26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 27 “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. 28 And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”
Yom Kippur, which is also known as The Day Of Atonement, and is the highest of the Jewish holy days will begin this coming Friday at sunset, and last until Saturday at sunset. Because this High Holy Day falls during a Sabbath day, the Sabbath is a High Sabbath. Ever since the beginning of Rosh Hashanah (which occurred from last Wednesday at sunset, until last Friday at sunset), Jews around the world have been preparing themselves for Yom Kippur. During this ten-day period of time, Jews have been involved in a practice that is known as Teshuvah, which involves repentance. Such repentance involves personal relationships, and relationships with God. Tashlich is also a matter of practice, which relates to the teaching of Micah 7:19, “He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Jews will say prayers and cast bread, or other items of food, upon a body of water. I think that all of us have heard of the saying, “cast you bread upon the waters.” During these “Ten Days Of Awe,” also known as “Ten Days Of Repentance,” Jews are trusting that they will be found worthy of having their names written in a “heavenly book of life,” whereby they will have one more year of life. A cordial greeting that Jews have for other Jews is, Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim: (lit: “may you be inscribed and sealed for a good year”); this is a traditional greeting on the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah).
The following article that discusses the Jewish Feast of Yom Kippur, is provided by ReformJudaism.org. This ministry is a Jewish ministry, as opposed to being a Messianic Jewish ministry.
Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement” and refers to the annual Jewish observance of fasting, prayer and repentance. Part of the High Holidays, which also includes Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur is considered the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. In three separate passages in the Torah, the Jewish people are told, “the tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: You shall practice self-denial.”(Leviticus 23:27). Fasting is seen as fulfilling this biblical commandment. The Yom Kippur fast also enables us to put aside our physical desires to concentrate on our spiritual needs through prayer, repentance and self-improvement.
Yom Kippur is the moment in Jewish time when we dedicate our mind, body, and soul to reconciliation with God, our fellow human beings, and ourselves. We are commanded to turn to those whom we have wronged first, acknowledging our sins and the pain we might have caused. At the same time, we must be willing to forgive and to let go of certain offenses and the feelings of resentment they provoked in us. On this journey we are both seekers and givers of pardon. Only then can we turn to God and ask for forgiveness: “And for all these, God of forgiveness, forgive us, pardon us, and grant us atonement.”
Comments by this writer:
The Day Of Atonement was fulfilled in Jesus, through His substitutionary death, per 2 Corinthians 5:21, as follows:
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
From The Reformation Study Bible, Edited by Dr. R.C. Sproul, ”
5:21 An important summary of the gospel message. The verse explains how God imputed our sin to Christ. God as judge assigned the responsibility of our sin to Christ, making it possible for Him to be punished justly for that sin (Is. 53:6; 1 Pet. 2:24). The verse shows that Christ was our substitute, accepting the penalty of sin in our place. See “The Sinlessness of Jesus” at Heb. 4:15.
5:21 We might become the righteousness of God. Not only did God impute our sin to Christ, He also imputed Christ’s perfect righteousness to us (that is, He counted it as belonging to us). This imputation is the basis for the progressive realization of God’s righteousness in our moral character. Our thoughts and deeds are sanctified in increasing measure until we receive perfect righteousness in heaven.
Let us consider the name of God, Adonai, which is pronounced “a-doh-NIGH.” The meaning of Adonai is “I AM.” Scriptures that relate to Adonai are Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58. (This information on Adonai was obtained from “Hebrew Names For God.”)
The name of God, Adonai, means Lord and Master. If God is Adonai to you, He is the one to whom you submit or bow down; He is the Boss of your life. Adonai is the ultimate authority figure in your life and the One to whom you owe your complete allegiance. (Obtained from CBN article, written by Leah Adams)
Exodus 3:14, “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
3:14 From The Reformation Study Bible, Edited by Dr. R. C. Sproul, “I am who I am. The Lord is not defined or determined by any other than Himself. As the self-existent One, His promise is sure; He will reveal Himself in His saving deeds.
John 8:58, “Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
8:58 From The Reformation Study Bible, Edited by Dr. R.C. Sproul, “before Abraham was, I am. This is a clear reference to Jesus’ eternal preexistence. Since this is an attribute of God alone, this text is a forceful statement of Jesus’ deity. The present tense of the verb suggests the eternal present of God’s eternity. “I am” is also reminiscent of God’s name in Ex. 3:14 (vv. 24, 28 note). See “Jesus Christ, God and Man” at John 1:14.
Now, let us go into worship and praise, as we are led by Paul Wilbur, in the song, “Adonai.”
Without a doubt, a large segment of those, who call themselves Christians, are unable to explain, why they believe that they will go to Heaven when they die. They have no clear understanding of why it is important for them to have a good working knowledge of scriptures that are contained in the Old Testament. Neither, can they draw a correlation between the teachings of the Old and New Testaments. They don’t know what is required of them since they had become Christians. These same people are unsure if they can lose their salvation, or not. Communion is better understood by them as being a matter of confusion. They are flustered when the subject of Revelation is mentioned.
Every church should be very intentional in its requirement to “equip the saints for works of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12). The body of Christ has been given clear instructions in God’s Holy Word to:
“Go, teach, baptize, and teach,” Matthew 28:18-20. (The Great Commission)
“Minister to the less fortunate,” Matthew 25:35-40. (Benevolence)
“Teach others to teach others,” Ephesians 4:12. (Equipping The Saints)
We should be serious about preparing all of our people, both men and women, to share the gospel, to minister to the less fortunate, and to teach others to do the same things. We should place a lot of emphasis on Old Testament scriptures, for the purpose of pointing those scriptures to their fulfillment in Jesus and the new covenant. We should find great value in teaching the feasts of the Jews, as being fulfilled in Christ. We should find great satisfaction in teaching believers, to teach other believers, that once we have been born again, that we can not be “unborn again.” We should find great fulfillment in the teaching of the end times. Great satisfaction should be found in teaching others about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. This should be very successful through our fellowship meals, during which time a remembrance is made of the sacrifice that Jesus made for all who know Him as their Lord and Savior. We should encourage others to consider having such fellowship meals frequently, and also to make it a point of emphasis during times of home Bible studies and other cell group meetings.
In summary, churches should stress the following:
Teach others the things that Jesus taught His disciples. Minister to the less fortunate. Equip saints, “men and women,” to equip other saints. Focus on Old Testament teachings and their New Testament fulfillment. Ensure that saints are aware of their eternal security in Christ. Create a good understanding of the end times. Teach scriptural intimacy that is present in the “Passover/Last Supper/Breaking Bread/Communion Of The Saints.”
Churches and ministries should have teaching that reaches saints who reside around the world. We know that without the shed blood of Jesus, all of our works of ministry would be in vain. Let us consider the words of the following song of worship and praise that tell us about that precious blood of Christ. The song is sung by Elizabeth Ford, and accompanied by the orchestra and choir of the First Baptist Church Of Panama City (Southern Baptist Convention) in Panama City, Florida.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
Consider Hospice. The following statement was taken from The Hospice Foundation Of America’s web description of Hospice.
