The Passover may properly be
observed and celebrated this year from the Evening of March 25 until
April 2, 2013. YES, with DESIRE the Lord wants you to observe Passover
in REMEMBRANCE of Him and the great work of Redemption that He did for
us.
The CROSS - wherein Messiah our Passover was sacrificed for us, is THE focus. We are pressed on every side. It could easily be
overwhelming, without focus on that greatest REALITY of all history.
It is all at the Cross. The reality of what our King did on that Cross outside the City of Jerusalem, on that Wednesday, Nissan 14, in 30 AD, is the Focus For Hope. The reality of that sacrifice will save us from the wrath to come, IF we continue in the way of that Blessed Hope. (John 8:31, Rom 11:22, Col 1:23, and 1 John 2:24) Those IF's in those profoundly important four Scriptures mean there is a condition, which MUST be met. The Cross is THE Focus, to keep
us directed to meet that condition that will keep the Blessed Hope.
None of us will have to endure anything compared to what He endured for us. During the three hours of the darkness on that Cross, Jesus was in agony, wrestling with the powers of darkness. He was making His soul an offering for the sin of SINNERS. Never were there three such hours since the day God created man upon the earth, never such a dark and awful scene. It was the turning point of that great love of the Creator for His creatures. The Redemption and Salvation of SINNERS, who would confess they were sinners, and turn away from sin, was being accomplished. The REQUIRED Sin Offering of Redemption was being accomplished.
As we think of the complaint that Jesus cried out to God, from Psalms 22:1, we should know our King in the midst of such agony was
teaching us something so important. He was teaching us how important the Word of God is to direct us in prayer. Scripture should be woven into prayer.
The believer may have tasted some bitterness, suffering, and pain.
Sometimes we may feel as Yeshua did on that Cross, that we have been forsaken. Knowing that He had that same feeling, which we will all experience in the valley of the shadow of death, provides substance and evidence of our Blessed Hope, no matter how bad our
circumstances may be. We can only form a very feeble idea of the
greatness of Christ's sufferings. Still this focus on the Cross gives understanding of the Savior's love toward SINNERS.
The SIN of SINNERS caused, and required, this greatest of all
injustices. Here we get deeper conviction of the vileness and evil
of sin. Here in that focus on the Cross, we get more understanding
of what we owe to Jesus Christ, Who ALONE delivers us from the wrath to come. There is NO OTHER Name, which will deliver from the wrath to come.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His enemies wickedly
ridiculed His complaint. Many of the reproaches cast upon the Word
of God, and the people of God, arise, from gross failure to appreciate and understand such things. Messiah, just before He died, spoke in His full strength, to show that His life was not forced from Him. He IS The Life. Life is IN Him. He was required to exercise His will, according to the will of The Father, to FREELY choose to deliver His very life, and freely deliver His soul, mind, will, and emotions, into His Father's hands. He had strength to bid defiance to the powers of death. He did cry out, not only defiance to the powers of death, but FINAL victory over them. By His Eternal Spirit of Truth and Holiness, He became the required Sin OFFERING. He offered Himself to REDEEM us. Yeshua THE Messiah, being the Priest as well as the Sacrifice. He cried with a loud voice. Then He yielded up the ghost.
The Son of God upon the Cross did die by the violence of the pain He
suffered for the sin of SINNERS. His soul was separated from His
body, and so His body was left really and truly dead. It was certain
that Christ did die. It was required that He should die for the sin
of SINNERS. He had agreed to make Himself an Offering for Sin, and
He did it when He willingly gave up His life. In what He did on that
Cross the Love of God was manifested. In His death on that Cross the purpose for which the Son of God was manifested, to destroy the
works of the devil, was accomplished and made FOREVER CERTAIN. He said, IT IS FINISHED. The devil is a finished forever-defeated foe. Lucifer, Satan the devil, is finished and ultimately defeated, regardless of whatever false evidence we might see, or may personally experience, contrary to that FOREVER CERTAIN FINISHED REALITY.
There was a thick darkness over the land, from noon until three in
the afternoon. The Judean Jews attached to the temple complex were doing their utmost to extinguish the Son of God. THE JEWS DID NOT PUT HIM THROUGH THIS, IT WAS MY SIN AND YOUR SIN, WHICH CAUSED THIS HORROR, AND GREATEST OF INJUSTICE. HE BORE THAT INJUSTICE SO THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE FRUIT OF THE INJUSTICE HE BORE FOR US. HE, AS ONLY HE COULD, DID MAKE THE PAYMENT FOR US. HIS PAYMENT OF THE PRICE WE COULD NOT PAY DID SATISFY THE REQUIRED JUSTICE OF THE HOLY GOD. HE SUBSTITUTED THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF TO PAY OUR DEBT BEFORE THE HOLY GOD. WOW! HOW COULD WE COMPLAIN OVER WHATEVER AFFLICTION THAT MAY BE REQUIRED FOR US TO ENDURE FOR HIS NAME SAKE?
