Flashback: In Easter Address, Trump Thanks God for 'Gift of Eternal Life' Given Through Christ
In a 2020 Easter message from the Oval Office on Good Friday, President Donald Trump focused on the resurrection of Christ while expressing gratitude for our front-line workers in the battle against coronavirus.
On a much different Good Friday, one unlike any in memory inside the Beltway, Trump asked for deliverance from the ravages of the coronavirus.
“At this holy time, our nation is engaged in a battle like never before — the invisible enemy,” Trump said.
“Our brave doctors, nurses, and responders — first responders, responders of all — are fighting to save lives. Our workers are racing to deliver critical medical supplies. Our best scientists are working around the clock to develop lifesaving therapeutics, and I think they’re doing really well in doing so. Our people are making tremendous sacrifices to end this pandemic.
“Though we will not be able to gather together with one another as we normally would on Easter, we can use this sacred time to focus on prayer, reflection and growing in our personal relationship with God,” he continued.
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“I ask all Americans to pray that God will heal our nation; to bring comfort to those who are grieving; to give strength to the doctors, nurses and health care workers; to restore health to the sick; and to renew the hope in every person who is suffering. Our nation will come through like never before.”
Trump, flanked by Bishop Harry Jackson, also focused on the reason for the holiest week in the Christian calendar: the crucifixion of Jesus, his death for our sins and his “glorious” resurrection.
“On this Good Friday, Christians from all around the world remember the suffering and death upon the cross of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ,” Trump said.
“At Easter Sunday, we will celebrate his glorious resurrection.”
Jackson, a Maryland-based D.C.-area pastor, noted that “Good Friday, as we prepare to pray, is one of the darkest days in the Christian faith in that Christ stood in substitution for our sin. But the resurrection is our victory. But it parallels with the Passover.”
“Lord, let the death angel pass over,” he said in his prayer. “Let there be a mitigation of this plague, this disease. Let medical science come forth.
“Lord, let us come out with a thriving economy. That silver and gold spoken of in that passage, let it be our portion.”
Blessing both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, he also shared a message of unity, praying that “in this great land that was set up to glorify your name, we want to break, we come against the spirit of division.
“Lord, let e pluribus unum be a reality in us. Let there be a uniting of America. Heal the divide between race, class and gender.”
“Be encouraged. Hope is on the way,” he said in closing.
For Americans everywhere, this will undoubtedly be one of the toughest Easters of their lives. However, it’s worthwhile to remember the Bible verse that the president used at the beginning of his remarks.
“Almost 3,000 years ago, the Prophet Isaiah wrote these words: ‘Darkness covers the Earth … but the Lord rises upon you, and his glory appears over you … For the Lord will be your everlasting light,'” Trump said, quoting Isaiah 60:2.
“As our nation battles the invisible enemy, we reaffirm that Americans believe in the power of prayer,” he added. “We give thanks for the majesty of creation and for the gift of eternal life, and we place our trust in the hands of Almighty God.”
Even as we feel the light is shaded by a curtain of darkness thrown down over the world by a dread disease, we’re still presented with the possibility of sharing the Gospel.
There’s only one way to cut through the night of the world’s soul — and that’s knowing Him who died on the cross and then rose from the dead three days later. Especially in the midst of a pandemic, we should remember what this is all about.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