Hospice offers medical care toward a different goal: maintaining or improving quality of life for someone whose illness, disease or condition is unlikely to be cured. Each patient’s individualized care plan is updated as needed to address the physical, emotional and spiritual pain that often accompanies terminal illness. Hospice care also offers practical support for the caregiver(s) during the illness and grief support after the death. Hospice is something more that is available to the patient and the entire family when curative measures have been exhausted and life prognosis is six months or less.
About nineteen years ago, I had a neighbor who was an over the road truck driver. The man’s tractor trailer rig had a beautiful bright red Freightliner tractor. It was always washed and polished each time that the man was home from a trip. The family consisted of the man that I mentioned, his wife, their adult children, and grandchildren. It was a frequent occurrence to see the family as they would share an evening meal around a table that could be seen through a side wall bay window. It was Thanksgiving of that year that I noticed the family sharing that meal. Early the next morning, the man left for an out of town trip. All seemed to be well with the family. It was when the man’s Freightliner wasn’t seen back in his yard that concern began to set in. Because of the questions that were clouding my mind, I decided to check on the man and his family. I walked across the street and knocked on the front door of the house. The man’s wife opened the door and invited me into the living room. What I encountered next was something that has stayed with me. The man was lying in a hospital bed, and he was dying; he man was suffering from cancer, and his time on earth was uncertain, but death was imminent. Hospice had been called into the situation and was providing outpatient support services. I spoke with the man, but he was very weak. I prayed with the family and returned home. A few days later, at about four o’clock in the morning, I received a telephone call from the man’s wife. She said to me, “Jimmy’s gone.” Suddenly, I felt like I had swallowed a brick. But, I was very blessed to have been called by the family, at such an early hour. I was called back a little while later and was asked to come over to visit the family. The family had spent their quiet and personal time with the husband, father, and grandfather. I prayed with everyone and returned home, with the knowledge that God had used me in a very special way to bring comfort into the life of a very special family.
It was about a year ago that a Hospice representative visited our congregation and gave a wonderful description of the services that are provided by Hospice. I would like to share a few thoughts about the things that were discussed with our church. I trust that my thoughts will be worthy of being shared about such a noble and worthwhile organization.
Our church learned that Hospice is an organization that financially works on a razor thin margin. Of its patients, who are inpatient or outpatient, their lives normally end while they are under Hospice care. Hospice facilities have very professional and caring employees and volunteers. Each facility Chapel is available for the use of its patients and families of patients. It is while a family is spending its last days, hours, or minutes with a loved one who is a Hospice patient, that there is the opportunity for someone to say, “I’m sorry.” It may be a time for someone to say, “I forgive you.” It may also be a time for someone to say, I love you.”
I have learned the need for churches to become involved in supporting Hospice facilities with donations of food and money. Whenever someone has been called to be by the bedside of a dying friend or family member, that grieving person may not want to be searching for a place where they can eat, especially when they know that the next time that they leave the room of their special friend or relative, that it might be the last time that they will see them alive. Food items are needed for such times as these.
When you walk into a Hospice facility, you will find very well-kept buildings that are neatly furnished, decorated, and maintained. The employees and volunteers are always very nice to visitors. Lighting is appropriate, and sometimes subdued. From the patient rooms you can hear conversation and the sound of television programs. Those are things that are obvious to a person’s senses. An unspoken, unseen sense, though, is that whenever you are walking down those beautiful hallways, you are in the midst of imminent death, to the left of you, to the right of you, maybe ahead of you, and maybe behind you. But, wherever you turn around and look, you will be sensing the presence of imminent death.
There was one occasion when I saw an emergency services vehicle pulling up to the rear door of our local Hospice facility. That sighting really affected me and stays with me. We don’t normally think about such a vehicle being used for that purpose. Ambulances are supposed to take people to a medical facility where they are supposed to be treated and returned to their home; but that is not the situation that happens with these types of ambulance rides. A friend of mine, who was also my deacon, is an EMT Supervisor. He told me that it is a different type of ride when he takes someone to Hospice. He said that you can’t say, “I hope you get better.” So, what do those angels of mercy say to their ambulatory patients? I don’t know the answer. I don’t think that anyone has that one figured out. Once, I knew a family whose husband and father was found to have a terminal cancer. It came upon him over a slow moving time of almost a year. The man was a former U.S. Marine, a deacon in his church, and a Sunday School teacher. He was one of the best men that I have ever known. He always took good care of his family, especially his wife. On the day that he became an inpatient at Hospice, he drove himself, with his wife by his side. The man never stopped being the protector of his family.
Now, it’s time for my sales pitch. Let me challenge churches, Sunday School classes, civic organizations, places of employment, and other organizations and individuals to provide assistance to a Hospice facility. If none is close to you, one can be found on the internet. You can send money to Hospice. Any amount of money that you send, will be an amount that they would not have previously had. You can also take a wicker basket to a Hospice facility, with your organization’s name affixed to it, and leave food items such as bananas, apples, cookies, cheese, or anything else that you think might be good snack items for visiting families and friends. You can also take juices and soft drinks. As what was said about the financial contributions, whatever food you take to Hospice is something that they would not have had, if you had not given it to them. It’s important to continue to contribute money and food items to Hospice. Please, let me tell you about the blessing that you will receive from your gifts to Hospice. Whenever you take food items to a Hospice worker, they will put the food in a snack area. None of the people who actually consume the food will know who it was that provided the food for them, with the exception of the name that you may have put on the food basket. I think that such an identifier is important. It could lead someone to your church, or to you personally.
Let’s close our conversation with a song that was sung by Bill Gather, along with the old Cathedrals. Of the Cathedrals, George Younce and Glen Payne have since “gone home” to be with our Lord and Savior, Jesus. May the song be a blessing to you.
2 Corinthians 5:8King James Version (KJV)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Rosh HaShanah Begins This Wednesday Evening At Sunset, And Continues Through Sunset On Friday.
Rosh HaShanah (literally, “Head of the Year”) is the Jewish New Year, which marks the beginning of a 10-day period of prayer, self-examination and repentance. This period, known as the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe or High Holy Days), is widely observed by Jews throughout the world, many with prayer and reflection in a synagogue. There also are several holiday rituals observed at home.
Rosh HaShanah is celebrated on the first day of the Hebrew month of Tishrei, which—because of differences in the solar and lunar calendar—corresponds to September or October on the secular calendar. Customs associated with the holiday include sounding the shofar, eating a round challah, and tasting apples and honey to represent a sweet New Year. (From Reform Judaism.Org)
Consider The Keys Of Rosh HaShanah, Which Are”The Jews, Yeshua Yamashiach, And The Shofar.”
The Jews – God’s Chosen People
Deuteronomy 7:6
“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.”
Yeshua Hamashiach – Jesus
(ham-mah-SHEE-akh) The Annointed. The Messiah (John 1:41). Occurs over 500 times in the Brit Chadashah. “The Christ” (Χριστοῦ) in Koine Greek.(From Hebrews For Christians)
At Beth Yeshua, we as Messianic Jews believe Yeshua (Jesus in Hebrew) is the Messiah. (From Beth Yeshua Messianic Synagogue)
John 4:22, “You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.”
