Happy Resurrection Day 2023
An amazing thing happens each Spring; the whole world seems to pause to celebrate Easter, Christ’s Resurrection Day! The world acknowledges Easter as a Christian religious holiday and is happy to celebrate the return of spring and new life as God’s Children celebrate Resurrection Sunday. This year, Resurrection Sunday will be celebrated on April 9th, 2023. This post shares the importance of Christ’s Resurrection Day and wishes you a Happy Resurrection Sunday!
What is the “Resurrection Day”?
“Resurrection Day” refers to the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead, proving that He is God and has power over life and death.
Christ’s resurrection is an essential element in the Christian faith. All people die, and many good people have been martyred for a worthy cause. All other religious leaders, including Moses, Mohamed, Buddha, and all of Christ’s apostles died. Death does not prove deity.
God is eternal, so death would seem to indicate mere humanity rather than deity. But Jesus Christ is different. Jesus was willing to lay down His physical life, dying on a cross to pay the penalty of death for our sins. But Jesus also had the power to take His life up again (John 10:17-18) proving that He is God (Romans 1:3-4).
Because Jesus was a perfect man who never sinned, He could pay the death penalty for our sins by laying His life down for us. Jesus was delivered to death for our trespasses and sins; He was raised from the dead for our justification (Romans 4:25).
Christian’s celebrate Christ’s Resurrection Day because His rising from the dead proves that He has power over sin and death and the ability to raise us up from the dead as well. Christ’s resurrection is what gives believing Christians confident hope in being raised from the grave to eternal life. This is why the Bible records Paul and other 1st century Christians preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ everywhere they went.
Why Not “Easter”?
The world refers to “Resurrection Sunday” as “Easter.” But “Easter” is not a Biblical term. “Resurrection” and Christ being “raised from the dead” occur throughout the New Testament, but “Easter” does not.
Some might object that the KJV refers to “Easter” in Acts 12:4, but the Greek word, “Pascha” means “Passover,” which is how other English versions correctly translate it. Acts 12:4 tells of Herod’s plan to kill Peter to please the Jewish people during “the Days of Unleavened Bread” (Acts 12:3). He intended to execute Peter after the Jewish “Passover” (Acts 12:4).
The world has commercialized Christmas, the day Christians celebrate the Son of God being born into the world as a man, by celebrating “the holidays.” The world has shifted the emphasis from God becoming a man to save us from our sins to a gift exchange with family and friends. The world focuses on Santa Clause rather than Jesus Christ.
Likewise, the world celebrates “Easter” with Easter eggs, bunny rabbits, candy, and brightly colored dress clothes. Resurrection Sunday occurred the day after the Jewish Passover, which occurs in early spring each year. Spring is a time of new life. During spring, the days get longer, flowers appear, trees grow new leaves, grass and shrubs start growing, and animals have babies.
On His resurrection day not only was Jesus raised to new physical life, but Christ’s death and resurrection provided new life to those who trust in Jesus for forgiveness of sins. It is therefore easy to associate Christ’s resurrection day with spring, a time of new life. Unfortunately for most people, Easter has become a celebration of spring than a remembrance of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.
Many Bible believing Christians therefore prefer to refer to the day Jesus rose from the grave as “Resurrection Sunday.” This keeps the focus on Jesus Christ and the emphasis on His resurrection.
So, instead of wishing you “Happy Easter,” I wish you “Happy Resurrection Sunday”!
Why Resurrection Sunday?
Jesus was crucified on a Friday, the day before the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday). He rose from the grave on the third day after His death, early in the morning on the first day of the week (Sunday). Christians therefore celebrate Christ’s victory over death and His provision of new life on Resurrection Sunday.
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