The true meaning of Easter has been lost. The world has made Easter into a Spring holiday with the giving of cute fluffy baby chickens, chocolate, Easter bunnies, Easter baskets and the coloring of Easter eggs, and Easter egg hunts.
I am not condemning the Easter bunny, Easter egg hunts or any other activities related with Easter. However, those things are not and should never be the main focus of Easter.
Easter is about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. His resurrection symbolizes the eternal life that is granted to all who believe in Him and repent of their sins. The meaning of Easter also symbolizes the complete verification of all that Jesus preached and taught during his three-year ministry. If He had not risen from the dead, if He had merely died and not been resurrected, He would have been considered just another teacher or Rabbi. However, his resurrection provided final and irrefutable proof that He was really the Son of God.
Christians will celebrate Easter in 2019 on April 21. If you and your family are not Christians, attend a Bible believing church on April 21 and hear the message of the wonderful promise of Jesus, that He offers you the gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. It is your choice to make —you and your family can accept Jesus as your personal savior and live forever with Him in Heaven or reject Him and live forever in Hell.
Many think that God will grade on the curve, that only the bad people of the earth will go to Hell. Just last month I heard on National Public Radio about a recent Gallup Poll in which 60 percent of Americans say they believe in Hell but only 4 percent think there’s a good chance that they will go there. They don’t think they will go to Hell because they compare themselves with other people and they don’t stack up to badly. They assume that God grades on the curve, so everything will be ok.
The Bible is clear that there is a false kind of faith, a mere intellectual agreement with the gospel that does not include repentance. Such faith does not save. You must (1) admit that you are a sinner, (2) believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross for your sins and was raised from the dead and (3) confess your sins and ask His forgiveness and then 4) turn away from your sins.
Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday; now he offers to you the gift of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. This is the true story of Easter, and how it can change your life.
Halleluiah, He is risen!
William Salser
Stuart