This time of the year over a billion will participate in Easter and millions will take time to remember the Jewish Passover.  Christians believe God used the Passover as a time for the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ to take the place of the Jewish Passover.  The Passover starts April 6, 2012 and Easter is April 7, 2012.   Therefore, Christ’s Resurrection was to replace the remembrance and celebration paid to the Passover.

I Corinthians 5:7 – “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us.”  (NKJ)  Do you think the Crucifixion and Resurrection was a coincidence that just happened at that specific time?

Paul reminds us that Passover commemorated the time God passed over all the Israelites and sent the death angel to kill all first-born in the land of Egypt.  Christians take this time to remember the Crucifixion and Resurrection when Christ willingly shed His blood as a substitute for sinful man so he could be redeemed through the acceptance of Jesus as God’s Son with the ability to forgive sins.   Without the Resurrection and the forgiveness of sins, no one could have escaped the ultimate death of man’s spirit.  So it was Christ who took our place, so man’s sins could be forgiven and sinful man could be redeemed and be judged righteous.

I Peter 1:18 – 21 – “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors,  but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.”  NIV

Peter states that Christ was foreordained to be our redeemer before the foundation of the world.  He did not die on the cross by accident.  The shedding of His blood was God’s plan from the very beginning.  As redeemed we are to live with faith and hope in God.  Our God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and is the same God whom we believe.  Faith is the key word in a Christian’s lifestyle.  “Without faith, it is impossible to please God.”  (Hebrews 11:6) – We come to Christ by faith, we are saved by faith and we must live by faith.  Not only are we to live with faith, we are to live a life of hope.  Hope came by the resurrection of Jesus Christ that we may live with God in eternity.

As a result of Adam and Eve being deceived by Satan and having sinned against God, became cursed and separated from God as He had stipulated and promised would happen.  As a result, we all were born with a carnal, self-centered nature separated from God.  No one, no matter how much they worshipped God or lived a Godly life, prior to the Resurrection could become a part of God’s family—they were separated.  Upon death, God’s people went to Seoul, Abraham’s bosom or Paradise until they could be forgiven by Christ.  They then were released to heaven to be with God and a part of His family.   Others who were not God’s people and died, the Bible teaches went to a place of torment.

From the creation of Adam God did not want a robot.  Everyone had to make a choice between what was considered good and what was determined to be bad.  With everything conceivable needed by man being available in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve made the wrong choice.  God had made one thing off limits in order for them to be given a choice.  We have a similar choice today.  We can accept Christ as the Messiah or we can deny and reject Him and/or God.  It is our choice.

For those who question that Christ was God’s Son or that He was not resurrected and spent forty days with His many disciplines, history states that over 500 witnessed Christ being alive after having been crucified on a cross.  The Bible tells that Mary Magdalene was the first, before sunrise on what Christians call Easter Sunday, found the rock rolled away and the tomb empty.  She ran and told Peter and John.  They came and confirmed what she had told them.  The second time that Mary looked into the tomb she saw two angels sitting where Jesus had been laid.

Matthew 28: 1 – 2 – “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.  And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it.”  The guards who were posted to make certain no one could remove Christ’s body stood in fear and seemed paralyzed.  The angel told Mary and the others: Matthew 28:5 – 7 – “But the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.  And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you.’”

Now we must ask this question: Has the great deceiver Satan, turned Easter into an Easter egg hunt, bunnies and parades so that we would miss the significance of what Passover and the Resurrection really stood for?  Many will celebrate Easter but most will not understand its significance.  To some it is just another religious holiday.  To children it could be just a fun day to hunt for eggs.  However, to God, it was a time set aside for man to remember Christ’s sacrifice, its purpose and to worship their Creator. Had Christ and the Resurrection never happened the world could be in such a mess that we could end up in the same evil society as Noah knew.  How many will miss Easter’s intended purpose and fail to thank and worship God?