What does a rabbit have to do with Jesus, why are eggs involved, and why did Jesus have to die?”
There are many traditions as to how “Easter” gets its name. Ishtar (Easter) is the Babylonian queen of heaven. She is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex.
Astarte (Easter) is the Syrian sun goddess, known as the queen of heaven. According to legend, she allegedly laid a golden egg which became the sun.
There is also a pagan tradition concerning a bird who wanted to be a rabbit. The goddess Oestre (Easter) turned the bird into a rabbit. According to legend, this rabbit could still lay eggs. From this, the egg became a symbol of the start of new life, rebirth, and fertility. A rabbit became a symbol of fertility and new life.
What does any of this nonsense have to do with Jesus? Absolutely Nothing!!!
One small problem, the early Christian church joined the fun and adopted the egg as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus. This has done nothing but add to the confusion to the point and purpose of Jesus’ death.
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Why did Jesus have to die? This point is specific and clear according to the Bible. At this time, I will let the Bible speak for itself.
1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…
Hebrews 9:26b …but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
1 Peter 2:24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
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Some would say the idea of a “resurrection” is only noted in the New Testament. Resurrection is not a New Testament only concept. There are many examples of the idea of resurrection in the Old Testament.
Resurrection events are promised and noted from the arguably the oldest book of the Bible, Job, to the end of the Bible in the Book of Revelation. We will all be resurrected one way or another. At issue is the eternal destination of our individual resurrected body.
Job 14:13-15 “Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, that You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, that You would set a limit for me and remember me! If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait until my change comes. You will call, and I will answer You; You will long for the work of Your hands.”
Job is aware of the concept of resurrection and being brought back to life. He is pleading with God. Will I live again? Job expresses awareness of his bodily change to come. Job knows that God will call before this change.
Job 19:25-27a “As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see and not another. My heart faints within me!”
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Just in case anyone is wondering, the message of a sacrificial death for sin rings loud and clear in the Old Testament in Isaiah. Look at the detail of these verses. This was written approximately 700 years before Christ. It reads as a narrative of the events along with the accounts in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Isaiah 53:3-12 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.
See also Psalm 22
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