Children's Books for Easter

Sharing a delightful website with you today for those of you who have an influence with children, which is just about everyone! It's the Read Aloud Revival with Sarah Mackenzie. It was introduced to me by a friend who has several children at home of all ages. It's been very helpful as I think about books for my grandchildren.

Sarah is very enthusiastic about reading aloud and has a podcast that will draw you into the adventures and benefits of reading aloud to children. Sometimes she interviews the authors, which is always an interesting discussion.

Sarah's latest podcast is a discussion about books for Easter in which she has recommendations for differing age groups. Our grands will be coming for a visit the week after Easter, so I'm looking for something that will encourage their faith and reinforce God's love for them.

To go to Sarah's website, just click on the book image. I've linked it to her current podcast, but do explore the site while you're there!

Sunday Ponderings ~ Who Is It About, Really?

Pondering a thought this afternoon from our pastor's exposition today of Luke 24:1-12, the account of the resurrection of Christ. His resurrection, of course, is the crucial foundation of Christianity. Everyone dies at some point, but Jesus is the only person who ever walked out of the grave of His own volition. Christianity celebrates that supernatural act on Easter, what we often refer to as Resurrection Day. Resurrection is the key element of our faith.

Pastor brought up the point that there is more focus on Jesus's crucifixion and death than on His resurrection, though. Why is this? We are, indeed, eternally grateful that Jesus gave Himself for our ransom, that He endured that horrific cross and all that went before it so that we could be reconciled back to the God of the universe. But does our gratitude for that act of love focus more on us than on Him — what He did for us rather than who He is?

Jesus was able to walk out of the grave because He is deity. He is divine. He is God's Son. He is our ransom. His resurrection proved that the ransom was paid. He gives us eternal life because He has eternal life Himself. He is our creator. He will be our judge. He is our advocate before the Holy God.

What was it that transformed the disciples who then spread the news of the gospel, news that continues to be spread around the world?  It was the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. 

So, I'm pondering the thought —

Do I love the gift more than the giver? 
Is it more about me, or is it all about Him?

Print ~ The Power of the Resurrection

The Logical Outcome

Some final thoughts today on the final act of Jesus' time here on earth —His ascension. It was, indeed, as J. Oswald Sanders says, the logical outcome. It left His disciples with certainty of where He was going and where He now is. During the 40 days after His resurrection, He would appear out of nowhere and disappear as well, so it was imperative that the disciples see Him ascend into heaven, to verify His claim to deity. "No one has ascended into heaven except he who ascended from heaven, the Son of Man" (John 3:13). This act has forever strengthened the faith of believers down through the ages.

Let me share with you a few observations of significance on Jesus' Ascension made by Sanders in his book, The Incomparable Christ:

• It was of tremendous importance that our Lord's final departure from earth should not be a mere vanishing out of their sight, as He did at Emmaus. This would result in uncertainty as to whether or not He might again appear. 
• Accordingly, the ascension took place, not at night, but in broad daylight. "While they beheld." He rose from their midst, not because He must do so to go to His Father, but in order to make the act symbolic and intelligible to them.
• Significantly, it was not at Bethlehem, or the Transfiguration mount, or even Calvary that the event took place, but at Bethany, the place of His sweetest earthly fellowship.
• This appearance and disappearance of the risen Christ is represented as an episode as real and objective as His other appearances during the forty days. Those appearances were calculated to assure His disciples that He had conquered death and hell and was recognized as God's Messiah. The ascension was intended to convince them that they need not expect Him to appear again. 
• No other mode of departure would have left the impression this did. The period of transition had ended, and they need no longer remain in suspense.
• He left His own in the very act of blessing. For He had come, and blessing He departed, not as condemning judge but as compassionate friend and High Priest, with hands outstretched.

