Wednesday, April 25, 2007

The Tabernacle Veil

This is VERY simplified information on the veil of the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle.

Exo. 26:31-37 The veil (as opposed to the outer curtains for which God also gave detailed description earlier in the same chapter) separated the Holy place (tabernacle) from the Holy of Holies (the inner room of the tabernacle where only the High Priest could enter, and only on Yom Kippur). The Holy of Holies is where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.
  • Made of blue, purple & scarlet material of fine twisted linen with cherubim embroidered
  • Hung on 4 pillars of Acacia wood overlaid in gold, with hooks of gold. These pillars sat on 4 sockets of silver
After the veil was hung, the Ark of the Covenant was brought in.

Outside the veil was the table for the bread (Exo. 25:23-30) on the North side. On the South side was placed the lampstand (25:31-40), and on the East side was an addition veil of blue & scarlet material (26:36-37) hung on 5 pillars of Acacia wood overlaid with gold with hooks of gold and on sockets of silver.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

1st Prophecy in the Bible

What IS the first prophecy in the Bible????? You may be surprised to find out the first and second prophecies in the Bible are BOTH about the 1st & 2nd coming of Jesus Christ - respectively. Though, technically, the first one is NOT a prophecy, since it was spoken by God...a prophecy is something revealed to a man BY God, the prophet then relays God's word to the people.

#1 (First coming):
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." At the time God punished Adam, Eve, and the serpent (v.14), He predicted that the Savior of the world would be human.

#2 (Second coming - Armageddon):
According to Jude 1:14-15, the next prophecy in the Bible would have been by Enoch (7th generation from Adam - Gen. 5:21-24) and was regarding Jesus' 2nd coming!!!!!!!!

Jude 1:14-15 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

Bible Fact: Enoch was one of two men taken to heaven without dying (Gen. 5:24). The other was Elijah (2 Kings 2:11).

Bible Fact:
Jude was son of Mary & Joseph......i.e. Jesus' half-brother. He identifies himself as the brother of James (v. 1), the leader of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15). Jude is also listed among Christ's half brothers in Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3.

------------
This and MUCH more I am learning now in Dr. Chuck Missler's Learn the Bible in 24 Hours. It's an amazing study. One can buy the CD or MP3 download. For FREE you can also read or listen to it. I highly recommend all of Dr. Missler's information packets. He brings Jewish insight and information to Bible teaching which REALLY opens up the ENTIRE Bible to you! Listen to just one of his teachings online for free and you will agree.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Maranatha

Sometimes you may hear or see the term "Maranatha" used. Do you know what it means and where it came from?

To the best of my knowledge, Maranatha is a Greek transliteration of an Aramaic word meaning "Our Lord come". It may have been used by early Christians as a greeting and a goodbye, much like the Italian "ciao" or Hebrew "shalom" of today.

The word occurs only once in the New Testament at the closing of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (I Cor. 16:22): "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."

Strong's Greek Dictionary explains it as such:
G3134
μαρὰν ἀθά
maran atha
mar'-an ath'-ah
Of Chaldee origin (meaning our Lord has come); maranatha, that is, an exclamation of the approaching divine judgment: - Maran-atha.

In the penultimate verse of the Bible Jesus Himself uses a form of this word in Rev 22:20 "He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."

Of this John Wesley wrote:
Rev 22:20 - [He who testifies to these things] - Even all that is contained in this book. Saith - For the encouragement of the church in all her afflictions. Yea - Answering the call of the Spirit and the bride. I come quickly - To destroy all her enemies, and establish her in a state of perfect and everlasting happiness. The apostle expresses his earnest desire and hope of this, by answering, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!

Friday, April 20, 2007

Who Was Moshe Dayan????

I'm new to studying Jewish history, so this may be old news to some or most of you but I was surprised.....to say the very least, when I found out that a man named Moshe Dayan had captured the temple mount during the 6-day war of 1967..................and 12 hours later gave it away to the enemy - to the their own surprise! The temple mount! The most sacred of all their sites!

I keep scratching my head over this and wondering WHY?!? The only possible reason I could think of (from limited knowledge) is that perhaps the secular government was averse to the renewing of Torah worship & sacrifices to resume.


