COMMUNION, ETC.

Tomorrow we are "celebrating Christ's death until He comes again" as we take the elements of grape juice and a small leaven-free morsel of "bread" to honor what He did at Passover, when He said to his disciples "This is my body broken for you. Eat all of it. And this is the cup of my blood shed for you. Drink all of it." Of course, He used wine, not juice, but our elements in that sacrament are just a symbol - a reminder of what Jesus did for us.

God came to earth in the form of a baby and lived on earth for approximately 33 years, with the last 3 years being His time of ministry. He came to be the perfect Lamb, the only one who could totally free us from Sin and bring us back into relationship with God through sacrificing Himself on the cross so we could have forgiveness of our sins if we ask for His forgiveness and accept His grace.  

God so loved the world that He GAVE his one and only Son - fully God and fully human - God incarnate. Jesus chose to be obedient to the humiliation that he bore: the stripes of the whip that had barbs attached to the ends of the whip which ripped chunks of skin from his back as he bore the lashes; being spat on; and hit; and a crown of thorns crushed into his head. And painfully, having His followers run away in fear, and for the moment, deny knowing Him. And last, the indignity of the cross - hanging bare and exposed between earth and heaven, the bridge that would offer mankind the opportunity to be back in a personal relationship with God, as Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden.... 

At the end of the Passover Meal the evening before He was so wrongly arrested and illegally tried for wrongs He did not commit, He told His disciples that each time they did this, i.e. PASSOVER (which is an annual celebration), to remember Him and His death until He comes again...and He will! 

Most of the Jewish faithful missed Him the first time because He didn't come as the conquering hero they were expecting - one who would right all the wrongs and save them from the oppression of the Roman rule they were oppressed under. But this time He will come as the Warrior, riding in on His white horse, accompanied by an army that will vanquish the foe! 

It sounds magnificent and charming - but what has to come before that happens is awful - and we are experiencing the beginning of those birth pangs. Matthew 24:6-13 shares what Jesus said would come at the end of time: (NIV)

"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."

I view Matthew 24 as the "Cliff's Notes" version of the Book of the Revelation of John, which goes into far more detail than I can comprehend. It is already upon us - and will be horrific. We cannot even imagine the bloodshed and devastation that will occur before Jesus returns to "make everything right" - but He will, and God is the only one who knows exactly when that will be. 

He tells us we will not now the exact day or hour - but we will know the season. From what I see, the "season" is getting close! And as I share in my book, LEAD ME TO THE CROSS, I believe God gave us an outline in the Feasts He commanded to be celebrated. He fulfilled all of the Spring Feasts of Passover, The Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Firstfruits, and the Feast of Weeks/ Pentecost in the year in which He died. Therefore, similarly I believe He will fulfill the final 3 feasts in the year that He returns. My goal is to be ready - and to be anticipating His return no matter how bad things get here! 

Even so, Come, Lord Jesus. 

DAY 43 – WAITING FOR PENTECOST

STILL WAITING....

The disciples were not told how long the waiting period would be.  We get to see in retrospect that it was 10 days – but they don’t know that.  It is a good reminder that often we have ‘promises’ we have held onto that have not come to pass.  We, too, are waiting – and we don’t know the timeline. 

That applies to the final moments of history as well….  Sometimes I feel like I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.  Prophecy and the current news mesh so closely….   I want to be with the Lord – but I am not looking forward to the process that will bring that to fruition.  It makes me more poignantly aware that Jesus didn’t look forward to the process with joy either.  He was fully God and fully human.  I am just fully human.  It’s okay.  He knows that I am dust. 

We wait expectantly – and with a modicum of uncertainty – just as they did in +-33 A D.

The Feast of Trumpets/ Rosh Hashanah Year 5775

A couple of years ago I wrote about the Feasts commanded by G-d, and used the information I found online as fact.  That worked OK for the first 4 feasts.  Their obvious fulfillment in Yeshua/Jesus are absolutely on track.  But - I have learned that my earlier writing  about the 5th Feast is likely in error, which would mean my source of information was inaccurate.   I am not ready to declare that with absolute certainty - - but I am leaning that direction.

Last Spring I asked God if there really is a 'rapture' of the saints separate from His Second Coming,  which is when He will return to earth, and very specifically to Jerusalem.*

God's response was immediate.  He told me, "Study the Feasts." I started reviewing them from the beginning - - and found that the first 4 were in perfect alignment with the earlier research I had done, and that Jesus fulfilled them perfectly - - and on the exact day they occurred in the year of His crucifixion and resurrection.  But then I got to the 5th Feast and had such strong caution about what I had previously accepted as fact,  that I got stuck.

I've chuckled a bit at God's telling me to study the Feasts....   I am not a scholar - - but I do love Bible study, and I love discovering nuggets of truth and uncovering tidbits I hadn't previously paid attention to.

I have browsed throughout the summer - - but felt overwhelmed by tackling something so beyond me - - until I realized that I don't have to enter the challenge with an expectation that I will come out the other end with any final answers.  I was just told to study them - - not provide answers.  And so, study I will.

