The
significance of Easter to Christians.
Easter
is central to Christianity
this post will attempt to give a brief summary of it's significance
to Christians.
The background to the Easter story.
Ancient History.
God
created
Adam (the first man) and Eve (the first woman).i
God told Adam that he was allowed to eat from any tree except the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because when
you eat from it you will die.ii
Adam
& Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At
this time God made the first prediction of the coming of His only
begotten Son, Jesus Christ.iii
There are many more predictions
(usually known as prophesies) of the coming of Jesus Christ
recorded in the Old Testament.
The Birth of Jesus.
God
sent the angel Gabriel to a virgin by the name of Mary who was
engaged to marry a carpenter by the name of Joseph (who was a
descendent of King David). Gabriel told Mary she would conceive and
give birth to a son who would be named “Jesus”. This son would be
known as the Son of God. Mary said “I am the Lord's servant, may
what you said happen to me.” Then the angel left.iv
When
Caesar Augustus ordered a census of the Roman Empire Joseph went from
Nazareth to Bethlehem and took Mary, his finance with him. While they
were there Mary gave birth to a son. The child was named “Jesus”.v
The Show Trial.
Jesus
predicted that he would be handed over for crucifixion on the
passover day, at the same time the high priests, religious leaders
and the chief priest were in a meeting conspiring to kill Jesus.vi
Judas
Iscarriot went to the high priests and asked what they would give to
hand Jesus over to them. The price was settled at thirty pieces of
silver. From then on Judas looked for the right time to hand Jesus
over.vii
On
the night when Jesus was betrayed He said to His disciples that one
of them would betray Him. The disciples responded surely you don't
mean I will betray you. When Judas Iscarriot said this Jesus said
“Don't play games with me Judas”viii.
Later
that night Judas Iscarriot did betray Jesus. Jesus was arrested by a
large crowd sent by the chief priests and the elders.ix
The crowd took Jesus to Caiaphas the High Priest, the teachers of the
Law and the elders. They tried to find people who would testify
against Jesus until somebody came forward saying that Jesus had said
He would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. When
confronted with this Jesus said nothing. When asked if He was the
Messiah, the Son of God Jesus replied in the affirmative. On hearing
this the High Priest tore his clothes and declared Jesus to be guilty
of blasphemy.x
They tied Jesus and took Him to the Pilate, the Roman governor.xi
Pilate
was in the habit of setting one prisoner chosen by the people free at
the time of the passover. He gave the people a choice of Jesus
Barabas (a murderer) or Jesus (Christ) who is called the Messiah and
incited by the Jewish authorities the crowd called for Barabas to be
freed and for Jesus Christ to be crucified. Pilate asked what crime
Jesus Christ had committed, but the crowd just kept yelling “crucify
him”. So Pilate took a bowl of water and washed his hands in front
of them saying that he was not guilty of this man's death. The people
replied that the guilt should rest on them and their children. Then
Pilate had Jesus whiped and handed Him over to be crucified.xii
Jesus' Torture and
Crucifixion.
The
whole company of soldiers gathered, stripped Jesus of His clothes and
put a scarlet robe on Him. They made a crown out of thorny branches
and placed it on His head, put a stick in His right hand and mocked
Him saying “Long live the king of the Jews”. They
spat on him, and took the stick and hit him over the head.
When they had finished mocking Him they took the robe off and put His
own clothes back on Jesus and led Him off to crucify Him.xiii
When
they arrived at Golgotha, the place of the skull, they crucified Him
between two thieves and divided His clothes among them by throwing
dice.xiv
Jesus' Death.
At
noon the whole country was covered in darkness for three hours. At
three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice “Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani?” which means “My God, My God why have you abandoned
me?” Jesus gave another loud cry and died.xv
According
to other information I
have come across God knew at this time the day and the hour that
Jesus Christ would die on the cross.
