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THE TRUE MEANING OF EASTER
Easter is one of the biggest celebrations in Christendom. This day, it is claimed, celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But we have questions. Did God anywhere in the Bible command us to keep this annual day? Do we have God's instructions as to how it is to be observed? Did the apostles observe such a celebration? Just when was this day first celebrated and by whom? Who decided that the day is to be observed in churches? The word “Easter” appears only once in our King James Bibles. If you have a complete KJV Bible check the marginal note. It proves that the original word is “pascha” or “Passover.” This Greek word is found 29 times in the Bible. In 28 of those times it is rightly translated “Passover” and refers to the Jewish annual feast that commemorated the passing over of the death angel. Why did the King James translators use a different word? They were following the rules for translation commanded them by King James. They were to keep the old church words passed down from their mother church. Some of these words they kept were “church,” “cross,” “baptize,” “bishop,” “presbytery,” etc. The fact is, God never mentioned the word “Easter” in His Bible. It was the translators who substituted that word for their own reasons – not for any sound principle of translation. The name “Easter” actually comes from the name “Ishtar” who was an ancient fertility goddess worshiped by the Gentile neighbors of the Jews. Ever wonder what bunnies, baby chicks and eggs have to do with the resurrection of Christ? Absolutely nothing! But they are fertility symbols associated with this ancient idolatry. Consider this Bible principle: “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey...?” (Romans 6:16). Simple, is it not? We are the servants of whom we obey! Since the Bible has not told us to observe this pagan day and since we have no apostolic example of any first century Christians observing it, it is an innovation – something newly brought in. Applied to Easter, this principle means that if we observe this celebration we are not obeying God. We must be obeying someone else. It is the Pope and his religious organization that ordered the observance of this day. So if you observe Easter, you are obeying the Pope. Just as you know what pleases you better than anyone else, so it is with God. Do those who observe Easter think that they know better what will please God better than He does? If He had wanted His children to observe the day, would He not have told us to keep it and just how He wanted it kept? Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth,” (John 4:24). Truth matters! God cannot be worshiped with pagan lies! “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry,” (1 Corinthians 10:14). |
