Showing posts with label salvation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salvation. Show all posts

Thursday 26 March 2015

Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts

Getting closer to the 14th of Nisan, the most important day of the year in which we celebrate our salvation, we think about freedom or liberty.

Many people may be caught in chains but not aware of it. Many may be bounded to this world, but not aware of it. Lots of people can  not find true wisdom because they are not really interested in the reality and truth. For lots of people what is important is that hey enjoy life as much as they can. But they forget that lots of problems they get in life are just because they have not liberated their thoughts from the binding with this world.

In ancient times we can find the Israelites giving ear to their leader Moshe (Moses) and bringing a freewill offering to the Most High Elohim Hashem Jehovah. They were not yet so bounded to the material goods like many present inhabitants of this world. At that time every man and woman whose heart was willing to bring materials for all the work that God through Moses had commanded them to do, were prepared to take time for God and to bring offerings. Moses told them who God had chosen to fill them with His Power, giving them skill, with understanding, with knowledge, and in all kinds of work. The men of God got all sorts of skills,  to design artistic designs, to work in gold, in silver, and in bronze,  and in cutting stones for their setting, and in cutting wood, to do work in every artistic craft.

Though He not only gave them skill and wisdom just for themselves, but also to put the things in their heart to teach.
Exo 35:29-35 MKJV  The sons of Israel brought a willing offering to Jehovah, every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring for all kinds of work which Jehovah had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses.  (30)  And Moses said to the sons of Israel, See, Jehovah has called the son of Uri the son of Hur, by the name Bezaleel, of the tribe of Judah.  (31)  And He has filled him with the spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of work,  (32)  and to devise designs, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze,  (33)  and in the cutting of stones to set, and in carving of wood, to make any kind of skillful work.  (34)  And He has put in his heart that he may teach, he and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.  (35)  He has filled them with wisdom of heart to work all kinds of work; of the smith, and of the skillful worker, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in bleached linen, and of the weaver, of those who do any work, and of those who work out artful work.
These days we think about the many challenges the People of God received.

Exodus 1:1-22 had portrayed in graphic detail the suffering which Pharaoh had inflicted upon the Israelites. Exodus 2:1-25 shows us what God wanted do about it. God's solution consists not in some phenomenal miracle or in the promotion of a mighty Israelite leader who was already alive (either of which we might have expected, had we not already known the story). God's solution consists instead in the birth of a son.

This provides both a pattern for the future and a salutary lesson. One day God would again send a son -- this time His Own -- to deliver a people from slavery. Again He would prepare the child from birth, bringing it safely from the womb and nourishing and developing it for the immense task that lay ahead. the Old Testament shows us how a begin was made to create a people and in the New Testament we can find again an other people was finding a creation with a creation of a New Word, Jesus Christ becoming the firstborn of that creation.

In the 4th chapter of Exodus we do find signs showing God's control over life and death, how inanimate objects can become alive; living things can become dead!
In the 5th chapter we find God not requesting His people's freedom, but Him demanding it!

God requires actions from Moses, Pharaoh and form those men and women who say they want to worship the Only One True God. God is willing to hear their moaning and is willing to come close to them and to liberate them form slavery.

The world was going to see what the Adonai Creator of heaven and earth was going to do to Pharaoh, for compelled by His strong Hand Jehovah will release His People, and by His strong Hand He drove them out of the land of Egypt.
All people had come to know that This Liberator is the Most High Saviour, like there is no other.   God spoke to Moses and declared Who He is and Who the people should come to know Who He is.

The Great One Who appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, had to become known by His Holy Name. In ancient Egypt God was not yet known by the people over there. Though He gave them His Name and established His covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they were living as resident foreigners. He also heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians were enslaving, and He had remembered His covenant.  Therefore Moses had to tell the Israelites that He, Jehovah is the Most High LORD Who would bring them out from their enslavement to the Egyptians. It is this Most High Adonai Who will rescue us from the hard labor we are imposes. The Judaic people received the assurance that God will redeem them with an outstretched arm and with great judgments and will take them to Himself for a people, and He will be their God.  Then also they will know that He is the LORD their God, who brought them out from their enslavement to the Egyptians.
Then Jehovah also promised them again that He will bring them to the land He swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob — and He will give it to them as a possession because He is the Lord over all the lords, the God of gods.

