Easter: The Reason for the Season

Today is good Friday, just 2 days ago my world was rocked when we welcomed little Jonah to this world. I just wanted to take a moment and testify about how marvelous God is. We often times think that our plans are suppose to align with Gods plan! But he always shows us, that despite our good intentions, they may not always be Gods intentions. We were expecting little Jonah, which we were suppose to name Malokai, 2 weeks ago Friday the 5th. However, after a false labor call we only met little Jonah several weeks later. I couldnt for the life of me figure out why this process was taking so long…why was my wife 2 weeks over due? Well, just when we least expected it, on Wednesday evening at around 9PM my wife started to feel her contractions. So she dialed her sister and we started scrambling to get ready to leave. Driving to the hospital, we were anxious to see what this night had in store for us. We pulled over at the hospital parking lot, we decided to reach out to God and ask him to bless this huge event in our life.

Shortly after we entered the hospital, we were met by a few nurses as they took us back to a room. During this time it was roughly 11 o’clock….or a few minutes till. As my wife started to get actual contractions around this time (not just braxton hicks) or mild contractions – we requested an epidural, we were informed that this process may take a little while, but they began the process (blood work, ordering, etc). Just then our mid-wife came in, she was on call. We asked the mid-wife where our epidural was….they said they were working on it. at 11:54pm my wife had announced that her water broke. As the nurses were scrambling to get pads and towels to clean the area, the mid-wife checked the progress, and her exact words were….”oh, theres his head…!” At 11:59 (20 seconds shy of the 18th of April), Jonah decided to come out into this world with a splash!

We welcomed the most beautiful, healthy, quiet, baby in the world! At that moment it was apparent that he was a Jonah…entering this world with a splash. And showing me and my wife that Gods plan is always better than our plan. We wanted this baby to be here weeks ago, but when God was ready he came out perfect in every way! In fact, we were even able to leave the hospital just 18 hours after the labor with a total labor time of under 2 hours. I had never in a million years expected this to go so well, but God is great and when we give him all the glory and praise, he blesses us.

We often times forget that we are not in control, God is in control. We try to plan everything so perfectly…and God always has to remind us, we are just a piece of the big puzzle that is coming together right in front of us.

Diving back into the subject, I wanted to discuss this wonderful Holiday that is widely celebrated by all Christians. EASTER.

So what is Easter? Well, for many Americans it has no significant value of any sort. For some it may mean candy and the Easter bunny. So why was this holiday faked to mean different things and what does it truly mean?

Well, Easter is the reason we as humans have the ability to talk to God. It is the reason we can have a personal relationship with Christ. In fact, during the days of Moses and Abraham, you had to be the anointed and appointed clergy or leader to speak with God. Only a selected few had that personal relationship with God.

And the only way you could come to God was through an animal sacrifice, that would be the only way God would forgive sins.

Abel, by his more excellent sacrifice, had “had witness borne to him that he was righteous” (Heb. 11:4).

Job offered burnt offerings for his children in the event that they had sinned (Job 1:5).

We can see in Leviticus;

“the priest shall burn [the sacrifice] upon the altar for a sweet savor unto Jehovah; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven”

So we see there was a very important process that needed to happen before you could come before God, and God more directly spoke through people like prophets – Moses and Elijah.

Basically, people were unable to talk to God unless it was through an appointed priest. And that priest would have a certain sacrament that would take place in order that we may be forgiven in front of God. These rituals cleansed us and essentially just paved the way of the ultimate sacrifice ( Jesus Christ).

So when Jesus came to earth, it was to become the ultimate sacrifice. In fact, his entire purpose was to die on this earth for all of man kind so we may be free of our curse that was created by Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden.

It was to free us from the wretched bondage of sin that dwells on this earth.

Many people think that Easter is just a time of remembrance, but its so much more. Easter is a time where Christ conquered sin! It was a time where Christ took the keys of this world away from Satan. Christ’s death was not just a symbol of forgiveness but it was the symbol of freedom! It was the pavement of the new foundation! The ultimate foundation! We could now through Christ overcome sin! We could now through the power of the Holy Spirit conquer temptation! Sin no longer has power over us! We can now become a new creation! Christ dying on the cross and rising in 3-days was Christs victory over death (both spiritual and physical)! He conquered that which holds us hostage on this earth (all the sins). We all know that we will have to exit this earth by a means of death, but we dont have to die. We can live forever. Our earthly death is just an entry point for us now. Its a destination. Not a means to an end. We now have purpose. Christ died to show us that we can live forever.

The precious gift of Christ was everything we needed to help us get into the afterlife. But what does this mean? Well this doesnt mean we are to keep it for ourselves. Gods gift to us was not for our selfish pleasures. It was to create a new life in us. As humans we are incapable of love. As humans we are incapable of anything good. We are a creation full of wicked desires. These desires may be of the flesh or of this world….but they are not of God. As humans we want to prosper and attain greatness! To grow financially, intellectually, in popularity….in attractiveness! We want people to love us, yet we are unlovable!

God came to earth in the form of a human, to remind us that he knows what we are going through, he knows the pain and the sorrows this life can bring! He came not as a great rich ruler but as a modest King! Not to rule but to serve. Not to condemn but to forgive.

Christ came to this earth to give us the ability to be able to love others…without Gods presence this word would destroy itself! Its the Holy Spirit that keeps the peace on this earth.

We must remember that the only way to the cross is often times through the cross.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matt 16)

To conquer one must be willing to sacrifice. We often times are not willing to give up a bad habit or a small sin, when God came to this world and gave his entire life just to give us the ability to conquer and have authority over sin.

Easter is the most important Holiday in a Christians life because its the root of our entire existence. If Christ had not come, we would have never been able to to connect with God directly. So dont take these moments for granted. A lot was a stake to create the opportunity. This means wherever and whenever you are….this means in your car driving home from work, in your room….or in a church. We can speak to God whenever we want. And guess what? If we believe in him he will send his Holy Spirit and give us the power that he promised us. The power that he granted us. The power that overpowers all other power. The power of the Holy Spirit through Christ Jesus.

AMEN.