Sabotaging Marriage

Words matter.  

In the Affordable Care Act Supreme Court decision of last week, Justice Scalia bemoaned that “words no longer have meaning” -  a declaration that could just as well be ascribed to their June 26th landmark decision to federally mandate the legal validity of same-sex “marriage” across all fifty states.  

Maybe the meaninglessness of words all began with the redefinition of "is."  President Clinton adeptly dissected this seemingly insignificant two-letter word enough to manipulate the truth, which by his skillful dance, proved true without being truthful. Remember that infamous quote:  

“It depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is. If the ? if he ?if "is" means is and never has been, that is not--- that is one thing.If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement.”  [1]

Or perhaps it began with the hijacking of the rainbow.  You know the one that God set in the sky to signify his covenant between Himself and every living creature upon the earth that the waters shall no more destroy all flesh, the colors of which now mockingly fly in the face of God in a pseudo-victory dance for two more hijacked words: gay liberty?  The same colors which ironically danced across the waters of Niagara Falls, excited little children at the Disney World castle and flagrantly bathed the United States White House?  Those who ascribe America’s liberty to the Judeo-Christian God might think this prismatic flag upon our nation’s house akin to Antiochus Epiphanes' erection of Zeus' statue in the Jewish Temple. 

This redefinition of marriage didn't happen overnight, as it never does in matters of social change. Why Hitler knew how:  "He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.”  The LGBT and now Q movement - Q added to include those ‘questioning’ or ‘queer’ which I guess is no longer a demeaning term -  found an influential friend in the media - a way to "own the youth," a convenient vehicle of change in the desensitization (or indoctrination) of a generation. And it has worked. Confuse the meaning of words, then affirm them through images. Intimidate the opposition as judgmental, intolerant, haters…who are out of step with the majority. One could determine from media lingo several seasons prior to cultural acceptance the way the political wind was blowing - a lesson for those of us who thought Disney safe viewing.  

And don’t think the Supreme Court’s decision is really about granting marriage equality to same-sex couples.  This decision redefines a sacred covenant.  Marriage across time and cultures has been recognized as the union of a man and a woman.  Our country’s interpretation of marriage stemmed from its foundation in Judeo-Christian values, whose foundation has been called into question by the media for some time. We might say God himself officiated at the first legitimate marriage, when Adam recited his vow that the woman was now “bone of his bones, and flesh of my flesh,” and God authorized “…man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they shall be one flesh.”  Affected by sin but never condoned by God, marital relationships degraded to the many stories and tremendous consequences we read of in the scriptures: Abraham and his concubine, David and adultery, Solomon and his many wives.  Desensitized to sin while justifying themselves, Jesus’s generation asked, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause…[because if not,] why did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?”  Jesus straight away equates all sinful acts with a hardness of heart and reinforces the marriage covenant of Genesis 3:24, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”  Marriage is thus defined in the Old Testament as an act of God joining a man and a woman, and was upheld by Jesus in the New - not expanded to include society's new mores on love and commitment or the resultant acquisition of government benefits - making this legislation not about equality at all but about hijacking a sacred covenant and its intent.

New York's Governor Cuomo aptly spelled it out in his remarks while officiating at a same-sex wedding the day of the Supreme Court decision.  

“Today we treat people, equally. And that really is the fundamental promise of this country.  And that’s what this issue is all about.  ‘Marriage equality’ we called it.  I used to say it was more about the second word - ‘equality’ - than the first word.  It was less about marriage, more about equality. Marriage is an individual choice.  I’m not married.  Equality, equality is not a choice. Equality is a promise.  And this was about equality.  And this was the rallying point - and really, the crucible where the LGBT community said to this nation, ‘I want to be treated equally in every way.’  Marriage became the proxy for that.  Then we started to talk about civil unions if you remember.  Civil unions actually advanced the entire dialogue because what civil union actually said was, ‘we will give LGBT couples all the legal rights, but we won’t call it ‘marriage.’  That actually sharpened the debate and inflamed the debate because then the gay community said, ‘no that’s not what I want.  I want it to be ‘CALLED MARRIAGE.’” [2]

Marriage itself is not about equality. If it were about equality, then homo-sexual relationships - not marriage - would be more “equal” than hetero- by its true definition:  likeness, evenness, uniformity, sameness (Webster’s first dictionary of 1806).  I think we might all agree there is no uniformity in the true physical union of a man and woman - were it so, there would be no need for government for there would be no society to govern. Therefore, if equality were what the homosexual community truly wanted, they’d be overjoyed with equality in the eyes of the law, in the form of Cuomo’s proffered “civil” unions which could remedy all inequities through the Constitutional legislative process.  But it is not equality they want, it is a redefinition of, a coup on, the sacred definition of marriage. Marriage is a term of no value unless we understand its context.  As Scalia also remarked in the Affordable Care Act decision, “Context [of isolated words and sections of a law] always matters. Let us not forget, however, why context matters: It is a tool for understanding the terms of the law, not an excuse for rewriting them.” [3] 

Marriage’s context comes from the original lawgiver - God himself, not man’s interpretation thereof and thus to define it any other way than its intent is to violate the term, or if I might borrow a new word I learned from Scalia’s dissent to Justice Roberts’ majority opinion, “interpretive jiggery-pockery.”  