Exo 6:1-8 MKJV  And Jehovah said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he shall let them go, and with a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land.  (2)  And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am Jehovah.  (3)  And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty. But I was not known to them by the name JEHOVAH.  (4)  And I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their travels, in which they traveled.  (5)  And I have also heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, those whom the Egyptians are keeping in bondage. And I have remembered My covenant.  (6)  Therefore say to the sons of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you out of their bondage. And I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments.  (7)  And I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God. And you shall know that I am Jehovah your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.  (8)  And I will bring you in to the land concerning which I lifted up My hand to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And I will give it to you for a heritage. I am Jehovah!
Knowing the Only One True God, God's people has to come together to worship this Adonai but also to remember what happened in ancient Egypt.  therefore all over the world millions of believers will gather after sunset on the 3rd of April to remember the liberation of God's People and the provision for those who want to follow the send one from God.

Please be welcome at the remembrance services Friday night April 3, 2015

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Find also to read:
  1. Death of Christ on the day of preparation
  2. Imprisonment and execution of Jesus Christ
  3. For the Will of Him who is greater than Jesus
  4. On the first day for matzah
  5. Servant for the truth of God
  6. The Anointed One and the first day of No Fermentation
  7. Vayikra after its opening word וַיִּקְרָא, which means and He called
  8. Slave for people and God 
  9. Servant of his Father 
  10. Self inflicted misery #3 A man given to suffer for us 
  11. 14 Nisan a day to remember #1 Inception
  12. 14 Nisan a day to remember #2 Time of Jesus
  13. 14 Nisan a day to remember #3 Before the Passover-feast
  14. 14 Nisan a day to remember #4 A Lamb slain
  15. 14 Nisan a day to remember #5 The Day to celebrate
  16. 14-15 Nisan and Easter
  17. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
  18. A Holy week in remembrance of the Blood of life
  19. High Holidays not only for Israel
  20. Festival of Freedom and persecutions
  21. Timely Growth
  22. A Messiah to die
  23. Impaled until death overtook him
  24. Swedish theologian finds historical proof Jesus did not die on a cross
  25. Why 20 Nations Are Defending the Crucifix in Europe
  26. Christ having glory
  27. Kingdom Visions of a Man, Throne and Great crowd
  28. Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian
  29. Self inflicted misery #6 Paying by death
  30. After the Sabbath after Passover, the resurrection of Jesus Christ
  31. Vrijdag 3 april 2015 een dag voor verenigde samenkomst ter herinnering
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Thursday 10 July 2014

Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness

What can be the truth and what do we understand under ‘the truth’? Are we speaking of man made sets of concepts and beliefs, or the accumulation of scientific knowledge, or mathematical certainties?

How can we find the truth and do we need to examine only all the NT writings or do we have to look at the OT writings also?

How can we get the full story of early Christianity and how much interest do we have to have for theological writings or to church letters and books written after the gospels and epistles?

Are you not curious what those Christians in the Old Times believed and how believes changed and churches found ways to grow? But those growing churches did they keep to the Truth? Did they not bring in teachings to become more popular and to have more people who could find their traditional events integrated in the church?

With education, we are able to discern between right and wrong, good and evil, and make what we might term moral choices. The human being is privileged that it has a brain which can be used to get such an insight. We as human beings can have a level of awareness and with it an ability to come to a natural expression of our physical organisation or being, and that it is an innate capacity or potential that we are uniquely born with.

The 21st century has brought us to an age of increasing complexity and sophistication, which is being driven by scientific advancements on a scale never seen before. These advancements are coupled in a strange way with a veneer of rationality that is difficult to reconcile with the advances in science. As science seeks to explain and explore every detail of the material world, the media and entertainment industries bombard us with increasingly puerile levels of information, often delivered in oversimplified sound-bites backed by expertly crafted graphic imagery for easy acceptance. The outcome is a society which has generally lost the ability to think and reason critically on the deeper questions of life.
On the net you shall be able to find a new website which shall look at the way how we can look and interpret the Bible. There are numerous teachings in the Bible, but it can be good to now and then just to look at some basic elements which are not so hidden in that book that it would be to difficult to find.