An online friend in a discussion on this very subject was helpful and wrote directly to the Temple Institute to ask the same question:
I wrote a short email to the Temple Mount Faithful, asking about this, and the Temple Mount Institute replied with the following data:

"The Israeli defense Minister at the time, Moshe Dyan personally made the decision and was responsible for handing the Temple Mount back over to the WAQF (Islamic Trust) just a few hours after Israeli soldiers captured it. He said he did this because he was afraid of Islamic retaliation and to foster peace with the Arabs. Basically, he was a complete secularist and saw absolutely no value in Israel keeping the Temple Mount. It was a horrible crime and sin and it never should have happened. The same thing is happening today.........."

Did you know............ (Exo 26:31 describes the inner veil of the tabernacle): The inner veil separated the Holy Place (which contained the Altar of Incense, the lampstand, and the table for the bread) from the Most Holy Place, or Holy of Holies (which contained the ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat)..............Jewish historian Josephus reported that the veil was four inches thick, was renewed every year, and that horses tied to each side could not pull it apart. It barred all but the high priest from the presence of God.

Mat 27:51 tells us at the moment of Christ's death on the cross that veil was torn from top to bottom "And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split."-

The Exo. veil and the Matt. veil are 2 different "temples". The first being the tabernacle which moved around with the Hebrews in the desert during their 40 years wandering, being assembled and disassembled at each place they camped. Eventually Solomon built the first temple The latter is in the actual 2nd temple of the Jews (destroyed in 70 A.D. by the Romans) and was probably about 18" thick!!!

All preparations for the third temple have been finished. All the garments, implements, etc. exactly as per God's description in the Bible. Personally, I believe the rapture will occur before the 3rd temple is again on this earth. Either way..........Maranatha!

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Whose Name Is In The Book of Life????

A question was posted to me.......what are the qualifications for one to go to heaven (to have one's name in the Book of Life?, and conversely, the qualifications for one's name to be omitted? The items in bold italics below are his questions.

My problem is I love everyone and my hope is everyone is saved; though, I know this will probably not happen, the Bible teaches us there will be those thrown into the lake of fire.
Of course everyone will not be saved - wish though we might, that they all be. I dare say more will be unsaved due to the fact that there is ONE book of life and BOOKS of the unsaved. Hope and pray as we might, it's not up to us, it's up to the individual. Hell was created for Satan and his angels (those who followed him) - NOT for man. God did not intend for man to go there, but anyone who chooses to follow Satan, will. [Mat 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, `Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;] (emphases mine)

First of all, anyone who sins is going to hell UNLESS he accepts that Jesus' blood washed their sins away. Not just "major" sins like murder, even one lie will get you into hell without Jesus (Rev 21:27 [below]). It doesn't matter how earnestly you look for "god" and how many poems you write about "god"! You can be looking right at something and not accept it as truth.

The Truth is Jesus Christ. It's the act of accepting Jesus into your heart/life that gets you to heaven.

Some feel there are many paths to heaven. That God is a universal force, and all sorts of nonsense. Worshiping one god does not make you saved. The Egyptians eventually moved from a polytheistic society to a monotheistic one and worshiped only 1 god: Ra, the sun god. Is that the same as worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac & Israel? Is that being saved? NO.

The Bible says about the Book of Life:

Rev 21:27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.


At the judgment throne of God this is the criteria for who will be in the book of life:
He who is righteous will be in the book of life:

Psa 69:28 May they be blotted out of the book of life And may they not be recorded with the righteous.


Those who spread the gospel - i.e. spread the good news that Jesus Christ is our Savior:

Php 4:3 Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.


He who overcomes the world (does not succumb to its deceptions) and who therefore is not a Christian in name only - i.e. a "carnal Christian":

Rev 3:5 `He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.


He who has been washed by the blood of Jesus - who has more than his "good works" with which to defend himself at the throne of Judgment. Since we, and even our BEST deeds are as filthy rags to God, it won't be enough to save us from hell:

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.

Rev 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.


NOT in the book of life:

Those who remain after the rapture, who are deceived by and worship the beast:

Rev 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

Rev 17:8 "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.


I know some people like Judas and Pharaoh probably will not make it; they were selected for the purposes of God to be who they were. Now that we know this; did God select entire cultures to be thrown into the lake of fire and a select few not to be?
There WERE Egyptians who believed, I was just reading about the 10 plagues in Egypt. They had a choice, as humanity as always had!

Are all the Jews from the time of Jesus gonners? If they are, what does it mean to be God's chosen people? Moses pleaded with God not to destroy them for His name sake; how would it look if he delivered them just to destroy them?
&

If God can save the Jews what are his limitations and if He is going to destry them where is His mercy?
God has NO limitations, but those are questions no one can answer, since He has not yet revealed their answers to us; however, we do know that Yahweh is a just and loving God, and perhaps He leaves that question unanswered in order to test OUR faith in His loving kindness!

