If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
Today’s post happens to land on April 12, 2020. This day is special because it is Easter Sunday. It is unique because this year is the year of the COVIC-19 pandemic. This makes an odd backdrop to this year’s Easter. The pandemic has thrown the world into a panic. Thanks largely to a strategy of isolating people from each other, the Coronavirus has failed to reach what might be called critical mass in our country. Instead of being overwhelmed, many hospitals are empty.
Unfortunately, the isolation that has slowed the spread of the virus has also kept us away from church. So when Easter morning dawns today, there will be an eerie silence in most, if not all, of America’s churches.
What does this mean?
One thing it means is that for at least one Easter since the Lord ascended to Heaven two thousand years ago, we will not be divided by denominations. Each of us will be alone with our faith and our God. Each of us will be thinking about what it means to believe in God without being in church.
If it is true that ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder,’ then in years to come, all of us who used to take our Easter celebrations for granted will appreciate them more.
Another thing it means is that if we have sinned, we will experience the day as those who stand in judgment, alone. Unless we know Jesus. You see, it is possible to know church without knowing what it means to be forgiven. And forgiveness is the most amazing thing about Easter.
God, who created all that exists, becomes a man. The man, Jesus, is also God. The creation, mankind, kills the man/God, Jesus. Jesus allows this to happen because being unjustly slain allows him to redeem all who seek him.
Imagine for a moment that your soul is a piece of paper.
Imagine for a moment that your soul is a piece of paper. Instead of drawing something beautiful on it, you have muddied it with filth. Then you discover that each person’s artwork (soul) is to be put on display. Those that are soiled will be tossed in the trash. Those that are clean and beautiful will be put on display.
The only one who’s paper soul is both clean and beautiful belongs to Jesus. But instead of putting it on display, God’s enemy grabs it and tears it, throwing it in the trash. There it lay for three days.
Then, Jesus, who did not deserve to have his art thrown in the trash picks it up and straightens it out. He smooths out the creases and makes it new again. And now, because God’s enemy broke the rule, the rule is no longer binding on Jesus. He reaches into the trash and picked out my piece of paper. He forgave me which means he made the paper white again. And then he helped me make something beautiful on it. Jesus has done this for millions of people. He wants to do it for you, too.
And so this Easter I will be thankful that Jesus pulled the wrinkled and soiled paper of my soul out of the trash and made it new. If you have sinned, you can be forgiven, too.
Application: Believe in Jesus, confess your sins, and they will be forgiven. You, too, can be made new.
Food for Thought: What does this unique and unusual Easter mean to you?
That He is still risen. Nothing holds back or diminishes that truth.
Amen!
What an awesome God we have. Today our church had online service and Sunday school. My wife and I are now sitting in our home totally secure in the long known truth, our Savior Jesus Christ is the first of many. We are enjoying our eternal life now , looking forward to the day our limited life in these bodies of flesh will expire and our spirits will experience incomprehensible, eternal joy as we dwell for all eternity with our Lord.
Meanwhile those who have not received Christ, are living in physical separation out of obedience our government, or having parties in rebellion, knowing the very air God has provided for our life, could be filled with sickness and death.
What an awesome God we have. Today our church had online service and Sunday school. My wife and I are now sitting in our home totally secure in the knowledge of our Savior Jesus Christ being the first of many. We are enjoying our eternal life now knowing the limited life in these bodies of flesh will soon expire and our spirits will experience incomprehensible, eternal joy as we dwell for all eternity with our Lord.
Meanwhile those who have not received Christ, are living in separation out of obedience, or having parties in rebellion, knowing the very air God has provided for our life, could be filled with sickness and death as a result of mans sin.
Ron,
Your comments are poetic and true. There is a stark contrast between having hope in a forgiving God and the belief that there is no hope in God.
Amen to prior comments. My God is big enough, and has promised, to defeat the final foe. I Corinthians 15:26 and 51-58. I was reminded of this when my pastor, in an otherwise empty sanctuary, took and posted a picture of the sun brightly shining through the Cross-shaped window early this morning. There is a bright future ahead for the saints.
Thank you, JEC.
Excellent verses! (Link here.) There is indeed a bright future for God’s saints. 🙂
What can wash away our sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus – What can make us whole again – Nothing but the blood of Jesus – Ohhh precious is the Blood – That flows from Heaven above – No other name I know – Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
This Easter to our family means my oldest brothers Faith became sight. 🙏