The Cups, The Cross, and the Lamb

Did you know that historians and a study of calendars have helped us narrow down possible dates for the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Many agree that the actual date for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was April 3, 33 A.D., while the resurrection was April 5, 2026. This aligns the dates of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday 2026 with a mere 1,993 years between the actual events and our observances this year.

Neat, huh, particularly for history buffs and nerds.

But far from history or a point on a calendar, the events of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday are full of meaning for us today. Jesus is still changing lives, still making the powerful uncomfortable, and still breathing life into dead places.

I, for one, am thankful.

Before we deal with the significance of what Jesus did - and there is far too much to write about in one setting - let's address the oversized bunny in the room: what do Easter bunnies and egg hunts have to do with Easter, are they pagan, and should we even participate?

A quick search using AI and Copilot renders this: "The Easter Bunny and egg hunts have both pagan and Christian roots, and their origins are a mix of ancient fertility symbolism, medieval Christian practice, and 19th‑century European folklore."

There you have it - either and both. There is enough evidence to make you feel guilty for hiding those plastic eggs in the grass or to relieve you for your years of planting candy and money filled eggs for your kids to find. At our church, we have mowed over unfound eggs for years. It is a rite of spring and summer.

I found this information from Church historian and bible professor Dr. Ryan Reeves, who is really smart about the Protestant reformation, early modern Europe, and historical theology.

Reeves' research was the basis of a 2025 article by Brandon Cannon: "According to Reeves, the use of eggs during Easter has Christian roots in many cultures. During the Lenten season (the 40 days leading up to Easter), Christians would traditionally abstain from animal products, including eggs. Once Easter Sunday arrived, people would celebrate the resurrection by breaking the fast—which often meant enjoying eggs. Over time, the egg became a symbol of the resurrection: a sealed shell representing the tomb, and life emerging from it symbolizing Christ’s victory over death. The tradition of decorating eggs likely grew out of this symbolic connection." Is Easter Egg Hunting Pagan? What History Really Tells Us

So, we are good to go with those Easter egg hunts. I happily received an Easter basket from mom

Sunday after our pancake breakfast and Resurrection service at church, and I will happily eat the chocolate bunny, sea salt kettle corn, and Peeps. It is a matter of conscience for each follower of Jesus to answer for his or her own self and family. But as for me, this does not overshadow the true reason we sit with the meaning of the Easter season.

Therefore, let's move on to the issue that is more significant than eggs, in my view - is there any significance to the timing of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? We have already dealt with the most significant issue about Easter in earlier articles, which addresses forgiveness, salvation, redemption, restoration - and everlasting life!

Before the resurrection, there was the crucifixion and death, and before the crucifixion and death, there was the Passover Supper.

Matthew 26:17-19, NLT

"On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to prepare the Passover meal for you?" "As you go into the city," he told them, "you will see a certain man. Tell him, 'The Teacher says: My time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.'" So the disciples did as Jesus told them and prepared the Passover meal there."

Jesus had come to Jerusalem because it was time. It was time for Him to fulfill his true mission that would be the cross. As part of this, Jesus would be in Jerusalem at the time of Passover. As a Jew who was faithful to God and to God's commands, Jesus would definitely be keeping Passover with His disciples.

The timing is significant as is the way in which Jesus reaches back into Old Testament Egypt and connects that first Passover with Himself!

The first Passover meal was to celebrate how God delivered His people from captivity in Egypt. You can read about this in Exodus 12.

Exodus 12:1-3, NLT

"While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the LORD gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: "From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household."

Exodus 12:6-7, NLT

"Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. [7] They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal."

Exodus 12:11-14. NLT

"These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the LORD's Passover. On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD! But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt."

"This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the LORD. This is a law for all time."

God told Moses to tell the people to dip a hyssop branch into the lamb’s blood and apply it to the doorpost of their homes.  This was all done hastily, perhaps one slap up, and one on either side (try the motion for yourself).  The death angel passed over these homes.

The motion resembles the cross. And even if the blood was applied in a more methodical fashion, the blood of the lamb is what signaled that those under the protection of the blood were safe and set apart for God. Death would not touch them.

