Easter is the celebration of the completion of the Savior Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry. It has, as its essence, two parts.
The first part is His Atonement, where He took upon Himself the sins of the world, which started in the Garden of Gethsemane and concluded on Calvary’s hill, where he was crucified [Luke 22:39-44|Matthew 27:26-50].
The second part of Easter is the Savior’s resurrection some 38 or 40 hours later [Mark 16|Luke 24]. These final events in His incomparable life are encapsulated in our celebration of Easter, and are the crowning achievements of His life’s mission, and central to His role as our Savior and Redeemer.
For many people, Christmas is the celebration of the life and mission of our Savior Jesus Christ. However, as the New Testament scholar N. T. Wright wrote “Take Christmas away, and in biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don’t have a New Testament; you don’t have a Christianity.”
The Easter celebration is the celebration of the life, Atonement, death and Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. It was the completion of His life’s mission, which was as He explained to Moses, “this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” Because of those final essential acts by our Savior, He completed His mission, and thereby we can be cleansed of all sin, and return to our Heavenly Father someday.
May we all celebrate these final events in His life this Easter Week, with appreciation and love for Him, is my hope and prayer, in his name, Jesus Christ. Amen.
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