I know it's Easter time again,
I feel it in the air.
The breath of spring with woodsy tang,
And new life everywhere.
And spring glides on with magic touch
O'er mountain side and glen;
And wakens all the sleeping plants
For Easter time again.

The brooklets leap from rock to rock,
As if in joyful play;
The flowers peep from darkened tombs
To welcome Easter Day.
The birds are swinging on the boughs,
And trill in ecstasy;
They seem to show the world's great joy
Of Easter mystery.

Why should we dread the thing called death?
It's just an open door,
Where all within is love and peace
And joy forever more.
"Because I live, you too shall live,"
We hear the Savior say.
Let's consecrate our lives anew,
On this glad Easter Day. 

–  Edna Reed

Passover

One cannot separate Easter from Passover. Jesus was in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. The "Last Supper" was a Passover meal. The crucifixion of Jesus occurred the day after the Passover meal and the resurrection on the Sunday following the Passover meal. At the time of Jesus so many Jews came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover that only the ritual slaughter of lambs took place in the Temple courts. Then blood was sprinkled on the altar, and the meal was celebrated in each devout Jew's home or hired lodging.

The Passover is a spring festival of freedom, celebrated by Jews for seven or eight days (the length of the celebration differs today if Orthodox or Reformed). It commemorates the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. The Feast of Passover signifies redemption. The first and last days are considered full festival on which work is prohibited, while on the intermediate days work is permitted. The Hebrew name for the festival is Pesakh. This refers to the paschal lamb, offered as a sacrifice on the eve of the feast (14th Day of Nisan). The lamb was then eaten in family groups after having been roasted whole. The price that was paid to purchase the Hebrew people out of Egypt (redeem them) was a yearling lamb for each family.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is observed as part of Passover Week. All leaven is prohibited throughout the entire festival. All bread that is eaten during that time must be unleavened (Exodus 12:15). The Feast of Unleavened Bread reminds mankind of the need to live a life without sin. In the Bible, leaven or chometz is representative of sin. Inasmuch as chometz causes the bread to be puffed up, so sin causes a man to have an inflated ego.

Numerous biblical passages set out the observance and laws of Passover. It was a festival to be observed "throughout your generations" (Exodus 12:15) As a reminder that the Lord passed over the houses of the children of Israel (Exodus 12:27) and spared their eldest sons on the eve of Passover, when the firstborn of the Egyptians were slain, the 14th of Nisan is observed as a fast day for the firstborn sons of Jewish families.

Sources: The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, William Gentz | The Bible Almanac, White
| Easter a Pictorial Pilgrimage - Pierre Benoit |

Easter Quotations

Resurrection Living

We believe and teach that Christ, in the same flesh in which he died, rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God in the highest heaven.

       — HENRY BULLINGER, The Helvetic Confession

He who does not himself remember that God redeemed him from sin and death by the life and passion of Jesus of Nazareth ceases to be a Christian.  

PAUL RAMSEY, Nine Modern Moralists