Springtime!
What a glorious season of the year!
If I had a favorite season, this would be it. The sudden appearance of flowering trees in
brilliant profusion against a backdrop of still-grey wooded areas is an
incredibly amazing and beautiful contrast.
Life, springing forth from seemingly dead branches, appears everywhere. Within just a couple of weeks even the
backdrop turns into a waving sea of green, and more flowering trees and shrubs
of every color and description populate the landscape.
As I have written before (see Patterns), I am convinced that much of what we see on earth is a mere copy of greater things in Heaven, temporal representations of eternal realities. To me springtime is intended to send us a message of hope of the glory to come for all those who trust in Christ. Just as He rose on the third day and overcame death, so out of seeming death and hopelessness springtime emerges with new life. And if you had never seen spring before, you would say, not just new, but radically different, life.
When we trust our lives to Jesus, accepting the gift of His salvation, we become, as the Apostle Paul wrote, “a new creation…the old things passed away…new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB). And not only that, but we also receive the Holy Spirit as a pledge or, as it were, a down payment for the future inheritance we will receive in glory (see Ephesians 1: 13,14).
But this is just the beginning of the newness God has planned for us. Listen as Paul explains the full scenario: “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.“
Paul points out that even though all creation was put under a curse when man fell, disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, it’s as though creation itself began yearning to be released from bondage to constant corruption.
But Paul continues, “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved” (Romans 8:20-24a, NLT).
Lest we become too enamored with the beauty that is in this world and forget from where we have fallen, the Lord has allowed us many reminders of the brokenness of creation. Yes, patterned after heavenly realities, but inferior and weak copies at best, imperfect and subject to corruption.
For example, looking out of my office window, I have a grand view of many majestic oak trees on our street, probably 50 or 60 years old. Yet, in the foreground I can also see some dead limbs in trees in my own yard. Then, across the street a tree has areas in the top where the new green already looks thinner and brownish. Not good. Probably canker worms. They like to devour the tender young leaves and can eventually kill these giant trees.
And finally, I know that just as surely as springtime comes, so also another winter is on its way that will bring all this newness and fresh beauty to an end.
As I have written before (see Patterns), I am convinced that much of what we see on earth is a mere copy of greater things in Heaven, temporal representations of eternal realities. To me springtime is intended to send us a message of hope of the glory to come for all those who trust in Christ. Just as He rose on the third day and overcame death, so out of seeming death and hopelessness springtime emerges with new life. And if you had never seen spring before, you would say, not just new, but radically different, life.
When we trust our lives to Jesus, accepting the gift of His salvation, we become, as the Apostle Paul wrote, “a new creation…the old things passed away…new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB). And not only that, but we also receive the Holy Spirit as a pledge or, as it were, a down payment for the future inheritance we will receive in glory (see Ephesians 1: 13,14).
But this is just the beginning of the newness God has planned for us. Listen as Paul explains the full scenario: “Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.“
Paul points out that even though all creation was put under a curse when man fell, disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, it’s as though creation itself began yearning to be released from bondage to constant corruption.
But Paul continues, “And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved” (Romans 8:20-24a, NLT).
Lest we become too enamored with the beauty that is in this world and forget from where we have fallen, the Lord has allowed us many reminders of the brokenness of creation. Yes, patterned after heavenly realities, but inferior and weak copies at best, imperfect and subject to corruption.
For example, looking out of my office window, I have a grand view of many majestic oak trees on our street, probably 50 or 60 years old. Yet, in the foreground I can also see some dead limbs in trees in my own yard. Then, across the street a tree has areas in the top where the new green already looks thinner and brownish. Not good. Probably canker worms. They like to devour the tender young leaves and can eventually kill these giant trees.
And finally, I know that just as surely as springtime comes, so also another winter is on its way that will bring all this newness and fresh beauty to an end.
Thankfully, in Christ we have a sure hope for that eternal springtime when all creation is set free from corruption and we receive our new, everlasting bodies. We know that He is preparing this for all those who believe in Him. He gave us His word.
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