Looking at the Eloquently Woven Story of Redemption
Easter is a fraud!
Most assuredly, this statement is true, but most assuredly, I am not passing judgment. I have learned a lot regarding what our Lord did for us as I have studied even deeper these past couple weeks. As always, be a Berean (Acts 17:11). Let me share…
The death and resurrection of Jesus is pivotal to our faith. Jesus dying on the cross took our sins upon Him as our substitute. Jesus defeating death and raising from the dead on His own accord validates His death and is, in my opinion, the most pivotal point in all human history. See 1 Corinthians 15:12-20.
Jesus fulfills Old Testament prophecies in ways we often overlook. Specifically, the Jewish feasts and festivals pointed the Jews to a Messiah who was found in no one other than Jesus of Nazareth.
The presentation of the Lamb: on the 10th of Nisan the lambs are presented to be selected as the sacrifice. This would have been the Triumphal Entry.
The sacrifice of the Lamb: on the 14th of Nisan (Passover) the lambs are slain for sins: This would have been the Crucifixion.
The perfect Lamb without sin: the Feast of Unleavened Bread starts on the 15th of Nisan. Leaven is always associated with sin in the Bible. Our King was without sin, ie leaven. They had to have Jesus off the cross and in the tomb before this feast started.
First Fruits: the 1st day of the week (Sunday) following Passover is the Feast of First Fruits. This would have been Resurrection Sunday. Jesus was named specifically as being our first fruits in the 1 Corinthians passage listed above.
The above Old Testament references can be found in Exodus 12:1-8, Leviticus 23:4-14, and specific to Jesus is Isaiah 53 which Dr. Chuck Missler states is the fulcrum of the entire universe.
What I find most fascinating is when I study God's Word in depth and take it literally, it provides such greater depth to my faith. Jesus didn’t just ride into Jerusalem, have His last supper, die, and raise from the dead on some random days. All these events were literally, prophetically ordained at the foundation of the Universe. He laid them out to the Jews in Egypt and beyond then fulfilled them on the exact days as the presented Lamb without blemish to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. I find this absolutely fascinating! This is why it is important to study the Old Testament and how deceptive it is to decouple ourselves from it. Everything points to Jesus! Without His death on Passover Day and His resurrection on First Fruits, we have nothing to hold onto. The entirety of all this is found in Him!
Now, let’s talk about Easter
Easter is literally the pagan mother goddess Ishtar. Ishtar is the goddess of sexuality and fertility. It was a spring celebration to her. You may find different variant names of this in different cultures which goes to how Satan packages deception nice and neat for each culture and people group. Nothing is new under the sun, and paganism is just that in each and every culture. We have our own in today’s society which is a whole separate study in and of itself.
The correlation with Jesus’ death and resurrection with Ishtar goes back to the era of Constantine and even the Council of Nicea. There was an active attempt to separate the celebration of Christian traditions with the Jews. This led to anti-Semitism as well. Also, the Roman calendar follows a solar cycle, and the Jewish calendar (provided by God) follows a lunar cycle. How they chose to celebrate Easter was a definite, active attempt to separate from Passover. Constantine even had an active attempt to mix and marry Christianity to paganism. I implore you to study more into this.
They even had a term for Christians who celebrated the death and resurrection at the God-appointed time (Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits). They called them Quartodecimens meaning the 14th people, ie the 14th of Nisan. In short, we pulled ourselves away from prophecy which led to the segregation and persecution of both Jews as a whole and Believers who desired to celebrate what Jesus did with the appointed time of our Lord. So when we say Happy Easter, we are literally saying Happy Ishtar. This has been unsettling to me since I became apprised of this information. Again, I am not passing judgment.
The Last Supper
This is literally the Last Seder. The Jews celebrate their Seder Meal as Passover Eve begins. It is very interesting some points with the Seder Meal I would like to point out.
They have a 3-compartmented napkin called the Echad which means unity. Interesting, that we serve a triune God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. All three compartments hold a piece of unleavened bread called matzot bread. The middle piece (Son) is broken in two.
They have four glasses of wine represented God’s four-fold promise from Exodus 6:6-7. Each glass represents a promise: I will bring you out (Sanctification), I will save you from bondage (Deliverance), I will redeem you (Redemption), and I will take you for a people (Restoration).
The broken piece of matzot bread is drank with the third glass of wine. When Jesus has the first communion, He says this is my body broken for you (broken piece of matzot bread), and this is my blood poured out for you (cup of redemption). We are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb! This makes more sense when He says His body is broken for us when not a bone of His body would be broken, does it not?
The fourth cup of wine is the cup of Restoration. When Jesus says that He would not drink of the vine of this cup, this is what He is referring to. Restoration has not fully come yet. This also makes more sense when He was still given sour wine on the cross, does it not?
Please read Matthew 26:26-29 now.
Not a Friday Crucifixion
This I found very intriguing and was very hard to disconnect from previous learning. It had to have been on a Wednesday or Thursday. Most assuredly, the resurrection was on a Sunday as John records the women finding the empty tomb on the first day of the week which is a Sunday to the Jews. I find that fascinating that the one day of the week we do celebrate correctly is His resurrection, the validation of His sacrifice for us. Here are a couple items for the crucifixion day:
Matthew 12:40 is where Jesus states that He will be in the earth for 3 days and 3 nights like Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights. Unless, we are going to say Jesus wasn’t telling the truth or at minimum wasn’t literal, we can’t have a Friday crucifixion as there are only 2 nights between Friday and Sunday.