The darkness signified the cloud which the human soul of Christ was
under, when He was making His soul an Offering for Sin. He did not
complain that His disciples forsook Him, but that His Father forsook
Him. In this He was made the SIN OFFERING, for us. When Paul
was to be offered as a sacrifice for the service of the Saints, he could
joy and rejoice, Philippians 2:17; but it is another thing to be offered as a sacrifice for the sin of sinners.
At the same instant that Jesus died, the veil of the temple was ripped and torn from the top to the bottom. This spoke terror to the unbelieving Judean Jews attached to Judaism's Temple and its priesthood. It was a sign of their destruction. However, the sign of the veil being ripped by God from top to bottom, that veil that barred access and vision of the MOST HOLY PLACE, speaks comfort to all believers in Messiah, Yeshua. For that torn veil signified the laying open of a new and living way into the MOST HOLY PLACE, by
the Blood of Jesus, THE LAMB OF GOD. To ourselves, and to all we
proclaim, BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD.
The confidence with which Christ had openly addressed God as His
Father, and committed His soul into His hands, even greatly affected
the Roman Centurion conducting the execution. Right views of Jesus
THE Christ, Yeshua THE Messiah, crucified, will reconcile the believer to the thought of death. We may not have a death wish, yet
we do long to see Him, to express Love to Him, and Praise Him, as He ought to be praised, IN HOLINESS, undefiled. What a great King. What a worthy King. The Savior, Redeemer, and Friend of SINNERS, was wounded and pierced to save SINNERS from the wrath to come. Jesus Christ SAVES, is all I know. There is no other name by which we might be saved. Jesus Christ died for SINNERS, and was resurrected for our justification. That is THE Gospel. There is NO OTHER gospel that a redeemed sinner can know, or tolerate.
Amen
(Thank you to Jim Searcy and his excerpt from the Great Joy in Great Tribulation website; moresureword.com)
The CROSS - wherein Messiah our Passover was sacrificed for us, is THE focus. We are pressed on every side. It could easily be
overwhelming, without focus on that greatest REALITY of all history.
It is all at the Cross. The reality of what our King did on that Cross outside the City of Jerusalem, on that Wednesday, Nissan 14, in 30 AD, is the Focus For Hope. The reality of that sacrifice will save us from the wrath to come, IF we continue in the way of that Blessed Hope. (John 8:31, Rom 11:22, Col 1:23, and 1 John 2:24) Those IF's in those profoundly important four Scriptures mean there is a condition, which MUST be met. The Cross is THE Focus, to keep
us directed to meet that condition that will keep the Blessed Hope.
None of us will have to endure anything compared to what He endured for us. During the three hours of the darkness on that Cross, Jesus was in agony, wrestling with the powers of darkness. He was making His soul an offering for the sin of SINNERS. Never were there three such hours since the day God created man upon the earth, never such a dark and awful scene. It was the turning point of that great love of the Creator for His creatures. The Redemption and Salvation of SINNERS, who would confess they were sinners, and turn away from sin, was being accomplished. The REQUIRED Sin Offering of Redemption was being accomplished.
As we think of the complaint that Jesus cried out to God, from Psalms 22:1, we should know our King in the midst of such agony was
teaching us something so important. He was teaching us how important the Word of God is to direct us in prayer. Scripture should be woven into prayer.
The believer may have tasted some bitterness, suffering, and pain.
Sometimes we may feel as Yeshua did on that Cross, that we have been forsaken. Knowing that He had that same feeling, which we will all experience in the valley of the shadow of death, provides substance and evidence of our Blessed Hope, no matter how bad our
circumstances may be. We can only form a very feeble idea of the
greatness of Christ's sufferings. Still this focus on the Cross gives understanding of the Savior's love toward SINNERS.
