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Good Friday, Earth Day and Lenin's Birthday Have Nothing in Common

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Three of the gospel witnesses, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, record almost verbatim the last words of Jesus from the cross on the day we call “Good Friday.” Matthew’s account is found in chapter 27 verse 50, “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” (KJV) Around the world today, Christians will celebrate this day as the day that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of all people. This brings to a brief halt the observance of Holy Week for Christians when observances will be conducted in churches to commemorate Jesus’ death. The day became known as “Good Friday,” because as Christ-followers think back, they realize that Jesus took on himself the sins of all the people of the world on that day, and did for them what they could not do. Jesus Christ’s death atoned for the sins of all people everywhere. All we need to do is to receive that truth by faith and our sins are atoned by the blood of Jesus and His death on the cross that day. The exciting news is that the celebration continued on the first day of the week (Sunday) when Jesus, who died on Friday, came back to life. The resurrection of Jesus is the highest and holiest event in all of Christendom. The worldview and belief system of Christ-followers is that Jesus died on “Good Friday,” but was alive forevermore on Sunday. Scholars have reminded us over the centuries that without the resurrection of Jesus, we are hopelessly lost and wandering about as people who have no hope.

As Christ-followers gather Sunday, we will celebrate on that Easter day the truth that our Lord Jesus Christ is alive and will never again die. The Christian world determined to celebrate this glorious truth from the earliest days of the historical fact of Christ’s resurrection. The Council of Nicaea in AD 325 set the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ to always be on Sunday, the first day of the week. Since that time the western church has adhered to the celebration of Easter to be conducted on Sunday. Several adjustments have occurred over the years, but finally it was determined that the celebration of Easter would take place on the Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which takes place between March 21 and April 18. This agreement then establishes the dates for Easter to be between March 22 and April 25. The Paschal Full Moon follows the vernal (spring) equinox. Just as the celebration of longer days and more light to light the earth occurs, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus (the true light of the world) from death, is celebrated by all the Christ-followers around the world.

It just so happened this year that on the 22nd day of April, the Christian observance of Good Friday is also the day that was established in 1970, as “Earth Day.” Earth day is to awaken people to the environmentalist concept of saving what they refer to as “Mother Earth.” This date also has not been missed as the anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Lenin who was born April 22, 1870. Lenin is the father of Russian Marxism and the leader of the world’s first official socialist state in Russia. Lenin led the revolution during the civil war in Russia and became the first supreme dictator in the Soviet empire ruling a ruthless regime from 1917-1924 when he died suddenly from a stroke.

There are no comparisons in the three events, which just happen to fall on the same day this year: Good Friday, Earth Day, and Lenin’s Birthday. Psalm 24:1 says; “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” (KJV)
Lenin is dead and gone, one day there will be a new heaven and earth as promised in Revelation 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” (KJV) We commemorate Good Friday and the death of Jesus today because we believe that on Sunday our Lord came back to life and we join with Christians around the world to celebrate that fact Sunday.  Neither the earth nor Lenin can save anyone, the only hope mankind has is to place their trust and faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Ray Newman: All Rights Reserved



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