What Does Easter Mean To Me?

What does Easter mean to me? First of all, let's see what it means to the world. To the world Easter means money. Because the world turns everything  into a selling point. To the world Easter is about commercial gain. When you walk into the store around Easter, the whole stock changes. Everything in the store has the look of spring. Beautiful spring colors. Rabbits, and Easter eggs, baskets, and beautiful flowers, and candy. And beautiful spring time clothes.

Then, Easter is a time for family, a time for get togethers and picknicks. It's a time to go somewhere and just enjoy the beautiful outdoors, and look at the new life, that is springing up everywhere.

But what does Easter mean to the believer? Well, to the believer Easter doesn't have anything to do with Rabbits, or Easter eggs, or picknicks. To the Christians Easter symbolizes our spiritual birthday. Now let me explain that, because most Believers would say... I thought it was about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And to that I would say... You're exactly right,  but one of the greatest themes of the Bible is, substitution.

Paul was the one who really unveiled this revelation of substitution in the New Testament. What does the word substitution mean? It means the act, the process, or the result of substituting one thing for another.

2: one that is substituted for another.

Example: A substitute teacher. A teacher who stands in and acts in the place of another. So a substitute is one that takes the place of another. This spiritual principal was foreshadowed in the Old Testament. It is in the story of the sacrificed goat, and the scapegoat.

#1The first goat was killed, as a sin offering. Leviticus 4:24 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD: it is a sin offering. So we have two goats, and these two goats together complete this picture of substitution.

First is the sacrificed goat, dying for the sins of the people.

So you have the picture of one dying in the place of another.

Second, the priests would lay their hands on the head of the second goat, then send him off into the wilderness. This was symbolic of the goat becoming the guilty one, and the ones who were guilty of the sins, were released from the penalty of their sins. The picture was this... that the goat took the place of the guilty people with their sins. And because the goat carried away their sins, the children of Israel were free from their sins.

So here you have the full picture of substitution. One dying in the place of another, for their sins. And one taking the sins, of another and giving them freedom. That's exactly what Jesus did. The innocent one took our sins upon himself, and the innocent one died in our place, as the guilty one. And he took our sins away. And gave us his innocency, or his righteousness.

The Bible says it like this... 2 Co 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteous-ness of God in him. So the Bible says...

*There is none righteous, no not one.

*For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

*We all like sheep have gone astray, and turned everyone to his own way.

*And the wages of sin is death.

*The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

But here is the wonder of it all. There was one human being born out of all the millions and probably billions of people, of every nationality and every race, who was perfect, and he was sinless. And his name is Jesus.

1 Peter 2:22 Says... He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. Praise God, this perfect, innocent, sinless one, knowing the penalty for our sins. Willingly took our sins upon himself, and suffered as the guilty one, in order to give us his innoccency, and his righteousness.

That's substitution. That's the gospel in a nutshell....

*We were sinners, we had broken God's laws, our sins separated us from God.

*We were guilty and worthy of death, and eternal separation, from God.

*But Jesus offered himself in our place as the sacrificial lamb. *To redeem us from our sins, and restore us back to fellowship with God.

Now remember I said Easter is to me the celebration of my spiritual birthday, and here's why... Because substitution has two parts... First... Jesus the innocent one dying as the guilty one. Second... Is our identification with him. In our identification with him, everything he has becomes mine. So because he was willing to take my place as the substitute, now through identification, every thing he paid for with his sacrifice, becomes mine. and yours.