On the morning of my youngest daughter’s birthday, I woke up early and joined her where she slept to wish her happy birthday and tell her how much I loved her. Her name is Samara Cahlyn and the meaning of her names are: Samara – sweet lion, Cahlyn – bride.

I was explaining about how believers in Jesus are part of the bride of Christ and told her about Adam & Eve to illustrate. She asked how we are to believe. A good question! So I spoke about the fall and the promise of the ‘seed of the woman’ in Genesis 3, and the way God dealt with sin in the sacrificial system.

I found myself talking about Jesus being the Lamb of God and the lambs that were sacrificed at Passover in Egypt.

The Bible talks about life being in the blood, so when they daubed the blood on the doorways of their houses, the angel of death could see that death had already visited those houses - the sacrifice of a lamb’s life had already been made - so the angel passed over.

And so we ended up at the cross with the Lamb of God being sacrificed in our place, taking on our sins, and paying the price for our iniquity. “And didn’t they put Him in a tomb?” she said as she joined the dots to what she knows. “Yes, but because His sacrifice was accepted, He rose again, so that we can have eternal life.”

The next thing, her friend’s family who stay with us were leaving for school and work, so she ran out to see them off and I could hear them singing ‘Happy birthday’. 

It was good to tell the Passover story again and I remembered that early on that first day of the week, our Lord “woke up” and appeared to us, to join us where we “slept” and tell us how much He loves us. The day we believe, is the day we receive the gift of our new birth.

I hope you’ve received your gift…

By Alan Webster