The Meaning of Easter

He is Risen!  Yesterday we celebrated Easter by going to a church service, having a meal with our extended family, and an Easter Egg Hunt.  But what is the true meaning of Easter?  Some people believe that it is all about bunnies and colored eggs.  Others believe that it is a celebration of spring and new life.  If you are a Christian, then Easter is Resurrection Sunday, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

However, the early church never celebrated Easter.   In Acts 12:1-4 some translations mention the word Easter.  However the word is better translated to be “Passover.”  So if the early church never celebrated Easter, where did it come from?

The earliest tradition I have heard of is from the tower of Babel.  Semiramis (also known as Ishtar and Isis) was the wife of Nimrod, the great hunter mentioned in Genesis who led the building of the tower of Babel.  (Genesis 10:8-10).  Before his death, Nimrod began the worship of the sun in Babylon and he claimed that he was the sun god.  He was killed violently and his body torn to pieces and sent to different parts of the known world.  Semiramis, his wife, claimed that she became pregnant with the child of Nimrod after his death through immaculate conception.  She claimed her child, Tammuz, a reincarnation of Nimrod.  She began to claim the deity of her husband(son) and called herself the “Queen of Heaven.”  In Babylonian religion, she is frequently pictured holding the child Tammuz.

Tammuz died at forty years old while hunting a boar.  The people loved him so much that they annually mourned him for 40 days each spring with a fast.  At the end of the fast, they had a joyful celebration and a feast, called the feast of Ishtar(Easter).  At this feast, the people ate colored eggs to celebrate the death and resurrection of Tammuz in each spring crop. They also ate ham to symbolize victory over the boar that killed Tammuz.

All ancient pagan religions have their origin with the worship of Semiramis and Nimrod(Tammuz). Alexander Hislop has documented this story in his book The Two Babylons.

In 311, Constantine, while fighting to become emperor of Rome, claimed to have a vision of the cross with an inscription saying, “In this sign, conquer”.  He defeated his competition and believed that Christ had given him the victory.  Once he was emperor, he made Christianity the official state religion of Rome.  However, to solidify his political power and ensure that the stability of his kingdom would remain he joined the worship of the sun with Christianity.  Semiramis(Ishtar) became the virgin Mary.  Tammuz became the Christ child.  The halo disk seen  above the head of the Madonna in pictures and paintings symbolizes a picture of sun worship.

Honor was shown to a goddess (most commonly Ishtar) during the pagan spring festival of Eostre.  Also, according to one tradition, it also celebrated the resurrection of another god, Attis, who returned to life in March.  Constantine merged these traditions with those of Christianity and the celebration of Easter began.

Because of the pagan origins of Easter, there are some Christians who believe that we should not celebrate it.  I struggled with this question for a long time after my children were born.  As a child my family celebrated Easter with morning services, chocolate bunnies, and Easter baskets.  I always knew that Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus.  If I were to say that our family should not celebrate Easter, there would be a big fight.  Can I still celebrate Easter while focusing on the resurrection of Jesus?

After reading Romans 14:5-6a  I decided that I would use Easter to teach my children about the death and resurrection of Jesus, even though that’s not what it started out as.  As they grow older, I will teach them about Semiramis and Tammuz and the history of the pagan religions.  I don’t believe, however, that it is wrong to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Romans 14:5-6a – One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike.  Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.  He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.

Why not?  Our entire relationship with God is based on Jesus’ death and resurrection.  God is holy, and He cannot be anywhere where sin is present.  When Adam sinned, mankind became separated from God.  We all inherited that sin nature from Adam.  If God had let things be, we would all be separated from Him forever.

He loves us too much for that.  He wants to be with us.  So He Himself came to earth, lived perfectly as a man, and died on a cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  His blood washes away our sins. His righteousness becomes ours, and He sees us as justified, as though we had never sinned.

If He had stayed in the grave, though, we would remain in our lost state.  His death rendered meaningless, we would still maintain our separation from God.  But after three days, He rose again.  His resurrection confirms that He is who He said He was, He did what He said He could do, and it confirms that His sacrifice was sufficient.

Does that mean that everyone obtains salvation?  No.  We cannot contribute anything to our salvation.  But we do have to accept it.  In order to spend eternity with God, we have to:

A:

Ask the Lord to forgive your sins.  No excuses – just acknowledge that you are a sinner and unable to save yourself.

B:

Believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose again to save you from your sins.

C:

Confess in your heart and with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

This is the meaning of Easter.  This is the meaning that I will portray to my children.  Celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus is the most important celebration that we can have.  At the end of our lives, the most important and only question is “What did you do with Jesus?”  “Who is Jesus to you?”   Celebrating Easter as the resurrection of our Lord is something that I will continue to impress on my children as the most important celebration of our lives.  I pray that it is the same for you as well.

https://www.gotquestions.org/easter-origins.html – Should we celebrate Easter or allow our children to go on Easter egg hunts? This is a question both parents and church leaders struggle with. Ultimately, it comes down to a matter of conscience (Romans 14:5). There is nothing essentially evil about painting and hiding eggs and having children search for them. What is important is our focus. If our focus is on Christ, our children can be taught to understand that the eggs are just a fun game. Children should know the true meaning of the day, and parents and the church have a responsibility to teach the true meaning. In the end, participation in Easter egg hunts and other secular traditions must be left up to the discretion of parents.

Resources:  http://aletheia.consultronix.com/8.html

http://scripture-keywords.tripod.com/Babylon/02-Nimrod-sun_god.html

http://www.marytruth.com/home/constantine-cover-up-and-sun-worship

https://www.gotquestions.org/easter-origins.html