Christians do not hate homosexuals.  Let me make that very clear.  Christians absolutely believe in the dignity of man - all men - for man was created in the very image of God.  Because man has a Creator, our Constitution - our rights - have a context set forth in the Declaration of Independence.  These self-evident God-given rights (among these, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) enacted into our constitution transcend man’s law in the confines of the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” recognizing, as the signers did in the last paragraph of the Declaration, that there is indeed a “Supreme Judge of the world,” who knows the intents of our hearts and to which we all must give an account. This God-given tension of freedom and responsibility makes America exceptional and threatens the hungry giant of an overreaching government by making it accountable both to the people and ultimately to God, who no doubt remembers his definition of marriage.  


Yes, the context of words matter and all the manipulation of words to dance around issues; to indoctrinate a culture; to confuse the masses; to call evil, good and good, evil; didn’t begin with President Clinton, or even the hijacking of the rainbow - it began in a garden when the great deceiver of old questioned, “did God really say?”  

[1] http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/762240.html

[2] https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/video-transcript-governor-cuomo-celebrates-pride2015

[3] King vs. Burwell, Justice Scalia, dissenting, II, p 3. 

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-114_qol1.pdf 

Scriptures referenced: Genesis 9:11-16; 2:23-24; 3:24

  

The Eternal Weight of Glory

"We do not lose heart.  Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."  2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

Sitting on my desk is this aptly framed treasure written by my mom almost 40 years ago.  

Take an Oak of some 100 years growth. 

How was that Oak born?  IN A GRAVE.

The acorn was planted in the ground; a grave was made for it that the acorn might die.  It died and disappeared, casting its roots downward and shoots upward, and now that tree has been standing a hundred years.   

Where is it standing?  IN ITS OWN GRAVE. 

All the time, in the very grave where the acorn died, it has stood there stretching its roots deeper and deeper into that earth in which its grave was made, and yet, all the time, though it stood in the very grave where it had died, it had been growing higher, and stronger, and broader, and more beautiful.  All the fruit it ever bore, all the foliage that adorned it year by year, it owed to that grave in which its roots are cast and kept. 

Even so, Christ owed everything to his death and his grave.  And we, too, owe everything to that grave of Jesus. 

Oh, let us live every day rooted in the death of Jesus.  To my own will, will I die; to human wisdom and strength and to the world, will I die.  For it is in the grave of my Lord that his life has its beginning, its strength, and its glory. 

CHRIST IS THE ACORN THAT WENT DOWN INTO THE GRAVE. 

And waited for his father, trusting in him to give him new life.  His roots bore fruitful branches and, in death, was his true life...to go back to the Father so that we could copy him and do the same.  God gave him life back 10,000 times more glorious than his life or ours on earth.  Jesus was born twice, the first time in Bethlehem, a life born into weakness, and the second time, from the Grave.  He is the "firstborn" from the Grave. 

Copyright Mary Blanchette 1977

Death is Swallowed Up in Victory

Jesus wept as I now weep.

My witty and winsome mom, my sister-in-Christ, my spiritual mentor whose biblical insight prompted this blog for purposes of online study with my sister, is now ever-present with the Lord who called her home on June 5th in the year of our Lord 2015. My life will never be the same.  And certainly would not have been the same had she not known the giver of life himself and thus made him known to me and so many, including the one last soul the Lord placed in her path. Could this have been you?

Through my tears,

I rejoice that she has passed from death to life, cloudy vision to clear, mourning to joy; that her body no longer bears the ravages of mortality, but has put on immortality; that she now beholds the lover of her soul - her true beloved - face to face. 

I trust that I shall see her once again, for I know that my Redeemer lives!

Yet Jesus wept as I now weep.

Though imminently he would raise his friend Lazarus from the dead, Jesus - moved with compassion - wept.  The Lion of the Tribe of Judah roared at the enemy.  The Faithful Shepherd rescued his sheep.  The Lamb of God sacrificed himself and the earth shook in its grief.  Death...is always painful.  Sometimes in the very act itself, but always in the separation from the living, death is painful.  Death is the very sting of sin - like the pungent sting of the onion for which this blog was named, so is the heart-wrenching sting of sin upon our mortal beings, upon our relationships to God, man, and our world. It is, and we would all do well to consider, the ever present reminder of the end-result of sin, the ever-present truth that death awaits us all as Solomon notes, "No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death" Ecclesiastes 8:8.

