Little Eyes Are Watching You

Parents, what are you teaching your children? 

I mean seriously.

• "Too lazy to work" is NOT acceptable for the description under "worked at". They will look for the easy way and expect to get the success without the effort. That is so far from reality it's laughable.
• Skimpy clothing/bathing suits on children is the playground for pedophile's minds - and it's almost always someone that the child knows, adult or their peer, who molests them - trust me on this, I know this from personal experience. 
• Dropping the "F" bomb every other word will get more doors shut in their faces for GOOD opportunities than almost anything else. It's so unattractive and, regardless of their intelligence level, shows that they are anything but. 
• Disrespecting those in authority, your elders, those who are different than you, yourself...your spouse...will teach them to put themselves first instead of looking out for others, could land them in hot water with law enforcement, have them in and out of relationships and marriages because they expect to always be right and heaven help anyone who disagrees with them so POOF...divorce makes it "easy", and they will have the same issues with each relationship. So many parents talk to their children with disrespect. You are not dealing with an inconvenience, you are raising a human being who needs your love, your protection and your respect.

There are so many more but those are the ones I see online on Facebook and witness in person day in and day out. We teach our children what we are by our actions. Not by what we say; though what we say can break spirits and hearts. Your words have power, especially with your children, so use them wisely. Respond to your children. Don't react to them. That can shut them off to you faster than snapping your finger. Proverbs 15:1 says a gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger. This is true for all ages. I don't know about you, but I like my house peaceful and not full of stress and strife.

It is always, always, always better to HAVE character than to BE a character. Proverbs 22:1 states that it is better to have a good name than to be rich and to have respect is better than having gold and silver. There are people that you know that when you think of them, of their behavior, even of their name you don't think very favorably of them, if the truth were to be told - even though you might consider them a "friend".

What happened to the good old days of teaching your children the values of respecting yourself and others - because if they truly respected themselves they wouldn't wear a lot of what they do (just sayin'), hard work, integrity, modesty, kindness to others, everything in moderation, honor and so on? When did those fall by the wayside and become "old fashioned" values? Those values NEVER go out of style!

You are their PARENT FIRST and their friend second. If they don't like that you discipline them now, they'll get over it later because they'll remember the lessons learned from it. I did. I hated it at the time, but I learned from it. Children NEED rules and boundaries. Why? Because it shows them that you care! If you let them get away with anything and everything, they will get into bigger troubles to try and get your attention to show them that you actually care for them. Go figure! Sounds crazy but studies have shown it to be true! Correct and appropriate discipline is a GOOD thing! But never discipline in anger. Again, that is the reactionary side of things. Respond. Don't react.

Another thing, don't talk down to them! The world is treating and talking to our children like they have PhD's and we still talk to them like they're in pre-school. Would you rather they find out about things like sex and STDs and drugs and drinking from their friends first or from you first? Young children don't need the details, just the basics satisfy them. As they get older you can answer with more. But if you are too embarrassed to talk to them about those things and the consequences, you can bet that their friends won't be and they won't be talking about the consequences. Be wise. Be a parent. Give them a reason to be able to trust coming to you with these questions. DON'T REACT! Respond.

Yes, I know I have been saying that a lot here, but it is TRUE! Responding gives them a safe atmosphere where they are comfortable talking to you. Reacting shuts them down and makes them think, "I can never come to her/him with anything because, WHOA!" And they check out.

Be the parent you want your children to be. They do what you DO, not what you say, no matter how many times we wish it were otherwise. But, if you are the person you need to be, then you won't have to wish it were the other way around.

Be ATTENTIVE to your children! Don't check out. The phone, the computer, your work, your friends...NONE of them are more important than your child. Spend time with them. Let them know that they matter to you. Children spell L-O-V-E as T-I-M-E. Don't be afraid to get silly with them. They love it and they'll love you all the more for it. It's hot, you're sweaty, it's raining, you're hair is frizzing? Suck. It. Up. They're only young once and time flies so don't blink or you'll soon had a tween or teen who doesn't want to spend time with you and you'll have lost out. Again, spend TIME with them, or you will find as they grow they don't have time for you.

