Reflection on Good Friday and Easter

Passover is a celebration to remember that the Israelites have been taken from slavery into liberty. The blood of the lamb put on the door posts of the Israelite houses indicated that God would pass over those houses and not strike down the firstborn. The application of the blood of the lamb did not refer to forgiveness of sins.

Forgiveness for the sins of the nation was not celebrated until the Day of Atonement.The instructions for the celebration of that day are clearly given in the book of Leviticus.

Let’s summarize them. The high priest makes atonement for his sins and the sins of his household so they are ceremonially clean.

To atone for the sins of the nation two goats have been set apart.Although there are two goats, they are one sacrifice. The high priest draws lots to determine which of the goats is “for the Lord” and which one is the “scapegoat”

The one destined for the Lord is sacrificed and its blood applied to, among other places, the cover over the Ark of the Covenant. “… the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22)

The high priest puts his hands on the head of the other goat, “the scapegoat”, indicating that the sins of the nation are placed on it; it is led into the desert by someone chosen for this task. God does not want this part of the sacrifice, He rejects it.

Shortly before his arrest Jesus asked his Father three times “to take this cup from Me”. Silence was the answer.

          On Good Friday Jesus is sacrificed.

Jesus sheds his blood so there is forgiveness of sins for mankind.

One of Jesus sayings while hanging on the cross in great agony is: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” this is a consequence of the refusal of his Father to “take this cup away from Him.”

Thus Jesus experiences, like that second goat being led into the desert, the worst fate imaginable, Jesus went to hell, the place of being godforsaken. Jesus chose to be our “scapegoat”; suffering for the sins we have committed and would have been punished for.

A few days later God released Jesus from this godforsaken place as well as from physical death because Jesus Himself was not guilty but “God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son (Jesus) that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”

This is our release from slavery of hell into the freedom of Heaven. On this day of Passover God combined it with a Day of Atonement for all mankind.

SINNER, COME HOME!

                              Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling.

               Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading?

               Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing.

                 O for the wonderful love He has promised,

                         promised for you and for me.

             Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon.

                         Pardon for you and for me.

In spite of Jesus’ urgent call to come home many do not answer this call.

We observe this because many do not worship Him anymore, do not read His word, do not communicate with Him in prayer, and use His and His Father’s name as swearwords. His rules are not adhered to. Some commit murders, thefts take place all the time. Sexual mores are disregarded 

continually. Prostitution in many forms is practiced. A nearly unlimited amount of pornography is available. Sin in all its forms is rampant.

In spite of all this the song reads:

           “Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon.

                         Pardon for you and for me.”

The only way we can and will receive this pardon is by accepting that Jesus paid our (my) penalty.

If we say that we don’t need it, are not interested in it or will come at a later date we should ask ourselves what the consequences are.

He who is “tenderly calling you” makes you aware of those consequences.

In the 1990’s the expression WWJD (what would Jesus do) was often used.

To find out about the consequences of not answering His call we could use the acronym WDJS (what does Jesus say).

Many of Jesus sayings are recorded in the gospels.

Jesus always invites us to believe that the restoration of our relationship with God will be restored through Him.

Jesus also says that the result of not believing this will be that our

relationship with God is not restored, we are rejected by God

One of the clearest examples is the parable in Luke 16: 16:31named:

“The rich man and Lazarus.” When you read this do not come to the conclusion that the rich man is rejected because of being rich. Listen to Abraham’s advice for the brothers to stay out of that “place of agony.”

Obviously the rich man did not listen to Moses and the prophets.

One more parable Jesus told among the many that are recorded, is the one of the farmer who had sown wheat in a field, an enemy sowed weeds in the same field. At harvest time the weeds were taken out first and burned. (Matthew 13:24-29.) And it’s explanation in the verses 36 to 43.

                Are you part of the wheat or are you a weed? 

Just in case you are one of the ones who have decided to come to God at a later date, I read a bumper sticker that says:

  “Some people want to get their account with God straightened out at the

             eleven’s hour, unfortunately many of them die at 10.30”

Curious about the lyrics of “Sinner, come home!”? you will find them on the internet.

IN THE FIELDS NEAR BETHLEHEM

                        

                                                    

      I had a dream a while ago.

I saw myself walking down a pasture strewn with rocks, rocks with jagged edges and sharp corners: sheep were grazing between those rocks and I was wondering why I was there.

    A man came walking towards me, dressed in a cloak and wearing a headdress.

When he came closer, he said to me: “Shalom to you stranger.”

I returned his greeting and then he asked: “Are you looking for someone or something”? When he asked this, I knew why I was there.

