To the Christian, no other time of the year SHOULD be more important
HISTORY
The Exodus of the Children of Israel out of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea is perhaps one of the biggest, most known, most mysterious, most debated, and most amazing stories in the Bible.
This event was so huge, in fact, that just before the Exodus took place, God gave the Israelites a command to commemorate all that happened and was going to happen.
He told them to change their calendars… Can you imagine an event so big that the entire calendar system changes because of it? That is the weight of the Exodus and the events that led up to it.
PASSOVER
Prior to Pharaoh telling Moses to leave, prior to Pharaoh changing his mind and pursuing Moses and the millions of Israelites that had given him years of free slave labor, and prior to the parting of the Red Sea and the amazing escape from the Egyptian army, there was the Passover.
God had given strict instructions to the Children of Israel to prepare themselves. Every household was instructed to take a male lamb that had no spots or blemishes and sacrifice that lamb and use the blood from the lamb to mark the doorposts of their house.
On the appointed night, the “Angel of Death” was going to go throughout the entire nation of Egypt and kill the firstborn in every single household. This was the 10th and final plague that eventually would grip Pharaoh so tightly that he would beg Moses to take his people and leave Egypt.
That faithful night, the night that changed everything, the “Angel of Death” would see the blood on the doorpost of the each house that had followed the instructions and he would “PASS-OVER” those homes as he went about striking down the firstborn of every home, both man and animal.
CHANGE IN THEIR CALENDAR
This event in history, so big, so amazing, so incredible, created a need to change the calendar system because of the enormous change in the course of history. According to the book of Exodus, chapter 12:
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, and lamb for a household….and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.”
Exodus 12:1-8
The month that this happened, in the Hebrew calendar, was the month of Nisan. The Hebrew calendar was a calendar based entirely on the lunar cycle. The moon phases were used to mark calendars and time.
So, in effect, the month of Nisan became the first month in a Hebrew “New Year”. The instructions also said to pick out a lamb on the 10th day and hold it until the 14th day. On the 15th was the original “Passover”, and so in the future they were to hold their festivals and commemorate this major occurrence on the 15th day of Nisan.
Nisan is a month that occurs around the spring equinox. The 15th day of Nisan is ALWAYS a full moon. A lunar month always begins with a new moon then it gradually increases until the 15th day of the month it is at its fullest. The remaining days of the month the moon decreases until it is covered up completely by the sun and a new month begins.
Our calendar system is based on the suns rotation around the earth and not the moon phases and lunar cycles. Therefore, our calendar and the Hebrew calendar do not match up completely.
EASTER IS SPECIAL ON SO MANY LEVELS
For the believer, the follower of Christ, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is truly the only date on the calendar that we should set aside to celebrate. Christmas is also about Jesus, but without Easter, Christmas is meaningless.
Everything we believe is foundationally based on the truth of the cross.
CRUCIFIXION
During the time that Jesus walked on the earth, surely He celebrated and attended numerous Jewish and Hebrew festivals. None of them were more sacred and special than the Passover feast. No doubt that each time Jesus participated in the festivals and feasts He knew He would eventually serve as the final Passover lamb for the whole world.
Jesus’ trial, the famous Lords Supper with His disciples, the betrayal from Judas, the praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and his crucifixion – all took place during the week of the traditional Passover celebration.
Let that sink in. As people all over were taking their spotless, blemish-less lambs out of their herds and setting them aside for 4 days, Jesus was on trial and was being set aside, too.
As Jews were preparing for the Passover feast, Jesus was preparing in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Per the instructions, each household was to kill the Passover lamb at twilight, which is also the exact same time the Bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross. That night, the night of Jesus’ death, there was “supposed” to be a full moon. Everyone expected a full moon. This Passover, just like thousands before it was being celebrated the week leading up to the 15th days of Nisan, which was ALWAYS a full moon in springtime. The Bible tells us that darkness overtook the land while He was on the cross.
THEN CAME THE MORNING!
3 days after Jesus was laid in a borrowed tomb, He was not found by the women looking for Him but had RISEN FROM THE DEAD! Our entire faith and belief system and all hope is wrapped up in this fact and truth! He died for us. He was the FINAL and PERFECT lamb that would prevent us from being visited by a permanent death. His blood on our spiritual doorposts saves us!
The fact that the Passover was instituted hundreds of years before Jesus was born and throughout his ministry He claimed to be the Messiah and even John the Baptist yelled for all those who could hear him “BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD!”
In spite of all of that, no one seemed to understand that day that He was taking the place of the Passover lamb.
The fact that his crucifixion lined up on the week of the Passover feast – that fact alone astonishes me.
WHY IS EASTER ON DIFFERENT DATES EACH YEAR
Since we are on a solar calendar system and the Passover feast was based on the lunar cycle, it is difficult to pinpoint a specific date. Many, many years ago the Christian church, in an effort to combine the two calendars and keep some the integrity of the time of the year of the Passover, which was also the time of the year in which Jesus was crucified and rose again, they decided to incorporate the following:
Spring (lunar calendar, Hebrew month of Nisan)
Full moon (Lunar calendar, 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan)
Good Friday (Solar calendar, believed to be the actual day of the crucifixion)
Easter Sunday (Solar calendar – Bible tells us that His resurrection occurred on the first day of the week – attempt is always have Easter fall on a Sunday)
So, Easter is always after spring equinox (often referred to as “The First Day of Spring” which is March 21.) That being the first stipulation, then the second would be after the next full moon FOLLOWING spring equinox. Once we have spring equinox AND we have a full moon following that, then Easter is the first Sunday after both of those stipulations.
WHAT DOES EASTER MEAN TO YOU?
The unbelievable events of the Exodus, the life-changing events of the Jesus’ death and resurrection and the permanent change in my own heart by choosing Jesus to be my Lord and Savior are all worth talking about all year long. But at least once a year we should all take the time to express to each other just how hopeless we would be without Jesus and how grateful we are to have Him.
If you do not feel that way, reach out to me. I want to share with you my experience and hear about yours. Maybe I can introduce you to my friend, my savior, my Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ.
