Spring is finally coming to us here at the Kilchoan Estate. After a long and unusually cold winter we are seeing the evidence of a new season beginning to unveil itself all around us.
The gardens seem to be waking up and embracing the promise of brighter and warmer days ahead as the thousands of spring bulbs which the gardeners so laboriously planted last year have emerged in all their glorious colours, the sound of bird song fills the air as they begin preparing their nests for the laying of their eggs and any day now the new lambs will be born to the sheep on the surrounding hills.
New life is appearing everywhere here and as we enter the Easter season the significance of it’s message seems to be gloriously reflected in creation itself.
Easter is the time when we remember the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and celebrate His resurrection. It is a time when we can reflect on the meaning of this historical event and understand something of it’s impact on our lives today.
Like the passing of winter into spring, Christ came into this world with the promise of new life for all who would receive Him. The bible refers to Jesus as:
“the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” John 1:29
For hundreds of years before Jesus, lambs had been brought to the temple to be offered up as sacrifices for sin, the innocent offered for the guilty.
At Easter we remember that the Lord Jesus became that lamb for us all, that although He was innocent, He was hung on a cross, given as the sacrifice for our sins so that we could be forgiven, we remember that He died there and was buried in a tomb.
But we do not mourn His death, instead at Easter we celebrate, for like those spring bulbs, which were placed into the ground seemingly dead, He burst forth from the grave with new life! He rose with a message of hope, that all who would believe in Him would not perish but would share in that glorious new eternal life.
Here on the Kilchoan Estate we are surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation, and as the season changes and winter turns into spring with the promise of the summer to come I am reminded of a quote by Martin Luther that says;
“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
As we revel in the new life that is appearing all around us at this time, let us also reflect upon the promise of life that Christ offers us, let us remember that Easter brings a message of great hope, that the grave is empty and life has overcome death because He is risen!