Tag: Passover

The Mystery of ‘In His Deaths’…

The Mystery of

‘In His Deaths’…

and

Resurrection.

Barach means to bless and also means to kneel. Kneeling is an act of submission. We are submitting to the one we are kneeling before. It means to lower ourself, to humble ourself. It’s an act of our free will.God’s nature is to barach /bless and the greatest blessing He gave, was the blessing of salvation through Messiah Jesus/Yeshua. If to bless is to barach and to barach is to kneel and to kneel is to lower our self;

it follows therefore that for God to give us the blessing of salvation He had to lower Himself.

In order to give us the greatest blessing, it would require the greatest lowering, that of Himself, the greatest descending.This is why He came down, descended and lowered Himself, humbling Himself in human form. And as to kneel, also means to submit, He did that too. He submitted willingly to the abuse, false accusation, mockery, condemnation and betrayal; further submitting willingly to judgment, crucifixion and to death.Tasting death so that by choosing to receive His gift, (in Hebrew, Mincha) of salvation we would never have to.This was in fact Hashem, YHWH, God, kneeling, a cosmic kneeling by the Creator of the Universe, the ultimate lowering/ submission for us.The miracle is in His kneeling. Here comes the barach/ the blessing. He who kneels is He who blesses, and by His kneeling we are blessed.

So, for there to be a resurrection, there first has to be a death, and as we saw above a willing submission to death.

In Hebrew   maveth,  מָוֶת, meaning death (4194)

Strong’s Hebrew: 4191. מוּת (muth) to die

It’s not a subject that is a first choice at any gathering. It’s something we would rather not talk about. We even try to focus more on the Resurrection part of the Passover story because it’s more palatable.

MiniMannaMoments is dedicated to helping us understand things not usually talked about. Goals are to perceive deeper truths behind hidden meanings in the original texts; and to view the familiar from a heretofore unnoticed point of view. To reveal a perspective that’s maybe overlooked because we think we know the basic story having heard it so often.The Word of God is like a Jewel, a precious stone cut with multi facets. The same rock but when the Sonlight hits each surface, it reflects a different angle and gives the reader another vantage point, enabling us to see alternative angle and yet another side of the whole.When light hits a dark area or a place in shadow, we suddenly can see details that were previously obscured from our viewpoint. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path. As we continue to travel along His Way, the Light of Truth shines, and we see more clearly as Eph 1:18 tells us, the eyes of our understanding being enlightened.

To save repetition here, the links below cover many of the wonders of Passover week and the Spring Feasts.

https://www.minimannamoments.com/not-passing-over-passover-week/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/midweek-mannabite-secrets-of-the-seder-plate/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/unleavened-bread-matzot-week/

https://www.minimannamoments.com/a-lot-can-happen-in-a-week/

 

 

 The rest of this post will focus on the Mystery of ‘In His deaths …. and resurrection’ and will conclude with …What did John see that we missed?

It’s helpful at times to put aside all we think we know and look with fresh eyes at the scriptures. No one understands everything and even what we do cannot be compared with the glory yet to be revealed. Eph 1:17

Death, and the fear of death, holds many all their life in bondage Hebrews 2:15.

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” Hebrews 2:14 – 15.

Yet the Lord Jesus /Messiah Yeshua, became a man specifically so that He could die, and become the greatest kneeling/baruch of all time; and “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death” Hebrews 2:14. Death has been conquered by Jesus Christ/Yeshua HaMashiach.

Death was swallowed up in victory because the grave could not hold the Lord Jesus.

His resurrection is the guarantee of our resurrection.

Someday death will be completely conquered, yet it is the very last enemy on God’s time schedule to be defeated. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” 1 Corinthians 15:26.

However according to the scriptures, as believers, we have done all the dying we will ever have to do, as to be absent (death) from the body, is to be present with the Lord. Death has lost its sting because Yeshua took the keys and…So with this in mind some fascinating facts are revealed.

Death means “separation” regardless of the type of death involved. Death is never cessation of existence, nor is it cessation of consciousness. James 2:26 says: “the body without the spirit is dead.” Whenever there is a separation of the spirit of a person from their body, at that moment physical death of the body takes place. Just as long as the spirit and soul of a man inhabits the body and is not separated from it, there is life.

Isaiah 53:9 Romans 5:18; 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15

Isaiah prophesies of Jesus the Messiah’s death and His manner of death. It says His death will be linked to wicked men and also to a rich man. He was indeed crucified between two wicked men, criminals, and was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.Isaiah was describing the suffering servant. However there is a mystery hidden in the original Hebrew text where most other translations of Isaiah 53 say ‘in his death’, and the original it says ‘in his deaths’.Recall the rule; that in the Hebrew language when a word that should be singular is rendered plural. It is often a sign, that the reality behind the word is so unique, so intense, so extreme, so huge, that the word alone cannot contain it.

Messiah’s death was so unique. It was a reality of such an extreme, intense and huge proportions, that the singular word ‘death’ cannot even begin to express the fullness of what it means.

 The death of Messiah goes beyond all our abilities to express or understand with our finite thinking.Here a singular is combined with a plural and here is a mystery revealed.

If it said ‘in His death’, it would make sense as a singular statement, indicating as one death. So also would the statement, ’in their deaths,’ as in multiple, more than one, being a statement in the plural. However it does not say either of these in the original Hebrew. It says ‘in His deaths’. It breaks all rules of language and how we say things. So it appears like someone wrote it incorrectly and maybe why the translators, ‘amended the statement’ so it sounded right.

Here is the revealing prophesied by Isaiah, that Messiah would not die just His death\ one death, but many deaths, more than one. He would not and did not die just for Himself but for all. Each of us and everyone who reads or hears the words. Every death is contained inside the plural. Wow!