John 14:6. “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The Mighty One Of Israel
Gaithers
The Shofar, The Trumpet – Sound The Alarm
Blow The Trumpet In Zion
Gaithers
Joel 2:1
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand:
2:1–17 Joel urges “all the inhabitants of the land” (v. 1) to prepare for an imminent assault by the army of the Lord. A contrite heart among the people may bring God’s compassion and blessing (v. 14).
2:1 a trumpet. The ram’s horn (Hebrew shophar) was used in warfare and to signal danger. All trembled at the trumpet blast signaling the coming of the day of the Lord (Amos 3:6; Zeph. 1:14–16).
Zion . . . my holy mountain. Jerusalem.
Joel 2:15-16
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; 16 Gather the people, Sanctify the congregation, Assemble the elders, Gather the children and ursing babes; Let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, And the bride from her dressing room.
2:15, 16 Further instructions for returning to the Lord include a fast and an assembly (v. 15), a gathering and consecration of all the people, including the elders, children, nursing infants, and even those about to marry (v. 16). The staccato quality of the Hebrew poetry in these verses emphasizes the urgency of the situation.
1Thessalonians 4:16
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
4:16 the dead in Christ will rise first. For Paul, those “in Christ” constitute a subcategory of those “in Adam” (the whole human race), and comprise all who participate in the salvation of Christ (1 Cor. 15:22, 23), whether they lived before or after Christ. Therefore, this rising of the “dead in Christ” is a resurrection of all the righteous dead, and not merely of New Testament believers.
The following article is provided by Chabad.Org, which is a Jewish ministry, as opposed to a Messianic Jewish ministry. Following the article will be information that non-Jews should understand so that they can be more effective in discussions with Jews. Such discussions should be with love, and very respectful toward “God’s chosen people.” Images will not be shown on my blog. If blog recipients would like to have this colorful product, along with its images, please let me know in your reply to my blog post. Your email address will be protected.
Psalm 122:6 (NKJV), “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, May they prosper who love You.”
Rosh Hashanah/Feast Of Trumpets/Head of the Year
Rosh Hashanah this year is Wednesday evening, September 24, 2014 – Friday, September 26, 2014, followed by Shabbat.
The festival of Rosh Hashanah–the name means “Head of the Year”–is observed for two days beginning on Tishrei 1, the first day of the Jewish year. It is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind’s role in G-d’s world.
Rosh Hashanah thus emphasizes the special relationship between G-d and humanity: our dependence upon G-d as our creator and sustainer, and G-d’s dependence upon us as the ones who make His presence known and felt in His world. Each year on Rosh Hashanah, “all inhabitants of the world pass before G-d like a flock of sheep,” and it is decreed in the heavenly court, “who shall live, and who shall die… who shall be impoverished, and who shall be enriched; who shall fall and who shall rise.” But this is also the day we proclaim G-d King of the Universe. The Kabbalists teach that the continued existence of the universe is dependent upon the renewal of the divine desire for a world when we accept G-d’s kingship each year on Rosh Hashanah.
The central observance of Rosh Hashanah is the sounding of the shofar, the ram’s horn, which also represents the trumpet blast of a people’s coronation of their king. The cry of the shofar is also a call to repentance; for Rosh Hashanah is also the anniversary of man’s first sin and his repentance thereof, and serves as the first of the “Ten Days of Repentance” which culminate in Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Another significance of the shofar is to recall the Binding of Isaac which also occurred on Rosh Hashanah, in which a ram took Isaac’s place as an offering to G-d; we evoke Abraham’s readiness to sacrifice his son and plead that the merit of his deed should stand by us as we pray for a year of life, health and prosperity. Altogether, we listen to 100 shofar blasts over the course of the Rosh Hashanah service.
Additional Rosh Hashanah observances include: a) Eating a piece of apple dipped in honey to symbolize our desire for a sweet year, and other special foods symbolic of the new year’s blessings. b) Blessing one another with the words Leshanah tovah tikateiv veteichateim, “May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.” c) Tashlich, a special prayer said near a body of water (an ocean, river, pond, etc.) in evocation of the verse, “And You shall cast their sins into the depths of the sea.” And as with every major Jewish holiday, after candlelighting and prayers we recite Kiddush and make a blessing on the Challah.
For more about Rosh Hashanah, visit The Jewish New Year megasite where you’ll find everything from a simple, straight-forward how-to guide to Rosh Hashanah observances, to profound insights into the significance of the festival from the wells of Chassidic wisdom. Also – join a Rosh Hashanah service at a Chabad Center near you!
The Jewish feast of Rosh Hashanah begins this Wednesday (Sep 24) at sunset, and continues through Friday (Sep 26) at sunset. The feast is also known as the Feast of Trumpets. The fulfillment of the feast can be found in Matthew 24:31, and can be related to Israeli’s regathering by Jesus. This new year that is beginning is 5775. Consider New Years Eve and New Years Day (Dec 31-Jan 1) that are celebrated by non-Jews. Such celebrations are joyous, as is the “Feast Of Trumpets.” But, consider the depression that sets in, in the minds of non-Jews on their days of end of year and beginning of new year. Such despair of mind is not the norm with Jews when they celebrate their New Year. The first two days of the month of Tishri, which are the days of the Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Hashanah, begin at sunset on Wednesday evening, September 24.
Scriptures that relate to Rosh Hashanah/Feast of Trumpets can be found in Numbers 29:1 and Leviticus 23:23-25. For ten days Jews will be preparing themselves for the Day of Atonement/ Yom Kippur, which will begin at sunset on Friday (Oct 3) and will end at sunset on Saturday (Oct 4). Notice the word “trumpet.” It is a “shofar,” which is a ram’s horn. It relates to 1 Thessalonians 4:16 and 1 Corinthians 15:52, and refers to the trumpet call that will take place when the saints of God are “caught up” (raptured), to meet Jesus in the air (not the Second Coming, Matthew 24:27-31), to be with God forever (beginning with the Judgment Seat Of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10).
The Regathering
Matthew 24:31 (NKJV)
“And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
The Feast Of Trumpets
Numbers 29:1 (NKJV)
29 ‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets.
Leviticus 23:23-25 (NKJV)
23 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’”
Jewish Holidays:
Rosh Hashanah
Rosh Hashanah (literally, “Head of the Year”) is the Jewish New Year, which marks the beginning of a 10-day period of prayer, self-examination and repentance. This year it begins at sunset on September 24th.
The Jewish Calendar
Jews often say: “The holidays are late this year” or “The holidays are early this year.” In fact, the holidays never are early or late; they are always on time, according to the Jewish calendar. Unlike the Gregorian (civil) calendar, which is based on the sun (solar), the Jewish calendar is based primarily on the moon (lunar), with periodic adjustments made to account for the differences between the solar and lunar cycles. Therefore, the Jewish calendar might be described as both solar and lunar. The moon takes an average of 29.5 days to complete its cycle; 12 lunar months equal 354 days. A solar year is 365 1/4 days. There is a difference of 11 days per year. To ensure that the Jewish holidays always fall in the proper season, an extra month is added to the Hebrew calendar seven times out of every 19 years. If this were not done, the fall harvest festival of Sukkot, for instance, would sometimes be celebrated in the summer, or the spring holiday of Passover would sometimes occur in the winter.