It makes my heart hurt to hear and see what kids are doing and behaving like these days and I thank God every day that Emily and Nate are far different from most of what I see out there today. It's times like this that I really do miss Mayberry. I miss the values so clearly portrayed in that show. I wish that they were still the focal values in society today. I think we would be a whole lot better off if they were.

WHY Did Jesus Have to Die and What's So "GOOD" About Good Friday?

Before I get into that topic, which is, quite frankly, fascinating . . . In honor of Good Friday I am loading two of my all time favorite songs from Sandi Patty called "The Via Dolorosa" and "The Day He Wore My Crown". I have had Via Dolorosa memorized for going on 25 years now, including the Spanish verse, and I sing it year round. There is no other voice that tells either of these stories so well as Sandi's voice.




Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
He was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by Him, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him,
and by His stripes we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on Him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth;
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so He did not open His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in His death,
though He had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes His soul an offering for sin,
He will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11 After the suffering of His soul,
He will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by His knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give Him a portion among the great,
and He will divide the spoils with the strong,
because He poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53 was written many centuries before Jesus was born, and yet, it tells of His death on the cross for our sins. And He willingly did it, so great was His love for us. So desirous of us to have eternal life with Him that He shed His blood, took the sins of the entire world, past, present and future, of ALL mankind, for all the sinners, us as well as the murderers, the liars, the cheaters, the adulterers, the thieves, and on and on. While we may view sin on a "sliding scale", God doesn't. We ALL are sinners. The only person who was ever perfect and able to be that sacrifice on our behalf was the Son of God, who left His realm of glory in heaven and humbled himself to become like us, as a son of man, in order to fulfill the Covenant that God made with Abraham so many years ago.

In this post will explain the Abrahamic Covenant and what it means for us and why Jesus was the fulfillment of that Covenant, who He was and, most importantly, why He had to die.

This information comes from my friend Jack Kinsella and the Omega Letter. (His powerful explanation is just one reason why he is missed so much)

Why Did Jesus Have To Die and What's so "GOOD" About Good Friday?

Yesterday as we were coming home from church, my grandson Bailey chirped, "Gwandad!! Jesus died for you!" There was a pause and he said, "He died on a Cross because bad men put him there. He was covered with boo-boos!" (Being three, Bailey is not up on all the latest medical terms, but he knew what he was talking about) "An' He died for Mummy and for Gwandma and because He loves us."

I was absorbing all this as I drove when Bailey asked me the next logical question. "Gwanddad!" "Yes, Bailey." "Why did He have to die?"

When we got home, I tried to explain to a three-year old something that many adult Christians have difficulty explaining. Yet it is one of the first questions posed by the skeptic.

Why, indeed, if Jesus was God, did He have to die? To the skeptic, the whole Cross, Blood and death thing doesn't make any sense. I know many Christians to whom the answer is simply, "So He could be resurrected on the third day."

That was never a satisfactory answer when I was a skeptic, either.

According to Christian tradition, the Friday before Easter is called "Good Friday" because it is the day that Jesus Christ was crucified. GOOD Friday?

The Crucifixion most probably did not actually take place on a Friday, anyway. The Scriptures make reference only to the 'Sabbath' and there were two Sabbath days during that particular Passover week.

But it is on Friday that the world remembers, whether it wants to or not, that a Man was crucified on a hill called Golgotha outside the walls of Jerusalem for the sins of mankind.

If the world wants to remember it as a Friday, at least it is taking note of the event. Arguing about whether or not it actually took place on Wednesday or Thursday seems irrelevant to the central point.

Particularly in light of the way it remembers that day, as "Good" Friday. But what is so good about it?

I can recall as a kid growing up in a Catholic school thinking it more than a little strange that all those nuns said they loved Jesus, but celebrated the day of His execution as a "Good" day.

Indeed, as a kid, I thought the designation "Good Friday" was evidence that they really didn't LIKE Him very much, despite their protestations of love. My mother had passed away when I was only ten. I didn't think that the day that she died was a 'good' day for me.

There are lots of possible reasons why the day of Jesus' Crucifixion is designated "Good" in English. One is that the word 'good' was derived from the word "God".

Our word 'goodbye' came from the phrase "God be with you," so, according to that line of thinking, "Good Friday" would have originated from the phrase "God's Friday."

But I think it is less a case of the metamorphosis of language than it is an apt description of the Event that took place on that day just before the Passover two thousand years ago.