Isaiah 53:12 declares: this death in the Hebrew is because He has laid opened His very being to death.

The Death of Death…

This is a Hebrew idiom (idiom is a figure of speech) that makes the statement very emphatic. … The Meaning of Death. … and with the rich in his death [plural, ‘deaths’] Is 53:9

There are three important types of death in the Word of God: spiritual death, physical death and eternal death. Each death is separation and is the result of sin, and all have their remedy in Jesus.

Spiritual death is “separation from God in time.”

God’s work is (Eph 2:6), to undo the work of sin and death, and the remedy for spiritual death is spiritual life. The word “quickened” is an old English word meaning “to make alive.” John 5:24 confirms our everlasting life.

Physical death is the separation of the spirit and/or soul from the body. James 2:26  says, “the body without the spirit is dead.” Whenever the soul leaves the body, physical death ensues.“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” Romans 5:12.

Physical death in the world is the result of the sin of one man, Adam.And here we have to take a moment and go back to the very beginning where it all started, as everything is connected.

This is the reason Jesus had to come to fix the sin problem and why in 1Cor 15:45 He is also called the last Adam. He is the fulfillment of the promise in Genesis to crush the serpents head…and He is also the English, Beginning and the End, the Hebrew Alef and Tav, the Greek Alpha and Omega of Revelation 22:13

(There is a whole mystery revealed in the Alef-Tav but that will have to wait for an another post!)

In Genesis 2:17

The Hebrew of .  תמות מות . “thou shalt surely die” is “in dying thou shalt die.” It is a Hebrew idiom (idiom is a figure of speech) that makes the statement very emphatic. Adam understood this or else Adam would also have been deceived. Since he was not deceived 1Timothy 2:14 it follows he did understand. However, he may not have fully understood all of the ramifications of his act of disobedience.

Death was something totally foreign to God’s creation. Until Abel was murdered by Cain, they had not seen or experienced a human death, nor probably that of anything around them.God is life and He had constructed the world in accordance with His own nature of being. The world that God had made was “very good”—a statement that could not be made when death entered upon the scene. What a change was brought into the world by man ‘eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil!’ God has said, “in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” “At the moment in time that you do what I have commanded you not to do, dying you shall die.” Death was the instantaneous result of disobedience. Adam and Eve began to realize something of the consequences of sin when God made for them coats of skins. In order for this to be done innocent animals, animals that had done nothing wrong, gave their life in order to provide an acceptable covering for the man and the woman.

Adam and Eve saw the first physical death when these innocent animals died to provide for them “coats of skins.”The consequences of sin coming into the world are not fully understood until one sees the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ as “the lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” He died that we might be clothed with His righteousness.   2 Corinthians 5:21Here is the sacrifice of the innocent One who knew no sin, did no sin, in Him was no sin, for us who are sinful. He died as our substitute, in order to provide an acceptable blood covering for us before God. The full consequence of sin entering into the world is understood only in the light of Calvary.

It is the central theme in all who spoke prophecy throughout scripture.

(left to right: Abraham, Isaiah, David, Moses, Elijah, Queen Ester, John The Baptist, Daniel)

As in Adam all die; in Messiah Jesus, all shall be made alive.

Part of the redemption work was prophesied in Genesis 3:15

Paul wrote: “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ” Romans 5:17.

Because Jesus Christ lives, we shall live also John 14:19.

Even though we may die, we await that future day of our resurrection or the complete redemption of our body. Romans 8:23.

God’s remedy for physical death is resurrection.

Thirdly The Eternal or Second Death:

This death is spoken of in Revelation 20:12 –15, and it refers to “eternal separation from God.”

The scripture tell us Eternal death is the result of rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, and failing to believe that He is the Savior of the world.This state is spoken of as that of perishing.

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life John 3:14 – 16

In each of the cases through scripture where people were raised from the dead, (here in this example Lazarus,) the person was restored back to life again, only to die at some other later time.

Their restoration was to physical life.

Not one of these had gone through death into life so that they could not die again.But Messiah Jesus/Yeshua did.

He was not restored to life.

He was resurrected to life.

The life He enjoyed as a resurrected being was not a life subject to death. He came out of death into life. Death had no more power over Him.Thus we read in Romans 6:9,  “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.”

And in 2Timothy 1:10, “Our Savior Jesus Christ … hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

How did Messiah Jesus/Yeshua abolish death?

He did so by going ‘through death.’

The only One who ever passed “through death” into eternal life is Jesus the Messiah. In doing so He conquered death. He has the keys of death.

It is for this reason that the Lord Jesus is called “the firstborn from the dead.” Col 1:15,18; Rev 1:5

In His Deaths

The Deaths He Died

Scripture speaks of three kinds of death: spiritual, physical and eternal. When Messiah died, He took care of the problem of death. He dealt with spiritual, physical and eternal death. In order to do so, He died twice; or He experienced two separate and distinct deaths.

He experienced physical death, but He also experienced spiritual death. (Remember spiritual death is the reality of experiencing separation from His Father when He cried ‘Why have you forsaken Me’.) He did this so we would never have to. It was a complete and perfect work.Thank God for the deaths Messiah Jesus/Yeshua died. He tasted death for every person. He through death has conquered death, and stands the Victor over death.

He is the One who could say:

“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” John 11:25 – 26. He said: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my sayings, he shall never see death” John 8:51.

Messiah Yeshua has changed death for every believer.Because He was an Infinite Being, He went through physical death, and today there is a man with a glorified resurrected body in eternity. Physical death is conquered. There is a man in glory who is the guarantee that all believers will also be there someday in the presence of the Father.Salvation is available for man; it is not available for the devil or his angels.

It is available because of the deaths Messiah Jesus died.

It is striking that in the Hebrew of Isaiah 53:8 and 9 two plurals are used. It says: “He was cut off out of the land of the living [plural]: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death [plural, ‘deaths’].”

