Church News
6th April 2015
First of all, Happy Easter to you! I hope you had a great Easter Sunday, and that you didn't eat too much chocolate.
As we celebrate, it can sometimes be difficult to separate the true meaning of Easter from the commercialised view of the Easter bunny, chocolate eggs, baby chicks, and Easter bonnets, but this is not what the true meaning of Easter is.
In truth, Easter is about One Man. One Love and One Sacrifice. That man is Jesus. The true Passover lamb. The one who was completely blameless, but who went to the Cross and bore your sins and mine. He bore all the sins of the world, though He did not sin once. He did this out of love and compassion for us so that we might no longer be separated from God.
In her Easter Sunday message, Andrea talks about the torn curtain. This curtain was the divider between the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. It is also a symbol of the division and separation between us and God. When Jesus went to the Cross and died, sacrificing Himself for us, the curtain was torn in two. Rent from top to bottom, thus symbolising the fact that through Jesus, that separation no longer stands. This backs up what Jesus says in John 14.6, where he says,
"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
If we are to take the torn curtain on face value, it is the literal representation of this. When Jesus died, He was able to pay the ultimate atonement for all of our sins, past, present and future, and thus, He removed the need for the priest to be the only one to enter the most Holy place. He made it so that we are all equal, in our acceptance of Jesus, and thus, made it possible for each and every one of us to reach out to God, and to enter in. The song "At the Cross" by Hillsong says:
At the cross I bow my knee
Where Your blood was shed for me
There's no greater love than this
You have overcome the grave
Your glory fills the highest place
What can separate me now
You tore the veil
You made a way
When You said that it is done
This illustrates clearly what Jesus did for us, and shows the significance of the veil in our walk with God. Without Jesus and His sacrifice, we would still be stuck on the other side of the veil, with no way to enter in, but Jesus' sacrifice changed that. The only thing remaining is for us to accept this, to answer when He whispers our name and to take his hand as He invites us in to the most Holy place.
Will you accept his sacrifice? Will you take his hand? Will you step through that torn curtain?
Have a great week!
Pastor Phyl
PS: Feel free to connect with me on Facebook or Twitter!
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