OUTLINE of a Scriptural path toward Christ’s walk to Gethsemane, Calvary, beyond Bethany and anticipating the Lord’s return in glory in these last days.
The liturgical season of Lent although having no Biblical requirement has always been a reflective time for me. I have provided some glances back for any who have not followed Talk of JESUS in previous Lenten seasons.
This YEAR – A.D. 2025 to most of you (2025 C.E. to most of our unbelieving world) – I wanted to lead you through some Old Testament Scriptures looking through Jewish eyes (yes JESUS and EVERY Apostle was Jewish). You may glance at a HEBREW organization of the BIBLE below which orders and groups our O.T. Books differently.
G_d only knows how many of the 40 days of Lent I will publish, but each will likely be briefer than my usual 5-minute READ.
Finally, beloved brother or sister in Christ,
IF you look for a connecting thread between these O.T. Scriptures and Christ you may discover a faithful Jewish thread of contrition not seen in the Gospels except in the Person of Jesus. (Think of Gethsemane, now.. and follow Him along the narrow path.)
Won’t you pray for me and comment here encouraging all?
Roger Harned – Author and Site administrator, Talk of JESUS .com
a picture of LENT from AD 2014
Introduction to the Hebrew Bible
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
This phrase refers to the entirety of the Hebrew Scriptures, known as the Tanakh, which is divided into the Torah (Law), Nevi’im (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings).
In the context of Matthew 22:40, “the Law and the Prophets” is a shorthand for the Old Testament.
Black Friday Deals Are Here – Epic Deals. All Week Long
2024 CE Amazon AD
Black Friday to Xmas
I don’t know about you, but once again Thanksgiving seems to be upon us, a prerequisite observance overrun by the rush of DEALS for the Christmas holidays.
Aren’t you THANKFUL for this holiday season immediately following Halloween?
Innumerable lights blinding in darkness and gift buying lasting forever and ever…
You might even see NEW deals for this Black Friday if you click on these old links.
A Puritan Thanksgiving in colonial America
from which our Thanksgiving traditions supposedly celebrate
Perhaps our 17th century Puritan forefathers who celebrated this uniquely American Thanksgiving holiday weren’t far from the truth of this holiday season.
Puritans forbade Christmas, considering it too pagan. Governor Bradford actually threatened New Englanders with work, jail or fines if they were caught observing Christmas.
Christianity.com
THANKS to BLACK FRIDAY & Cyber Monday this holiday provides little rest and even less thanks.
1 Come, let us shout joyfully to the Lord, shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving; let us shout triumphantly to him in song.
Psalm 95 CSB
a Consumer WARNING for a Common EraBlack Friday
Hear this caution from the Psalm, that we might not give our thanks lightly, forgetting the worship of Almighty God our Creator.
6 Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care.
The Psalmist then reminds worshipers of those who had previously turned from the Lord.
Warning
Today, if you hear his voice: 8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the wilderness 9 where your fathers tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
Psalm 95, referring to exodus 17:17
Wilderness of the Negev
Meribah מְרִיבָה means testing and is the place where the Hebrews escaping Egypt tested the Lord, rather than giving thanks to the Lord.
And Massah מַסָּה means quarreling, the politics of an ungrateful saved people in the wilderness.
Sound familiar?
The Lord saved many who had fled to the New World from persecution and death in the seventeenth century.
The Pilgrims and others gave God thanks for this.
Yet the Psalmist reminds worshipers of a blessed people:
Do not harden your hearts.
Those escaping to a new land had far to go and much to learn of community, lessons about authority and of thankfulness.
Because of their testing and quarreling, the promise of the Lord would not be fulfilled in their generation.
Therefore let us heed these cautions of the Psalmist in our attitude of thanks to the Lord.
Even today, in these Common Era seasons of Black Fridays,
If you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.
10 For forty years I was disgusted with that generation; I said,
“They are a people whose hearts go astray; they do not know my ways.” So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.”
Do you thank the Lord this day?
OR
are BLACK FRIDAY and every other Common Era christmas consumer shopping day
gourging our mortal flesh in the delicacies of death without the Manna of our Redeemer and Lord?
We are of course familiar with the image of ghosts of Christmas’ past thanks to Charles Dickens, ‘A Christmas Carol,’ penned in A.D. 1843. Dickens points toward a morality of generosity during a great 19th century division between a well-off gentry class and the working poor. Even today his theme of the repentance of Scrooge convicts on a larger Common Era world stage where poverty is no less common.
My ghosts of Christmas Past include more than just Jacob Marley & friends. I remember when Christmas meant more than the sounds of shopping and included both worship and bells.
Many Christian families had opened paper doors on Advent calendars reading familiar Scripture from Luke, Matthew and Isaiah in anticipation of opening personal gifts to each other on Christmas morning.
So in these links and lyrics below I invite you to hear some of what I hear from long-lost ghosts of Christmas’ past. And if you listen to every brief song while reading the lyrics and Scripture behind such glorious Christmas carols you may discover that same moment of transformation as Scrooge after his visits by three ghosts he had never seen.
The Ghost of Church Bells
Church Bells proclaiming JOY to the world within the sound of their pealing.
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Henry W. Longfellow,A.D. 1864Scripture: Luke 2:13-14; Romans 5:1
Lyrics by Henry W. Longfellow, 1864 alt. and v. 5-7 by Harlan D. Sorrell
I heard the bells on Christmas day Their old familiar carols play; In music sweet the tones repeat, “There’s peace on earth, good will to men.”
I thought how, as the day had come, The belfries of all Christendom Had rolled along th’ unbroken song Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Born the Prince of Peace
And in despair I bowed my head: “There is no peace on earth,” I said, “For hate is strong, and mocks the song Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor does He sleep, For Christ is here; His Spirit near Brings peace on earth, good will to men.”
When men repent and turn from sin The Prince of Peace then enters in, And grace imparts within their hearts His peace on earth, good will to men.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Christians who grew up during the mid-twentieth century will closely associate Christmas, Christmas carols, community fellowship of families on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day worship with church bells celebrating the birth of the Christ child.
Yet LISTEN?
The CHURCH BELLS have been rendered silent —
stilled from praise of the CHRIST child of CHRISTMAS —
in the SILENT nights and darkness of these last days…
A glorious joyful to the world RINGING of BELLSwhich once called both faithful and repentant Christians to WORSHIP has long ago rusted into an artificially staged sound of ME with the world AND Jesus.
A Silent Night..
and joyful singing..
now lost in the White noise of Christmas’ past ..
budding in every hand and ear..
of a multitude of the walking dead.
Could it have been your own wanderings with so many lost souls
for whom the bells once tolled..
church bells which today remain ominously SILENT?
Christmas Carols at our neighborhood doors
What was it we once SANG at the doors of our neighbors?
You with ears to hear, LISTEN
and you with eyes to see, LOOK at the lyrics!
O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
2 The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness hath he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
5 Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
9 Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
When men repent and turn from sin The Prince of Peace then enters in,
And grace imparts within their hearts His peace on earth, good will to men.
Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings
“Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
