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As we look around these days, we see brown and seemingly dead foliage being replaced by live shoots that are springing forth on flowers, shrubs, and trees. As I write this, the daffodils have already bloomed, as have the dogwood trees, and the redbud trees are in brilliant bloom! God’s amazing creation is coming to life again in vivid colors all around us!
How appropriate for this time of the year when we focus on God’s own Son, Jesus, dying and coming to life once again. There is no question that He died after hanging on the cross for approximately six hours on Good Friday. John records how Jesus “bowed His head and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). Then a soldier’s spear pierced His side so that blood and water gushed from His lifeless body (John 19:34). Preparing His dead body for burial began but had to be halted due to the onset of the Sabbath.
In speaking about His own death to come, Jesus once compared Himself to a kernel of wheat, a seed that is dead and buried (planted in the ground) and eventually springs forth and bears much fruit. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24). He did die, and He was buried in the earth. But He also sprang forth alive once again, bearing much fruit — "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9)!
As we observe the vibrant colors and new life of spring all around us, God’s creation is giving us a beautiful reminder of the new and never-ending life that is ours through Jesus Christ. In returning us to our Baptism, Paul writes that we were “buried therefore with Him by baptism into death (Romans 6:4), but he also assures us that, “if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His” (Romans 6:5). Enjoy God’s incredible creation as it springs forth in new life and be reminded of the day when Christ will return to raise you — physically, bodily raise you and all believers to new and never-ending life!
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