The gospel: good news in the summertime!
Winter, the time when life freezes, when movement and activity halt. Generally speaking, winters are the time when it seems as if everything is dead. The bugs no longer buzz, animals hibernate, the trees are barren, the grass is brown, the bushes are naked, and some humans have seasonal depression. Wintertime is like death. Nothing grows, no crops, no fruit, no bounty comes from the earth. Life is suspended.
But, soon enough, a time comes in such a precious way when this harsh cold weather begins to warm. The kiss of spring! Melting away the death of winter. Look how everything is becoming resurrected again, the birds lay their eggs, tadpoles emerge, all kinds of animals after their kind reborn themselves during this vital awakening of the earth. Humans get a taste of summer, a taste of that warm, abundant life that motivates them and draws them outside to experience the fresh air, the smell of life.
And then, after the explosion of spring, we see life abundantly. The sunlight warms us and excites us, the bugs and all kinds of creeping life make their noise and movements, and animals can eat of all the fresh greenery arrayed all around us. Good news in the summertime! Do we see the gospel?
You see, ever since the fall, humanity has fallen into a great winter. A barren place where the sunlight does not shine as long, and does not have enough strength to produce any life. Your life, no matter how wonderful or blissful it may appear, is like winter. Sure, we can make igloos, go skiing, and make due with the winter, take our supplements of vitamin D3, but nothing can compare when you look outside on your day off and see pure blue skies, with a simmering sun, 80 degrees, a slight breeze, smell of flowers, the sound of birds, the beauty of life (sorry winter lovers)!
This was the heart of the Father when He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus declared to us,
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
In Christ is the real summer. You see, He is like the sun that tilts to the earth every so graciously to save it from its frozen state. Jesus Christ shifted a universal tilt of light and life the moment He rose from the dead, when He was physically raised to life. Now ascended above all things, His radiance shines greater than the sun and every cosmos, and He longs for His rays of light to shine into your heart.
Jesus Christ’s resurrection is God’s revelation to us: He is not about death. He is not about barrenness. He is about fruit, life, and all things living. Jesus is the Author of life. The Son of the Godhead, that being Christ, is the resemblance of all of creation. That is why we can find this gospel, hidden in all of creation, since this was God’s plan before the frames of the world to demonstrate His eternal riches and love that are in His Son.
As far as God is concerned about death is that He had His Son taste death for us all. Jesus Christ was the one who took on winter, took on the cold life of sinners that He would put to death the deadness of winter. Too many people believe in Christ’s death, but they don’t believe in His life. Christ is longing for us to experience His summertime in the spirit.
“Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear to Me and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live” (Isaiah 55:2-3).
Jesus Christ is the spiritual food, the bread of life, whose blood and flesh are real drink and real food. Come, dine with Him, and you will live the life of summer in your spirit!