It is often true that the Hebrew uses abstract qualities in the plural, but it is also true that the Lord Jesus Christ was cut off from the land of the living both Godward and then manward.The living God was separated from the Son in the darkness of the cross; He was cut off for the first and only time in all eternity from the living God. Then He was cut off from those living on earth. This would signify He died twice and that is exactly what the next phrase says.

In the first death he made His grave with the wicked for He hung between two thieves. His second grave, (that which was physical) was with the rich. He was buried in a rich man’s tomb. Thus the prophet prophetically sees both His grave with the wicked and His grave with the rich in the deaths He died. Only God could write it so exactly.During the period of darkness, we see God’s night when His wrath was poured out on His own Son and which was the only time in eternity in which there was separation between the Father and the Son

Remember that it is the death Messiah Jesus/Yeshua experienced on the cross of spiritual separation from the Father which provides eternal salvation for us. It is not just the physical death of Jesus that saves anyone, but His spiritual death.Our message is about a cross, this is what we are to preach, not a tomb.The physical death is not the most important death. Messiah Jesus/Yeshua had to go through physical death even as He went through the incarnation and birth. Yet He came out of death being raised from the death. Nevertheless the death He endured and tasted that is significant to our salvation is His spiritual death with the Father and the Holy Spirit.The only way that God the Son could die would be to assume the nature of man. God cannot die, but someone who is both God and man could die. But being both God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ could not only die, He could conquer death and so become its new master. He conquered death so that death was subject to Him and not He to it. Death is now the Messiah Jesus’s servant, and He is its Master and Lord.

Thus we read in Romans 6:9,  “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.”

And in

2 Timothy 1:10,  “Our Savior Jesus Christ … hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

The children of Israel were told to celebrate Passover every year so that they would remember and never forget how the Lord save them out of Egypt. Exodus 21

At the end of his life, Paul called himself the biggest sinner, once that was true he had opposed the gospel vehemently, that his life as an enemy of God was long over and even long forgotten. He had been in the Lord for decades and was known throughout the world as a saint.

However at the end of his life he tells the story of getting saved as if it were yesterday.

This principle is as old as Passover.

If we want to get to the promised land, we must never stop thanking God for taking us out of Egypt.

Never forget how He saved us.

Peter wrote that those who lack godly qualities are those who have forgotten their salvation. Let’s give thanks to the Lord for saving us out of Egypt as if it just happened, and one day we’ll give thanks to the Lord for bringing us into the promised land.

Practice the principle of Passover by giving thanks; for how God saved us and delivered us from bondage and live as if you just got saved to day. 2 Peter 1:9

This is such an important meaning of Passover …

and of this part of His journey from the cross to the throne.

Coming soon the conclusion with possible answers to the question…What did John see that we missed?

Happy Passover – Chag Sameach to all MMM family, friends, followers and visitors!

 

This Passover Please…

Make certain Jesus is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

You are greatly loved and precious in His sight.

Its all about Life and Relationship, not Religion.

NOT CERTAIN? YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’ name. Amen.

THIS IS LIFE CHANGING Information- Guaranteed

Seeing Stars Or…

just simply over the moon?

Animation above shows moons shadow cast on earths spinning surface.

The previous post focused on the smallest components and patterns in the most intricate of God’s creations.

Time to look up once more.

Our worldview is rooted in our limited comprehension of the earth around us and depends very much from what vantage point we are viewing everything. Many things affect our outlook, such as the position of our dwelling place, the location and calibre of our lifestyle, as well as how we observe and process information, and interact with the world around us.

For one moment instead of thinking of ourselves standing on the earth looking up at the stars in the sky; embrace the reality that from any point on the surface, we are in fact actually staring down into the infinite abyss of the universe, with only gravity holding us to the surface of the earth.

(That’s where we instinctively reach for a seatbelt!) Every day we see the sun and almost every day we see the moon;this is because God said in Genesis 1:14 that He created the sun, (greater light) for day and the moon, (the lesser light) for night, for the seasons and for a way to measure and count the days, months and years.

After the Exodus God set the Israelites back on a lunar calendar to help them leave behind the Egyptian sun worship and solar based calendar.The size of our Earth and Moon in comparison to our Star, the Sun.

Today our calendar is again solar-based. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582, (which is not all that long ago). The Gregorian calendar is internationally the most widely used civil calendar. It was adopted from the Julian calendar involving a correction to the length of a year. The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe. The last European country to adopt the reform was Greece, in 1923.

The Gregorian reform contained two parts: a reform of the Julian calendar as used prior to Pope Gregory XIII’s time and a reform of the lunar cycle used by the Church, with the Julian calendar, to calculate the date of Passover, (Easter).

From the lunar month cycle he extended the days of each of the 12 months and it is there that we lost the Lord’s original set days which were based on the lunar moon cycle.

The orbits of the Earth and Moon around our star can be accurately forecast and thus depended upon to give those observing it a specific time each year.

Until the printing press and almanacs became available, the phases of the moon were the only worldwide source of seasonal information for agricultural/farming and planning ahead. Nowadays we hardly notice the phases of the moon as we rely so much on modern technology.ECLIPSE FEVER IS TAKING AMERICA BY STORM AND EVERYONE IS, ‘SEEING STARS’ AND IN THIS CASE our moon is PASSING IN FRONT OF OUR VERY OWN STAR, the sun.In less than a month, on 21st August, the orbital paths of the earth and moon will converge during the daytime. As the moons orbit takes it between the earth and the sun, its relative distance will block out the sun for a short period of time as its shadow transverses the surface of the earth. It will only be seen along the mapped path above.
There is much excitement about the upcoming heavenly spectacle. For the first time in 100 years (99 to be exact) that an eclipse can be seen over a 70 mile wide track by people living in the continental United States.Eclipses occur more frequently than every 100 years and are seen more commonly from other locations due to the orbital path of the moon.Having experienced several, it is indeed a unique experience and very strange, as the moons mass passes between earth and the sun and blocks the suns brilliant light from reaching our planet.