      “I am looking for the shepherds to whom an angel made the announcement that the saviour of your nation was born.” I said.

“My name is Eli, and I am one of those shepherds.”

“Please, tell me how you felt when this angel suddenly appeared?” I asked.

He hesitated for a moment and then said that this experience was an extra-ordinary ending to an ordinary day.

“Do you know, stranger, what an ordinary day of shepherding sheep looks like”? he asked.

I admitted that I did not.

“Then let me explain what we normally do.

Look at that cave besides us; we use it as a sheepfold.

Since the opening to it is quite wide, we have built a low wall of rocks in front of it otherwise the sheep keep on walking out. A small opening in this wall acts as a gate for the sheep to go in and out.

In the morning, the sheep go out to graze freely among the rocks.

If one of them wanders away too far we use a leather strap as a sling, put a small stone at the end of it, swing the strap around a few times, let go of the stone and when the stone hits the sheep or the ground near it, the startled sheep runs toward the flock again.

See the short heavy stick I have in my hand? We use it to chase the wild animals away when they want to attack the sheep or us.

That long stick with the crook at the top we mostly use as a walking stick and also for leading the flock.

At the end of the day, we lead the sheep to the fold again and one by one, they go through the gate. We know how many sheep there should be so we count them when they enter. If they are not all there, we go and look for them until we find them and bring them back.

Sometimes one of them goes too far away and did not see the flock return or heard us call and sometimes one of them is hurt.

       The evening you are asking about the flock was inside the fold. We sat outside and talked about the Roman occupiers of our country who had ordered everyone to go to the town where their ancestors came from. We talked also about our desire to be a free nation again.

For many years already the rabbis had taught us that one-day a Savior would come. He would be a descendent of King David.

    This king David governed many years ago. Before God chose him to be a king he was a shepherd and a wonderful poet.

In one of his poems he realized that he himself had a shepherd also and that this shepherd did for him what he did for his sheep.

                         The highlights in this poem are:

                                The Lord is my shepherd,

                                  I shall not be in want

                He makes me lie down in green pastures,

                    He leads me beside quiet waters,

          (and the conclusion for him, being the Lord’s sheep)

                          

   Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

                                 I will fear no evil,

                               For you are with me;

                               all the days of my life,

             and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

                                     forever.

      It was time to go to sleep and we decided that Moshe, one of the other shepherds, was going to do the first watch.

Just when we were going to lie down a brilliant light suddenly surrounded us and in that light stood an angel. He realized that we were terrified and told us not to be afraid because he had good news for us, not for us only but for all people.

He told us that in the town of David, Bethlehem, a Savior had been born. We would recognize Him by being wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

When the angel had finished his message a choir of angels appeared, they praised God by saying:

                             Glory to God in the highest,

                             And on earth peace to men on

                             whom his favor rests.

      We hurried to Bethlehem to see our Savior.

The only place where there would be a manger is in the inn”.

“Do you know, stranger, the layout of an inn in this country?”

“I don’t know,” I said.

On the ground floor of an inn are only stables.

After the travelers have watered their animals at the outside watering troughs they stable their animals there.

Some travelers have donkeys, some have camels, and all are tied down in front of mangers in which food for them is provided.

Above the stables is a floor with a number of small rooms in which the travelers sleep.

When this couple arrived there were no more rooms available; they had to be satisfied with an empty space in the stable area.

    We found the place where the parents were staying and the baby in the manger.

       We told the parents and others, the message the angel had given us. When we returned to our flocks, we glorified and praised God for all the things we had heard and seen.

You know, stranger, what struck me in the announcement made by the angel, he said that this Savior was for all people, not only for our nation.”

     I did not have a chance to say thank you to Eli for sharing this experience with me, for just then I woke up.

ARE YOU READY FOR CHRISTMAS?

            “Henry, are you ready for Christmas?” asked Pete

“Not quite, Pete, but I will be ready in time, though.”

Pete continued: “Do you know who was first in getting ready for Christmas?”

“Someone in the office or in the shop maybe?”

 “No, it was none of them. It was God who was first.”

Henry listened quietly as Pete went on to explain that God began his preparations for Christmas shortly after Adam and Eve had disobeyed the command: “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden...”

At that time God spoke to the serpent, Satan, who had enticed Adam and Eve to disobey his command: “...I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head...”

That was when God promised the coming of the “he”.

Satan tried everything to prevent this coming. He caused mankind to be so evil that God decided he had to destroy it. Except for a select few, God did destroy all of them; that was the time of “The Flood”. The “Tower of Babel” was another of Satan’s efforts; communications confusion was the result of it.

