{"id":13727,"date":"2016-03-25T22:11:38","date_gmt":"2016-03-25T22:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.watchmanmedia.org\/?p=13727"},"modified":"2021-03-04T22:26:59","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T22:26:59","slug":"13727","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchmanmedia.org\/?p=13727","title":{"rendered":"What Happened at \u201cEaster\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

Most reasonably informed Christians are well aware that many of the traditions that surround the Christmas holidays have pagan origins and very little correlation with the actual events as recorded in the Bible. However, most of us are surprised when we discover that some of what we have been taught about \u201cEaster\u201d is not only in error, but deliberately so!<\/p>\n

Many, of course, are aware that the name \u201cEaster\u201d actually originates with the pagan worship of Ishtar (or Astarte) that was traditionally observed at the time of the vernal equinox, nominally about March 21 or 22. Traditional pagan fertility symbols of both rabbits and eggs<\/a> <\/span>continue to be associated with this holiday.<\/p>\n

However, the name as commonly used is also currently associated with the events surrounding the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, which actually occurred on the Jewish Passover and is clearly defined in the Scriptures as the 14th of Nisan.<\/p>\n

The Quartodeciman Controversy<\/strong><\/p>\n

It may come as a shock to learn that the early church deliberately committed to separating itself from the explicit record of Scripture. The practice of those Christians insisting on celebrating Passover on the fourteenth day of Nisan from the Old Testament calendar was known as Quartodecimanism<\/a> <\/span>(\u201cfourteenism,\u201d as derived from Latin). (Passover was defined in Leviticus 23:5<\/a><\/span> to be a perpetual ordinance (cf. Exodus 12:14<\/a>).)<\/p>\n

It is nothing short of astonishing to discover that not only was this a major emotional controversy within the early church, but that the commitment to deviate from the Scriptures was driven by a deep anti-Semitism! (This is based on the writings of Irenaeus, the Roman church had celebrated Passover on a Sunday at least since the time of Bishop Xystus or Sixtus I, 115\u2013125 a.d. (Eusebius H.E. 5.24.14)<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The aged Apostolic Father Polycarp visited Rome circa 154 a.d., at which time he discussed the difference in Paschal\u2019s calculation with Bishop Anicetus and reached an amicable compromise. In addition, Polycrates of Ephesus and Irenaeus wrote in support of the Quartodecimans. (Eusebius H.E. 5.24.17).<\/p>\n

The controversy surrounding this issue was a principal topic at the Council of Nicea in 325 a.d. Emperor Constantine presided over this council\u2014note his own words<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

It was, in the first place, declared improper to follow the custom of the Jews in the celebration of this holy festival, because their hands having been stained with crime, the minds of these wretched men are necessarily blinded \u2026 Let us, then, have nothing in common with the Jews, who are our adversaries \u2026 avoiding all contact with that evil way \u2026 who, after having compassed the death of the Lord, being out of their minds, are guided not by sound reason, but by an unrestrained passion, wherever their innate madness carries them \u2026 a people so utterly depraved \u2026 Therefore, this irregularity must be corrected, in order that we may no more have any thing in common with those parricides and the murderers of our Lord \u2026 no single point in common with the perjury of the Jews.<\/p>\n

The early church father, Eusebius, also records Emperor Constantine as writing:<\/p>\n

\u2026 it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul \u2026 Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Savior a different way. (ref. Eusebius, Life of Constantine,<\/a> <\/span>Book 3, Chapter 18.)<\/p>\n

Setting a Date for Easter<\/strong><\/p>\n

The council unanimously ruled the Easter festival should be celebrated throughout the Christian world on the first Sunday after the full moon following the vernal equinox; and if the full moon should occur on a Sunday, and coincide with the Passover festival, Easter should be commemorated on the following Sunday.<\/p>\n

As a result of the Council of Nicaea, and amended by numerous subsequent meetings, the formal church deliberately attempted to design a formula for \u201cEaster\u201d which would avoid any possibility of it falling on the Jewish Passover, even accidentally!<\/p>\n