Then daylight turns to dusk and the birds stop singing.

All of nature thinks that it’s night-time and there is an eerie silence.

But it doesn’t last long!

The brevity is rooted in the movement of the dark shadow of the moon known as the umbra. When you are inside the umbra, the entire solar disk of the sun appears to be covered by the dark disk of the moon.

In short the moons umbral shadow will take a leisurely trek across the USA covering 2,496 miles (4,017KM)

It will take just 90.7 minutes for the moon to pass fully across the sun, whizzing by at an average speed of 1,651 mph (2657km)/h.

During its path across the sun, the moon allows the corona of the sun to glint briefly looking like a gigantic diamond ring in the sky. 
A corona is an aura of plasma that surrounds the sun and other stars.

The Sun’s corona extends MILLIONS of miles/kilometres into space and is most easily seen during a total solar eclipse, but it is also observable with a coronagraph.

The word “corona” is a Latin word meaning “crown”, from the Ancient Greek κορώνη.

The diamond-ring effect occurs both at the beginning and end of totality.Second diamond-ring effect at end of totality August 11, 1999 during a total solar eclipse.

Where the last rays of sunlight pass through the valleys on the moon’s limb, and the faint corona around the sun is just becoming visible, this is when it resembles a ring with glittering diamonds.It’s a most spectacular sight, which lasts only seconds.The highly transient diamond ring effect really shows that the universe is not as static as it appears to be.

There are other stunningly visual moments during transition called Bailys Beads.In itself the eclipse is nothing more than the heavens that God created doing exactly what He set them in place to do.

They have followed His directive for millennia and have been viewed by multiplied millions of human eyes over the centuries. The Scriptures speak of them and astronomers have mapped their orbits. All the visible constellations have names and tell the greatest story of all time. His-story.

The Scriptures tell us that God put the heavens that we see in place for signs and for seasons and Jesus reminded us of that in the book of Matthew.

In 1 Chron. 12:32 The tribe of Issachar and his children were noted for their knowledge and observations of the heavenly bodies and the times and seasons that their movements indicated. Maps were made of the heavens millennia ago, for they were a living calendar for agriculture and especially for God’s people Israel to follow His Appointed Times.

The birth of Jesus was written in the starry sky and led the Magi from the East to Him as they saw ‘His star’ in the constellations and understood it’s significance. They paid attention, should we be any less interested?

Jesus Himself told us of the signs to look for prior to His return in Matthew 24.

The Revelation of Jesus to John also speaks of many signs in the skies above.

In recent years there have been many unusual sights in the heavens. During the years 2014/5 there were four ‘blood moons’ and eclipses occurring ‘coincidentally’ on exact days of the Appointed Times of the Lord celebrated during the calendar year.

There is no specific Hebrew word meaning coincidence, as all things in the Hebraic mindset and Hebrew thought are designed and orchestrated by God/Hashem. In Hebrew nothing ‘just happens’ there is no luck, no chance, it is all by His co-ordinated design and planned from before the foundation of the world.

That being so, it may behoove us to pay attention to the skies above, look to the heavens for our redemption draws nigh. We are not told to look down and at our circumstances but encouraged to look up to where our Father exists in the heavens.

Shamayim in Hebrew (שָׁמַיִם).

In the Greek ouranos οὐρανός, οῦ, ὁ.

The Hebrew word shamayim a plural form meaning ‘heights’, ‘elevations’. It is constructed of two parts: sham (שָׁמַ) derived from Akkadian samu meaning “sky” or “lofty”, and Hebrew mayim (מַיִם) meaning “water”.

In Genesis 1:6 Elohim separated the “water from the water”. The area above the earth was filled by sky-water (sham-mayim) and the earth below was covered by sea-water (yam-mayim).

The Hebrew word for the sun is shemesh. It follows the same construction, where “shem” or “sham” (Akkadian: samu) means “sky” and esh (Akkadian: ish) means “fire”, i.e. “sky-fire”.

יָרֵחַ ‘yareach’ meaning ‘moon’  Phonetic Spelling:  (yaw-ray’-akh)

אָ֫רֶץ  ‘eretz’ meaning ‘earth’  Phonetic Spelling: (eh’-rets)

By some scholars calculations we are in the year 5778 and other scholars say that there are some 200+ years missing from the calendar having been miscalculated by some rabbis and scribes.

If that is correct we could be nearer the year 6000-16!

It is good to remember that it’s not just 2017 years that have passed in total, that it simply the number of years since Jesus came the first time and was on the earth physically. There is some 4000 years prior to that as the story contained in scripture from Genesis began approximately 6 thousand years ago. If this is correct and we look at the reference to a day as a 1000 years; we are right in the cusp of entering the 7000th year which is symbolic of His Rest, (Shalom) indicating the start of the prophesied 1000 year reign of Messiah as He returns.

The only question is, are we ready, are we prepared for His return? Where are our hearts Focused?

It may not be in our lifetime that He returns, but what If it is?

Are these heavenly signs pointing to His soon return? Will He fulfill ‘the appointed times’ this coming September?

Even if it’s not this year, being ready and prepared spiritually is up to each individual and to make certain we have shared the good news of salvation and forgiveness through Jesus blood with everyone we can.

We looked at Israel, 70 years the nation. 50 years with Jerusalem as its capital and the significant date recently, when Jews were once again able to pray freely on the Temple Mount. We are now counting down to the first of the 3 fall Appointed Times dates and the 40 days of Teshuvah. Teshuvah is a time of repentance and soul-searching in preparation for the time of repentance that immediately precedes Rosh Hashanah.

