Hey guys!
I've got a question for you.
Why are you able to call yourself a Christian, a follower of Jesus?
Why are you saved?
If you have true faith, you know it's all because of Jesus Christ.
Because of what He did on the cross. That He died in your place.
He took your sins upon Him. He died, and then after three days, He rose again.
Claiming victory over sin and death.
This is the core of our faith. This is the gospel, and this is also why we as Christians celebrate Easter.
But for some Christians, for some people, it's just all about bunnies, right? Easter eggs.
And for others, they believe 'no, no, we should not even celebrate it because it has Pagan origins'.
But how should we look at Easter?
What does the Bible say about Easter?
And should we really celebrate it?
That's what we're going to talk about in this video.
Let's get to it.
Now, just very quick; If it's the first time that you're here on my channel, I'm Daniel Maritz,
and welcome to DLM Christian Lifestyle, where we preach Biblical truth, in a balanced way.
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Now, what does the Bible really say about Easter?
Well, honestly, just like Christmas, it does not give us a command to celebrate Easter,
or as some might call it, "Resurrection day".
Now, we don't celebrate Easter because we have to but because we want to.
Because Christianity is based on the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
and we want to remind ourselves of it.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:14,
"If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain."
And in verse 17 he says,
"And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins."
So, when we as reborn Christians celebrate Easter,
we do it to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
which happened on the third day after the crucifixion.
Just like He promised it would happen.
And Easter is actually the oldest Christian holiday.
And at the end, it is up to you, if you want to celebrate it or not.
You need to let the Holy Spirit guide you in this.
Because as I said, it is not a command from the Bible.
Romans 14:5 says,
"One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.
Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.
The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God.
While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
Now, just like with Christmas, some people say, 'No, no, no, we should not celebrate Christmas,
we should not celebrate Easter.' Because they say it comes from pagan origins.
Now, I'm not going to talk a lot about this, but you need to know that there is no real evidence of this.
The origins of Easter are not 100% clear,
but it is assumed that the name Easter comes from a goddess.
A pagan goddess called Eastre, or Eostre.
They say she was celebrated as the goddess of spring, by the Saxons.
Or celebrated as the goddess of the east, which is of course, where the sun rises.
And here's something interesting.
Her symbol is a hare.
Not a bunny, a hare. A hare, is of course bigger, than a rabbit, with long ears, and legs.
And this symbol also represents fertility.
So, some people say that a festival, called Eastre, was celebrated,
during the spring equinox, just to honor the goddess.
The only problem with this is, is that there is no real hard evidence of it.
We don't even know if the Saxons really worshipped such a goddess.
The only ancient writing that we have that might hint at this is the writing of an 18th-century monk
called Venerable Bede.
And the only words he wrote is this,
"Eosturmonath has a name which is now translated as 'Paschal month',
and which was once called after a goddess of theirs named Eostre,
in whose honor feasts were celebrated in that month.
Now they designate the Paschal season by her name,
calling the joys of the new rite by the time-honored name of the old observance."
And that's it, guys.
It doesn't even point to a specific day.
And that's the only ancient writing that might hint at the pagan origin of Easter.
There's nothing else.
So in the end, you have to make up your own mind, according to your own conscience.
Now, today, many unbelievers also celebrate Easter.
They don't worship strange gods, but they do play a lot of games,
like finding Easter eggs with the kids, and just like Christmas, it is commercialized.
And most people only focus on the Easter bunny, Easter candy, and Easter eggs.
But for Christians, Easter is so different.
It reminds us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and our new Spiritual life in Him.
Our lives are now all about Jesus Christ.
Paul says in Philippians 3:8,
"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish,
in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him,
not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,
but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith - "
Now, listen to this.
"that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,
may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,
that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."
The resurrection of Jesus is not just important because He proclaimed victory over sin and death.
It's much more than that.
It also proves that He is who He claimed He is.
That He is both God and man, and that he completed His plan here on earth.
He fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies.
And not only that, but it also shows us that our bodies, me, you,
will also be resurrected one day, just like Jesus.
His resurrection was the first of many.
Jesus said in John 5:28,
Do not marvel at this,
for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out,
those who have done good to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment."
And Philippians 3:20 says,
"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it, we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body,
by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself."
So, just like Jesus, we too, our bodies, our lowly human mortal bodies,
will be resurrected to be eternal glorious bodies.
And Jesus also said that He is the resurrection and life.
John 11:25, "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live,
If the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not true in our faith, then Christianity is a lie, and it will all crumble.
This is also what one atheist wanted to prove.
His wife became a Christian, and he hated it. So, he wanted to disprove Christianity.
And with his research, he realized, if I can disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
then Christianity itself will crumble.
He was actually a very good investigative journalist who worked for the Chicago Tribune.
And then he decided he's going to travel.
He's going to investigate.
He's going to look at all the leads to try and disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And then the opposite happened.
All the evidence led him to believe that it is true, and he became a Christian.
His name is Lee Strobel, and you can read his book called 'The case for Christ'.
I'll add it for you in the video description so you can check it out. They also made a movie about it.
Now, we also read in the Bible that Jesus appeared to many people after His resurrection.
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 says,
"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Then He appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time,
most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared also to me."
Just imagine how they all felt when they saw Jesus. His resurrected body.
To see Him, to hear Him speak, to touch Him.
Imagine how amazing that would have been to be there at that time,
and just to observe it, or to talk to Jesus yourself.
Have you ever wondered about this?
What would it be like when you go to heaven?
To talk to Jesus, to hear His voice, what it sounds like, to look at Him.
And you know, we will all see Him one day.
And also all our brothers and sisters in Christ.
People who already passed away, or shall I say who passed over.
Because this world is not our home. They are already home.
Do you know what heaven will be like?
Do you know what hell would be like?
Are you ready to meet God?
If you're not, then please watch one of these videos here and I'll see you there.
And always remember, God loves you, and I love you too.
Bye!