1/27/13

EASTER by Gary Womack


EASTER

Easter, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, is "the principal festival of the church year..." In the spring of the year, this is born out by the sharp increase in attendance by many who at no other time of the year are inclined to assemble for worship on this one particular Sunday in the year. Why is this the case? And when asked where this annual festival called Easter came from, why is it that many are unable to tell of its origin? What is the real intended purpose for such a popularly embraced "holy day?" These and other related questions on this topic are the subject of this article.
It may be amusing to many that the Encyclopedia Britannica also states that "...The English name Easter is of uncertain origin." It would seem that the Word of God would be the source for that answer and would therefore remove all of the mystery. After all, Peter said that "...His [God's, gvw] divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue." (2 Pet. 1:3) Peter, being one of the apostles, was subject to the promise Jesus made to all of the other apostles when, shortly prior to Jesus' crucifixion, He said to them, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come." (Jn. 16:12-13)
Not only should the Bible be the source of information on all matters of spiritual significance, but we are to be familiar with what it teaches and give ourselves to wholeheartedly comply to its teachings and submit to its authority. As the apostle Paul said, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him." (Col. 3:16-17) Therefore, it is to the Word of God that we must go in order to find the answers regarding what many call Easter.
As we turn our investigation to the scriptures, with the help of a concordance, it is to the amazement of some that we find the word "Easter" only once. We find this reference in Acts chapter 12, where king Herod had begun to harass the church by killing James. Seeing how it pleased the Jews, he imprisoned Peter with the intention of putting him to death also. Therefore we read in Acts 12:4; "And when he had apprehended him [Peter, gvw], he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people."
Now, if you are reading from a translation other than the King James Version which was quoted here, you may notice that the word Easter is not there. Instead, you will find the word Passover in its place. There is good reason for that. The word used here in the original is Pascha, which is the Greek spelling of the Aramaic word for "Passover," which is from the Hebrew word pasach, meaning "to pass over or to spare." Everywhere else in the King James Version, this same word is translated Passover. So why did the translators use the word Easter in this single passage, and where did the word Easter come from?
As stated in the quote from the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the origin of the name Easter is uncertain. It is said that Bede in the 8th century derived it from the name of the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess Eostre. Another source (W. E. Vines) states that Easter is another form of the name of the Chaldean goddess astarte. The truth is that we don't know conclusively where the name Easter came from. So, why is this the only passage of scripture where the name Easter is put in place of the correct name, Passover?
We will consider the answer to that question a bit later. In the mean time however, let's consider what Passover was all about in order to understand what is behind the present day Easter observance by the majority of the religious world.
After 430 years, the descendants of Jacob had become a very populous people within the land of Egypt. God had sent nine plagues against the Egyptians, showing them that He was the God of Heaven and that the Israelites were His own people to be released upon His demand, even in the face of their stubborn king's refusal to comply. On the eve of God's last plague which would result in the death of the first-born in every Egyptian houshold, He forewarned His people of this eminent event and how to be spared from its awful wake.
The events of that night would become the cause for the most highly regarded religious feast for this flegling nation which was about to publicly gain their identity among the nations. So significant was this event that its related memorial would mark the beginning of their year and establish for them a religious calender that would count their days from that point onward. The frequency of this memorial as an annual observance is seen in the instructions that God gave to them on that occasion; "This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you." (Ex. 12:2)
God gave these instructions exclusively to this emerging Israelite nation, saying, "On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb...you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Then they shall eat the flesh on that night...with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt...So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations." (Ex. 12:3-14)
The shadow of this memorial and its sacrificial lamb would be cast over a period of a little over 1,400 years, reaching forward to, and giving way to, the very image of its intended focus; Jesus Christ, "...the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" (Jn. 1:29) The coming of Christ marked the beginning of a series of events that would culminate at a roughhewn cross on a hill outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem. The last days preceding His death are the focus of this part of our study.
While teaching His disciples on the Mount of Olives outside the city of Jerusalem (Mt. 24:3; Mk. 13:3), Jesus said, "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." (Mt. 26:2) Two days later, "...on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, 'Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?' " (Mt. 26:17) This fourteenth day of the first month of the Jewish calendar fell on a Thursday on that particular year. "And He sent Peter and John, saying, 'Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat.' " (Lk. 22:8)
