Do you remember your birthday?

How many of you actually remember what day your birthday is on? I’m going to guess everyone does. Mine happens to fall on March the 8th and for that reason March 8 is always significant in my life. Now as I’m sure you are aware March 8th doesn’t fall on the same day every year. Sometimes it’s a Monday, as it was this year, or sometimes it’s a Thursday, or a Saturday, or it could fall on another day of the week. Oh, and just in case you have begun planning ahead next year March 8th falls on a Tuesday; mark your calendars!

Similarly this Monday, March 29th at sundown marks the historical significance of a time that I would imagine might also be quite meaningful to most of us that have chosen to call themselves Christian, provided we know about it. For you see, just like your birthday the date itself never changes, yet your birthday may fall on a different day from year to year so to then the time of the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and Savior occurs during a specific time period, yet never actually falls on the same day from year to year.

If you aren’t aware Passover begins this coming Monday at sundown which, according to Hebrew reckoning, is really the 14th day of the month of Nisan. If you’ll recall, from the instructions given to the Hebrew people by God in the book of Exodus chapter 12 the Hebrew people where to set aside a one year-old male lamb, without spot or blemish, on the 10th day of the first month (Ex 12:3-5). On the 14th day of the month that lamb was to be slain and its blood placed upon both the upper and side door posts of the house (Ex. 12:6-7). This was to be done as an act of faith to remind the Hebrews of the protection that the blood of the slain lamb would offer from the visitation of the angel of death.

The symbolism of Exodus chapter 12 is still very much with us to this day and that is why Monday, March 29th at sundown should actually be quite significant for you, the Christian. For just like your birthday, it marks the time when Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior; the Lamb of God slain before the world was first created, was crushed by the tremendous weight of sin in the Garden of Gethsemane, so much so that He actually began to sweat drops of blood. He was then arrested, tried in a sham trial, and shamefully handled mistreated, beaten, bruised and subsequently crucified - all to bring mankind into full reconciliation with God the Father.

Thus just before sundown on March 30th which would mark the beginning of the 15th day of Nisan we are privy to remembering our Savior’s on the cross and His last plea to His Father when He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” We can remember His last gasping breath, “It is finished.” We can remember this was the eve of the Sabbath where pious and holy men were able to kill the Son of God (this doesn’t mean you’re off the hook) and rush home in time to honor the Sabbath day.

This means then that the actual anniversary date that Jesus Christ rose from the tomb, thus holding captivity captive; so that we too could have that blessed hope and faith of being resurrected from the dead and into a new life with Christ will fall on Thursday, April 1st, for He rested in the tomb on what would have been Nisan 16 or this year the 31st of March. So when you awake next Thursday morning remember the truly awesome significance of the day. For it is the anniversary when Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James came to the tomb of Christ to finish anointing Him with the spices they had prepared only to find that the stone covering the sepulcher had been rolled away and two men in shining garments asking the women, “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again”

Let us prayerfully remember the events of that Passover so long ago when our Lord and Savior, through His death on the cross, sought to bring mankind into greater understanding of the love of our Heavenly Father and the great expense He chose to pay.

If you would like a deeper, fascinating description of, and look into the events surrounding the crucifixion of our Lord I invite you to read chapters 74 to 83 in the book, The Desire of Ages by Ellen G. White.

God Bless.