10 Beautiful Verses to Prepare Your Heart for Easter
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It’s the night before Easter and for some parents, it is all about getting that Easter basket ready. When my kids were small, I always anticipated the smiles on their faces when they awoke Easter morning to their own basket full of goodies. They would laugh when they spoke about the Easter bunny hopping down our one quarter mile driveway just to leave a basket on the couch.
As I remember the happiness of Easter with my children, I also remember what Easter truly means. It is not a celebration of just one day; it is a celebration of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.
So where did Easter come from and how can we prepare our hearts for the coming Easter season?
Origins of Easter
The celebration of Easter is a conglomeration of pagan traditions and Christianity. Originally, it was a time when Eostre, the goddess of fertility and re-birth, was honored with feasting and dancing. The holiday always centered around the coming of Spring, when new birth was seen through both plants and animals.
Christians, however, have celebrated Easter for centuries with the purpose of confirming what Jesus preached and taught in his brief time on Earth. The celebrations of Easter start with the season of Lent. Lent is a time of fasting and prayer beginning on Ash Wednesday that lasts for 40 days, not including Sundays.
The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday. Christians celebrate Palm Sunday to commemorate when Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. It is the start to what is referred to as the Holy Week.
Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, is the day when Jesus was crucified.
Where Is the Easter Story in the Bible?
The words “Easter” or “Easter celebrations” are not found in the Bible. But that doesn’t mean this event isn’t found in Scripture. The holy day is set aside to celebrate the risen Savior.
Christians often read the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday. The events of that time are found in some form in all four gospels of the New Testament.
10 Verses to Prepare Your Heart for Easter
The time leading up to Easter is perfect for diving into the scriptures to prepare your heart for the coming celebrations. To help you get started, here are ten verses I think will prepare your heart for the Easter season.
“But I know that my redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust” (Job 19:25).
Job was a man who never met Jesus. He was ridiculed by his friends and experienced physical pain with no relief, yet he had a hope that we too can hold on to today. Job knew that His redeemer lived and would relieve him of his earthly chaos.
We have a redeemer in Christ. When Jesus rose on the third day, he stood on the dust. He proved He was the Messiah that would rule over the Earth.
“But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds” (Isaiah 53:5).
Isaiah was a prophet speaking seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Today, we have the knowledge that his prophetic message came to fruition. This truth makes his words even more powerful. God did not just decide one day to send his Son to die; He already knew what we needed to have the life He planned for us.
There is comfort in these words as we read the promise that we will be healed by the wounds Jesus sustained on the days leading up to His crucifixion.
“For as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the Earth three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40).
Jonah’s experience in the belly of the whale prefigured the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus knew the people he was preaching and teaching to most likely knew the story of Jonah. He was making a connection between the Old Testament and the (soon-to-be-compiled) New Testament. We see again the power in Christ’s words and the reiteration of the promise that a Messiah would come.
“He is not here, but he has risen! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day?’” (Luke 24:6-7).
The women came to the tomb and found it empty. Two men in dazzling clothes told them Jesus was not there, which reminds them of the words He spoke in Galilee. Today, these words are a bold reminder that Jesus said He would have to die – and die He did. They also tell us that while his death was awful, we can take heart that He is no longer dead. The tomb is empty!
“He also said to them, ‘This is what is written: the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).
Jesus is again reminding the disciples that it was prophesied from days of old that a Messiah would come, suffer, and rise from the dead. The words of Jesus are bold and should give us hope that if God promises something, it will come to pass.
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:11).
We can have full confidence in what Jesus teaches. As Scripture states, we can have full assurance that if we believe in Christ and His spirit lives in us, then we will be raised to life in that Spirit.
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:14).
We celebrate Easter to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are also promised that not only will Christ return, but those who have gone on before His return will also experience a resurrection.
“During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was the Son, he earned obedience from what he suffered. After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him…” (Hebrews 5:7-9).
The purpose of Jesus coming to the Earth was to be an example of how we should live. Through his suffering, death, and resurrection, he gave us the perfect example of obedience. And through that example we are given the gift of eternal salvation.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3).
Our celebration of Easter not only recognizes the death and resurrection of Christ, but also that we have the opportunity to die to ourselves. We have the privilege to be resurrected into a new and bountiful life with Christ. We have the gift of eternal life in heaven with our Savior.
“He laid his right hand on me and said, ‘Don’t be afraid. I am the First and the Last, and the living One. I was dead, but look – I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:17-18).
Our God is awesome, and Easter is the time for us to celebrate that fact. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus we can walk through this life without fear, because it is God who holds the keys to death and Hades.
Easter is a holy day for Christians around the world. As we enter this season, we should be humbled by the tragedy that was the death of Christ. In our humility we can also be confident that just as Jesus rose from the grave, we too will be risen from this earth to spend eternity with Him.
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