Scriptural Information For Non-Jews About Rosh Hashanah/Feast Of Trumpets
It is important for Christians to know as much as possible about Jewish beliefs if a serious debate with Jews about the deity of Jesus is to be effective. Notice that there is a Jewish belief that a heavenly court will determine who will, or will not, have life for the next year. Jews refer to “the book of life” as to whom may have their name removed from that book. They don’t understand that The Lamb’s Book Of Life contains the names of believers in Christ who are written in it for all of eternity, and that no one can have their name removed from it.
Jews are God’s chosen people, in that they were chosen to bring the Messiah (Jesus) into the world. The Patriarchs, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were the blood line that led to the birth of Jesus. Consider the following scriptures that show the importance that God has placed in the Jews. The following verses of scripture show the chosen blood line that leads through the Jews to the Messiah, Jesus.
Genesis 12:1-3 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Now the Lord had said to Abram:“Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 17:1-9, 19 New King James Version (NKJV)
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” 9 And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations..19 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
Genesis 26:17, 23-25, New King James Version (NKJV)
17 Then Isaac departed from there and pitched his tent in the Valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
23 Then he went up from there to Beersheba. 24 And the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham’s sake.” 25 So he built an altar there and called on the name of the Lord, and he pitched his tent there; and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
Genesis 28:1-4 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.3 “May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples; 4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.”
Genesis 35: 9-12 New King James Version (NKJV)
9 Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. 11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.”
Deuteronomy 7:1-8 New King James Version (NKJV)
A Chosen People
1 When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire. 6 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
The reason that God chose the Jews to have the blood line to bring about the Savior is very simple; it was His choice. God loved the whole world (John 3:16), but he chose the blood line of Shem (ancestor of Abraham) to bring the Savior, Jesus, into the world. God loved the descendants of Ham and Japheth, but He chose Shem’s descendants for the important task of providing “the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
John 4:22 New King James Version (NKJV)
22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman and told her a great truth that goes back to the choice of God to bring the Savior (Jesus) to the world through the blood line of the Jews
The Book Of Life And The Lamb’s Book of Life
It is a polite statement to make to a Jew that you wish for their name to be written in the book of life. Scriptures that relate to the two books of life are listed below.
The Book of Life
Exodus 32:32, “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”
The Lamb’s Book Of Life
Phil 4:3, “And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life.”
Rev 3:5, “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.”
Rev 13:8, “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
Rev 17:8, “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.”
Rev 20:12, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”
Rev 20:15, “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Rev 21:27, “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
Rosh Hashanah/Feast Of Trumpets Video And Discussion
The following video provides information on Rosh Hashanah. It shows current day information on the special challenges that Israel, and Jews around the world, face from hostile forces.
Our church will begin a series of studies that will place great emphasis on the events that began with the last Passover meal of Jesus and His disciples, and continued through the events of the meal at Emmaus. We have been blessed by the past times of study that we have had on this particular time frame. We have brought to surface many jewels of God’s Holy Word in past studies; we will dig even deeper this time…We meet each Friday at 7:00 PM. At the end of our study, we have a fellowship meal that follows the model of the last Passover meal, that is recorded in Matthew 26:17-30. During the meal, we have a time of remembrance of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus. For those of you who may have considered having a fellowship at home, or at any other meeting place, this model is one that any believer in Christ can use, and can be done on any day, evening, or night of any week.
In the Name of Jesus, let us worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24).
It is good for me to be able to announce that I will be able to receive comments for posts of Equipping The Saints. I thank you for you patience while I have been dealing with a situation that I had not expected to occur.
Before you read this post, it is essential that you first read:
091014 Why The Severe Punishment Part 1?
Now that you have read the previous post please read this one. Consider the scripture that follows, and then proceed. But, please know that my form of writing is more conversational than what people would find in sermons. It is my desire to serve our Lord Jesus, and to share the many things that many highly knowledgeable pastors, teachers, and other brothers and sisters in Christ have brought to my attention. The things that I write are normally given to me by, what I call, “God grams;” they seem to fare well when all is said and done. Please notice that I use repetition to strengthen key points of study. As with any study of God’s Holy Word, there must be a starting point and an ending point. Of course, the starting point is Genesis 1:1 and the ending point is Revelation 22:21. I pray that I have selected the verses of scripture that give proper importance to this important subject. “Lord, please lead me.”
Leviticus 20:13 New King James Version (NKJV)
13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them
We continue our discussion of the punishment measures that God levied on His chosen people, who were the Jews, who were the descendants of Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The underlying reason for such punishment is sin. Sin is largely dismissed in our society as being mere “life style selections.” But, sin needs to be understood for what it is. It was sin that got Adam and Eve kicked out of the Garden of Eden, and Jesus hung on the cross. When we consider the lifestyles that God will address as being sin, we can see that “no man is an island.” Forgiveness is available for all sins, but the results of those sins, which we often know as collateral damage, can not be undone. A murdered person can not be returned to life. An adulterous action can not be undone. A theft that has been committed will always be a theft. There are lines, that when they are crossed, can not be uncrossed. As we read in God’s Holy Word: Romans 14:23(NKJV) “for whatever is not from faith is sin.”
Exodus 1:1-6 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; 3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 All those who were descendants of Jacob were seventy persons (for Joseph was in Egypt already). 6 And Joseph died, all his brothers, and all that generation.
The family of Israel/Jacob, and its bloodline to the Savior, continues its life in Egypt. The Egyptians turn the Israelites into slave labor and treat them horribly (Ex 1:14).
Exodus 3:1-6 New King James Version (NKJV)
3 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
4 So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
The Angel of the Lord (the pre-existent Christ) appears to Moses. Notice that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are mentioned. Ishmael, who was the son of Abraham and Hagar, is not mentioned in the blood line of the Savior.
Exodus 3:7-10 New King James Version (NKJV)
7 And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
God chooses Moses to deliver the Israelites from the bondage of the Egyptians.
Exodus 13:17-18 New King James Version (NKJV)
17 Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt. 21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.
Because of the severe judgements of God on Egypt, Pharaoh allows the Israelites to leave Egypt. God begins leading His people in a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire. Consider the plagues that God had caused to afflict the Egyptians, with the last plague being the death of the firstborn children of the families of Egypt.
Exodus 14:8-10, 19-29 New King James Version (NKJV)
8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with boldness. 9 So the Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon.
10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.
19 And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28 Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. 29 But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
The Israelites saw how God had delivered them through the Red Sea from the pursuing army of Pharaoh. The Israelites also would be eye witnesses to the many miracles that God would use to sustain them as they wondered through the wilderness.
Exodus 15:22 New King James Version (NKJV)
Bitter Waters Made Sweet
22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
God provided water for the Israelites. 25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.
Exodus 16:1-4 New King James Version (NKJV)
Bread from Heaven
1 And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. 2 Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
God provided food for the Israelites. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day,
Exodus 17:1, 5-6 New King James Version (NKJV)
Water from the Rock
1 Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.
God provided water for the Israelites, again. 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go.6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Exodus 17:8 New King James Version (NKJV)
Victory over the Amalekites
8 Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
God gave victory to the Israelites through the leadership of Joshua. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
Exodus 19:16 New King James Version (NKJV)
16 Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.
