In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
1 John 4:9
When one stops to consider that the Creator of heaven and earth, of the universe, of all that is, our Creator who knew us from before the foundations of the world loved us to this degree, it is, quite simply, unfathomable. Perhaps the only way we can grasp such a thought is to try to understand and believe that God is, in fact, love.
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:7-8
Easter Sunday is a significant day of honor for it celebrates the resurrection of Christ. Everything in Christianity hinges on the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection completes the work of God and His plan for our salvation and, at the same time, marks the defeat of Satan as predicted all the way back in the book of Genesis. If the resurrection didn't actually happen, then Christ was a fraud and the Bible is just a bad joke. Verse 9 of John 20 is the key. Your either believe that the resurrection occurred or you don't. We're not going to argue the point at this time.
1 The first day of the week cometh Mary Mag'dalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.
3 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.
4 So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.
5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.
6 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,
7 and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.
8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.
9 For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.
John 20:1-10
Easter is also a time to dwell on the love of God.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
1 John 4
It is relatively easy for us to love God, isn't it?. It costs us little to love God, and it's amazing that so many don't, but God loved us, even as we were sinners rejecting Him, and He loved us to the degree that He sent His Son to pay the price for our sins so that we might be restored to Him. And Jesus loved us so, that He submitted completely to the will of the Father, even unto death on a cross.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
John 3:16-17
You've probably heard the following many times most likely being read during a wedding. It's a template, if you will. A model of perfect love, of the love of God. It provides an insight into the being of God, an aspect of His perfection. On this Easter Sunday, let's reflect on this passage and ponder its message.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth:
1 Corinthians 13: 4-8
