Should we celebrate Easter?

SHOULD WE CELEBRATE EASTER?

If you have been in any supermarket lately you may have noticed a wide selection of Easter Eggs. One can see not only Easter eggs, but chocolate bunnies, chicks, and delicious Easter cakes.  When I was younger, I was told that the hollow Easter Egg represented the “Empty Tomb.”  So what then of the bunny and the chick? Nobody could give an adequate answer.

 

Sadly, later in life I learned that these symbols have less to do with that great morning of the Resurrection and more to do with “Eostre.” 

Eostre was an Anglo-Saxon goddess. She was the goddess of the dawn and spring. In the early middle ages they celebrated her feast days with eggs, bunnies/hare ornaments and round decorated cakes. She represented fertility and the end of winter. The idea of a goddess of spring dates back to very ancient times. The ancient Romans had the goddess Flora. The festivals for Flora would have been similar to that of the hippy festivals in San Francisco in the 60’s.

 

When the Catholic Church gained more ground they “Christianised” the festival, keeping a lot of the imagery, and called it “Easter.” The timing of “Easter” follows the same lunar timing as the ancient “Eostre” festival.

The Western Protestant Churches continued the celebration of “Easter” in line with the Roman Catholic Church.

 

When we celebrate “Easter” we of course are celebrating the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Good Friday is the remembrance of his death, and Easter Sunday we remember how he rose again from the dead.

 

However, the Bible has a different celebration that we here in the West seem to have forgotten about. It is getting more recognition amongst Christians in recent years. I think it is thanks to both access to knowledge on the Internet and good Bible Scholars bringing it to our attention.

“But what’s wrong with Easter?” I hear you ask. So let’s see if there is anything terribly wrong with “Easter:”

 

1. “Easter” is a pagan name of a pagan festival.

2. The main symbols of “Easter” out from the Cross and Empty tomb are a throwback to the pagan festival: The egg, chick, bunny, cake, celebratory meal etc.

3. From Good Friday to Easter Sunday is only two days and two nights. According to the Bible, Jesus was dead three days and three nights.

4. None of the Apostles celebrated “Easter.”

5. The Lord Jesus himself never asked us to celebrate his death and resurrection once a year in a special celebration.

6. The “Easter” we know today is a Roman Catholic invention.

 

1. Name

We could look at a celebration in the Bible with a different name “The Passover.” The Passover has quite a bit to do with our Saviours death and resurrection. It was in the midst of the overall Passover celebrations our Messiah was crucified.

 

2. Symbols

The Passover is rich in symbolism and it all points to Christ. Not just his death and resurrection but a future moment in time when he will come for us in the clouds. So let us read then of the very first Passover:

Exodus 12:1-14

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 

4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbour shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 

6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.

7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 

8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 

11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: 

I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

14 “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 

 

A. The Land of Egypt:

“Egypt” has always been a picture of the “World” with Pharaoh a pre-figure of the “Anti-Christ.” In the same manner that the Israelites were “Slaves” in Egypt, we were slaves to sin before we were Saved. Romans 6:16-18

16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 

17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

 

B. The Lamb:

No more wonderful a picture of our Saviour than “The Lamb.” The Messianic symbolism of “The Lamb” can first be seen in Genesis 22. We see Abraham being tested for his faith by God. God asks him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham knew that if he killed his son that God would have to bring him back to life as the promise God made to Abraham required that Isaac be alive to be a father himself. In the dialogue between Abraham and Isaac on the way to the appointed place we have the following: Genesis22:6-8

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 

7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said,

“Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 

8 Abraham said, 

“God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.”

So they went both of them together.

 

In our English Bibles we read “God will provide himself the Lamb.” It is a powerful statement when translated as such. But in the original Hebrew it is worded ever so slightly differently and more profoundly. “Elohim yir’eh has’seh" translates directly to “God sees himself The Lamb” or “God provides of Himself The Lamb.”

