"Q"uintessential "R"estoration

I know you are looking at that really big "Q" word and wondering what in the world does that mean?  Quintessential means representing the most perfect; and I just felt it speaks volumes to the perfect lamb that was slain for our restoration on this Easter.

Easter has always been my favorite holiday.  Yes, I love Christmas and the birth of Jesus but Easter holds an even bigger spot in my heart.  It's the holiday we celebrate that says, look, Christ died for me and I am forever washed clean of my sin because of His sacrifice on the cross.
  
I can remember growing up, we always had Easter baskets and egg hunts.  When I was younger and still living near my Grandparents in Iowa, we would do egg hunts at my Gramma Foster's house.  I can remember my Uncle always hiding them up high so we would have a difficult time trying to find them.  Then, as I've grown and my siblings started having children of their own, we would do our egg hunts at my parents home and I would do the same thing as my Uncle.  You just can't make it too easy, you have to hide those eggs high off the ground!

Then there were always the Easter gifts.  Our baskets would be overflowing with candy, jelly beans, Peep marshmallow treats and always one special gift.  One year, when I was in about middle school, I remember getting the coolest outfit.  It was leggings with a long top.  Oh so fashionable I thought.  After our baskets, we would have cinnamon rolls and get ready to head to church.  And every Easter Sunday in our church, the choir would sing the Hallelujah Chorus.  It was beautiful and magical.

The Easter lilies would be adorning the front of the sanctuary and it was just such a majestic morning of remembering Christ has risen!  And as I've gotten older and begun my own Easter traditions in my home, I've tried to incorporate a lot of the memories from growing up.

The Easter story just represents such love and sacrifice that it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.  It represents the most perfect restoration given to God's people.  And it amazes me, even today, when I read the scriptures, how perfect God's plan was and how difficult that it must have been for Jesus knowing this was God's will.  

 In one of my Bibles from growing up, I have the Easter story highlighted.  It was the very first time I had ever highlighted anything in my Bible but I just felt that those words needed to stand out.  They were important.  The entire story is important.  It's the story of how we were saved by 3 nails and 1 cross.  I tend to go to Luke to read these scriptures because Luke was a Doctor so he gives such details.  And since it is Easter, I'm just going to share what I have highlighted in my Bible for you today.

Luke 23: 44-46- It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Luke 23:50-54- Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man,  who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God.  Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body.  Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.  It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

Luke 24: 1-8- 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 24:46-48- He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,  and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.

Jesus took on the sin of the world as an atoning sacrifice for you and for me.  We are promised eternal salvation WITH him in heaven.  God loved us so much that he gave his only Son so that we may be found righteous.  Friends, THAT is what Easter is about.  We need to remember, bunnies and eggs are fun but the true meaning of Easter is about the Lamb.

Far too often we allow holidays to become "hallmarky" and lose the true meaning of what we are supposed to be celebrating.  Don't get me wrong, I love a good egg hunt with the kids but we also need to stop and make sure we are sharing the true story of Easter with those same kids. 

Jesus has Risen!  And he now sits at the right hand of God reigning over all the earth and one day He will come again and it will be glorious.  He will gather up His children and bring us to where He is and we will be reunited with all those who have gone before us.  Oh what a promise we have from our Lord! 

I urge you, if you haven't sat down with your Bible recently and spent time reading through the story of Jesus'  sacrifice on the cross, do it this Easter.  Sit in the Word of God, soak it in.  And I can tell you, you will never look at Easter the same.  

Jesus was the perfect Lamb who provided a way of restoration for His people.  What greater love is there?  Quintessential Restoration- perfect restoration.  Jesus, the Lamb of God, perfect and blameless took on our sin because we couldn't.  May you and yours see the true light of Christ this Easter and remember the sacrifice He made so that you may be perfectly restored. 

  Happy Easter.