passover
Passover and Blessings for IsraelDr. Diane on a timely message ... 
Today is the Jewish Feast of Passover. It is the first of seven feasts mandated to the people of Israel and celebrated since the time of the Old Testament.Passover represents God's deliverance of the Jewish people from the captivity of Egypt. It occurs on the 14th day of the Biblical month of Nisan which falls between March and April. It coincides with Good Friday and Easter Sunday where Christians celebrate the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some of the scriptures in reference to this can be found in Exodus 12:1-14; Leviticus 23:5; Deuteronomy 16:1; Luke 22:1; Hebrews 11:28. There is a question asked of many people about a supposed discrepancy in the Bible regarding Jesus being in the grave three days and three nights. The argument is that there is not enough time between Friday and Sunday to cover this. I’ve wondered about that too and did ask many Christian folks and great Christian apologetics. None was ever able to give an exact answer amidst many well researched reports on ancient dates and Sabbaths and high Sabbaths, and suggestions that the death of Jesus occurred as far back during that week as Wednesday and even Tuesday! I do appreciate all of these well thought-out studies and recognize the variances between the Biblical and Jewish lunar calendar peculiarities. But, after reading a lot of these reports I have my own Spirit inspired conclusion. And this is the simplicity of counting backward from something that we do know for sure: that Jesus rose early in the morning of the day after the regular Sabbath day (the Bible states it clearly as “the first day of the week” (Mark 16:9). And we know that the regular Sabbath is the last day of the week. We also know that Jesus Himself prophesied that as Jonah was in the belly of the whale 3 days and 3 nights, so would He. So with that, and without all the noise of the above mentioned laborious pinpointing cycles of moon and calendar systems, if we count backward from Sunday (being the 3rd day), needing 3 nights, we end up on Thursday. And that is good enough for me. The Bible is self-explanatory if we only read it often enough ! I received a newsletter up-date this morning from Joel Rosenberg, the author of the book “Epicenter”. Among all the comings and goings of the political world of today, the eternal clock of God is ticking. The paper reminds its readers that presently many nations around the world are turning against Israel. A few examples given are: “The Turkish Prime Minister recently called for Israel to be banned from the U.N. A Spanish court is considering trying Israeli military officials on "war crimes" charges for defending Israel from Hamas rocket attacks. Boycotts of Israeli goods and services are being called for around the world. And now comes this headline in a leading Israeli newspaper: "Obama team readying for confrontation with Netanyahu." Then there is the story of Israeli Pastor David Ortiz who describes how just one year ago someone sent a bomb disguised as a Purim present to his home. His youngest son, Ami, opened the package and it blew up, nearly killing him. This is important and significant – although many people are not even aware of it. The world blames Israel whenever it takes a stand to defend itself against Hamas, but nobody says anything about the continuous bombings onto Israel by them. But, speaking for the Jewish people, Rosenberg quickly turns to the faithful God who will show His might once again, as He did in the past. “We serve a great and mighty God, a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God, a God who loves Israel and will bless her.”, Joel reminds his readers. He then refers to the Book of Esther about “another time in history when the leader of Iran/Persia (King Xerxes) called for the annihilation of the Jewish people. It seemed hopeless. But as the Jews who really loved the Lord fasted and prayed and turned their hearts towards Him, the Lord heard their cries and sent a great deliverance through one man (Mordechai) and one woman (Hadassah/Esther) willing to serve Him even unto death.” Key words in the above reference: “fasted and prayed and turned their hearts towards Him”. Will God provide deliverance again? I believe He will – if His people do their part. “His people” includes all those who believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Joel says that the Iran crisis provides a great opportunity for the Church to stand with Israel for a mighty miracle of God. His “Joshua Fund” team is committed to doing everything it possibly can to educate Christians around the world and to mobilize a global movement of people who will bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus.
Visit his web site…
Dr. Diane P.S.:Please pray for this ministry that the Lord will place it on the hearts of people to send in a donation to help cover the expenses and the growth and vision of this ministry. Links to the previous words from Dr Diane:
|