In any case are there 5 teachings in the Bible which stand out and upon which all the others are based. Each of these are intimately connected, and none stands fully alone or independent. Other important teachings such as Law, sin, righteousness, faith, grace and salvation are all connected to these central themes and in some measure they are built upon them. These core teachings stand therefore in some measure as a foundation, and upon them and around them can be built a fuller understanding of the ways of God.

At the new website you may find core concepts for your investigation.

  1. God’s revealed purpose with both mankind and with the earth: God's Plan
  2. The revealed Creator of heaven and earth: the Elohim Allah God: Jehovah
  3. God His Revelation – God has spoken and revealed Himself and His ways. This is in His Word, in the book we commonly call the Bible.
  4. Human being, animals and plants, the elements in the universe.
  5. Jesus Christ – God’s son, whom God raised up to be a saviour. He is the completion of God’s purpose, the very image of the invisible God.  The Nazarene man whom was called Jeshua, but of whom people changed his name in Jesus 'Hail Zeus' and made him a god of a threesome.
  6. Self-Awareness – and the Choices this Awareness Brings?
 Most of us don’t really seek for answers but are somewhat satisfied by the consensus of opinions advanced by the experts and thought leaders we follow, whether consciously or subconsciously. The added complexity to the question of existence is the self-evident fact that total objectivity is rarely possible, since every one of us has prejudices that colour our reasoning and conclusions. This often works in ways that we are not even aware of. This is a peculiar quirk of the human condition. Our ability to be totally objective is often challenged by our education, culture, peer group or simply our preferred group’s prejudices. Most of us have an innate bias or need to conform to the consensus position of the particular group that we most closely identify with. This causes most people to rely upon the conclusions of those they respect and identify with, and who are often experts at articulating their positions. We rationalise, that if they cannot get it right and tell us the answers, who really can? 
Many may be looking for a long time in their life for true knowledge and wisdom. Do you have any idea where you or others can find it?
Where is the source of true meaning? Is it found in the world; in its philosophy, science, education, religions, or worldly wisdom?

While all of these fields are capable of helping us in our day to day struggles, they are not able to give us an answer to the larger question of purpose. They certainly may be treasured, but they are not that which really counts, which is more valuable than the sum total of all else. The Bible informs us many times that this treasure can only come from above, i.e. from God.  
 


Find more about it in:

  1. Chapter 1 - General Introduction to the Blog Basic Bible Teaching: The Core Teachings of the Bible.
  2. 1.The Core Teachings of the Bible 1.      TheCore Teachings of the Bible
  3. The Core Teachings of the Bible Chapter 2 - Self-Awareness – and the Choices this Awareness Brings?
  4. The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth
  5. The Core Teachings of the Bible Chapter 2 - The Common Human Experience: 1.      The Common Human Experience
  6. Is There a Greater Purpose to Life?
  7. Yes – Purpose and Wisdom can be found.

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Saturday 22 March 2014

The one who set the standard

With the writings on this site and some of our others sites, like Stepping Toes, the Brethren in Christ and our ecclesia site, we would love to bring more people to come to know Who took care of all the beautiful things we can see around us and what promises where given to humankind.

With the postings you shall be able to find on this site and on the above mentioned, we do hope you and many other readers coming along here, shall come to see what a beautiful message is given to humankind.
In the past many men of God told about the wonders which came and still shall come onto the people who are willing to recognise their Creator.

On this and the other mentioned pages we do hope to give an idea of the many promises which also can become a reality for us. All of us can find a hope which is set before all of us. We only should be willing to come to see it and believe those things which have been told in the past.