The execution of Jesus Christ was an event of incredible evil. He was guilty of no infraction, violated no laws, either Mosaic or Roman civil, and His betrayal was orchestrated, the Bible says, by Satan himself.

"And after the sop Satan entered into him [Judas]. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly." (John 13:27)

But while the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was an act of unspeakable evil, it was a necessary part of God's Plan for the redemption of our sin debt.

And the manner in which He accomplished was a demonstration of His Power over good and evil, using pure evil to bring about pure good.

"Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (1st Corinthians 2:8)

But why was Good Friday necessary? We've gone over this before, but not in several years. Good Friday is the perfect day to revisit the topic. Why did Jesus have to die?

The Scripture says God's Justice demands a sacrifice, but for most Christians contending with the skeptic, that answer is unsatisfactory.

The explanation that only a sinless man was qualified to take on the sins of the world makes sense, but it doesn't answer the nuts-and-bolts question of why He had to die. Not fully.

The answer to the nuts-and-bolts legalities is found, not in the New Testament, but rather in the Old.  I thought it might be good if we were ALL equipped to give a reason for the hope that is in us.

In Genesis Chapter 15, we find Abram questioning God's promise that his seed will be numbered as the stars of heaven and that they would inherit the land to which God had led him.

Genesis 15:6 says "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." But Abram wanted a guarantee, nonetheless.

"And he [Abram] said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?" (15:8)

It was then that God proposed a blood covenant after the manner of the Chaldeans. "And he [God] said unto him, [Abram] Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

Abram knew what to do next, since this was something he was familiar with. "And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not."

The blood covenant worked this way. The animals were slaughtered and cut up. The pieces were intermingled and then carefully arranged to form a kind of aisle through which the two parties to the covenant would walk together, hands joined.

The principle of a blood covenant, and the symbolism of the rended animal parts was clearly understood to Abram. Whoever broke the covenant would end up like those piles of animals.

A blood covenant was, by common custom, a joining of 2 or more persons, families, clans, tribes, or nations, where the participants agree to do or refrain from doing certain acts. More specifically, God had proposed a patriarchal covenant.

The patriarchal form of covenant is a self-imposed obligation of a superior party, to the benefit of an inferior party. In this form, the terms the parties use to refer to each other are: father and son.

God's proposal included not only Abram, but extended to Abram's seed forever.

(Galatians 3:29 makes plain that Christians are also "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.")

Are you still with me? Here's where we are so far. Abram has just prepared a blood covenant between himself and God in which his seed would forever be bound to God as heirs. To be an heir, under the implied terms of the covenant, also required being faithful to the Father.

Abram understood those terms and waited for God to appear. Consider the picture. Abram waited, driving away the carrion eaters from his grisly creation, waiting for God Himself to come down, join hands with Abram and together, they would swear a blood oath. God would be the Father of Abram and his descendents, who would then be required behave as sons to keep that covenant.

Genesis 15:12 records that as Abram waited for God, a deep sleep fell upon him. During that deep sleep, "it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:" (Genesis 15:17-18)

And there's the key! While the covenant was between Abram and God, by passing through the aisle alone, God signed the contract -- alone -- for both sides, binding Himself to keeping both parts.

We know that Abram's seed did NOT remain faithful to the covenant. And violating the blood covenant demanded that somebody had to die. That was what justice required.

The Apostle Paul was, before his conversion on the road to Damascus, a Pharisee, or a religous lawyer, one well qualified to explain the law of covenant oaths.

As Paul explains, "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. (Galatians 3:9) Further. that “they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." (3:9)

And also, "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith." (3:11)

Of the covenant that God signed on behalf of Abraham, Paul explains "Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto." (3:15)

The covenant could only be confirmed when the price demanded for its violation was paid in full.

When the Law was given to Moses four centuries later, it was assumed by the Jews that to break it was to break the Abrahamic Covenant, for which the penalty was death. Remember, somebody had to die. But God signed on behalf of Abraham, and Paul pointed out the blood penalty required of the covenant was paid in full.

"And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect."

Why did Jesus have to die? Because the covenant demanded satisfactory payment for its violation, and no one who had broken that covenant was qualified to stand in payment except those who signed it.

