Passion of God…Long Before “Passion Week”

Each year, starting with Palm Sunday and ending with Resurrection Sunday, Christians worldwide observe "Passion Week" in holy remembrance of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  This holy week highlights Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem and forceful cleansing of the temple which soon led to His betrayal, arrest, illegitimate trials by night, terrible physical and emotional abuse, and eventual crucifixion. 

But the greatest significance of Passion Week is that it highlights Christ's willing journey to the Cross.  As the sinless Lamb of God, Jesus gave up His life to become the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.  But a borrowed tomb could not keep Him!  Jesus's glorious resurrection on Easter morning as Victor over sin and death opened the way to salvation and Eternal Life to all who believe in Him.

Although Passion Week is the culmination of the Lenten and Easter observance each year, we would like to suggest that the "Passion of Christ" began long before "Passion Week." Could it be that the "sufferings of Christ" as an expression of the eternal love of God for His creation began with the first sin in the Garden of Eden?

What follows is a series of daily devotional meditations.  Each one has a specific theme that is supported by Scriptures followed by an invitation to consider how these Scriptures practically apply to our daily living.  We hope each meditation will help users to explore and appreciate both the lovingkindness of God and the infinitely long history of His redemptive passion and plan, a plan which He conceived "before the creation of the world" (Ephesians 1: 4).  [Note:  If you begin with "Day 1" on Palm Sunday, you will finish on Resurrection Sunday (Easter).] 

Day 1: “A Perfect Communion--God and Man”
Scripture: 
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  - Genesis 1:1
God created man in His own image,
in the image of God He created him; male and female...- Gen. 1:27 
And God looked upon all that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.  
And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. - Gen. 1:31 
Consider:
The Triune God-- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, existed in a perfect, loving relationship as One God from eternity past. Then, God created the heavens and the Earth and formed the first human being, Adam.  As a living person, Adam was equipped to think, communicate, and act in fellowship with God as a perfect image and reflection of God's Person and character.  From Genesis 3: 8 we learn that Adam and his human companion, Eve, enjoyed perfect fellowship with God, walking with him in the cool of the day, hearing the sound of His voice, and receiving the warmth of His love.
Application:
Can you remember a loving relationship that you hoped would never end? Did God know that His love for Adam and Eve so warmly reciprocated would end with their rejection of Him?  Yes, He did!  But this knowledge did not cause God to love Adam and Eve any less.  Instead, God had already determined that He would redeem Adam's fallen race, including all who will turn to Him by faith. ln fact God chose us in Him [Jesus Christ] before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence.  In love... Ephesians 1: 4.  He had restoration of humankind and creation in mind long before Adam's tragic fall into sin.
Response:
Imagine the blessing of Adam and Eve as they walked with God in a mutually shared love and joy!  Can you personally relate to the blessing of regular communion with God?  If so, thank Him now for making it possible through Christ  

Day 2: “Perfect Love Relationship--Broken!”
Scripture: 
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. 
And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves... 
Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (Genesis 3: 6-8)
Consider:
Adam and Eve were free to choose either to love God by living lives consistent with their image-bearing, divine nature; or by living in contradiction to a life that would express their love and honor to their Creator.  One day, possibly just before the "cool of the day" when they would often enjoy walking with God, Adam and Eve made the fateful choice to doubt and then reject God's loving provision for them.  The effect of their choice was immediate!  They felt a sense of alienation from God.  Then, guilt and fear led them to hide from God, or so they thought. 
Application:
Like all of their descendants, Adam and Eve were created to be holy images of God as long as they chose to obey Him.  Unfortunately, they yielded to Satan's temptation and allowed the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life [to rule them, a spirit that] is not from the Father but is from the world (1 John 2: 16).  Adam and Eve would never be the same or have the same loving communion with God.  Fortunately, although they had rejected God, He had not rejected them.  His love never fails. 
Response:
Take time to thank God that His love endures, and His mercy never fails.  Song:  "Goodness of God," Bethel Music, Jenn Johnson  Click HERE.