John 19:31 says they had to have Jesus off the cross as it was not just a Sabbath but a High Sabbath. The Feast of Unleavened Bread is one of seven high sabbaths for the Jews regardless of what day of the week it fell on. It could fall on a regular Sabbath (Friday at sundown til Saturday at sundown), but it didn’t have to.
John 12:1 states that 6 days prior to the Passover Jesus was in Bethany. That would place His travel from Jericho to Bethany on the Sabbath the week prior if it was a Friday crucifixion. Jews were restricted to a 1/2 mile travel on the Sabbath. Jericho to Bethany is 20 miles. See also Matthew 20:29.
Judas’ betrayal
Again, I find it fascinating how the Old Testament greatly predicted this week Jesus endured for us. Zechariah 11:12-13 predicts the 30 pieces of silver for the potter’s field, reference Matthew 27:3-10. The band of men in John 18:3 is literally 1/10 of a legion = 400-600 men. Matthew 26:47 references a great multitude. This also brings into perspective the soldiers falling over in John 18:6, pretty crazy! All this that Judas did and yet Jesus still washed his feet. He still loved Judas and considered him a friend, reference Psalm 41:9. Also with Psalm 41:9, it says “he has lifted up his heel against me.” Genesis 3:15 says that Jesus will crush Satan’s head, but Satan will only bruise Jesus’ heel. Scripture is most phenomenally woven together, is it not?
There were six trials Jesus endured
This is interesting in that six is the number of man, just one digit short of God’s number seven. Just interesting, don’t read into that too much. He endured three Jewish trials: Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin. He endured three Roman trials: Pilate, Herod, then back to Pilate. Again, two sets of trials of three each.
Dr. Chuck Missler lays out a multi-pointed series in how illegal the trials were:
Binding of prisoner before he was condemned unless he resisted: John 18:12, 24
Judges participating in the arrest of the accused: John 18:3
Transactions or trials at night: John 18:28
Arrest through an informer or traitor: John 18:5
While an acquittal could be pronounced the same day, any other verdict required a majority of two and had to come on a subsequent day: Matthew 26:65-66 (remember also the Jews day starts at sunset and goes to the next sunset, so the entire night and next day is the same “day”)
Prisoners cannot be convicted on his own evidence: Matthew 26:63-65
Duty of judge was to ensure the interests of the accused were fully protected: John 18:14
Preliminary hearings before a magistrate were completely foreign to the Jewish legal system: John 18:13
Judges sought false witnesses against Jesus: Matthew 26:59 and Mark 14:56
Accused assumed innocent until proved guilty by two or witnesses but no two were found: Mark 14:59
Jesus should have been released when the witnesses disagreed: Mark 14:56-59
Trial under Caiaphas took place in his home rather than council chamber: John 18:13-16
Court lacked civil authority to condemn a man to death: John 18:31 This point is even more interesting as since the Romans took over this authority, the Jews had thought God had broken his promise by removing the scepter from Judah (Genesis 49:10) yet Jesus was living in their midst during these times.
Trial was held on a feast day which was forbidden: John 18:28
Balloting was illegal as the youngest in the court is to cast ballot first so as not to be persuaded by elder court members: Matthew 26:26
Sentence passed in palace of high priest but was supposed to be pronounced in Temple in Hall of Hewn Stone: John 18:28
This is double whammy: high priest rent his garment (Matthew 26:65) which was forbidden, and if it wasn’t his priestly robe that he had on thus rented, he couldn’t have put Jesus under oath.
I find these very enlightening as how illegal it was how they tried Jesus, yet they still wouldn’t accept Judas’ silver back to the treasury as it was blood money and they wouldn’t step into a Gentile building on a feast day (John 18:28).
Barabbas
Evidently, historians and even the theologian Origen noted that Barabbas’ first name was Jesus. Barabbas literally means son of the father. I found this to be a great “aha” moment as we know Simon bar-Jonah in the Bible is Simon son of Jonah. Jesus refers to the Father as “Abba” in Scripture. Therefore, it seems almost so obvious that Barabbas means son of the father. Crazy! It brings light to how perfect of a replacement Jesus son of God was for Jesus son of the father (Barabbas). Dr. Missler notes: “Boy, aren’t we in the same shoes as Barabbas? We would be condemned to die if Jesus hadn’t agreed to take our place. We are doomed criminals and sinners, and Jesus has borne our sins on Himself so that we can live and go free.” Praise HIM!!!!
I am not trying to be super legalistic about Easter itself. There is good reference in the Old Testament about tearing down the high places (where pagan worship occurred) and turning back to the Lord which would correlate to replacing a pagan holiday with the celebration of our redemption by the death and resurrection of our Savior. On the contrary, there is also Biblical evidence to recognize what God ordained which points us to the Passover season. All of this being said, I cannot reiterate enough how amazed I always am when things become more clear. I just love the details of Scripture, and it grows my faith. The Biblical text is so eloquently woven together it can be breathtaking. From Genesis to Revelation, we have a correlated story with such minutiae that points us to Jesus.
MARANATHA!
__________
References:
The Easter Story: What really happened. Dr. Chuck Missler has a book with this title and two-part YouTube teaching session.
I always love my commentaries: Wiersbe (.pdf OT | NT) and The King James Version Commentary.
Please study!