However, there is one who has power over death, there is one who is a life-giving spirit.  That same Jesus who wept,  who raised Lazarus from the grave,  conquered death by his own death, giving victory to all who are in him by his own resurrection.  Philippians 2:7-10 states that Christ, "though in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men [Adam].  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Paul makes clear that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself" and that "Christ (the last Adam) became a quickening spirit." (2 Cor. 5:19, 1 Cor. 15:45).

Like Paul, we can proclaim then, "O Death, where is your victory?"

"For if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.  But NOW IS Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept.  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. 15:17-22.

"Death is swallowed up in victory," and *we can stop weeping,  for the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome....and I saw between throne and the elders...a Lamb standing, as if slain. 

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servant. Ps. 116:15

*paraphrased from Revelation 5:5-6.

Master Manipulator or Sovereign God

I pray that my previous post on Passover shed light on the enormous message of this feast, and this just one of seven instituted by God under the Mosaic covenant to point the way to the seed, the Messiah who would reconcile a people to himself.

Some say this Messiah Jesus was a master manipulator who self-fulfilled prophecies to gain worship. I guess this may be true.  But only if you believe Jesus capable of crafting His life to satisfy every detailed type and all the searing demands of the written Torah as He did.  And if you believe that, than you must believe Him to be the son of God, who, reaching across generations of time, came in the flesh to satisfy what was ordained of the Spirit, for who else could orchestrate all we have seen from Genesis 3:15 to Revelation 1:17-18 but for a sovereign God, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, who created all things through Him [John 1:1-4].

You see, Jesus the man may have arranged a colt to satisfy the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9 and ridden through the Eastern gate to satisfy Ezekiel 43:1 and 4, but how did He arrange for the Eastern gate to be shut even to this our generation to satisfy Ezekiel 44:1-3?  During Turk rule, Suleiman rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, yet sealed the Eastern Gate, planting a Muslim cemetery in front of it in hopes of preventing fulfillment of the Jewish Messiah entering thereby - Suleiman, like his Jewish informers, not understanding that the Messiah had already entered [Visiting the Temple Mount].  

Jesus may have interpreted the Passover seder his own way to fulfill Jeremiah 31:31; He may have irritated the high priest and the Roman authorities enough to provoke the death penalty; He may have attracted weak, namby-pamby, followers who would hail Him as king; He may have pre-arranged thieves to steal his body away in the night and fake a resurrection,

but

how did He arrange to be born in Bethlehem in the very fields where the sacrificial lambs of the temple were reared?  How did he arrange for a census at birthing time that would require His Nazarene parents to trek to Bethlehem to fulfill Micah 5:2?  How did He arrange to be born into the Roman period where His crucifixion would be a perfect death matching the descriptions of Isaiah 50:6, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Psalm 34:20, or Psalm 69:21?  How did he manage to encourage the Pharisees, High Priest, and the Sadducees to break their own laws to bring him to a secret trial [wikianswers.com]?  How did He put the prophetic words “I find no fault” to conclude the examination of the unblemished lamb into Herod and Pilate’s pronouncement? [John 19:6, Luke 23:13-15].  How did He motivate the Pharisees, the High Priest, the Sadducees, the lawyers, Herod, and Pilate to actually overcome their rivalries and collude to the death of one innocent man?  With how many pieces of silver did He coerce Judas to hang himself and the remaining disciples to convert from cowards to courageous leaders such that His words were fulfilled [John 17:12] “None of them is lost except the son of perdition?” How was He certain Pilate would consent to Joseph of Arimathea’s request to accord the body a proper burial, satisfying Isaiah 53:9?  What giant did He induce to tear the 60 foot curtain [War of the Jews, Book V, Ch 1, Paragraph 2] separating the Holy of Holies (into which only the High Priest could enter) from top to bottom? How did He arrange the earthquake that occurred at his time of death [Thallus, AD 52]?  

I like the counter conclusion of the website Good News Dispatch regarding the probabilities one man could satisfy 8 of 300 prophecies:  "With Christ fulfilling all eight prophecies, what are the odds the prophets were just guessing?"

As I continue to study the Feasts, I hope that you will put to scrutiny the word of God, and share what you too may be learning, including correcting any errors I may inadvertently share.  I want to hold fast to the truth, not propagate my own deadly doctrines! 

What's the Real Question?

Television played host to documentaries during Passover week regarding the events in Egypt.  Most try to explain away in scientific possibilities the events, such as the epidemiologist Dr. John Marr who feels the ten plagues began with the natural event of a red algae bloom - the algae turned the water blood red, setting off a chain of natural events ending with the contamination of the grain which the “firstborn” sons were responsible for acquiring from the granaries.  None of this is unusual - the fact that the world will always try to explain away God’s sovereign creation and  intervention in man’s existence - it happens each time the word is preached, beginning with “Did God really say?”  

