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Why Christians get so excited about Easter

Dr. French O'Shields

Alma and I went into our front yard several times between 9 p.m. and midnight. Yes, this was a bit unusual, but it was Feb. 20, 2008, and something special was happening. We were watching the progressive stages of the total eclipse of the moon. It was not necessary to guess when to go. The media was able to tell us the exact time of the beginning, stages, and end of the eclipse.

Wow! That was awesome to see. This opportunity does not occur frequently but only when the sun, moon and earth are in perfect alignment to cast the shadow of the earth on the moon. The earth's shadow had a copper tinge which scientists tell us is caused by the sunrises and sunsets occurring on the earth. So precise are the paths and timing of the heavenly bodies that scientists know years in advance when the next full eclipse will occur: Dec. 21, 2010.

How any person can view such an event as this, or the grandeur of the mountains, the surging waves and sounds of the ocean, or the colorlessness of Winter burst forth annually into the miraculous colors of Spring, and believe all of this just "evolved" is beyond me.

Interesting note. Partially due to the influence of "political correctness," "God created" is now referred to by many as "intellectual design." Equally incredulous as evolution is the belief that anyone but God possesses the intelligence to design such a world as we know ours to be. What person or force other than a Sovereign God could design and create a world that operates so precisely that the high and low tides of the oceans and the positions of the heavenly bodies are perfectly timed and known decades in advance? The opening words of the Bible, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) are by far a more plausible explanation than any theories proposed by scientists.

As I walked along the beach early one morning enjoying the wonder of a beautiful sunrise as it emerged out of the ocean, I passed two ladies enthralled with the same scene. One said to me, "Isn't that beautiful? If God can create anything that awesome, just imagine how awesome the Creator is."

She had it right. So did King David when he wrote around 1,000 years before Christ: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth His handiwork" (Psalm 19:1).

Yes, the creation always reveals much about the creator. This is true humanly also. By the music one writes, you learn much about the song writer. From their art, you discover much about the artist. By their writings, much is revealed about the writer's person and personality.

Though the created may reveal much about the creator, it still falls short of a personal living relationship with them. As much as I listen to and am blessed by the music created by Bill and Gloria Gaither, I have never received a Christmas card or a telephone call from them. I particularly enjoy reading books by presidents of the United States and have seen and shook hands with a couple, but I have never been invited to a meal in the family quarters of the White House or spent the night in the Lincoln bedroom. Are you surprised? Of course not! Even though one may have knowledge of a person through their life or works, it is different and less than a personal living relationship with them.

The same is true with God. The inherent longing of the human heart is to "know" God. God through His creation has revealed much about Himself, but it is not adequate for a personal relationship with Him. One can never really "know" God looking through a telescope, microscope or observing the most fantastic scenes nature provides. Still the desire to "know" God is so strong, people can often create their own god and worship all sorts of persons, animals or objects.

There is only one way to ever really "know" God and that is by having a personal encounter and a living personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. Nothing short of this ever satisfies the longing of any human's innermost being.

There is GOOD NEWS!!! Such a relationship as this is available and offered to everyone from the most decent person to the vilest sinner. It is established by receiving and trusting in Jesus Christ as personal Saviour and Lord.

Wait! That is not all. There is more GOOD NEWS. Though it is impossible to have a living personal relationship with a dead person, God's Son, Jesus Christ, though crucified, dead, and buried for our sins, is not dead. HE IS ALIVE!!!

This is the vibrant unchanging message of Easter. HE IS ALIVE!!!!! The Sovereign God raised Him from the dead so that each of us can have the opportunity to live with, in and by Him eternally. And that, my friends, is why Christians get so very excited about Easter.

(Dr. French O'Shields is a Gaffney native and a retired Presbyterian minister.)