The SIN of SINNERS caused, and required, this greatest of all
injustices. Here we get deeper conviction of the vileness and evil
of sin. Here in that focus on the Cross, we get more understanding
of what we owe to Jesus Christ, Who ALONE delivers us from the wrath to come. There is NO OTHER Name, which will deliver from the wrath to come.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? His enemies wickedly
ridiculed His complaint. Many of the reproaches cast upon the Word
of God, and the people of God, arise, from gross failure to appreciate and understand such things. Messiah, just before He died, spoke in His full strength, to show that His life was not forced from Him. He IS The Life. Life is IN Him. He was required to exercise His will, according to the will of The Father, to FREELY choose to deliver His very life, and freely deliver His soul, mind, will, and emotions, into His Father's hands. He had strength to bid defiance to the powers of death. He did cry out, not only defiance to the powers of death, but FINAL victory over them. By His Eternal Spirit of Truth and Holiness, He became the required Sin OFFERING. He offered Himself to REDEEM us. Yeshua THE Messiah, being the Priest as well as the Sacrifice. He cried with a loud voice. Then He yielded up the ghost.
The Son of God upon the Cross did die by the violence of the pain He
suffered for the sin of SINNERS. His soul was separated from His
body, and so His body was left really and truly dead. It was certain
that Christ did die. It was required that He should die for the sin
of SINNERS. He had agreed to make Himself an Offering for Sin, and
He did it when He willingly gave up His life. In what He did on that
Cross the Love of God was manifested. In His death on that Cross the purpose for which the Son of God was manifested, to destroy the
works of the devil, was accomplished and made FOREVER CERTAIN. He said, IT IS FINISHED. The devil is a finished forever-defeated foe. Lucifer, Satan the devil, is finished and ultimately defeated, regardless of whatever false evidence we might see, or may personally experience, contrary to that FOREVER CERTAIN FINISHED REALITY.
There was a thick darkness over the land, from noon until three in
the afternoon. The Judean Jews attached to the temple complex were doing their utmost to extinguish the Son of God. THE JEWS DID NOT PUT HIM THROUGH THIS, IT WAS MY SIN AND YOUR SIN, WHICH CAUSED THIS HORROR, AND GREATEST OF INJUSTICE. HE BORE THAT INJUSTICE SO THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE THE FRUIT OF THE INJUSTICE HE BORE FOR US. HE, AS ONLY HE COULD, DID MAKE THE PAYMENT FOR US. HIS PAYMENT OF THE PRICE WE COULD NOT PAY DID SATISFY THE REQUIRED JUSTICE OF THE HOLY GOD. HE SUBSTITUTED THE SACRIFICE OF HIMSELF TO PAY OUR DEBT BEFORE THE HOLY GOD. WOW! HOW COULD WE COMPLAIN OVER WHATEVER AFFLICTION THAT MAY BE REQUIRED FOR US TO ENDURE FOR HIS NAME SAKE?
The darkness signified the cloud which the human soul of Christ was
under, when He was making His soul an Offering for Sin. He did not
complain that His disciples forsook Him, but that His Father forsook
Him. In this He was made the SIN OFFERING, for us. When Paul
was to be offered as a sacrifice for the service of the Saints, he could
joy and rejoice, Philippians 2:17; but it is another thing to be offered as a sacrifice for the sin of sinners.
At the same instant that Jesus died, the veil of the temple was ripped and torn from the top to the bottom. This spoke terror to the unbelieving Judean Jews attached to Judaism's Temple and its priesthood. It was a sign of their destruction. However, the sign of the veil being ripped by God from top to bottom, that veil that barred access and vision of the MOST HOLY PLACE, speaks comfort to all believers in Messiah, Yeshua. For that torn veil signified the laying open of a new and living way into the MOST HOLY PLACE, by
the Blood of Jesus, THE LAMB OF GOD. To ourselves, and to all we
proclaim, BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD.
The confidence with which Christ had openly addressed God as His
Father, and committed His soul into His hands, even greatly affected
the Roman Centurion conducting the execution. Right views of Jesus
THE Christ, Yeshua THE Messiah, crucified, will reconcile the believer to the thought of death. We may not have a death wish, yet
we do long to see Him, to express Love to Him, and Praise Him, as He ought to be praised, IN HOLINESS, undefiled. What a great King. What a worthy King. The Savior, Redeemer, and Friend of SINNERS, was wounded and pierced to save SINNERS from the wrath to come. Jesus Christ SAVES, is all I know. There is no other name by which we might be saved. Jesus Christ died for SINNERS, and was resurrected for our justification. That is THE Gospel. There is NO OTHER gospel that a redeemed sinner can know, or tolerate.
Amen
(Thank you to Jim Searcy and his excerpt from the Great Joy in Great Tribulation website; moresureword.com)