Psalm 19:1-4 ESV
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.  Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.  There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.  Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Psalm 33:6-11 ESV
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.  He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; He puts the deeps in storehouses.  Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him!  For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded and it stood firm.  The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He frustrates the plans of the peoples.  The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.

All that we see then testifies that God speaks.  Who would argue that stars in the night sky are an unnatural event, the rising and setting of the sun an unexpected daily occurrence, the moon reflecting the sun’s light a shock?  None.  Yet these two Psalms (among many) indicate that the sky's very natural state alone proclaims God’s handiwork and demonstrates the hand of the Lord directing everything after the counsel of His will.  

It’s a classic case of “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” Whether the plagues were natural events or not, what the documentaries miss is the point. The point that God purposed the redemption of His people from sin - separating out the lineage that would bring forth the seed of this Redeemer (the Messiah); revealing in the finest details the pattern to Moses that would clearly identify the seed; separating out a people who would repeat this pattern as a testimony throughout every generation; revealing through Isaac, Joseph, David, etc., etc., characteristics of this Messiah; calling out prophets who would bear witness to this Messiah; calling out a people from all nations, tribes and tongues who would hear and who would see the Word who became flesh, the fulfillment of all that was patterned, who dwelt among us to redeem us, and who now lives in us.

So did God really say?  That’s the real question.

Passover and the Lamb of God

It has been some time since my last post, yet again, I find the timing is so amazingly appropriate as we celebrate the first of the Spring Feasts, Passover.  Most outside the Jewish faith know that Passover at least involves a special dinner called a seder and, once upon a time, a sacrificial lamb. Again I am reminded of the obscure verse in Zephaniah 1:7 “Be silent in the presence of the Lord; for the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.” 1 Corinthians 5:7 proclaims Christ to be the sacrificial Passover lamb.  John the Baptist in the spirit of Elijah, claims Jesus to be "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  John 1:29

Of course, these claims ignite enormous controversy today just as it did in Jesus’ time: John 7:12, “There was much muttering about him among the people:  While some said, ‘He is a good man,’ others said, ‘No, He is leading the people astray.’”  This is certain, one cannot sit on the sidelines.  Meeting Jesus demands a response, much in the same way Jesus queried his disciples, “Who do men say that I, the son of man, am?” then zeroed in on their personal response, “but who do you say that I am?” [Matt 16:13]  Ultimately to the Jew, whether Jesus is the sacrificial Passover lamb or, to the Gentile, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is accepted by faith, yet an honest inquiry into the feasts witnesses their fulfillment in Christ, history confirms His mission and existence, and testimonies speak of changed lives, making “faith the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” [Heb. 11:1]

The first Passover, approximately 3,000 years ago, eternalizes that incredibly eerie, agonizing night where ALL firstborn, man or beast, in Egypt died at the hands of the angel of death (sent by God), and the gods of Egypt were judged [Ex. 12:12].  It was the last plague let loose on the hardhearted Egyptian Pharaoh to liberate God’s people, to separate them out [Ex. 11:7].  It was the last (of ten) plagues suffered by any who did not in faith participate in the very explicit commands of God for every household to select from their flock, an unblemished lamb, examine it for four days for any disqualifying imperfection, then slaughter it. They were then to take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the basin of the lamb’s blood and strike the blood on both sides of their door and the upper doorpost, thus identifying themselves with the true God, saving them from His wrath.  They were then to roast the sacrificial lamb with fire - not eaten raw, nor boiled in water, but roasted in entirety, head to toe, entrails too.  It was to be eaten along with bitter herbs and unleavened bread that night, in haste, prepared to leave - loins girded, shoes on their feet, staff in hand.  Any morsel of flesh remaining by morning needed to be consumed completely by fire. But that was not all.  They couldn’t just hang around satisfied in their identification; they were called to act.  

The children of Israel were to flee the land of their enslavement, taking their unleavened dough, carrying their kneading trough upon their shoulders. God caused the Egyptians to gladly give the children of Israel whatever they needed - gold, silver, clothing.  I can almost hear their moaning, “here, take it, just get out!”  

God then commanded His people to observe Passover in every generation.  Only those circumcised could keep the Passover, including servants bought for money or sojourners in the land. The roasted lamb was to be eaten in one house, and not a bone was to be broken, nor was any flesh to be carried from that house.

Passover is followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, a seven-day abstinence from eating anything leavened.  Passover itself was sporadically observed until the time of the second Temple when its observance took on imminent significance.  I say imminent because the build up to the Messiah was to be observable!  

When silence from God was broken with the thunderous prophet John the Baptist rousing Judea with “repent!” the Pharisees and the Sadducees didn’t see their sin, obscured through the lenses of their own rich godliness.  But God wanted us to see our spiritual poverty, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” [Matthew 5:3, Luke 6:20)

When God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, his only son, the son whom He loved, but then God provided “himself” a ram; when God commanded Moses that a sacrificial lamb without blemish would secure salvation from God’s wrath, and explained to Aaron that blood makes atonement for your souls [Lev. 17:11], and the priest who is anointed and consecrated to minister as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement [Lev. 16:32], He was making a connection to His own son, whose blood would be shed for the remission of sins [Heb. 7]. When John the Baptist then proclaimed, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” He wanted us to recognize that lamb.

