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What is Easter? There is a lot associated with Easter that is not Scriptural or even Christian, just like there is with other special days of worship (holidays). Actually, there is a lot associated with Easter that is downright heathenism. Most people think of Easter eggs and bunny rabbits as just fun things for kids to do on Easter. The rabbit was an introduction from the Anglo-Saxon people and was used in their ancient celebration of spring festival and the egg was an introduction of the Germanic people and comes down from their celebration of the rebirth of spring and of fertility. These were used in the worship of the false goddess Eastre.
We owe the introduction of all of these pagan beliefs into Christianity for the most part to the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church has always used the mixing principle to get heathen people to accept them. They simply blended what the heathen already believed with the teaching of the Church. This made it easier to win converts. You can see this principle used today in the islands off of America and in SC, Louisiana and other places where Catholicism is mixed with Voodoo to present some really strange activities. This is not what Christianity is supposed to do. Faith in Christ draws people out from heathen worship. Christ draws people away from statue worship and heathen symbolism. Christ sets you free,Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The children of Israel adopted the ways of the peoples of the land that God gave them and it weakened and corrupted them. Christianity has done the exact same thing by adopting the way of the heathen. Take away the heathen symbolism and look at Easter for what it is. It is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead but it is much more than this.
To get a full understanding of Easter means we have to go back and look at the Jewish Passover. The children of Israel had been in bondage in Egypt for 480 years. God had promised to bring them out of bondage and they looked for the deliverer. The Bible tells us that Moses was that deliverer but Pharaoh kept refusing to let them go no matter how mighty the miracles were that showed the might and power of God. The final act of God that broke the will of Pharaoh was the death angel taking the life of every firstborn in the land from the son of Pharaoh to the cattle in the field. On the night this happened, the children of Israel were told to gather in their homes and not go out. They were to eat the Passover lamb in a prescribed way and to put the blood of this lamb on the doorpost and lintel of their house. There is far too much typology to go into here because I want to get back to Easter but the Passover lamb had to be without blemish (signifying that the true lamb of God this spoke of had to be sinless (without blemish)). The blood on the door placed them under the protection of God (When I see the blood, I will pass over you Ex. 12:13) when the death angel came through the land. It is not by accident that the placing of this blood on the doors formed in symmetry a cross. They were told to do this at a certain time every year in remembrance of how God brought them out of the land of Egypt.
When Jesus came, he was the promised lamb of God. John the Baptist stood on the banks of Jordan and proclaimed “Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world” Joh 1:36. This is the lamb that was prophesied by Abraham when he was going up Moriah’s mountain to sacrifice Isaac in obedience to God. Isaac asked him where the lamb of sacrifice was and Abraham told him that “God would provide himself a lamb for sacrifice” Gen. 22:8. There was a Ram (not a lamb) caught in the bush for Abraham to offer. The words of Abraham were fulfilled by Jesus when he came as Immanuel (God with us) to take away the sins of the world. It was at this same Moriah that the Son of God died as the sacrificial Lamb of God. When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, he fulfilled so many Old Testament prophecies it is impossible to cover them in an article like this.
Just like the blood of the Passover lamb protected the Israelites from the death angel in the Old Testament, the blood of Gods Lamb, Jesus Christ, protects all who will receive him from the judgment on sin that is to come upon the whole world. The Bible tells us “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” Rom. 6:23. All of us die because of original sin that came upon all men in the Garden of Eden 1 Cor. 15:22. This same verse tells us that in Christ all will be made alive. Some will be raised to eternal life, and some to eternal judgment. It is a terrible thing to realize that you are going to face God’s judgment. Jesus prayed in the Garden that this “cup” pass from him three times. These were not little prayers. These were agonizing prayers coming from the Son of God. An angel came to strengthen him in that hour. There was a cup that had to be drank. It was a bitter cup of judgment. He prayed until his sweat was like great drops of blood. This tells me He was in such trauma that his blood vessels were bursting in the skin. The only time Jesus referred to God as God and not Father was on the cross when he cried “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me”? That is where God and sin met in judgment. He bore our sins on that cross. It is not the cross that saves. It is the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Gods will and desire that all will be saved but man was created with a free will. God does not make anybody come to the Lord Jesus Christ that they may be saved. You have the freedom to accept God’s gift of love and you have freedom to reject God’s gift. Rejecting the gift of God leaves you without hope. If you choose not to believe God and you choose to go on in your sin, you will die in your sin. This leaves you in the resurrection facing the Great White Thrown Judgment (Rev. 20:10-15) without remedy for your sin. This is where we go back and continue the treatise on Easter.
Jesus was the sinless Son of God. He was not just a good man. He was not just a prophet in a line of prophets. Jesus was and is “God in the flesh”. The Bible tells us that He made all things, Joh. 1:3. When Jesus went to the cross, he was making his body an offering for sin. For this to be acceptable to God, He had to be sinless (without original sin). This offering of his body was acceptable to God as a substitute for everyone who would accept him as their Savior, Heb. 9:28. The Bible tells us that when Jesus died on the cross as our sin substitute, there is no other sacrifice for sins Heb. 10:14-18. For centuries, blood of animals was sprinkled on the altar on earth and these could never take away sins. They stood in a type of the blood that would truly take away sin and purge the conscience so we can truly live for God. Jesus went before the true mercy seat in heaven itself after his resurrection (Joh. 20:17) (where the mercy seat on earth was only a type) and offered his blood on the mercy seat in heaven itself, Heb. 9:24, Heb. 7:27, Heb. 9:11-14.
We see that Jesus death was substitutionary (He took our place in judgment). His blood was Propitiatory (His blood was more than sufficient payment for our sin debt), His suffering was a healing balm (By his stripes we are healed), and his resurrection is victory (Oh death, where is thy sting, oh grave, where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15:55?), and his coming again will be resurrection from the dead. As a Christian, I inherit the promises of God to Abraham through Jesus Christ, my Lord, Eph 3:6. I also long for that city, whose builder is God, a city with foundations. One day I will dwell there, in the presence of my Savior and all of the unbelief in the world cannot prevent it.
I rejoice, in celebrating Easter, because my name is written down in God’s book of life by the blood of Jesus Christ my Savior. I long for everyone to know Him. Look at the pain and suffering people are going through. Look at the uncertainty in people’s lives. Look at the sinfulness and wickedness that is spreading like a cancer across the world. Look at the hopelessness in the faces of so many. Look at the suicide rate that is climbing, especially among young people. See the wars and destruction. Look at the way people are embracing militant religions that offer no hope, just more hate.
Does not your heart long for peace and hope? Do you long for something more? Do you not hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to your innermost being, wanting to give you peace, hope, joy and life everlasting. Why don’t you put your trust in Jesus Christ now and celebrate an Easter resurrection Sunday like you could never imagine. Call on Jesus while he may be found. Listen to God’s word, Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. I exhort you to call upon the name of the Lord today, while He may be found. So many people look at the Gospel message as a dreadful thing that they feel obligated to listen to. That is the devils lie. They are closing their heart to hope. Open your heart to the life of the message, accept Jesus Christ as your Savor and have a great Easter in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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