Day 3: “God's Passion and Pursuit Begins”
Scripture: 
Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  Then the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8- 9)
Consider:
Adam and Eve had been accustomed to walking with the LORD in the cool of the day, hearing His voice, and basking in the love, joy, and peace that radiated from Him.  But on one particular day, they yielded to the tempting voice of Satan and ate the fruit from the only tree that God had pronounced "off limits." Suddenly, they were gripped by fear when they heard God's voice and they hid from Him. Tragically, the effects of that first sin upon Adam and Eve have been experienced by their descendants of every generation down to the present day.

Application:
Can you remember the hurt and pain you felt when you lost a cherished relationship? Terrible as such an experience of loss can be, it is impossible for us to fathom the anguish of God when Adam and Eve rejected His love. Their rejection of His command pierced the loving heart of God. But the divine grief over their sin was more than matched by God's passionate and just plan to redeem the fallen couple--and their offspring.  From that moment in the Garden when God asked, "Where are you?", God knew the sin and sorrow His Son would bear on the Cross for you and me. 
Response:
Enter a time of quiet meditation on God's question, "Where are you?" Make it personal; and then respond in prayer as God's Spirit leads you.

Day 4: “The Gravity of Sin Requires Bloodshed”
Scripture:
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked,
and they sewed fig leaves together and made loin coverings. -Genesis 3: 7
The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. - Genesis 3: 21
No man can by any means redeem his brother
   Or give to God a ransom for him—
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
  And he should cease trying forever— - Psalm 49: 7-8
Consider: 
Adam and Eve are the only humans who were able to know God intimately, walk with Him, and intimately know each other without sin and shame.  All of these privileges were diminished with the fall.  Suddenly, "their eyes were opened." Guilt, shame, and fear exposed their nakedness physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  As God's image bearers, all of us as Adam's descendants have inborn sense of justice that calls us to make peace with God.  Adam and Eve chose to hide from God in their sin and shame, and to cover their naked vulnerability by make-shift means.
Application:
How old were you when you first realized the guilt and shame of disobeying your parents or a teacher?  Can you relate to how Adam and Eve must have felt?  Maybe like them, you tried to "fix things" or "cover up." But chances are your sin was discovered, and the wrongness of your actions were made clear through explanation and maybe even punishment.  If you were disciplined, you may also remember the relief of having "paid the price" for your sin.  But who "pays the price" for our sins and our "sin nature" in God's sovereign plan?  Amazingly, God Himself "paid the price!"  In God's mercy, He spared us of what we deserved--eternal death and separation from Him. In God's grace, He gives us what we don't deserve--eternal Life. 
Response:
Have you received His Gift (John 3: 14-21)?   If so, thank God now for the free Gift of faith and salvation through Christ's sacrifice.  How will you confront temptation and the sin that so easily confronts you?  See Hebrews 12: 1-3; 1 John 1: 5-9.  

Day 5: “The Grief of God--And His Mercy”
Scripture: 
The LORD God said to the serpent...I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” - Genesis 3: 14a, 15 
Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the LORD’s help, I have produced a man!” - Genesis 4: 1 
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.  - Genesis 6: 5-6
Consider:
On Day 4, we reflected on how our disobedience as a child brought guilt and shame upon us. But did we ever think how our parents or a teacher might have felt?  Likely, they were disappointed, maybe angry, and likely ready to make you pay the price for your disobedience.  As much as I dreaded the punishment, I eventually realized that my disobedience hurt my parents and teachers.  Their disappointment in me hurt them.  It also hurt them to "apply physical hurt" to me!  Above all, I must realize how much grief God has born since the Garden and all the way to the Cross.

Application:
According to our Scripture for today, when God saw the extent of the wickedness on the Earth, It broke his heart.  What would God do?  The Old Testament understanding was, The soul that sins will die (Ezekiel 18:20).  But, from before the beginning of time, God had another plan.  Beginning with Adam's sin, God would enter in and participate in addressing the penalty for sin. To show the seriousness of our sin, God the Creator of animals chose to commit the first act of killing an animal and shedding its life blood to make skin coverings for Adam and Eve. Then, in Exodus and Leviticus, God outlined a sacrificial system by which sin was atoned through blood sacrifices.  For ...according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness (Hebrews 9: 22). 
Response:
Praise God for His love that flowed from His grieving heart as mercy and forgiveness, first through the repeated blood sacrifices under His Old Covenant; and then, in the New Covenant, sealed once and for all through the blood of His precious Lamb, Jesus Christ.  See also, Hebrews 10.

