Easter Traditions

IMG_5291Easter traditions…what are yours?

I remember many sunrise services out in the cold, watching the sun peak over the horizon.   Of course, a new dress was an important part of my Easter, growing up.  As was the Easter lunch, with carrot cake for dessert.  And I can’t forget the Easter Egg Hunt in the back yard.  Such great memories…family traditions they define who we are as a family.

As good as traditions are, can they become a problem?  Could there be a point when we are doing things for the sake of the traditions, but have lost sight of the real reason the tradition began?

As you celebrate Easter this year, don’t just enjoy the traditions, but consider the reason for the day.

Consider Jesus…

His life…By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:9-10

His death...But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.  Romans 5:8-9

His resurection…that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, as believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,  you will be saved, for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  Romans 10:9-10

His living today...Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also interecedes for us.  Romans 8:34

Living He loved me, dying He saved me

And buried He carried my sins far away

Rising He justified freely forever

One day He’s coming, oh, glorious day, oh, glorious day

Read more: CASTING CROWNS – GLORIOUS DAY LYRICS

 

PETRA: Safe in the Wilderness?

The Israel tour Terry and I went on offered a three day Petra Extension.  We didn’t know much (if anything) about Petra, but decided if we were going this far, we just as well see all we could.  So we signed up for Petra.

It took all day to travel by bus from Jerusalem down to Eliat, an Israeli city located along the Red Sea.  (Of course we stopped for snacks, lunch and sightseeing on the way.)  After crossing over into Jordan we spent the night in our hotel, before starting the two hour trip north to Petra.

“Petra is a vast, unique city, carved into the sheer rock face by the Nabataeans, an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked China, India and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece and Rome.”         visitjordan.com

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It was amazing to walk through the mountains of Petra, to see the homes carved in the stone.  We felt like explorers in an Indiana Jones movies. As we walked through the “city”, climbing up to check out the inside of the “buildings”.

All very interesting but what does all this have to do with Israel, you may ask.

It is believed at some time in the future the Jews will need to flee Jerusalem. Petra is a place in the wilderness that is big enough for a large number of people and designed for  people to live in.

Then the women (Israel) fled into the wliderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.  Revelation 12:6 

Israel’s “place” of refuge is not specified, but it could be Petra, in present-day Jordan: Zechariah identifies “Azal,” a place associated with Petra, as Israel’s refuge (see exposition on Zech. 14:1–5); Isaiah portrayed a triumphant Christ coming from Edom (see Isa. 63:1–6), of which Petra was the capital; Edom will be spared from the Antichrist (see Dan. 11:41), perhaps so that it can protect Israel.[1]

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[1] Willmington, H. L. (1997). Willmington’s Bible handbook (802). Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.