Once you begin to appreciate the Hope God sets before us in His Word, you want to know how to lay hold of it. You realize as you read more, that He sets a standard for men to follow which you have not begun to reach. If you really want to please God, you will feel the need, like those men in Jerusalem, to have your conscience made clean. The way God has prescribed for us is to be baptised into the Lord Jesus, symbolically washing away in the waters our old life, and starting again as if we were newly born, members of God's holy people. Then, the New Testament insists, we shall be heirs of those promises of the Kingdom of God:
 "For in Christ Jesus", writes Paul, "you are all sons of God, through faith" (Galatians 3:26). 
Imagine that! What a privilege, to be called sons and daughters of God!
"For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise" (Galatians 3: 27-29).
All that Jesus inherits -- the land, the throne, the blessing-all will be ours. How exciting and moving it is, to think what God offers us. It is as if we are being introduced already to the new covenant God will make with His people. God's law is written on our heart, our sins are washed away, and we are enrolled for a place in that age when war and famine, sin and sorrow will be banished for ever from the earth. 

Paul uses another figure in Romans 11. He says we Gentile believers are like sprigs of a wild olive tree that have been picked up by God the gardener and grafted into the stem of the olive tree of Israel. We share the rich sap that keeps the life flowing, and we will be there in the time of harvest.
"I want you to understand this mystery brethren",
he says, as he explains the long gap between the two Comings:
"a hardening has come upon part of Israel".
He means that only a minority of the Jewish people accepted the good news Jesus and the apostles brought; the hearts of the rest were too hard for the good seed of the Kingdom to grow.
But Israel's hardness of heart is not for ever.
 "Until the full number of the Gentiles come in", he continues, "and so all Israel will be saved; as it is written"
  
-- and he quotes from one of the 'Messiah' passages in Isaiah -- 
"the Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob. And this will be my covenant with them",
 he adds, repeating the passage we read from Jeremiah 33,
 "when I take away their sins" (Romans 11:24-27). 
Notice the time period-when the full number of the Gentiles has come in. It has not come in yet. God is still calling us to come into His family. But one day, soon, perhaps very soon, the door will be shut. The Lord Jesus will be here with power to rule over the nations, and bring men to judgement for despising God's laws. 

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Monday 27 January 2014

Many forgot how Christ should be our anchor and our focus

When we look at the trends in the spiritual life of people we notice a growing trend among elders, preachers, and members of the church of Christ which is to turn Christianity and worship into things that are casual in nature.

People are given the freedom to look at their faith like they want to have it. they also may come to worship God whenever they like “as they are” and “dressed as they are.” Some preachers do not find it necessary to prepare their sermon because it has to be casual and straight from the heart. In some churches people have become totally against prepared or printed prayers , saying they would not come from the heart. Everything in service should be improvised and or casual.

73% of born again Christians may say that it is important to share their faith with others, but when we walk around is our environment we do not hear many talking about the Word of God or about the hope we can have in the Gospel. The Good News is not heard much, though many may know it is something we should share with others.

Only half (52%) of born again Christians say they actually did share the Gospel at least once this past year to someone with different beliefs, in the hope that they might accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

This sharing of the Good News demands also knowing it and acting accordingly it. But we can notice not many youngsters today really can or want to find time to read the Bible. They think it is not so necessary and for the few times they can make it to church they will hear enough of the Scriptures (they think), but in many churches there is less and less being read from the Scriptures and often just being shouted a few verses, but that's it.

Some preachers do find it more important to get others to know those dogmatic teachings and want to get as many as possible their own church rules, often by breaking off other churches and trying to get the followers of the other church to their church, claiming they are the better church. the set of beliefs — a collection of ideas seems all to what it turns about, instead of preaching the love of Christ.

For most people it is easiest to blindly keep accepting what the preachers tells them on the pulpit. those who dare to question certain things are looked at, because they could be a danger for their own believes or making them to doubt about certain matters, which they now can accept, because the follow the preacher and count him responsible in case it would not be true.

They are not interested in to look at the meaning of one verse with looking at the context in which it was written or to compare it with other verses in other chapters of the Holy Scriptures. Why should they bother who wrote it in which circumstances, what led into it, what did it lead into, etc. 

