Truth Magazine

By Ferrell Jenkins

Easter is a widely-observed annual celebration commemorating the resurrection of Christ. You probably have noticed that Easter comes at a different time each year. “Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon that falls on or next after the vernal equinox (March 21 in the Gregorian calendar); if the full moon happens on Sunday, Easter is celebrated one week later. Easter Sunday cannot be earlier than March 22 or later than April 25; dates of all other movable church feasts depend on that of Easter” (Webster).

The Origin of Easter

Some church historians assert that Easter observance began in the first century, but they must admit that their first evidence for the observance,,. comes from the second century (Schaff, History of the Christian Church II:207; Latourette,` A: History of Christianity, 1:137). There soon arose a bitter controversy over which day Easter was to be celebrated. Some were observing it on any day of the week, and others were celebrating it only on the nearest Sunday. This indicates that they had no instruction from the Lord on this matter. By A.D. 325 the council of Nicaea de-creed that it should be on Sunday, but did not fix the particular Sunday. The exact time of observance was deter-mined by later councils.

Is Easter in the Bible?

The word Easter is only found one time in the English translation of the Bible and there it is a mistranslation. The King James rendering of Acts 12:4 used the phrase “intending after Easter.” Albert Barnes, a noted Presbyterian commentator who wrote in the nineteenth century when the King James version was widely used, said, “There never was a more absurd or unhappy translation than this. The original is simply after the Passover. The word Easter now denotes the festival observed by many Christian churches in honor of the resurrection of the Saviour. But the original has no reference to that, nor is there the slightest evidence that any such festival was observed at the time when this hook was written. The translation is not only unhappy, as it does not convey at all the meaning of the original, but because it may contribute to foster an opinion that such a festival was observed in the time of the apostles” (Barnes Notes on the New Testament, XI, 190). The word translated Pass-over, and the one used in Acts 12:4, is pascha. It means “a passing over” and is used with reference to the Jewish festival of Passover which was celebrated on the 14th of the month Nisan. This same word is used in Matthew 26:2; Mark 14:1; Luke 2:41; 22:1; John 2:13, 23 and other places, and in every instance is translated Passover in the King James Version except Acts 12:4. More recent versions correctly use the term Passover in Acts 12:4. It is absurd to think that Herod Agrippa I wanted to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. The Scripture says that he “laid hands on some who belonged to the church, in order to mistreat them. And he had James the brother of John put to death with a sword .. he proceeded to arrest Peter also” (Acts 12:1-3).

New Testament Christians Did Not Observe Easter

The famous fourteenth edition of Encyclopedia Britannica says, “There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians” (VII: 859). The apostle Paul warned against the observance of feast days, new moons, etc. (Gal. 4:10-11; Col. 2:16-17). Another reliable source says, “In apostolic times the Christians commemorated their Lord’s resurrection every Sunday, by meeting on that day for worship. When Paul refers to Christ as our passover (1 Cor. 5:7) his language is metaphorical and cannot be regarded as containing any allusion to a church function” (A Dictionary of Religion and Ethics 140). For many people, Easter has become the one time of the year they attend church services. Concerning urging of Catholics to receive Holy Communion the question was asked, “They must go at least once a year if they would be regarded as Catholics?” “Father” Smith answers, “Yes, during Easter time” (Father Smith Instructs Jackson 159). Many forget the admonition of Hebrews 10:25: “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.”

Importance of the Resurrection of Christ

Let no one imagine that we oppose the resurrection of Christ. It is the bedrock of Christianity and the deity of Jesus rests upon it (Rom. 1:4). Christians today meet every first day of the week, as did the early Christians, to observe the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7). The first day of the week is a memorial to the resurrection of Christ. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ serves as the form of an individual’s death to sin, burial in baptism, and resurrection to walk a new life as a new creature in Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-4; Rom 6:3-11; Col. 2:12).

Conclusion

“Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God” (1 Pet. 4:11). The celebration of Easter began too late, and without the expressed authority of God!

Guardian of Truth XL: 8 p. 1
April 18, 1996

By Kim Dobbs

Was I, like Esther, put here “for such a time as this”? A weary heart to comfort? A skinned up knee to kiss?

Should I take the time to stop and speak to them today? Oh, it’s not that important. I’ll do it another day.

Am I the one that God expects to teach my new-found friend?

Or maybe there is someone else that he has planned to send.

Maybe there’s someone I know drowning in despair. Am I the one God’s counting on to show them someone cares?

Is there someone that I know being led astray?

Am I the one to take the time to talk to them today?

A lonely person that I know that simply sits for hours: Am I the one to call or send a card or maybe flowers?

