What the Butterfly and the Resurrection Have in Common. It’s Not What You May Think.

In some ways, this is a tough post to write. I had the draft ready to go and then hesitated to publish it. I pray it helps make a difference in someone’s life.

It’s Not Just about New Life

Normally in the past when I have heard people use the butterfly to relate spiritual truths, it has been to compare the transformation that happens when the caterpillar becomes a butterfly to the change that happens when a person becomes a Believer or Follower of Jesus Christ. The Bible says that when a person becomes a Christian, he is a new creature.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

The butterfly is a beautiful illustration of this that God gave us.

I think it goes even further than this, though. The Bible tells us in Romans:

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Chapter 1, Verse 20)

In His creation, God gave us so much that points to Him. For those who don’t know Him or who have not been taught anything about Him, it is amazing and a testament to His love for man that He created the world in such a way that would cause people who are open to seek Him out.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 tells us:

He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Think about the intricacy and detail of the human body, the processes that happen within our bodies that keep us alive. I’m amazed that anyone could think that this all just evolved by chance, and honestly, I think it takes more faith to believe in that theory than in the idea that there is a Creator.

Beauty from … Anything!

But what do a butterfly and the resurrection have in common, aside from both representing new life and transformation? Think about what the resurrection meant to the followers of Jesus during His life. It had to be the most beautiful change they could have ever imagined possible.

They had just experienced the brutal death of Jesus. I’m sure in some ways they were in shock and trying to make sense of it after the things He had taught them. For the three days following His death prior to His resurrection, things must have seemed utterly hopeless.

There’s a song called Arise My Love, sung by Newsong, which says:

All Hell seemed to whisper, ‘Just forget Him, He’s dead,’ but the Father looked down to His Son and said, ‘Arise, My Love. Arise, My Love. The grave no longer has a hold on You. No more death sting. No more suffering. Arise. Arise, My Love.’

This is my favorite song this time of year. I love thinking about how, when all hope seemed totally and completely lost …. When Jesus’ followers must have begun wondering what in the world had gone on … how could they have believed so strongly the things Jesus had been teaching them, but then He was crucified like a criminal for … nothing? Then in the midst of their anguish, grief and questioning, they found that He had risen!

The Connection

And the connection I see between this and the butterfly is this.

That the power of God is so great,so far beyond our comprehension, that He can turn anything into something amazingly beautiful!

He takes a plain, ordinary caterpillar that none of us would give the time of day to, and turns it into a butterfly with colorful design that awes us.

He took the death of Jesus, which was, in my opinion, the ugliest, darkest “event” of all time … a person beaten to a point that He wasn’t even recognizable and crucified as a criminal, all based on lies and the evil intent of men … and turned it into Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, the way by which He intended all along to be the salvation for mankind, those who would believe and follow Him.

Not only that, through His death and the brutality of it, we know that no matter how bad our circumstances may be, Jesus understands what we are going through … He can empathize.

The Bible says:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses…. (Hebrews 4:15)

Why the Brutality in Jesus’ Death? Why All the Intense Pain and Suffering at All?

One of my favorite books, He Chose the Nails {affiliate link}, delves into this in a thought provoking way. The author, Max Lucado, poses the question of why did the death of Jesus require such brutality? It was absolutely horrific. Why?

It’s inconceivable to think that His death really had to be so violent? Until it is viewed through the lens of the Scripture above in Hebrews…. and then, it began to make sense to me.

You see, I personally have never experienced that type of brutality or violence, but I know people who have. And there are people who experience it every day, either as victims of crime or, more commonly, in their own homes by family members who are supposed to love and protect them.

I have heard, and can completely understand, that those who’ve experienced abuse have a hard time believing in a loving God, and certainly wonder how others can see Him as a kind and compassionate heavenly Father. If you have gone through something like that, my heart aches for you. I can only imagine the depth of pain and scars you carry.

I humbly ask you this … is it possible for you to open your mind and heart, even just the smallest amount, to the idea that God Himself came to earth to die for you, and not only that, He willingly suffered similarly … I believe because He wanted You to know that He knows what you have been through. He can relate. And he can empathize.

But why would he not stop that type of pain and suffering? people ask. It’s a good and valid question. If God is so all powerful and all loving, why? It’s probably one of the hardest of all faith questions.

The Conclusion I Have Reached

Here’s what I believe.

God gave man a will, an ability to make choices. We all likely learned from a pretty early age that there are consequences for every choice we make. If we choose wisely, the consequences are usually good. If we do not choose wisely, the consequences are generally not good.

People choose to sin, or go against the way God created things to be. And this is why there is suffering. It may seem like too simplistic of an answer, and granted, we could spend hours talking on this topic, but that is the best way to explain the whys that I’ve come to understand and grasp in my feeble attempts to comprehend things far beyond my finite mind and ability.

And believe me, there are many things I do not understand about faith, and probably never will on Earth. The Bible says that some things are mysteries:

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

Let me ask you this.

Would you want to follow a God you understood everything about? Where would the awe be? If I totally understand something, I give it no more thought. Figured that one out …. Next!

What about this? Let’s say God did stop all evil and suffering. What would that mean? Of course we’d have a perfect world with no suffering, but then it would mean we were all puppets.

Who would want to be a puppet?

Think back to the Garden of Eden when God set the boundary for Adam and Eve. He could have stopped sin right in its tracks then and there. No boundaries. I created you. You will always do what I say and there are never any choices.

But that was not what He did. He gave them the boundary, and they chose to go against it. And honestly, no one I know wants to give up their ability to make decisions in their life.

The Easter holiday presents a great opportunity to reflect on these types of things, as thoughts turn to the true meaning of Easter.

Do You Know Him in a Personal Way?

If you have never decided to follow Jesus, maybe you are thinking about it after reading through this. I would invite you to check out a much deeper explanation of what Jesus accomplished through His resurrection here: 2 Ways to Live. (There you can choose from a number of written versions of a presentation, or if you would rather watch the video right here, I’m sharing it just below.)

Take a Baby Step of Faith

He wants us to come to Him as children do, with a small step of faith, just trust Him with what we know right now. That’s what it’s really about, a decision to follow Him, coming to Him wherever you are, surrendering your life to Him, and then He grows your faith from there as you begin a personal relationship with Him through prayer and Bible study.

Our blog has been focused primarily on food the first three years. If you love food please check out the recipe series we did our first year, in an effort to tie our faith in with the food topic – Feast of the Ages. You will find some great appetizer/party type recipes in that series and an explanation of what we believe will one day be the real “Feast of the Ages” party of all parties.

We are currently in the process of expanding our blog focus to include faith and family topics. So this is just one of many posts to come on these topics. Feel free to leave a comment below or contact us here if you have questions or if you made a faith decision as a result of this post.

We would love to know and personally congratulate you and to know if there are any ways we can pray for you. We wish everyone a very happy Easter this year and hope you take time to reflect on and celebrate the Resurrection.

Also feel free to share in the comments below your favorite thing about the Easter holiday … we love hearing from our readers.