The Israelites were eyewitnesses to the supernatural phenomena that was caused by God on Mount Sinai, and responded with great fear and reverence.
Exodus 20:18-19 New King James Version (NKJV)
The People Afraid of God’s Presence
18 Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. 19 Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Exodus 19:1-6 New King James Version (NKJV)
Israel at Mount Sinai
1 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.
3 And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
God announces to Moses that His people, the Israelites, will be a special people, a holy nation. It is important to note that this special charge is being given to the descendants of Shem. Except by incidents of happenstance, the descendants of Ham and Japheth, who are the Gentile nations of the world, will have no part in the Law, feasts, and prophecies of eternal promise that God will ordain for the people of Israel, who are the Jews.
Exodus 19:18-20 New King James Version (NKJV)
18 Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. 19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. 20 Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
It is interesting to know that this day in Jewish history is known as Shavuot. The Day of Pentecost is also known as Shavuot. Consider the way that God’s Holy Spirit also made Himself known on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1-11, as He did in this passage. God uses His power to gain the attention of people, which He did on the day that the Ten Commandments were given, and on the day when Peter preached the first gospel message of the Christian Dispensation, during the Day of Pentecost. Again, Shavuot was the same day for both events.
Exodus 20:1-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Ten Commandments
1 And God spoke all these words, saying: (in verses 2-17, God gives the Ten Commandments to Moses. They are summarized, as follows.)
Thou shalt have no other gods before me
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
Honour thy father and thy mother
Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not commit adultery
Thou shalt not steal
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
Thou shalt not covet
It is important to remember that God gave the Ten Commandments only to the descendants of Shem, who are the Jews, and not to those of Ham and Japheth. The Ten Commandments do not contain a plan of salvation, but explain righteous living. Also, it is important to know that each person has a conscience, as was shown after Adam and Eve sinned, and when Cain murdered his brother, Able. Conscience relates to all descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
To sin is to act in disobedience to the known will of God. It was through the Ten Commandments that God made His will known to His Chosen People, who were the Jews. It was God’s desire for the Jews that they would live their lives in accordance with His will. God saw that the world had people who were worshiping a host of Gods. So, God said to the Jews, “don’t do that.” God saw that people were making images of Gods, and possibly of Him, so He said to the Jews, “don’t do that.” God saw that people were using His Name in ways that were improper, so He said to the Jews, “don’t do that.” It had been about 2500 years since God ordained the Seventh Day as being Holy (Genesis 2:3.) He spoke to Moses in Exodus 16:23 about the Sabbath Day, and again in this passage, both of which occurred within a short span of time of the other. God told the Jews to keep the Sabbath Day holy. Very little is said about the Sabbath Day, and how to keep it holy. This commandment does not say, “go to church.” It is important to also know that the commandment for the Sabbath Day was not given to the descendants of Ham and Japheth, who were Gentiles, in either the Old or New Testaments (See Acts 15, the council in Jerusalem). Neither was the church commanded to keep the Sabbath; Jesus is our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4). The church that I lead, meets each Friday evening. We refer to it as a Sabbath Worship service, because we meet close to the time that the Sabbath begins. It’s okay for us to meet on the Sabbath, and it is also okay for us to not meet on the Sabbath. God wanted parents to be treated with honor, so He told the Jews, “do that.” God saw that people were killing other people, committing adultery, stealing things from other people, not telling the truth, and improperly desiring the possessions of other people, so He said to the Jews, “don’t do any of those things.” … Consider this analogy. A man went to his family doctor. He was having a lot of pain in his left arm. He moved his arm back and forth and said to the doctor, “hey Doc, it hurts when I do that.” Very quickly, the doctor said, “don’t do that!”… It is very similar to the situation that existed between God and the Israelites. God had given them a list of “do’s” and “don’t do’s.” It was very easy for the Jews to adapt the adage of the fictitious doctor to their daily life style, and “don’t do that,” or “do that,” in the situations that surrounded the positively spoken commandments. God was very clear with His words that He spoke when He told the Jews about His punishments that would occur if they would disobey His commands. Just as the man who had an arm that caused him to feel pain, if he would not obey the doc’s words, the Jews would also feel a lot of pain if they chose to not obey God’s words.
Leviticus 23:1-44 (Scriptures of fulfillment follow each feast description)
Feasts of the Lord
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts.
The Sabbath
3 ‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. (Hebrews 3,4)
The Passover and Unleavened Bread
4 ‘These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. 5 On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; seven days you must eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it. 8 But you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall be a holy convocation; you shall do no customary work on it.’”(Passover, 1 Corinthians 5:7; Unleavened Bread, 1 Corinthians 5:8)
The Feast of First fruits
9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And you shall offer on that day, when you wave the sheaf, a male lamb of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. 13 Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord, for a sweet aroma; and its drink offering shall be of wine, one-fourth of a hin. 14 You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.(1 Corinthians 15:23)
The Feast of Weeks
15 ‘And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed.16 Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord. 17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven.They are the first fruits to the Lord. 18 And you shall offer with the bread seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be as a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. 19 Then you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering, and two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering.20 The priest shall wave them with the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. 21 And you shall proclaim on the same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary work on it. It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
22 ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.’” (Acts 1:5; 2:4)
The Feast of Trumpets
23 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. 25 You shall do no customary work on it; and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord.’” (Matthew 24:31)
The Day of Atonement
26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 27 “Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. 28 And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. 29 For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. 30 And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.” (Romans 11:26)
The Feast of Tabernacles
33 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. 35 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. 36 For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it.
37 ‘These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day— 38 besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which you give to the Lord.
39 ‘Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days; on the first day there shall be a sabbath-rest, and on the eighth day a sabbath-rest. 40 And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 41 You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.’”
44 So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. (Zechariah 14:16-19)
Leviticus 23 (NKJV) (Notice that the Feasts Of The Lord were given by God to the children of Israel, who are the Jews. The feasts were not given to the descendants of Ham or Japheth, who were Gentile nations. Therefore, the feasts were not given to the Gentiles or the Church of today. It is important to also know that each of the Feasts Of The Lord were fulfilled in Jesus. A list of scriptures, that tells of each feast being fulfilled in Christ, follows the description of each feast. When the apostles fulfilled the Great Commission of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8), their goal was to share the message of salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). They did not have a reason to teach the law to their Gentile converts, who were coming from paganism to saving faith in Christ. The council at Jerusalem (Acts 15) discussed the situation of the Gentiles. Jews who were coming to saving faith in Christ, were told of the need for them to have “saving faith in Christ.” There was no message of salvation in the Law, or in the Feasts. The message of the new birth is not an invention of the Christian Church. It was stated by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, affirmed by Jesus, and restated by the Apostle Paul (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:24-29; John 3:3-8; 2 Corinthians 5:17). The message of the new birth, or the birth from above, was very simple: ” you must be born again,” John 3:3, 5. The law and feasts of the Jews were designed to lead the Jews to accept Jesus as Messiah. The church that I lead studies the law and the feasts for the same reason.
John 4:22 New King James Version (NKJV)
22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews.
Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman and told her a great truth that goes back to the choice of God to bring the Savior (Jesus) to the world through the blood line of the Jews.