And God signed on behalf of Abram and his seed.

It is for that reason that God stepped out of eternity and into space and time. To keep the provisions of the original covenant and be a true Son, as it demanded.

And having kept its terms on behalf of sinful humanity, it was incumbent upon Him to make payment, as justice demanded, for its violation by those on whose behalf the covenant was signed.

To be torn and rended like the animals that formed the corridor through which God alone passed.

"But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah (53:3)

To make restitution on behalf of the seed of Abraham. You. Me. And everyone who ever broke its provision of faithfulness. All of us.

Jesus made that payment on our behalf. On the Cross, as He gave up the ghost, Jesus cried with a loud voice 'it is finished' (Tetelestai!) meaning, "paid in full."

The terms of the violated Covenant were met, its price was paid by its Signer. God's justice was fulfilled. That is why Jesus took on a human form and allowed Himself to be crucified by His own creation. That is the reason the Blood of Christ is so precious. Why nothing less would do.

Because justice demanded it.

And because justice was satisfied, a lost sinner need only accept the Pardon obtained at the Cross as full payment for his sins to obtain eternal life. Because of Good Friday, "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord SHALL be saved." (Romans 10:13)

Our sin debt was paid in full on Good Friday. The only thing now separating God from man is human pride. Accepting by faith the pardon obtained for us at the Cross is a humbling experience.

We've noted in the past that God's way is not our way, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Indeed, God's way is usually the exact opposite of human thinking. Christians obtain victory by surrendering. We obtain eternal life through the Death of Christ, but to achieve eternal life one has to first die.

"Good" Friday is the day that commemorates the greatest evil ever perpetrated in the history of mankind. But as it turned out, it was the worst day possible for the forces of evil. It marked the first introduction of pure good to this old world since the Fall of Man.

"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes WE ARE HEALED." (Isaiah 53:5)

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

MARANATHA!
========================================================
And, just like every Good Friday, after evening services, we will come home and watch The Passion of the Christ, as has been our tradition ever since it came out. It is a serious movie that causes us to really take note of the suffering Jesus went through on the Cross for us. We remember the sacrifice, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus every day, but watching this incredible rendition of it really continues to drive it home and takes the meaning of Easter season even deeper. So from the Boedeker household to yours...blessings to you on this GOOD Friday... ><>

Some Debates Aren't Worth Winning

Earlier this evening I had admired a lovely friend's repost of a quote by Francis Chan. It contained a scripture  verse that she had not put in, but that used the NIV translation of the Bible. 

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." ~Matthew 28:19

Someone chimed in and state that the scripture was wrong and that wasn't how it went. They were talking about how it wasn't the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible and to use any other translation of the Bible was wrong and that basically by using another translation of the Bible aside from the KJV earned you a place right out of heaven, according to Revelation 22:9.

That statement starts to smell like "onlyism"...that the KJV is the ONLY acceptable version, which in turn is almost akin to Bible idolatry  I posted last week about where you should place your faith so that you don't lose it. Faith is not to be placed in a particular translation of the Bible, but rather in the Author of the Bible.

Here's the thing though...and I'm going to give you a brief history of the "translation" of the KJV Bible...

The Old Testament was written almost entirely in classical Hebrew in the dialect scholars believed flourished around the 6th century BC during the Babylonian Exile.  Almost entirely. 

By the time the Babylonian Captivity had ended seventy years later, the first language of most of the Babylonian captives and their descendants had become the language of their captors, Aramaic. 

The Books of Daniel and Ezra were originally inspired and composed in Aramaic. Alexander the Great outlawed the languages of the peoples he conquered and compelled them to learn and use Greek in all their dealings. But by then, Hebrew was largely extinct as spoken language, replaced by Aramaic and later by Greek. 

The New Testament was inspired and composed in both Aramaic and Greek. Jesus spoke Aramaic, not Greek. 

His words were translated from Aramaic into Greek, with certain Aramaic words being specifically identified as translations. Interestingly, those parts of the Old Testament not inspired and composed in Hebrew were inspired and composed in Greek. 

And the Septuagint is the Hebrew Old Testament as translated by the rabbis into Koine Greek in the 3rd century BC. 

So by the time the Apostles were writing the New Testament Epistles, much the Old Testament was already a translation of a translation.  

