EASTER SIGHTS/SOUNDS

Easter 2011 was a good thing from above.

 

Brad's family from NYC came for seven nights and the week was chocked full of grandbabies and thunderstorms, Branson and chocolate and giggling and hair bows...and a fourth birthday party.

Blue sky for four hours in Branson!  

Nate loved playing with his three girl cousins, Mike and Brad had some good time together, Laura got her AQ Chicken fix, and Mimi read lots of stories.

 

We loved getting to know our new lil Lily!  She's a wonderful third child...easy-going and expressive. Lily just mostly watched all week.

Hanna and Caroline are on the couch, watching a Sleeping Beauty DVD birthday present.

Even the daily downpour didn't seem to matter so much.

Of course, now Hanna and Caroline associate Arkansas with loud thunder and lightning and rain.

And so do we.

Doubletree Drive went under water for the first time ever.

You can't see our house, but it is behind, at the top of the hill.

We have yet to hear the official rain totals, but we know just in the last week we got 12-15 inches.

This is what we call "the bottoms" down the hill from the house.


Our neighbor Phoebe said we added $100k to the home value because it is waterfront property.


The weather WAS a big story this week, but also we heard that in an alternate reality, Lady Gaga released a new tune @Easter, praising Judas.  The song was predictably provocative.  Gaga joins a list of those through the ages who would presume on Jesus' vulnerability.  I am awestruck to consider that the Rescuer would volunteer for His assignment considering the hostility...or worse, the apathy...that was His.  THAT is the passion of the Christ.

I wonder if Lady Gaga is one of the ones Jesus talked about from the cross.  Remember when He asked His Father to "forgive them because they know not what they do"?  Gaga is a moxie New Yorker who picked the time of the song's release specifically for maximum impact.  Can she plead ignorance of what she was doing?

No more than I.  Lady Gaga will stand to give her own account, but what I know is that when I sin, it is not out of ignorance.  I know I'm sinning; I do wrong because I want to.  I don't need a primer on WHAT sin is, I need to know how to get out from under it and keep from doing it again.  When Jesus made that statement on the cross, He meant that those around the cross had no clue that His crucifixion was their way out of sin and the Father's good plan.  The Romans didn't kill Jesus.  Nor did the Jews.  The things that I did against a holy God required Jesus' death.

And at His death, the Bible says several things happened...

DARKNESS
When the Light of the world breathed His last, God turned out the great light.  From noon (when the sun should have been highest in the sky) until three in the afternoon, it was dark.  God punctuated His Son's death with a global notification.  He gave us the darkness we asked for when we rejected the Light.

EARTHQUAKES
The Japanese might attest to how unsettling earthquakes can be.  But the Jerusalem earthquake was even more unsettling because that quake rattled the tombs open.  Then the Bible says the dead were brought to life and walked around and were recognized by many people.  Whoa!  Three days later, perhaps it was an aftershock that rolled the stone away from Jesus' tomb.  God had no problem moving the stone because we needed to see inside.


TORN CURTAIN
In the picture of the temple you can see three distinct areas.

The large area in front of the temple was the public area where a pilgrim would come bring their sacrifice for purification.

Moving to the back, the next section was for the priests to go about their daily maintenance and sacrifices.

Then the tallest area in back was the place called the Holy of Holies, home to the presence of God.  It was separated from the rest of the temple space behind a thick interwoven drapery, three stories tall. When Jesus died, the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom.

The torn curtain revealed what was inside the Holy of Holies...the Ark of the Covenant covered in pure gold.




The ark was said to contain the tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron's rod, and a container of manna.

On top of the ark was the mercy seat, guarded by cherubim.  


When the high priest brought in the sacrifice, the blood was sprinkled onto the mercy seat.  


God meets man on the basis of the blood sacrifice which covers sin.

The people and even the priests are separated from God because of their sin and His holiness.

Only the high priest was allowed behind the curtain and that was only one time a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).

He came into the Holy of Holies with a sacrifice for himself and for the nation of Israel for the past year.

Today Jesus is our High Priest.  When He died, the  curtain was torn.  We realize that man could not have torn the thick curtain. The tear was from top to bottom so that we would know Who did the tearing and what it symbolized.

Jesus' death made a way into God's presence.  Now there would be no more need to placate God by bringing animal sacrifices.  Through Christ, man can go directly into the throne room of God.  What a Savior!

Hebrews says "Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.  This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain of heaven into God’s inner sanctuary.  Jesus has already gone in there for us.  He has become our eternal High Priest."  Hebrews 6.18-20


Last week was a pretty special Easter for the Cruse family.  We were thankful for the grand privilege of celebrating the resurrection together, and thankful that all the adults have Christ in common.  


Mike and I sense that the crazy weather is just one factor pointing to the hastening day of Christ.  While some may call it "global warming", we continue to watch for the next prophetic puzzle piece from God's timetable as it falls into place.  When Israel builds her third temple and begins again the sacrificial system...things will heat up.


Keep looking above!