A principal astronomical problem involved was the discrepancy between the solar year and the lunar year, and thus, the Julian calendar<\/a> <\/span>then in use. Numerous alternatives for fixing the date of the feast were tried by the church but proved unsatisfactory, so Easter was celebrated on different dates in different parts of the world.<\/p>\n

In 387, for example, the dates of Easter in France and Egypt were 35 days apart. About 465, the church adopted a system of calculation proposed by the astronomer Victorinus, who had been commissioned by Pope Hilarius to reform the calendar and fix the date of Easter. Elements of his method are still in use although the Scythian monk Dionysius Exiguus made significant adjustments to the Easter cycle in the sixth century.<\/p>\n

Refusal of the British and Celtic Christian churches to adopt the proposed changes led to a bitter dispute between them and Rome in the seventh century. Reform of the Julian calendar in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, through adoption of the Gregorian calendar, eliminated some of the difficulties in fixing the date of Easter and in arranging the ecclesiastical year.<\/p>\n

Since 1752, when the Gregorian calendar was also adopted in Great Britain and Ireland, Easter has been celebrated on the same day in the Western part of the Christian world.<\/p>\n

The Eastern churches, however, which did not adopt the Gregorian calendar, commemorate Easter on a Sunday either preceding or following the date observed in the West. Occasionally the dates coincide; the most recent times were in 1865 and 1963.<\/p>\n

In 1928 the British Parliament enacted a measure allowing the Church of England to commemorate Easter on the first Sunday after the second Saturday in April. Despite these steps toward a consolidation, Easter continues to be a \u201cmovable\u201d feast.<\/p>\n

In the church\u2019s zeal to separate itself from the Biblical text, confusion has continued.<\/p>\n

Friday or Wednesday?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another controversy continues concerning \u201cGood Friday.\u201d While there are many scholars who continue to defend a Friday Crucifixion, there are many who find this doubtful, for at least three reasons:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Jesus specified<\/a><\/span> there would be \u201cthree days and three nights\u201d\u2014His words\u2014between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection;<\/li>\n
  2. Jesus went from Jericho to Bethany<\/a><\/span> six days before Passover; that would require more than a \u201cSabbath day\u2019s journey\u201d to occur on the Sabbath if Passover was on a Friday;<\/li>\n
  3. There were two Sabbaths<\/a><\/span> between Passover and Sunday morning, including the Feast of Unleavened Bread, one of the seven high Sabbaths each year.<\/li>\n
  4. This is why many serious scholars believe the Crucifixion occurred \u201cbetween the two evenings<\/a>\u201d<\/span> on a Wednesday Passover, not on a Friday. Three days later\u2014 \u201cthe morrow after Shabbat after Passover,\u201d the Feast of First Fruits, was, our First Fruits, discovered on that Sunday morning.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Other Issues<\/strong><\/p>\n

    There are many other misunderstandings about the details surrounding those pivotal events.<\/p>\n

    They had not planned<\/a> to take Jesus on a feast day, for fear of the Romans. The timing was controlled by Jesus Christ Himself. Even in the garden of Gethsemane, it was Jesus who was giving the orders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Every detail of the six trials Jesus endured was illegal. (Over 20 specific infractions of legal procedure are detailed in our briefing package, The Easter Story: What Really Happened<\/span>.<\/a>)<\/p>\n

    Satan was hoping for a \u201crighteous death,\u201d which, in the Torah, was a death by stoning. But the Romans had removed the Jews\u2019 right to capital punishment. The death by crucifixion was detailed in the Scriptures<\/a> <\/span>700 years before crucifixion was invented.<\/p>\n

    What Is \u201cThe Gospel\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    The \u201cGood News\u201d can be summed up in five words: Jesus died and rose again<\/a>!<\/span> Perhaps the greatest failure by most renderings of the events of those crucial days\u2014even Mel Gibson\u2019s movie, The Passion<\/a><\/span>, is the portrayal of the Crucifixion as a tragedy: it wasn\u2019t a tragedy, it was an achievement! Literally hundreds of specifications were fulfilled to accomplish a goal set before the foundation of the world.<\/p>\n

    Prophecies of the Final Week<\/strong><\/p>\n

    There are many Old Testament prophesies quoted in the Gospels specifically about Jesus\u2019 final week. Here is a brief list:<\/p>\n