By the middle of the second century, the major writings of the canon of Scripture were accepted by almost all Christian authorities. St Jerome translated them all into Latin in the 3rd century. 

So by the fourth century, the Old Testament was a translation of a translation of a translation and the New Testament was merely a translation of a translation. 

Twelve hundred years later, Wycliffe, Hus, Linacre, Colet and Erasmus were all busily engaged in translating the various translations of translations into their own translations of English. 

One hundred years after John Hus was burned at the stake kindled with pages from Wycliffe’s Bible translation, King James of England ordered his translators to come up with a new English translation using the existing Greek and Hebrew translations, themselves recopied translations of Aramaic and Latin and classical Hebrew. 

The oldest existing Textus Receptus manuscript used by the translators of the King James 1611 Bible dated to the 12th century.  In the book of Revelation, a missing page had to be translated from the Latin Vulgate back into Greek so it could be translated back into English.

To be blunt here, nobody is saved according to which version of the Bible they study from.  Nobody is saved by a Bible.  They are saved by the Gospel message, a message so simple it can be conveyed without a Bible being present.

A child can lead another child to Christ on a playground. A drunk can lead another drunk to Christ on a barstool.  

I do not know much about the actual translators of the KJV. Or much about the translation process.  I can’t read the original languages. And if I could, I don’t have the original manuscripts used by the translators.  

And if I did, I wouldn’t know if they were 1st century Greek or if they were later Greek translations of the Latin translations of the Greek translations of the original Aramaic. 

Would you?

The quickest way I can think of to shake somebody’s confidence in their salvation is to attack their preferred Bible version.  The Bible that leads you to Christ takes on a very special, personal meaning.  If you came to Christ via the NIV, then the NIV is the Word of God whereby you were saved. The same applies to all the other versions, including the KJV.

Ever wonder why there are so many Christians that don’t go to church?  It is because there are two kinds of Christianity in this world.  There is the theoretical kind and there is the living kind. 

In the theoretical kind, everybody is the same at church as they are at home when nobody is looking.  Saved people always act saved and always looked saved.  Saved people never have doubts – that would be faithlessness.  And when somebody falls, it is because they probably were never really saved in the first place.

In the living kind, people are different at church than they are at home when nobody is looking.   Saved people don’t always act like it.  Some don’t ever go to church.  Everybody has doubts. And it is only when others fall that we question if they were really saved. 

When a person is young in the Lord, he is somewhere between the theoretical and reality – all he has is his Bible.  And along comes some grizzled old veteran Christian who, preaching theoretical Christianity convinces the new Christian that he can’t trust his Bible.

No matter which position you take on the Bible translations issue, what happens if you prevail in the debate? Assuming your opponent is already saved, he can't get more saved by agreeing with you.

If you have won the debate, then he has lost. Now let’s return to the topic under discussion.  “Can you trust your Bible?”  And his answer is “no.”

Some debates aren’t worth winning.

Do we have the Word of God?  Of course we do.  What about when there are conflicts between versions? God only wrote ONE Bible – but He didn’t write it in English.

He wrote it in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.  

So how do you know that the version that you use, whether KJV, NIV, NASB, etc, is really the Word of God?  Did you get saved from it?  Is that an enemy action?  

How do you know that is the one God wants you to use?  I don’t know.   But you do. It is because that is the version God speaks to you from.

Or you would be looking for the version that does.

Washed In the Blood

I thought, this being Holy Week, that it would be appropriate to give some insight about Passover from my very dear and recently departed friend, who was a father figure and spiritual mentor to me. He wrote this in 2009, when Passover and the dates were exactly the same as this year (Passover began last night at sundown). I hope you find your understanding of Passover and the sacrificial lamb to be a bit greater after having read this post. Thank you, Jack, for your wisdom and for writing as God lead you over the past 11 years and for your friendship and guildance over the past 10 1/2. You are missed daily more than you know...

Washed In the Blood

Today begins the Passover season which runs for seven days, ending this year on April 2nd.

Technically, Passover actually began yesterday. The Jewish calendar begins at sundown, rather than sunrise, meaning that Thursday begins Wednesday night. So Passover starts twenty-four times around the world as each time zone views its sunset.