Deuteronomy 7:1-8 New King James Version (NKJV)
A Chosen People
1 When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.
6 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
The reason that God chose the Jews to have the blood line to bring about the Savior is very simple; it was His choice. God loved the whole world (John 3:16), but he chose the blood line of Shem to bring the Savior, Jesus, into the world. God loved the descendants of Ham and Japheth, but he chose Shem’s descendants for the important task of providing “the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
Leviticus 11:44-45 New King James Version (NKJV)
44 For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 45 For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
Leviticus 19:1-2 New King James Version (NKJV)
19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Leviticus 20:26 New King James Version (NKJV)
26 And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.
God spoke to the Jews through Moses, and not to any other group of people. The descendants of Ham and Japheth were left out of this conversation. Because God decided that “the ultimate King Of Righteousness”(Hebrews 7) would come from the Jewish blood line, He also wanted the Jews to be a righteous people to bring about such a righteous “King.” He wanted His people to be the examples of holiness to the world, and to be “just like Him.” Because God chose the Jews to be his special and holy people, He also gave them standards of conduct, with severe consequences for disobedience. The Jews were going to be the standard bearers of righteousness. It was God’s desire for His chosen people to be examples of the Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer, the King of Righteousness, who would be given to our world through the blood line of Shem, Abraham (the Hebrew), and the Jews.
Leviticus 20:9-16 New King James Version (NKJV)
9 ‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him.
10 ‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.11 The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. 12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them. 13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. 14 If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you. 15 If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. 16 If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.
The punishments that we read in the above passage of scripture do not relate to any group of people, other than Old Testament Jews.
We might ask why God would demand such severe measurements of punishment. We might also ask why such punishment would only be demanded of the Jews. It is very simple. Consider all of the things that we have read, from the departure of Shem from the ark, to this point in time. The Jews had first hand knowledge of all of the things that God had done to protect them and to provide their needs. They saw the Red Sea being divided, so they could escape from the army of Pharaoh. They also saw how the sea closed and drowned their pursuers. They saw the pillar of could and pillar of fire leading them in the wilderness. They received the food and water that God had provided for them when they had none. They saw Joshua leading the Jews to victory over the Amalekites. They saw the first born of each Jewish family arise to life, while, on the same morning the first born of each Egyptian family died. The chosen people of God saw many other things that should have prepared them to live obediently to God’s commands of righteousness. The 613 Torah Commandments are specific in identifying righteous day to day lifestyle actions and motives. There is no plan of salvation in the Torah, but there is a rule for individual righteous lifestyles.
1 Peter 1:15-16 New King James Version (NKJV)
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.
God spoke to the Jews through Moses. The Holy Spirit spoke through Peter to those who knew Jesus as their Lord and Savior. The message is the same for both groups of people. “Be holy.” What it is that God spoke through Moses and Peter is very simple. In essence, He said, ” you are supposed to be like Me,” so “I want you to live your daily lives like Me.” Or, more simply stated, God said, “be just like Me, as much as you are able to do so, while in your mortal bodies.”Also, God was saying, “be like my Son Jesus.”
1 Peter 2:21-22 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Christ Is Our Example
21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth;
Let’s go back to the situation of the Jews, and the Ten Commandments, the Law, the feasts, being given only to them, and not to the descendants of Ham and Japheth. We might ask about Jesus, and how He treated to such things. The following verse is one of many that attest to the righteousness of Jesus, in that He led a sinless life. There are many other verses that state the same truth.
Let’s consider Jesus, as He viewed the Law, and His relation to it.
Matthew 5:17-18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
As we see in verse seventeen, Jesus said that He came to fulfill the Law. He also said that such a completion would not take place until “all is accomplished.” We can see that accomplishment taking place in the following passage.
John 19:25-30 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
25 Therefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then He said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.
28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, “I am thirsty.” 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. 30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
We can see that when Jesus was on the cross, and immediately before He died, when He said “it is finished,” all was accomplished,” (as it relates to the fulfilling of the law by Jesus.) But, consider what Jesus had said about specific commandments of the Law.
Mark 12:28-31 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Scribes: Which Is the First Commandment of All?
28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?”
29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’This is the first commandment.
31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other
commandment greater than these.”
As was common, great trickery was used by the scribes and Pharisees in their attempts to degrade the person of Jesus. In this passage we see that Jesus was asked to name the greatest commandment. That would have easy for Jesus to do; after all, He wrote them! But, instead of doing a memorization of the ten commandments, and picking out one of them, He made a simple statement. He said that the greatest commandment was to “love God, totally.” Then, He added something that wasn’t asked of Him, and wasn’t written along with “the ten.” He added a commandment, by saying that “we should love our neighbor as ourselves.”
Do we keep the ten commandments? Of course we do. We even keep the Sabbath holy by being born again, thereby letting Jesus be our Sabbath rest. But, there is no salvation in the works that we do. Still, there is great credibility shown in our lifestyles by being faithful to the commandments of God. By believing in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have satisfied every requirement that God has placed on us. If we have been born again, we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. If we believe in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have been born again, and have been granted eternal life with Jesus by having our born again spirit indwelling the Spirit of Father, Son, Holy Spirit (John 3:3; John 3:16-18, ).
Let’s consider the matter of the Sabbath as it relates to today’s day to day life. As it relates to worship, either we worship on the Sabbath, or we don’t, with the time frame being from Friday at sunset until Saturday at sunset. If we adhere to such a regiment of worship, there can be no exceptions, absolutely no exceptions. Let’s also consider the aspect of work. As it relates to work, either there is no work allowed on the Sabbath, or is there is not. If we say that no work is allowed on the Sabbath, “no work” can be permitted during the hours of sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. If we adhere to such a regiment of “no work,” there can be no exceptions, no exceptions. I won’t go into all of the examples, because I think that the obvious is very obvious. But, God has given us a verse of scripture that is important for us to remember.
Mark 2:27 New King James Version (NKJV)
27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
God knows that not all airliners can stop flying between the hours of Friday at sunset until Saturday at sunset. God also knows that all police officers and military personnel can not be off the job each Friday at sunset until Saturday at sunset. God knows that not all hospitals can be closed from each Friday at sunset until Saturday at sunset. God knows that critically ill people can not be in a formal place of worship during the hours of Friday at sunset, until Saturday at sunset. Jesus doesn’t wear a Rolex. Consider what Jesus thinks is important about our relationship with him.
John 17:3 New King James Version (NKJV)
3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Philippians 3:10 New King James Version (NKJV)
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
God desires an intimate relationship with His people. Such a relationship is one that is not of doing, but of intimacy. God desires us to have a personal relationship with Him that is based on what He has done for us, and not on one that we are not able to achieve by our own actions.
Hebrews 4:3, 9, 10 New King James Version (NKJV)
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:“So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Now, what do we say about the severe forms of punishment that we find written in God’s Holy Word, in Leviticus 20:9-16? They were prescribed by God for a specific people, who were the Jews. It was prescribed for a specific reason, which was to prepare the Jews to be a people of righteousness who would model a coming Messiah, who is Jesus. It was prescribed for a specific time in history, which ended with the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross. Consider the Jews. Do they still offer animal sacrifices?
