By Dr. John E. Warren
Sr. Pastor, Eagle’s Nest Christian Center, San Diego, CA
There was a time that “Easter” was considered as the time we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died for all our sins. Easter followed the forty days of fasting and personal sacrifices that many made for the Lent period as a time of spiritual renewal. Churches and Christians in particular believed in the resurrection of Jesus just as they accepted the virgin birth. But a subtle thing happened after prayer was removed from public schools and later, most public places. Easter, which had become the substitute for the resurrection, still had bothered a number of people. Nevermind the fact that a rabbit with eggs had become the symbol of easter when rabbits don’t lay eggs, they give live birth to their offsprings. But both the rabbit and the egg are symbols of fertility and hence easter had pagan roots in that fertility became an easy substitute for the resurrection which had its roots in Jesus Christ as the Son of God.
The Jewish people had never accepted Jesus as the Son of God. So they don’t celebrate the resurrection, but rather the “Passover” which God commanded as an ordinance forever to remember his deliverance when the angel of death passed over all Jewish houses that had the blood of the lamb on the door post the night before the exodus from Egypt. By way of reminder, Jesus was gathered with his disciples in the upper room not for a “Last Supper” but in observance of the “Passover” as God required of all Jews. Remember, Jesus taught that he came to fulfill the law, not break or change it.
Fast forward to the present and now we have “Spring Break” a time when school is out for about two weeks; college students descend on beaches and resort areas to stage parties, many of which become drunken orgies (just as pagans did in making sex a key component of their idea of worship.) There are ministers and scholars now arguing whether Jesus rose from the dead of if he was a twin that went off to live in another village after the crucifixion.
We as believers must not be deceived by all this. We must remember that Jesus taught “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying ‘I am Christ’ and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of ways; see that ye be not troubled for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows…” (Matthew Chapter 24, verses 4 – 8).
Our belief in Jesus Christ must never become a subject for debate among us. We believe John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We believe as the Bible teaches that “If we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord, we shall be saved.”
We must not allow Spring Breaks and Easter to allow us to miss God’s precious sacrifice that we might live.
