Do you realize it’s only a week and a half until Easter? There is a lot to do to prepare for the perfect Easter. In our house that includes working with our littlest kids so they know the songs they’ll sing with the children’s choir on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. We’ve got spring clothes to buy (which is no small task when you have seven kids). And I don’t know if it’s a southern thing or if it’s expected in the northern regions to which we moved this winter, but I need to find white shoes for my girls. They can’t possibly wear black on (or after) Easter!
Maybe you’re also making Easter baskets, dying eggs, and planning egg hunts. Families will gather for special meals – all of which need planning, shopping, and preparing to pull off. In our house we are also preparing for Easter with daily devotions, memorizing scripture, and little activities to bring our hearts and minds back to Jesus. He is, after all, the reason for this season, too.
In the days before the first Easter, there was a lot going on as well. And those preparations mirrored the preparations expected of Jews in Egypt before the first Passover. You know, there is an awful lot about that first Passover that point to Christ’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.
The Jews followed a specific set of instructions to prepare for Passover. There would’ve been a flurry of extra work on top of their already full days of slave labor working for the Pharaoh.
Sometimes I forget that those days before Passover weren’t vacation days for the Hebrews. They had all the ongoing burdens of gathering straw and fulfilling their recently-increased daily quotas for bricks to do as they were selecting the lamb, protecting the lamb, packing their homes, borrowing silver from their Egyptian neighbors, buying bitter herbs and cleaning every. last. bit. of. leavening. from their homes.
Moses claimed this coming event would set them free from the tyranny of Pharaoh and their lives of slavery. My guess is the hustle and bustle of daily life and preparing to kill their lambs, mingled with the fear that this too, would provoke Pharaoh to increase their misery, may have overshadowed the hope Moses offered at least a little.
It sounds a bit like Easter preparations today, doesn’t it? Just like the Hebrews, Easter is added on top of all we already have going on. Just like the Hebrews, we will miss a mighty salvation if we fail to prepare the most important things. The Hebrew focus was on a lamb and covering their doorposts with its blood. Our focus must be on The Lamb and covering our hearts with his redeeming blood.
As we come into the home stretch of preparing for Easter, will you please stop to consider whether or not you have the blood of the Passover Lamb sprinkled on the lintel and door-posts of your heart? Are you sheltered by the blood of the Lamb that was slain? Have you been purified by his righteousness? Do you now walk in the presence of the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come?
Salvation by Grace is all you need for the perfect Easter.
If you are at all uncertain, I suggest you watch this brief video which explains how to know Christ as your Passover Lamb, your Savior. {Actually, even if you are 100% certain, I suggest you watch it as well – we all need to preach the gospel of grace to our hearts daily, lest we try to complete our perfection by our own effort (Galatians 3:3-5).}
So, what now?
We can’t earn salvation; we are saved by God’s grace when we have faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. All you have to do is believe you are a sinner, that Christ died for your sins, and ask His forgiveness. Then turn from your sins – that’s called repentance. Jesus Christ knows you and loves you. What matters to Him is the attitude of your heart, your honesty, your willingness to acknowledge you have a sin problem and you can’t fix it. Not even a little bit.
You might want to start by praying a prayer something like this:
Dear God,
I know I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I know there is no other way to be right with God and freed from the power and the penalty for my sins. I trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. Guide my life and help me to do your will.
I pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.
Then you’ll want to connect with other Christians so that you can learn more about what it is to follow Jesus day to day.
I’d love to know if you are resting in his grace for the first time. Please send me a message so I can welcome you into the family and help connect you with a local church.
__________
This post builds on the theme we’re talking about today over at Redeeming Easter: A Resurrection Day Study. If you’d like to join us you can subscribe to that Bible study with daily devotions here: http://eepurl.com/bPCVqn.