EASTER LILY!

  ‘Easter Lily’ photo by Serafima Lazarenk on Unsplash.

Happy Easter!!!  

Good Friday has passed.  Jesus died on the cross.  You would think He would have been forgotten!  That His historical influence would have ended with His death, but it didn’t.  ‘Something happened that caused His scattered followers to spread the word about Jesus again!   Within a couple months, there were thousands in and around Jerusalem that became his disciples. Within a couple centuries, there were hundreds of thousands in the Mediterranean region that called themselves “Christians” – or followers of Jesus Christ.  In 325 AD, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Emperor Constantine. Within 500 years, Greek temples to pagan gods were being converted to Christian churches all over the Roman world.  What could have happened to cause such a powerful movement in the name of one simple man?’  Randall Niles, Drive Thru History.

HE ROSE FROM THE DEAD!!!!

The Easter Lily pictured above tells the story!  The bulb of the flower is buried in the ground and represents the tomb of Jesus.  The lily bursts forth from the buried bulb like Jesus did from the tomb!  The flower’s ivory white petals represent His purity and the joy of His resurrection.  Their shape like angel Gabriel’s trumpet announcing HE HAS RISEN!  The Easter Lily’s sweet and intoxicating fragrance like ‘the pleasing aroma of Christ’ brings us renewed hope and joy!

What is interesting is the Easter Lily has a dark side.  It is extremely toxic to cats…one nibble of any part of the plant and you better take your cat to the emergency room!  This lily has the power of life and death within it.  

The Apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that the disciples ministry is ‘the spreading of the aroma of the knowledge of Jesus everywhere’ and that ‘they are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.  To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life.’     

The knowledge of Jesus’, the Gospel, has a sweet aroma.  Everyone can smell it, but not everyone responds to it.  If it causes them to believe in Jesus, He who is ‘the resurrection and the life’ says, ‘The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.’  John 11:25-26.

BREATHE DEEP on this Easter day and remember the sweet aroma of the Easter Lily and the gospel.  Rejoice big time if you believe in Him, because He paid the high price for you on the cross and you will live forever!