Some of you may have come across this verse during this past Holy Week;

“He will swallow up death forever,
And the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces;
The rebuke of His people
He will take away from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.” 
[Isaiah 25:8]

Firstly I want to wish you a Happy, Joyous and Refreshing Easter!

And whilst you’re (hopefully) chilling out on this Bank Holiday Monday, I want you to just take in the Love of God for us, once more.

‘He will swallow up death forever…’

Let’s have a look at what it means to swallow, because for some reason, this was the word that really stood out to me;

Swallow = to take in and cause to disappear.

This verse therefore tells us that God sent Jesus to earth, to eradicate death, to cancel death and to conquer death for us, so our souls could reign with God in eternity when our bodies pass on from this world.
(We must understand that the death this speaks of isn’t in the physical, but rather the death of the soul which is much more important).

This verse in Isaiah speaks in anticipation of a coming Saviour; Jesus Christ, and what we know already, and in fact what we are celebrating at this time, is the fact that Jesus fulfilled the Word and Will of God, by dying on the cross and rising again on the third day – just as the word said He would.

“After they gathered again in Galilee, Jesus told them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.” And the disciples were filled with grief.”
[Matthew 17:22-23] 

“On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.”
[Luke 24:1-8]

Now what I want us to do is just think for a second,

‘Why me?’

The death of Jesus Christ is the most selfless act known in all time, to any and everyone, and the bible tells us that it was done just for us!

Just for you.
But why?

Who are we that God cares so much about us being with Him that He had to take such a massive decision, in order to bridge the gap between us and Him? – (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Who are we that God would send Himself, as a Man, to come to earth to suffer, serve and save?

Who are we that God would send a Blameless Lamb to be the perfect sacrifice? – Why didn’t He use someone who deserved to die? Why didn’t He use someone who was a bad person, a sinner, a mean person? We could sit here all day and begin to think about all the types of people who maybe society would deem as deserving of death (we have no right to make that judgement by the way), but the point I want us to see is actually the fact that God selected His own Son, whom was perfect and divine, clean and without sin, to die for us sinners…

This is LOVE.

Every year, at Easter time, we get an opportunity to reflect on the death and resurrection of Christ.
And every year we hear of the fact that Christ’s rising provides us with a new hope and joy in the Lord, an opportunity for a new beginning.
Thank God for Jesus!

Today, I want us to look at the theme of LOVE that runs through this entire story.

Look at the fact that the bible tells us God loved us even when we were sinners.
(Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:9-10)
Look at the fact that the bible tells us God loved us first, before we could ever love Him.
(1 John 4:19)
Look at the fact that the bible tells us God loves us so much, and so He doesn’t have a desire for us to perish, but rather to have that everlasting life!
(John 3:16)

Just take in this Amazing Love of God!

I pray that Love –
will be Lifelong for you,
will Overflow in your life,
will bring you Victory over every situation,
and will Establish great things in your life, in Jesus’ Mighty name. Amen.

I’ll leave you with this verse, for you to reflect on the words and just try perceive how deep and real the love of God is, and in doing so, I pray that you will redevelop a greater understanding of how precious you are, how special you are, and how so truly and genuinely Loved By God, you are!

“knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”
[1 Peter 1:18-19]

Happy Easter… Make sure you share the Love.

Keep the Faith, Don’t Stop Believing
God Bless you.