What Does Easter Mean To You?

By William R. Cunningham
Sunday April 8, 2007

Introduction

Easter is the time of year when many people buy new Sunday fashions. This is the time of year when children are given Easter baskets filled with candy, Easter eggs, and chocolate.  Easter services at many churches typically have more people than normal for whatever reason.  I suppose that people are so fed up with religion that they figure they could endure a few Sundays a year where Easter is one of them.  In any case, there is a lot of activities that take place during the Easter season that has nothing to do with what it is really all about.

At Christmas time we exchange gifts and that surely has nothing to do with celebrating someone else’s birthday.  Here I think the Jehovah’s witness have a point.  Why do we exchange gifts to each other at Christmas time when we profess that we are remembering the birth of Christ.  That’s another discussion.  At Easter we give candy and chocolate typically to children though I like getting chocolate goodies.  However, none of these have anything to do with the main event during this time, which is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The saying, “Jesus is the reason for the season” applies much more at Easter time then at Christmas time when we normally hear it.  The Easter season is all about Jesus Christ and the commemoration of his resurrection from the dead by the power of God.

So what is Easter and what does it mean to you?  Is it the time when you buy your new church clothes.  Is it the time to buy Easter candy like we buy Halloween goodies?  Is it the time that we truly commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ?  What is Easter to you?  What did you do during this holiday season?  Were you busy buying candies and clothes or were you really considering the resurrection of Jesus Christ and what that means to you and your relationship with God?

I’m not suggesting that giving candy is a bad thing, though it isn’t good for the teeth or the health in general.  However, we get so caught up in religious activities that are meaningless that we completely neglect the thing that is very important.

With that said, let’s discuss the meaning of the Easter season from a Christian perspective of course.

Scripture Text

John 20:24-31 (NKJV) -- {24} Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. {25} The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” {26} And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” {27} Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” {28} And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” {29} Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” {30} And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; {31} but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Easter is the time of year that we commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  This is the most important event in the Christian faith because without the resurrection we would have no life.  Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21) and he died for us on the cross to become the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 2:2 (NKJV) -- {2} And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
1 John 4:10 (NKJV) -- {10} In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The word propitiation signifies the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift.  It suggests the satisfaction of the requirements of the law in regards to sin.  Paul said that the wages of sin is death so with that we must die because of sin.  However, propitiation suggests that the wrath of God that is pointed to all sin (Romans 1:18) is removed from us because of our faith in Jesus Christ because he indeed took the penalty of our sins upon himself.

We are doomed from the beginning because of sin.  The judgment has been made in regards to sin and we are on the electric chair so to speak.  God’s wrath is pointed directly at us, but we have an advocate.  Jesus Christ is our savior and because of him the wrath of God is removed from us.  He has snatched us off of the electric chair and thus saved us.

Historical Information

Pagan Tradition

Venerable Bede, an English historian and scholar in the early 8th century, said that the name "Easter" is survived from old Teutonic mythology. It is derived from Ostara or Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon mother goddess of spring (and fertility). The ancient Anglo-Saxons worshipped their goddess Eostre by the earthly symbol of a rabbit or hare. The Germans later brought this custom to America.

The Easter Egg and Easter Bunny

What does the Easter egg and Easter bunny have to do with Easter? For many cultures, the egg was a symbol of continuing (or newness of) life since pre-Christian spring festivals. Ancient Greeks, Persians, and Chinese gave eggs as gifts at their respective spring festivals. The egg appears in pagan mythology where the Sun-Bird was hatched from the World egg. In some pagan cultures the Earth and heaven were thought to have been formed from two halves of an ancient egg (not a chicken's egg necessarily).

In pagan times the egg represented the rebirth of the earth (after winter). Christianity later adopted this theme as a symbol of the newness of man's rebirth.

The Easter bunny or Hare as it was known, was a symbol of fertility, which coincided with the spring festivals. There were hopes of new life for the deadness that winter brought to the land. Of course the bunny and the egg has been commercialized to such an extent that they are both an integral part of the Easter season, though they have nothing to do with the Christian's perspective of Easter.

Hebrew Tradition

Venerable Bede says that the month of April was the same as the mensis paschalis, "when the old festival was observed with the gladdness of the new solemnity." The root "pasch" is from the Hebrew pesach (Passover). The Passover was celebrated during Nisan, the first month of the Hebrew year. Nisan was linked to spring harvest in ancient Palestine (see Exodus 12:1-3, Leviticus 23:9-14, and Numbers 28:16). Basically, the Hebrew tradition brought the Passover into the mixture of the Easter season.

Christian Tradition

Jesus Christ was crucified and arose from the dead at the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem. The name for Easter is therefore Pasch.

It is important to note that there is neither mention of the Easter celebration in the New Testament nor the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. There didn't exist an idea of the sanctity of special times in the minds of early Christians. The early Christians continued to observe the Jewish festivals though in a new light or from a different perspective. As a matter of fact, the early Christians met on the first day of the week, Sunday, instead of the seventh, Saturday, in order to honor the day of the Lord (the day Christ resurrected).