It is no wonder then that John the Baptist declared in John1:29-34:

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 

31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 

32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me,

‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 

34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

 

John the Apostle in Revelation chapter five reveals what he saw in Heaven:

1. Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it,

 4 and I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. 

5 And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”

6 And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 

7 And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. 8 And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 

9 And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.”

 

11 Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

 

14 And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ himself is our Passover Lamb, The Lamb of God, The Lamb God provided of Himself.

 

C. The Blood on the Doorposts.

The Passover blood was to be applied to two posts of timber. The Cross was made up of two posts of timber. It is amazing to think that God charged his Angel to pass over the timbers with the blood applied but God himself could not pass over his only begotten Son on the Cross. The full force of his wrath was poured out in three hours of darkness. In the same way that the entire lamb was totally consumed on the night of the Passover, the Lord Jesus Christ bore the total penalty for Sin. We are so thankful that he shed his blood in our place. We were guilty slaves to sin and he set us free through his precious blood. The writer of the Hebrews explains the necessity of the shedding of Christ’s blood on the Cross of Calvary in Hebrews 9:11-28

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 

13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

 

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. 17 For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. 19 For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” 21 And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

 

23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 

25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 

28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

 

 

 

D. Your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand.

(i) The Belt

The Apostle Paul brings the fastened Belt to our attention in Ephesians chapter six where he outlines the “Armour of God.” In the same way that on the night of the Passover that the belt is mentioned first, we see it mentioned first again in Ephesians 6:13-14

13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

Except in Ephesians, we are told the “Belt of Truth.” The Belt holds everything else in place. Once you have the Belt on you can proceed in your journey, whether it is to work, war, or worship. In John 14:6 Jesus said of himself:

 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If we want the Belt of “Truth” then we need the Lord Jesus. We cannot even begin our Journey with God without him. We don’t have a Theology without the “Truth.”

(ii) The Sandals

The sandals symbolise the spread of the Gospel. This is the good news of the Messiah. In Isaiah 52:7 it says:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Paul repeats this sentiment in Romans 10:14-17

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 

15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

 

When John the Baptist described the Lord Jesus, he mentioned his Sandals in Mark 1:4-8

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 

6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 

7 And he preached, saying, 

“After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

 

At the first Passover however the sandals on the feet were a sign of readiness as the departure was going to be quick. We too are waiting on a quick departure. Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 24:29-31 + 36-39

29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 

30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 

31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

 

36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 

38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, 

so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

 

So, have your Spiritual Sandals on your feet, no for a “Passover” but the “Up-Taker.”

 

(iii) The Staff

In ancient times the “Staff” wasn’t just a stick you leaned on as you got old. The staff that belonged to the Elder of the tribe had significance. One can only assume that each staff was decorated in some way to signify to whom each staff belonged to. Each Elder had the responsibility over each tribe and each family in the tribe had an Elder responsible for that family. They in turn also had their own Staff.

King David says in Psalm 23:4:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

 

A wise man once said that the “rod” is for correction and the “Staff” is for direction. Paul tells us in 2Timothy 3:16-17

 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

We can see then that our Spiritual Staff is the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God in print, Christ Jesus is the Word of God in person. If we want direction in life then His Staff should be a great comfort for us.

 

There is so much more to be garnered by studying the symbols of the Passover and this is a very small introduction. I may, perhaps, return to this subject in greater detail at a later time.

 

2. Three Days and Three Nights

I could not recommend this website more:

https://hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Spring_Holidays/First_Fruits/first_fruits.html

 

Here is an excerpt from the website that more clearly explains the “Three day and three nights” from the “Passover” point of view:

 

From this we can see how the Roman Catholic and most Protestant Churches have Good Friday as an imposter to the truth.

 

3. Celebrate his death and resurrection

The Lord Jesus Christ never asked us to celebrate his death and resurrection in a yearly celebration that changes according to the moon. But this sets out what he did ask: 1CORINTHIANS 11:23-26

²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

 

So, as often as we fellowship together and Eat the Bread and Drink the Cup, we proclaim his death till he comes. No need for a Good Friday anyway.

So should we celebrate Easter?