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Tag: festivals

  • HOLY | separated

    Leviticus 11:45 & John 6:69  Roger@talkofJesus.com reading today's devotional scriptures

    Isolation

    What does a pandemic have to do with holiness?

    Observe how some react to isolation (as in #StayatHome #Pandemic etc.) and you might just wonder how any wall of separation can exist between mankind. Human beings made in the inage of God are social. We must live and work together as families, as neighbors and as citizens of nations, even the world.

    So how does separation from those crucial to our lives work?

    And who makes the rules?

    In fact we currently see several struggles between many authorities of this world, nations, states, media, social and professional organizations, international corporations, wealthy philanthropists and more.

    Of course few in this world will first ask,

    ‘What is the will of the LORD for our interactions with others?‘

    Festivals of the LORD

    Now Jews and Christians alike must ask additional relational questions of gathering to worship the Lord God. Add to the urgency of questions in the year of our Lord 2020:

    • How will I celebrate Passover?
    • How will I celebrate Easter?

    We enter a HOLY WEEK in A.D. 2020 without possibility of practical obedience to traditional scriptural worship of the Lord God.

    Roger Harned – talkofJesus.com
    1. We must realize that obedient worship of the Lord has changed at times. Congregational worship began with a traveling Tabernacle, pointed to an established Temple, reinstituted in a rebuilt Temple, then dispersed into an unclean world.
    2. The Messiah of Israel, the Son of Man and Son of God offered a New Covenant of worship between God our Father and the world through the Holy Spirit of God given to those who believe in Jesus the Son.
    3. Regardless of which tradition of Judaism or Christianity you came to know you likely do not completely grasp the holiness of the Lord God and without the Lord’s mercy your sin before God fails to keep you appropriately distanced from the Very Holiness of the LORD GOD.

    We might easily become sidetracked in religious discussions about festivals and traditions, but more germain to our relationship to the Lord God is a brief look at holiness.

    Holy

    קֹדֶשׁ

    Outline of Biblical Usage

    1. apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness
      1. apartness, sacredness, holiness
        1. of God
        2. of places
        3. of things
      2. set-apartness, separateness

    You likly know the first use of this word Holy from when Moses approached the LORD in a burning bush. It’s used more than a hunded times in just Exodus and Leviticus to describe detail concerning worship.

    It is used many times in reference to celebration of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.

    ‘On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.

    Exodus 12:16 NASB

    Holy

    קָדַשׁ

    sanctify (108x), hallow (25x), dedicate (10x), holy (7x), prepare (7x), consecrate (5x), appointed (1x), bid (1x), purified (1x), miscellaneous (7x).

    Outline of Biblical Usage
    to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate

    קָדַשׁ qâdash, kaw-dash’; a primitive root; to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally):—appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy(-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify(-ied one, self), wholly.

    Then Moses said to Aaron,

    “It is what the LORD spoke, saying,
    ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated H6942 as holy, H6942
    And before all the people I will be honored.’”
    So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

    Leviticus 10:3 NASB

    Do you recall from Scripture what had just taken place?

    10 וַיִּקְח֣וּ בְנֵֽי־אַ֠הֲרֹן נָדָ֨ב וַאֲבִיה֜וּא אִ֣ישׁ מַחְתָּת֗וֹ וַיִּתְּנ֤וּ בָהֵן֙ אֵ֔שׁ וַיָּשִׂ֥ימוּ עָלֶ֖יהָ קְטֹ֑רֶת וַיַּקְרִ֜בוּ לִפְנֵ֤י יְהוָה֙ אֵ֣שׁ זָרָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֧ר לֹ֦א צִוָּ֖ה אֹתָֽם׃

    2 וַתֵּ֥צֵא אֵ֛שׁ מִלִּפְנֵ֥י יְהוָ֖ה וַתֹּ֣אכַל אוֹתָ֑ם וַיָּמֻ֖תוּ לִפְנֵ֥י יְהוָֽה׃

    3 וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן הוּא֩ אֲשֶׁר־דִּבֶּ֨ר יְהוָ֤ה׀ לֵאמֹר֙ בִּקְרֹבַ֣י אֶקָּדֵ֔שׁ וְעַל־פְּנֵ֥י כָל־הָעָ֖ם אֶכָּבֵ֑ד וַיִּדֹּ֖ם אַהֲרֹֽן׃