When God sent Samuel to the shepherd fields of Bethlehem [1 Sam. 16:1] to select Israel’s king from amongst the sons of Jesse, He wanted us to recognize the rod that would come from the stem of Jesse [Is. 11:1].  

When the temple sacrificial lambs were kept in the same shepherd fields of Bethlehem, He wanted us to recognize the little child born as the sign spoken of in Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.”  He wanted us to recognize His sovereign choice when He ruled in the heart of Caesar Augustus to call a census just so that ruler spoken of in Micah 5:2 would be born in the shepherds’ fields of Bethlehem: “But you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”

When God commanded at Passover an unblemished lamb be examined for four days, He wanted us to connect with the Lamb of God entering the Eastern gate of Jerusalem along with all the sacrificial lambs destined for examination before Passover’s slaughter.  He wanted us to hear the millions of pilgrims watching the entry procession of sacrificial lambs, celebrating in parade and praise to the refrains of Psalm 118, routine at Passover, but piercing this one historical day,  “Save now, I pray, O Lord…Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” 

When God spoke through Zechariah (9:9), “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey,” he wanted us to recognize Jesus the King upon a donkey crossing from the Mount of Olives, the site of the red heifer purification sacrifice, down through the Kidron Valley where the blood of lambs would flow,  into the Eastern gate.  He wanted the people to be praising still from Psalm 118 (part of the Hallel of Passover), “Open to me the gates of righteousness; and I will go through them…I will praise you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation….”

When God commanded “on the first day [of Passover] you shall remove leaven from your houses” He wanted us to recognize Jesus the lamb, who on this first day rode in as King and cleansed the temple, driving out all those who bought and sold in the temple, overturning the tables of the money changers and the seat of those who sold doves…[quoting Jer. 7:11] “It is written ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”  

Again, when God commanded four days of examining the lamb for any imperfection, He proved the Lamb of God by the questioning of the chief priests and elders.  Jesus met their examinations head on establishing His authority, speaking in parables:  the two sons and the wicked vinedressers, the latter which quotes again from the very Psalm 118 of Passover, ‘the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone’ [Matt. 21:23-46], and then the parable of the wedding feast [Matt. 22].  He perplexed the Pharisees and the Sadducees who were “astonished at His teaching.” [vs. 33], and no one, including the lawyers, were able to refute anything He said [vs. 46].  Pilate concluded this examination period of the Lamb of God by washing his hands of this ‘just person’ [Jesus] blood, and declaring, “I find no fault in this Man.”  

When God detailed the Passover meal, He detailed the Messiah.  A woman lights the candles, because the light of the world came through a woman.  Hands are ritually washed, but Jesus came to serve and call us to serve, thus at the last supper [the seder meal], he also washed the feet of his disciples [John 13:2-17].  That eerie first Passover night, details specified the Hebrew people were to eat “with your loins girded, shoes on your feet, and staff in your hands.”  Jesus in essence was telling his disciples, “How lovely are the feet of him who brings good news” a commission we would carry on by “girding our waists with truth, putting on the breastplate of righteousness and shodding our feet with the gospel of peace.”  [Eph. 6:14-16].

The unleavened bread of the seder meal details, not only the Messiah’s perfection, but also that He is the “one mediator between God and men, the ransom for all” and that “I and my father are one” [John 17:21].   The bread is presented in three parts, all roasted, striped and pierced [Is. 53:5], yet only the middle one is broken - the “afikomen”.  God must have wanted His disciples to recognize the Afikomen when Jesus broke the bread, saying “This is my body given for you,” [Matt. 26:26, Mark 14:22] wrapped it in linen, hiding it away as would be his own in burial. Yet after a time, that body would be resurrected, and He would take that hidden piece of bread, break it and say, “take, eat; this is my body” [Luke 22:19].  The reward is obvious, just as Jesus [Matt. 13:44] tells us “the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.  When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  and that we now “we have this treasure in earthen vessels…” [2 Cor. 4:7].

Then Jesus would have taken the 3rd cup of wine - the cup of redemption, which would be the cup of identification.  The cup of the new covenant in His blood [1 Cor. 11:25].  God must have wanted us to make that connection with the blood of the Passover.  

On the seder plate are symbols of the bitterness of slavery and sweetness of salvation.  Parsley (life) dipped in salt water (tears).  Tears (bitter herbs) turned into joy (sweet charoset).  The unbroken shank bone of a lamb for the perfect Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world [Num. 9:12]. 

The fourth cup of wine is the cup of praise and Jesus did just that as He prayed to bring glory to the Father, and that his disciples and all “under the Passover blood” throughout future generations would be sanctified by truth.  [John 20:17].