My nugget for the day is the trumpet.  I had assumed that since 'shofar' is often translated 'trumpet' that the final trumpet blast would actually be the blowing of the shofar - - but I found something 'new to me' today that lends credence to the trumpet blast announcing Jesus' return actually being a trumpet.

In Numbers 10, Moses was instructed to make 2 silver trumpets, which were to be blown at the time of their feasts and gatherings to summon the people.  I was a trumpet player, so that caught my attention.  I don't care if the trumpet he blows is a silver trumpet or a shofar - - but it piqued my interest.  I had never noticed that specific detail before.

The other thing about today is that it is the last day of the Jewish Civil Year 5774.  At sundown tonight begins Year 5775.  Tishri 1 is the beginning of the Calendar's Civil Year for the Jewish people, and is the celebration honoring the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, which marks the beginning of measured time.  (It is the 7th month of their religious calendar, but the measurement of time is based on the Civil calendar.)

Tishri 1 is the Feast of Trumpets /aka/ Rosh Hashanah.  I firmly believe that in the year Jesus returns He will come at the Feast of Trumpets.  The Bible says we will not know the day or hour - - and that is true, because we won't know which year His return will be - - but we will know the season!  With all that is prophesied about the end of time - - wars and rumors of wars, disasters in diverse places, knowledge increasing, men calling good evil and evil good, being lovers of pleasure instead of lovers of God, the love of many waxing cold...it sure feels like the season.

Even so, Come, Lord Jesus.

May the trumpet blast this year be a reminder of His soon return.  The Feast of Trumpets marks the beginning of 10 high holy days - - days of introspection and repentance - - and will end with The Day of Atonement on Tishri 10.

As the Jewish faithful shout each year as part of this celebration, "Next year in Jerusalem!"

The trumpet shall sound!  The dead shall be raised!  Raised in the twinkling of an eye.

(As part of their New Year's tradition, Jews around the world will eat apples dipped in honey to welcome 5775.)


*When He returns, Jesus will enter the Golden Gate in the Eastern Wall of Temple Mount, a gate that has been sealed shut since 1517 when the Turks conquered Jerusalem.  Their reason for sealing it shut: they heard that the Messiah would return through it and they sealed it to prevent that from happening.  They also made a cemetery just outside it for added security, as they believed no devout Jewish rabbi would go through the cemetery, for fear of being defiled....  Don't you wonder at man's goofy reasoning?

In the first few verses of Ezekiel 44 you can read the prophecy that the gate would be closed and not opened again until the 'prince' - - the Messiah - - comes.

AFTER JESUS' RESURRECTION

With the interruption to my writing because of taking care of my daughter following her surgery, Good Friday has come and gone, Resurrection morning has come and gone, and at this point Jesus is on earth making appearances to confirm His resurrection to His followers prior to His ascension into heaven.

He lived.

He died

He was resurrected and lived again.

He ascended to the Father.

He is awaiting the predestined time God has appointed for Him to return - - and He will!

God has kept the details cloaked in just enough mystery that we have to have total reliance on Him.  All we need to know is that He said it, so He will do it - - and it could be very, very soon.   However, many believe His coming will be in 2 stages.

Oh what a glorious day that will be!  Glorious, that is, for those who are prepared to meet Him.

For everyone else, not so much.

Many Christians look forward to what has been dubbed 'The Rapture', though that is not a term used in the Bible.  There is widespread belief that we will be caught up in the air to be forever together with the Lord - - but that is not the true Second Coming, and it is His Second Coming, when He returns to Jerusalem and enters the Eastern Gate, that will precipitate the final judgment.

As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man.  Right up to the moment of His coming, people will be 'doing what they do' with no regard for Him.  The love of most will have waxed cold.  People will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.  The condition of the world looks right now like the world it is predicted to be at the close of the age.  And that is how long He promises to be with us:  to the very end of the age.  (Matthew 28:20b)

I don't want to be here after His Spirit is withdrawn.  The Tribulation - - particularly the last 3 1/2 years will be awful.  People will come to the Lord at that point, at an enormous cost, but it is still better to suffer for that relatively short period than to face eternity without God.  It is a sobering reality to ponder.



(I actually wrote this a few months ago - - but just found it in my drafts after posting my most recently written perspective on Hamas and Israel....so am going to publish it now as well...better late than never.)

ISRAEL & HAMAS AND THE PRESENT CONFLICT

It has been far too long since I have written on my blog.  Very few people read it - which makes it easier to ignore doing it - but I need it as a place to share what's on my mind - - and today it is ISRAEL and the current conflict with Hamas.  I am compelled to write!

What people in the West don't understand is how very differently people like those in Hamas think.   This errant thinking does not apply to all Palestinians - - but for people in Hamas, the death of their children is a cause for celebration.  I know that sounds startling - - but it is true - - and that is why it is so hard for Westerners to understand the complexity of what is happening in this conflict.