Today it may look surprising to find it interesting that the age group that is least likely to be regular church goers are most likely to verbally evangelize. In ordinary life, at work, we can find some people (a few) who simply share what they have seen and heard and know to be true and place it in Biblical perspective. Luckily we can find people committed to a Christ-centered, faith-based relationship with God through Jesus Christ, who are not actively connected with and participating in a church. They define themselves as Christians, but they are not active in pursuing spiritual formation in the context of a congregational expression. Some might consider them as beings who could be called "Christian “nones”" in that they have no formal affiliation at this time.

Most Evangelicals, especially leaders feel it important to affirm their doctrine and call out many verses (even when it may be out of context) to affirm their doctrinal believes and to frighten their members so they  would be afraid to leave any idea of their community. 

Jesus is the true example of right understanding of the Word of his Father, the Only One True God. He is the mediator between God and man, who showed us the way to a holy living, and unconditional mercy and love for the lost. It's a message that many Christians dismiss today – just as it was 2000 years ago.

Some may think what the world needs is the revelation of the Grace of God through the complete work of the cross. They might say listening to the likes of Joseph Prince, Creflo Dollar & Rob Rufus , getting this fresh revelation and drinking of the new wine of Holy Spirit is what keeps us fresh in our faith. God never promised us a bed of roses and the road is long and tough at times, but if Christ is our anchor and our focus, how can we neglect so great a salvation?

Lots of people become more concerned how big a church is, how people are dressed, how pleasant the services are, which 'good music" is played, how entertaining the worship can be, etc..

Exterior elements seem to have become more important than the state of the heart, the inner feelings.

In 2001 Barna warned already  most self-professed Christians are only dabblers in the Faith lacking any desire for holiness; begging the question of how serious these people are about their faith, and how real their relationship with Christ is. {George Barna, Growing True Disciples (Colorado Springs: WaterBrook, 2001), 17.}

Those who call themselves Christian, should give much more attention to the person they are claiming to follow. They should listen more to the words of the one they would call their master. Christ Jesus should be their guide, more than any particular preacher or church. Jesus should be the one they should follow.

Christianity is not a set of doctrines in the sense that a mechanic operates with a set of tools. Instead, Christianity is a comprehensive worldview and way of life that grows out of Christian reflection on the Bible and the unfolding plan of God revealed in the unity of the Scriptures. 
As such we also should need to develop more concern for our attitude, attendance, and attire. In a time when many want to practice casual Christianity, we need to practice true Christianity. We need to practice serious Christianity, devoted Christianity, and respectful Christianity.

The Bible tells us about the foggy times when religions will get against religions. The time of its prophesies has come
Men and Women of God must rise up, the Watchmen must cry out; for if the Spirit of the Living God is not poured out on us then all will be lost.


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Thursday 21 March 2013

Deliverance and establishement of a theocracy

On Purim, the Jewish people recall their miraculous deliverance from their enemies 2,400 years ago. But newt week we start a festival week of an important occasion for Jews and Christians we should not forget.

After the rabbi Jeshua (Jesus) was triumphantly welcomed as a king, seated on a donkey,  in the city of Jerusalem, he called his talmidim or disciples to look for a room to celebrate an even more important deliverance and a confirmation of the promise to Abraham and corroboration to Moses that God had prepared Him a people to be sanctified and to receive a Holy Land.

Purim may remind us of our human frailty and vulnerability. We see how close all the Jews in the Persian Empire came to being wiped out overnight at the whim of a foolish, capricious leader. Jews are particularly reminded of the precariousness of their condition. Yet, Purim also affirms that while oppressors come and go, God’s promise and covenant with his people, Israel, is everlasting. The Jews of the Persian Empire, after all, were saved, reminding us that God never deserts His people.

When the Judaic people were slaves in Egypt God tried to convince the Pharao to let them go, but the plagues God had send to him and his people did not bother him so much. For that reason, not wanting God's people go and not recognising the Most High Elohim, God took to the bloodsign which all people after this occasion should remember for always.

People should know what god has everything under control and that His Word shall always become reality. And those who do not listen at the end shall always come to know and see what the Hand of God shall establish.

We all know different songs, musicals and shows where the song “Let My People Go!” catches the full attention of everybody in the theatre.

Egypt had the People of God to go.