The Passover story is well known to Christians, primarily as a Jewish holiday. But the Jewish Passover is an integral part of the Christian story. Without Passover, there could be no salvation for the Gentiles.

At Passover, Jews are asked to see the story as if each of them had been there that night in Egypt. Traditional foods are prepared in advance according to the Haggadah or story of the Exodus.

With the Haggadah as a guide, Passover has been and is celebrated in pretty much the same manner down through the ages and in every land and every nation.

Seder customs include drinking of four cups of wine, eating matza (unleavened bread) and partaking of symbolic foods placed on the Passover Seder Plate.

The four cups of wine are obligatory; representing four expressions of God's will: "I will bring out"; "I will deliver"; "I will take"; and, "I will Redeem".

It is also symbolic of the four world ages: this present world, the Messianic Age, the world at the resurrection, and the world to come. (See 2nd Peter 3:10-12)

The four expressions of God's will find an equal place within Christianity. "I will bring out" (Romans 8:29) "I will deliver" (Galatians 1:4) "I will take" (Romans 11:27) and, "I will Redeem" (Galatians 3:13)

Christians also know of four 'worlds' this one which we are 'in' but not 'of' the Messianic (Kingdom) Age, the general resurrection of the dead at the Great White Throne and the new heavens and the new earth.

At the Passover Seder, the youngest present asks the question: "Why is this night different from all other nights?" This is so important that if no children are present, the responsibility falls to the wife or other participants. If a man is alone at Seder, he is obligated to ask the question of himself.

The Passover involves the retelling of the ten plagues God sent upon Pharoh, including the last and most terrible, the sending of the Angel of Death.

God told the Jews to smear the blood of a lamb above the doorposts of their homes, which would cause the Angel of Death to 'pass over' those homes which were under Divine protection.

For centuries, the Jewish Passover concluded with the words, "Next year, in Jerusalem!" symbolizing the Jewish love for the City of God and their longing for the restoration of Temple sacrifice.

Washed In the Blood of the Lamb?

There is a traditional Christian hymn whose chorus goes like this:

"Are you washed in the blood, / In the soul cleansing blood of the Lamb? / Are your garments spotless? / Are they white as snow? / Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?"

We've not discussed what that really means in some time now, and there is no better time to discuss it than at Passover. Everything about our understanding of our salvation has its roots in the Jewish sacrificial lamb.

During the days of Temple worship, a family would offer a Passover lamb for sacrifice at the Temple as covering for the sins of that family. That ritual teaches us much about the love of our Heavenly Father and what the sacrifice of the Lamb of God really means.

Some weeks before Passover, the head of the household would cull out the most perfect lamb in his flock. To be acceptable, the lamb could not be purchased. It had to be raised by the family.

The lamb would be brought into the household as a pet. The kids would play with it, wash and groom it, grow attached to it, and even name it, making it a part of the family. It was a necessary element of the sacrifice that the family had to grow to love that particular lamb.

At the Temple, the head of the household would certify the lamb met all the conditions before accepting it as a sacrifice. The lamb would have a placard put around its neck identifying the sinner for whom it was about to die.

Here's where this gets hard. The head of the household, (to whom the lamb was a beloved pet) didn't get to just leave the lamb there and go home, like a person dropping off a sick pet at the vets to be euthanized. (Or even one who comforts the pet while the vet does it.)

It's YOUR sin. It's YOUR sacrifice. So YOU do it.

The priest would carefully instruct you in the most humane way to conduct the sacrifice, but you had to do it. You would be taught how to gently squeeze off the lamb's jugular with thumb and forefinger until the lamb would pass out.

Open your mind! See this picture!

The lamb falls asleep against the sinner's breast like the beloved pet that it has become. Once the lamb was unconscious, the penitent, still holding the lamb's throat, would be instructed on how to insert the knife, nick the jugular and hold the lamb over the laver to catch its blood for the sacrifice.

As the blood flowed, it would flow OVER the penitent's hands and arms, staining him with the sacrificial blood.

The lamb's innocent little heart would continue to pump out the blood, which would continue to stain the head of the household until it had pumped its last and the little lamb was dead.

The priest would hold up the now-dead lamb before the Lord, read the name of the family as it appeared on the placard around its neck, and declare the lamb's 'sins' before the Lord.

