EASTER

The word “Easter” is only used in the English language, which both the word and date being the subject of great controversy. What‘s interesting is that “Easter” is only mentioned once in the King James Version (KJV) in Acts 12, which is actually an incorrect translation. Counterfeit was chosen over the truth. “Easter,” in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, is simply the Greek word “Pascha,” translated “Passover,” and comes from the Hebrew word “Pasach,” which means to pass, to leap, or skip over. There is no other word for Easter. Webster’s Dictionary states the English word “Easter” comes from “Eastre,” the Anglo Saxon Goddess of the Dawn, with her festival being in the spring. What is also very interesting is the word “Eastre,” a form of the Babylonian goddess, “Ishtar,” known as the pagan “Queen of Heaven.”

The “Passover” is the one most commonly observed Jewish holiday, where the Judaism observance is to remember the Exodus from Egypt led by Moses to the Promised Land.

The celebration of Easter wasn’t adopted until hundreds of years after Christ’s resurrection by the Roman Catholic Church. Pagan rites and customs associated with the worship of “Ishtar” were compromised in, a mutual concession. This was to help new converts to celebrate “Easter.” The men who gave us the authorized version of the King James were instructed by the king “To sanction no innovation that would disturb the orthodoxy or peace of the Church.” They were very careful to respect the king’s demands, and for this reason, it is necessary for us to research words in the Bible for their true meanings and origin.

THE CROSS

As we all know, in Christianity, the cross is the principle symbol representing the crucifixion, and of Christ Jesus Himself. There are many different sizes, shapes, and styles, of the cross, each with its own meaning and usage, that range from the very large number of Christian crosses (Altar, Blessing, Processional, etc.) to the German swastika. There are also crosses with one vertical bar and two or more horizontal bars, as well as the Russian Orthodox cross with two horizontal and one diagonal bar near the base. The largest cross in the world is in the Republic of Macedonia, called “The Millennium Cross.”

There is only one “True Cross,” and it is the cross that Jesus was crucified on. There is, however, a truth about the cross that has nothing to do with symbolism. This truth is spiritual. Jesus said in Luke 14, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” If you have laid down the old man, and have become a new creation in Christ, then you have a cross to carry. Your old man was crucified with Him, and the new man has a commission to tell the world that, Christ Jesus IS the Savior of ALL MEN.

“For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)

THE CRUCIFIXION

Jesus was crucified by the system of religion because of His power. The Pharisees, to begin with, were the religious people, rich in the realm of religion, strict, mostly ordinary Jews, not priests, who kept closely to the Jewish Law. They often extended the way the laws applied, so that they became very hard to keep, which led to

people being so concerned about keeping the law in every detail that, they lost sight of the ‘spirit’ behind it. The motive was good, and the Pharisees believed their rules ‘built a fence around the law.’ By keeping these other rules people would be in less danger of disobeying the actual Law of God. They despised those who did not, or could not keep their burdensome laws, and referred to them as sinners. Jesus frequently argued with them and condemned their self-righteousness and legalism. He identified himself with the common people whom the Pharisees had written off. Nicodemus and Paul were both Pharisees. They would not receive any Father but Abraham; he was like God to them.

The Scribes, on the other hand, were not a sect or a political party, they were the experts in the Law and are also called lawyers or teachers (rabbis). They interpreted the Law and applied it to everyday life. Jesus had not been to one of the schools for rabbis, yet His own disciples called Him “Teacher” (Rabbi), and so did many of the professional rabbis.

The Sanhedrin are the supreme council and highest court in the Jewish nation, also called the court of Moses. Many priests and a large part of the Sanhedrin were Sadducees.

Sadducees are smaller then the Pharisees, but more influential, with most members of the families as priests. There is little reliable information about them but we do know that they did not accept the Pharisees’ extension of the Law (the oral law, as distinct from the Old Testament written law). That is why they could not believe in resurrection, for it is not clearly taught in the Old Testament Law.

The Crucifixion is described in Psalm 22. Anyone who was condemned to die on the cross, which is an excruciatingly painful way to die, was also stripped naked, which is part of the humiliation of being crucified.

God the Son, by the Will of God the Parent, had become subject to put on flesh until the day Jesus hung on the cross. The personality of the Heavenly Parent had dwelled in Jesus. The day of the crucifixion, the expressive personality of the Mother/Father, which Jesus felt, departed from Him, who was now being expressed as a Son, dying a sinner. The earth went dark (the light of God went out), and Jesus died the death of a sinner without Holy God.

