THE EASTER EFFECT | Revelation 5:(1-7) 8-14

I love spring!
 
The green, the increasing warmth, buds popping everywhere and rain instead of snow. Another thing I thoroughly enjoy is the chorus of birds greeting me as I head to work each morning. I walk out the door, thankfully not hearing the crunch of snow under my feet, but the sweet chirps from the trees above. It truly warms my spring soul.
 
Nature is once again declaring the “Easter Effect.” There is a new beginning. Here we go! For some reason, each spring brings me a sense of expectancy, a feeling that even in the midst of the world’s turmoil and brokenness, God’s ways will always prevail. Spring comes after winter, just as God planned. The trees and flowers that once looked dead, now will proclaim beautifully the glory of their creator just by being what God created them to be. I find myself naturally joining in with David’s words in the 19th Psalm.
 
1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.
 
Isn’t nature an amazing declaration of God, His design and His power? As much as I enjoy nature, on its own it can never provide an answer for my greatest problems of sin and death. I need something more, something far more! This Sunday we continue our six-week series in the Revelation of John. This week we will be looking at the fifth chapter where the Lamb of God opens the scroll that makes Him worthy of all praise. This heavenly scene could be argued to be the real reason all of nature rejoices in the spring.
 
Jesus, the Lamb of God and the Lion of Judah, has opened the way to life for each of us. Because of Easter we are given a glimpse of heaven and the eternal this week as we consider Revelation 5. So, this spring I invite you to enjoy spring with me and everyone else, but I also invite you to consider the main thing to celebrate – Jesus has conquered sin and death once and for all. There is no power in heaven or on earth that can separate you from the love of God found in Jesus Christ (Romans 8).
 
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
    be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”
Revelation 5:13
 
In Christ,
Pastor Nick