Easter Reflections

Texas Instruments is a great company to work for. How many other companies allow their employees to conduct an Easter worship service on site during lunch time? I have an opportunity to share a testimony at this event later today and while I’ll not say all of this, the following is what I have in mind…

When I was asked if I’d like to share a testimony, I felt compelled to do so because the way the Lord open my heart to Him is particularly relevant for today.

There are a lot of disturbing trends going on in the world today related to the culture, environment, economy and politics. God used my being perplexed about the end of the super power stand off between the US and Soviet Union to bring me to Jesus. There are even more compelling reasons today to recognize that ancient prophecies are on the verge of being fulfilled. The prophecies that have been fulfilled confirm that the Bible has to be from God because only He can declare the end from the beginning since He is outside the confines of time.

We are celebrating Easter so consider the crucifixion of Jesus. Crucifixion was invented by the Persians, used by the Greeks, but perfected by the Romans. 500 years before crucifixion was even invented, King David of Israel was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write about how the coming Messiah would die…

Psalm 22:14-18 says, “I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; you have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.”

This prophecy was fulfilled a thousand years later when Jesus died on the cross. In fact, all the details were literally fulfilled… Matthew 27:35 says, “Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet.”

Psalm 16:10 prophesied that the Messiah would be resurrected from the dead, “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” And indeed that is what happened. Matthew 28:6 comments on the empty tomb of Jesus saying, “He is not here; for He is risen.”

There are many other prophecies about the Messiah such as the fact that He would be miraculously born of a virgin, where He would be born, and what His genealogy would be. All the Messianic prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus.

The Bible also has many prophecies that have been or are in the process of being fulfilled especially related to the nation of Israel. For example, Ezekiel 36:24 says, “I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.” This is pretty incredible when you consider that Israel ceased to be a nation in 70 A.D. being dispersed throughout the world then became a nation again in 1948.

In the 1800+ years of the Hebrew Diaspora, the language of the Jews had all disappeared from common use. But the 20th Century has seen a restoration of the Hebrew language as prophesied in Zephaniah 3:9 which says, “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language.” This is unprecedented in history, lost languages do not just re-emerge.

And look at the prophecy in Zechariah 12:3: “it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.” Jerusalem is always in the news because it is the original epicenter of the world war on terrorism and the most difficult nut to crack in terms of world peace. The conventional wisdom is that if mankind can bring peace to the Mid-East, there is nothing preventing peace worldwide. It grieves me that the U.S. now appears to be among the nations ostracizing Israel over Jerusalem… but that must happen eventually because Scripture says it will.

Zechariah 12:5 prophecies that in the time-frame prior to the return of the Messiah, Israel would be governed by a democracy. Today, they are the only true democracy in the Mid-East. The jury is still out on Iraq. Zechariah 12:6 says that in the time-frame prior to the return of the Messiah, Israel would be victorious in battle against all countries coming against them. We have seen this in every war they have had since 1948.

There are also prophecies being fulfilled today in the culture, environment, economy, and politics. This blog is intended to help others consider current events from a biblical perspective.

I’d like to close with a prayer…

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for TI & the opportunity to have this worship service.

We thank you for the privilege of working for a company that is so well known for its high ethics. We know that is because of your principles that are applied here. And we pray that exceptional ethics will continue to be a shining characteristic of TI.

We pray that TI will be successful in bringing products to market that our customers need on a timely basis. Help us to make continual improvements in quality and reduce costs. Help us to be better at making the right customer commitments so that we can be more consistent in surpassing expectations.

We pray that TI will continue to be a strong growing company even in the midst of these uncertain economic times. We pray for our government that they would act with your wisdom; and we pray for more people in this country to turn to Jesus for salvation so that they would not suffer the consequences of living apart from you. Thank you for being our source of strength in these uncertain times; please help others see Christ in us.

Please help us be good stewards of the jobs that you have blessed us with. Please help us to be walking testimonies of Jesus in all that we do. Please help us to be exceptional workers so that our coworkers will be attracted to Jesus as the source of our motivation.

Thank you for everyone who participated today; please help us to see you working in our lives here at TI.

Lord, all these things we ask in Jesus’ name; Amen.