Is there a lonely child I know that needs some special care?

Do you think God has put me here to show some loving care?

Am Ito use my influence to change some moral wrong? Yes, I think God expects me to, so now I must be strong.

I must look for opportunities to heal, to help, to save. And “if for such a time as this,” like Esther, I must be brave.

Guardian of Truth XL: 8 p. 4
April 18, 1996

By Larry Ray Hafley

Human religion, denominationalism, insists upon trust in the Divine Son of God. “Put your faith in him,” they say. “Do not trust in `a plan’ of salvation, but in `the man’ of salvation.” Generally, by this pious plea, they mean that one may, yea, must, ignore the gospel plan of salvation, i.e., baptism. Thus, Christians are made to appear as those whose trust and hope is in an ordinance, or in the water, and not in Christ. What shall we say to this?

First, none who believe the Bible will disagree with the theme and thrust of trust in the Lord. We must “trust in the Lord” (Psa. 37:3). This “trust in the Lord” must be “with all thine heart” (Prov. 3:5). “They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever” (Psa. 125:1). We dare not trust in men, for “cursed be the man that trusteth in man” (Jer. 17:5). “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man” (Psa. 118:8). Further, “we should not trust in ourselves, but in God” (2 Cor. 1:9). New Testament converts “trusted” in Christ (Eph. 1:13).

Second, even human reasoning and human illustrations show that trust in a person involves and includes trust in that person’s word. When my boys were little and standing on a high place, I would say, “Jump, and Daddy will catch you.” They believed me, trusted me; so, with confidence and trust in my word that I would catch them, they jumped. Because of trust in the national weather service’s warning of an approaching tropical storm, thousands will close up their homes and leave a coastal area. Leaving reveals their trust in the forecaster and in his forecast. Though it may not be windy or raining, we board up our houses upon the word of a meteorologist that a storm is approaching. The decision of one man, one doctor, causes us to undergo painful, expensive surgery. Because we trust in him, because we have confidence in his word, we agree to very disagree-able procedures. At such times, do we deliberate and debate about whether or not our faith is in the doctor, personally, or in his practice, or in his profession, or in his pronouncement, “You need surgery”? No, we do not. Though we “never felt better,” we put our affairs in order, check in the hospital, and have surgery.

Bible Cases, Bible Illustrations

Better than human philosophy is Divine testimony. Letus study several cases or incidents where men are said to have believed or trusted in the Lord. Let us see how this trust was exhibited, expressed. By the Bible we shall show that one trusts and believes in the person of God when he obeys the purpose, the plan, and the pattern of God. Conversely, those who do not yield and submit to the word of God are those who do not trust and surrender to the person of God.

Negative Case Studies

Moses  In Numbers 20, God told Moses to “speak” to the rock to obtain water. Moses “spake unadvisedly with his lips” (Psa. 106:33). Consequently, God said, “Because ye believed me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land” (v. 12). Did Moses believe in the existence of the person of God? Certainly, he did; yet, God said, “ye believed me not.” When one does not obey the word of God, he does not believe or trust in the person of God.

Israel  When Israel “rebelled against the commandment (or word ) of the Lord,” they “believed him not” (Deut. 9:23). When God saw Israel’s disobedience, though they were “his sons and his daughters,” he said, “they are .. . children in whom is no faith” (Deut. 32:19, 20). Did they believe in the presence of God’s person? Yes, but in disobedience to the word of God, they were “children in whom is no faith.” When “they would not hear” the plan of God, they “did not believe in the Lord their God” (2 Kgs. 17:14). “Then believed they his words; they sang his (God’s) praise. (But) they soon forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel (for his words) . . . They despised the pleasant land, they believed not his word” (Psa. 106:12, 13, 24). “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?” (Rom. 10:16). If one does not “obey the gospel,” he does not “believe” the gospel! Those who have “obeyed the truth” are those “which believe,” while those who do not believe are those who “stumble at the word, being disobedient” (1 Pet. 1:22; 2:7, 8). “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not” (Jude 5). Who were those “that believed not”? They were the “disobedient,” those who “rebelled against the commandment of the Lord.”

Disobedient Servant  The disobedient servant of Luke 12:42-48, “which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will,” was condemned “with the unbelievers.” When one does not obey the plan, “his lord’s will,” he is said not to believe in the man, his lord. And so it is of us and our relationship to Christ our Lord (Lk. 6:46)! (In our next installment, we shall note Positive Case Studies designed to show that the believer in Christ, one who truly “trusts” in him, is the one who obeys him.)

