Ash Wednesday: The Countdown To Easter
Bodie Hodge, M.Sc., B.Sc., PEI
Biblical Authority Ministries, February 18, 2026 (Donate)
Introduction: A Season Of Preparation
Four Sundays before Christmas, begins the Advent season.
It’s like a preparation for Christmas, to get our hearts and minds in the right
place. It’s also a countdown.
Easter or Resurrection Sunday also has a time
like this—a countdown and preparation for your hearts and minds. And it begins
with Ash Wednesday. Each year, millions of Christians around the world
begin a holy season marked by ashes, repentance, and a reflection of one’s own
heart.
Like the First Advent Sunday that leads to the
Christmas season and Christmas, Ash Wednesday serves as
the gateway into the Easter season (often called the “Lenten season”
or simply “Lent”) and naturally leads to Easter Sunday—the
celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For some, it is a deeply
meaningful spiritual discipline.
For others, it raises questions about church tradition. What
exactly is Ash Wednesday? Is there a biblical basis for it? When did it
begin? And how can be used—if any—to connect to the message of Christ? Let’s
look closer at Ash Wednesday to help us understand it.
What Is Ash Wednesday?
Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent in
many Christian traditions. It occurs 46 days before Easter, allowing for
40 days of potential fasting when Sundays are excluded. The term
"Lent" comes from an Old English word meaning "spring".
Fasting
Why do some people fast during this time? Some people fast as
a way of imitating Christ’s forty days of fasting in the wilderness (Matthew
4:2) and to prepare their hearts for Easter. Christ commanded us to fast
but also not as a display. God says in Matthew 6:16-18 (NKJV):
“Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the
hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they
may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their
reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that
you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the
secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Fasting is viewed as a self-discipline to focus on
repentance and prayer. For some, voluntarily giving up food or certain
comforts, they hope to set aside worldly things for time and grow spiritually.
For many, it is not about earning favor with God, but about cultivating
humility, and helping to generate a little more self-control, and giving oneself
a taste of Christ’s suffering and sacrifice.
Ash
During some Ash Wednesday services, a person can receive
ashes on their foreheads in the shape of a cross. As the ashes are applied, the
minister commonly says:
"Remember that you are dust,
and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19), or
"Repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15).
Interestingly, the ashes are typically made from burned palm
branches from the previous year’s Palm Sunday observance. Ashes served
as a sign of being humbled low and a time of mourning because of our sinful
actions. In the Old Testament, ashes were a sign of grief, as well as repentance
and mourning:
- Job declared, "Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6, NKJV).
- Daniel prayed with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes (Daniel 9:3).
- The king of Nineveh sat in ashes in response to Jonah’s preaching (Jonah 3:6).
Ashes represented humility before God and recognition of human frailty. Genesis 3:19 reminds mankind that because of sin, we return to dust. Ash Wednesday draws from that imagery.
When Did Christians Begin Observing Ash Wednesday?
Fasting prior to Easter developed very early in
church history.
By the second century, Christians were already practicing
some form of pre-Easter fasting. Early references appear in the writings of
Irenaeus of Lyons, who noted differing lengths of fasting before Easter.[1]
Tertullian, writing in the late second and early third century, also referred
to established fasting practices connected to the Paschal celebration.[2]
The Council of Nicaea in AD 325 referenced a 40-day period
of preparation before Easter, indicating that a structured Lenten season was
widely recognized by that time.
However, the specific practice of placing ashes on the
forehead appears later in Western Christianity—somewhere around the tenth
century. Because of its popularity, in AD 1091, the Council of Benevento helped
standardize the observance of Ash Wednesday in the Western church. So,
from a big picture, while fasting before Easter is ancient, Ash
Wednesday—as currently practiced—developed gradually over several
centuries.
How Is Ash Wednesday Related To Easter?
Ash Wednesday begins the 40-day Lenten journey toward
Easter. The number 40 carries deep biblical significance:
- Forty days of rain during the Flood (Genesis 7).
- Forty years of Israel’s wilderness wandering.
- Forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai.
- Forty days of Jesus fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:2).
Lenten intentionally mirrors Christ’s 40-day fast
before His public ministry. It is meant to be a time of spiritual preparation
through repentance, prayer, and of course, self-examination.
Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
which stands at the center of Christian faith. Paul writes,
“For I delivered to you first of
all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day
according to the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3–4, NKJV).
