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TITLE: EASTER: Fact and Fiction
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
PROPOSITION: Many think Easter is a Biblical holy day.
QUESTION: Which?
KEY WORD: Facts
READING: Same
  1. More people attend churches on Easter than any other day.
  2. Churches of Christ do not celebrate Easter. Why?
  3. Learn the Facts. Separate from the Fiction.
        FACTS ABOUT EASTER:
There is good news - Gospel
  1. Jesus died, was buried, raised the 3rd day = GOSPEL.
  2. Study our text

Easter as a “Christian” holy day began in 325 AD.
  1. Council of Niecea - 318 bishops met together
  2. First Sunday - after full moon - after vernal equinox

Easter (the word) is from “Istare”
  1. Goddess of fertility - pagan deity - sex goddess
  2. Came as spring arrived - things began to come alive again
  3. Chosen to symbolize the resurrection of Christ

Many traditions and customs developed
  1. Not related to religion at all
  2. Eggs, Easter bunny, All dressed up, white shoes
  3. Not wrong - like Santa Clause, birthday, 4th of July
        FICTION ABOUT EASTER:
Easter is in the Bible.
  1. Acts 12:4 - “Easter” in the Bible = Passover (Gk. pascha)
  2. All other occasions of “pascha” = Passover (29 in NT, 28 Passover)
  3. All other than KJV render the word Passover here

Must take communion.
  1. Every Sunday - “first day of the week”
  2. Early church - Acts 20:7
  3. This was 2 weeks AFTER Passover (20:6)
  4. L. S. and giving on 1st day of week.

Easter worship services must be special.
  1. Sunrise services (Sunrise is not when Jesus rose - When discovered)
  2. READ - John 20:1
  3. Special songs, solos, choir,
  4. Sermon on the resurrection
  5. All should attend on this Sunday (Hebrews 10:25)
  6. Special plays, dramas, - - - SERVE COMMUNION.
  7. NOT elevate this Sunday, ELEVATE EVERY SUNDAY!
Conclusion:
  1. Every Sunday is Resurrection Sunday to Christians.
  2. We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus every week, 52 per year.

Adam Clarke Commentary (Acts 12:4)

Perhaps there never was a more unhappy, not to say absurd, translation than that in our text. But, before I come to explain the word, it is necessary to observe that our term called Easter is not exactly the same with the Jewish passover. This festival is always held on the fourteenth day of the first vernal full moon; but the Easter of the Christians, never till the next Sabbath after said full moon; and, to avoid all conformity with the Jews in this matter, if the fourteenth day of the first vernal full moon happen on a Sabbath, then the festival of Easter is deferred till the Sabbath following. The first vernal moon is that whose fourteenth day is either on the day of the vernal equinox, or the next fourteenth day after it.
The vernal equinox, according to a decree of the council of Nice, is fixed to the 21st day of March; and therefore the first vernal moon is that whose fourteenth day falls upon the 21st of March, or the first fourteenth day after. Hence it appears that the next Sabbath after the fourteenth day of the vernal moon, which is called the Paschal term, is always Easter day. And, therefore, the earliest Paschal term being the 21st of March, the 22d of March is the earliest Easter possible; and the 18th of April being the latest Paschal term, the seventh day after, that is the 25th of April, is the latest Easter possible.


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