MARANATA !!!

MARANATA !!!
Showing posts with label Passover. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Passover. Show all posts

Sunday, April 1, 2018

PASSOVER – PRAISE JESUS!

Christianity can be condensed into four words: Admit, Submit, Commit and Transmit. -Samuel Wilberforce



 PASSOVER – PRAISE JESUS!

 PASSOVER PICTURES BEING FREED FROM THE BONDAGE OF SIN!
Exodus 12:5-7, 13-14 – Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year:  you shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:  and you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month:  and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.  And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. – – – And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are:  and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.  And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.
WHEN CHRIST SHED HIS BLOOD, IT MEANS HE GAVE HIS LIFE!
Genesis 9:4 – But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Leviticus 17:11 – For the life of the flesh is in the blood:  and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls:  for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.
John 10:17-18 – Therefore does My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.  No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.  This commandment have I received of My Father.
CHRIST IS THE PASSOVER LAMB WHO FREES US FROM THE GUILT OF SIN!
John 1:29, 36 – The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world. – – – And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God!
1 Corinthians 5:7-8 – Purge out therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.  For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:  therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Hebrews 9:12-14, 22 – Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctified to the purifying of the flesh:  how much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? – – – And almost all things are by the Law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.  [Note:  Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is the rejection of His testimony that Jesus is the Son of God, and therefore, it cannot be forgiven – it is the rejection of Christ!]
 PASSOVER – A DAY FOR US TO REMEMBER HIS SACRIFICE!
A DAY TO CELEBRATE WITH PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING!
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Monday, March 25, 2013

FAITH WITHOUT OBIDIENCE


FAITH WITHOUT OBIDIENCE

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passover


Faith Without Obedience


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 12:3

Today is the 10th day of Nisan, the day on which the Passover Lamb was to be set apart from the flock in order to be offered as an unblemished sacrifice to the Lord.  Special care was to be taken of this lamb until the 14th of the month, the Passover, when the lamb would be slaughtered at twilight.  On the original Passover, the blood of the lamb was smeared on the doorposts of every Hebrew home to distinguish them from the Egyptians and to protect them from the destroyer.  The whole community of Israel professed their allegiance to God, but it would be this purposeful and individual act of obedience to God’s instructions which would set true believers apart to be delivered from bondage and spared from death.  And when they were delivered, they would truly be God’s people, and God would be their God.

On this exact day in history, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in the ,,Triumphal Entry”, presenting Himself as the unblemished eternal Passover Lamb of God.  In the days that followed, He taught in the Temple, challenging and infuriating the religious leaders of His day with questions that they could not answer, until the 14th of the month when He would be betrayed and handed over to be killed.  On this day as He entered the gates of Jerusalem, the people shouted for joy, declaring the fulfillment of the Psalms and the words of the Prophets Isaiah and Zechariah, affirming their faith in Jesus as the Son of David, the Son of God, their Messiah, and the King of Israel.  Their words declared their faith that Jesus would deliver them from their oppression and that they would be called “The Holy People” and “The People Redeemed by the Lord.”

As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, He wept.  He knew that, despite their professions of faith, in only a few days the people would all abandon and reject Him.  He, too, remembered the words of the Prophet Isaiah, who said, ”These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.”  Although the people professed their faith with their lips, it turned out that it was all talk and no action.  They had abandoned true faith in God’s Word and trusted instead in their own traditions, rules, and regulations. These same people, only a few days later, would be the ones who stood in agreement with His crucifixion.  He did not weep over His coming suffering and death, for this was His God-given purpose on earth.  He wept over the hypocrisy of their proclamations of faith.

During His ministry on earth, Jesus taught about the difference between those who would profess faith and those who would put their faith into action through obedience to His teachings.  He taught that everyone who hears His words and puts them into practice will be blessed.  To them, He will be Savior and Messiah, their Prince of Peace, their Teacher, Counselor, and even their friend.  But, anyone who  professes their faith but does not put His teachings into practice, or places more faith in the tradition or philosophy of man, will be unstable in all their ways and cut off from God.  These hypocrites, whose deeds do not match their words, will meet Jesus one day, and He will weep and say to them, “I never knew you.”

God still weeps over hypocrisy.  What was true about genuine faith back then is still true for us today.  If we genuinely believe the things that we say in faith, then we will put them into practice.  Our purposeful acts of obedience are the distinguishing mark of what we truly believe.  It is these acts of obedience, our putting into practice the teachings of our Lord Jesus which mark us for redemption, deliverance, and salvation and which smear the blood of the eternal Passover Lamb on the doorposts of our hearts. Put another way, faith without works is dead.  We are saved by grace through faith, but our actions of obedience prove our faith to be genuine.  If the Hebrews had not marked their doorposts in the original Passover, they should not have expected to be delivered from Egypt or spared from the destroyer.  In the same way if we do not demonstrate our faith through our acts of obedience, then we should not expect to be delivered from our oppressors or spared from death, eternal separation from God, by the blood of our Passover Lamb, Jesus.

Talk is cheap.  Obedience is costly.  If you truly believe that Jesus is your Savior, then you will walk in the obedience of faith.  Today, with renewed commitment, willingness and passion, declare again your faith in Jesus as your Savior and King, and your eternal Passover Lamb.  Smear your heart with the blood of Jesus by putting into practice the things that He teaches.  Then, you will be set free from oppression, and you will be marked for salvation and redemption.  God will be your God, and you will be His child.

