Posted on 04/03/2007 6:31:28 AM PDT by DouglasKC
Every spring, the anticipation and excitement of Easter is electrifying for many people. Churches prepare elaborate Easter programs that illustrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Parents take time to color Easter eggs and hide them so their children can hunt for them.
It's typical for TV movies this time of year to depict Easter as an enjoyable occasion of renewed happiness. Television advertisements and commercial businesses also get very involved with Easter as they offer colorful Easter baskets, Easter costumes and chocolate rabbits to celebrate this great religious event.
Many churches advertise outdoor Easter sunrise services, with any and all invited. Weather permitting, the Easter celebration is visually reinforced by watching the sun rise in the east.
But what do bunnies and colored eggs have to do with Jesus' resurrection?
And if this celebration is so important, why didn't Jesus teach His apostles and the early Church to observe it? The books of the New Testament were written over a span of decades after Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, yet nowhere do we see so much as a hint of any kind of Easter celebration.
So where exactly did Easter and its customs come from? Why do hundreds of millions of people celebrate the holiday today?
Can we find Easter in the Bible?
Easter is considered the most important religious festival in today's Christianity. "The Easter feast has been and still is regarded as the greatest in the Christian church, since it commemorates the most important event in the life of its Founder" (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1986, Vol. 2, "Easter"). Given its popularity, one would think that surely this observance is found in God's Word.
Some cite Acts 12:4 as authority for celebrating Easter. But there's a problem in that Easter isn't really mentioned there at all. The King James Bible translators substituted "Easter" for the Greek word Pascha, which means "Passover." "The word [Easter] does not properly occur in Scripture, although [the King James Version] has it in Acts 12:4 where it stands for Passover, as it is rightly rendered in RV" (ibid.).
The vast majority of Bible translations recognize this error in the King James Version and rightly translate the word as "Passover" in Acts 12:4. The truth is, "there is no trace of Easter celebration in the [New Testament]" (ibid.)
Where did Easter come from?
If Easter isn't found in the Bible, where exactly did it come from? And just exactly what does the name Easter mean?
It's important to review credible historical sources to understand the celebration's true history. For example, The Encyclopaedia Britannica tells us: "At Easter, popular customs reflect many ancient pagan survivals—in this instance, connected with spring fertility rites, such as the symbols of the Easter egg and the Easter hare or rabbit" (15th edition, Macropaedia, Vol. 4, p. 605, "Church Year").
In the ancient world of the Middle East, people were far more connected to the land and cycles of nature than we are today. They depended on the land's fertility and crops to survive. Spring, when fertility returned to the land after the long desolation of winter, was a much-anticipated and welcomed time for them.
Many peoples celebrated the coming of spring with celebrations and worship of their gods and goddesses, particularly those associated with fertility. Among such deities were Baal and Astarte or Ashtoreth, mentioned and condemned frequently in the Bible, whose worship typically included ritual sex to promote fertility throughout the land.
It was only natural to the peoples of the ancient Middle East to incorporate symbols of fertility—such as eggs and rabbits, which reproduce in great numbers—into those pagan celebrations for their gods. As The Encyclopaedia Britannica notes above, Easter eggs and the Easter rabbit are simply a continuation of these ancient spring fertility rites.
Nineteenth-century Scottish Protestant clergyman Alexander Hislop's work The Two Babylons is still considered a definitive work on pagan customs that survive in today's religious practices.
On Easter, he wrote: "What means the term Easter itself? It is not a Christian name. It bears its Chaldean origin on its very forehead. Easter is nothing else than Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven, whose name, as pronounced by the people of Nineveh, was evidently identical with that now in common use in this country. That name, as found by [early archaeologist Sir Austen Henry] Layard on the Assyrian monuments, is Ishtar" (1959, p. 103).
The name Easter, then, comes not from the Bible. Instead its roots go far back to the ancient pre-Christian Mesopotamian goddess Ishtar, known in the Bible as Astarte or Ashtoreth.
