MY TURN: Preparation for Easter
During these days before the annual Easter Holy Week, Christians around the world have been observing the Lenten Season.
The word Lent, or Lenten, was originally an Old English term meaning length. It was thought to refer to the lengthening of longer daylight hours and coming warm weather in the springtime.
Because the celebration of the resurrection of Christ was also observed in the spring, earlier Christians began to adopt this time as a time of inner preparation and remembrance of their Saviour’s sacrifice and victory.
Traditionally, Christians devote special time to prayer, repentance and alms giving, with their hearts and minds focused on Christ’s example of love and sacrifice for us.
During the 40 days of Lent, prior to Resurrection Day, Christians also remember the 40 days of Christ’s temptation by Satan in the wilderness. His victory over Satan’s attempts to cause Him to sin proved to Satan and the world that Jesus Christ was the eternal Son of God and had power over sin. He would not succumb to sinning against God the Father and God’s Holy Word.
Christ’s victory also serves as our example to be strong through the power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, using God's Word to repel temptations from the world, the flesh and the devil The Lord Jesus told His disciples to ‘Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.”
We confess and repent of our sins to the God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But His desire is that we grow stronger in the Lord and put away sin and put on the new man (Ephesians 4:20-24 KJV).
During Lent it is good to abstain from things that distract our attention on the remembrance of Christ — His great love and sacrifice to pay our sin debt and be our risen Lord and Saviour.
So it helps us to refrain from spending so much time on food preparation or by indulging in rich delicacies and elaborate meals.
Also, it is better not to spend so much time online or watching films and attending worldly events that will divert our attention away from Christ and His Word.
There are so many demands on our time, such as family, work and personal daily needs, that there is little time left as it is to enjoy sweet quiet fellowship with the Lord and His Word.
During Lent, Christians down through the centuries have been enriched by spending extra time alone in prayer and His Word and, of course, in church attendance.
Especially meaningful is to read the last two or three chapters in each of the Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke add John. We may listen to Alexander Scourby online as we sit and follow along in our Bibles … reading Matthew one day and maybe Mark a few days later, and the others likewise, until Easter.
What a blessing this is as we go through our day and as we retire for the night. The Pauline Epistles and rest of the New Testament will then be read with greater understanding and familiarity as we think on these precious words.
Additionally, Christians need to become better acquainted with the preponderance of evidence in the Old Testament that reveal that Jesus Christ was indeed the promised Messiah. Throughout Holy Scripture, God gave clues and descriptions of Christ coming from the chosen human family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; then Judah and King David and his royal line.
Even though Satan presented constant attacks to try to prevent the birth of the Messiah, God intervened and preserved the Promised Seed.
For example, during the dark days of Israel’s ancient history, a wicked queen killed all the sons in the Davidic bloodline except one little 6-year-old boy, Joash. His aunt kept little Joash hidden in the Temple and the High Priest, in a remarkable act, crowned the rescued Joash as King in Judah. (Account given in II Kings 11 and II Chronicles 22-23 KJV)
In Matthew 1:1, we read the declaration: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” In Romans 1:3 we read, “Concerning His Son Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh …”
While the Virgin Mary provided Christ’s humanity, God made it clear to Joseph that “that which is conceived in her (Mary) is of the Holy Spirit."
The Lord Jesus, as the Son of God, was qualified to be the sinless Saviour who would die on the cross, as the Lamb of God, to be the final payment, or propitiation, for the sin of all mankind.
We read in I John, these words:
“And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world … and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. “
I Jn 4:14, 2:2, KJV.
God also announced, in Daniel 9:26, the exact time that Messiah would be on the earth and die for us. Bible scholars have long discovered the year to be 33 A.D., or 173,880 days after King Cyrus, in 445 B.C., allowed the Jewish captives in Babylon to return to the destroyed city of Jerusalem and rebuilt the city and the Temple.
Since the religious leaders and Biblical scholars of the time were responsible for teaching these Messianic prophecies to the people, Christ Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because they didn’t understand Isaiah 53 and other Scriptures describing Him and His first coming.
Christ proclaimed His identity and proved His qualifications as the eternal Son of God and Saviour. But it seems they wanted a great military leader who would free them from Roman rule. While many rejected Him as the Suffering Saviour, many also received Him as their Lord and Saviour.
John 1:10-12
We read and remember that first Palm Sunday recorded in the synoptic Gospels. As Christ fulfilled the prophecy in Zechariah, that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a lowly donkey, presenting Himself as the King, Christ lamented over Jerusalem because they had missed the Day of their visitation.
Christ wept over Jerusalem, predicting the coming destruction of the city, which did occur, in 70 A.D. by Titus the Roman. (See Luke 19:41-44).
Many of these things can be difficult to grasp and understand at first. But there is an overwhelming amount of clarification today in study Bibles and historical books and online videos.
We learn little by little, but the best way is to simply read the Bible for ourselves. In the book of John it is stated that “these are written that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." John 20:31.
We don’t need to become a scholar or gain college degrees in Biblical history. We may gain an intellectual historical belief, but lack an inner personal belief and assurance that Christ Jesus is our own Lord and Saviour who will one day take us home to be with Him in the Father’s House forever.
May these things enable readers to better understand and appreciate the richness of God’s Word and to be drawn closer to our Saviour as we approach the coming Holy Week for Christians around the world.
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Twila Celestino Little is a Coeur d'Alene resident.