In God We Trust

23 March 2008

Easter Traditions

Posted by Joy Bischoff under: General .

Analogy Gone Wild

God teaches us many times through parables. Anciently, prophets would teach the people using analogies of nature since people who spent their days surrounded by nature would more easily understand the simple explanations of familiar examples from their life. Over time, the people would forget that these analogies were meant to depict sacred truths. Those cultures would degenerate to forget about the Creator and would begin worshiping the creation. The analogies using things like the sun, moon and earth, would become the focus.

Many Christians complain about pagan beliefs seeping into Christianity. I agree there is a real danger of that and it is happening. However, there is something very, very important to remember. Many of those pagan traditions stemmed from original truth as taught by the early prophets. The analogies became lost to them as they focused only on what they could see and not what was represented. The pagans were not original. All truth originated from God and if we can find the origins and understand how they testify of Christ, our lives can be richly blessed.

Palm Sunday

Today is Easter so we will talk about Easter traditions.
I want to begin with the Triumphal Entry, Palm Sunday was one week before Easter. The people waved palm branches. This symbol is so powerful. The weary traveler in the desert needed the water of life to live. To find this water, he/she would look for the blessed sign of the palm branches waving in the desert breeze, giving witness that here was where to come to find the Source and the Giver of eternal life.

The Lord rode on a white ass that had never been ridden before. The mother ass had done her job, the law of Moses. Now the New Testament (which means covenant) would bring in a new dawn, the Giver of salvation. This new covenant was represented by baptism into the kingdom of God through Christ.

As Moses had to remove his shoes to walk upon sacred ground, the Lord and his steed were lifted above the fallen world, treading upon palm branches and robes, sacred and set apart. As he made his way to the temple, the people shouted hosannah, giving the world their witness of the Son of God.

Mound of Creation and Sacred Waters

Ancient cultures taught of the sacred Mound of Creation rising above the waters of chaos. When we are baptized through the power of the Lord, we are purified and separated from the chaos of the fallen world. As swampy water is purified as it is drawn up through a mound of sand, so does Jesus draw us up from the world and cleanse us. The waters spring up through the top of the mound and separate into four channels to fill the world with truth as the four rivers that flowed from the Garden of Eden.

Isaiah talked about the Lord and those who follow in His path and attain salvation:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:7)

We don’t want to be like the people Isaiah wrote about in chapter 40. We want to be established in the top of the mountain of the Lord so that our feet are cleansed and ready to publish peace to all God’s children. We want to take root in the Lord:

24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

How beautiful is Isaiah’s description of mounting up with wings as eagles to be taken home to that God who gives us life.

The Easter Egg

The sanctifying process of the baptism of fire is shown by the Easter egg. Ancient Israel in the wilderness helps illustrate the egg. Israel chose to leave the chaos of the world and crossed through the Red Sea. This is what we do when we decide to follow the Lord through the waters of baptism. We continue to have trials in this life but if we persist in keeping Christ as our center as the Ark was for Israel, we will make it to the Promised Land and find an inheritance with Him.

Israel was in the wilderness for 40 years. It takes 40 weeks of gestation for birth. Israel surrounded the sacred Ark represented by the circumference of 360 degrees. When these two numbers are multiplied by ten, we have the perfect unit of 144,000, a very significant number that we read about in the Book of Revelation.

The Ark was overseen by Aaron, the high priest. His name means box or tomb. The Ark symbolized rebirth through the mercy seat of gold on top with the two cherubim protecting the mercy seat with their wings. The rebirthed soul is carried upon the wings of the cherubim or dove to heaven.

Within the Ark was Aaron’s staff, a bowl of manna and the broken tables of the Ten Commandments. These nicely represent what is necessary to symbolize the resurrection. The staff is the backbone, the manna is the flesh, and the tablets are our broken heart upon which the Lord writes His laws. The fleshy tablets of the heart had to replace the heart of stone and according to the Old Testament prophets, if we were to have our offering accepted. His word is written on the inward parts. The tomb becomes a womb of rebirth.

