Easter explained…

When you think of Easter what comes to mind? Is it the cross of calvary or is it the brightly colored eggs that adorn the store shelves as we walk through while we shop?

For many people the Easter bunny arrives to bring eggs filled with candy for children to find throughout the house and the yard, a time for families to get together. Big business as turned the most important event in human history into a commercial event to push people to forget the true meaning behind Easter and more so focus on something that has no relevance. Which makes us ask the following questions.

What is Good Friday?

Good Friday is the day preceding Easter Sunday. This was the day that Jesus was crucified. It had been predicted that a Messiah or Savior of the world was to come and die for the sins of mankind. As is written:

Isaiah 50:6 says, “I offered my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not hide my face from mockery and spitting.”

In John 3:15-16 it states

¹⁵ that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Many people fast and pray this day in remembrance of the death of Christ, but why is it good when this is the day that Jesus had to hang on a cross and suffer?

Jesus who came sinless came to die for us to pay for our sins and bridge the gap between us and God. It’s called “Good Friday” because it reminds us of a compassionate God who desired to have relationship with us. He came in human form to die for us in one of the most painful ways so that He could be with us.

Why is it called Easter?

On a side note, many people wonder where the word Easter came from.

Well, the word Easter is rooted in pagan mythology:

“English word “Easter” comes from Eostre, or Eostrae, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility.” (1)

Which is also why rabbits are a symbol during Easter as a representation of fertility and Easter also falls in the spring time.

So now you have the answer to a question that has probably always been on your mind, lets get back to why we celebrate Easter.

Why do we celebrate Easter Sunday if we have acknowledged Jesus’s death on Good Friday?

Well, we know that Jesus died on Good Friday to save us from our sins and establish a new relationship between us and God.

The story didn’t end there, in fact that was just the beginning. Three days later on Sunday He rose again, as is predicted in

Psalm 16: 9-11

“Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
¹⁰because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful^[^b^] one see decay.
¹¹You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

We celebrate Jesus’ death and resurrection the most historical event in human history and the very reason we have Christianity for this is the weekend in which humanity was given the opportunity to be saved from their sins and from eternal separation from God.