Remember those connect-the-dots pictures that you drew as a child? The Bible is like that: Connect certain passages in the right sequence, and you reveal a hidden picture, a spiritual truth, a mystery of God. There are thousands of pictures between its covers. Here’s a favorite of mine.

1. Romans 5:8: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

That’s pretty extreme—dying for us. Why would Jesus do that?

2. Isaiah 53:6: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way.”

In other words…

3. Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Okay, so we’re not perfect. Why is that such a problem?

4. Isaiah 59:2: “Your [sins] have separated you from your God.”

But the good news is...

5. 1 Peter 3:18: “Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us [back] to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit”—meaning He rose from the dead.

Good for Him, but what good does His rising from the dead do for us?

6. John 11:25: “I [Jesus] am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.”

In other words…

7. John 14:19: “Because I live, you will live also.”

Which brings us back to our starting point—God loves us so much that He wants us to live in that love forever.

8. John 3:16: “For God so loved the world”—you and me—“that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Get the picture? That also happens to be the two-in-one theme of this issue—Jesus’ resurrection and our eternal salvation. And for a more detailed picture of what Jesus went through to make it all possible, connect the dots in “Feeding Reading—The Easter Story” (page 14). Happy Easter!

Keith Phillips

ForActivated