Supremely Important
When it comes to Christian holidays, none is of greater importance than Easter. "What about Christmas?" some will say. Well, I love Christmastime too. It's a wonderful time of year! The most? In reality, Easter makes Christmas “Christmas.” The Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us is of eternally great importance and should be celebrated. But in the grand scheme of Christian holy days, Easter needs more props than it gets, for the right reasons of course. Not for bunnies, eggs, or chocolate (although dark chocolate is a blessing from God!). Other holidays—indeed our faith—are meaningless without Easter.
Critics will say Easter has no significance, or worse, ungodly significance. They trace its roots to pagan practices, idolatry, the spring equinox, the heathen holiday "Ishtar," while taking great pains to discredit the correlation between the Resurrection and Easter. Have you heard that stuff? I tell the naysayers, take a chill pill! Use this season to focus on the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most important event to which we can point in reaching people with the good news of Jesus Christ!
Is resurrection really that important? I'm glad you asked! Evidently, the writers of the New Testament thought so, as did the Holy Spirit, who inspired them to write it. No fewer than 126 times in the New Testament do we find the term "resurrection" and its related words, "resurrect," "raise," "raised," etc., referring to bodily resurrection from the dead. Based solely on word count, few topics are more important.
Resurrection is one of the original concepts in Scripture. The book of Job is thought to be the most ancient book of the Bible. Job makes a statement that only makes sense in light of the truth of resurrection:
As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; Whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me (Job 19:25-27)!
Only through resurrection could one whose "skin is destroyed" see God "from his flesh" at the last! Job had been inspired to know he would be raised from the grave to see his Redeemer sometime after his physical death! Better yet, despite Job's woes, his spirit was obviously uplifted—greatly overwhelmed emotionally—by the concept!
Since Christ's Resurrection, billions of souls have been uplifted by the truth that Jesus was lifted up from the grave. So what better time than Easter? This is a prime time to showcase the thing God prioritized in His written Word. There is no better time!
The fact that Jesus actually lived, died and rose from the dead has had a genuine impact in the world in which even the most ardent skeptic lives. Furthermore, the sign that Jesus Himself said would be the evidence for which His skeptical critics were looking, was His Resurrection.
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matthew 12:38-40).
Easter celebration will be different for churches around the world this year, but nothing can change the importance of what and who we celebrate. On Sunday, wherever in the world you are, please join us on our website* for a livestream of our Easter Celebration at 9:15 or 11:15 a.m. PT. The venue may be unusual, but the importance of the actual incident and its implications for us are still of incalculable significance!
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” —1 Corinthians 15:3-4