It is always good to remember that numbers are important to the Lord and that every Hebrew letter has a numerical value. Nothing is insignificant or coincidental in God’s plan of the ages. Let as keep our eyes on the Lord and on the heavens where He is and on the apple of His eye, His beloved Israel.

Perhaps it is significant that 21st day August, day of the eclipse, is exactly one month to 21st September, which this year is Rosh Hashanah.

Jesus said no man knows the day nor the hour of his return but the Father only. Does this indicate it’s possible to know the season or the year?

All we can know for certain is what the scripture says

One thing is sure, it’s time for us to look up and away from the things that so easily draw us away from the Lord and from His presence. It’s time to focus on Him and not ourselves. We need to be as Jesus said, ‘about our father’s business’, pleasing Him by our lifestyles and our obedience to His commandments.

There’s only one sunset and its been going around the earth since God created the sun. (Gen.1:14-19)

and as you are watching that sun set…someone on the other side of the earth is watching the exact same sun rise!It takes the whole ocean and the moon to erase one footprint in the sand

 and everything we eat is processed sunshine…

Your shadow is a confirmation that light has travelled nearly 93 million miles without interruption…

only to be prevented from reaching the ground in the last few feet by your presence! Consider that we have never actually been in the same place twice, as the earth and the solar system we are part of and even the entire known galaxy, are all in constant motion through space.  

Not all starlight that we see is the same age, some of it possibly millions of years apart even though it reaches our eyes at the same moment.

Many of the stars we see in fact no longer exist, so we are literally looking back through time.

This being true, the night sky isn’t simply a single moment in the universe but rather a patchwork, a compendium, a compilation of countless years in the breadth of eternity. The Song of Solomon speaks of the bride as the moon but finishes by speaking of her as the sun. The final picture and mystery of the bride goes from moonlight to sunshine.The moon and the sun are two different kinds of light.

The moon is a light that shines conditionally. There has to be nothing blocking its face, nothing hiding it from the sun.

The sun shines regardless of where it’s facing, or anything blocking it, because its nature is to shine.We are the ‘bride’ and we are still in the moon phase, reflecting our Saviour’s glorious light.We’re rejoicing, but oftentimes our joy is conditional. The real victory comes when you move from the moon stage to the sun stage. Then the light of the glory of God is coming from within our being and we have completed the transition from glory to glory.

It’s when your joy moves from being conditional to becoming unconditional, then you truly praise Him, not just when things are good, but when things look terrible – at all times.You shine not just because things are shining around you, you shine because you are a light to the world.That’s what a light does – it shines.

You’re the bride, and the bride begins as fair as the moon, but ends as bright as the sun.Commit to being the light of Messiah today and shine like the sun!(The above image of a partial eclipse in 2012 was taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite.)

Final caveat.. although it’s tempting to stare at the sun during a solar eclipse, if you try to do so without protection, you could damage your eyes.

Shalom family and friends, be safe as you continue to enjoy the wonders of our Fathers Creation.

Mysteries and Miracles

One mystery miracle that is sometimes overlooked is:

The Rending or Tearing of the Temple Veil.

Recorded in three places in the gospels of Matt 27:51,

“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, He gave up His Spirit.

At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

The earth shook and the rocks split.

The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life” (Matt.27:50-52 NIV). 

Luke 23:45 and Mark 15:38 – “Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that He cried out like this and breathed His last, he said, “Truly this Man was the Son of God!”

In the Temple, The Holy of Holies is also called the Most Holy Place, inner sanctuary, oracle, and inner house and represented the dwelling place of God here on Earth, or the Throne of God.

It was only to be entered once a year, on the Day of Atonement, and only by the High Priest.

In Solomon’s Temple, the Holy of Holies was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high.

(Note: A cubit is approx. 18 inches, so the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple would have been about 30 feet by 30 feet by 30 feet in today’s unit of measurement.) The height of a 6ft man = 4 cubits.

The temple complex was huge and to understand the scale of it, makes the torn veil of greater significance. To get a better idea compare the size of the people.

Entrance into the Holy of Holies.

To enter into the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple, the High Priest had to pass through a curtain, or veil (2 Chr. 3:14), gold chains (1 Kgs. 6:21), and two doors (1 Kgs. 6:31).

The veil separated the Holy Place or Temple, where the High Priest made the sacrifice and the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place.

The sacred veil or curtain, called the peroketh, represented an inter-dimensional veil that shielded the Unseen, Unfathomable Lord of hosts, from the rest of His creation. 

The curtain in Solomon’s Temple is in 2 Chronicles 3:14: it was described as a “veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work and worked cherubim on it” which separated the Holy of Holies, the Kodesh Hakadashim, from the rest of the Temple.

This is very similar to the description of the veil leading into the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness.

Exodus 26:31 “And thou shalt make a vail [of] blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made:”

The veil was then hung on four pillars like the

 Throne of God which rested on the four cherubim in heaven.

The Curtain of Separation

History seems to indicate that there were two curtains in Herod’s Temple: One at the huge gated entry into the Temple and the other separating the Holy of Holies and the main sanctuary.

God Himself thought so much of the importance of the type, as shown by the tearing of the veil:

Matt 27:50-51 “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.”

If we don’t understand the meaning in Scripture of the Holy of Holies and the veil, we miss out on extremely significant information concerning exactly what Messiah’s death meant to sinful mankind.

To comprehend why it was a miracle we need to understand that the curtain separated the Holy Place from everyone but the High Priest.

The Holy Place was where the presence of God dwelled on the mercy seat.

The curtain was a constant reminder to the Israelites that their access to God depended on another physical human, and that this access was only granted through the physical works of the sacrificial system. 