“This lamb was sacrificed for the sins of the Kinsella family,” the priest might intone.

The family's beloved pet lamb was dead, its blood was sprinkled over the mercy seat of the Ark, and the sins of the family were covered for another year.

The lamb bore the placard naming the family of sinners. The sinners bore the stains of the blood of the lamb.

The Lamb of God

"I am crucified with Christ: neverthless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2:20-21)

In Judea in AD 33, Latin was the language of business, as English is today. But most people grew up speaking Greek, which was the lingua franca, or the common language of the empire, a holdover from the days of Alexander the Great.

The Septuagint, the Greek version of the Torah, was so translated because more Jews spoke Greek than Hebrew.

So there was Latin and Greek, and finally, the language of the Jews at the time, which was Aramaic.

It wasn't the Jews who drove the nails. It was the Romans. While the people cheered in Aramaic and Greek.

All present had to participate. Had they not, then there could have been no Crucifixion, no Resurrection, no redemption. It was for the SINS of all mankind -- all mankind was represented there.

"Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34)

Assessment:

Above the Cross, Pilate order the following inscription in ALL THREE languages:

"This is Jesus. King of the Jews."

Jesus bore the name of the 'family' for which His blood was shed -- it was the Family of Man.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)

God identified His Lamb Whom He loved, and inscribed the sin for which He died, as a substitutionary sacrifice for all mankind.

Remember, it couldn't be just any Lamb, but it had to be God's Lamb.

"Thou art My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased." (Mark 1:11)

This was no humane kosher sacrifice, but a bloody, vicious, violent, painful, tortured and shameful execution at the hands of the very family the Lamb loved so deeply and Who asks only our trust in return.

When Caiphas objected, asking the inscription be changed to say, “This is Jesus, who CLAIMED to be King of the Jews,” Pilate rebuffed him, saying, “What I have written, I have written."

For that was the charge against Him for which He was crucified. For the sins of the Jews as their King. For the sins of the Romans as their occupier. And for the sins of mankind as they stood by as spectators. And for you. And for me.

Jesus is their King, and ours. And God's Lamb.

Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?

Are YOU washed in the Blood of the Lamb?
Why is this day different than all other days?

Because it is the day that we learn just how much God loves us. How much He loves YOU.

At the Passover, God set in motion the sequence of events that would culminate twelve centuries later with the sacrifice of the Pascal Lamb for all mankind.

And for you. As if you were the only sinner who ever lived, the Lord Jesus Christ was sacrificed for YOUR sins.

That is the God Whom we serve. And that is the weight of our sin before Him.

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

Amazing love! How can it be? That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!

Maranatha!

Sometimes the TRUTH hurts

I love this truth...and yet it is a hard pill to swallow b/c I have been guilty of this and sometimes the TRUTH just plain hurts.

How do you expect God to bless you when you ask Him to if you are clinging to the world instead of Him?

If you love the things that the world has to offer your flesh more than what God has to offer your life and spirit, why should God listen when you ask for something?

We should cling to HIM, to His Word instead of the world...

YOLO is incorrect

I think this is another reason why I absolutely HATE the term YOLO with a passion b/c we DON'T only live once.

In the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31)...have you noticed that the rich man has no name? That's b/c where he ended up...there was no need for a name b/c he will be forever aware of everything that goes on but forever separated from everything and everyone for eternity. Where he's at...he will never be known by anyone ever again. He has his memories, he has his awareness of his surroundings, he knows the hopelessness of the situation and the only thing he wants more than a drink of water is to save his five brothers. But HE HAS NO NAME! Why is that so important?

Because he doesn't need one.

Nobody will ever speak it again. There is no reprieve, no visitors, no hope and no need for a name. To all intents and purposes, he is dead, although eternally aware of it. Eternal, conscious, perpetual, lonely torment, dead forever, yet alive, remembering that one time when he could have escaped the torment. W.O.W.
That is what awaits the mailman, or the guy next to you, or your friends or relatives of whom we say, "I'll talk to him when the time is right" or when he says, "I'll think about it. Maybe tomorrow."
Then God says, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee." (Luke 12:20)

I know many people who don't believe in heaven, hell, an afterlife or eternity. Just b/c you don't believe doesn't mean it's not true. I would rather believe in God and find out that He doesn't exist than not believe in Him and find out that that He does...

