HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!!

EASTER/ RESURRECTION DAY

Easter or Ishtar?

The word Easter appears once in the King James version of the Bible. Herod has put Peter in prison,  "intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people" (Acts 12:4). Yet in the original Greek text the word is not Easter, but Pesach, that is Passover. So why was the name changed?

"Asherah" the Greek form of this word from the Septuagint is "Astarte", who is the Babylonian goddess of the sea, sea being symbolic of people, and consort of the god El. She was the mother of several gods, including Baal, the Babylonian god of the sun. These deities were soon adopted by the Canaanites when they named these female deities the Ashereh or Asherim. During a celebration of this god, the children of the Canaanite parents would often go and hunt for eggs, which were symbolic of sex, fertility and new life. It was believed that these eggs came from rabbits, which in the pagan world were symbolic of lust, sexual prowess and reproduction. The Canaanites, however, were not the only ones who worshipped rabbits as deities. Decorating eggs came about to honor their pagan gods and were often presented as gifts to other families to bring them fertility and sexual success during the coming year.

Out of this practice came many other variations of these pagan festivals until the Roman Catholic Church adopted the Asherah worship and named it EASTER around 155 A.D. According to the CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA, Easter was named after a pagan goddess of the Anglo-Saxons named Eostre, the goddess of the dawn.  A great controversy arose between the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church in 325 A.D. on whether to celebrate Easter on Sundays or on whatever day the Jewish Passover fell upon. Unfortunately, the Greeks lost a lot of followers and the Catholics contended that keeping Easter on Sundays would stimulate the practices of both the Christian world and the pagan worshippers.  Hence, since the original practice of Asherah worship we now have in our time the celebration of Easter, a world system holiday to the true festival of the Passover which was instituted in the Bible and completed in the New Testament when Christ died on the cross as our Passover Lamb. The true celebration should be the Resurrection and the Life John 3:36.

...For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

(I Cor 5:7)

*  WHY WAS JESUS CRUCIFIED ON A CROSS?

 A CROSS MEANS Death to self, self-denial

KEY SCRIPTURES: Deut. 21:22-23; Matt. 16:24; 27:22-26; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; 3:13-14; 5:24; 6:14.
FOUNDATIONAL INFORMATION: Jesus was crucified on a tree- the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (self) He carried the cross piece through the streets. A cross was an upright wooden stake or post on which Jesus was executed, displayed as a criminal and enemy of the state. "Cross" is from the Greek "stauros" (Strong's #4716) which means "a stake or post (as set upright), (specifically) a pole or cross (as an instrument of capital punishment); figuratively, exposure to death, self-denial; by implication, the atonement of Christ." The verb "stauroo" means "to impale on the cross; figuratively, to extinguish (subdue) passion or selfishness; metaphorically, the putting off of the flesh with its passions and lusts."

FULFILLED IN CHRIST: Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross at Calvary for the sins of the world (Matt. 27:22-26; Jn. 1:29). He died not for us, but AS US. His cross was carried by Simon of Cyrene (Matt. 27:32; Mk. 15:21; Lk. 23:26). Jesus said to his disciples, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matt. 10:38; 16:24; Lk. 14:27). Jesus, making peace by His blood, reconciled both Jew and Greek unto God in one Body by the cross (Eph. 2:11-16; Col. 1:20). There were three men crucified: the Man on the middle cross was God in the flesh; the thief on the right who repented and was remembered (put back together) was Adam in the flesh (Lk. 23:42); the thief on the right who returned to be crucified was satan in the flesh (see Lk. 4:3, 9, 13; 23:39; Col. 2:15). Satan is not the thief of John 10:10 anymore. Jesus' death on the cross overcame the old man and the devil (Eph. 4:22-27; Heb. 2;14-18; 1 Jn. 3:8). Jesus the Savior who was crucified has become both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). APPLIED TO THE CHRISTIAN: Paul declared, "I am (have been) crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Cor. 1:17-18). The apostle wrote to the Galatians, "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. 6:14). Our old man has been crucified with Him; we have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 5:24).

Good Friday should actually be "Good Wednesday". Jesus was crucified on Wednesday, which was Nisan 14 (Jewish Calendar). The day after Jesus died was a High Sabbath (not a weekly Saturday Sabbath). He died at 3:00Pm in the afternoon, the same time as the temple sacrifice. They took him from the cross and put him in the tomb. Christian calendars differ from Jewish calendars. Jewish days begin at sunset at 6pm. "DAWN" is considered sunset. Nisan 14 (Wednesday) at 6pm begins the next day - that's when they put Him in the tomb. This day is the High Sabbath/Unleavened Bread Feast. 72 hours later as they made the First Fruit harvest offering, waving sheaves, Jesus comes forth fulfilling the sign of Jonah (3 days in the belly of the whale). At Firstfruits (dusk) at the close of the Sabbath (Saturday) is when he arose. When he appeared to Mary it was actually evening, not morning. When Jesus arose, people were then at the Temple Mount singing songs of David offering wave offerings - barley sheaves. Jesus fulfilled the Firstfruits Celebration and became the first for us coming forth from the dead (through Christ) and walking in newness of life. Jesus fulfilled Passover (New Birth of Believer), Unleavened Bread (Put off old), and First Fruits (Put on the New).