Engaging Easter

Across the earth on this Easter sunday, Christians unite in worship and remembrance of Christ Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection.  It is on this day, Easter, that the centuries old story is told and retold as families get together around the table for feasts and fellowship while the kids hunt for dyed eggs strewn about the home.  However, for this Easter, let us engage the story of Jesus again.

For starters, Jesus was the fulfillment of prophecy.  Not only prophecy, but Jesus' life, death, and resurrection fulfilled the whole of the Old Testament.  This all being true, understanding the meaning of Jesus is something else entirely.

The Jewish faith, at the time of Jesus, was a closed religious system.  Their Law and Writings had been well-established for several centuries and the nation was all-too aware of their special status as the Chosen People of God.  The major feature of becoming the Chosen People was that the Israelites were given the Law, the perfect and absolute moral ethic of God.  The Law revealed the character of God as it pointed out the transgressions of sin.  It is the Law that condemned Israel but it did much more than that, preparing the world for the Messiah to take on the sin of mankind.

The Law's primary function was to expose sin.  More than that, the Law condemned the transgressors.  Forgiveness for the sin could be accounted for by sacrifice, but only in part because the blood of bulls and goats is not sufficient to cover the sins of man.  However, the Law acted as a funnel, in that the sin of all mankind was able to be concentrated and pressed upon Israel.  Thus, when the Messiah came as a Hebrew, the God Man Jesus became the perfect atoning sacrificial lamb who could take on the sin of the whole world by condemning sin in His own flesh upon the cross.

Easter is an important holiday.  In fact, it is on Easter that the most important event in all of history is remembered.  This Easter, let us take a step beyond gluttonous consumption and obligatory family engagements to dig into the Word and to seek after the Lord for what He has done.  This is truly a wonderful day for He is risen, and as a result we can live too!