Easter Greetings 2026

Dear Friends and Partners,

Forensic and familial. Have you ever thought of those words in the same sentence? Biblically

speaking, forensic points to our need to be declared righteous through our justification before

God through Christ’s righteousness becoming ours through faith. Familial points to the goal of

justification: adoption as God’s beloved children. These terms are distinct and seemingly

unfamiliar with one another, yet they capture the very heart of the Christian gospel. The Bible

begins and ends with God dwelling with man. This is God’s desire. We know this is true

because it is stated emphatically from the throne in Revelation 21:3 “Behold, the dwelling place

of God is with man.”

After the Fall in Genesis 3, a central question is, how can a holy God dwell with a sinful people?

God’s holiness is one of His greatest attributes, and it means among other things that dwelling

with Him is impossible from our side, precisely because our sin has made us impossible. How is

it possible for us to dwell with God again in peace and enjoy His presence when we are undone

by our sinful rebellion? How can a hostile people be reconciled to a holy God?

Consider three cataclysmic events in world history, captured in the Gospel of Mark. The first

cataclysmic event is the baptism of Jesus, God Incarnate, who entered our world in the flesh

and dwelt among us, our Immanuel. At his baptism, Jesus heard that reassuring voice from

above, “You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased.”(Mark 1:11) Our Lord Jesus is

reassured of a relationship no one else can enter into and then the Holy Spirit empowers him for

a mission no one else could accomplish. The second cataclysmic event is the transfiguration - a

concrete, verbal, and visible manifestation of who Jesus Christ is and what he came to do. Once

again, before predicting his suffering and death, Jesus heard that reassuring voice from

Heaven, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” (Mark 9:7) The third cataclysmic event is the

crucifixion, which changed the course of human history for all time. As Jesus hung on the cross

and was pierced for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, there was no reassuring

voice from above, just an agonized voice from below, “My God, my God; why have you forsaken

me?” (Mark 15:34). Jesus cried this cry so that we never have to. When Jesus cried, “It is

finished.”, the forensic work was done. We are now justified before God. The pathway to familial

(adoption) is now possible for all who repent and believe.

There may not have been a reassuring voice from above, but although Heaven was silent, it

wasn’t inactive. Here on earth, at the cross, payment was being made for our sins. And the

Father accepted Christ’s atoning sacrifice for our sake. How do we know? First of all, the temple

curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. There is a wonderful children’s book called, “The

Garden, The Curtain, and The Cross.” Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden and

God’s presence after they sinned. Two cherubim with swords were placed at the entrance to

guard it. Like a “Keep Out!” sign. In the temple, the Holy of Holies was covered by a curtain.

Two cherubim with swords were woven into the curtain, like a “Keep Out!” sign. As Jesus died,

God tore the curtain. The “Keep Out!” sign has been removed. In Isaiah 64:1, the prophet

prayed that God would rend the heavens and come down. Jesus answered this prayer through

his Incarnation. He came from heaven and opened a new and living way for us through his

body. And the heavens will never be closed again. Secondly, the resurrection was God’s “Yes”

to the atoning sacrifice of His Beloved Son. “We have confidence to enter the holy places by the

blood of Jesus, by the new and living way he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through

his flesh.” (Hebrews 10:19-20)

J.I. Packer pointed out that what Jesus accomplished on the cross was forensic: he did the

legal work of justifying a sinful people, before a holy God through his sacrifice. The forensic is

the pathway to the familial: now the Father can adopt us as His beloved children.

This is the whole point of the gospel—to rescue us and adopt us. So that God will be our God

and will be His people. God our Father will once again walk among us as he did with Adam in

the Garden. “For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new,

and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is

summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God. ‘Father’ is the Christian name for God.”

(JI Packer, Knowing God, p. 201.)

Our world is filled with events today which may at times seem cataclysmic. As war rages, the

earth quakes, famines continue, and evil abounds, the Cross of Christ stands firm as God’s

answer to the human predicament. It is His power and His Wisdom to rescue us and bring us

into His loving presence. One day we will be at home with our Father. And we will see Jesus

face to face. Oh, what a day that will be! Jesus’ prayer for us will be answered, “Father, I desire

that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you

have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17:24) If Jesus,

the Father's Beloved, prays that, you can be assured it will be answered! And you can be

assured that if you behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ by faith in this life, you will

indeed behold it by sight in the Age to Come.

Do the words forensic and familial belong in the same sentence? I believe they do. Precisely

because they are at the very heart of the message of the Cross of Christ. May these thoughts

fill you joy and wonder this Easter, and may the Fatherhood of God fill you with inexpressible

joy. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God;

and so we are.” (1 John 3:1)

Jesus Christ is Risen, just as he said!

Sean & Jenn

3 Timothy