The tradition of the great mother goddess who is so incorrectly worshiped is nothing more than the corruption of the rebirth process. This is only possible through the sacrifice of the Lord. Jesus Christ is the power that brings about newness of life. He saves our souls from hell if we follow Him and He brings about the resurrection which is the rebirth of the body. He is both father and mother through the baptism of water and of fire.

The Easter Rabbit

The word Easter comes from an ancient goddess named Eostre who once saved a bird whose wings had frozen during the winter by turning it into a rabbit. Because the rabbit had once been a bird it could still lay eggs and became the modern Easter Bunny. Again, this mother goddess was an analogy gone bad. It is through Christ that we are born of God. Wings illustrate motion, the ability to be lifted up to the Lord. Man fell from grace and we are in a winter condition on this fallen earth. Rabbits represent fertility, renewal and motion.

The Pueblo Indians have a tradition that teaches about a rabbit that is constantly chased in a circle by a hound. That rabbit is blessed with the energy to stay ahead of the hound if he has enough faith and keeps the Creator as his center. He creates enough energy to bring about the fire of faith that forges us anew. If he does this, he is able to be born again from the egg. The chick has wings which are an analogy for being lifted to God and saved from the hound.

Coloring Eggs and Easter Baskets

The Greeks first started painting easter eggs red to depict the blood of rebirth, the renewal of spring. Caps or bonnets were worn to be used to gather and hold the eggs. Bonnets gradually led to baskets. The birth process goes from up to down. The rebirth process was understood by ancient cultures as going up out of the head. So the jewel in the crown of the king was his children he helped guide through the sanctification process. Almost all ancient cultures believed their king had the priesthood and was the manifestation of God upon the earth. They believed he had the power to act in God’s stead to bring salvation to his people.

The feather in the cap of the native American chiefs stood for a brave he helped to complete the initiation process. A feather in his cap, so to speak. The egg in the bonnet is the bird being born again from the head. Athena was born fully armored and a complete goddess from the top of Zeus’ head. Caesar’s laurel crown was from a tree that represented death and the fruit of the crown is life coming from death. The cruel crown of thorns and the sacred drops of blood were foreshadowed by so many of these examples. Many accuse the Christians of stealing from these other cultures and traditions but all truth came from God in the beginning. His ancient prophets truly were prophetic and foretold of the life and mission of Jesus, as Isaiah did.

To reiterate, these were supposed to be parables to help illustrate truth but time changed and corrupted the stories. Without pointing to Christ, His ministry and sacrifice, it holds no power to save or enlighten with the original meaning lost.

The Lily

Almost two thousand years ago, life came from death when our Savior rose from the tomb. The EASTER LILY represents Christ rising from the grave. Lilies have been known as the white-robed apostles of hope. We could think of each petal as an apostle witnessing of the sacred golden center of Christ. I have seen lots of ancients murals where the lotus (Egyptian lily) is shown with a baby emerging from the top. Christ was the firstborn of the Father as is shown by the lily emerging from the waters of chaos and producing the baby. He is the Mound of creation, which I wrote of above.

When Christ was resurrected, coming forth from the tomb/womb, he emerged from a white shroud. In ancient Egypt, temple initiates gave a lotus to the king. This showed among other things, their faith in his priesthood to bring them through the rebirth process so they would have a glorious resurrection. Paul wrote in Hebrews that Christ is the great high priest. It is through Him alone that we can receive the rebirth. The beautiful lily will hold us safe amid the waters of chaos like the palm of His sacred hand. This process is shown is many ways, the Tree of Life with the dove to lift us aloft, the eagles’ wings to lift us from the mountain, the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant that hide the sacred mercy seat of rebirth with their wings and others. The day will come, if we remain His, that those sacred white petals that keep us veiled from God will open and we will return home to Him whom we worship as our King, even Jesus Christ.

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