It’s Not About a Bunny

 It’s Not About a Bunny - Nathele Graham - twotug@embarqmail.com I needed to do some grocery shopping and went to my local Walmart. As I walked around the store, trying to remember what I needed, I walked down an aisle that was an explosionof stuffed bunnies, chocolate eggs, and Easter egg dye. I was grieved. Where was Jesus in this burst of Pagan revelry? I needed some greeting cards, and as I looked over the assortment of humorous Easter cards, I couldn’t find any that stressed the blessing of the Resurrection. Finally, Isaw a couple of cards sitting very high above all the humorous cards. I’m short, so I had to really stretch to reach them, but they were nice cards and just what I wanted. Why were they displayed far from eye level? I thought about this as I drove home, and this poem came into my mind. It’s Not About a Bunny - By Nathele Graham It’s not about a bunny That hops away so fast. It is about Christ my Saviour, Whose love will always last. It’s not about an egg With a pretty painted shell It is about Christ who died To save us all from Hell. It’s not about an Easter bonnet Upon your head that’s worn It is about Christ the King Who wore a crown of thorns Christ’s death was a victory Over sin, death, and the grave. Don’t praise a bunny, tell Christ’s story His life He freely gave. Celebrate His love for you In everything you do. The bunny always hops away But Christ will dwell in you. Christians need to be sure of what we celebrate, and ask ourselves, “Does this honor God, or am I joining with the world?” At Christmas, we decorate a tree, and be sure ourchildren believe in Santa. At Easter, we are sure our children believe a bunny brings colored eggs and candy. Why aren’t Christians concerned that our children believe the truth? I know all the justifications for these celebrations of worldly ways, but why do we allow the world to dictate what and when we celebrate? It’s a certainty that Christ wasn’t born on December 25. In order to not inconvenience or upset the unbelieving world, it was decided to celebrate Christ’s birth to coincidewith a pagan celebration. As for Easter, that’s another pagan holiday set on the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the Vernal Equinox. That has nothing to do with Passover. Passover haseverything to do with the crucifixion of Christ and His resurrection three days later. When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, God sent Moses to petition the Pharaoh to let them go free. Pharaoh wouldn’t allow their freedom, so God sent plagues, which showedthe uselessness of the pagan gods worshipped in Egypt. Still, Pharaoh declined to let them go free. There was one final plague that would cause Pharaoh to give freedom to the Israelites. That was the death of the firstborn. God always provides safety for thosewho believe and follow His instructions. He established Passover to provide protection for the Israelites. The directions were given to the children of Israel, but if Gentiles followed the directions, they would also be saved from death. “And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: and if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbournext unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day ofthe same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall eatthe flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it” (Exodus 12:1-9). This took place in the month of Nisan (aka Nissan), the first day of which is April 9 this year. At that time, the Israelites weren’t particularly faithful to the God of Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob. They had been in Egypt too long with the pagan worship and were mostly following the way of the world. God never will forsake them. Today, many Jewish people are atheists… again, following the world. In spite of not believing in God, moststill celebrate Passover. It is history, and it matters. Why would God go into so much detail about the month and day they were to select a perfect lamb to sacrifice, and how the ceremony was to be performed? Because the date isimportant. Many, many years in the future, that was the day when the perfect Lamb of God was crucified on a cross. His blood would be shed as the final sacrifice for sin. The Israelites who believed what Moses told them to do were saved, and death passed overtheir houses. God was bringing them back to faith and showing His power through love. Jesus fulfilled the Passover, and faith in Him will save you from eternal death. He is our Sacrificial Lamb. Once again, God showed His power through love. John the Baptistrecognized that Jesus was the sacrifice that would save us from death… God’s perfect Lamb. “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The Jewish people standing near Him understood what He meant. Jesus also fulfilled the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of First Fruits, which are feasts ordained by God and celebrated along with Passover. “In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S Passover. And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: sevendays ye must eat unleavened bread” (Leviticus 23:5-6). Leaven symbolizes sin and pride (it puffs up). The unleavened bread is very symbolic of Jesus Christ, who had no sin. Then there’s the feast of First Fruits. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvestthereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it” (Leviticus 23:9-11). Jesus fulfilled them all. Firstfruits is always celebrated on the Sunday following Passover. That was the day Christ rose from the grave. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as inAdam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Corinthians 15:20-23). God went to a lot of trouble to give a “picture” of what Christ would fulfill, and we ignore His design and celebrate pagan dates and bunnies. Daniel also gave a prophecy concerning when Messiah would be “cut off” (crucified). For that, we need to look to Daniel’s 70-week prophecy. The key to this is found in Daniel9:25, when a time period is described as beginning when a command to rebuild Jerusalem was issued. When Daniel was a young man, he was taken captive when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. Daniel was always faithful to God Almighty. Althoughhe lived in the very pagan city of Babylon, he never bowed to a pagan god. “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; andthe end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined” (Daniel 9:26). Although Jerusalem was in ruins when Daniel received this prophecy, it would all be rebuilt, just to be destroyed again in 70 AD. When Daniel speaks of a week, it isn’t whatwe think. We refer to 7 days as a week, but Jewish thought is a week of years. So, one week equals 7 years. Many years after Daniel gave this prophecy, Nehemiah was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes and was given a decree to rebuild Jerusalem. We know the decreewas given in the month of Nisan, the same month as Passover, Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits were established by God. People smarter than me know the date that decree was issued. By calculating from that date, they are able to calculate the exact day thatJesus rode into Jerusalem and was hailed as Messiah by the people. We call it Palm Sunday. It was just as Daniel had prophesied. God went to a lot of trouble to put this all together, so why do we celebrate on a pagan day that honors the pagan goddess Ishtar, and mock God by saying we are celebratingthe most important event of all time? The next event on the Jewish calendar is the Counting of the Omer. “And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto themorrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD” (Leviticus 23:15-16). Why is this a big deal? Well, counting these days will bring you to Pentecost. This was the day that the Jewish people celebrate the giving of the Torah. Christians have ahigher meaning for this day. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and itfilled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it lay upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4). That day, Peter gave a powerful sermon heard by thousands of non-believers. That day, the Torah was fulfilled, and the Church was born. Three thousand souls repented and gavetheir lives to Christ that day. Pentecost is an important day for Christians. Christians have Scripture to give us understanding of God’s truth, but it’s a sad fact that many are heavily influenced by the world. Seldom do Christians really study God’sword but will watch a Hollywood movie about the Bible and think it’s truth. There’s a lot of “artistic license” taken with God’s truth in these movies. It’s important to study the entirety of Scripture, including the Old Testament. The Jewish Feast days allpoint to Jesus and are a wonderful study. Does all of this mean that we, as Christians, should celebrate these feasts? We can, but Jesus fulfilled them. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Matthew 5:17). Keeping the Law of Moses is no longer necessary since Jesus was the final sacrifice for sin; we should never feel the need to be placed under the Law, but honoring God isimportant. We have freedom in Christ and shouldn’t judge how another person worships. “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but thebody is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17). Your faith should be in Christ alone. His death, burial, and resurrection happened according to Scripture, and He was truly the Lamb of God… the final sacrifice for sin. Repentand be born again. That’s the only way to eternal life. Remember, as you decide how and when to celebrate His love for you, it’s not about a bunny. It is all about Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. God bless you all, Nathele Graham twotug@embarqmail.com Recommended prophecy sites: www.raptureready.com www.prophecyupdate.com www.raptureforums.com All original scripture is “theopneustos,” God-breathed. If you would like to be on my mailing list to receive the commentaries, just drop me an email and let me know. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee” (Psalm 122:6).