Leviticus 4:35 New King James Version (NKJV)
35 He shall remove all its fat, as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering. Then the priest shall burn it on the altar, according to the offerings made by fire to the Lord. So the priest shall make atonement for his sin that he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.
Consider the Spirit of the living God, and how any of us may be brought into His Presence.
Ezekiel 43:1-5 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Temple, the Lord’s Dwelling Place
1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, the gate that faces toward the east. 2 And behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory. 3 It was like the appearance of the vision which I saw—like the vision which I saw when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision which I saw by the River Chebar; and I fell on my face. 4 And the glory of the Lord came into the temple by way of the gate which faces toward the east. 5 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court; and behold, the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Let’s consider the holiness of God as we go to Him in worship through the leading of Paul Wilbur.
Let The Weight Of Your Glory Fall // For Your Name Is Holy
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9 ‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him.
This post will be the first of two posts that will be used to explain the subject. The following, and concluding post, will soon follow and will have the identifying number of 091114, with its title being “Why The Severe Punishment Part 2.” Verses 10-16 of Leviticus 20 will be addressed.
The punishment that is listed above, and others that we will discuss, can be viewed as being very severe. Why would a loving God prescribe such extreme measures? Let’s go back to the beginning of time for a timeline of things that brought about such a need. A lot of detail will be found in this post, but it is invaluable for a proper understanding of the subject. It may be best for this study to be broken down into smaller units of detail that will provide for a better comprehension of the many happenings that led up to the punishments that God placed upon “His chosen people, Israel.”
Genesis 1:31 New King James Version (NKJV)
31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
The world was created. Not a thing was wrong. As people say today, “not a problem.”
Genesis 2:15-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The first rule was given by God to Adam, “don’t eat anything from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” That was a simple rule, but let’s look at what took place.
Genesis 3:6 New King James Version (NKJV)
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
God had given a wife to Adam (Gen 2:21-25). The wife, Eve (Gen 3:20), disobeyed God, and Adam joined in her disobedience.
Genesis 3:22-24 New King James Version (NKJV)
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
God drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, we can see that there “really was a problem.”
Romans 5:12 New King James Version (NKJV)
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
The problem that resulted was “death.” From the time of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden, until the time in which we live, death has affected every part of our human life (body, soul, spirit – 1 Thessalonians 5:23). Also, prior to the fall of Adam and Eve, every aspect of nature was perfect. That part of God’s creation also fell from its created perfection.
Genesis 3:13-15 New King James Version (NKJV)
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:“Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
Through the “seed of the woman” (verse 15) God would provide a Redeemer, a Savior, a Messiah, to save mankind from its fallen state. Notice the words, “seed of woman.” Normal childbirth comes from the seed of man. This verse is the first prophecy of the virgin birth of the Savior, Jesus.
Genesis 4:1-2,8 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the Lord.” 2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
The problem escalates. The firstborn of Adam and Eve murdered his brother. The lie of Eve (the first lie of mankind), the outward disobedience of Adam and Eve, and now, the first murder takes place. Consider the lie.
Genesis 3:2-3 New King James Version (NKJV)
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
God didn’t tell Adam and Eve that they couldn’t touch the tree, only they couldn’t eat of it.
Genesis 6:5-7 New King James Version (NKJV)
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”
The sinful lives of fallen mankind had become so repulsive to God, that He decided to destroy all of His created life, everything but fish (Genesis 6:17).
Genesis 6:11-13 New King James Version (NKJV)
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
13 And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth..
The fall had also affected God’s creation of natural things. The creation of humans and nature were no longer “very good” (Genesis 1:31). God planned a destruction of living beings and natural things.
Genesis 6:17 New King James Version (NKJV)
17 And behold, I Myself am bringing flood waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die.
A worldwide flood would destroy all created life, except fish.
Genesis 7:1 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.
God chose the family of Noah to be saved from the flood.
Genesis 8:15-17 New King James Version (NKJV)
15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you: birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, so that they may abound on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
The flood ended, and Noah and his family departed the ark to repopulate the earth. But, even though eight human beings had been saved from death, they carried with them, a condition of the pre-flood life and world.
Romans 7:15,17 New King James Version (NKJV)
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
From the fall of Adam and Eve, mankind has had the will to sin, which is the result of “indwelling sin.” Even though Noah’s family survived the flood, they still carried with them, the inherent vice of “indwelling sin.”
Genesis 9:18-19 New King James Version (NKJV)
18 Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. 19 These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.
Of the three sons of Noah, one of them would carry the blood line of the Savior that was spoken of by God to Eve (Genesis 3:15).
Genesis 11:10 New King James Version (NKJV)
10 This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.
The blood line begins to the Savior. God has chosen Shem for that blood line.
Shem, Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Nahor, Serug, Nahor, Terah, then ..
Genesis 11:26 New King James Version (NKJV)
26 Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Of Terah’s sons, God would choose one of them to carry forward the blood line of the Savior.
Genesis 12:1-3 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Now the Lord had said to Abram:“Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Of the descendants of Shem, God chose Abram to carry forward the blood line to the Savior.
Genesis 17:1-9, 19 New King James Version (NKJV)
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” 9 And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations..19 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
The blood line to the Savior will carry forward through the son of Abraham, who will be named Isaac.
Genesis 28:1-4 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. 2 Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.3 “May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples; 4 And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.”
The blood line to the Savior will carry forward through the son of Isaac, who was Jacob.
Genesis 35:9-12 New King James Version (NKJV)
9 Then God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Padan Aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel. 11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land.”
God calls Jacob “Israel.” The blessing is further explained.
Exodus 40:34-38 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Cloud and the Glory
34 Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 36 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. 37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. 38 For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.
Let’s consider the holiness of God as we go to Him in worship through the leading of Paul Wilbur.
Holy, Holy, Holy, Worthy
Paul Wilbur
Comments are appreciated, and are great sources of encouragement. In order to protect the privacy of bloggers who comment on my posts, no such comments will be shown on my blog. If you would like to have a private response from me, please put your email address in your comment. That data will not be shown anywhere in my blog. Please let me caution all bloggers to protect their privacy. That is why I have removed my community of bloggers and comments from bloggers from my blog.
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Numbers 15:38-41 New King James Version (NKJV)
38 “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. 39 And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, 40 and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”
Consider the holiness of God, as His Presence in your life should be shown outward to others.
Luke 8:43-48 New King James Version (NKJV)
43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
45 And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”
46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
Numbers 15:37-41 New King James Version (NKJV)
Tassels on Garments
37 Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 38 “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. 39 And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, 40 and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.
1 Peter 1:15-16 New King James Version (NKJV)
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”
Consider: “the garment of Jesus;” “the border of His garment.”
Consider: “the tassels on the borders of the garments.”
Consider: “the prayer shawl that Jesus wore, the Tallit;” “the tzitzit.” “the fringes of the garment.”
