Introduction
Easter is all about bunnies and colored eggs…NOT!!!! Easter is about family and holiday gatherings…NOT!!!! Then what is Easter all about?
I think this scripture, Isaiah 5:5, best describes the theology of Easter. It reads in the KJV like this, “ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we were healed.” This is a direct reference in the Old Testament to the crucifixion of Jesus. Paul, in Romans 5:8 says, “But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Easter is all about the death of Jesus for our sin. He died in our place to satisfy the penalty imposed upon man by God. Romans 5: 19 says, “For as one man’s disobedience (That of Adam) many were made sinners.” Romans 6:23a, “For the wages of sin is death” Jesus died in our stead and He did it when we were yet lost and dead in our own sins, not even thinking about Him, God or being righteous. John 3:16 says it was an act of love, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son…that whosoever believeth on his,
should not perish but have everlasting life”.
So Easter is all about the death of a righteous man, the Son of God, sent by God the Father, while we were lost in sin, to die as a penalty for sin, so He could accept us into His kingdom and the blessings of His love…. What a plan, but it doesn’t stop there.
Easter is all about Jesus being raised from the dead. It is recorded, in the gospels, that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after the crucifixion.
Death could not hold Him for He was the spotless Lamb of God, without spot or wrinkle, as foreshadowed in the sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament. The profit John said, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world”.
His perfect life before Heaven and earth fulfilled the law of God making Him the standard of all righteousness and that is the basis for the spotless Lamb. His sacrifice on the cross, His shed blood, was poured out to wash away our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9…but there is more…
Easter is all about our death, burial, and resurrection. Romans 6: 4-5 says, “ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of live.” For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” He died for us that we might die in Him so we all may be raised together with Him into newness of life, free from the penalty of sin and full of the love of God…. what a plan.
The theology of Easter is centered on the cross of Jesus, His death, burial and resurrection and our being set free by that act of love to serve God.
Until next time,
Rev. John Marinelli