Day 6: “God's Passionate Love Doesn't Give Up”
Scripture: 

I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; 

       I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me.

       I said, ‘Here am I, here am I,’

      To a nation which did not call on My name.

I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,

      Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,

      A people who continually provoke Me to My face… - Isaiah 65: 1-2

“Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. - Hosea 11: 8
Consider: 
The Old Testament Scriptures are the account of the many ways in which God was seeking to redeem mankind.  Although Adam and Eve had once been God's perfect image bearers, they and their descendants had become fallen images tarnished by sin. Think of it!  But how could an infinite, holy, longsuffering God convey to mankind the greatness of His love and passionate longing for our redemption?  The book of Hosea gives us one of many Old Testament accounts.

Application:
Most of us have or have had the blessing of loving another person very deeply--perhaps your spouse, your parents, or a boy- or girlfriend.  For some of us, a loving relationship came to a screeching halt followed by a time of deep hurt and grief.  The Book of Hosea gives us the account of how God asked Hosea the prophet to marry a woman named Gomer who became immoral (or may already have been immoral) and sold her body as a prostitute.  Hosea obeys, marries, and loves Gomer even though she is unfaithful and leaves him.  God uses this tragic, adulterous marriage and Hosea's loving pursuit of unfaithful Gomer to convey how much He loves us and all of lost, sinful mankind. 
Response:
Meditate on the depth of God's passionate love for you according to the Scriptures above.  How will you respond?

Day 7: “Centuries of Sacrificial Lambs: Then, 'the Lamb'”

Scripture: 
When He approached Jerusalem, He [Jesus] saw the city and wept aloud over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. - Luke 19: 41-42

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. - Jesus Christ (Matthew 23: 37) 
Consider:
God's passionate longing to gather, comfort, and restore fallen mankind was repeatedly expressed through the Old Testament prophets like Hosea.  However, the ultimate expression of God's unfailing, covenant love ("lovingkindness" or "mercy") occurred through the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. The first "Palm Sunday" began what we now call "Passion Week." God had sovereignly planned from before the beginning of time for Jesus to suffer and die as "the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world" (John 1: 29). The first Palm Sunday was also the Jewish "lamb selection day" when spotless lambs were selected for sacrifice to achieve atonement for their sins. On that very day, God had ordained that His "Lamb," Jesus Christ, would approach Jerusalem riding humbly on a donkey.  Overlooking Jerusalem, Jesus paused on His mount, wept loudly, and cried out the words recorded by Luke (above).

Application:
We have emphasized the tragic effect of sin --the guilt, shame, and ruination of relationships both with God and our neighbor. We also emphasized how our sin brings grief to God who, after all, is a Person with moral consciousness and emotions.  But, in spite of being grieved and offended by our sin, and instead of conferring the death penalty upon mankind, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully human, to take our death penalty.  What a Savior!
Response:
God's Spirit, our Comforter convicts us of sin, and if we humbly repent, He restores us to fellowship with Him under the blood of Christ's righteousness.  Don't hide from the One who awaits your repentant spirit and freely offers reconciliation and sanctification, all because of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God.

Day 8: “Fellowship of His Suffering”
Scripture: 

For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.  And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. – Romans 8: 22-23.

And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him. - Romans 8:17

I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in the sufferings of Christ that continue for his body, the church. - Colossians 1: 24

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death… - Philippians 3: 10

Consider: The inspired Scriptures above from the Apostle Paul's epistles emphasize three themes that run throughout the Bible: 
1) the "groaning of creation" with its "anxious longing" for freedom from the curse of sin. 
2) God as "Shepherd of Israel" (Psalm 80: 1) seeking to call the wayward sheep back His sheepfold where they can receive His comfort. 
3) God the Holy Spirit teaching, convicting, indwelling, and interceding "with groanings too deep for words..." (Romans 8: 26-27). 
Combining these three themes, we see a groaning creation, God passionately seeking sinners; and God/s Spirit, our Comforter, who comforts us in our groaning, identifying with us who share in "the sufferings of 'Christ" because of our testimony for Him.  Together these themes speak of a God whose passion for a lost world and a lost humanity would spare nothing, not even His only Son, to bring restoration. 