An ascension such as the gospels record was essential for a number of reasons:

• The nature of our Lord's resurrection body necessitated it. Such a body would not be permanently at home on earth. He must depart, but by glorification rather than by moral dissolution.
• The unique personality and holy life of our Lord demanded an exit from this world as remarkable and fitting as His entrance into it. 
• His redemptive work required such a consummation. Without it, it would have remained incomplete for it rests on four pillars —incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. The ascension was a complete and final demonstration that His atonement had forever solved the problem created by man's sin and rebellion. Only thus could He be constituted Head of the church (Eph 1:19-23).
• The gift of the Holy Spirit was dependent on His glorification. "The Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified," was John's comment on the Lord's promise of the Spirit (John 7:39).
• It enabled the disciples to give to the world a satisfactory account of the disappearance of Christ's body from the tomb. 
• To Him the ascension came as the culminating divine assurance that the work He had come to do had been completed to the entire satisfaction of the Father, to whose right hand He had now been exalted. 
• It was a divine vindication of His claims to deity that had been disallowed by the Jews. He had claimed the right to ascend into heaven as His own prerogative. "No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven" (John 3:13).
• It was His divine inauguration into His heavenly priesthood.
• For the believer, our Lord's ascension has blessed implications for us. Though physically remote, He is always spiritually near. Now free from earthly limitations, His life above is both the promise and the guarantee of ours. "Because I live, ye shall live also," He assured His disciples (John 14:19).
• His ascension anticipates our glorification and leaves us the assurance that He has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:2). 
• His resurrection and ascension to heaven involved nothing less than the making of His humanity eternal in transfigured and glorified form, even if in a manner wholly incomprehensible us. It brings Him very near to us as we remember that He carried His humanity back with Him to heaven (Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:14-16). 
• "He led captivity captive (Eph. 4:18). His ascension was His triumphant return to heaven and indicated that the tyrannical reign of sin is ended. 

"The ascension helped to clarify the nature of the Messiahship to the apostles," writes R.H. Laver. "They expected a Davidic king, whereas the crucifixion presented them with a suffering Servant. Then the resurrection proclaimed a king after all. The ascension further clarified the nature of His Kingship. The Kingdom of Christ is indeed not of this world. He will reign, but it shall not be simply from an earthly throne." 

I do hope you'll read The Incomparable Christ, perhaps as we near Christmas or next year when remembrance of His Resurrection is approaching. Nancy Leigh DeMoss will soon be finishing her series on the subject, but you can dive into the archives and listen at Revive Our Hearts online from the beginning as I've done. The book and Nancy Leigh have greatly impacted my thoughts toward my Savior.

I do hope the thoughts I've shared over the past week or so have been an encouragement to your own heart. 

Photo ~ Inspirational Clouds, Bruce Clarke

Pondering Those Next 40 Days

"Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away" (John 20:15). 

As we were walking in the cemetery today, an elderly gentleman stopped to chat with my friend and me and made a comment about how people tend to think about Christianity when it's Easter. (And what is Easter about anyway?!) My friend and I had indeed been talking about the resurrection, and it apparently had been on this man's mind as well, or perhaps he had just heard a bit of our conversation.

There's a tendency to move far too quickly away from Resurrection thoughts, though, once the day comes and goes.  We don't hear much about the 40 days Jesus remained on the earth after His resurrection and before His ascension back to the Father. Knowing that God always has a purpose or significance for all He does, I'm pondering those 40 days. The exuberant joy Jesus' followers must have felt when they realized Jesus had risen just as He said must have been joy unspeakable.

"... Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time" (1 Corinthians 15:4-6). 

For certain, one of the purposes for remaining those days was to present Himself as irrefutable proof of His resurrection, that death was not the victor. Jesus' resurrection from the dead is what makes Christianity different from all other faiths. His followers saw and touched His body.

"To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God" (Acts 1:3).

Being with Jesus these 40 days thrust the disciples into evangelical mode, spreading the gospel throughout the world.

Painting ~ Tuscan Walkway, Haibin

Restorer of Men's Faith and Hope

How silently the Easter dawn unfurls

Upon the earth—soundless

As His hand, omnipotent, rolling

Away the stone before the tomb.

See Christ step forth, embodiment

Of all that cannot be destroyed,

The Lord of Life, Light, Truth and Love

Restorer of men's faith and hope.

Now is Christ risen from the dead!

Rejoice! Let those who worship at an empty tomb

Bestir themselves;

Today He lives—He lives!

~ Mildred N. Hoyer

...