You can fool some people...

For man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart...

It's so easy to fool others when all they can see is the surface, but God sees and knows our innermost thoughts, desires, intentions, plans...you name it. He knows when we plan to cheat someone financially...or cheat ON someone, lie about something, drink too much and get behind the wheel, put a TV show or your nights out or even your next fix, above the welfare and safety of your child(ren) and your duty to them as their parent to not check out and to be present.

You can have a beautiful facade of the perfect life, being the perfect person/parent/spouse, etc.

But it's what goes on behind and within the four walls of your life that God sees.

Those hurts, disappointments, struggles, past/current/(and/or) self abuse you try to hide from others, cheats, lies, crimes you don't think anyone else knows about...that keep you awake at night...that make you fearful that anyone should ever find out about...yeah...those things.

God sees them all. He knows them. He knows the REAL you. You can't hide from Him and you can't hide them from Him.

So if you think nobody knows who you really are...the one you are trying so hard to hide from everyone else...you're wrong. God knows. God sees. God hears and listens. That should scare some of you and comfort others. God loves you just as you are...but He loves you far too much to keep you that way.

Beatles Wisdom

The wisdom of the Beatles, as it were. Boiling down and cutting away everything else these words get to the heart of the matter. And in the end, the love you TAKE is equal to the love you MAKE...love, to love, to give love, to be loved, to receive love...most people would argue that it is not correct to say that the love you receive is equal to the love you give, but in reality...young children who love unconditionally and unreservedly, notwithstanding, it really is about the kindnesses you give to others. To truly love someone, you give of yourself without expecting anything in return. The measure of feeling you receive when you are loved back is one of the most beautiful and pure of emotions in this world.

Someone who doesn't give love out and doesn't receive love in return is a miserable soul. For it is by the giving and receiving of love that we learn to be more open with others, more willing to share of ourselves and our possessions. Someone who has all the riches of the world but does not have love is the poorest person indeed. 

Love with the wrong person can be like poison to your heart. Oh, but love with the right person, whether for a short time or forever, is exhilarating, freeing...opening your eyes to a world of possibilities. And you discover that you can do anything when you have that love. At that moment in time...all you need is love. Love is what makes the proverbial world go 'round. Those who find it are blessed. Those who squander it, foolish.

Love, whether love for a significant other, child(ren), parent, family and/or friend is meant to be treasured, cherished, nurtured and treated with great care. Give and you shall receive. Make and take. Without strings or conditions or hesitation. In my life I loved you more... 

Even the Bible agrees..."but the greatest of these is LOVE". (1 Corinthians 13:13)

You lost your faith? Where did you put it?

Faith...One loses one's faith when one forgets where he put it.

Many claim Christ, but misplace their faith in a religious system, or a particular preacher, or even a particular translation of the Bible. People tend to put the faith in a man of God, and not in the God of man, and when something tragic happens, or that misplaced faith is trampled on because the PERSON that faith was placed in was found to be fallible and a mere human who falls into sin just like everyone else, then faith can be damaged and even bring the believer to the point of loss of faith. That is why we cannot misplace our faith in humans or a thing created by mere, mortal man.

My faith is NOT in a particular version of the Bible, but in its Author, and that is why, when the going gets tough, when things seem to be weighing on me, when the stresses of the day and of life start to beat and batter me down, I remember that God is always faithful to me, has proven Himself in that faithfulness over and over and over again, and I know that He is always with me, always watching out for me and my children, always there to provide, to teach, to guide, to show me how greatly He loves me.

You can have FAITH or you can have fear. The choice is yours. It's what you allow to take the foremost thought in your mind. Faith or fear...which will it be? Faith is of the Lord and fear is of the enemy and the enemy is a liar. God has not created us for or given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but He has given us a spirit of boldness and power and love. To paraphrase parts of Deuteronomy 31:6-8,

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you....Be strong and courageous...The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Be strong.
Be courageous.
Do not be afraid.
God is with you.
He will never leave or forsake you.

Hello? Is this getting through to anyone? Place your faith in the hands of the One who will never let you down and who is not the creator of fear, but instead is the One in whose presence fear flees.

Faith or fear? The choice is yours.