Ancient resurrection celebrations
What did worship of this goddess Ishtar involve? "Temples to Ishtar had many priestesses, or sacred prostitutes, who symbolically acted out the fertility rites of the cycle of nature. Ishtar has been identified with the Phoenician Astarte, the Semitic Ashtoreth, and the Sumerian Inanna. Strong similarities also exist between Ishtar and the Egyptian Isis, the Greek Aphrodite, and the Roman Venus.
"Associated with Ishtar was the young god Tammuz [mentioned in Ezekiel 8:14], considered both divine and mortal . . . In Babylonian mythology Tammuz died annually and was reborn year after year, representing the yearly cycle of the seasons and the crops. This pagan belief later was identified with the pagan gods Baal and Anat in Canaan " (Nelson's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, 1995, "Gods, Pagan," p. 509).
Alan Watts, expert in comparative religion, wrote: "It would be tedious to describe in detail all that has been handed down to us about the various rites of Tammuz . . . and many others . . . But their universal theme—the drama of death and resurrection—makes them the forerunners of the Christian Easter, and thus the first 'Easter services.' As we go on to describe the Christian observance of Easter we shall see how many of its customs and ceremonies resemble these former rites" (Easter: Its Story and Meaning, 1950, p. 58).
He goes on to explain how such practices as fasting during Lent, erecting an image of the deity in the temple sanctuary, singing hymns of mourning, lighting candles and nighttime services before Easter morning originated with ancient idolatrous practices (pp. 59-62).
Another author, Sir James Frazer (1854-1941), knighted for his contributions to our understanding of ancient religions, describes the culmination of the ancient idolatrous worship this way: "The sorrow of the worshippers was turned to joy . . . The tomb was opened: the god had risen from the dead; and as the priest touched the lips of the weeping mourners with balm, he softly whispered in their ears the glad tidings of salvation.
"The resurrection of the god was hailed by his disciples as a promise that they too would issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave. On the morrow . . . the divine resurrection was celebrated with a wild outburst of glee. At Rome, and probably elsewhere, the celebration took the form of a carnival" (The Golden Bough, 1993, p. 350).
A new celebration with ancient idolatrous roots
In various forms, worship of this god under the names Tammuz, Adonis and Attis, among others, spread from the outer reaches of the Roman Empire to Rome itself. There a truly remarkable development took place: Early Catholic Church leaders merged customs and practices associated with this earlier "resurrected" god and spring fertility celebrations and applied them to the resurrected Son of God.
The customs of the ancient fertility and resurrection celebrations weren't the only ones morphed into a new "Christian" celebration, but they are among the most obvious. After all, many historians readily admit the origin of the name Easter and the ancient fertility symbolism of rabbits and decorated eggs (which you can verify yourself in almost any encyclopedia).
Frazer observes: "When we reflect how often the Church has skilfully contrived to plant the seeds of the new faith on the old stock of paganism, we may surmise that the Easter celebration of the dead and risen Christ was grafted upon a similar celebration of the dead and risen Adonis" (p. 345).
He goes on to note that the desire to bring heathens into the Catholic Church without forcing them to surrender their idolatrous celebrations "may have led the ecclesiastical authorities to assimilate the Easter festival of the death and resurrection of their Lord to the festival of the death and resurrection of another Asiatic god which fell at the same season . . . the Church may have consciously adapted the new festival [of Easter] to its heathen predecessor for the sake of winning souls to Christ" (p. 359).
Surprisingly, the celebration of Easter didn't finally win out until A.D. 325, nearly 300 years after Jesus Christ's death and resurrection!
As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains in the section titled "The Liturgical Year," "At the Council of Nicaea in 325, all the Churches agreed that Easter . . . should be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon . . . after the vernal equinox" (1995, p. 332).
Up until this time, many believers had continued to commemorate Jesus' death through the biblical Passover as Jesus and the apostles had instructed (Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Now, however, with the power of the Roman Empire behind it, the Catholic Church enforced its preference for Easter. Those who wished to continue to observe the biblical Passover had to go underground to avoid persecution.
Would Jesus Christ celebrate Easter?
The record of the New Testament is clear: The faithful members of the early Church continued to observe all that the apostles taught them, as they were taught by Jesus Christ. The record of history is equally clear: In later centuries new customs, practices and doctrines were introduced that were quite foreign to the original Christians, forming a new "Christianity" they would scarcely recognize.
