PASSOVER CAME FIRST

From the West Meadow
By Pastor Wesley Higgins

You probably didn't notice, but most years the Jewish Passover and the Christian Easter fall within the same week. But if you pay any attention to such things, you will notice that this year the two days are a month apart, the traditional Easter coming approximately one month before Passover.

Now, it probably doesn't affect your faith any, but how could Christ be resurrected from the dead before He died?

Any casual reading of the Bible accounts reveals that Christ was the "lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), that He was crucified on the day that the Passover lambs were killed (John 19), and as such became "our Passover...sacrificed for us." (I Corinthians 5:7)

It is not possible for Christ to be resurrected before He died.

The fact is that Easter has nothing to do with the resurrection and everything to do with tradition. To have anything to do with the facts, the resurrection must always follow the crucifixion, not the other way around. Christ told the scribes and pharisees that the only sign they were going to get concerning Christ's death and resurrection was the sign of Jonah. Just as "Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the (grave)." (Matthew 12:40)

The other main problem with tradition is the sunrise service. No matter how beautiful a picture it paints of Christ rising from the grave with the rising sun, it just didn't happen. It has no more substance than Easter eggs or Easter bunnies. All the accounts in the Gospels show that Christ was resurrected from the grave before dawn appeared. The Gospel of John tells us that Mary Magdalene, who Mark says was the first to see the risen Christ (Mark 16:9), came "to the tomb early, while it was still dark..." (John 20:1) The stone had already been removed. Now some of the accounts mention dawn (Matt. 28:1), others sunrise (Mark 16:2); but the fact remains that Christ was already gone by the time anyone arrived.

Now I know that you may think I'm just being picky bringing up these things. But as Peter says, you should "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you." (I Peter 3:15) It must be a sound reason based on fact, not mere tradition.

John tells us that the things that happened to Jesus were by design, "for these things were done that the scriptures should be fulfilled" (John 19:36). And "these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:31)

We can't change the design to fit our traditions. Jesus died on Passover -- and then He was resurrected.

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