Posted on by intentional4christ

The Serpent and the Lamb

A white lamb wearing a golden crown stands on a rock with a coiled snake.

Last week, I made an interesting discovery about the cure for snake bites. To manufacture anti-venom, scientist inject sheep (lamb) with a tiny amount of snake venom. The immune system of the sheep responds by producing antibodies to counteract the bite of the snake which are then extracted to pharmaceutically produce snake anti-venom.

Upon learning this, I grabbed my bible to see what the connection was between the snake and the lamb in scripture. Let’s read Revelations 12: 9-11 (NLT):

This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels. Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last—salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth—the one who accuses them before our God day and night. And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.

The serpent—the devil—has been defeated by the blood of the Lamb. Read that again. Even with all the advancement in modern science, this biblical truth remains true. If science cannot dispute the power of the blood of the lamb to cure the bite of the snake, how much more so the power in the blood of Jesus, the unblemished Lamb of God!

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

1 Peter 1:18-20 NLT

I want you to draw attention to the words in verse 20: God chose him as your ransom long before the world began. Friends, this is the message of Easter. Not the Easter bunny, or egg hunts.

This is the message that established the very foundations of this earth: that a God could love us so much that even before He created the world, He knew that one day He would be despised, beaten, and killed by those He created but still went ahead to do it anyway! Even before time begun, He had paid the ultimate price for the sin of all humankind! He was a Lamb slain before the very foundations of the earth (Revelations 13:8)!

And friends, this message stands on its own merit! I can try to embellish or convince you of this truth but there isn’t much I need to do. The beauty of our God is that He has put clues about who He is into all of creation:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Romans 1:20 NIV

The defeat of the ancient serpent, the devil, by the blood of Jesus is coded right into creation. And if the blood of the lamb can reverse the sting of the snake’s bite, “just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God” (Hebrews 9:14 NLT).

As we go through this season, I do not want to lose sight of the depth of what we are celebrating. It is never too late to receive God’s free gift.

Behold, God’s unblemished Lamb, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, who takes away the sins of the world!

Yours Truly

Posted on by intentional4christ

May we never lose the wonder!

Growing up I looked forward to Palm Sunday with so much excitement. I was excited about finding the perfect palm branch that would be woven by my uncle into an intricate pattern to prepare for our hosanna march through the streets. You see, on Palm Sunday, it was not uncommon to hear kids from every corner of the city singing songs of adoration and waving intricately woven palm branches to Jesus, our King and Saviour.

Over the past few years and particularly this year, Palm Sunday and the Easter season has caught me by surprise. This is not because I did not know it was coming, I just have not felt as prepared for it as I have in my younger years. Whether I chock it up to the busyness of this past couple weeks or the sheer familiarity of the season, I recognize that over time, the magnificence of the season has been lost on me. I have forgotten how truly deep and overwhelming the story behind Easter is. And I am not alone in this.

There are some people who attend Easter services as their once-a-year “fulfill all righteousness” obligation. There are still many others who attend because that is what they have done for many decades of their lives. You attend Easter service. period. no questions asked. Many Christians have heard the Easter story so many times that the novelty has worn off. They know what is coming next in the story and there are no surprises there. This reminds me of the two men on the road to Emmaus. Here is their story:

That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?” They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.” “What things?” Jesus asked. “The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago…Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself… By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared! They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem… Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognized him as he was breaking the bread.

Luke 24: 13-21, 27-33a, 35 NLT

I intentionally did not paraphrase this story because there are a few things I want you to note. On the way to Emmaus, these two men rehashed the events that had happened over the past three days over and over again. They kept at this conversation for a while until Jesus disrupted the monotony of the narrative by explaining to them the significance of the three-day event. This ignited something within them that they had never experienced before. They described it as a “burning in their hearts” but I describe it as WONDER! They experienced the wonder and depth of the death and resurrection of Jesus.

This story can be likened to many Christian traditions that will recount the events of those historic three-day period we have now come to know as Easter. And like those two men, perhaps many of us, even though we have heard the story over and over again, have never been caught up in the wonder and profoundness of it all. As we go into the Easter season this year, I pray that your eyes will be open to behold the beauty and the wonder of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I also pray that as you hear the same “old” story being re-told that something new will be (re)kindled in you. May your heart burn within you as your eyes are open to the wonder of it all. May we never lose the wonder of the Easter story.

Yours Truly.

 

Posted on by intentional4christ

When God is Silent

Today we celebrate Good Friday and we remember all the activities of that fateful day many years ago, when Jesus was crucified. And then we will wait for Easter Sunday to celebrate Jesus’ triumphant resurrection. But what about Saturday? For many of us the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday passes uneventfully. Can you imagine what that day must have been like for Jesus’ disciples and followers? After everything he had said and done, the reality of his death probably sunk in on Saturday as the city returned to normalcy post-burial of Jesus. Their leader was gone; His voice and power and influence silenced in death.

Have you ever felt like you are living in the in-between of life, just like the day between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday when God seems silent? When prayers seem to be bouncing off the wall? Where your Saviour is no where to be found? I have felt God’s silence for a few months now. I have shared in multiple posts how I have prayed for things that are really important to me and God seems silent; I have prayed for health and seen the opposite in my life; I have prayed for strength and instead have experienced weakness; I have prayed for soundness of mind and instead have been unsettled and terrified by my thoughts. I am living in the Saturday between Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday.

But friends, we know from scripture that on the Saturday in-between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, God was NOT silent. His Spirit was actively making Jesus alive in the spirit! While to the world Jesus was dead and silent, He was very much alive in the spirit and fighting a victorious battle over death and captivity. Jesus was securing the keys to hell and death so that no one would ever have to separated eternally from God (unless by choice); He was ensuring that death lost its sting and power forever for any one who believes in Him. While the world experienced his silence in death, Jesus was in fact busy working the miracle of the salvation and His Spirit was preparing for the miracle of the Resurrection the next day:

For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,  in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison… 1 Peter 3: 18- 19 BSB

And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you. Romans 8:11 BSB

God was very much present on Saturday as He was on Friday and on Sunday. So today, I pray for you even as I pray for myself that you will be encouraged in the in-between times when God seems silent. I pray that your Saturday (your period of silence) will not be too long so as to leave you discouraged but instead may this prophecy of old be fulfilled in your very lives during this Easter season:

“See, your Savior comes! Look, His reward is with Him, and His recompense goes before Him”

Isaiah 62:11

Amen! and Happy Easter to you all.

Yours Truly