Finding Easter

In this discussion and the next, we’re going to find the real Easter.

The real Easter is centred on the day on which all history and indeed all eternity hangs like a hinge.
That is the day the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in order to save us.

You and I today can’t even conceive of what a step it was from heaven’s glory all the way down to this earth. It’s absolutely beyond human comprehension to understand what our Lord really did for us on that day.

Traditions

There are many traditions surrounding what is commonly called Easter today.

The early church up until about 325 AD did not celebrate Easter on a specific day instead, it was the focus of everyday life.

The practice of celebrating easter, along with the name itself, appeared after Christianity was made popular, fashionable and then compulsory under the Roman Emperor, Constantine.

During that time, traditions such as Christmas and Easter began to be a part of the Christian community. This coincided with a weakening of the Christian faith as large numbers of people clamoured into the new religion.  Many of the new devotees had little real understanding of the regeneration and the new birth available by the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

The traditions that began to infiltrate Christianity took on the form of the many pagan worship practices that still lingered throughout the Roman empire. These practices were cleverly paralleled to Christianity which made it acceptable to the many new religious followers clamouring for political correctness.

Easter was one of these carefully paralleled traditions. It’s dual-purpose was to give lip service to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ while clinging to the Roman worship of many gods. It was named after the many breasted goddess of fertility and love, Ishtar or Ashtoreth.

Later more traditions were added such as Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent.

Passover

Easter obscured the Biblical Jewish Feast of Passover which is the most valid and powerful of all Easter traditions but has been all but erased from the knowledge and understanding of most modern Christians.

The Old Testament of the Bible is the New Testament concealed, while the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
Every picture in the Old Testament reveals the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, hundreds of years later.

The Passover in Exodus chapter 12 is one of these pictures. It tells of when the sacrificial lamb was slain by God’s commandment prior to the children of Israel being delivered from Egypt.

They were told to daub the blood on their doorframes so that when the death angel of God passed through the land to slay every firstborn, the blood would exempt that household from the judgment, the angel “passed over.” The firstborn of the Israelites were spared, the Egyptian firstborn weren’t, and there was great sorrow in Egypt, as you can well imagine.

For those that may stand aghast that God would cause such a thing to happen, I would urge you to reserve your judgment until you have studied the Book of Exodus and the slavery of God’s children.

The Passover lamb was to be sacrificed at the same time every year thereafter until Christ came, fifteen centuries later, in fulfilment of this solemn feast. He was willingly slain on schedule, at Passover, being the sacrificial Lamb that the feast was all about.

Other Easter Pointers

God was constantly teaching the children of God about Himself, their sinfulness and the times that were yet to come.

In Numbers 21:5-7 for instance we learn of judgment against the people for their sin. God sent poisonous serpents into the camp, and people began to die as they were bitten by the serpents. This showed the people their sin, and they came to Moses to confess that sin and ask for God’s mercy.
When Moses prayed for the people, God instructed him to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole so that any person who looked at the serpent on the pole would be healed.

It was an absurd, puzzling and illogical command to think that looking at a bronze image of a serpent on a pole could heal anyone from snakebite, but that’s exactly what God told them to do. The ones who looked by faith despite their own personal thoughts were saved and the ones who scoffed at the ridiculousness of it died.

It wasn’t until 1450 years later when Jesus began His ministry on earth that God’s methodology became clear. Jesus said in John 3:14-15, “ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

At the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the significance of that event became understood.
The pole was a picture of the cross, the serpent was sin and the brass signified judgment. Today, those that look to the death of Christ on that cross where sin was placed upon Him and judged are saved.

God was teaching the people about faith and in addition, painting a picture of what was to come in the future!

Our God truly is amazing. Who can think they can presume to tell God how things should be done.

The Akeda

Another one of these many illustrations from the Old Testament that point to Easter is the offering of Issac by his father Abraham in the event known as the Akeda in Genesis 22.

As we’ve said, the entire Bible points to Jesus, and this is especially true of Genesis 22. Jesus is the key that unlocks this chapter for us. Think about the parallels between this story and the story of Jesus.
Both Isaac and Jesus are “beloved sons” who have been long-awaited and are born in miraculous circumstances (Genesis 22:1).
Both sons carry the wood that is to be the instrument of their deaths on their backs (Genesis 22:6).
In both cases, the father leads the son, and the son follows obediently toward his own death (Genesis 22:3).