Scripture References: Exodus 12, Triumphal Entry: Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19; Psalm 118:25-26, Isaiah 62:11-12, Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 29:13, James 2:17, Mark 7:8, Ephesians 2:8, Matthew 7:21-23

*Note:  This is the day that is currently commemorated as Palm Sunday, which will be observed on March 24, 2013.

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Sunday, March 24, 2013

PASSOVER AND PALM SUNDAY


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Passover and Palm Sunday

This Week’s Feature Article by Jack Kelley

The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29,34).

 John the Baptist had been preaching about the coming Messiah, identifying himself as the forerunner Isaiah had promised over 700 years earlier.  Quoting from Isaiah 40:3 John said, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord ‘ “ (John 1:23).

Introducing Jesus to Israel as the Lamb of God was no doubt meant to prompt a comparison between Jesus and the Passover lamb in their minds. Reading about the first Passover (Exodus 12:1-20) from a Christian perspective makes the similarity so clear we wonder how they could have missed it. In fact several hundred Old Testament Prophecies were fulfilled in the life of Jesus and many of these came in the last week of His earthly life during the two events we’ll be celebrating in the next few days, Passover for Israel and Palm Sunday for the Church.

For Christ, Our Passover Lamb, Has Been Sacrificed … 1 Cor. 5:7

By now the Passover story should be familiar to us.  The final showdown between God and Pharaoh was coming. Through 9 plagues God sent to demonstrate His power over the pagan gods of Egypt, Pharoah had remained just as obstinate as God had predicted. The 10th plague, the death of all the firstborn, would break Pharoah’s will and free the Israelites from their bondage, but first they had to be protected from the plague.

On the 10th day of the 1st month God had them select a male lamb for each household and inspect it for 3 days to be sure it had no blemish or defect. Then it was slaughtered, and its blood was applied to the door posts of their homes. That night, behind closed doors in their own house, each family ate the lamb quickly with some bitter herbs and unleavened bread,  not venturing outside.  At midnight the destroying angel came through Egypt and took the life of the first born of every family, except for those who had covered their door posts with lamb’s blood (Exodus 12:1-13, 21-23, 28-30).

The next morning the Israelites were released from their bondage and given the wealth of Egypt, beginning their journey to the Promised Land with God in their midst. They weren’t spared because they were Jewish, or because they had lamb for dinner, but because they applied the lamb’s blood to their door posts believing that it would protect them. They were saved through faith by the blood of the lamb.

Just as the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, we are slaves in this world, held in bondage to sin. On that first Palm Sunday, the 10th of the 1st month, our Passover Lamb was selected by allowing Himself to be proclaimed as Israel’s King for the first and only time in His life. When the Pharisees told him to rebuke His disciples for doing so, He said if they kept silent the very stones would cry out (Luke 19:39-40).  This was the day ordained in history for His official appearance as their Messiah.

For the next 3 days He was subjected to the most intense questioning of His entire ministry lest there be any defects found in His words or deeds. Then  on the 14th He was crucified, releasing us from our bondage to sin, and qualifying us to receive the wealth of His Kingdom.  We are saved through faith by the blood of the Lamb.  But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.

The Son of Man Wept, The Son of God Warned

As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city He wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in from every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you” (Luke 19:41-44).

The prophet Daniel had laid out the schedule for them over 500 years earlier. From the time the Jews were given permission to rebuild Jerusalem after it had been destroyed by the Babylonians, to the coming of the Messiah, there would be 69 periods of 7 years each, or 483 years (Daniel 9:25). History tells us that this permission was given to Nehemiah by the Persian ruler Artaxerxes Longimonus in March of 445 BC (Nehemiah 2:1-9). The Sunday when Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem to the shouts of Psalm 118:25-26 was exactly 483 years later, but by then most of the Jewish leadership no longer took the Bible literally and the validity of predictive prophecy was being denied.

Regardless of their opinion, the Lord held them accountable for knowing when He would visit.  Given that hundreds of additional prophecies of His coming  had already been fulfilled in their midst, we can see His point.  Remember, they were all fulfilled in the span of one lifetime, the one in which He came. There are hundreds more prophecies relating to His Second Coming, and again all will be fulfilled within the span of one lifetime, the one in which He comes (Matt 24:34).  And just as it was then, our leaders no longer take the Bible literally and the validity of predictive prophecy is again being denied.  But regardless of their opinion, the Lord will hold the people of our day  accountable to “recognize the time of God’s coming” just like He did back then.

Who Was That Man?

A few days ago I got an email from someone I assume to be Jewish claiming that Jesus didn’t meet a single requirement to be Israel’s Messiah. I’ve received a number of these over the years and have come to realize they think this way because Israel was looking for a Messiah to fulfill what we know as second coming prophecies.  They wanted the Lion of Judah, a powerful warrior king like David, who could throw off the Roman yoke and restore Israel’s kingdom, because that’s what they thought they needed.   They didn’t think they needed a Savior, so when they got the Lamb of God who came to take away their sins they didn’t recognize Him.

Today, because of a similar denial of the validity of prophecy, much of the world is looking for some version of the Lamb of God.  They want a gentle teacher who will accept us all and promise to show us the way to peace and plenty.  They won’t think they need a conqueror, so when the Lion of Judah comes to utterly destroy His enemies and restore God’s Kingdom, they won’t recognize Him (Matt. 24:30).  Like the man said, “Those who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 03-23-13665661_453117764726851_799958152_o

Reblogged from http://gracethrufaith.com/selah/holidays-and-holy-days/passover-and-palm-sunday/
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