Israel's policy and practice is compassion and caring.  They warn civilians when they are going to bomb an area - - but Hamas sends the children into the fray, hoping they will be killed so they can gain international sympathy for their cause.   I heard one of Israel's ambassadors state it well, when he quoted someone else who said,  "They will never stop until they love their children more than they hate us."  His comment stunned the correspondent interviewing him - - but it is true.  In the past they have conspicuously used their children as human shields.  They raise their children to believe that they will have a special place in heaven if they become suicide bombers.  They lie to their children, and they lie to themselves.

I believe that the simple poem penned by Israel's President, Shimon Peres, in 2006 says volumes:

Ray of Hope

Copyright 2006 by Shimon Peres, President of Israel

Music by Liel (born in Israel)

Sung by Andrea Bocelli and Liel on utube

Oh my Lord, it’s time to pray

When the new sun shines let’s make hay

So save my land from desert’s stay

Call the ocean’s salt to melt away

(Call the oceans, salt to melt away) echo in musical version

And bless streams with love’s sway

Provide my foe and friend a bloodless day

Invite boys and girls for peace to pray

Then send a ray of hope for a new way

(Then send a ray of hope for a new way) echo in musical version

The line that prays, "Provide my foe and friend a bloodless day" is profound - - and exemplifies the heart of the Israelis purest passion. 

Israel's doctors provide medical care for Palestinian children out of the goodness of their hearts.  That should show their good intent toward the children.  And - they warn civilians when there is going to be a bombing.  But - - when the mortar fire comes out of schools and mosques, and places that should be 'safe' for the civilians, Israel has no choice but to launch a counter-attack.   The tunnels under the walls are there for terrorist motives - - to smuggle in weapons and sneak out through to do harm.  

The American politicians who get involved are vulnerable to being swayed by the manipulation Hamas' so craftily performs.  It would be easy for that to be the case if you didn't know the underlying truth.  I will never forget when 9/11 happened - - the images on TV of people jubilantly dancing in the streets in Palestine because of the attacks on U S soil with the twin towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D C.  I was shocked.  Even when someone is evil I do not celebrate their pain.  

And, I cannot imagine a people that celebrates the death of their own children as a good thing for their 'cause'.  Unthinkable!  

The Bible warns that in the end of time men will call good evil and evil good.  We are there!  Can Jesus' Second Coming be far away?

LENT 2014 - DAY 2 - Jesus is coming again!

Jesus is coming again!

There is an old song we used to sing when I was a kid lilting through my mind:

Coming again!
Coming again!
May be morning, may be noon
may be evening, and may be soon
Coming again!
Coming again!
Oh what a wonderful day that will be
Jesus is coming again!

My Dad believed Jesus would return in his lifetime.  He lived with that anticipation, and I grew up in that climate of perpetual anticipation.

At some point I decided to focus on the reality that Jesus would certainly one day come for me (at the death of my body) - and I stopped focusing on Jesus' meeting His faithful followers in the sky in what has been termed "The Rapture."  I still believed it - but felt I needed to focus on living instead of leaving.  After all, living with just that in mind can keep Christians from living their lives intentionally in the here and now.

The truth is we live life on a tight wire.  Both ways of thinking are legitimate and true.  We need to plan ahead for the future, and we need to live in the moment with expectation and immediacy.

I believe Jesus' is coming again - and I believe it could be in 2014!  That is not an absolute prediction or prophecy.   It's just an issue of looking at the prophecies of the Bible in light of what we see in our world.

What I learned from my study of the Feasts of the Old Testament is that Jesus fulfilled the first 3 Feasts in the events surrounding Passover, His death and His resurrection.  The 4th feast was fulfilled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the next Feast to be fulfilled is Rosh Hashanah - - the feast that is announced with the blowing of the shofar (aka trumpet in our translations).  That feast in 2014 begins at sundown on September 24.  In 2013, it began on September 3, and after the 5th, I knew we had to wait another year!

Another song:

In these the closing days of time
What joy the glorious hope affords
That soon oh wondrous truth sublime
He shall reign King of Kings and Lord of Lords

He's coming soon
He's coming soon
With joy we welcome His returning
It may be morn; it may be night or noon
We know He's coming soon.

And the chorus of another old song:

Raised in the twinkling of an eye
Raised in the twinkling of an eye
The trumpet shall sound
The dead shall be raised
Raised in the twinkling of an eye.

And my last one for the day:

One glad morning when this life is o'er
I'll fly away
To my home on God's celestial shore
I'll fly away
I'll fly away! Oh glory!
I'll fly away!
When I die, hallelujah by and by
I'll fly away!

Coming for His church is not to be confused with His Second Coming when Jesus will come back to the earth and set up his Millenial kingdom.  And - - if I am wrong that they are separate events, that's O K - - the point is being ready.  He knows what He is doing, even if some of the precise timeline is still uncertain to me.  I am not a scholar - but I am a student, and His Spirit witnesses with my spirit that the time is very short!  Several times recently God has reminded me, "Work for the night is coming when no man can work."

Jesus first coming was promised by prophets throughout the Old Testament - and He came!  Prophecy declares He will come again - and He will!

Oh what a wonderful day that will be!
Jesus is coming again!