    4 וַיִּקְרָ֣א מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶל־מִֽישָׁאֵל֙ וְאֶ֣ל אֶלְצָפָ֔ן בְּנֵ֥י עֻזִּיאֵ֖ל דֹּ֣ד אַהֲרֹ֑ן וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֗ם קִ֠רְב֞וּ שְׂא֤וּ אֶת־אֲחֵיכֶם֙ מֵאֵ֣ת פְּנֵי־הַקֹּ֔דֶשׁ אֶל־מִח֖וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶֽה׃

    5 וַֽיִּקְרְב֗וּ וַיִּשָּׂאֻם֙ בְּכֻתֳּנֹתָ֔ם אֶל־מִח֖וּץ לַֽמַּחֲנֶ֑ה כַּאֲשֶׁ֖ר דִּבֶּ֥ר מֹשֶֽׁה׃

    




    Before the Lord our God you must: consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate — precisely as the LORD instructs. Even Priest and prophet, pastor and teacher (these perhaps moreso) — all must be Holy, because the Lord our God is Holy.
    




    Holy
    




    ἅγιος
    




    Strong’s Definitions 
    ἅγιος hágios, hag’-ee-os; from ἅγος hágos (an awful thing) (compare G53, G2282); sacred 
    




    • (physically, pure, morally blameless or 
    • religious, ceremonially, consecrated):—(most) holy (one, thing),
    • saint.
    




    “BUT THE LORD SAID TO HIM, ‘TAKE OFF THE SANDALS FROM YOUR FEET, FOR THE PLACE ON WHICH YOU ARE STANDING IS HOLY G40 GROUND.
    Acts 7:33 Stephen, quoting Moses before the Sanhedrin
    




    Holiness does not change from the Old Testament to the New – different word, same meaning. Stephen also uses it as Jesus did to describe the Holy Spirit of the Lord God.
    




    “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy G40 Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. – Acts 7:51
    




    Outline of Biblical Usage
    




    1. most holy thing, a saint
    




    Saints & Sinners
    




    Are you Holy to the Lord — separated to the Most High from the commonness of worldly sin?
    




    Dare you enter the Holy of Holies into the Presence of Almighty God?
    




    IF NOT, hear just a bit more about the Messiah Jesus to understand about the Holiness of Holy Week.
    




    Lord Jesus
    




    Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us.
    




    Hebrews 10:
    




    

    For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, 
    




    holy, innocent, undefiled, 
    




    separated 
    




    from sinners 
    




    and 
    




    exalted above the heavens; 
    




    who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, 
    




    first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, 
    




    because this He [the Messiah] did once for all when He offered up Himself.
    




    For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, 
    




    but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, 
    




    appoints a Son, made perfect forever.
    

    




    Therefore let us keep the feast
    




    אֶרְחַץ בְּנִקָּיֹון כַּפָּי וַאֲסֹבְבָה אֶת־מִזְבַּחֲךָ יְהוָֽה׃
    




    For dogs have surrounded me;
    A band of evildoers has encompassed me;
    They pierced my hands and my feet… – Psalm 22:16
    




    

    I can count all my bones.
    




    They look, they stare at me;
    




    They divide my garments among them,
    




    And for my clothing they cast lots.
    




    the amen
    




    “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
    For You alone are holy;
    For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU,
    FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”
    The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 15:4 NASB
    

    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	
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    If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly
    
			
    If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly
    
			
    

    The Messiah at Festivals
    




    So what does the Messiah of Israel do at festivals and feasts? How does the Messiah lead followers to worship the Lord our God, our Father in heaven?
    




    It was the Feast of Hanukkah at Yerushalayim.
    John 10:22 Hebrew Names Version
    




    Yeshua mashiyach
    




    Just a reminder to Christians of this 21st century, Jesus was Jewish.
    




    Yeshua, from Ἰησοῦς in Greek, Iēsous from יְהוֹשׁוּעַ Hebrew meaning Yĕhowshuwa` (Joshua or Jehoshua = “Jehovah is salvation”) in English: Jesus. (The One born to a Jewish mother, a virgin betrothed to a faithful Jew, Joseph son of Jacob {Matthew 1:16}.)
    




    The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
    Gospel of Matthew 1:1 KJV
    




    Although we have been following Jesus through the Gospel of John, for our understanding of the Messiah and His jewish upbringing as the Son of Man, we have just left some predictions of the Prophet Amos. 
    