At
that moment the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to
bottomxvi
and the earth shook with a violent earthquake which caused rocks to
split.xvii
The
religious leaders of the time went to Pilate the next day and
requested that a guard be placed at the tomb because Jesus had
predicted He would rise on the third day and they did not want the
disciples to steal the body in order to claim Jesus had been raised.xviii
“This
is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the
world so we might live through him. This
is the kind of love we are talking about--not that we once upon a
time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice
to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our
relationship with God.”xix
The Resurrection of Jesus.
When
the Sabbath was over Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and
Salome bought spices to embalm Jesus' body. On the Sunday morning
they went to the tomb. On the way they were wondering who would roll
away the stone from the tomb. Suddenly there was an earth quake. An
angel of the Lord rolled the stone away from the tomb and sat on it.
The guards shook with fear and fell like dead men. When the women
arrived they walked straight into the tomb and saw an angel (who
looked like a young man) sitting on the right side wearing a white
robe. They were frightened.xx
The
angel said to the women “ Do not to be afraid. Jesus isn't here
because God had raised Him to life, look here is the spot where
Jesus' body was laid. Go quickly, tell His disciples that Jesus has
been raised to life and is going ahead of them to Galilee. They will
see Him there. The women hurried off to tell the disciples the good
news. At first the disciples did not believe them.xxi
Peter
and John took off running to the tomb. John got there first, stopped
outside, looked in and saw the linen cloths laying there but didn't
go in. Peter arrived and went straight in. Peter saw the cloths lying
there with the cloth that had been around Jesus' head rolled up
separate from the others. John went in also. Then they walked away
wondering what had happened.xxii
Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection on the
3rd day are the climax of God's plan of salvation.
Jesus
said that no one will ever see the Kingdom of God unless they are
“born again”, in other translations this is “born from above”,
“a new birth”, “generated from above” and “born anew”.
All are to convey the concept of receiving spiritual life.
So
the question must surely be, how does a person receive the new birth?
Jesus
said: “For
God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.”xxiii
Just before Jesus was taken up to Heaven He told His
disciples to go into all the world telling the Gospel (that is the
good news about Jesus) and that those who believe will be saved while
those who do not believe will be condemned.
As
the apostle Paulxxiv
wrote we are made right with Godxxv
through faith alone, we believe in our hearts and say with our mouths
that Jesus Christ is boss (or Lord) of our lives.xxvi
I therefore encourage all readers to ask Jesus Christ to be boss of
their lives.
Jesus came into the world to suffer and die to
pay the price for our sins so that we could be made right with God
(righteous) through faith in Him. That's the significance of Easter
to Christians.
Now the question is, do you want to make Jesus the boss of your
life? If so, pray like this:
God I admit that I have fallen short of your standard, doing
bad things known as sins.xxvii
Thank you that you sent your only son by birth, Jesus to pay
the price for the bad things (sins) I have done.xxviii
I believe in my heart and say it with my mouth that Jesus
Christ is Lord.xxix
Fill me with your Spirit.xxx
I pray in the name of Jesus.xxxi
If you just prayed like this for the first time, you need to join
a church where you will be taught to obey everything Jesus
commanded.xxxii
You also need to get in the habit of reading the Bible,xxxiii
if possible in your first language, every day.
I
have referred to several English translations of the Bible in writing
this which is made easy by e-sword,
a free downloadable program (translations in other languages are also
downloadable). For further information I recommend reading the Bible.
© Ken
Glasgow 2011 Last edited 4 April 2021
This page was
written using Open Office 3.2.1, open source software from the
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this software is available to
download for free.
viiiMatthew
26:20-25, Mark 14:17.
xiMatthew
27:2, Mark 14:43-46.
xvMatthew
27:45-46, Mark 15:33-34.
xixJohn
4:9&10, The Message Bible.
xxivSaint
Paul to Catholics.
xxxLuke
11:13 see also John 14:26
xxxi
John 14:13-14 & 16:23-24
