The Meaning of Easter to Christians
Easter is also referred to as Resurrection Day or Resurrection Sunday by Christians. This is because Resurrection Day better explains the true reason Easter is celebrated by Christians. It is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is a foundational truth to Christianity. The resurrection of Jesus Christ has deep meaning to Christians.
Death has no mastery over Jesus Christ
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him” (Romans 6:8-9, NIV). People can fear death because of the uncertainty of what is to come. Christians no longer fear death because Jesus Christ conquered death once and for all through His death on the cross and resurrection. “I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (Revelation 1:18, NIV).
Christians are dead to sin through Jesus Christ
“The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:10-11, NIV). We are all sinful in nature but Jesus Christ is the One who can unlock and free us from our destiny to bondage with Satan. Jesus Christ was sinless in nature yet took on the sin of mankind. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NIV). Although Christians still sin, they can be free from the stronghold of sin through repentance.
Eternal life through Jesus Christ
“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 7:23, NIV). The ultimate celebration of Christ’s resurrection is the gift of eternal life that Christians are given. The apostle Paul described living in this world as Christ but dying as even better because of the freedom from the troubles in this world and eternal life in heaven (Philippians 1:21). As Christians are given the gift of eternal life, they are free to live life fully in a Christ-centered way.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16, NIV). Jesus bore the sins of mankind through the cross in order for those who believe in Jesus Christ to be dead to sin and alive through Him. Christians can live life to the fullest knowing there is nothing to fear from death. Christians celebrate Easter, or Resurrection Sunday, because the resurrection of Jesus Christ has given them eternal life in heaven after death on this earth.