    Amos - not immune from judgment pictures of 2020 gold coins
    

    1. Amos – Not immune from judgment
    2. For those who turn justice into wormwood
    3. Amos the Seer: “I told you so (5x) – GOD showed me
    




    

    




    Who better to ask about the Lord God in heaven than the one who came down from heaven, sent by God the Father?
    




    This is where we left off in the Good News from the Apostle John.
    




    above the cloudes of heaven a gate of the walled heavenly Jerusalem
    

    Jesus healed a man born blind, which has prompted much discussion and considerable controversy in Jerusalem. 
    




    The Gatekeeper & the Shepherds – the Door
    




     John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 
    

    




    Is this Man a Gate and the Door to heaven?
    




    44:1  וַיָּשֶׁב אֹתִי דֶּרֶךְ שַׁעַר הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הַֽחִיצֹון הַפֹּנֶה קָדִים וְהוּא סָגֽוּר׃
    44:2  וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי יְהוָה הַשַּׁעַר הַזֶּה סָגוּר יִהְיֶה לֹא יִפָּתֵחַ וְאִישׁ לֹא־יָבֹא בֹו כִּי יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל בָּא בֹו וְהָיָה סָגֽוּר׃
     {Masoretic TextShow Cantilliation Marks OffShow Vowel Points OnMasoretic Text} http://blb.sc/00AONj
    




    Then He brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces the east; and it was shut. The LORD said to me, “This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the LORD God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut.
    Ezekiel 44:1-2 NASB
    




    “The priest shall take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the door posts of the house, on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.
    Ezekiel 45:19 NASB
    




    John 10:
    




    2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 
    




    7 Yeshua emphasized, “I can guarantee this truth: I am the gate for the sheep.
    John 10:7 NOG
    




    Later Jesus will tell the Apostles to also be wary of these religious hired hands determined to devour all opposition.
    




    




    John tells us how Jerusalem’s religious leaders opposed the Messiah after Jesus healed a man blind from birth. But Jesus tells the crowds a parable against them. 
    




    12 A hired hand isn’t a shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep. When he sees a wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and quickly runs away.
    John 10:11 NKJV
    




    19 Again the Jews were divided because of these words…
    




    After this, a most popular Messiah Jesus enters Jerusalem for a festival.
    




    Jewish festivals
    




    22 Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem, and it was winter.
    




    A brief overview:
    




    The Hebrew Civil Year began with Tishri [October]. At the Exodus the Ecclesiastical Year was made to begin with Abib [April], which, after the Captivity, was called also Nisan.- Hitchcock’s Topical Commentary
    




    “Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.
    Deuteronomy 16:16 NASB
    




    But this minor feast (we now call the festival of lights) held importance to a Jerusalem which presumed to have purified and rededicated the Temple. In commemoration of the cleansing and re-dedication of the Temple after its pollution by Antiochus Epiphanes. –H.
    




    The Story Behind the Feast of Dedication
    




    Prior to the year 165 BC, the Jewish people in Judea were living under the rule of the Greek kings of Damascus. During this time Seleucid King Antiochus Epiphanes, the Greco-Syrian king, took control of the Temple in Jerusalem and forced the Jewish people to abandon their worship of God, their holy customs, and reading of the Torah. He made them bow down to the Greek gods. According to ancient records, King Antiochus IV defiled the Temple by sacrificing a pig on the altar and spilling its blood on the holy scrolls of Scripture.
    




    Source:
    




    Jerusalem’s crowed festival
    




    

    23 Jesus was walking in the temple in Solomon’s Colonnade. The Jews surrounded him and asked, 
    




    “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
    

    




    25 “I did tell you and you don’t believe,” Jesus answered them. 
    




    Do you believe His signs?
    




    Even in this day some will believe and come to faith through the Messiah, He IS the gate to salvation and the door to heaven. Others remain blind to truth.
    




    Jesus has already given several signs, proofs in various places of miracles only God could do. The most recent of these, of course, was giving a blind man sight right there in Jerusalem.
    




    “The works that I do in my Father’s name testify about me.  But you don’t believe because you are not of my sheep.
    




    Who do you follow?
    




    Some preacher, a rabbi or teacher?
    




    None are the Son of God, the Shepherd of the chosen ones of God our Father.
    