So a key question is, should a Christian follow what Jesus taught or what later religious teachers taught?
It's always a good idea to ask the question, what would Jesus do?
If Jesus were in the flesh today, would He celebrate Easter? The simple answer is No. He does not change. "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever," as Hebrews 13:8 tells us (emphasis added throughout). Jesus never observed Easter, never sanctioned it and never taught His disciples to celebrate it. Nor did the apostles teach the Church to do so.
Today, Jesus would observe the biblical Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread as Scripture teaches and as He practiced and taught (John 13:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5:7-8). In fact, He specifically said that He anticipated observing the Passover with His true followers "in My Father's kingdom" after His return (Matthew 26:26-29).
The feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread have deep meaning to Christ's true disciples. They reveal aspects of God's plan for the salvation of humanity—commemorating the fact that Jesus died for us and lives in us and for us (1 Corinthians 11:26; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:3-4).
Should you observe Easter?
If you want to be a true disciple of Christ Jesus, you need to carefully examine whether your beliefs agree with the Bible. It is not acceptable to God to merely assume that He approves of or accepts non-biblical celebrations, regardless of whether they are done for proper motives.
The fact is that God says, "Learn not the way of the heathen"—those who don't know God's truth (Jeremiah 10:2, King James Version).
His Word gives us explicit instructions regarding worshipping Him with practices adopted from pagan idolatry: "Do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.' You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods . . . Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it" (Deuteronomy 12:30-32).
Jesus Christ now commands everyone to repent of following all man-made religious traditions: "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30; compare Matthew 15:3).
Will you honor Christ's lifesaving instructions so that God can bless you? He said: "If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor" (John 12:26).
God wants you and me to obey His life-giving Word. When we do, we can serve Christ as His ambassadors on earth. There is no greater calling on earth and throughout time. For your ongoing happiness and security, turn to God now and seek His complete and perfect way. GN
Christians Who Don’t Celebrate Easter: What Do They Know?
I don’t know what they know................
But I there is something I know.................
They’re missing out on some chow-chow-chowdy-chow-chow good Ham!
Fascinating. Thanks, I bookmarked it.
I, of course, would agree as I am convinced the resurrection took place on the Sabbath....but...late in the afternoon, 72 hours from the Wednesday entombment. The scriptures only say what time the women arrived at the tomb....not what time Our Lord came out.
"Young's Literal translation" says it exactly: [Matthew 28:1] And on the eve of the sabbaths, at the dawn, toward the first of the sabbaths, came Mary the Magdalene, and the other Mary, to see the sepulchre. The "Sabbaths" plural, are referring to the First Weekly Sabbath in the count to Pentecost and the Weekly Sabbath itself. Same day, different Sabbaths. The point being.....this is still on the Sabbath.....and Our Lord has already arisen (Verse 6).
Good study, Doug.
Wait a minute. Just how many "evenings" are there in a Jewish day? You said that the sacrifice of the passover was to be between the evenings, between the 12:00 evening and the 6:00 evening. Now you tell me that there is a 3:00 evening as well? Three evenings in one day === never heard of it. The day has to end some time. Was there a fourth and fifth evening in there somewhere too???
The legs of the two thieves were broken closer to 6:00 than the 3:00 tweener, and it wasn't until that time that the centurion realized that Jesus was dead. Joseph would not have gone to Pilate until he knew that Jesus was dead and that was not a certainty until almost sunset --- evening. There was no urgency in getting the body in the tomb --- only in getting it down from the cross before sunset. So he probably didn't go to Pilate until the body was down off the cross .
The word says that Christ had the power to lay down His life and take it up again and that no man could take it from Him.
Also Christ could not have been crucified on Friday, because there was more than one sabbath that week and he was burried before the beginning of a "High Day" Sabbath...etc, etc., (let alone that he was to be burried for three days.)
I agree that the resurrection was on the sabbath, probably just before sunset.