Jesus had been tortured to such an extreme that He was literally unrecognizable. He had spikes through his wrists and feet, a torn and welted ribcage, and there were 1” to 11/2” thorns (daggers) pushed into his head, that would penetrate around 70 nerves, veins and arteries. He would have been paralyzed by the pain like an electric shock. His whole head would have been swollen, with His eyes swollen shut, and naturally there would be blood everywhere. ~ Help us Lord to understand more of the depths of Your pains, so that we may appreciate more of the depth of Your love. ~

The darkness over the earth started at the sixth hour until the ninth. At the ninth hour He cried out “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” which means in English, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27, KJV). Then He cried in a loud voice, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and having done this He gave up the ghost.” (Luke 23, KJV) In John it’s recorded that Jesus said “It is finished.” He gave His spirit to The Father, it was not taken.

Medically speaking, when Jesus died He literally died of a broken heart. His heart increased its pulse rate until it erupted, it exploded within the pericardium, because of His position. Enormous amounts of water only can be extracted or discharged from the blood stream. When a person dies of a heart rupture and the heart explodes, then the blood collects on the wall of the pericardium, and after a few hours divides into a watery serum and a bloody clot. That was when the Roman soldier’s spear went into Jesus’ side.

The Romans crucified people for around 400 years. They would break the legs of the condemned to speed up the dying, and afterwards the remains were either burned or fed to the dogs. Nothing was to remain, ever. It was not necessary to break the legs of Jesus, He gave up the ghost. His body was secretly and quietly taken and buried in a rich man’s tomb. What is so awesome is that, in the morning the two Mary’s came to the tomb to finish the burial process. Jesus resurrected before the burial process was finished. His body never saw the grave.

RESURRECTION

The death of Jesus is the ultimate and perfect example of the greatest act of Divine Love. Divine Love is the willingness to lay your life down for the sake of someone else. Jesus said it Himself in John 15, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”

I’m not saying for one moment that we should not celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. What I am saying is there is more to the story. I believe no one could explain and write it better then the author of “The Prophet,” Kahlil Gibran, in the last two pages of “The Crucified,“ from his “Treasured Writings.”

“Jesus came not from the heart of the circle of Light to destroy the homes and build upon their ruins the convents and monasteries. He did not persuade the strong man to become a monk or a priest, but he came to send forth upon this earth a new spirit, with power to crumble the foundation of any monarchy built upon human bones and skulls. He came to demolish the majestic palaces, constructed on the graves of the weak, and crush the idols, erected upon the bodies of the poor. Jesus was not sent here to teach the people to build magnificent churches and temples amidst the cold wretched huts and dismal hovels.

He came to make the human heart a temple, and the soul an altar, and the mind a priest.

These were the missions of Jesus the Nazarene, and these are the teachings for which he was crucified. And if Humanity were wise, she would stand today and sing in strength the song of conquest and the hymn of triumph.

Oh, Crucified Jesus, who art looking sorrowfully from Mount Calvary at the sad procession of the Ages, and hearing the clamor of the dark nations, and understanding the dreams of Eternity: Thou art, on the Cross, more glorious and dignified than one thousand kings upon one thousand thrones in one thousand empires. Thou art, in the agony of death, more powerful than one thousand generals in one thousand wars. With thy sorrows, thou art more joyous than Spring with its flowers. With thy suffering, thou art more bravely silent than the crying of angels of heaven. Before thy lashers, thou art more resolute than the mountain of rock. Thy wreath of thorns is more brilliant and sublime than the crown of Bahram. The nails piercing thy hands are more beautiful than the scepter of Jupiter. The spatters of blood upon thy feet are more resplendent than the necklace of Ishtar. Forgive the weak who lament thee today, for they do not know how to lament themselves. Forgive them, for they do not know that thou hast conquered death with death, and bestowed life upon the dead. Forgive them, for they do not know that thy strength still awaits them. Forgive them, for they do not know that every day is thy day.”

The Resurrection is not a single event, it is a person. Jesus said in John:

“I AM the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”

EASTER PRAYER

Dear Risen Lord,

How hard it is to see clearly when devastating circumstances fill my eyes with tears. How blurry everything gets. Even you get blurry, and the sound of your voice becomes strangely unfamiliar.

Help me to blink away those tears to see that you are standing beside me, wanting to know why I am crying…wanting to know where it hurts…wanting to wipe away every tear from my eyes.

Thank you, Jesus, for being there, for never leaving me or forsaking me, even in the darkest and chilliest hours of my life.

From those circumstances that have shrouded my heart and entombed me, I pray that you would roll away the stone. It is too heavy and I am too weak to roll it away myself.

Where there is doubt, roll away the stone and resurrect my faith.
Where there is depression, cast aside the grave clothes and release my joy.
Where there is despair, chase away the night and bring sunshine to my hope.

Yet in my doubt, in my depression, in my despair, help me to continue to love you. Even if I don’t understand how you are working in my life.

And I rejoice that no matter how dark the Friday or how cold the tomb, that with you as my risen Savior, there is always the warm hope of an Easter morning…

(Ken Gire, Intimate Moments With The Savior)

“This Is Who We Are.”

Love in Christ,

Darlene Luke (Easter 2010)