John 1:29, NLT

"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'

1 Peter 1:18-20, NLT

"For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake."

The blood of God’s Lamb, Jesus, is our protection.

Jesus was crucified on the day the sacrificial lambs were slaughtered in Jerusalem for Passover. And this is not coincidence. Crucifixion meant agony for days for someone on a cross. It was meant to be painful, horrible, and a witness to dissuade people from criminal activity. Yet, Jesus died relatively soon. In fact, a careful reading of the text indicates that Jesus did not have his life ripped from Him; Jesus gave up His spirit in His timing, before the Sabbath began.

Matthew 27:45-46,50, NLT

"At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. [46] At about three o'clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" which means "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?" ... Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit."

Besides the timing of His death, there is more in the timing that connects Jesus to the Passover. By the way, why is this important? Because it points to the intentional work of God in offering people a way to be redeemed and restored to Him, a relationship originally broken in the garden of Eden and which we continue to break today through our own love of sin.

Let's look at the Passover Supper text.

Matthew 26:20,26, NLT

"When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table with the Twelve ... As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take this and eat it, for this is my body."

Part of the Passover tradition is to break the unleavened Matzo. We break it into one larger portion and one smaller portion. The smaller portion reminds us of the poverty of captivity; the larger portion reminds us of the affluence of freedom.

When Jesus says, "take this and eat it, for this is my body," He is saying that He is the door to freedom. He is the way to the affluence of freedom from captivity - particularly spiritually.

John 10:10, NLT

"The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life."

John 14:6, NLT

"Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."

Next, we come to the cup. During a Passover Supper, there are four cups of wine. There is a lot of wine! Why? Because wine represents joy, abundance, and the overflow of God's blessing! (Don't worry. This can be diluted with water or grape juice - the "fruit of the vine" - can be used!)

First Cup: Sanctification, as God promises to bring His people out of captivity.

Second Cup: Deliverance, as God brings His people out.

Third Cup: Redemption, as God saves His people with His "outstretched arm."

Fourth Cup: Praise, as God takes His people as His own.

Matthew 26:27-28, NLT

"And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, "Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice to forgive the sins of many."

The third cup is the cup of redemption.  It is believed that the cup that Jesus passed to His disciples for the Lord’s Supper is the third cup – telling us that His blood is our redemption. God has delivered us through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

There is one more interesting part to the Passover Supper with Jesus that night. It is the cup that He did not drink. Many read the words of the gospel accounts of the Passover with Jesus and based on an understanding of the four cups, they interpret this as meaning that Jesus did not drink the fourth cup.

Matthew 26:29, NLT

"Mark my words-I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom."

Could it be that Jesus is referring to the feast that He will share with his resurrected people in heaven?

Revelation 19:6-9, NLT

"Then I heard again what sounded like the shout of a vast crowd or the roar of mighty ocean waves or the crash of loud thunder: "Praise the LORD! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear." For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God's holy people. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb." And he added, "These are true words that come from God."

Scripture refers to Jesus as the bridegroom and to the redeemed and saved Church as His Bride. As a new believer, I found this to be creepy. I now know how beautiful it is. The idea of a wedding and a wedding feast is a metaphor for the close union we have with Christ as His people - we are united with Christ and Christ is united with us in a covenant of love, faithfulness, and commitment.

There is one more thing about the significance of the timing of the Easter events - and this relates to the resurrection of Jesus.

Jesus rose on the Feast of the First Fruits. This feast is observed on the day after the Sabbath following the Passover. Passover was Friday. Sabbath was Saturday. Sunday was First Fruits. Jesus rose on Sunday.

1 Corinthians 15:20-23, NLT

"But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back."

Jesus is the first fruit because his resurrection is the first of all the believers who die as followers of Jesus.

The connection between the Passover and Jesus as our redeemer, salvation, and source of eternal life is amazing!

Timing is everything.

Are you under the protection of the blood of Jesus? If so, you are safe and set apart for God. Death will not keep you captive.

John 11:25-26, NLT

"Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?"

Do you believe?