    The Way to heaven
    




    27 My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me.
    




    28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
    




    Why would you doubt the authoritative gentle voice of the Shepherd at the door?
    




    If you believe in God Almighty our God and Father, do you not see His power and compassion in the Only Son, Shepherd of the chosen to enter into His Glory? 
    




    Is Jesus your Lord and Shepherd? 
    




    For His love and anointing must be clear to those who are no longer blind. 
    




    Would you humbly turn from your sin to hear His gentle voice?
    




    “Follow Me.” “I am the way the truth and the life.” *
    




    29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
    




    A decision of life or death
    




    How many times can you recall that the LORD strikes down the one who sins?
    




    More times in scripture than we can recall.
    




    The LORD GOD IS ALMIGHTY! Fear only him, the LORD, the Existing One.
    




    • John the Baptist had testified of the Holy Spirit of God descending upon Jesus. 
    • The Lord Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind. A Man of God thought to be from Nazareth asked men and women to follow Him. 
    • Jesus, Son of Man as He referred to himself, showed signs and wonders to many.
    




    What is left for the Messiah to tell us?
    




    If we must follow Jesus, is He God in Person? – a “Son of Man” the very human Image of God (as a Son of His Father born to a woman)? 
    




    For the LORD God is One and our decision to obey the LORD is a matter of eternal life or judgment and punishment of our soul in death.
    




     “I and My Father are one.” 
    John 10:30 KJV
    




    Truth? or Blasphemy?
    




    31 Again the Jews picked up rocks to stone him.

     32 Jesus replied, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these works are you stoning me?”

     33 “We aren’t stoning you for a good work,” the Jews answered, “but for blasphemy, because you—being a man—make yourself God.”

     34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, I said, you are gods? If he called those whom the word of God came to ‘gods’—and the Scripture cannot be broken— do you say, ‘You are blaspheming’ to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?
    




    Jesus, Son of Man filled with the Holy Spirit of Almighty God! Once again the Lord confronts the hired hands of Herod, wolves luring the faithful away from the Shepherd, with Scripture and Truth. 
    




    How can they refute what everyone has seen with their own eyes?
    




    37 “If I am not doing my Father’s works, don’t believe me…”
    




    You too have seen many signs and miracles. Those in addition to Jesus’ compassion and love for the lost who have sinned. 
    




    A few repent seeking return to the safety of the Shepherd.
    




    38 “… But if I am doing them and you don’t believe me, believe the works. This way you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”
    




    Jesus and God the Father are One! Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God are One! 
    




    What was it Jesus told the Pharisee Nicodemus?
    




    “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
    John 3:21 NASB
    




    Jesus IS Spirit; Jesus IS Flesh!
    




    But those who will not bow down to the LORD God accuse the Son of Man of blasphemy. (Let the casual 21st c. reader understand the significance of blasphemy – a sin against God requiring death of the offender.)
    




    39 Then they were trying again to seize him, but he eluded their grasp.
    




    A return to the wilderness
    




    40 He went back across the Jordan River and stayed in the place where John first baptized people.
    




    41 Many people went to Yeshua. They said, “John didn’t perform any miracles, but everything John said about this man is true.” 42 Many people there believed in Yeshua.
    




    Truth
    




    The Apostle John has already revealed the Good News of the Messiah proven by many signs in many places. 
    




    • And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 
    • For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
    • “But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
    • “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.
    • “You have sent to John [the baptist], and he has testified to the truth.
    • “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
    • “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?
    




    The One Truth & nothing but The Truth
    




    “I and the Father are One!”
    John 10:30 – Strong’s: b) metaphorically, “union” and “concord,” e.g., Jhn 10:30; 11:52; 17:11, 21, 22; Rom 12:4, 5; Phl 1:27
    




    The Apostle John concludes his Gospel as follows:
    




    21:24  Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ μαθητὴς ὁ μαρτυρῶν περὶ τούτων καὶ γράψας ταῦτα καὶ οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀληθὴς ἐστίν ἡ μαρτυρία αὐτοῦ
    




    This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
    




    And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.
    




    What other sign do you need to open your eyes to what Jesus plainly has said?
    




    I and the Father are One!
    




    NEXT: The Resurrection of Lazarus ... God-willing...
    

    
			
    
		
    
		
	

	
	

		
	

	
	
	

		
	

	
























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