An Easter Miracle

It is FINISHED.

Apr 21, 2025

Hi friends! I hope everyone is healthy and doing well. I pray that Jesus is moving in your lives. I didn’t get an ‘Around the Coffee Table’ out last week as I spent the day travelling back from Newcastle after watching the Premier League game! It was fantastic.

This week’s ‘Around the Coffee Table’ is dedicated to the miracle of Easter. I wanted to post this today instead of over the Easter weekend, as I know it’s important for many people to switch off social media during these special periods and spend time with their family.

Like Christmas, it’s easy to forget this holiday’s true meaning… to many people, it has become simply a holiday, a few days off work, time to indulge in copious amounts of chocolate. As a kid, I would get Easter Eggs that would last me until Christmas, you don’t get that as adults :(

My Church used to do an Easter camp, and they did a brilliant activity I’ll never forget. Each child would get a big foil tin, soil, fake grass, pebbles, and other decorative elements. We would create the scene where Jesus rolled away the stone to reveal the empty tomb. It was so helpful as a child to visualise that transformative moment.

Good Friday

Soooo, why “Good”?

What is good about the grotesque way Jesus died?

The blameless, perfect Son of God was nailed to a cross, betrayed, whipped, beaten, and left to die. Can you imagine the depth of that pain? It makes me shudder. And yet... we still call it Good Friday.

So what do we mean by “good”? How do we define it?

If something benefits us, we call it good.
If we’re praised, promoted, or happy, we say it’s good.

What if we endure pain? Would we still call that good? Usually not.

But what if pain saves someone’s life?

It might take time to see it that way, but most of us would eventually say that kind of sacrifice is good, not good for us, but good for someone else.

That’s the heart of Good Friday.

It wasn’t good for Him, but it was good for us.

Jesus didn’t gain anything from the crucifixion. But we gained everything. It was essential. It was the turning point in history, where sin and death were dealt a fatal blow.

Before that, the world was marked by sin, scarred by Adam and Eve’s disobedience. Without this tragically good day, we’d all still carry that weight, with no way out.

Jesus was betrayed.

Not just by Judas, but by His people. Outraged by what they saw as blasphemy, they demanded His death.

“But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered.
— Matthew 26:64-66

We are warned that, as Christians, people will turn against us. To people who are against Christ, we are the stench of death, and we will be persecuted. Among dying for our sins, Christ set the ultimate example of this as well.

^‘18“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.’ - John 15: 18-19

Even in death, Jesus continued setting examples of His Word. Right to the end, He was faithful, and in His Resurrection, He gave us an everlasting hope that no matter the persecution, we would live on.

Jesus was crucified.

Crucifixion was the cruellest form of execution, reserved for the worst criminals and slaves. To hang on a tree was to be cursed by God (Galatians 3:13). That kind of death implied an unspeakable crime. But Jesus was blameless.

Even Pilate, the Roman governor who sentenced Him, knew there was no real reason:

Then Pilate asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
He answered him and said, “It is as you say.”
So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.”
— Luke 23:3-4

For no other reason than to appease the people, and little to his knowledge, to fulfil prophecy, he sentenced Jesus to death.

Why did Jesus have to die?

To live with God, we must be perfect, sinless. But none of us can reach that standard. A Holy God cannot be in the presence of unholiness. And so we fall short—every time.

But then came Jesus. God in flesh.

Without sin, he walked flesh, blood, and bone among us. He was the final Passover lamb, living the life we couldn’t live.

Because someone HAD to pay the debt.

For us to be reconciled with our perfect maker, the creator of the universe and our eternal Father, someone had to pay the debt of sin that mankind brought into the world.

I couldn’t.
You couldn’t.
No one could.

So He did.

He paid a debt He didn’t owe, because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay.

And only a spotless, perfect Lamb could do that.

The weight of sin is real.

You’ve felt it. I’ve felt it. That sick feeling inside—the guilt, the shame. Sometimes it’s enough to break a person. That’s the power sin has.

By God’s standard, we deserve the curse. And that’s a bitter pill to swallow. I don’t say that lightly. I’ve done things that the world might shrug at, but I know, by God’s standard, they’re worthy of judgment.

The world doesn’t offer eternal forgiveness. Or healing. Or light.
Only Jesus does.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
— John 14:6

The prophecy was always there.

“He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
— Genesis 3:15

At the cross, Satan bruised Christ’s heel, but through the resurrection, Christ bruised Satan’s head. From the beginning of time, this was the plan. Yes, only bruise. Satan’s ultimate demise will be dealt with when Jesus comes again as prophesied in the book of Revelation.

Good Friday was also Passover.

The Last Supper took place during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on the first day of Passover. Under the Old Covenant, the Jews would sacrifice a spotless lamb so the angel of death would pass over them. It was about deliverance.

On Good Friday, Jesus became the Lamb that would deliver us.

Never again would another sacrifice be needed.
He finished it.

“He said, ‘It is finished!’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.”
— John 19:30

A new way was opened.

Through Jesus’s blood, we are made clean. The road to the Father has been cleared. Heaven is not only a hope; it’s an invitation.

Good Friday is good
… because Sunday is coming.
… because sin was crushed.
… because love won.

We can now live a free life full of love, forgiveness and peace at one with The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.

We celebrate Easter because our debts have been paid. Good Friday is remembered because Jesus suffered so we didn’t have to, and Easter Sunday is celebrated because Jesus defeated the grave. Death could not hold Him, and through His blood, death cannot hold us either. We are truly free.

It is GOOD. It is FINISHED.

Lord Jesus,

Thank you for your blood and sacrifice. Your goodness is incomprehensible, and it carries through the generations. We praise you forever as we leave our old ways behind. You have renewed and reconciled us to the Father; for that, all we can do is surrender our hearts to you. As we remember what you have done for us, help us to become more like you every day. We love you.

Amen 🙏🏼