The Watershed of the Eternities

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.  ~Luke 23:46

From The Incomparable Christ by J. Oswald Sanders— 

With awe and reverence we now approach the watershed of the eternities. “When Jesus had cried a with a loud voice, He said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” (Luke 23:46). The body that had housed the Christ was about to be laid in Joseph’s tomb, but before He took leave of the earth, Jesus uttered His last word from the throne of His cross, and not in subdued tones, but with a loud, triumphant voice.

The bitterest ingredient in the cup of His suffering had been the midnight gloom that enveloped o only His body but also His soul, when His Father made the iniquity of us all to meet on Him (Isaiah 53:6). Three hours of torture at the hands of His creatures were succeeded by the infinitely darker three hours into which an eternity of suffering was compressed.

He does not now cry, "My God, my God!" but, Father." The communion He had enjoyed from eternity is restored, never again to be interrupted. Small wonder that He cried with a loud and triumphant voice. 

Transcendent joy must have flooded Him as His spirit rose from the miasmas of earth's sin to the warmth and crystal purity of the celestial air. His was no reluctant farewell to the scene of His suffering and humiliation.

Photo Richard Thripp

Good Friday.......or Good Earth Day?

Redeemed Through His Infinite Mercy!

I find it noteworthy that Earth Day falls on Good Friday this year. While some of us are worshiping the God of creation, some are worshiping the earth that He created. It's all part of Lucifer's seductive scheme in the cosmic spiritual battle. 

All of us worship something or someone. The Enemy knows that we do. Down through the ages he has enticed us with substitutes for worship of the true and living God. This appeals to mankind, for to worship Jehovah God is to recognize our responsibility to Him, and, indeed, our need for Him. To accept a worship substitute is to acquiesce to the strategy of the Serpent. 

Satan does not care who or what we worship, as long as it isn't Jehovah God. The Good Earth will do just fine. So he takes what is good--God-given stewardship of His own created earth--so that somehow, the earth becomes mother to many who are convinced they evolved from her, have a responsibility to her, and need her for survival. This is substitution worship at its apex. 

Yet Jehovah God continues to call us to Himself. Today is Good Friday, the day of reflecting on our Savior's Redemptive work.

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die......"  ~John 12:32-22

He draws, yet so many are blind and deaf or willfully refuse.

But for those who desire reconciliation with Jehovah God.......

God of earth, God of sky: Lord, on Thee all things rely.
God of time, God of space: Father Thou of Adam's race;
Torn from Thee by Adam's fall, Lord, to Thee we raise the call:
God of time, God of space, Meet with us, in this place.

Spotless Lamb come for me, Reconcile my debt to Thee.
Sinful men, helpless, lost, With Thy life's blood paid the cost;
Take away our bent to sin: Wash our hearts and cleanse within.
Lamb of God slain for me, Lamb of Life, hear my plea.

Bread of Life, Daily Bread, By Thy grace our souls are fed.
Broken once all to feed, Give us strength for every need.
Blest communion through the Son, All our hearts are knit as one;
Bread of Life, Daily Bread, To Thy feast we are led.

King of kings, Lord of lords--Heaven's anthems shout the chords.
Holy God, Angel Bright; Conqueror of the Hosts of Night.
Allelulia! Praise the Lamb! God of Ages, Great "I AM!"
Master, Lord, claim Thine own; Take my heart as Thy throne.

God of Earth, God of Sky ~ Philip A. Gingery

Ah, yes. The throne. In that is the crux of the matter.


You might also be interested in reading Doug Phillips' Blog on "A Christian Response to Earth Day." To many, it's about much more than good stewardship. Just click on the image below.

Give Me Jesus

The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world...........

The Way to God Was Opened ~ Tetelestai!

From The Incomparable Christ by J. Oswald Sanders--

The three English words, it is finished, are the equivalent of a single Greek word, tetelestai. With ample justification this has been called the greatest single word ever uttered.

It was a farmer's word. When there was born into his herd an animal so shapely that it seemed destitute of defects, the farmer, gazing on the creature with delighted eyes exclaimed, Tetelestai!"