Equally important is the fact that HE doesn't send anyone to damnation, it's man's choice. Punishment is so often built in to the curse. The verse that comes to mind is James 4:4

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.


I saw Zola Levitt mention in his testimony (watch online free) that his parents were not believers of Jesus, and he was quite peaceful about the fact. It was just a "by the way" at the end of a sentence, but I was impressed by his faith in God's love.

Conclusion:
We all have such questions, and we all have people whose salvation we are unsure of. Frankly we cannot be sure of anyone's heart decision for Christ except our own. When such questions of life arise, remember, the answers come from God's word. We must pick up the Bible (praying first that the Holy Spirit will show us truth, or guide us to peace about what we are seeking). He won't necessarily reveal it during that study session, but He WILL grant peace and show us the truth you are searching for.

I pray that you find peace about those who you fear are lost. We ALL have them in our lives. The most effective thing we can do for the world is to pray for their salvation. It is in prayer that we have the greatest power.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Tesseract - Salvador Dali

Pictured is Salvador Dali's 1954 depiction of the Crucifixion and an allusion to the 4th dimension. "Crucifixion (Corpus Hypercubicus)" and "In Search Of The Fourth Dimension" or "Corpus Christi". This is interesting on many levels, Biblically it's a beautiful and original representation of the crucifixion. Physically speaking it represents the tesseract, a 4-dimensional representation of a cube, which as you can see happens to make a cross.

Definition of tesseract (Wikipedia): "The tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square; or, more formally, the tesseract can be described as a regular convex 4-polytope whose boundary consists of eight cubical cells."

Scientists now tell us we exist in 10 dimensions. It only took them 9 centuries to catch up to Maimonides, a medieval Jewish philosopher/rabbi/physician/philosopher who, by studying the Hebrew Scriptures stated the 10 dimension theory back in the 12th century!

Genesis

This isn't Biblical knowledge, but it is so beautiful I couldn't NOT post it, it was in my "art of the day" on my Google page (iGoogle url to add to your page: http://www.artbible.info/art/artoftheday.xml).

Naturally EVERYONE has seen the creation of man as painted by Michelangelo in the Cistine Chapel. Truly awesome!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Christian: Do You Celebrate EASTER or PASSOVER?

"Easter is the time when Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ, and celebrate his Resurrection. From a series of fraudulent trials, to a willing self-sacrifice that redeemed the whole of creation, Resurrection Day is full of meaning and significance." (source: http://www.khouse.org/topical_bible_study/easter/) - but do you know many of those traditions are pagan in origin? By no means does it mean we should not celebrate the sacrifice, death and resurrection of our Messiah, but rather that we should instead attempt to learn how He celebrated His last meal, the Pesech (Passover) meal the night before He was led to slaughter for our sins (yours and mine).

Testimony of a Christian's first Messianic Jewish Passover meal from www.ariel.org:
"A NON-JEWISH BELIEVER CELEBRATES PASSOVER
by R.C. Burris
(source: http://www.ariel.org/nps07spring.htm)

My first introduction to the Messianic Jewish Movement and the formation of new, lifelong friendships with Messianic Jewish believers was my first Passover seder at a local San Antonio Messianic congregation.

Over the years I have come to understand that traditional Christians tend to understand the Passover celebration only in terms of Communion and the Last Supper, while Jewish people understand Passover in terms of the traditional retelling of the Exodus story at a specially prepared meal called a seder. By celebrating the feast within the setting of Jewish believers, I have combined the traditional Christian and Jewish elements of the Passover to reach a deeper understanding of the Passover’s fulfillment in Jesus (Yeshua).

Since the first Passover in the land of Egypt, God has commanded the Feast to be celebrated annually. It is a time for all Jewish people to recall the great work the covenant-keeping God of Israel did to redeem them out of their bondage in the land of Egypt. In addition, Passover celebrations provide all believers in Messiah an opportunity to reflect on the greater Messianic significance spoken of in Isaiah 53 and fulfilled in Yeshua (Jesus) — the spotless Lamb of God (John 1:29) — our Passover sacrifice (1 Corinthians 5:7).