In 40 chapters, 1,213 verses the Holy Scriptures brings us in the Book of Exodus the greatest adventure story ever told.


The Israelites Leaving Egypt
The Israelites Leaving Egypt (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The book of Exodus continues the story of the redemptive history that God began in the book of Genesis. The original purpose of Exodus was to help the people of Israel understand their identity as God’s special people, and to learn about their covenant obligations to him. They were to see themselves as God’s “firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22-23) and as a “kingdom of priests” (19:5-6), called to bring God’s blessings to the nations. Exodus describes how the Lord delivered Israel from Egyptian oppression (chs. 1-15), brought her into covenant relationship with himself at Mount Sinai (chs. 16-24), and came to dwell in her midst in the tabernacle (chs. 25-40).
It is that deliverance from Egypt,  the paradigm for salvation in the Old Testament we are going to celebrate soon. But for us there is an extra dimension to the festival week.  It also sets the pattern for the full and final salvation that God has provided in Israel’s Messiah.


The Nazarene Jeshua, who had done many miracles and as such saved already many people from their problems was the one send by God, long ago promised. He was the Christos or Christ who became the new Moses of a greater exodus by going down into Egypt, passing through the waters of baptism, enduring temptation in the wilderness, and going up on the mountain to give people God’s law (see Matthew 2-7). Like Moses, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant (see Hebrews 9:15).

The Creator-King’s original intention was that he might dwell among His people, who would be a flourishing human community in a paradise-kingdom beginning in Eden and spreading throughout the whole world.
God established the Mosaic covenant with Israel at Sinai to carry forward His purpose as expressed within the earlier covenant with Abraham (Exodus 2:24; 3:6, 15, 16; 6:2-8). God’s promises to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 function as His solution to the problem of the human sin and rebellion that we read about in Genesis 3-11.

Jehovah  repeatedly referred to the slaves of the Pharao as “my people” (Exodus 3:7; 5:1). The Elohim is indicating both to Pharaoh and to the people that, although they have been enslaved in Egypt for a long time, it is His covenant promise to them as Abraham’s offspring that truly governs their identity.

After overwhelming disasters (the plagues), the putting blood on the sides of the entrance door of the houses of the people who followed the God of Abraham and Moses, as a final sign (Exodus 11:1-15:21), safeguarded the first-borns in those houses. (Exodus 7:8-15:21) in what was going to be the first month of the year in the future for them (Exodus 12:1-2).

In that first of months, the first month of the year all the children of Israel had to come together and in the tenth day of that month every man had to take a lamb, by the number of their fathers’ families, a lamb for every family. It had to be a spotless lamb, without any mark, a male in its first year. They than had to keep it till the fourteenth day of the same month, when everyone who was of the children of Israel was to put it to death between sundown and dark. Then they had to take some of the blood and put it on the two sides of the door and over the door of the house where the meal was to be taken. That night they had to eat the flesh of the lamb, cooked with fire in the oven, together with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants. Those following God had to take their meal dressed as if for a journey, with their shoes on their feet and their sticks in their hands. They had to take it quickly, because it was to be the Lord’s Passover. For on that night God went through the land of Egypt, sending death on every first male child, of man and of beast, and judging all the gods of Egypt so that they could know that Jehovah is the Elohim Hashem, the most Mighty of all gods.



 “1  And Jehovah spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2  This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household: 4  and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man’s eating ye shall make your count for the lamb. 5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old: ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats: 6  and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at even. 7  And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it. 8  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9  Eat not of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire; its head with its legs and with the inwards thereof. 10  And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11  And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Jehovah’s passover. 12  For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Jehovah.” (Exodus 12:1-12 ASV)

In Exodus, God advances his solution to the fall by establishing Israel as a theocracy (a nation governed directly by God). Through the Mosaic covenant, Israel becomes the initial fulfilment and next stage of the promise that in Abraham’s lineage all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). God’s “Firstborn Son”

 Like the Passover lamb or the offering sprinkled on the ark of the covenant, the blood of his sacrifice is the atonement for our sin. Like the tabernacle, he is the dwelling place of God with us (see John 1:14, where the word for “dwell” is the Greek word for tabernacle). Like Aaron the high priest, he brings us into the Most Holy Place, where we can meet with God. If we know Christ, therefore, we can trace the story of the exodus somewhere in the spiritual geography of our own souls. Through the waters of baptism, we have been delivered from our bondage to sin. Now God is guiding us on our pilgrimage through the wilderness, feeding us our daily bread, teaching us his law, receiving our worship, and leading us to his glory in the Promised Land.