Exodus 26:31 – “You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen.  It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubim.

You shall hang it upon the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold.  Their hooks shall be gold, upon four sockets of silver.  And you shall hang the veil from the clasps.” 

At the Moses tabernacle replica the high priest worships just outside of the Holy of Holies.

“Then you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, behind the veil.  The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place the Most Holy.  You shall put the mercy seat upon the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy.”

According to Israelite Hebrew teachers /rabbinic sources, the Sacred Veil that was made for the Temple of Solomon was actually made by layering multiple sheets of colored linen together.  The curtains overall thickness was said to be over three feet.  The highest and most Holy of days in the life of a Israelite/Hebrew, is the Day of Atonement, on this day, the Lord of hosts left His throne of justice and moved to the seat of mercy to meet with the Tzaddik of Israel, the High Priest as he entered the Most Holy Place.

One can only imagine the High Priest blindly navigating through the maze of thirty layers of linen sheets, together with the censor smoking incense in one hand and the blood of the ram in the bowl in the other hand.

As his world became darker and darker, he soon found himself standing in the presence of the Lord in complete darkness.

Without any sensory sight to help him, standing in the presence of the Lord would have been very disorientating.  He had to lean on faith and trust explicitly on the Lord to shield and protect him, for to touch the ark of the Lord would mean instant death. Then as the Lord promised the High Priest, “I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat”.

In the temple of Herod, (in Jesus’ day), the massive temple veil(s) were 60 feet long, 30 feet wide with multiple woven layers the thickness of a man’s hand (approx. 4”).

(See account of Historian Josephus at the end.)**

These curtains/veils were not the flimsy material we have as window dressings today.  

It was woven in 72 squares and was so heavy that over 300 priests were needed to move or change the squares.

The curtain itself was hung in the Temple on a huge stone lintel. It was over thirty feet long and estimated to weigh about thirty tons (60,000 pounds).

In a Letter to Hedibia, the early church father, Jerome, wrote that the during the rending of the temple Veil, the lintel that held the Veil was splintered, broke up and fell to the ground.

The lintel was an enormous stone, being at least 30 feet long and weighing some 30 tons!

Though this event was in the midst of a great earthquake, the portents to the High Priest and the Sanhedrin occurring at the moment of the death of Jesus/Yeshua were ominous.  Even with the collapse of the lintel, the huge curtain would have fallen to the ground, but the historical testimony states that “the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom”. (Matthew 27:51)

The unseen Hand of the Almighty One sent a message to Caiphas, Ananias and all the other temple rulers.

The curtain being torn from top to bottom was a foreboding omen, indicating that God’s hand had torn it in two and that His presence was leaving that Holy place.

The judgments of God, as portrayed over the preceding three hours as Jesus hung on the cross, would be visited upon His own temple, His own people, and upon the evil followers of the temple rulers.

The rending of the veil is recorded in the gospels as if it were observed from the site of the execution of Jesus.  It seems the only place in the vicinity of the Temple of Herod, that had a visual view of the Eastern Gate looking down upon the temple, with a view of the veil in front of the Holy of Holiest, was on the western slopes of the Mount of Olives near the Miphkad Altar, where the ashes of the red heifer were burnt.

Consistent with the Gospel accounts of the death of Jesus and the independent testimonies of the Hebrew Talmud, Josephus, Tactitus, and early ante-Nicean fathers of the Christian Church, the final moments of the life of Jesus were surrounded with cataclysmic events and fateful portents.  These portents shadowed the esteemed high priest’s family, the House of Ananias and the temple hierarchy all the way to the final destruction of that glorious temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. 

It is also significant how the natural world was rent and torn, while the agony of the Suffering Servant was demonstrated on that cross before the Jewish people.  We must understand again, that the death of Jesus was not a human event but a cosmic event.  The Book of Job gives us a heavenly scene where in the Council of heaven the ‘sons of God’ met and deliberate.  It was here in this council that Satan went to represent this earth.  How?  There in the Garden, when Adam chose to disobey God, Satan wrestled away from ‘this’ son of God his dominion as ruler of this planet and his role to sit in that cosmic council in heaven.  There Satan known as ‘HaSatan’, which translated means ‘the Accuser’, has been representing this planet before the throne of God.

It was not just the followers of Jesus, the rulers of the temple and the Roman soldiers that watched the unfolding of this great “Drama of the Ages”. The other dimensional hosts in the universe; the sons of God and the angelic hosts all watched with bated breath and horror as the Son of God gave up His life. This was evident in the darkness of those hours.

Here, was THE moment of time, when Jesus/Yeshua cried out again with a loud voice, “It is Finished and bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19: 30) or as Luke testified, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” (Luke 23:46) and “yielded up His spirit”.  (Luke 27:50)

“It records the rending of the Temple-Veil in two from the top downward to the bottom; as the second, the quaking of the earth, the rending of the rocks and the opening of the graves . . . while the rending of the Veil is recorded first, as being the most significant token to Israel, it may have been connected with the earthquake, although this alone might scarcely account for the tearing of so heavy a Veil from the top to the bottom.” 

The only place where a Passover (Pesach) lamb could be killed was in 
Jerusalem (Yerushalayim).

Mount Moriah, the exact same place where Abraham and Isaac had been willing to offer his life.

On the fourteenth of Nisan, at the third hour of the day (9:00
a.m.), the high priest (Cohen
 HaGadol) took the lamb and ascended the altar so he could tie the lamb 
in place on the altar. Exactly the same time on that day, Yeshua was tied
 to the tree on Mount Moriah (Mark 15:25).

The time of the evening 
sacrifice was (3:00 p.m.) for Passover (Exodus [Shemot] 12:6), the high 
priest (Cohen HaGadol) ascended the altar, cut the throat of the lamb
 with a knife, and said the words, “It is finished.”

