Easter is quickly approaching, and between the chocolate bunnies and colorful egg hunts, it may have snuck up on you. It’s funny how we spend so much time and effort on gifts for Christmas, leaving Easter overshadowed. In truth, Easter is the holiday of unearned gifts when you really think about it.
It’s easy to draw a parallel to God’s gift to mankind when we look at the giving spirit of Christmas. Yet there was still work to be done in that gift’s completion — the work at the cross and the bodily resurrection. We’ve heard the story every year, and if we believe, we come to appreciate that what Jesus did was essential for the salvation of mankind. But why?
The Old Testament often takes a back seat in Bible study, but what it contains are the shortcomings of man that Jesus completed for us. You often hear, “Nothing is free in life,” and sin i s no exception. Paul tells us in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Does Paul mean physical death or spiritual? The answer is both.
Prior to the arrival of Christ, priests would make offerings of sacrifice in atonement for sin and grievances against God. An example of this can be found in Leviticus 1, in which specific instructions are given for sacrifice. In these offerings, an unblemished male animal would be presented at the temple for sacrifice. While this temporary solution worked for Israel throughout the Old Testament, it was hardly a permanent solution for the salvation of mankind.
If the sacrifice is beginning to sound familiar, it’s because God made a promise to bring an end to the need for such things — a perfect sacrifice, a perfect atonement for sin, for those who would receive it. This is summed up in Hebrews 10:12: “But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.” Jesus didn’t come for the sins of many; He came for the sins of all.
This Easter, we remember that His perfect sacrifice is the reason we celebrate at all. God’s plan came to perfect fulfillment so that no matter the trials or seasons of suffering we face, we always have the blessed assurance of eternal life in His presence, where there is no more death, for the former things have passed away.
That’s a gift worth celebrating, a gift worth cherishing — and that’s why I believe Easter should be known as a time of giving as well: giving of spiritual gifts, the kind that last.