When God commanded Passover, it was a feast of identification.  Identification of the one true God over the gods of this world.  Identification of His people who would be bought with a price.  Identification of His bride who would be gathered from all nations by grace through faith [Eph. 2:8].  

Find the stark comparison then of that eerie night of the first Passover to the night of the Passover Lamb of God, sacrificed outside the camp for the household of faith, taking on the mantle of God providing himself a ram caught in the thickets - accepting the crown of thorns - taking the curse upon himself (all who hang are cursed) - bearing the wood as Isaac before him had for his own sacrifice, while the sacrificial lambs of every family of Israel were slaughtered (Josephus estimates there were 250,000 lambs sacrificed at Passover in AD66).  Imagine the blood pouring into the basins, out through the Kidron Valley; the howls, the cries, the sound of the shofar.  Jesus - pierced for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities, chastised for our well-being, scourged for our healing - bearing the judgment of sin upon his shoulders.  The earth shook, the heavens trembled, the sun and the moon were darkened and the stars no longer shone.  The day of the Lord is great.  It is dreadful.  Who can endure it?

The guard offers Jesus a hyssop branch bearing vinegar and gall. Of course it would be born on a  hyssop branch, used to rid a house of contaminants [Lev. 14:33-53].  Jesus refuses the elixir of the condemned.  Under the weight of sin, Jesus cries out from Psalm 22:1: “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Why art thou so far from the words of my roaring?” and now cries out “I thirst” and drinks [Matt 5:6]. It is a feast of identification.  He identified with me, a sinner.  "I thirst."

Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit.”

Some speculate that Jesus was crucified on the Mount of Olives where the red heifer was sacrificed and roasted down to ash for the purification of the priests serving the temple and the temple vessels.  If so, the centurion who cried “truly this was a righteous man!” [Luke 23:47] as the earth quaked may have been witness to the roaring of the Father in the Holy of Holies as He rent the veil that separated man from God just as a father would in the death of His son, His only son.   

The high Sabbath quickly approached, the condemned lingered in agony waiting to have their legs broken, hastening death.  Naked, hanging for all to see in all their public humiliation.  Jesus’ crime written in three languages for all to understand:  “King of the Jews”.  The centurion pierced Jesus’ side to confirm his death - the separation of plasma in the blood.  No bone needed to be broken.  The King of the Jews fulfilling, “No one has taken [my life] from Me, but I lay it down….  I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep" [John 10:11].

Are you a sinner?  Do you thirst?  Jesus encouraged, “Blessed are they who thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled” [Matt. 5:6].  “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice  and righteousness in the Land.  In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’”  Jeremiah 23:5

Shalom!  

Sources:

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11934-passover-sacrifice
http://www.chosenpeople.com/main/holidays-and-festivals/594-the-origin-of-the-afikomen
https://thefamily.com/tag/temple-sheep/
http://www.chosenpeople.com/main/prophecy/226-behold-yeshua-the-passover-lamb-of-god

The Day of the Lord, Joel Ch. 2, Pt. 4 "Esther"

In searching for the phrase “these things were written” in the Bible, using biblegateway.com, I found it amazing that only the following three verses came up.

Luke 24:44 [The Scriptures opened] Then He said to them [His disciples], “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 

John 12:16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

1 Corinthians 10:11 Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

If I could summarize, the verses could read, "I told you once, I told you twice, I told you three times!" in the manner my own dad would have! 

Our generation is certainly not the only generation to ponder these things.  While the early disciples were blessed to have Jesus walk amongst them to explain “these things” and blessed to witness a resurrected Lord to validate them, we, as were they, are blessed to have the Holy Spirit of God himself indwell us as believers, indwell these earthly vessels, common and ordinary as we are.  

These things are identified in the first verse above:  all that is written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Jesus.  No wonder the Jewish people are blessed among men, that God would have chosen them out to depict the extraordinary and uncommon redemptive love of the Father for His Son, and toward us who believe.

I’ve expressed a few thoughts on the law already in previous posts, now I’m going to share over the next several some of what I’ve learned about the feasts, focusing on the seven appointed feasts of Leviticus 23.

The seven appointed feasts outlined in Leviticus 23 (Jewish name in parenthesis) include:  

FOUR SPRING FEASTS 
Passover (Pesach)
Unleavened Bread (Hag HaMatzot)
Firstfruits (Reishit)
Pentecost or Weeks (Shavuot) 

THREE FALL FEASTS
Trumpets (Rosh HaShanah)
Atonement (Yom Kippur)
Tabernacles or Booths (Sukkot)

Only three appointed feasts required all Jewish males to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem: Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Tabernacles.

Two other feasts are celebrated, though not appointed as sacred assemblies in the book of Leviticus.  They are: The Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah) and of Lots (Purim).  

