NEW LIFE BEGINS TO APPEAR AT EASTER TIME – News From The Hills

The voice of spring is awakening the land after the long, cold sleep of winter. She whispered first to the songbirds, and they gathered their flocks together to return to our hills. Each morning, they greet the breaking of the day with their joyous and melodic songs of praise.

She tenderly touches the tips of the tree branches, which hung dead and barren all through the winter, and the buds begin to swell and turn green.

The violets heard her soft voice and begin stirring underground to thrust their tiny blue flags upward as a banner of victory over winter’s death grip on the land.

She caressed the fields and meadows with light fingers, and tender green grass sprung up at her touch. Yellow dandelions, like miniature balls of sun, heard spring’s call and emerged through the green grass to shine with their own special glow.

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At her bidding, the forsythia blooms in a shower of gold, and the peach blossoms burst into a cloud of pink blossoms. Tiny woodland flowers come up through the once dead and dormant earth, and early mushrooms begin to appear in woodsy places.

Spring turns the sun’s heat up a few more degrees, and new life begins to appear where snow and ice so recently reigned. The miracle of life, springing out of the dead ashes of winter, occurs once more.

Solomon described the coming of spring in this manner, “For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle (dove) is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with tender grapes give a good smell.” (Song of Solomon, 2:11-13)

Spring was the perfect time for the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When Jesus made his advent, the world lay in a state of spiritual darkness and was held in the cold and deadly grip of sin. Hope was as dead as winter in its most dormant state, and mankind as a whole was steeped in superstition, idolatry, and paganism. For over 400 years, the prophets of God were silent. The world lay in utter darkness.

Then in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son to be the Redeemer of mankind and the mediator between God and man. His coming was predicted from the foundation of the world.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John1-1). What hope He brought to a hopeless world!

His ministry on earth was short, about three years, yet no man in the annals of time has made such a difference in the lives of people. He came to do his Father’s will, and when that was accomplished, He tried to prepare his followers for his coming death on the cross. He was the Lamb without spot or blemish, and bore our sins in his own body that we might be redeemed.

His disciples and followers could not understand, and they saw their beloved Master taken by cruel hands and put to death on Calvary. It must have been the darkest day of their lives. His disciples had forsaken all they had and followed him. Hope was as dead as the bleakest day in winter, when it seems that spring will never come.

After they witnessed his body taken down and placed in the tomb, they were grief-stricken and despondent. Heavy of heart, they scattered. Only the women, who had followed and ministered unto him, were burdened to do the last task they could do for him. They desired to anoint his body with sweet spices.

Early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they arose while it was yet dark. I can feel them shiver in the early morning chill, bearing their spices and ointments, and wondering how they would roll the stone away from the door of the sepulcher.

The reached the sepulcher at the rising of the sun and found that the great stone was rolled away. Hope revived in their hearts when the angel told them, “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but He is risen!” Their long winter of bleakness and despair was over, and hope, like the springtime, had returned to their hearts.

My heart was once as cold and dead as winter, but when Jesus forgave my sins and spoke peace to my troubled soul, new life burst forth like the buds in spring. The way of salvation is a happy and joyful way, and I rejoice in the fact that He lives!

He is coming again. 1 Timothy 3:16 tells us, ”God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

Just as He was taken up into heaven, in like manner, He will return again. I have made preparations to be ready to meet Him. Will you be ready?