Exodus 12:3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.
Joshua 4:19 Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
Matthew 21:8-9 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.
The Temple Institute in the Old City of Jerusalem has been preparing temple articles, priestly garments and studying for years to prepare a priesthood for service in a proposed rebuilt temple on the Temple Mount. A recent news article reported that training had begun for the preparation of the Passover sacrifice. The day for the training was the 10th of Nisan, the day designated in the Old Testament for choosing the Passover lamb. Since the eyes of the Jewish people are still partially blinded to the true identity of their Messiah, most of them don’t know that the ultimate Passover Lamb was already sacrificed 2000 years ago.
The 10th of Nissan was an historic day in the history of our faith. Not only was it the day the Passover Lamb was chosen and brought into the houses of the Israelites in Egypt – it was also the very day that the children of Israel, freed from slavery, finally crossed into Jordan entering the “Promised Land” for the first time. And one other significant event happened on this day: Yeshua of Nazareth (Jesus, called Christ) entered Jerusalem on a donkey, just as the prophet Zechariah had said He would [Zech. 9:9] as crowds of Israelites shouted “Hosanna!” or “Save now!” to Him, confidently identifying Him as their savior and Messiah. In effect, the entire nation was choosing their “Passover lamb” who was to deliver them from sin and death! But the leaders of the nation rejected Him…
…and so modern Israel is still waiting for the Messiah, even here in the Promised Land, while He continues to be revealed as the Savior of the world in the Gentile nations. There is a remnant of Jews who have discovered Him, who have chosen their Passover Lamb carefully and who know He is without blemish, and a growing number have also come to live in Israel in fulfillment of God’s promise to restore the nation in the latter days. But for most, Messiah’s coming is still in the future…
There is a “Promised Land” for every soul who carefully chooses his Passover Lamb, Yeshua the Messiah, whether Jew or Gentile. It is the promise of deliverance from sin, death, and Hell, into eternal life in a New Heavens and a New Earth. Our Passover Lamb, Yeshua, is the only way of entry into this Land. Choosing Him has made us “priests” who offer spiritual sacrifices of prayer that His salvation will be known all over the world, and finally, once again, here in Israel.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]During the Biblical festival of Shavuot, the book of Ruth is read. It’s a powerful story of faith, restoration and redemption. The book opens with a famine in all the land surrounding Bethlehem, forcing a difficult decision upon Naomi’s husband, Elimelech. Now, Bethlehem (beth: “house”, lechem: “bread”) literally means “house of bread”, so the irony of Elimelech’s departure from his home, “house of bread”, during a famine, is lost on English speaking readers, but reveals that every detail in the word of God can be meaningful, especially the meanings of names.
One of my favorite ministers of the Gospel is D.L. Moody. He tells a story about having heard Pastor Henry Varley once say that, “The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.”
The Lord is quoted in this scripture in Matthew and it contains an important principle which I think we sometimes tend to overlook. Many believe and even teach that if someone acquires much material prosperity, then God has surely given them favor, and that if someone is undergoing extreme trial, it must be because they have sinned or that they lack faith. But the Lord says that the sun rises and the rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous alike. A life of good circumstances does not necessarily mean that God is with us. And likewise, a life of trial and suffering does not mean that God is not with us!
The African Impala (an African antelope) are amazing creatures that can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance greater than 30 feet. Yet Impalas can be kept in a zoo inside an enclosure with a simple 3 foot wall. Why? Impalas will not jump if they can’t see where their feet will land. Do we have something in common with these antelopes? Able to take great leaps of faith, but refusing to do it unless we can see where we’ll land?
An aging king woke up one day to the realization that should he drop dead, there would be no male in the royal family to take his place. He was the last male in the royal family in a culture where only a male could succeed to the throne – and he was aging. He decided that if he could not give birth to a male, he would adopt a son who then could take his place but he insisted that such an adopted son must be extraordinary in every sense of the word. So he launched a competition in his kingdom, open to all boys, no matter what their background. Ten boys made it to the very top.
For centuries in Ethiopia, there have lived a people we now know as the Falashas. They kept all sorts of Biblical traditions and call themselves Beta Yisrael (House of Israel). As experts began to study the matter, it became clear that these were descendants of the Jewish people who came to Africa in ancient times and intermarried. Unbeknownst to many, a percentage of them became believers in Jesus over the years. Jesus (or Yeshua, as they called Him) became a part of their identity as Jewish people. Many Falashan Jews worshipped Jesus as their Messiah and continued to practice Jewish tradition.
So often in our walks with the Lord, we become focused on what we can see, what we can hear and what we can sense in the physical realm. Like that young man, we focus on the enemy’s attacks around and about us. At times we can get so focused on our physical circumstances that we forget that the Lord has already provided for us the victory!