What Purim and Pesach or Pascha reaffirm to Christians and Jews alike is the fact that the everyday order is infused with God’s presence and is under His control.

About the day God liberated the slaves from Egypt God wanted them to remember it for ever.

“14  And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah: throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 15  Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 16  And in the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. 17  And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever. 18  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. 19  Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one that is born in the land. 20  Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.” (Exodus 12:14-20 ASV)

Because it had to be remembered for ever and Jesus remembered it, we also should do that. But for us there is an extra touch. We have to keep it as a feast to Jehovah our God through all our generations, as an order for ever, but we also do have to commemorate the night Jesus took the bread and the cup of wine, saying thanks to His Father and giving it to his closest friends as a sign of a new covenant, which had to be remembered as well.

The broken bread was as the body of Christ Jesus, which was slaughtered like the lambs in Exodus, but this time given for the whole world by the servant of those faithful Jews at the beginning of our common time, and of his Father in heaven. Those who have kept with this Nazarene through his troubles will be given a kingdom as his Father has given one to him, so that they may take food and drink at Jesus his table in his and his Father His kingdom, and be seated like kings, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

 “And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the passover, his disciples say unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and make ready that thou mayest eat the passover?” (Mark 14:12 ASV)

 “15  And he will himself show you a large upper room furnished and ready: and there make ready for us. 16  And the disciples went forth, and came into the city, and found as he had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. 17  And when it was evening he cometh with the twelve. 18  And as they sat and were eating, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you shall betray me, even he that eateth with me. 19  They began to be sorrowful, and to say unto him one by one, Is it I? 20  And he said unto them, It is one of the twelve, he that dippeth with me in the dish. 21  For the Son of man goeth, even as it is written of him: but woe unto that man through whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had not been born. 22  And as they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed, he brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take ye: this is my body. 23  And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them: and they all drank of it. 24  And he said unto them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” (Mark 14:15-24 ASV)
On the 14th of Nisan this gathering of Jesus and his best friends we got the inauguration of that New Covenant. Because that it our liberation and our exodus of the slavery of this world, we should also commemorate that evening and the Lamb of God, Jesus who was betrayed and brought to death a few hours later.

Like the apostles and first Christians came together to remember the night the talmidim where there with Christ in the preparation for the Pesach and Feast of unleavened bread, we also should come together.

 “Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1 ASV)

 “23   For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; 24  and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25  In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 26  For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come. 27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. 28  But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. 29  For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-29 ASV)

That what God promised in the Garden of Eden came to fulfilment with Jesus birth, his offering his body to all those who where under the spell of death. It reaffirms that God’s hand is indeed at work in human history. Renewing our belief in a God who acts in history and continues to perform miracles is one of the most fundamental affirmations we can make. And knowing we believe in a God of miracles is indeed cause for celebration at Purim and Pesach or any time of year! But with 14 Nisan asking us to remember the breaking of the bread and his offering his body as an instalment of a New Covenant, we should be glad to come together on such an evening to Break Bread with all our brethren and sisters and welcoming those who want to know God.

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Please also do read:

  1. Festival of Freedom and persecutions
  2. Seven days of Passover
  3. 1 -15 Nisan
  4. Day of remembrance coming near 
  5. Pesach
  6. Korban Pesach
  7. 14 Nisan a day to remember #1 Inception
  8. 14 Nisan a day to remember #2 Time of Jesus
  9. 14 Nisan a day to remember #3 Before the Passover-feast
  10. 14 Nisan a day to remember #4 A Lamb slain
  11. A Jewish Theocracy
  12. Observance of a day to Remember
  13. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
  14. Observance of a day to Remember 
  15. Pesach and solidarity 
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