The "sabbaths" is also interesting. I agree that it is plural and agree that it may be referring to the count of Pentecost. This is JP Green's Literal translation:
But late in the sabbaths, at the dawning into the first of the sabbaths, Mary the Magdalene and the other Mary came to gaze upon the grave.
The only problem is that I'm missing something when translated this way. Are you saying that paraphrased this is
"late on the sabbaths (the regular sabbath and the count of the 7 sabbaths), at the beginning of the count that starts with the first of the sabbaths, Mary the Magdalene...etc. etc."?
What I found most interesting was this "They do not possess the truth in this Easter question; for, in their blindness and repugnance to all improvements, they frequently celebrate two passovers in the same year. We could not imitate those who are openly in error. How, then, could we follow these Jews, who are most certainly blinded by error? for to celebrate the passover twice in one year is totally inadmissible."
It's amazing the depth of ignorance of the leaders of Rome in not knowing that God ordained that there be two passovers in case the first one was missed. It it so important that the Lord made sure that everyone would have a chance to take the passover.
Not true. [Matthew 27:50] And Jesus having again cried with a great voice, yielded the spirit. This is right after the ninth hour (3:00 P.M.) in verse 46. [Matthew 27:54] And the centurion, and those with him watching Jesus, having seen the earthquake, and the things that were done, were exceedingly afraid, saying, 'Truly this was God's Son. The Centurion knew he was dead immediately. So did Joseph.
Joseph went to Pilate asking for the body shortly after this event. There would have been no reason to delay. Notice in [Mark 15:44] Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable counsellor, who also himself was waiting for the reign of God, came, boldly entered in unto Pilate, and asked the body of Jesus. And Pilate wondered if he were already dead, and having called near the centurion, did question him if he were long dead. In other words he was surprised that Our Lord was dead already....as it was still early.
There was no urgency in getting the body in the tomb --- only in getting it down from the cross before sunset.
The urgency was that the Sabbath of Unleavened was drawing on and according to [Leviticus 23:7] the Israelites were to do no servile work and a burial would be considered work.
Wait a minute. Just how many "evenings" are there in a Jewish day? You said that the sacrifice of the passover was to be between the evenings, between the 12:00 evening and the 6:00 evening. Now you tell me that there is a 3:00 evening as well?
[Numbers 28:4] The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even. This term....at even is sometimes mistranslated as evening and to a Twenty First Century English speaking individual it would naturally denote the early dark period of the night. It actually means "between the Evenings" or at the 3:00 P.M. daily sacrifice.
285 posted on 04/07/2007 8:50:02 PM MDT by John 6.66=Mark of the Beast?
One could make a argument that he was an empty vessel indwelledEmperor Constantine, when he called and presided over the Council of Nice, he was a pagan.
b'shem Yah'shua
with the Evil One, in order to introduce error into the church.
The problem as I see it is that most translators are doing their utmost to try and show a Sunday resurrection and this is why you get some muddied and befuddled phrases.
The Hebrew word, Shabbaton, Strong's #7677....means "rest or a special Sabbath" and is used only eleven times in the Old Testament. There is no Greek word for Sabbath so this word is translated "Sabbatwn" in the Greek. This does not mean the weekly Sabbath and in the New Testament it always refers to the Sabbaths between Passover and Pentecost. The weekly Sabbath is Shabbat in the Hebrew and these two terms....depending on the translators, get confused.
When the Gospels were written the Apostles had no problem distinguishing between the two types of Sabbaths and carried it over into the Greek with little difficulty. In every Greek text where the resurrection is referred to the word used is the Hebrew word Shabbaton indicated as Sabbatwn. You find it in [Matthew 28:1][Mark 16:2,9][Luke 24:1][Acts 20:6-7] and [I Corinthians 16:2].
Sabbatwn Strong's #4521, 5th subdivision down.
The translators generally will add the English word "day" to "mia twn Sabbatwn" in [Matthew 28:1] trying to change the Greek to read "the first day of the week" but the actual translation should be "one of the Sabbaths". Mia does not mean first...it means one and is improperly translated and shows a bias. The Greek word for "day" is "Hemera" and does not appear in the Greek in these passages. In order for the Greek to read "First Day" the word "Protos" would have to precede "Hemera" and it is non existent in the manuscripts.