Application:
We close this series with a great question for which we have no satisfying answer. Why would a holy God who, in the words of A. W. Tozer, is "...not simply the best we know infinitely bettered...[but instead, One who] stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable"-- how could such a holy Being, One "who knew no sin," willingly "become sin for us" (2 Corinthians 5: 21)? The only answer is God's "incomprehensible and unattainable" love for His creation and for humanity, His image bearers.
Again, A.W. Tozer:" God is holy and He has made holiness the moral condition necessary to the health of His universe. To preserve His creation God must destroy whatever would destroy it.  Whatever is holy is healthy; evil is a moral sickness that must end ultimately in death." 

God sent His only begotten Son to be "the Lamb" that would take upon Himself all the sin, the "moral sickness" of the world.  Through His death, Christ ended the curse of sin and provided a way to Life Eternal.
Response:  If you began this daily devotional series on Palm Sunday, the first day of "Passion Week," you are now reading this on Easter Sunday. Maybe you will be led of the Spirit to take time to review, and we hope you will be even more in awe of the redemptive plan of God.  All of this provision was made before the foundation of the world, born from the passionate, loving heart of God--long before "Passion Week."  Meditate on the amazing truth that God made Him [Jesus Christ] who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5: 21).

Is Light Dimming and Darkness Winning? 3. No! Because of Easter!

Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,

“ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?” that is,
“MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?”
(Matthew 27: 45-46)

Jesus Christ uttered this mournful cry from His Cross on that first “Good Friday.”  The Apostle John standing with Jesus’s mother Mary a foot of the Cross heard Jesus’s words.  Later, the Apostle Matthew, once a hated tax collector, recorded the words.  Before Jesus gave up His life, John and Mary would hear His final words, “It is finished” (John 19: 30, 33).  Having witnessed the crucifixion, suffering, and death of Christ on a Roman Cross, John later wrote, these words have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20: 31).

At the foot of the Cross, John must have been tempted to agree with Satan and the powers of darkness.  Indeed, darkness seemed to have overtaken the light.  God the Father had forsaken His Holy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ’s death was the end, accomplishing nothing.  But this great error in thinking lies in the promise God made thousands of years earlier as recorded in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. 

Genesis 3 reveals the beginning of the story of Easter, the Cross, and the Resurrection of Christ.  The rest of the Bible is the unfolding account of a perfect creation, the fall of man into sin, an infinite separation between holy God and sinful man, and reconciliation by the sacrificial death and resurrection of the Holy Son of God.  This is the account of the Gospel, the “Good News” that Jesus came as fully God and fully human, lived a sinless life, was crucified and rose again to open the way to Eternal Life in Heaven to all who call upon Him by faith in Jesus’s atoning sacrifice for sin.   Far from dimming the light on that first “Good Friday,” Christ’s death opened the Way to Eternal Life and Light.

Below is a series of seven daily readings that reveal elements of the “Good News.”  Our theme is “From Alienation and Separation to Reconciliation.”  We hope you will understand even more clearly the significance of Christ’s crucifixion, death, and resurrection to your life personally.  This is the real reason for celebrating Easter.

Day 1:  God Is Good
Scripture:  Genesis 2: 7-9
Interpretation:  In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth for His glory and pleasure.  He created the first man, Adam, from the dust of the ground and placed him in a perfect environment, the Garden of Eden.  Out of His goodness, God saw that it was “not good” for the man to be alone.  So, God created woman from bone taken from Adam’s side so the she could be his helpmate (Genesis 2: 18-25).  When God had finished His creation, He took pleasure in it and saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good (Genesis 1: 31).  God had created numerous kinds of trees bearing fruit for Adam and Eve to enjoy (v. 16).  But He also set a boundary around one of the many trees, saying, from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die (v. 17).  As long as they followed His command, Adam and Eve enjoyed sinless communion with God and walked with Him in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3: 8). 

