Even though Iowa is experiencing one of warmest winters since we have moved here in 1992, my husband and I still chose to go south to Missouri for a week in early March. After a seven-hour drive, we are seeing many more signs of early spring: more green grass, a few daffodils, and budding trees.
Signs of spring. Hmmm. I looked up an essay I had recently read in Jonathan Cahn’s “The Book of Mysteries.” As he often does, Mr. Cahn refers to Hebrew Scriptures. “Setav” is the word for winter, and it means “the season of hiding or the time of darkness.” “Nisan” is the name of the month in which spring arrives; “nisan” means “the beginning.”
On the church calendar, we are in the time of Lent. We celebrate Easter in the spring!
10 My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”
(Song of Solomon 2:10-13, NIV)
Winter is cold, barren, and dark. I believe that our modern way of living with all its perks—temperature control, reliable vehicles, and well-stocked grocery stores—keeps us from understanding why humankind has traditionally linked winter and death. “Setav” is a season to hide in sheltered places from deadly storms. We can only hope the food we have stored up holds out until spring. Winter is gray and gloomy, without warmth or sun, unrelenting in danger, a time over which we have no control. Winter is a season of darkness and death.
But spring comes after winter, just as God planned. The cold death has passed over us, and a new way of living begins. We turn our faces to the sun, we feel the raindrops, and buried seeds begin to sprout. Soon flowers will blossom; bushes and trees will bear fruit. Spring is the season of new life.
It was the month of Nisan that Jesus entered Jerusalem to die on the cross in payment for our sin. It was in Nisan the He defeated death and returned to life. And so it is in spring that we celebrate “new life in Christ.”
God established this pattern of winter turning into spring. It was and is a foreshadowing of redemption, the new life we are given because of the sacrifice, defeat of death, and return to life of our Savior Jesus Christ.
The bleakness of February and March can seem to last forever. Late winter storms, freezing night temperatures, and dirty slush and snow. We are so ready for sunshine and short sleeves. We want a new beginning.
But this gloomy picture of a deadly winter takeover does not have to be true for us spiritually—not if we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Like the witch in CS Lewis’ Narnia books, the world wants us to live our whole lives in winter without the presence of God. But because of His grace and plan for our salvation, we can live a life of new beginnings year-round—even throughout the winter. For those who believe, it is always spring.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)
Kathleen S Evenhouse 