I think it is appropriate to first mention Purim briefly because it is coming up quickly - March 15th and 16th (Jewish day begins at sundown, therefore Purim begins at sundown March 15, ends at sundown March 16). Purim is an annual feast to commemorate the protection of God’s exiled people through the courage of a woman named Esther, who risked her own life to save her people’s.  

The wealthy, prominent Jews of Judah had been taken captive to Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC.  Because Nebuchadnezzar allowed the Jews to settle in one community, keeping their religion and traditions, Judah's Jews kept their identities (converse to Israel's dispersion and disappearance into Assyria around 722 BC).  Babylon was eventually conquered by Persia (538 BC) and King Cyrus gave these Jewish exiles the right to return to Jerusalem.  Some of these exiles remained in Persia however, and thus sets the backdrop for Esther.  

An orphan, Jewish Hadassah (meaning myrtle) known in Persia as Esther (meaning star), was raised in Persia by her Jewish uncle Mordecai.  Through a series of circumstances, this beautiful young girl becomes queen of Persia, makes a life or death decision to share with King Xerxes the news brought to her by her Uncle Mordecai of a secret conspiracy framed by his wicked advisor, Haman, to kill the Jews living in Xerxes’ kingdom. Mordecai’s piercing words declare God’s sovereign choice to his niece and have echoed through the generations:  

'WHO KNOWS WHETHER YOU HAVE COME TO THE KINGDOM FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS?"

I encourage you to read the book of Esther during the next ten days to uncover the story and remind yourself of God’s far-reaching mercy and grace.  

Queen Esther shows that, with God, there are no accidents and, with Purim coming up quickly, I find it no accident that we would begin at a feast that once again shows God’s incredible redemptive plan through the vehicle of a woman.  

As well, when researching the feast of Purim, I found this little obscure tidbit from about.com under "More Facts About Purim”:

“On the feast of Purim, Jews are required to give gifts to the poor.”

I think it’s kind of cool, and really quite forthright, that both Matthew and Luke find Jesus’ very first announcements (after Satan tempts Him in the same manner he tempted Eve) in the public square and in the synagogue directed toward the poor.

Matthew 5:3  Jesus begins His Sermon on the Mount - the Beatitudes - with, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” 

Luke 4:17-19 Jesus proclaims in the synagogue of Nazareth, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; because He hath sent Me….”

Surely this King Jesus, like Queen Esther before Him, was intended for “such a time as this.” 

_______________________________________________________________

Notes:

1  For reference, I highly recommend you obtain the pamphlet “Feasts of the Bible” published by Rose Publishing - it contains a short and beautifully designed summary of the feasts. 
or
2  For in-depth study on the book of Esther, I recommend Beth Moore’s “Esther: It’s Tough Being a Woman”
3  You can also watch the movie "One Night with the King" on YouTube.
  

Day of the Lord, Joel Ch. 2, Pt. 3 "The Seed"

Again, I have to tell you that had I known my little study of Joel would “consume” me, I might not have begun. The delay between posts has been one of intensive searching for me.  But truly, one bit of information led to another until my head is absolutely spinning and my heart is rejoicing.  I hope that you will get excited over what I will be sharing over the next several posts.  Please bear with me and feel free to share your thoughts on mine.  I encourage you most of all to be driven to the Scripture and not be satisfied with what I say or any teacher.  “Study to show yourselves approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15.  

I know there are a whole lot of people out there waiting for the fulfillment of the fall feasts.  I was one.  I say that with caution, as I know that prior to Jesus, (my wonderful pastor/teacher John Higgins years ago stated) you could be dogmatic and prove it scripturally that the Messiah would hail from Bethlehem (Micah 5:2) or be a Nazarene (Judges 13:5) or even from Egypt (Hosea 11:1), but in the end all three were realized in Christ. Now, I stand that all the feasts have been fulfilled, and I pray that I can demonstrate this by Scripture, yet time is not done with me yet and certainly I have a lot to learn.  I know a lot of people will want to lump me in with “replacement” theology, fulfillment theology, or another o-logy, though truth be told, my o-logy began with the book of Joel and an innocent question of why Peter quoted from it with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

To tell my premise, I must start at the beginning where Adam, through a woman, fell.  

I say through a woman, because the reversal of that fall is through a woman, Israel, that the new Adam would redeem us.  Ever since the beginning, we have waited for the promised redemption from the curse of Satan in Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between thee [the serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”  Thus through the woman’s seed would come the promised redemption;  the implementation of that required a "calling out".  The woman would be Israel and the seed our Lord and Savior.  I always overlooked a fundamentally important aspect: the woman was not there when Adam received the command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  She was in Adam, yet when she was subsequently separated from Adam was herself accountable. 

Genesis 2:7-8 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.  And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed” ….vs. 15 “to dress it and to keep it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: BUT of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die’.”

