Easter Monday, Part 1

Easter Sunday will be here soon. In recent history, Easter Sunday has been the time many professing Christians celebrate the resurrection and ascension of Christ the Savior. Prior to the repurposing of Easter by the Catholic church it was a celebration of the pagan goddess of fertility celebrated at the spring equinox. This explains the ornaments of fertile animals like the chocolate bunnies and little chick candies. In acknowledgment of these pagan origins some protestant Christians have rebranded Easter as “Resurrection Sunday.” If you change the name and remove the chocolate bunnies but still fail to understand what Christ’s resurrection means for your life today, then your celebration still misses the mark.

The resurrection of Christ is the evidence that He is indeed the Savior and has successfully broken the reign of sin and death over man. It is important to understand that death is separation from GOD, for YAHWEH is life eternal. The fact that death could not hold Christ proves that He was righteous and still one with GOD. Christ proved that the life in Him overcomes sin and death therefore all who have His life in them will also triumph over sin and death. The life in Him is the word of Truth and the Spirit of Truth. The Spirit of GOD inhabits His Word so when you receive the Word of GOD in your heart you are receiving the life of Christ in you and the scripture says, “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Faith in the Word of GOD causes you to overcome because instead of doubting and rebelling against His word you will obey.

When you have this true understanding of the testimony of Christ, it brings continuity and harmony to the record of GOD. Death comes from sin because it is a straying from GOD through doubt and unbelief. The atonement in the blood of Christ cleanses us of our past rebellion so that we can be reconnected to a sinless GOD through rebirth. The new life of Christ from our rebirth avails us the power to stop straying so that we can stay connected. It’s that simple, but why isn’t it preached? It is rarely preached because we have an adversary called the wicked one who comes to kill, steal, and destroy everything that brings glory to GOD by spreading lies in the form of half-truths.  This adversary has poisoned the minds of many from receiving the whole truth of the gospel by providing half-truths that appeal to wounded souls looking for do-it-yourself fixes.  The gospel that most teachers and preachers share does not require the power of the life of Christ. The life of Christ brings glory to GOD so Satan has spun a variant gospel that permits man to keep his old life instead of truly giving his life on the cross. So many believe a false gospel that says we are broken beyond repair therefore we will continue to rebel against GOD, but He will pardon our rebellion because we have the atoning blood of Christ.

That is a wicked half-truth devised by Satan to hold back the glory of God that comes through the life of Christ. It is true that the atoning blood of Christ has paid for our sin but not because we remain broken and can’t do any better. The blood of Christ awards us the privilege to be reconnected to GOD as His dear children so that His quickening power can raise us up as new beings just as He raised Christ after His crucifixion. When the scripture says Christ came to heal the brokenhearted, understand He plans to heal them by giving them a new heart, not just patching their old one. Christ taught that this new wine, which is His blood containing new life, was never meant to be put into old bottles. GOD’s plan was never to patch or mend that which was broken but rather to replace it with something totally new. The gift of GOD through the rebirth of Christ is a new heart and a new mind that seeks to do His will. The problem is that people aren’t willing to die in the likeness of Christ’s death, so they are not positioned to be raised in the likeness of His resurrection.

People fail to realize that Christ, as the Son of GOD, was bearing the cross His whole life on earth. The sacrifice became manifested at Golgotha but His whole life on earth was lived sacrificially to please the Father. The cross we have been called to bear is the same cross of self -denial in order to please the Father. Christ taught that if any man will follow Him, he must take up his own cross and deny himself. In other words, if you are going to follow Me then you must walk in the way that I walk. People have desired the gain without the pain, so Satan has provided a counterfeit. The problem is that there is no real gain in this leavened gospel which falls short of true transformation.