God chose Abraham so that through his posterity this “he” would appear.

Abraham’s descendants, God’s chosen people, became slaves to the Egyptians for more than four hundred years but under the leadership of Moses God liberated them.

Satan caused the “chosen people” not to be always faithful in their worship of God.

Shortly after they had left Egypt he succeeded in influencing them to build a “golden calf” and worship it. After they had entered the Promised Land they several times worshiped the idols of neighboring countries, but when they repented God forgave them. Their special “chosen” relationship with God came from the promise that “he” would be a descendant of Abraham.

 “Weren’t they part of other empires a few times?” Henry asked.

“Yes, they were. When they were a part of the Roman Empire God decided that it was time for this “he” to be born.  His mother, as well as his “adoptive father“, had been told to give him the name Jesus. I am sure, Henry, that you know that the name Jesus means, “the Lord saves” and that Jesus is the Greek form of the name Joshua.”

“By the way, Henry since we’re discussing names, the addition of Christ to Jesus’ name is Greek for “the Anointed One” which is the equivalent for the Hebrew word Messiah. But let’s get back to Christmas”.

Pete continued by recounting that when Jesus was born there was no great celebration, a few shepherds came visiting, a few wise men came by, no one else.

 “How did we come to celebrate Christmas the way we do now?” asked Henry.

 Pete explained that different beginnings and reasons for this celebration are recorded. Many agree that it was in the fourth century that the church tried to clean up a celebration that had existed already for many years. Saturnalia, the festival in honor of the Roman god Saturn, the god of agriculture, had become a festival of drunkenness and utter debauchery. Many years earlier the Roman Senate had forbidden the celebration of Saturnalia, without much success though. By the 4^th century the Christian church wanted to put some Christian spiritual content into the pagan festival. The church’s efforts were not a complete success either, some pagan symbols crept in, the Yule log is one example, the mistletoe another.

Other traditions were added also: Christmas trees, Christmas cards just to name a few and let’s not forget Santa Claus. These distractions Pete explained interfere with the commemoration of the arrival of the “he”; the birth of Jesus, and his ordained purpose to “crush Satan’s head”.

The Christmas symbols, said Pete, have made the real reason for our celebration secondary. Satan succeeds in his distraction from God’s word if our Christmas celebration is limited to good eating, drinking and giving presents. We even justify our gift giving by pretending that we are copying the bringing of gifts by the Wise Men. Satan likes everything about Christmas except commemorating the birth of Jesus. Satan knows that Jesus is the “he” who has come to “crush his head”.

Pete went on to explain that Satan knows that those who accept the fact that Jesus lived, died and rose again, and did so for them, have a restored relationship with God and that Satan has lost them. Every Christmas, Henry, I am reminded of the fact that Jesus went back to heaven after Easter and that when he left the angels made the statement that “he” will return again. This time, however, as our judge and as it says in the book of Revelation: “...every eye will see him...” not just a few selected people, no, “everyone”.

“Henry, are we preparing for that Christmas? The very last one! If not give it some thought. The bible says it might be any day. Let’s keep in mind that today this coming is already a day closer then it was yesterday and tomorrow it is closer yet.”

You’re right Pete, said Henry thoughtfully; God was the first to prepare the world for Christmas, now we have to be prepared for Jesus return.

INVITATION

     We are invited to a meeting with God.

Like any other invitation we can accept, ignore or plainly say that we are not interested in it.

     Why would God want to meet with us anyway?

He wants to meet us because we have a broken relationship with him and He has provided the means by which this relationship can be restored.

        Mankind has one thing in common; some day we will die.

 After death a meeting will take place even if we have refused this invitation.

      The question arises: What caused our broken relationship with God? A second question is by what means did God restore this and lastly what is the result of our refusal or acceptance of this invitation?

       Our broken relationship with God is an inherited condition because the progenitors of mankind [Adam and Eve] disobeyed the one command God gave them.

God had no choice but to break this relationship since He had told them that He would do so if they disobeyed Him. The close relationship that had existed before was almost completely destroyed.

 In addition to this inherited disobedience (sin) all of us have added personal sins to it.

At the time of this separation God also announced that at some future time a restoration would take place.

      Many years later God initiated this restoration.

He did this by sending His son, born by a woman but created by Him, therefore without sin, to accomplish this.

This child, Jesus, when grown up, made known that He was the one promised by God to restore this full relationship.

     The restoration took place when Jesus suffered the full penalty of rejection which God has imposed on mankind because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve and the addition of our sins.