It was an artist's word. When the painter had put the finishing touches to the vivid landscape, he would stand back and admire his masterpiece. Seeing that nothing called for correction or improvement he would murmur, "Tetelestai."

It was a priestly word. When some devout worshiper overflowing with gratitude for mercies received brought to the Temple a lamb without blemish, the pride of the flock, the priest, more accustomed to seeing blind and defective animals led to the altar, would look admiringly at the pretty creature and say, "Tetelestai!"

And when in the fullness of time the Lamb of God offered Himself on the altar of the cross, a perfect, flawless sacrifice, He cried with a loud voice, "Teletesai!" and yielded up His spirit.

God had entrusted to His Son the most stupendous task of the ages--the redemption of a world of lost and enslaved men. What irrepressible joy must have surged through Him as He cried in triumph, "It is finished!" Every obstacle standing between man's fellowship with God was removed, every demand of His law satisfied. There was nothing to add--the redemption He had secured was perfect and complete. Henceforth the way to God was open to all men. Henceforth they would know Him as a God of love.

The joy set before Him (Heb. 12:2) was already in sight, and now He could gladly summon His servant, death, and dismiss His spirit.

Tetelestai!

Rendezvous ~ You, too?

Three men shared death upon a hill

But only one man died;

A thief and God Himself--

Made rendezvous.

~ Miriam Lefevre Crouse

in The Incomparabe Christ by J. Oswald Sanders

One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying,

"Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!"

But the other answered, and rebuking him said,

"Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

And we indeed are suffering justly, 

for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds;

but this man has done nothing wrong."

And he was saying, "Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!"

And He said to him,

"Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."

Luke 23:39-43

Why? The Agony of Silence

Ever felt forsaken? No doubt we all have at some time. Maybe many times. Maybe? Probably. Forsaken by friends, maybe by family. Maybe by God.

"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" Jesus' words. On our lips? In our heart?

Jesus had been forsaken by humanity. But never by God. Nor have we. He is always there as our refuge, our help in time of need.

Jesus had never asked why before. He never did again. Yet this one time....

Why? "There is no experience of life through which men pass," wrote G. Campbell Morgan, "so terrible as that of silence and mystery, the hours of isolation and sorrow when there is no voice, no vision, no sympathy, no promise, no hope, no explanation; the hours in which the soul asks, why? There is no agony for the human soul like that of silence... "

But we can find in part the answer to His question in the very psalm from which He quoted (22:1, 3). The question of verse 1 is answered in verse 3: "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." He was forsaken that we might learn from the anguish of His experience the greatness of our sin that made it necessary, and that we might know how entirely He took it and bore it away. During the hours of darkness He "who knew no sin" was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). That was the cause of His Father's averted face. It was not that God was ever hostile to His well-beloved Son--it was holiness turning away from sin.    

~ J. Oswald Sanders, The Incomparable Christ

Sunday Ponderings ~ Ever Interceding

This week my thoughts and meditations are on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's Son and the Savior of all who believe in Him for salvation, redeeming us back to the Living God. 

Today is referred to as Palm Sunday, a remembrance of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The same crowd that welcomed Him would be those that cry for His crucifixion in just one week's span. He knew that, yet He rode silently on. Just as silently as He would carry His cross to Golgotha's hill. 

Silence until...."Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." It's significant to note that while He was on the cross, He continued to pray for those who crucified Him, those who had deep, spiritual, eternal needs. It was such communion with the Father that had made lasting impression on His disciples earlier as they had been in fellowship with Him. Remember that they had asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray."

Christ is ever interceding for those who know not what they do. That's most of us. Eternally grateful for His intercession on our behalf. 

Suspended on the cross! On His pale brow

Hang the cold drops of death; through every limb

The piercing torture rages; every nerve,

Stretched with excess of pain, trembles convulsed.

Now look beneath and view the senseless crowd;

How they deride His sufferings, how they shake

Their heads contemptuous, while the bitter taunt,

More bitter than the gall they gave, insults

The agony of Him on whom they gaze.

But hark! He speaks, and the still hovering breath

Wafts His last breath to all approving heaven:

"Forgive them, for they know not what they do!"

~ C.P Layard