Springtime

Everything is waking up--even the weeds look happy!
Outside in a bucket sit four trees ready to be planted.
Sunshine spills over everything and it is a great time to
be alive!

So many things happen in scripture in the spring. I
started counting this afternoon and am amazed at how
the word, redemption, shines out so clearly.

Since the shepherds would not be watching their sheep
in winter, there is a good chance that Jesus was born in
the spring around Passover, and the shepherds were
watching over the lambs headed for sacrifice.
(However, there is also evidence that He may have
been born in the fall.)

Speaking of Passover, it is connected to the time that
Moses led his people out of bondage in Egypt. God
told the Israelites to pick a lamb four days early so
it could be inspected. That was enough time to
become a family pet and you can be sure that the
children named their lamb! Each family killed a lamb
whose blood was needed to protect that family from
the Angel of Death. The blood was their redemption.

And so it is that Jesus, The Lamb of God, was slain
about the time the Passover Lambs were sacrificed.
His blood became our redemption from sin so that
we might be reconciled to God.

Reader, do not quickly pass over this. It was a hard
post for me to write. So much blood in the spring
season when life is exploding. And yet, out of the
bloody mess comes LIFE!

I have not finished with the subject of redemption!