Recently, a couple of ladies knocked on my door to invite me to Resurrection Sunday worship service coming up. Unfortunately, I had just gotten out of bed. It was my day of rest and I really didn’t want to be bothered. So I must confess I was a little rude.
I told her I don’t celebrate Easter, Resurrection Sunday or any of that. I follow the Bible and it says to observe Passover. In which case, I must confess again that I haven’t been to a Passover meal in years. In any case, she proceeded to tell me that Jesus said to do this in remembrance of him. This happened after Passover and that’s why they do it.
Then she proceeded to tell me that my neighbors will be there. Was she kidding me? Now she was trying to manipulate me into going so I don’t look bad. Or maybe she was encouraging me to be a part because of my neighbors. I don’t really know. I told her I won’t be there. She asked me if I was a Christian. I told her no. I just follow the Bible so I just consider myself a disciple of The Way. I thanked her for coming by, but I had to go.
Now I know I was wrong in the way I handled it. I was still tired and wanted to go back to bed. However, that is no excuse so I did repent. Then I said, “Let me study this thing out because maybe I was wrong.” So what’s the deal with showing up to church for Resurrection Sunday?
Sometimes a Name Change is Bad
Let’s begin with the name change. Just because we learned that Easter has a bad reputation associated with it doesn’t mean we get to change the name and continue to celebrate it as if it’s a new holy day. That’s what the Roman Church did many centuries ago. To appease people they took pagan holy days and gave them different names and applied their beliefs to it.
Let’s say you get married a second time on November 14th. Several years later you tell your wife you want to celebrate your anniversary on June 24th. She agrees because you told her there are better vacation spots available during that month than in November. Several years later she finds out that June 24th was the anniversary date of your previous wife, whom you loved very much, but died too soon. I don’t care how many times you try to explain this date as being a better choice; she is going to be mad, hurt, and possibly ready to do you some harm. How dare you celebrate your love for her on another woman’s date! All she’s going to conclude is that you wish she was your dead wife. Now you might say you’ll never do this, but if you’re a Christian and you attend a regular church service, it’s possible you do this every year.
Every year millions of Christians, Catholics and others who claim to follow the Bible celebrate Christmas, Halloween, and Easter like Jesus has something to do with it. They slap a new name to the date and try to make it about him when it’s really about someone else. How do you think that makes him feel? How do you think the Father feels, after all of the trouble He went through to teach you the truth?
When Did Jesus Resurrect? Are You Sure?
Articles abound with Jesus arising on the first day of the week. But is that what the scriptures really say? Let’s look at the original language.
Matthew 28:1
In the end of the sabbath (GK 4521), as it began to dawn toward the first (GK 3391) day of the week (GK 4521), came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.
The Greek word for “Sabbath” is the same word for “week.” In the KJV the word “day” is italicized to show that there was no Greek word for it. The translator put that in as their opinion of what it should say, not what it really said.
Below is the Greek definition. Nowhere in that definition does it say anything about being the first day of the week. Instead it says it is the last day of the week.
Sabbaton – GK4521
- the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work
- the institution of the Sabbath, the law for keeping holy every seventh day of the week
- a single Sabbath, Sabbath day
- seven days, a week
Here is a better translation of this scripture from the Jubilee Bible 2000, “Now well along on the sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first of the sabbaths, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre.”
As you can see it has nothing to do with Sunday, which is the first day of the week. It has everything to do with biblical counting of the Sabbaths so God’s people can follow His ways when it came to His feast days.
More Mistranslated Scriptures
Here are some other scriptures with a mistranslation and the Greek number to show you what it should be.
Mark 16:2
And very early in the morning the first (GK 3391) day of the week (GK 4521: Sabbath), they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
Mark 16:9
Now when Jesus was risen early the first (GK 4413) day of the week (GK 4521: Sabbath), he appeared first (GK4412) to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.
Luke 24:1
Now upon the first (GK 3391) day of the week (GK 4521: Sabbath), very early in the morning*, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
John 20:1
The first (GK 3391) day of the week (GK 4521: Sabbath) cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.
John 20:19
Then the same day (GK2250) at evening, being the first (GK 3391) day of the week (GK 4521: Sabbath), when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Three Days and Three Nights
In Luke 24 Jesus began to show those around him what the scriptures said about him to prove he was who they thought he was. Then he went to visit and speak to his disciples. He even had to open up their understanding of the scriptures. They needed to see without a shadow of doubt that he was the Messiah. He needed them to understand that prophecy was being fulfilled right before their eyes.
Luke 24:45-46
Then opened he (Yeshua) their (the disciples) understanding, that they might understand the scriptures (the Old Testament), And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ (the Messiah) to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
He then told them he was to rise on the third day. He was like Jonah who stayed in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights. There is no way you get three days from Friday to Sunday, let alone three nights. Should we believe the one we say we are following or should we believe tradition?
If you believe he rose on Sunday morning then he would have had to die on Thursday. If that’s the case, shouldn’t it be called “Good Thursday” instead of “Good Friday”? That’s simple math. So somewhere along the line someone is lying. I’m going to venture it isn’t Jesus.
No Evidence of Resurrection Sunday
After Jesus resurrected and ascended into the air, the apostles set out to teach the world about the Messiah who came to save them. In all of their travels, in all of their meetings, and in all of their beliefs, they never celebrated Resurrection Sunday. What they did celebrate was Passover like they used to do when Jesus was alive. They continued to follow what Jesus said and did. He celebrated Passover like he was instructed to by his Father, YHWH. These things were written in the law of Moses as Jesus puts it.
His disciples would not have started something new because that was not the command Jesus gave them. And they definitely wouldn’t have celebrated his resurrection on the day of Ishtar, the goddess being worshiped on Easter. They had more respect, obedience, and love for him than that.
Who Will You Follow?
When we say we love God, but don’t do what he says, do we really love him? I’m not talking about a man’s point of view. I’m talking about what God says in His scriptures, which we are supposed to be studying daily because it is our bread of life. Jesus said if you love him you will obey him. He also said he says and does nothing that the Father hasn’t said to say or do. He followed YHWH, the Elohim of his belief, our Father who is in heaven. We are to follow this same God and not the traditions of man.
I will be the first to say, Easter and Resurrection Sunday are traditions of man. It shouldn’t matter what your friends are doing, what your family is doing or even what your pastor is doing. It should only matter what God says to do.
Who will you follow?
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