Already, I hate this title.  It doesn’t matter whether or not Easter matters to me, it simply matters. It really is of no consequence if it matters to me, Osama bin Ladin, or George Bush – it matters.  Nonetheless, I would like to share why Easter matters to me…  Easter.  You know how it is.  Eggs.  Bunnies.  Chocolate.  Baskets. Those nasty chocolate eggshells filled with what appears to be egg matter.  How disgusting is that??  I remember Peepsã which further etched in my mind and memory that I absolutely H-A-T-E marshmallows.  None of which seemed relevant to the Easter I was learning about at church. But, Easter.  Why do we celebrate Easter the way we do.  If you look around it seems apparent that not everybody is on board with the original intent of Easter.  Just today I Googled “Easter” and the 4th listing was for “Easter 2008: Bunny and Easter Basket Crafts, Coloring Pages …” (you can find out for yourself at http://holidays.kaboose.com/easter/)
What the heck is that about?

I mean, don’t get me wrong.  I loved dying hardboiled eggs and then my folks spread them around the back yard; taking my bunny basket, snatching those eggs up for no apparent reason, but doing my very best to beat my brother on all accounts.  That being said, I think my brother found more joy in throwing the eggs at me. How kind. But if Easter is important, what does it mean?  Well, thanks to dictionary.com you can find out:
Eas·ter –noun

  1. An annual Christian festival in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, as calculated according to tables based in Western churches on the Gregorian calendar and in Orthodox churches on the Julian calendar.
  2. Also called Easter Sunday. the day on which this festival is celebrated.
  3. The Easter season; the week following Easter.

Now that we got that out of the way, why is Easter that important?  Why celebrate it?  (note: this is not exhaustive, rather just some of my thoughts) I’ve listed 6 reasons why we do, must, should, and will always worship this great day.

Penal Substitution (also called “Satisfaction Theory” or “Vicarious Atonement”)

  • God has eternally saved us from separation from Himself and eternal death.  “… He (Jesus) has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Heb. 9:26
  • Christ’s’ death was “penal” in the sense that he took on the penalty/punishment when he died.  “Substitution” in the sense that well, when he died, it was in our place.  Another way to say this is that Jesus didn’t just judge us or even represent us; he took on our death sentence.

Redemption

  • We, as sinners, were/are in need of someone to provide redemption and thereby “redeem” us out of this death sentence.  “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mk. 10:25 (notice it isn’t for all, but for many – completely a side note but worth noting).
  • We then are relieved from the bondage and the death sentence we once had holding over our heads.  So, we’re delivered from bondage to guilt, of sin, and from the ruling power of bondage in our lives.

Righteousness

  • “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord… and (to) be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith – that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Phil. 3:8-11

Propitiation

  • Jesus removes the wrath of God on us/over us that we deserve – and thus, Jesus has died as a substitute for us.  Am I saying that God sent the Son out of his wrath rather than his love?  Yes/No.  John Murray once said, “It is one thing to say that the wrathful God is made loving.  That would be entirely false.  It is another thing to say the wrathful God is loving.  That is profoundly true.”  (John Murray, Redemption – Accomplished and Applied, pg. 31)
  • “In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 Jn. 4:10

Justification

  • “It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Rom. 4:24-25.
  • “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentiles sinners, yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Gal. 2:15-16

Our Resurrection (or glorification)

  • Christ rising from the dead defeated 3 great enemies of ours: sin, death, and Satan.  By doing so, we are given new life and Christ’s work of redemption to us will not be complete until our bodies are entirely set free from the effects of the fall and brought to that state of perfection for which God created them.
  • “Not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.” Rom. 8:23-24.

Hopefully, this has been of some help to you as you celebrate Easter, and the blessing God has given us by the death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.