The fullness of our penalty suffered by Jesus was, when nailed to the cross, He cried out ”My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?”

      Jesus rose from the dead and went back to be with his Father.

  Our response to Jesus suffering ought to be:

“He did this for me.” Those who accept this can now fearlessly look forward to their future meeting with God. They did accept His invitation and the way God decided to accomplish the restoration with Him. 

They are invited to His heavenly kingdom and ultimately will be part of a renewed earth where there is no more sorrow, sickness, death and anything evil.

       The ones who refused God’s invitation and His means of restoration of the relationship with Him will meet Him also.

 He cannot, and will not, admit them to His heavenly kingdom and they will not have a part in this renewed earth.

       Where will they be and how do we know about their destination and their circumstances?

      During His life on earth Jesus travelled the country with a number of men, known as His disciples. (learners)

        After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension to heaven some recorded many of His actions and statements.

   So what does Jesus say about the ones who do not accept Him as their Savior (rescuer)?

They will suffer the same fate as He did. 

Jesus suffered the worst possible punishment-God forsakenness.

    This God forsakenness is still in effect for those who do not accept that Jesus was God’s way of restoration.

       Did Jesus warn us about this?

 Many a time Jesus taught in parables. (“allegories”)

 They are part of the records kept by some of His disciples.

One of those parables is the one about a rich man and a beggar by the name of Lazarus.

 Both men die. The one is in the presence of God; the other is in a place of godforsaken ness. The rich man being in the place of godforsaken ness (not because he was rich) states that this is a place of agony (hell).

Read the report written by the disciple Luke (chapter 16: 19-31) for all the information.

At another time Jesus has a conversation with a member of the Jewish ruling council.

Part of this conversation went thus:

Jesus speaking: “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life…but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son”. (John 3:16-18)

Several times Jesus expresses warnings against non-acceptance of what He did for us.

   “Then they will go away to eternal punishment,

but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46)

“A place of darkness where there is only “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”(Matthew 8:12)

   To become more familiar with the consequences of acceptance or rejection of God’s invitation read the four gospels, the “good news”.

The good part of the gospels applies to those who have accepted God’s invitation.

Those who do not accept His invitation have condemned themselves to an eternal existence of utter misery.

     Accept His invitation now and you too can fearlessly look forward to the day of your meeting.

      If you do you can sing with all those who did accept the invitation.

  What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see,

 And I look upon his face, the One who saved me by His grace,

 When He takes me by his hand and leads me thru the Promised Land,

What a day, glorious day that will be!

If you have any questions, and I suppose you will have some, don’t hesitate to discuss them with a pastor or a priest.

