"It turns out that Easter, which has its ultimate meaning through the resurrection, is one of ancient history’s most scrutinized and best attested events. Easter is the commemoration and celebration of the single event that transformed the world forever."
Across cultures throughout human history, people have sought to flee oppression and escape persecution. A recurring theme in Western literature and in modern classics such as Superman and Disney originals, which revolve around the struggle between good and evil, is the need and critical role for a rescuer or savior.
Easter is the celebration of the finished work of the messiah Jesus Christ, the ultimate rescuer and savior for mankind, who sacrificed his life to provide forgiveness of sin -- enabling all who believe in Christ to have a direct relationship with God.
That no other religion makes the claim that it was founded by a messiah makes Jesus the most revolutionary figure of human history.
Still, some assume Christianity is like other religions that require followers to perform certain works and rituals acceptable to God. Not so with Jesus, for he implores us in Matthew 11:30 that, “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” When a learned Jewish Pharisee, whose life required living up to stressful “dos and don’ts” of the Mosaic law, asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment in the law, Jesus answered simply that if we love God and love our neighbor as ourselves, we will have fulfilled all the laws.
Christ is absolutely unique in other ways. First, he is the only person in history who was pre-announced starting a thousand years before he was born, with eighteen different prophets between the tenth and the fourth centuries B.C. predicting his coming birth, life, and death. Hundreds of years later, the details of Christ’s coming birth, life, betrayal, and manner of death validated those prophecies in surprisingly accurate and minute detail. One thousand years B.C., David prophetically wrote about the crucifixion of Christ, at a time when crucifixion was unknown as a means of execution.
The death of other religious leaders -- such as Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Mohammad, or Confucius -- brought anticlimactic endings to their lives and work. But Christ came into the world as God’s son to die and pay the price for man’s iniquity." . . . More
Scott S. Powell is senior fellow at Discovery Institute. This article is a vignette out of his acclaimed book, Rediscovering America, which was an eight-week Amazon #1 new release in the history genre. Reach him at scottp@discovery.org