So....by using the term "Mia twn Sabbatwn" the manuscripts are proving that the resurrection took place on a day that was both a weekly Sabbath and a special Sabbath, specifically one of the seven weekly Sabbaths during the count of the Omer to Pentecost. Thus the plurality of the word Sabbaths.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Emperor Constantine was a pagan at that time and was not of the Spirit of God it did not dwell within him. He was at enmity or should I say a enemy of God.
Okay --- then there were only two evenings and the 3:00 sacrifice was between the two evenings, between the 12:00 evening and the 6:00 evening [3:00 is not an evening]. So then at which of those two evenings did Joseph go to Pilate --- 12:00 or 6:00?
Mark and Matthew both clearly say that "When the evening was come" [Mt 27:57 and Mark 15:42], then Joseph went to Pilate. That is clearly the 6:00 evening that marked the start of the next day sabbath.
Notice in [Mark 15:44] Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable counsellor, who also himself was waiting for the reign of God, came, boldly entered in unto Pilate, and asked the body of Jesus. And Pilate wondered if he were already dead, and having called near the centurion, did question him if he were long dead. In other words he was surprised that Our Lord was dead already....as it was still early.
John 19:31 tells us that while they were on the cross, the Jews went Pilate and requested that the legs of the three be broken so that they would not be up there during the sabbath. So Pilate sent a soldier to break their legs. So at that time, he believed Jesus to be still alive, but He had been dead since ?3:00. When Joseph came to him shortly after he had dispatched the soldier, he would have been surprised that He was already dead. After all, while no one lives long with broken legs on the cross, death is still not instantaneous. It may even have taken several more hours well past evening for the other two to die. And this is all taking place "when the evening was come" --- when the 6:00 evening had come --- with a burial yet to come.
As I understand it, those being crucified needed to use their legs to push themselves up so they could breathe. With the legs broken, they couldn't do this and death was probably a matter of minutes, not hours, away.
Granted that is true but don't you think that to demonize Sunday, the next day after the Sabbath is a bit of an overreaction. Couldn't Polycarp keep the Passover and the Feast of First Fruits at its proper time --- on the next day after the Sabbath. Was it either the Passover or First Fruits, the Passover or the Resurrection gathering?
While you may fight for a Saturday resurrection, there is no doubt that the Resurrected Jesus convocated with his disciples on Resurrection Sunday. Are you going to say that this would not have been a memorable day for future holy convocations amongst his disciples?
Where is the command not to meet on Sunday or any other day of the week? and where is it written in the 4th commandment that the people are to go to the tent meeting or temple or synagogue or church on the Saturday Sabbath? The commandment says to "REST" on the Saturday Sabbath ---not gather together at a synagogue or church. Was travelling to a synagogue or church on a Saturday Sabbath keeping or breaking that 4th commandment?
Most people that I know rest on Saturday, thus perhaps unknowingly literally keeping the Sabbath. And then they get up and go to church on Sunday. They have kept the 4th commandment and now they are keeping the command for a holy convocation on the next day after the Sabbath per the Feast of First Fruits. How do Sabbatarians find fault with that?
Sabbatarians say that they keep the feasts of the Lord. Do they keep all the feasts? Did they keep the Feast of First Fruits? Did they keep it on its proper day? How did they keep it? According to the Levitical Law? Did they have a holy convocation that day?
All across the world Christians are having holy convocations on this next day after the sabbath --- Sunday --- the Feast of First Fruits and the Resurrection. Which of these two groups have thus been most obedient to the Scriptures: those who have convocated on this day or those who haven't?
That may have been true. So then why would Pilate have been so surprised when Joseph told him that Jesus was dead?
BTW -— Happy Easter! I just saw some Easter bunnies this morning.
However, based on your immense historical and theological knowledge as evidenced by your marvelously well researched postings, I find it amazing that you missed an "inconvenient truth" that my wife and I watched on the History Channel just the other night. This historical fact is that, for over 1600 years, Christianity has bent its knee to the power of the Emperor of Rome who not only swapped the Sabbath for Sunday by civil decree, but also decreed that people must work on the 7th Day.