AWAITING THE SECOND COMING

       In the late 1950’s a teacher at one of the Bible Colleges, Henry H.Janzen, wrote a seventy page booklet titled: “Jesus’ discourse about the end time.
One of the statements in the introduction is: “Often, when, at a meeting, I ask when was the last time you heard a sermon about the return of the Lord, I do not receive an answer.”
In Professor Anthony Hoekema’s book, “The Bible and the future” published in 1979 is the paragraph:                    
    “Whatever the reasons may be, the loss of a lively, vital anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ is a sign of a most serious spiritual malady in the church.
Though there may be differences between us on various aspects of eschatology, all Christians should eagerly look forward to Christ’s return, and should live in the light of that expectation every day anew.”
Are we now, many years later, in a different situation?
If you were asked the question: “Did you hear a sermon about the return of the Lord lately?” Would you be able to say yes? If so, “Praise the Lord!”
In your case a cure is on its way for this “most serious spiritual malady.”
     The gospels, in several passages, refer to the Lord’s return.
The Lord himself made many of those statements.
In their presentations and letters, the apostles also deal with the subject of the Lord’s return.
      We ought to ask ourselves the question: “Why was the Lord’s return so important in that church and why not now anymore?” Are we tired of waiting?
Indeed, it has been about two thousand years since the Lord said he would come back, a long time in anybody’s book, but the Lord’s.
    Peter in his second letter clearly explains that God’s clock runs different from our clocks. (2Peter 3:8)Jesus said that he did not know when his return would be, only the Father knows. The coming of the Lord is sure; the timing will be “like a thief in the night.”
The Lord comes back for a reason. Question and answer 52 of the Heidelberg catechism explain the reason for his return.
He is coming “to judge the living and the dead.” The verdict is either acquittal or condemnation.
The catechism does not call it acquittal it uses a word that includes the result of this acquittal; it calls it “comfort.”
Elaborating on what this comfort is, it states: “That in all affliction and persecution I may await, with head held high, the very Judge from heaven who has already submitted himself to the judgment of God for me and has removed all the curse from me… he shall take me, together with all his elect, to himself into heavenly joy and glory.”
Matthew 25: 34 is the biblical proof that the catechism is correct, it says:
“Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”
This is why the early church was looking forward to the Lord’s return.
This kingdom is the one we have a foretaste of in this life.
This “kingdom prepared for us since the creation of the world” contains much more than this foretaste. In this kingdom, we will meet our Lord face to face and will be in his presence forever and ever. Our bodies also will be there. We will be a part of a new heaven and a new earth. What this kingdom exactly will be like the bible does not tell us, this whole change is beyond our imagination, but many things we experience here will not be there anymore.
The headlines in your newspaper and the newscasts on your TV are a good example of the many things that will not be there: murders, fires, accidents, global warming, earth quakes, sicknesses of all kinds, handicaps, homelessness, addictions and finally death itself do not exist anymore. Increasingly we realize that we do not and cannot permanently solve any of the wrongs in this world. There is no other solution than the return of the Lord
Because sin has been done away with, the consequences of sin are not there anymore either.
The bible says in Revelation 21: 4 and 5 “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new!” Judgment, however, does not only mean acquittal; condemnation is the other side of the coin.
The catechism deals with condemnation in the same answer where it deals with acquittal, it says: “that he will cast all his enemies and mine into everlasting condemnation” The evidence for this is in verse 41 of Matthew 25. “Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
    Are we ready to meet him as our judge?
Dare we to close our prayers with the words of Revelation 22: 20 “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Rightly, we are concerned about those who have not yet accepted God’s offer of salvation but if time does not run out now, some day it will and the words of the Lord will be fulfilled: “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man.
People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to day Noah entered the ark.”(Luke 17: 26, 27). Let us paraphrase the ending of this statement so it reads: “up to day the Lord returns.”
For us also is the message the “two men dressed in white” conveyed to the apostles on the day of Jesus’ ascension: “This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have him seen go into heaven.”
     Leila N. Morris wrote a hymn about the second coming of the Lord, the last verse reads:

    Faithful and true would He find us here
              if He should come today?
     Watching in gladness and not in fear,
              if He should come today?
           Signs of His coming multiply;
      morning light breaks in eastern sky.
      Watch, for the time is drawing nigh;
             what if it were today?

            Let us be: “Semper paratus!”
                          (Always prepared.)

The “faulty” word processor

   The word processor on my desk and a portable one I have, as a matter of fact a very old one, are used every day. Compared to the one on the desk, the portable one has a few problems.
It has two less keys, no hard disk, only one floppy disk and it does not have a print command anywhere. At times and in certain situations this causes problems.
   Actually it is not so much the absence of the keys and the hard disk that cause the problem; it is the operator who does not know how to control that floppy disk. If he handles it properly there is no need for the missing backspace or delete key. Once the words are out, there is no way of recalling them. The fact that you wish that there is a delete or backspace key indicates already that, sometimes, those words are inappropriate. Although they cannot be printed they do leave an imprint.
   In case you have not guessed it yet, that portable word processor is standard equipment when you are born. If not handled carefully it always has had a tendency to cause problems. The only way that the damage can be somewhat undone is by apologizing and confessing that the words were inappropriate.
   In the first century AD already there was someone who wrote, and I am only quoting the parts that have to do with your and my “floppy disk” ”the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts” and also: “The tongue ... is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body.” and finally:”...but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
If you are interested in reading the whole passage take a Bible and go to the letter written by James. The third chapter has the heading: “Taming the Tongue”. Maybe your or my tongue does not always go to the extremes James mentions but we do make unfortunate and embarrassing remarks.
   In addition to the portable word processor we have another one; it is not a complete word processor but a “thought processor” only.
So what’s the danger? Nobody knows what I am thinking.
     Not so fast, Job realized that God knew everything about him.
He said: “Does he not see my ways and count my every step?” (Job 31:4). So God knows whatever goes on in your and my “thought processor”.
    There is, however, a delete key available for as well the word as the thought “processor”.
Unfortunately you and I cannot access this key. Access to this key is limited to God. He only operates this key when we come to Him and confess our sins, (do not call them mistakes, shortcomings, failures or which other softened expression you can think of). God forgives sins. What does He do with them? Listen to what David, king and psalm writer, has to say.
“...as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”(Psalm 103:12)
All our transgressions, sins, are removed this way, regardless of the way they have been produced. So let us confess our sins and admit that it was Jesus who made the payment for them.                     
     You will have a clean slate withGod.