Countdown to the Cross and Open Grave! (Lent 2019)

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I love the Lenten season! 🙂

Passover (some call it ‘Easter’) is the most important event in our world history, and yet it can sneak up on us. We often spend so much time focusing on Christmas, that we forget Part 2, …the dying to self-part and receiving new life in Christ! Christmas is receiving God’s gift under the tree and Passover / Easter is opening it!

It is a season, not just a week or a day, and it all starts on a Wednesday. The countdown to Easter Sunday is called “Lent” referring to a lengthening of days as the days get longer with Springtime! Lent is a time that we remember to die to our selfishness, and to choose to live free in Christ!

This year I look forward to using the daily verses (see Year C below) and the Divine Reading template. Come and allow Jesus to bring you new life through these daily readings…

1. List of Scriptures – Year C – Lent : Revised Common Lectionary

2. Your Guide – Reflective Reading Template (Lectio Divina) 

What He Went Through For You

I was again thinking about how Isaiah prophesied about Jesus 500 years before He came. I read this passage again…

What I love about this passage below is how descriptive it is in how Jesus understands our deepest pain. Plus He willingly went through pain for us to defeat the bondage of sin and death. He truly loves and understands us…

ISAIAH 53:1-12 CEV
“Has anyone believed us or seen the mighty power of the [Lord] in action? Like a young plant or a root that sprouts in dry ground, the servant grew up obeying the [Lord]. He wasn’t some handsome king. Nothing about the way he looked made him attractive to us. He was hated and rejected; his life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering. No one wanted to look at him. We despised him and said, “He is a nobody!”

He suffered and endured great pain for us, but we thought his suffering was punishment from God. He was wounded and crushed because of our sins; by taking our punishment, he made us completely well.

All of us were like sheep that had wandered off. We had each gone our own way, but the [Lord] gave him the punishment we deserved. He was painfully abused, but he did not complain. He was silent like a lamb being led to the butcher, as quiet as a sheep having its wool cut off. He was condemned to death without a fair trial.

Who could have imagined what would happen to him? His life was taken away because of the sinful things my people had done. He wasn’t dishonest or violent, but he was buried in a tomb among cruel, rich people.

The [Lord] decided his servant would suffer as a sacrifice to take away the sin and guilt of others. Now the servant will live to see his own descendants. He did everything the [Lord] had planned. By suffering, the servant will learn the true meaning of obeying the [Lord].

Although he is innocent, he will take the punishment for the sins of others, so that many of them will no longer be guilty. The [Lord] will reward him with honor and power for sacrificing his life. Others thought he was a sinner, but he suffered for our sins and asked God to forgive us.”

It so amazing what He chose to do for you and I.