Application:  We have seen that the goodness of God was obvious in His Creation and its overflowing benefits to Adam and Eve.  Centuries later, God revealed Himself to Moses at Mount Saini with these words, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands… (Exodus 34” 6-7a).  God reveals His goodness both in His Word and in His creation. 
Ask Yourself:  Do you believe God is good?  Was God any less good for commanding man not to eat of one of the trees?

Day 2: God’s Goodness Questioned
Scripture:  Genesis 3: 1-6
Interpretation:  Adam and Eve had enjoyed perfect communion with God and walked with Him in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3: 8).  That is, until Satan came questioning God’s integrity and authority: Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden (Genesis 3: 1)’?  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat (Genesis 3: 6).  Satan had successfully appealed to the “cravings of the flesh, the longing of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2: 16).”  First, he tempted the woman; then the man.  Both succumbed to Satan’s temptations and they chose to eat.
Application:  When God had commanded Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, He warned, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die (Genesis 2: 17).  But in spite of this stern warning intended out of the goodness of God’s nature and for the protection of His human image bearer, Adam took and ate the forbidden fruit.  Satan had convinced Adam that God was not good.   Otherwise, why would God keep Adam from enjoying something so inviting to him?
Ask Yourself:  Can you remember thinking that God is keeping something better from you?  Do you question God’s goodness at times?  To be tempted is not sin.  It’s only when we yield to it that we sin.  What is James’s solution?   See James 4: 6-10.

Day 3:  Religion: The Human Solution

Scripture:  Genesis 3: 6-8
Interpretation:  When Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened.  They became conscious that something had changed.  They had changed!  Their consciences were awakened to realize they had violated a moral standard of God.  They responded by hiding from God among the trees and hiding their bodies from each other by clothing themselves with fig leaves.  Their intimacy with a holy God and with each other were destroyed and replaced by guilt, shame, and alienation.  
Application:  Adam and Eve’s answer to their guilt and shame reveals to us their choice of religion—i.e. their approach to gain right-standing with a holy God.  They chose a “hands on approach,” trying to be presentable to God in their “fig leaf clothes.”  Their approach was the beginning of what we now call “good works salvation.”  Justification by works rather than yielding through faith to receive God’s forgiveness and reconciliation.  Thankfully, God is good, and He has a better plan for our reconciliation.
Ask Yourself:  Can you relate to Adam and Eve’s fear and shame when you recall a time when you rebelled against the authority of a parent, teacher, employer, or government?  Romans 5: 12 describes how we were all born with Adam’s sin nature.  But we have hope in Christ (Romans 5: 1).

Day 4: Relationship: God’s Solution
Scripture:  Genesis 3: 8-24

Interpretation:  Adam and Eve, God’s image-bearers, had rebelled against His moral guidelines—i.e. they had committed sin.  Consequently, their intimate communion with God and between each other was replaced by guilt, shame, and alienation.  What’s more, Adam and Eve were hiding, wanting to be free of God and the consequences of His standards.  Does that sound familiar to you?  Today, many have rejected God, and the increasing lawlessness and chaos in our land shows what happens when God and His standards are not upheld.  Adam and Eve were the first humans to experience the consequences of violating God’s standards, and yet they sinned even more by blaming each other (v. 12-13).  But God’s goodness showed forth again.  He went seeking the sinners!  God called to Adam, “Where are you?”  What a profound, soul-searching question.  God already knew the answer, but Adam and Eve felt guilty and afraid!  

Application:  You may recall times when you have acted badly, perhaps even as a child.  You felt the guilt and separation from your parent or parents. Hopefully, you can also remember the stern but loving discipline you received, sometimes with a spanking; and then, how their correction brought peace to your soul.  But how could God who is Holy, and therefore cannot let sin go unpunished, atone (“make reparation for, cleanse, cover the sin”) for sinful humans without compromising His own integrity?  First, God followed the chain of blame from the husband to his wife who then blamed the Tempter (v. 12-13), and then, He pronounced the curse and consequences of sin upon each party (v. 14-19).  God wanted Adam and Eve to admit their sin.  But in His perfect love, God also wanted to redeem (“buy back”) His broken image-bearers and all of His creation from an infinite separation.  He also wanted to judge Satan.  But how could God do this?  The answer is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
Ask Yourself:   Many believe that if we could eliminate the notion of God and His absolutes of right and wrong, there would be no sin—no consequences of guilt and shame when we think or act badly?  But wouldn’t the result be lawlessness and chaos?   Thankfully, there is a God who loves us.   Each of us must give an account and answer God’s question to Adam, “Where are you?”  Where you are in relation to God?  Without forgiveness of sin, we are infinitely separated from God.