Guardian of Truth XL: 7 p. 24-25
April 4, 1996

By P. J. Casebolt

When a rich ruler inquired concerning eternal life, Jesus answered, “Yet lackest thou one thing” (Luke 18:22). Jesus identified that one thing which stood between the ruler and eternal life, and the importance of that one thing is clearly demonstrated in the words, “And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich” (v. 23).

We often wonder today why people don’t obey the gospel, and we are sometimes tempted to compromise the terms of eternal life, or feel guilty because we cannot convert such souls. But this example in the life of Jesus and some contemporary examples should help us to understand why some folks are not willing to pay the price for eternal life.

Material Possessions

In one place where I lived, I had occasion to contact an insurance salesman. I invited him to a meeting, and he accepted the invitation. Then he asked how long I preached, and almost backed out of his promise when I told him about 45 minutes. But he came, he leaned forward in his seat, and seemed to be drinking in every word. Later, the man told me he was used to twenty-minute sermons which included social announcements and maybe a quotation from Psalms, which put everyone to sleep. He said that he had heard more Scripture in that one sermon than he had heard in twenty years as an official board member of the denomination where he attended.

I assured this man that my sermon was typical of any gospel preacher, and that if he attended all of the time he would hear a similar amount of Bible. He said that he would like to do that, but some of his best customers were members of the denomination where he attended. I do not know if he were as rich as the young ruler in our text, but he indicated that he was in the category described by Paul when he said, “But they that will be rich . . .” (1 Tim. 6:9).

Whether we are rich, or just desire to be rich, that temptation is often greater than our desire for eternal life.

Preeminence

Another man who was convinced that many of the practices of the digressive Christian Church were not in harmony with the Bible, attended the assemblies of the church where I preached a few times, and indicated that he would like to make a change. But there was one hitch.

This man was a deacon in the church where he attended, and wanted to transfer his “deaconship” from the Christian Church to the church of Christ. I told him that the Lord’s church needed deacons, and that if in time he proved to be qualified for that office, that he could be selected and appointed. He went away sorrowful.

Jesus encountered rulers who loved the praise of men more than the praise of God, and were fearful of being “put out of the synagogue” if they confessed their belief in Christ (John 12:42,43). Saul of Tarsus never let such things stand in his way of following Christ (Gal. 1:14), but we still have some today who do. And they aren’t all in the denominational world.

Tradition

One family became disillusioned with the church where they were members, mainly because there was little spirituality preached or practiced in that particular denomination. The man was the janitor, and he said that all he seemed to get done was clean up after some church supper or party. I guess some brethren haven’t become that disillusioned over their kitchens, dining rooms, recreation rooms, and other facilities couched under the respectable-sounding heading of “fellowship halls.”

When the man and his wife indicated to their denomination that they were thinking about leaving, they were told that if they did leave, they would lose their burial plot in the church cemetery. The man and his wife turned away from the truth sorrowfully, for the break with tradition would be a greater price to pay than what they were willing to pay. I, too, was sorrowful.

In the same town, a business man renounced some of the errors of Catholicism, and when the priest came to the man’s place of business to collect money, he told the priest to leave and not come back. I happened along about this time in the man’s life, invited him to meeting, and the man said that everything he saw and heard seemed to fit his concept of what religion ought to be. But he went away sorrowful.

He could acknowledge errors in Catholicism, acknowledge what truths he had learned about the Lord’s church, and said that he would never attend the Catholic Church again. But he was afraid that if he formally renounced Catholicism that he would go to that fictitious place called purgatory. Tradition was so instilled in his heart that he could not bring himself to violate it. Jesus also encountered that obstacle, and rebuked those who allowed tradition to keep them from following the commandments of God (Mark 7:1-13). But this “one thing” is still a powerful deterrent to those who think that they want eternal life.

Maybe someone else could have persuaded these people to give up their desire for riches, preeminence, and the traditions of men, but I couldn’t. And looking back, I still can’t see how that I could offer them a “deal” and compromise the requirements for following the Lord. There are too many affiliated with the Lord’s people now who allow these and similar things of the world to hinder their service to God.

We need to keep inviting people to hear and obey the truth, and pray for wisdom that we might be able to persuade them to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow the Lord. Some will, but most won’t. And when they won’t, there is generally at least one thing, identifiable or not, that stands between them and eternal life.

When some rejected Paul’s efforts to point them to eternal life, Paul said, “seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13:46). And whether these people be Jews, Felix, Agrippa, the young ruler of Jesus’ time, or people of our time, one thing is certain: eternal life is not the thing that is unworthy, it is the person who rejects it.

Guardian of Truth XL: 8 p. 6-7
April 18, 1996