(These are the
 exact words said after giving a peace offering to G-d.)

At this same 
time, Jesus/Yeshua died, saying these exact words as recorded in John (Yochanan) 19:30.
 Yeshua died at exactly 3:00 p.m. (Matthew [Mattityahu] 27:45-46,50). 

 

Roman time was calculated on 6 a.m. as the first hour of the day, as day breaks. Jesus/Yeshua died at the ninth hour, which is 3 p.m.

Between the evenings (Plural) is when the Passover lamb was killed.

This is a Jewish term. There are two evenings in the Jewish day. The first is the beginning of the suns waning, which is Noon. The second is the beginning of the darkness as the new day begins, avg. 6p.m. (Don’t think this strange, for in most of the western world the day begins at midnight, in the middle of the darkness.) Between the evenings as given in Exodus means 3 PM.


Picture Jesus’ loud and painful cry “it is finished” (Jn.19:30), as the Roman solder plunges a spear deep into His side and His life Blood drains to the ground.

At the same instant, the Temple veil tears apart as a powerful earthquake shakes Jerusalem.

Furthermore, picture the high priest who, having just condemned Jesus to death the night before, was splashing the blood of Passover lambs against the altar of God.

When Jesus cried out “it is finished” and the curtain tore, the relationship between God and humanity was altered forever. The tearing of the curtain of separation from top to bottom, forever opens the way for all humanity to eventually fellowship directly with God the Father. 

The significance that Jesus/Yeshua dies at the same moment that the lamb in the temple was killed cannot be over emphasized. It was God’s perfect timing, because it was at this point the earth quaked and the veil tore right where the High Priest was standing.

Their shock and astonishment was understandable.

   None of these events ‘just happened’, it was all part of God’s plan and His plan is still in motion.

The colors of the veil are very significant and are the same colors that are used in the garments of the High Priest.

Blue: We have learned about the significance of the color blue representing the Law of God.

Red: The color red represents the blood of Jesus Christ as our Passover sacrifice. It also represented the red ribbon of Rahab, which pointed to the inclusion of the Gentiles in salvation.

Purple: The color purple, which combines both blue and red, points us to the Royal Priesthood, which combines both the salvation given to us through the sacrifice of Jesus and our love of God shown through our obedience to the Law.

White: on the High Priest’s garments represents our clean garments as we prepare ourselves as the Bride of Christ and also the perfection of Jesus Christ.

Gold: To these four colors was added gold. In the Tabernacle in the Wilderness we see that the Ark of the Covenant located in the Holy of Holies was also made of gold. God’s presence was in the Ark and it was also the receptacle of the Holy Spirit. As the High Priest symbolizes the living Holy Holies/ Sanctuary, that we are today, the gold represents the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit in us. Just as the gold was interwoven amongst all the other strands of material, so too Holy Spirit ties all the members of the Body of Messiah together.

Therefore, by passing through the four-colored veil, it was looking forward to our perfect High Priest, Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah.

The symbolism of the veil was, that it was there to exclude all mankind, UNTIL the sacrifice of Jesus as High Priest. Jesus the Messiah could enter once and for all with His own blood to provide access for us, so that Holy Spirit, as the tangible power of God, could dwell among men.)

When Jesus died and the veil in the Temple was torn in two it ensures that we all may boldly approach the Throne of God in prayer, through our High Priest, Jesus the Messiah (Heb. 4:14-16).

Consider the enormous significance of this monumental and historical event in the following references:

This is the moment in time that Jesus spoke of to the woman of Samaria when he foretold that the existing worship system would be abolished, and that those who wanted to worship God would no longer need to travel to a specific location to worship:

“The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman believe me that an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem . . .. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (Jn.4:19-23 Para.).

No longer would a physical man be required to offer animal sacrifices for sins. Any who truly worship the Father can now stand before him and present their own cause to him, knowing that he will hear and consider their prayer because of the sacrifice of Jesus the Christ.

With the tearing of the curtain, all who worship God, whether Jew or Gentile, have access to the throne of mercy by the one and final sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

See Heb.4:15-16; 6:18-19; 9:1-15; 10:19-22.

“For through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” (Eph.2:18-19 KJV).

 

Historical References of interest:

** “Josephus reported that the veil was 4 inches thick, was renewed every year, and that horses tied to each side could not pull it apart.  It barred all but the High Priest from the presence of God, but when it was torn in two at the death of Jesus of Nazareth (see Mark 15:38), access to God was made available to all who come through him.”  (Even at face value, this is an enigmatic note, in that Exodus 26 describes the Tabernacle, and the veil that was torn in two was part of Herod’s Temple.  Ryrie’s representation of “the veil” certainly implies that the veil that Exodus describes is the veil that Josephus describes, which is to be identified with the veil that was torn in two.) before these doors there was a veil of equal largeness with the doors. It was a Babylonian curtain, embroidered with blue, and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple, and of a contexture that was truly wonderful. Nor was this mixture of colors without its mystical interpretation, but was a kind of image of the universe; for by the scarlet there seemed to be enigmatically signified fire, by the fine flax the earth, by the blue the air, and by the purple the sea; two of them having their colors the foundation of this resemblance; but the fine flax and the purple have their own origin for that foundation, the earth producing the one, and the sea the other. This curtain had also embroidered upon it all that was mystical in the heavens, excepting that of the [twelve] signs, representing living creatures. (Historian Josephus Wars of the Jews: Wars 5.5.4)

Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.

The Veils before the Most Holy Place were 40 cubits (60 feet) long, and 20 (30 feet) wide, of the thickness of the palm of the hand, and wrought in 72 squares, which were joined together; and these Veils were so heavy, that, in the exaggerated language of the time, it needed 300 priests to manipulate each.  If the Veil was at all such as is described in the Talmud, it could not have been rent in twain by a mere earthquake or the fall of the lintel, although its composition in squares fastened together might explain, how the rent might be as described in the Gospel.