Like the unleavened bread (matzah) of Passover, Yeshua was without sin. And like the matzah bread, He was also striped (Isaiah 53:5) and pierced (Zechariah 12:10). The broken bread represents His broken body: His willing sacrifice and death on the cross. And like the afikomen (the matzah hidden then retrieved after the Passover meal), He was wrapped in linen and hidden away. The shed blood of Yeshua is also pictured in the Passover by the third cup of the meal, the Cup of Redemption. Just as the blood of the Passover lamb was to be applied to the doorposts of each home, we too must apply the shed blood of Yeshua, the Lamb of God, to the doorposts of our heart. Bread and wine are also the elements of communion that are symbols of God’s New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34), the covenant of Grace for everyone, whether Jewish in heritage or not.

If in the future you are interested in celebrating Passover Messianic-style with your family, Ariel Ministries offers an illustrated Haggadah, which participants can use to lead them step-by-step through the ceremony. It gives a brief overview of the Passover celebration and basic instructions for how to prepare, including some traditional Jewish recipes.

Another resource from Ariel Ministries is The Unleavened Messiah - A Portrait of Christ in the Passover, a DVD that can be played during the seder meal to guide the Passover celebration. Steven Ger, who leads the celebration, is a Jewish believer. In his presentation, he bridges the cultural gap between modern Christianity and first-century Judaism. "

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Science Facts Confirm the Bible

This is a great link: Science Facts Confirm the Bible
Everything from genetics, to the stars, to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

On the subject of false prophets it says, in part:

"God also demands "proof" from so-called "prophets" (and writings) which pretend to be from God, in which God challenges them to accurately predict events of human history. God provides such proof for the Bible, and such accurate prediction is what God reveals in the Bible many times over, demonstrating his power, and validating true prophets who give actual words from God, which thus bear his "fingerprints."
---Please read: Prophetic Predictions Prove the Bible's Authority"

Deuteronomy 18:21-22: ""You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' "When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him."

(Rev 16:13)
And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs;

(Rev 19:20)
And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone.

(Rev 20:10)
And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Monday, April 2, 2007

I was reading the latest Zola Levitt newsletter (www.levitt.com) and on pg.2 (there was an article about Easter). If you don't know about the pagan roots of what we call Easter (Passover), this is an enlightening short article, a good place to start. Then I recommend listening to Dr. Chuck Missler's in-depth study on The Easter Story (available in many formats). You can also hear or read it free online. Dr. Missler is a most thorough teacher, having taught the Bible for 50 or so years AND meeting with Jewish (non-Messianic) Rabbis for insights into the Jewish understanding of God's word, the Bible (The Torah to them).


The Levitt article mentioned the "Thirteen Articles of The Jewish Faith". I thought you might find this interesting, I did not know it existed or how it is applied. It was written (according to Dr. Jeffrey Seif) by the "medieval Jewish sage Rabbi Mosh Ben Maimon (also known as Maimonides). It serves as one of t the principal tenets of Orthodox Judaism."


I post this as it may be of interest to those who, like me, are edified both by learning the ways and customs in which our Lord Jesus Christ was raised, as well as having a love for God's people, the Jews.


Maimonides’ 13 Principles of Faith
  1. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is the Creator and Guide of everything that has been created; He alone has made, does make, and will make all things.”
  2. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is One, and that there is no unity in any manner like His, and that He alone is our God, who was, and is, and will be.
  3. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is not a body, and that He is free from all the properties of matter, and that there can be no (physical) comparison to Him whatsoever.
  4. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, is the first and the last.
  5. I believe with perfect faith that to the Creator, blessed be His Name, and to Him alone, it is right to pray, and that it is not right to pray to any being besides Him.
  6. I believe with perfect faith that all the words of the prophets are true.
  7. I believe with perfect faith that the prophecy of Moses, our teacher, peace be upon him, was true, and that he was the chief of the prophets, both of those who preceded him and of those who followed him.
  8. I believe with perfect faith that the entire Torah that is now in our possession is the same that was given to Moses, our teacher, peace be upon him.
  9. I believe with perfect faith that this Torah will not be exchanged, and that there will never be any other Torah from the Creator, blessed be His name.
  10. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, knows all the deeds of human beings, and all their thoughts, as it says: "Who fashioned the hearts of them all, Who comprehends all their actions." (Psalm 33:15)
  11. I believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His Name, rewards those that keep His commandments and punishes those that transgress them.
  12. I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah; and even though he may tarry, nonetheless I wait every day for his coming.
  13. I believe with perfect faith that there will be a revival of the dead at the time when it shall please the Creator, blessed be His name, and His mention shall be exalted for ever and ever.