Why we don't celebrate Easter

I don't mean to step on any toes or offend anyone. I encourage you to study it for yourselves. As we are so frequently told, "Have a good Easter," I have had to remind our children why we don't celebrate this holiday. Before I get to that I will share some spring pictures that I took recently.

One day I noticed tens of robins outside my back door. They were all over the ground under this tree.


Yesterday my nature boy, Brandon found a woolly caterpillar.



We put it into our butterfly garden. Hopefully it will become a butterfly or moth.

With spring all around us we can take joy in God's creation. But we don't want to become "yoked with unbelievers" in our worship. In II Corinthians 6:14 Paul warns the Corinthians about allowing pagan worship to mix with their worship of God. As we can see in our age it is still being done.

When Jesus was asked for a sign He answered, "but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet of Jonah. For even as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12: 39b-40. Not part of three days and two nights that is taught in many of our churches.

We can read of the account of Jesus death and resurrection in the gospels. Jesus was crucified on what we call Wednesday.

The passover lamb was sacrificed in the afternoon on Aviv 14th (that Wednesday) around 3:00. This gave them time to get it ready and cook it for the passover meal which begins at sundown which starts the feast of unleavened bread on the 15th. No work is to be done on that day (15th), sundown to sundown. The people were to eat the meal with their staffs in their hands and ready to flee just as they had done in Egypt.

The Jews didn't want the bodies hanging on the crosses on the Sabbath, which is talking about the Passover Sabbath not the weekly Sabbath which began at sundown. The soldiers were going to break Jesus' legs to speed up his death but found him already dead. Joseph, a rich man from Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus begged the body of Jesus. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and laid it in his own new tomb. He rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre and departed. He most likely didn't have time to wrap the body with spices as would have been done because it was almost sundown. They were to be in their houses at sundown and not go out.

In Matthew 28:1 it tells us, "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week," that some women came to the sepulchre when there was a great earthquake and the stone rolled away. Jesus was already gone. The women did find an angel of the Lord there who told them that Jesus was already risen and he showed them the empty tomb. Remember "dawn" there means almost sundown.

We know that a day according to God's calendar begins at sundown and goes to sundown. Before sundown on the weekly Sabbath Jesus was already resurrected and gone from the tomb.

So...Jesus died on a Wednesday afternoon. He was in the tomb Wednesday night, Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday and rose sometime Saturday afternoon. My guess it that it was exactly 3 days and 3 nights from when he died. Remember that was the only sign He gave...3 days and 3 nights.

Jesus then became the "First Fruits" offering on the 1st day of the week that follows the passover. He appeared before the Father as the "First Fruits" of those resurrected. If we follow God's reckoning of time it is easy to understand.

If we look into the roots of Easter, the fertility goddess, we will see it has nothing to do with Jesus, his crucifixion, or resurrection. What it has to do with is pagan sun god worship and the spring (vernal) equinox. What do rabbits and dyed eggs have to do with God? Remember "Do not become unequally yoked with unbelievers" in your worship. It truly can not be pleasing to the one true God.

I encourage you to check it out for yourselves. With the Internet it is really easy to find information. One resource that has helped me to understand the roots of paganism and how it filtered into the churches is Michael Rood. http://www.michaelroodministries.com/

I could go on and on about what I have learned but I need to do the main job God has given me, teach and train my children. Have a great spring day and enjoy God's creation.