Day 5: Covered by Blood, Not Fig Leaves
Scripture:  Genesis 3: 17-21; Romans 5: 12; John 1: 29
Interpretation:  We left you somewhat hanging yesterday with “holy dilemma.”  How could God who is Holy and cannot let sin go unpunished, atone (“make reparation for, cleanse, cover the sin”) for sinful humans without compromising His own integrity?  After confronting Adam and Eve with their sin, the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife (Genesis 3: 21).  God would offer a far more costly sacrifice than a religious, fig leaf covering.  The Creator of animals had to sacrifice innocent animals—innocent because they were not morally accountable like the humans were!  God’s covering of Adam and Eve’s nakedness required the shedding blood.  This first blood sacrifice, and then all of the animal sacrifices offered by the Jewish temple priests in the nation of Israel were a foreshadowing of the Man who would come as the Perfect Lamb of God and offer Himself to atone for the sin of mankind.
Application:  Adam’s sin had great consequences.  Back on Day 3, we referred to Romans 5: 12 which states that as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned…  The stark truth from God is, “ALL have sinned!”  If this is true, could any of Adam’s descendants dare offer himself as a sinless sacrifice?
Psalm 49: 7-8 reveals,  
No man can by any means redeem his brother
    Or give to God a ransom for him—
For the redemption of his soul is costly,
   And he should cease trying forever—

Ask Yourself:  Would you deny your standing before God as a child of Adam who bears the curse of sin worthy of death (Romans 5: 12)?  Or would you dare to offer yourself as a sinless sacrifice to redeem others as Jesus did?  Unless we trust in the redemption of the perfect sacrificial Lamb of God we remain in darkness and in infinite alienation from God.  Do you know Him personally?

Day 6: Our Creator Became the Lamb
Scripture:  John 1: 1-5; 10-14; Luke 4: 1-13 Hebrews 9: 13-14; Genesis 3: 14-15;
Interpretation:  Who is this Man called “the Lamb of God?”  Chapter 1 of the Gospel of John identifies the Lamb as Jesus Christ, “the Word of God” who “was God.”  This “Word became flesh and dwelt among us…full of grace and truth.”  John the Baptist, Jesus’s forerunner who preached repentance of sin, pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1: 29).”  Jesus Christ was fully God and fully human.  He was born the “seed of the woman,” but not from the seed of His earthly father, Joseph (Genesis 3: 15; Matthew 1: 20).  In 1 Corinthians 15: 47, we read, Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.  Christ was fully God, the Creator of the first Adam; yet He was fully human, born of Mary, as the “second Adam.”
Application:  Christ, the second Adam, came as a perfect Man, but He constantly battled horrendous temptations from the Tempter, and physical and emotional sufferings, aimed to cause Him to sin and fail like the first Adam.  The Gospel accounts tell of the many ways Jesus was attacked.  But He continually depended on His Father in Heaven and remained the sinless Lamb.  The Jewish priests had offered sacrificial lambs for over 1,500 years, but they were not sufficient to fully cleanse from sin.  In Hebrews 9: 13-14, we read:  For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 
Ask Yourself:   According to the Jewish calendar, they selected a “lamb without blemish” five days before offering it in the sacrifices of their Passover celebration.  In order to fulfill God’s prophetic calendar, Jesus, God’s perfect Lamb, entered Jerusalem riding on a lowly donkey, on “lamb selection day.”  During the Jewish Passover, God’s Lamb was slain for the sins of the world, including for you and for me.  Take time to read beginning in John 12 and respond as appropriate in repentance and in worship of the Lamb who gave His life redeem us from sin and death.