A new concept of Christ as the Passover lamb and the first fruits from the dead (vernal equinox, winter-to-spring theme) continued to be observed and eventually became the Christian Easter that we know today.

The Resurrection

The resurrection is the high point of the Christian faith.  Jesus Christ died on the cross, but was brought back to life three days later by the power of God.  The resurrection has been disputed, but it still holds up not only by mere faith, but also because of historical criticisms.  If Jesus Christ had not risen from the dead then the apostles would have been persecuted and some killed for a lie that they made up.  It is one thing to fall for a lie from someone else, but to die for your own lie is very far fetched.  It is extremely unlikely that the Apostles would have made up the story of his resurrection and hide his body to later be persecuted for it.

1 Corinthians 15:14 (NKJV) -- {14} And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty
.
There were ten different accounts of Jesus appearing after the resurrection.:

• To Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre alone (John 20:11–18), and alluded to by Mark (16:9–11).
• To certain women, “the other Mary,” Salome, Joanna, and others, as they returned from the sepulcher (Matthew 28:1–10)
• To Simon Peter alone on the day of the resurrection. (See Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5.)
• To the two disciples on the way to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection, recorded fully only by Luke (24:13–35. Comp. Mark 16:12, 13)
• To the ten disciples (Thomas being absent) and others “with them,” at Jerusalem on the evening of the resurrection day. One of the evangelists gives an account of this appearance, John (20:19–24).
• To the disciples again (Thomas being present) at Jerusalem (Mark 16:14–18; Luke 24:33–40; John 20:26–28. See also 1 Cor. 15:5).
• To the disciples when fishing at the Sea of Galilee. Of this appearance also John (21:1–23) alone gives an account.
• To the eleven, and above 500 brethren at once, at an appointed place in Galilee (1 Cor. 15:6; comp. Matt. 28:16–20).
• To James, but under what circumstances we are not informed (1 Cor. 15:7).
• To the apostles immediately before the ascension. They accompanied him from Jerusalem to Mount Olivet, and there they saw him ascend “till a cloud received him out of their sight” (Mark 16:19; Luke 24:50–52; Acts 1:4–10).

Jesus’ His resurrection from the dead makes it manifest that his sacrifice was accepted. Our justification was secured by his obedience to the death, and therefore he was raised from the dead (Rom. 4:25).
His resurrection is a proof that he made a full atonement for our sins, that his sacrifice was accepted as a satisfaction to divine justice, and his blood a ransom for sinners. It is also a pledge and an earnest of the resurrection of all believers (Rom. 8:11; 1 Cor. 6:14; 15:47–49; Phil. 3:21; 1 John 3:2). As he lives, they shall live also.

It proved him to be the Son of God, inasmuch as it authenticated all his claims (John 2:19; 10:17). “If Christ did not rise, the whole scheme of redemption is a failure, and all the predictions and anticipations of its glorious results for time and for eternity, for men and for angels of every rank and order, are proved to be chimeras. ‘But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.’

The resurrection is fundamental to the Christian faith.  There could be no salvation and subsequently no salvation without the resurrection of Jesus from the dead

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

What is the gospel of Jesus Christ and what does it mean to the Christian faith?  Consider the following scripture.

1 Corinthians 15:2-8 NIV) "By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. {3} For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, {4} that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, {5} and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. {6} After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. {7} Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, {8} and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

This scripture summarizes the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is what the Christian believes.  W have never seen Jesus, we have never experienced his ministry on earth and yet we believe in him.  What does the gospel mean?  The Gospel of Jesus Christ tells of the story of Jesus Christ: How he was born of the virgin May, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again on the third day by the power of God.  This resurrection of Jesus Christ is confirmed by many eye-witnesses after the resurrection as well.  

People are saved today by putting their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.  They will never see Jesus nor do they need to.  They put their faith in Jesus Christ because they respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  They believe the proclamation of salvation from God.  However, not all people come to this faith in the same way.  There are always skeptics, people who believe something else, and people who just need more convincing.  I should point out that faith in Jesus Christ is not due to mental ascent, but is instead something that takes place in the heart.

A person truly puts his or her faith in Jesus Christ because they believe the claims of the gospel in their hearts.  This is the response to the illumination by the Holy Spirit.  The person comes to realize that he needs a savior and that he cannot save himself..

The Implications of The Resurrection

Galatians 2:19-20 (NKJV) For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

We identify with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. By faith our deadness to God was exchanged for the life of Christ, which brought reconciliation to God. We live because Christ lives. If Christ had not died then we would still be dead in our sins and on a crash course with eternal separation from God.

We live because Jesus Christ lives. 

What does this mean to you?

• You are free from the wrath of God (See Romans 1:18)
• You have the power to overcome the flesh (through the Holy Spirit)
• You don’t have to try to save yourself
• You don’t have to trouble yourself to follow the rules and regulation