As the Spring arrived this year, I watched as the new growth literally exploded from the ground. I began to think about the trees, which had looked so dead, but which were now budding and bringing forth blossoms, leaves and eventually fruit. I thought about the flowers which would bloom and grass which would grow. . . and grow. . . and grow. The ground had been holding life all winter just waiting for the promised moment. I began to think about how impossible it would be to hold back the Spring. You could chop down trees, but their stumps would sprout. You could dig up flowers, but their seeds would grow. You could plow the ground, but the grass and vegetation would come back. You could even drop a nuclear bomb, but it could not stop the Spring. It’s impossible. Life would be popping out all over. It was the same with the resurrection of Jesus. Death could not keep its grip on him. He exploded from the grave full of life, and his life was life-giving. The life in Jesus that lifted him from the grave now lives in us who know him — so it is impossible for death to keep its hold on us as well. Nothing can keep us in the ground. The Bible says, “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed — in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Thanks be to God