And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and plot to change times and laws. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one-half time. (Daniel 7:25)
Even if the Emperor of Rome isn't the power being spoke of here, why would anyone even come close to doing something that could be construed as fulfilling this prphesy?
First it's yet to be proven that the wave sheaf offering was a feast of the Lord. It's certainly not regarded in the same way as the feasts of the Lord are in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
Second, I don't think it's anyone's attempt to demonize Sunday. Most of those who observe the feasts of the Lord are attempting to correct what we believe to be incorrect doctrine. We believe that the holy days of the Lord were created for a purpose. We believe that these holy days have been counterfeited and discarded for whatever reason.
While you may fight for a Saturday resurrection, there is no doubt that the Resurrected Jesus convocated with his disciples on Resurrection Sunday. Are you going to say that this would not have been a memorable day for future holy convocations amongst his disciples?
The resurrected Christ met with his disciples EVERY day. The Lord Jesus doesn't need our help in creating holy days. He knew what he was doing when he created his day.
Where is the command not to meet on Sunday or any other day of the week? and where is it written in the 4th commandment that the people are to go to the tent meeting or temple or synagogue or church on the Saturday Sabbath? The commandment says to "REST" on the Saturday Sabbath ---not gather together at a synagogue or church. Was travelling to a synagogue or church on a Saturday Sabbath keeping or breaking that 4th commandment?
Lev 23:3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
There are also numerous examples in NT scripture of convocations on the sabbath:
Act 13:44 And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Most people that I know rest on Saturday, thus perhaps unknowingly literally keeping the Sabbath. And then they get up and go to church on Sunday. They have kept the 4th commandment and now they are keeping the command for a holy convocation on the next day after the Sabbath per the Feast of First Fruits. How do Sabbatarians find fault with that?
"How" to keep the sabbath is a question that every new sabbatarian faces. Physically keeping the sabbath is a piece of cake. Don't work on Saturday. Don't engage in things that are more self serving than serving the Lord or serving others.
What's difficult is to keep the sabbath spiritually and mentally. To have a reverent attitude, to keep the Lord's sabbath holy. To not pollute it with worldy thoughts and attitudes. To CEASE your mind from the normal activities of your life. This can only be done with God's spirit.
Sabbatarians say that they keep the feasts of the Lord. Do they keep all the feasts? Did they keep the Feast of First Fruits? Did they keep it on its proper day? How did they keep it? According to the Levitical Law? Did they have a holy convocation that day?
IF the wave sheaf offering is a feast, then there's no way to keep it. The ceremony was a function of the Levitical priesthood.
Lev 23:10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:
Lev 23:11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
Under the new covenant, the Levitical priesthood has been superceded by our high priest, Christ. The author of Hebrews explains this in depth, especially in chapter 7:
Heb 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
Heb 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
Now if an individual wants to remember the wave sheaf (which doesn't commemorate the resurrection, but did foreshadow the acceptance of Christ's sacrifice by God the father) then I guess they can. But there is not a commanded assembly and it was not designated as a holy day.
All across the world Christians are having holy convocations on this next day after the sabbath --- Sunday --- the Feast of First Fruits and the Resurrection. Which of these two groups have thus been most obedient to the Scriptures: those who have convocated on this day or those who haven't?
Look, the bottom line is that Christ wasn't resurrected on Sunday. We've shown you biblical evidence that Christ was resurrected on Saturday. We've shown you historical evidence that the early traditional church distanced themselves from anything that resembled Judaism and substituted their own days.
The arrogance of man is sometimes overwhelming! To think that God would create holy days, spell them out in the bible and then have man reject them and replace them with ones of their own making is the height of rebellion and arrogance.
The sabbath IS the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's a big part of the reason why Jesus Christ, the Lord, created it holy in the beginning of the world. It's the first holy thing that was created. Every week it SHOWS the Lord, the creator. The typology is that Christians CEASE from our labors and let the spirit of Christ work in and through us. The sabbath reminds us of that and let's us practice and remember that EVERY week.
Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
Exo 31:17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
Sorry diego for answering your post, but I had some free time.... :-)
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