Since next Sunday is the day commonly called Easter, let’s talk about it for a moment. A good starting place might be to trace the origin of the term.

According to the New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, it “is of Saxon origin, derived from Eastra, the goddess of spring, in whose honor sacrifices were offered about Passover time each year.” Baby bunnies and chicks were Eastra’s special animals, because they symbolized new life and fertility. This pagan goddess’s attachment to these animals opened the door for the highjacking of this crucial Christian holiday and making it all about finding eggs laid by rabbits.

Many of the Christians in my circle—not liking the use of a pagan term to denote the celebration of the ultimate sacrifice which paid the price for our sins—prefer the term Resurrection Sunday. I’ve called this day Resurrection Sunday off and on through the years, but now that I’ve discovered the pagan origin of the term ‘Easter,’ I will strive to use only Resurrection Sunday in the future.

Some 2,000 years ago, God changed the nature of the godhead. The person who was known as Jehovah or Yahweh in the Old Testament became Jesus when the Holy Spirit planted a sperm containing His essential nature in the womb of Mary, thus creating God-man. Jesus was a man, because, like any other man, He was born of a woman. But He was also God, because his nature and character were those of Jehovah.

This God-man whom we call Jesus came to reconcile fallen man to God. He took our sins upon Himself and allowed Himself to be placed upon a cross to be slain for our sakes. Then He arose from His grave to conquer death once and for all time, in the process paying the price for all our sins, past, present and future.

Sometimes, Christians place all the emphasis on the cross, but it would have been meaningless without the Resurrection. If Jesus could have been killed and had remained dead, there would have been no victory, but because He rose from that grave we have a huge victory to celebrate. Join me in celebrating that victory Sunday.

How do you celebrate Jesus’s resurrection?

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

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Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.