Tallit (Search “Tallit” for pictures)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
White tallit
A white tallit according to some Sephardic traditions
Tallit with black stripes
A tallit with black stripes according to the Orthodox Ashkenazic tradition
A tallit [taˈlit] (Hebrew: טַלִּית) (talit[1] in Modern Hebrew, Sephardic Hebrew and Ladino) (tallis,[2] in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish) pl. tallitot [taliˈtot] (talleisim,[3] tallism,[4] in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish) is a Jewish prayer shawl. The tallit is worn over the outer clothes during the morning prayers (Shacharit) and worn during all prayers on Yom Kippur.[5] The tallit has special twined and knotted fringes known as tzitzit attached to its four corners. Most traditional tallitot are made of wool. Tallitot are often first worn by children on their Bar Mitzvahs. In orthodox, Ashkenazi circles, a Tallit is customarily presented to a groom before marriage as part of the dowry.
Philippians 2:9-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Consider an attitude of Holiness during your worship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.
Paul Wilbur
For Your Name Is Holy – I Enter The Holy of Holies
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Sermon Outline – Holiness Through Jesus – Friday Sabbath Worship
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 New King James Version (NKJV)
21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
Exodus 20:1-17 King James Version (KJV)
1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
13 Thou shalt not kill.
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
Romans 5:12-14 King James Version (KJV)
12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Romans 5:12-14 New International Version (NIV)
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned —
13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam,(E) who is a pattern of the one to come.
Romans 5:12-14 Living Bible (TLB)
12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. His sin spread death throughout all the world, so everything began to grow old and die, for all sinned.13 We know that it was Adam’s sin that caused this because although, of course, people were sinning from the time of Adam until Moses, God did not in those days judge them guilty of death for breaking his laws—because he had not yet given his laws to them nor told them what he wanted them to do. 14 So when their bodies died it was not for their own sins since they themselves had never disobeyed God’s special law against eating the forbidden fruit, as Adam had.
What a contrast between Adam and Christ who was yet to come!
Romans 5:12-14 The Message (MSG)
12-14 You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn’t sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it.
Romans 5:12-14 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
12 This, then, is what happened. Sin made its entry into the world through one man, and through sin, death. The entail of sin and death passed on to the whole human race, and no one could break it for no one was himself free from sin.
13-14 Sin, you see, was in the world long before the Law, though I suppose, technically speaking, it was not “sin” where there was no law to define it. Nevertheless death, the complement of sin, held sway over mankind from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sin was quite unlike Adam’s. Adam, the first man, corresponds in some degree to the man who has to come.
Romans 7:15-20 New International Version (NIV)
15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
Deuteronomy 7:6 New King James Version (NKJV)
6 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
Leviticus 19:1-2New King James Version (NKJV)
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Holy Are You Lord
Terry Mac Almon
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1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
We Have This Moment Today
Gaither – Bill And Gloria Gaither
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:23-25 New King James Version (NKJV)
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.
Then I Met The Master
Gaither – Jake Hess, James Blackwood, Glen Payne
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:23-25 New King James Version (NKJV)
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:23-25 New King James Version (NKJV)
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Gaither – Cynthia Clawson
14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:23-25 New King James Version (NKJV)
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”
24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
The subject is the new birth. It was made in response to a communication that I had with a fellow blogger.
Thank you for the scriptures and for your ideas. Please let me add something. It is important for us to know “from what we were saved.” The spirit, soul, and body (1 Thes 5:23) were all affected by the fall of Adam. All components of our total being were flawed and began the death cycle upon our conception. When we were born again, it was our spirit that was born again. Immediately, our spirit began to indwell the Spirit of God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Our spirit then became as pure as the spirit of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our “born again” spirit can not sin. However, our soul (our mind, emotions, etc) has not been born again, and will continue to be capable of having sinful thoughts until we die. Also, our body has not been born again, and will continue to suffer from the effects of dying until we die, which is a result of the fall of Adam. When we are caught up (1Thes 4:13-18; 1 Cor 15:50-55) in the rapture, our bodies, souls, and spirits rejoin in perfection. At the time of our death, prior to the rapture, our soul and spirit are reunited and we are in the presence of God (2 Cor 5:6-10). At the time of the Rapture, our body will join our spirit and soul The people who have not been born again will stay in death until they face the Great White Throne Judgement and will receive the judgement that would have been taken by Jesus, if they had been born again (Rev 20:11-15) (Col 2:11-14).
Squire Parsons sings of the expectant hope of being in Beulah Land. The hope for believers in Christ, those of us who have been born again, is an expectant hope. For those who have not been born again, Beulah Land is only a thought. If you are not sure if you have been born again, please read the Gospel Of John. Pray for God to lead you in coming to a trusting and believing relationship in Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. If you have such a belief, you have been born again. If you have been born again, you also have a relationship of trust and belief in Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Please don’t discard this concern that I have for all people who have no such saving relationship in Jesus. In the video, which was recorded in the early 1990s, you will see a number of the singers who have gone on to be with the Lord. They had been born again; they had trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. It will be wonderful spending eternity with them, “in Beulah Land.” Where you will spend eternity?
Sweet Beulah Land
Comments are appreciated, and are great sources of encouragement. In order to protect the privacy of bloggers who comment on my posts, no such comments will be shown on my blog. If you would like to have a private response from me, please put your email address in your comment. That data will not be shown anywhere in my blog. Please let me caution all bloggers to protect their privacy. That is why I have removed my community of bloggers and comments from bloggers from my blog.
Stories Of Three Woman In The Bible Who Were Saved By Grace; Greatly Varying Circumstances With The Same Results
Compassion Church Friday Sabbath Worship – August 29, 2014
Sermon Outline
1. The Samaritan Woman At The Well. John 4:14-39.
John 4:14-39 New King James Version (NKJV)
14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”
19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”
21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things.”
26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”
The Whitened Harvest
27 And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”
28 The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31 In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
32 But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”
33 Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”
34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! 36 And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”
The Savior of the World
39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.”
2. The Woman With The Issue Of Blood. Luke 8:43-48.
Luke 8:43-48 New King James Version (NKJV)
43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
45 And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?
46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” 47 Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
3. The Woman Caught In Adultery. John 8:1-11.
John 8:1-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
Consider the severity and repetitive use of the word “condemn,” which is seen through Romans 8:1.
1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say? 6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
John 3:16-18 New King James Version (NKJV)
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Romans 8:1 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Scriptures for consideration of personal holiness.
Leviticus 19:1-2 New King James Version (NKJV)
19 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
Romans 5:12 New King James Version (NKJV)
Death in Adam, Life in Christ
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 New King James Version (NKJV)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Colossians 2:13-14 New King James Version (NKJV)
13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
1 John 1:5 New King James Version (NKJV)
1 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
Habakkuk 2:20 New King James Version (NKJV)
20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
Revelation 20:11-15 New King James Version (NKJV)
The Great White Throne Judgment
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
The words of Habakkuk 2:20 relate to a court room scene. The words of Revelation 20:11-15 relate to court room verdicts. Consider settling out of court, per Colossians 2:13-14, where your judgement will be taken by Jesus.
Consider the message of the song of grace that is sung by Robin Mark.
There’s A Lot Of Pain (Outrageous Grace)
Robin Mark
Comments are appreciated, and are great sources of encouragement. In order to protect the privacy of bloggers who comment on my posts, no such comments will be shown on my blog. If you would like to have a private response from me, please put your email address in your comment. That data will not be shown anywhere in my blog. Please let me caution all bloggers to protect their privacy. That is why I have removed my community of bloggers and comments from bloggers from my blog.
Eternity 