"When in April the sweet showers fall

And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all

The veins are bathed in liquor of such power

To bring about the engendering of the flower"

Spring is here!

The opening of Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, familiar to all students of English, captures the delight of an English Spring. This lovely, hopeful period of the year has inspired poets and artists of every generation – Wordsworth's daffodils, Gerard Manley Hopkins's celebration of the season - Nothing is so beautiful as spring. When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush.

March can be a tricky month, and April too - T S Eliot in the Wasteland observed that "April is the cruellest month", but surely no human heart can fail to be moved by the return of life to nature, the spring flowers bursting forth, the trees leafing up to that delicate variety of hues that will never be repeated during the rest of the year, with the promise of the warmer days to come.

Chaucer's pilgrims, telling their tales, were travelling to Canterbury in the springtime of the year to pay their respects to the memory of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered for opposing the restrictions of King Henry II on the rights and privileges of the church. But the Jesuit poet Hopkins' "Nothing is so beautiful as spring" was a heartfelt outpouring of regret at the Fall in Eden and the mess mankind has made of this fair earth ever since.

The Song of Solomon

Neither Chaucer nor Hopkins though, gets anywhere near the simple and sublime beauty of the Word of God in the Song of Solomon – chapter 2:11-12 "For behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land."

The Song of Solomon is a celebration of the love of God for His people, for those who worship the Creator, who love his Word. The Song also looks forward to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will establish God's just and righteous Kingdom on earth – when it will be like the most glorious and perfect spring day.

A world in turmoil

But today, wherever we look, the world is in turmoil. The Middle East - Syria, Iran, Iraq, the Gulf States at odds with each other, Europe coping with the influx of migrants and asylum seekers from sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb, Russia turning in on itself, becoming increasingly bellicose against the West. Add to this the reality of global warming, rising seas levels and the degradation of our vital forests, which are struggling to maintain vital oxygen levels. Not to mention the rising level of crime world-wide...hard to see any sign of good news anywhere today.

The Good News of the coming Kingdom of God

In the Bible we find really Good News – the return of Jesus and the establishment of God's Kingdom on earth. Not long before his crucifixion, Jesus's disciples asked when they should expect the Kingdom to come. He told them that first there would be "great distress upon the earth (Luke 21:23) ...nations in perplexity...the sea and the waves roaring" (v25) – a vivid evocation of just the kind of world we live it. When you see all this, Jesus said "your redemption is drawing near"(v28).

He likens these events, dark though they are, to Spring, the harbinger of Summer – "look at the fig tree he says, and all the trees as soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near." (Luke 21:29-30)

So during this springtime, that loveliest of seasons, as you look about you in the gardens, parks and woodland, as nature comes to life, you can be assured that however dark and threatening the world seems now, God is in control – He says, "my words will not pass away" (v33). Good News indeed!

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What God has Done for Us

ALMOST every week we hear about someone who has run up huge bills on their credit cards or borrowed from loan sharks. As a result, they find themselves in great difficulties. Sadly, some of them take extreme measures, even suicide, to find a way out. Its inconceivable that anyone would be willing to cancel their debts.

Our Debt to God

However, The Bible describes our sin, which is our wrongdoing in God's eyes, as a debt that God is willing to wipe out. And this is despite the fact that it's our own fault that we've got into that mess in the first place. It's no use saying we aren't sinners, when what we mean is that we don't commit robbery or murder. Human opinions about what is a 'real sin' may alter, but God's doesn't. We all disobey God to some extent, which makes us sinners!– and therefore deserve the same sentence as the first people, Adam and Eve.God gave them one rule and stated the punishment for breaking that rule. Because they did what they wanted instead, God confirmed what would happen: In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return (Genesis 3:19). The result is that we have their same physical nature and so we too will die. But we don't die just because we are mortal. Like our first parents, we sin and therefore deserve to die. 'Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned' (Romans 5:12). But there is something we can do about it, although it is more accurate to say that God has done something about it, by offering us a way out.

Read more: Our Debt to God

Is there death after life?

It may seem a silly way round to ask this question but this is deliberate. For it is very important to establish the Bible answer, as there are various views about what happens after life ends. Attend a few funeral services and you will get very confused indeed.

Poems of Comfort

There was not a dry eye in the room. Adam's widow had just read a poem at his funeral service. It started:

"Don't cry for me now I have died, For I'm still here: I'm by your side, My body's gone but my soul is here, Please don't shed another tear"

and it ended with these words: "While I'm still there, I can't be dead." There are several such poems from which people derive great comfort. They express ideas like the deceased person being in the 'soft stars' rather than in the grave; that their 'loving arms will hold you, when we meet again' and that they 'comfort and stay with us, through each of our days'. In fact, many people, whether religious or not, believe that something of us lives on after the end of this life.

Bible Teaching

The Bible, a message from God, the Creator of all life, presents
a radically different picture.: 'The living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing' (Ecclesiastes 9:5) 'For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?' (Psalm 6:5); 'The dead do not praise the Lord, nor any who go down into silence' (Psalm 115:17); 'For Sheol cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth'(Isaiah 38:18).

Read more: Death after life