Easter

It's early Easter morning and the house is quiet.  Jason has taken the one healthy child to church, and the others are sleeping.

So as I wait for them to wake and cry out for me, I'm left to contemplate the dawn of springtime outside and the meaning of the resurrection.

And can it be that I should gain

An interest in the Savior's blood?

Does whatever happened to this Jesus thousands of years ago have relevance for me?  Does it make a difference when my kids are sick or when I have moving boxes stacked to the ceiling?

Died He for me, who caused His pain?

For me, who Him to death pursued?

It does when I know my sin.  

Without Christ I am desperately sick, without God and without hope.  So grievous is any offense against an infinitely holy and worthy God, that it demands horrifying retribution.  

Once we glimpse an idea of God's holiness, we can only cry in despair with Isaiah, "Woe is me, for I am ruined!"  

God's right and just wrath is an abyss that we must all look into--if not now, later.  Friend blog reader, I plead with you to gaze now on that wrath poured out on Christ.  See the grotesque agony, the sinless blood running down, the complete abandonment by man and God.  

These are the wages of sin.

Do not wait to bear them yourself when God has provided the Substitute.  

Amazing love! How can it be

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

Take hold of the Savior, whose mercy is unfathomable, and whose power over the grave is cause for rejoicing today!

Christ is risen from the dead,

Trampling over death by death

O, death, where is your sting?

O, hell, where is your victory?

O, church, come stand in the light:

Our God is not dead,

He's alive! He's alive!

And Can It Be That I Should Gain, Charles Wesley

Christ is Risen, Matt Maher