Day 7:  Darkness Breaks into Dawn’s Brightness
Scripture:  John 18-20; Luke 24: 1-35
Interpretation:  John 12-17 gives us an inspiring account of Jesus’s final days.  They were filled with drama, hateful accusations met with His gracious manner, and intimate times alone with His disciples to prepare them for His suffering and death.  Our Scriptures for today tell of Jesus’s arrest, trials, Peter’s denial, and Jesus’s sentence to be crucified (John 18).  Jesus was mocked, brutally beaten, and eventually sentenced to carry His Cross to Golgotha.  There He was crucified according to a method of the Romans designed to cause excruciating suffering on the way to death (John 19).  In Philippians 2: 6-8 we read, Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.  Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Jesus who was infinitely Holy experienced humanly the infinite alienation from God that is our condition without God’s redemption.

Application:  Our theme, “Is Light Dimming and Darkness Winning?” may have been the question of Jesus’s followers during the succession of terrible events of “Passion Week.”  The death and burial of Christ appeared to be a victory for Satan and the powers of darkness.  But we read in John 20 that on what we now call Resurrection Sunday, Mary Magdalene found the stone rolled away from Jesus’s tomb and His body was not there.  Matthew 28: 6 reports that an angel had told Mary, He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.  As the good news spread, the darkness of doubt and despair gave way to the bright light of hope.  The Risen Christ showed Himself to His disciples and hundreds of followers.  He also explained at length to two men who were “slow of heart to believe” how His life, death, and resurrection fulfilled the Old Testament Scriptures (Luke 24: 25-27). 
Ask Yourself:  Are you a “fool, slow of heart to believe?”  If you have never trusted Christ and developed a personal relationship with Him, we hope this series of devotionals has made the Gospel (“Good News”) clearer to you.  For believers, we hope these readings have been an inspiring part of your commemoration of this Easter season.

Easter:  Celebrating the Resurrection of a Loved One
Easter morning, or better “Resurrection Sunday,” carries a special significance to all who realize that the Empty Tomb is evidence that there is hope beyond the grave.  Although Christ-followers still grieve when loved ones die in Christ, we do not “grieve as those who have no hope” in life after the grave (1 Thessalonians 4: 13).   Proof of our faith is the wellspring of hope that helps us bear the sting of death of a loved one.

This Easter season, God gave us reason to claim our hope in the Resurrection and the reality of life after death.  Yesterday, March 21, our dear sister (-in-law), Donna Kohler Moore, said “Good-bye” to her husband, Larry, her daughter, Stacey, her son, Keith, their families, plus six sisters (Alvadell “Abby”, Shirley, Betty, Mary, Audrey, and Verna), and nieces and nephews.  Her life was a shining testimony of the Life of Christ in her.  Donna loved and respected her first husband, Roy.  Following Roy’s death to cancer, she loved and respected her second husband, Larry.  Her impact upon her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and over three decades of students in her elementary school and Sunday School classes will be evident in their lives for years to come.

After battling cancer for over 10 months, a few days ago became Donna’s “graduation day” to Heaven.  Many loving family members gathered around her bed and celebrated her life by singing some of her favorite hymns, including “In the Garden” and “Amazing Grace.”  Even in her largely unresponsive state, Donna’s lips moved as if to sing along.  Minutes later, alone in her bedroom, Donna took the hand of Jesus her Savior who lead her into the glorious presence of God where she joined her loved ones who have gone before.  

In a twinkling of an eye, Donna was gone from us but we will see her again because Jesus gave His life to close an infinite gap of our separation from God by faith in His shed blood on His Cross.  When we simply look in faith to the Cross as Donna did, darkness gives way to the light of the dawn of the Resurrection of the Risen Christ.

Care to Comment?
If you have questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you.  Maybe you would like to share a spiritual insight or recommend a devotional source.  Just post a “Comment” below or e-mail to silviusj@gmail.com 

If you have never encountered the “Good News” or Gospel, let us help.   The “Good News” is summarized in an outline called “Steps to Peace with God” (Click HERE.).  It explains God’s love, our predicament (sin and separation from God), what Jesus has done to address our predicament, and what you can do by faith to receive God’s righteousness (right standing with a Holy God).  Hope you will have the Joy of Easter!