Genesis 2:21 “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:  and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib*, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.”
Genesis 3:1 “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.  And he said unto the woman, ‘Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”  

The initial twisting of Scripture which would continue to be Satan’s pattern.  Sin beginning in the mind, to be conceived in the flesh (James 1:15). The destruction of a marriage with a few simple words, “did God say?”  

“Well, no, my husband said…..”

So we have woman not yet fully realized, but in Adam nonetheless - flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone.  The amazing picture of marriage.  

And the new Adam with his bride.  Not yet realized, but there at redemption, from the foundation of the world, yet separated from Adam, herself accountable.

The new Adam would come through the seed of a woman, Israel.

Simeon, Luke tells us, was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  Of this seed he said, “Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel…” Luke 2:34

In Genesis 12:2-3 we find Abram set apart with the vague promise that “I will make of thee a great nation….and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

Abram tries to bring about that seed, but guess what?  Wrong woman.  God had a plan and man’s effort to bring it about weren't going to thwart it.  The marriage to Sarai was through whom the promised “seed” would come. Gen. 17:16, “and I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations…and thou shalt call his name (the son) Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.”  

And, gosh, like Simeon above, Abram and Sarai waited a long time for that promise.  Twenty-five years from the promise to fruition (shout out to my husband!  "For twenty-five years...."). Can you imagine how many “did God say?” moments Abram and Sarai had?  God makes a covenant with Abram (Gen. 15)….be patient, the seed will come…. and confirms the covenant with the sign of circumcision.  Moses’ wife would later, in so many words, call it a bloody covenant (Exodus 4:25).  And it was.  Can you imagine?  In this covenant both Abram and Sarai were given new names; added to each, with I believe every bit of meaning it could muster, was the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet ‘hey’.  According to the website Hebrew4Christians,  “In the Talmud (Menachot 29b) it is said that the ‘breath of his mouth’ refers to the letter Hey - the outbreathing of Spirit” and "when added as a suffix, as in Sara[h], allows the noun to be ‘fruitful’ or ‘productive’."  Cool, hey?

Then in all fleshly absurdity, Abraham is commanded to sacrifice Isaac, his son of promise.  His only son.  The son whom he had waited for.  What tremendous faith to believe that God, who had proven faithful to deliver this child, would deliver this child once again - and Genesis 22:13 tells us it was by the provision of a ram, caught by his horns in the binds of the curse itself - the thorns and thickets.  Remember this picture. 

Abraham sends a servant to find a bride for his son Isaac, a bride from his own people through whom the seed would continue.  How is this bride identified?  As one who would draw water from a well.  A bride who, sight unseen, agrees to a marriage in a faraway land. (Genesis 24)

Isaac and Rebekah then bear two sons.  Twins no less (Genesis 25:24).  Which would be the promised seed?  Not the older to whom the rightful inheritance belonged - Esau, who disregarded the commands of his father by both taking a foreign wife (Gen. 26:34-35) and selling his birthright for a bowl of porridge (Gen. 25:33), but the younger, Jacob, who sinfully deceiving, believed still in the God of his father.  Yet Isaac loved Esau, while Rebekah loved Jacob. That is significant. Through Malachi (1:2-3), God says, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” We might consider Rebekah pushy, but perhaps this woman was close to the heart of God, hearing his voice, where Eve had not.  Again, in a sense, the seed to come through the woman.  Isaac blesses Jacob in Gen. 28:3-4 saying, “…God make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; and give thee the blessing of Abraham to thee, and to thy seed with thee…” and God confirms this in 28:13-14 “….and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

Thus we see from Genesis through Malachi, God had purposed the redemption of a people in the new Adam, through the seed of a woman, and that through a select lineage that seed would come and all the families of the earth would be blessed through that seed. That lineage is summarized quite beautifully in the gospels of Luke and Matthew, populated with Jewish and Gentile men and women of good and ill repute whose stories are told throughout the Old Testament.  Moses is not in that fleshly lineage.  Yet through Moses that seed would be identified; man would get a very clear picture that God is absolutely holy, and recognize through the law that man was absolutely not.  Through Moses the picture of the Messiah would be fully formed, fleshed out through the prophetic roles of deliverer and mediator; the seed that would issue through the bloody covenant of an almighty Father.

And this is the covenant of grace.  The Mosaic laws, traditions and rites bind us like the thorns and the thickets and we remain under its condemnation until God breathes life into us as surely as He breathed life into Adam, and new life into Abram (Abraham) through the seed of promise, the seed of faith, and new life through Sarai (Sarah) bringing forth the fruitful blessing to all nations.  “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.  I will bless her and INDEED give you a son by her.  Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Genesis 17:16.

Next post will continue the identification of that seed through the Mosaic covenant.

*At one point, this may have sounded far fetched, but we know today, that scientifically stem cells can be directed to become every cell and the rib, with the marrow thereof, is rich in stem cells.  Is anything too difficult for our Lord?