Maurice Henry Harris, Hebraic Literature (M. Walter Dunne, 1901).

Three hundred priests were told off [sic; the idea is that they were designated] to draw the veil (of the Temple) aside; for it is taught that Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel declared in the name of Rabbi Shimon the Sagan (or high priest’s substitute), that the thickness of the veil was a handbreadth. It was woven of seventy-two cords, and each cord consisted of twenty-four strands. It was forty cubits long and twenty wide. Eighty-two myriads of damsels worked at it, and two such veils were made every year. When it became soiled, it took three hundred priests to immerse and cleanse it.     Chullin (Harris, pp. 195-96)

The veil was one handbreadth thick and was woven on [a loom having] seventy-two rods, and over each rod were twenty-four threads.  Its length was forty cubits and its breadth twenty cubits; it was made by eighty-two young girls, and they used to make two in every year; and three hundred priests immersed it.

 

A Lot Can Happen In A Week

  During the process of gathering and assembling all the pertinent information for the Spring feast posts; the reality of the facts and the multiple events surrounding our central focus became clearer than ever before. At best we are prone to forget, at worst we ignore all the activity and miracles taking place on and around the same time as we remembered the Passover.

Even though the week has physically passed, it is still highly relevant as the halfway point, (25th day) to Pentecost is called the 2nd Passover. A 2nd chance to prepare our hearts. For these are His Divine appointments. 

This particular year, everything changed. What had been in the planning and on hold stage, prophetically rehearsed for millennia, was now taking place and unfolding in real-time.

Although many of these events are recorded in all four Gospels, those here are primarily followed in Matthew  chapters 20-28 and John 12.

Prior to the start of passover week,

Jesus/Yeshua raises Lazarus from the dead no doubt one of the last events

that made the chief priests decide to do something about Him, but they did not want to do it right on the festival of Passover. 

In Luke 12:20–21 the Greeks asked Philip to take them to Jesus. In verse 24, He taught on the seed falling to the ground, prophetically declaring what was about to occur in His own life. 

John 12: 28 God’s voice came from heaven, “and I did glorify and I shall glorify again” the crowd heard thunder.

In verse 29, an angel spoke to Him and 

He begins by prophesying that He will be betrayed and the chief priests and scribes will condemn him to death.

 James and John were arguing who would sit on his right or left hand. 

Verse 30 Jesus heals two blind men. He touched their eyes and

immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Then He tells the disciples to go to Bethphage, near the Mount of Olives and to bring the donkeys colt, fulfilling Zechariah 9:9

Then the triumphal entry as recorded in

John 12:12, the next day he entered Jerusalem on the donkey.

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem because they miss their appointed time of visitation.

In John 16:23; His teaching to ask the Father in His Name.

John 17. The whole chapter Jesus prays for all believers.

 verse 12, Jesus went into the temple but before-hand, He purposefully and thoughtfully made a whip

and then turned over the tables in the temple courtyard where the merchants were trading animals and birds for the temple sacrifices and drove them out.

vs. 14 The blind and lame came to Him and He healed them.

This displeased the chief priests and scribes and was the final straw to them trying to get rid of Him.

 He went to Bethany and stayed there

John 12:16 also tells us that days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany.

John 12:19 was the withering of the fig tree,

then John records in 12:12-9, the crowd saw it and then the high priests wanted to kill Lazarus after Jesus raised him.

John 12:23 He was teaching daily in the temple and the chief priests and elders came and challenged Him.

Vrs 31- 41 He warned them and then verse 45-46 they realized was He meant.

Chapters 22 and 23 He continued teaching and called them hypocrites,

verse 24, He left the temple and went and sat on the Mount of olives,

here He tells them of the events that are going to take place in future.

chapter 25 teaches the parables of 5 wise

and 5 foolish virgins.

Also the

and the separating of the sheep and goat nations.

 Chp. 26:2 He tells the disciples that after two days is the feast of the Passover and the Son of Man will be betrayed to be crucified.

Chapter 26:3-5, the chief priests, scribes and elders talked to Caiaphas and consulted how they might take Jesus and kill him.

Matthew 26:6 Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper.

Matthew 7-13, 19 is the record of the woman who washed His feet with her tears and emptied her alabaster box of precious ointment over Him which Jesus stated prophetically, was in preparation for His death.

Jesus tells Simon He knows what he is thinking and declares that the one who is forgiven much, loves much.

14-16 Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and they gave him 30 pieces of silver.

17- Jesus tells His disciples to go and make ready for the seder meal and the Passover

23 24 Jesus tells that one of them there will betray Him

26 He takes the bread and the cup and institutes communion as we know it.

John chapter 13:4-7 if after supper He took a towel poured water into a basin and washed the disciples feet.

John 36: Jesus prays in Gethsemane – Gat Sh’monim, which means olive press. This was an enclosed grove with its oil press.

And olive grove was not a garden, we know it better as Gethsemane.

Vs.40 Peter, James and John could not stay awake one hour, three times He goes to the disciples and they were sleeping each time.

Jesus sweats blood with the stress of the burden of the world’s sin that he is taking upon Himself. Luke 22:44 and Mark 14:33, 34 tells us that He almost died at this point.

There is some scientific data confirming that under extreme stress, blood will be forced through capillaries to the skin surface, appearing as if blood is being sweated.

Verse 43 He saw an angel. 

47-49 Judas arrives with the chief priests and elders of the people and betrays Jesus with a kiss.

John chapter 18:5–7 Jesus spoke ‘I am that I am’, ‘Anochi’, with such a powerful authority and anointing they all fell backward to the ground.

and the rest to follow…….