"In the evening He came with the twelve." (Mk. 14:17) "When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, 'With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.' " (Lk. 22:14-16) This particular Passover, unlike the many that had preceded it, marked the fulfillment of its ultimate purpose when it was first instituted in Egypt on the eve of Israel's freedom from Egyptian bondage. This Passover that Jesus was now participating in with His apostles marked the ending of one era of God's unfolding plan to redeem man from sin, and the beginning of another in which man's redemption would be realized in a greater sacrificial lamb than that offered previously. The fulfillment of the Passover was about to usher in the kingdom of God.
"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.' " (Mt. 26:26-29) It should be noted that in the midst of observing this Passover, Jesus was instituting a memorial of His own death on the eve of its fulfillment. This would mark the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the new.
On the next day, Friday, Jesus was crucified. Then, on the third day, Sunday, He was raised from the dead (Mt. 28:1-6; Mk. 16:1-6; Lk. 24:1-6; Jn. 20:1-9). Near the end of forty days after He had been raised from the dead (Acts 1:1-3), and just shortly before He ascended back into Heaven, Jesus delivered His great commission to His apostles, saying, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mk. 16:16) Of these baptized believers, the apostles were commanded to be busy "...teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you..." (Mt. 28:20)
Paul, an eyewitness of the Christ and the last of the apostles (1 Cor. 15:8), fulfilled this responsibility that Jesus gave to them. We see an example of this in regard to the Christians at Corinth in his "teaching them to observe all things" that Jesus had commanded them, with these instructions: "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes." (1 Cor. 11:23-26) A reading of verse 17 to the end of that chapter reveals that these Christians at Corinth had digressed by having profaned this solemn memorial that Jesus had instituted just prior to His death. Beginning at verse 27, Paul gave instructions on how to properly observe what is identified as "the Lord's Supper" (vs. 20).
This Lord's Supper was the occasion for which the early Christians came together to remember the sacrifice of Christ as instructed by the apostles. We see this in the example of the church at Troas. Prior to arriving in that city, Paul and some of those traveling with him, "...sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days. Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight." (Acts 20:6-7) The timing of their arrival at Troas is identified as "after the Days of Unleavened Bread," also known as the Passover. The fact that they met on the first day of the week other than at the time of the annual Passover feast (still being observed by many of the Jews) "to break bread," gives evidence that this was not an annual observance, but was a weekly observance, and Paul had timed his arrival there in order to be present on that occasion to join them in this memorial.
It was only a few days after departing from Troas that Paul warned the elders from Ephesus that there would to be an uprising among them that would result in a departure from the faith (Acts 20:17-21, 26-32), much like that he warned of in 1 Tim. 4:1-3 and in 2 Thess. 2:3 where he spoke of a "falling away" that was approaching. It was almost three hundred years later that we see further evidence of these warnings. In 325 AD the Roman emperor Constantine called for the council of Nicea to convene. This was the first such council in which select representatives from local churches the world over came together to exercise legislative authority that Christ never gave to His church. All such authority was and is held by Christ from His throne in Heaven and was proclaimed through His apostles as we find in Jesus' words spoken to Peter and the other apostles; "...Whatever you bind on the earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven." (Mt. 16:19, NET)
There is evidence that as early as the second century there were churches already observing such an annual celebration contrary to the teaching and examples found in the Scriptures. However, there was disagreement as to when it should be observed. Some celebrated it on whatever day the 14th. of the month Nisan fell and others observed it on the Sunday following that date. Therefore, it was in this first of many such councils (at the council of Nicea) that the time of the observance of "Easter" was discussed. It was at this time that "Easter" was officially recognized as an annual observance and the dispute over which Sunday it was to be celebrated was settled, decreeing that it be the Sunday following Passover. However, there continued to be disputes over how to calculate when "Easter" should be observed due to differences in the Jewish calendar and the Julian calendar. Finally, at the Synod of Whitby in England (664 or 663 AD), the present-day means of calculating the observance of "Easter" was decreed and is therefore widely observed in this and most other countries. Yet there have continued to be disagreements regarding the timing of this celebration even as recently as the 20th century.
Such confusion only gives testimony to the fact that God did not reveal an annual date for such an observance called Easter. We are therefore called upon to choose between that which man cannot agree upon, or that which is revealed in the Scriptures in the observance of the Lord's Supper on every first day of the week. The choice seems simple enough. But it all comes down to what Peter and the other apostles stated; "We ought to obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29) In that which we do, will we glorify God or man?
- Gary V. Womack - April 2006