Who or What Is Easter?

Why does Easter have such an unusual name? What does it mean? What does God think of Easter Sunday customs and celebrations?

Today, Easter is considered one of the most important holidays of the Christian world. But the early New Testament Church did not celebrate it, and it is not taught by the Bible.

Many have wondered what bunnies and colored eggs have to do with the resurrection of Christ. As we will see, the answer is nothing.

The evolution of Easter

From the beginning, humanity has been deceived and ruled by Satan (John 16:11; Revelation 12:9). Satan does all he can to keep men from following and worshipping God.

Long ago Satan and his demons influenced men to worship imagined gods and goddesses, like Baal, Chemosh, Ashtoreth, Dagon, Zeus and Diana. They convinced the Babylonians, Egyptians, Canaanites, Greeks and Romans to worship and celebrate these gods and goddesses in great festivals, huge parties filled with revelry and drunken orgies.

The same gods might be known by different names in different cultures. Other times, different religions were mixed together through a process called syncretism.

In the fourth century, to end religious strife, the Roman emperor Constantine put his seal of approval on a combination of paganism and Christianity that he made the official church of the empire. The biblical festivals of Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread were replaced with the festival of a goddess that occurred about the same time.

This pagan goddess is mentioned often in the Bible (1 Kings 15:13; 18:19; 2 Kings 21:7; 2 Chronicles 15:16; Jeremiah 44:17-18) and was known by several names through the centuries—Asherah, Astarte, Ashtoreth, the queen of heaven and Ishtar, from which we get Easter. This is why we have a holiday with symbols of fertility: bunnies, colored eggs and chicks.

What is the connection between Easter and the resurrection of Christ? Nothing.

What would Jesus do?

Many people use the initials WWJD to remind them to ask a very important question. But do we honestly want to know the answer? Are we willing to do what He said and did, to obey His words and follow His example?

What did He say? He told us to examine everything, including holidays, in the light of God’s Word, the Bible (John 3:19-21). He may have seen the Romans as they worshipped their version of Easter and many other gods, but He and His disciples never dreamed of joining them.

In Leviticus 23 God clearly tells us, in His own words, when to gather and worship Him, on the seventh day of the week and His holy days (annual Sabbaths).

What did Jesus do? He followed His Father’s commands. He worshipped God on the Sabbaths and holy days throughout His life. His death and resurrection occurred during the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread as He fulfilled His part of God’s plan for salvation pictured by those days.

The timing of the crucifixion and resurrection

 

It is important to understand the timing of these events to see the whole picture of what occurred (see the chart). In the spring of A.D. 31, the Passover, the 14th day of the first Hebrew month (Exodus 12:6), began at sunset on what we call a Wednesday. Jesus Christ kept the Passover with His disciples, prayed at Gethsemane, was arrested, tried at night, scourged that morning, died for each of us that afternoon and was placed in the tomb.

All this occurred on the day of the Passover before the sun set again and the First Day of Unleavened Bread began, an annual Sabbath, or “high day” (John 19:31). Christ was in the tomb three nights and three days as He promised (Matthew 12:40), and He rose at the end of the weekly Sabbath, the third day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, just before sunset. He was not resurrected the next morning on Sunday. The women came to the tomb “while it was still dark” (John 20:1) and were told “He is not here, but is risen!” (Luke 24:6).

What did Christ’s followers do?

What did His disciples do? They kept the feasts and remembered Christ in them (Acts 2:1; 18:21; 20:6, 16; 27:9; 1 Corinthians 16:8). They called Him “our Passover” (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). They strove to follow His example of living without sin as they kept the Days of Unleavened Bread. They obeyed the leading of God’s Spirit, given to them on the Day of Pentecost.

They kept the Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles and the Last Great Day and looked forward to the time Jesus Christ would return, bind Satan, begin to reign and resurrect everyone who has died. (See a brief description of the meaning of each of the festivals in our Q&A “What Are the Meanings of Each of God’s Festivals?”)

Can we serve the true God by using pagan customs?

Look around—Satan’s way of life is alive and well today. He is too intelligent to call his schemes “pagan religion,” but he still convinces many people to live his way, even in the middle of “Christian” religion. Satan has convinced men that all religions are just about the same, and everyone just needs to tolerate and love one another. He continues to use “false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).

Throughout the Bible, the Israelites often tried to serve the true God and yet participate in pagan traditions to get along with their neighbors (often their in-laws). But, time and again, God made it clear that He hates everything associated with false religion, no matter how innocent it seems to be and even if the intent was to worship Him (Deuteronomy 12:29-32).

What did Jesus say? What did Jesus do? What would Jesus do today?

What will you do?

Barney Rehm is a member of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, in the Little Rock, Arkansas, area.

Related reading:

• From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You
• What Is the Origin of Easter?
• Did Jesus Die on Good Friday? Was Jesus Resurrected on Easter Sunday?
• Can Humans Designate Holy Days?