The only difference is that in Issacs case God provides a substitute sacrifice, a ram, and Abraham tells Issac that God Himself will provide a lamb in place of Issac and they both go home. (Genesis 22:8).

Today, we now know that the lamb which God provided was Jesus, His Son, Who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29.

He was the Passover lamb without spot or blemish of Who it was promised for thousands of years would sacrifice Himself, willingly, to pay the price for sin that brings with it the judgement of eternal death.
By looking to Him and Him alone and realising our own complete inability to pay for our own sin we exchange the death penaly for eternal life.

As pagan based as the names relating to Easter are, what it portrays is still the most incredible, powerful and wondrous event in the history of humanity and is the answer to all who are heavy laden and in need of rest and peace.

So, in the New Testament, Passover and Easter are tied together.

The Passover becomes a reality

It is the portrayal of Jesus as He enters Jerusalem and gathers his disciples to celebrate the Passover meal, known by Christians as the Last Supper.

Soon, He’s arrested, tried in an illegal trial and executed on the cross, dying just before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. Then, on Sunday morning, his followers are astounded to find Him appearing to them as one alive, not dead.

Imagine what it was like for those that came to the tomb, only to discover the stone rolled away and the body of Jesus missing. Not only did they discover His body was missing, they were also greeted by an angel who told them that Jesus was alive. He had been dead for three days and was now alive? It sounds preposterous!
Yet, this is the story of Easter. A story about a man who claimed to be God and the One fulfilling every ancient prophecy about the coming Messiah. He was crucified and died on a wooden cross. His dead body was placed in a tomb that was sealed with a heavy stone and guarded by Roman soldiers to prevent His body from being stolen.

He’s Alive!

Then three days after his death, He came back to life. The stone of the tomb was rolled away, and Jesus walked out alive and well. (Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20).

The Bible tells us that hundreds of people witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-7). Those people told others what they had witnessed. Then the people who heard them tell their story decided to tell others what they had heard.
Every year for the past 2000 years the story known as Easter has continued to be told. It is either the greatest story ever told, or the best lie ever told.

The Lie

The religious leader
of Jesus’ day wanted people to believe it was a lie.

While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. (Matt. 28:11-15, ESV)

Because of the religious leaders, some people in Jesus’ day believed the Easter story to be a lie. And throughout the centuries to follow, many others have done their part to discredit the Easter story. Even today, many teach that the Bible is untrustworthy and the account of the resurrection is false.

No Ressurection – No Easter!

If the resurrection of Jesus did not occur, then there is no reason to celebrate Easter.

To put it simply, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we cannot be forgiven of our sins and we cannot escape spiritual death. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” You have sinned. I have sinned. Every person in this world has sinned. We all fall short of being perfect like God is perfect (Matt. 5:48). And there is a penalty for our sin: death. Physical death and spiritual death. None of us can escape physical death. But, if the Bible is true, then we can escape spiritual death.

The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We can escape death

We can escape spiritual death through Jesus Christ! Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…”(John 11:25, ESV).

The Apostle Paul wrote these words to Timothy, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:8-10, ESV)

Paul told Timothy that we can have eternal life if we embrace the gospel. Paul defined the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Thus, for us to escape spiritual death, three things must be true about Jesus: His death, His burial, and His resurrection. If none of those are true, then we cannot have eternal life.

I can only tell you what the Bible says. You must make your own decision about what you believe. You must answer the question: Is Easter the greatest story ever told or is it the best lie ever told? Do you believe the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus really happened? Or do you believe it is a lie like millions of others over the past 2000 years?

If you believe it happened, then you are just one step away from eternal life. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:9,”…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. “

To believe in the resurrection of Jesus is important but the Bible says we must confess our belief to God. We say to God, with a sincere heartfelt confession, that I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only act that is good enough in the eyes of God to pardon my sin and grant me an eternal relationship with Him.

You might be asking: how do I do this? What am I supposed to say? It doesn’t matter how you say the prayer. You only need to mean it from your heart.

In the next article, we will see the cross through Jesus’ eyes.