God’s Diorama

During Holy Week, I am going into the archives.
This Whisper was originally published on April 7, 2012, with a few changes here.

 

I loved my Easter basket when I was young.
It wasn’t the jelly beans or robin’s eggs or even the chocolate bunnies that I enjoyed.
It was my precious egg.

I can see it now in my mind’s eye.
Small, yellow; it was the size of my hand.
Rough to the touch, with decorations that mimicked a real decorated egg.

This egg was special.
This egg had a window.
It had a small piece of plastic on one end that enabled me to look inside the egg.
Inside was a miniature world; a rabbit burrow with a family of rabbits.

I used to imagine I could go inside and live there.
Holding it up to the light allowed me to see clearly.
In the light, all the details were visible.

I have never come across such a diorama, but I would love to find one again.
I never knew what happened to mine.
Lost in the passages of time, I guess.

Can you imagine God’s diorama?
Instead of rabbit burrows, we see a tomb.

Inside the tomb, we see the body of our Lord Jesus.
The body that Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate to release to him.
The body he so carefully took down from the cross, washed, and wrapped in linen.
The body that he placed in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid.
The tomb, with the small opening, that required you stoop down to look inside.
The tomb that had a stone which fit into a groove so that it could be rolled into place on the downhill slope. (Luke 23:50-56)

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40)

There was no expectation of resurrection.
The women came to anoint the dead body of Jesus.
They rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.
Anyone looking into a diorama of the tomb would have seen death.

But death is only sleep.
The last enemy to be destroyed is death (1 Corinthians 15:26)
Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand. His enemies will be a footstool for His feet.
(Hebrews 1:13)

Can you imagine what you see when you look into God’s diorama on Easter morning?
Can you see the stirring…the awakening?
Can you see the strips of linen in their place, with the burial cloth folded up by itself, separate from the linen?
Can you see the two men with clothes gleaming like lightning?

Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here. He is risen. (Luke 24: 5, 6)

Can you see inside God’s diorama?
Look again…
It is empty.
He is alive.

4 responses to “God’s Diorama”

1. “Death is only sleep, the last enemy to be destroyed. He is not here, he has risen. The tomb is empty and he is alive!” Amen and amen! We celebrate our Risen Savior – thank you JESUS!!
   Wishing you a very blessed Resurrection Sunday with your family, Gina!

   Reply

   • Oh, thank you, Carolyn!
     The death of death!
     Amen and Alleluia!
     Have a Blessed Easter with your family.
     HE IS RISEN!

     Reply

2. Amen! Hallelujah! Maranatha!

   Reply

   • You said it best, Nancy!
     Amen and Amen!
     Gina

     Reply