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Spring has always been my favorite season. Just a couple of weeks ago I was happily surprised to see beautiful flowers had grown from the forgotten bulbs I’d planted last year. With cheerful color, the flowers that bloom and sprout from bulbs as we near Easter’s celebration, seem to echo God’s joyous reward for our hope. Reward that comes after months, or years, of a wintery cold season. And like the sorrow and pain of thousands who witnessed Jesus being crucified, that cold winter of disappointment must’ve pierced their hearts. But the resurrection of Jesus became an unexpected Springtime joy when He rose from the soil of death three days later. 

Isn’t it amazing how Spring seems to miraculously coincide with God’s timely and universal plan of redemption for mankind? And every time it arrives we feel like all the wintery months that preceded it were worth the wait. As I reflected on this astonishing “coincidence of nature”, I thought about a story I wrote about in my book “Fresh Eyes: Seeing God in the Unexpected.” So thought you might enjoy reading part of it here today. 

BUT FOR THE JOY

“While on my usual morning walk, something caught my eye. It was a tiny palm tree growing most amazingly through the black asphalt of our street. The little seedling was barely 3 inches high. As impressive as its fortitude was, the shadow it cast was larger and more interesting because of its shape— a cross. The irony struck immediately with clear prophetic meaning.” 

The pint-sized plant seemed to be forecasting a reminder and fate from the past. It stood proudly proclaiming the former glory of its use on a particular day of celebration— the Triumphal entry of the King and Messiah into Jerusalem. Its baby leaves stretched towards the sunlight like the loving arms of our Lord and their shadow predicting the coming crucifixion. It almost seemed that it was doing its best to compensate (in a small way) for the turn-about. What had begun as a joyous celebration and laying of palm branches, as a carpet for the coming king, had so quickly turned to condemnation, cursing and hanging on a tree. 

“…Seeing the enduring strength of this baby plant that had triumphed over the stubborn hardness of asphalt spoke to my soul. Its victory over struggle, beautifully modeled some of the pain, suffering and resistance Jesus experienced prior to the cross.”

“Jesus tried to warn his friends about his coming death… He knew His time was drawing near and soon He would face the ultimate enemy-death. Hundreds of years before Jesus the Christ came to earth, another prophet foretold of the messiah in a similar way.  Isaiah 53 most notably prophesied the Messiah as one who “grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.  ……He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering….Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted…. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”

Wow! I thought as I re-read this story. Then I reflected on an account I read just days ago about how Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday as we call it), was foretold with uncanny accuracy thousands of years before that day. The article said that on the Jewish calendar, the day of preparation for Passover when Jewish households were to select a lamb for an offering, was called “Nisan 10,” It was also referred to in Exodus 12:3. We know from other scripture that the week leading up to Jesus’s Crucifixion was during the preparation for Passover too. The article went on to tell that according to the Chronological Aspects in a study done by Dr. Harold Hoehner, Daniel 9:25 predicted that Messiah would be presented to Israel as the Messiah King 483 years after the period of Artaxerxes’ decree to rebuild Jerusalem. And that day was on March 30, AD 33 (Nisan 10). So the prediction of Jesus triumphant entry when palm branches were laid down at the feet of the donkey he rode on, was exactly right in to the day, (483 years) as it was predicted to be.

Take a few minutes this week to read all of Isaiah’s words of great prophesy alongside the Calvary story and be prepared for God’s amazing foreshadowing of redemption and grace.  I pray you will have a blessed Easter and your eyes will be open to see God’s blossoming miracles.

#Easter #Hope #PalmSunday #Spring #blooms #bulbs #flowers #Messiah #redemption #prophecy #Passover #triumphantentry