pleasure of sins; accordingly in His soul Jesus would endure the pain of sins. He would rather drink the cup given Him by God than the cup, which numbed consciousness.
How shameful is the punishment of the cross! It was used to execute runaway slaves. A slave had neither property nor rights. His body belonged to his master; he could therefore be punished with the most shameful cross. The Lord Jesus took the place of a slave and was crucified. Isaiah called Him “the servant”; Paul said He took the form of a slave. Yes, as a slave He came to rescue us who are subject to the lifelong bondage of sin and Satan. We are slaves to passion, temper, habits and the world. We are sold to sin. Yet He died because of our slavery and bore our entire shame.
The Bible records that the soldiers took the garments of the Lord Jesus (John 19.23). He was nearly naked when crucified. This is one of the shames of the cross. Sin takes our radiant garment away and renders us naked. Our Lord was stripped bare before Pilate and again on Calvary. How would His holy soul react to such abuse? Would it not insult the holiness of His personality and cover Him with shamefulness? Who can enter into His feeling of that tragic moment? Because every man had enjoyed the apparent glory of sin, so the Saviour must endure the real shame of sin. Truly “thou (God) hast covered him with shame . . . with which thy enemies taunt, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of thy anointed”; He nonetheless “endured the cross, despising the shame” (Psalm 89.45,51; Hebrews 12.2).
No one can ever ascertain how fully the soul of the Saviour suffered on the cross. We often contemplate His physical suffering but overlook the feeling of His soul. A week before the Passover He was heard to mention: “Now is my soul troubled”(John 12.27). This points to the cross. While in the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus was again heard to say: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death” (Matthew 26.38). Were it not for these words we would hardly think His soul had suffered. Isaiah 53 mentions thrice how His soul was made an offering for sin, how His soul travailed, and how He poured out His soul to death. (Isaiah 53.10-12). Because Jesus bore the curse and shame of the cross, whoever believes in Him shall no more be cursed and put to shame.
His Spirit too suffered immensely. The spirit is that part of man which equips him to commune with God. The Son of God was holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners. His spirit was united with the Holy Spirit in perfect oneness. Never did there exist a moment of disturbance and doubt, for He always had God’s presence with Him. “It is not I alone,” declared Jesus, “but I and He who sent me . . . And He who sent me is with me”(John 8.16,29). For this reason He could pray, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. I knew that thou hearest me always”(John 11.41-42). Nevertheless, while He hung on the cross – and if there were ever a day when the Son of God desperately needed the presence of God it must be that day – He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27.46) His spirit was split asunder from God. How intensely He felt the loneliness, the desertion, the separation. The Son was still yielding, the Son was still obeying the will of Father-God, yet the Son was forsaken: not for His Own sake, but for the sake of others.
Sin affects most deeply the spirit; consequently, holy as the Son of God was, still He had to be wrenched away from the Father because He bore the sin of others. It is true that in the countless days of eternity past "I and the Father are one”(John 10.30). Even during His days of earthly sojourn this remained true, for His humanity could not be a cause of separation from God. Sin alone could separate; even though that sin be the sin of others. Jesus suffered this spiritual separation for us in order that our spirit could return to God.
THANK YOU JESUS, MY LORD, MY SAVIOUR, MY GOD.