Without the death and resurrection, Christianity collapses. Without
it, there is no victory over sin and death.
Ash Wednesday is supposed to function as the
beginning of a spiritual countdown. It is meant to remind believers of human
mortality and sin, while Easter proclaims the resurrection of Christ and
eternal life and hope. The Lenten season culminates in Holy Week:
- Palm Sunday
- Maundy Thursday
- Good Friday
- Easter
Sunday
Do All Protestants Celebrate Lent?
No. The answer varies by traditions in local denominations. Some
Protestant groups retain and observe Ash Wednesday and Lent.
These include many Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, and some Reformed
congregations. For them, Lenten serves as a time to point believers
toward the cross and resurrection.
In specific liturgical traditions such as Anglican and
Lutheran churches, Lent is still a common and structured season within their respective
church calendars—they tend to have a heavier focus that other Protestants.
Besides the Protestants, the other 3 division throughout Church
History—the Oriental Church, Roman Church, and Eastern Orthodox all celebrate Lent
as well—showing how early season was in church history.
Other Protestant traditions, particularly many Baptist and modern
evangelical churches, do not formally observe the Lenten season. This hesitation often arises from concerns about practices not explicitly commanded
in Scripture.
Baptists rightly point out that Christ’s sacrifice was once for
all (Hebrews 10:10–14). Then they caution against ritual observances that might
be mistaken as works that overshadow the sufficiency of the gospel. The same
could be said of Advent season and its traditions and naturally, there
are some local Protestant churches that avoid that as well.
Even so, most Protestant churches focus heavily on Christ’s
death and resurrection in the weeks leading up to Easter, even if they
do not formally observe the Lenten season.
Conclusion: Tradition and the Gospel
Like the First Advent Sunday, Ash Wednesday is
not commanded in Scripture, nor was it instituted by the apostles. It developed
historically within the life of the church utilizing the freedom and liberty
Christ gives to develop new holidays—we are, after all, made in the image of holiday-making
God.
The themes of this holiday like repentance, humility, and
recognition of mortality are undeniably biblical. Scripture does not command
Christians to observe Ash Wednesday. There is no apostolic instruction
requiring an annual day of ashes or the observance of the Lenten season.
However, the symbolism of ashes is clearly biblical.
While the practice itself is not commanded, its themes come
from the Bible. Whether you or your local church want to celebrate Ash
Wednesday and the Lenten season is entirely a freedom God gives to
you.
For those who observe it, Ash Wednesday is a solemn
reminder that man is fallen and in need of redemption and salvation. And Ash
Wednesday and Lenten season points to Easter when Christ made a way of
redemption and salvation to rescue fallen man.
For those who do not celebrate it, the central truth remains
unchanged: Christ died and rose again.
Bodie Hodge, Ken
Ham's son in law, has been an apologist since 1998 helping out in various
churches and running an apologetics website. He spent 21 years working at Answers
in Genesis as a speaker, writer, and researcher as well as a founding
news anchor for Answers News. He was also head of the Oversight
Council.
Bodie
launched Biblical Authority Ministries in 2015 as a personal
website and it was organized officially in 2025 as a 501(c)(3). He has spoken
on multiple continents and hosts of US states in churches, colleges, and
universities. He is married with four children.
Mr. Hodge earned a
Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Southern Illinois University at
Carbondale (SIUC). Then he taught at SIUC for a couple of years as a
Visiting Instructor teaching all levels of undergraduate engineering and
running a materials lab and a CAD lab. He did research on advanced ceramic
materials to develop a new method of production of titanium diboride with a
grant from Lockheed Martin. He worked as a Test Engineer for Caterpillar,
Inc., prior to entering full-time ministry.
His love of science
was coupled with a love of history, philosophy, and theology. For about one
year of his life, Bodie was editing and updating a theological, historical, and
scientific dictionary/encyclopedia for AI use and training. Mr. Hodge has over
25 years of experience in writing, speaking and researching in these fields.
[1] Eusebius
of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 5.24.12–14; See the discussion where
Eusebius quotes a letter written by Irenaeus to Victor, bishop of Rome over the
timing and fasting of Passover/Easter celebration (Pascha).
[2] Tertullian,
On Fasting (De Jejuniis), chapters 1–2 and 13–14; see also Tertullian, On
Prayer (De Oratione), chapter 18.
