The Bethlen Home Messenger, 2000-2001 (1-4. szám)
2001-02-01 / 2. szám
gctüntp ütgíjltgíjtsí THE EASTER GIFT Rev. Florence Wood, LCPC On Sunday, April 8, 2001, the holiest week of the year for Christians will begin. This day is known around the world as Palm Sunday. It is the start of the Easter celebration, with Easter being celebrated on April 15. But why do Christians observe this holiday? To get a better understanding and refresh our minds as to why this is such a holy week, let us start at the beginning... In the book of Genesis, we read of God creating the heavens and the earth, and every living creature did He create. God made a garden and He created man to tend the garden. He called the man, Adam. And God told man that he could eat freely the fruit from any tree in the garden, except from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. If he did, he would die. But God knew that it was not good for man to be alone. So He created woman to be a helpmate for man. And man named the woman, Eve. Lucifer, a created being who rebelled against God, was roaming freely throughout the garden, and he used a serpent to beguile Eve. Lucifer convinced her that she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit. And she believed the serpent. After she ate the fruit, she gave it to man and he ate also. God knew that man had disobeyed His command. So God cast man out of the garden, and man was no longer in fellowship with God. Therefore, spiritual and physical death came into man's life. As the centuries passed, the people of God were enslaved and persecuted, and they continually cried out to God to deliver them from their bondage. God had made provisions for the sins of man to be covered over, and through Moses, God gave the law for man to live by. God commanded man to sacrifice a lamb to cover over man's sins, but their sins were never washed away, only covered over. Through the prophet's, God revealed His plan to reconcile man back to God. A sacrifice that would wash away the sins of man, not just cover over them. The first Adam had sinned, so God would have to send a second Adam (Jesus) to reconcile man back to God. I Peter 1:19 tells us that God's one and only Son would become that sacrifice for all of mankind. He would be the Lamb without spot or blemish, the one who would shed His blood for man's sins to be washed away. We read in the Book of Luke that God chose a virgin by the name of Mary to give birth to God's only Son. And Mary was betrothed to a man by the name of Joseph, who was a carpenter. And Joseph took Mary as his wife, knowing that she was with child by the Holy Spirit. Now came time for Joseph and Mary to go to Bethlehem to register for the census that had been decreed by Ceasare Agustus. And while they were there, Mary's time came for her to deliver. Because of the census, the city was crowded and there was no room to be had for Mary and Joseph. They went tc a stable and there she gave birth to her first Son. As the Angel had commanded, they named Him Jesus. God had given mankind a gift. The gift of His Son. God's one and only Son left riches and glory to come to save a world that had been lost in sin. But instead of being born in a palace, God chose for His Son to be born in a lowly stable with animals and shepherds in attendance. Jesus grew and became a man, and everyone was amazed with the wisdom and understanding that He had. And they commented, "Isn't He a carpenter's son?" When the time came for His ministry to begin, it was hard for His family and people in His village to accept what He was capable of doing. The people of Israel had waited for so long for a Savior. One who they thought should come with vengeance. But instead Jesus came teaching love and forgiveness, totally opposite of what they had wanted from a deliverer. He came teaching to love and forgive your enemies, not to kill and destroy. He taught that God is a God of love and mercy and wants none to perish. He exposed those who were using God's laws for their own gain. And in doing so, He fulfilled what had been prophesied in Isaiah 53:3; That He would be despised and rejected and that He would be acquainted with grief; and that they would hide their faces from Him. He would also fulfill the prophecy made in Mark 8:31 where it says: The Son of Man (who is Jesus), must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders, chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And in Hebrews 6:8 it says, He breathed thorns, and briers and is rejected. John 3:16 tells us that God loved mankind so much, He gave His only Son, and Jesus loved man the same way. Jesus was the one that the prophets told of. He was the one who loved man so much that He was willing to give continued on next page...
