L'Chaim!

 This Jewish toast, given at engagement and wedding celebrations, is well-known even among Gentiles (non-Jews) and means “To life!”

The recent unfortunate events leading to the implosion of the submersible Titan, on a journey to observe the wreck of the Titanic, are currently ongoing news. It is the tragic deaths of those five men on board that led me to think again on the Hebrew word ‘chaim’, meaning ‘life’ (chai means alive/live/living). You see, it is one of those peculiar words in the Hebrew language that is never singular, it is only plural in meaning – and we can interpret that as implying that we do not live only one life here on earth but will be resurrected again to continue living in eternity.

Jesus explains this in John 11:25

Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.”

For us who believe in Jesus, there is the exciting prospect of being invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, as it is described in Revelation 19:7, after which we will enter the Millennium with Jesus, reigning with Him for a thousand years here on a beautiful and perfectly restored earth.

God already spoke about this feast through the prophet Isiah, thousands of years ago:

Is 25:6

On this mountain the LORD of Hosts will prepare a banquet for all peoples, a feast of aged wine, of choice meat, of finely aged wine.

A coronation-festival, for the inauguration of the King of kings, which will far surpass all such feasts held in honour of any earthly king, including the elaborate festivities held for King Charles recently!

We therefore do not have to fear death, or dying, if we believe in Jesus and keep His commandments - we can look forward to living with Him forever. I wonder if we, at His marriage feast with us, will all stand up and proclaim the toast: L’Chaim!

Points to ponder:

Have you accepted your invitation to the Marriage Feast of Jesus? All are invited, but not all reply. If you have, put aside all fear of death and dying. Be confident that when that time comes, He will be there to receive you into His heavenly home as His bride!

Marriage Supper of the Lamb

The defiled church

 

Ezekiel 8:14 & 16

He brought me to the north gate of the LORD’s Temple, and some women were sitting there, weeping for the god Tammuz.

Then he brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD’s Temple. At the entrance to the sanctuary, between the entry room and the bronze altar, there were about twenty-five men with their backs to the sanctuary of the LORD. They were facing east, bowing low to the ground, worshiping the sun!

God gave Ezekiel this vision of the temple in Jerusalem. He was shown the hidden (because he had to dig a hole in the wall to reveal the door through which these things could be seen) idolatry going on in the temple of God, which was so offensive to God that He would later leave His sanctuary.

The inside of the temple was decorated with all sorts of unclean and idolatrous things all around on the walls – images of the animal cults of Egypt - instead of the holy and beautiful cherubim surrounding God’s throne. The leaders of the city were observing the religious rites of the Temple, while being secret idolaters. Not only were women not allowed in the inner court, but they were there worshipping the pagan entity called Tammuz. The worship of this god in ancient times was characterised by total immorality, and the women participated in the most shameful practices. The twenty-five priests were worshipping the sun in the temple of Yahweh! These abominations led to the breakdown in the social order, bringing social chaos and injustice, as we read further in the chapter.

And in the next chapter of Ezekiel, God showed Him the judgement that would be brought against the whole city because they had departed from Him in such a shameful way – the Chaldeans would eventually execute this judgement by killing all - men, women, and children. This judgement was fully deserved and a long time in coming.

Where does this lead us concerning the church? We observe all sorts of idolatrous images decorating the insides of many of our churches – symbols with meanings hidden in the mists of time, only recently being exposed by spiritual researchers. We hear of church leaders observing the external religious rites, while secretly being involved in sinful practices such as child trafficking, to name but one. We hear of pagan practices infiltrating churches, like Christian Yoga. We hear of pastors supporting and even initiating others into ancient cultic worship practices like using the enneagram, divination, New Age teachings. And just as in Ezekiel’s time, these are leading to the destruction of our society.

While the above is certainly not true of all churches, we must be aware that the bad shepherds will not escape God’s judgment:

Ezekiel 34:10 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock.”

Points to ponder: Am I leading people astray? Let us examine the truth of all we teach.

Building on the Rock!

About three thousand

 

Ex 32:28

The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died.

This speaks of the day Moses returned from the mountain Sinai with God’s Law written on stone tablets, only to find that in his brief (40days) absence, the people had made a golden calf and had started worshipping this idol as their god. The approximately three thousand were the ringleaders in this wickedness, and were slain by the swords of their kinsmen from the tribe of Levi. Interesting to note that nobody need to have died this way, because when Moses uttered the words, “Whoever is on the Lord’s side, let him come to me” in verse 26, he was offering God’s pardon to all who would choose to run to him, shamefaced, and admit their wrongdoing.

The rabbis of old calculated that the feast of Shavuot, or Pentecost, was the time that Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Law.  And so Shavuot became the day that Jews commemmorate the giving of the Law to Israel even unto this day.

But something exciting happened on this exact same day of Pentecost in the New Testament – the Holy Spirit filled the waiting believers in the upper room utterly, manifesting as tongues of fire upon each of them, which lead to the following:

Acts 2:41

Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.

About three thousand people received eternal life on that day, after hearing the gospel supernaturally preached to them in their own languages. (According to rabbinic tradition, the soul of every Jew throughout history was present at Mont Sinai when the Law was given, and each person heard the giving of the Law in their own native tongue!) These two events, happening on the same day of Pentecost even though centuries apart, link the initiations of both the Old and the New Covenant through the use of the same phrase ‘about three thousand’. Three thousand died on the day of the giving of the Law, and three thousand received life on the same day hundreds of years later, the day of the giving of the Spirit.

It shows in a tangible way what Paul meant when he said: “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” in 2 Cor 3:5. The Law can show us what the will of God is, but we need the Spirit to give us the power and insight to live it.  

Points to ponder:  What ‘rules’ and ‘regulations’ am I keeping - whether self-imposed or insisted upon by my church or other religious people - without which I feel that I am not a good-enough Christian? Am I giving the Holy Spirit free reign in my life?

Pentecost Song

Facing Jerusalem

 Daniel is one of my faith-heroes! His steadfast integrity towards man and faithful worship towards his God have always impressed me, and spurred me on in my own walk of faith.

In Daniel 6 we read a few interesting facts about Daniel’s prayer life:

Daniel 6:10

But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God.

He prayed facing Jerusalem. Did you know that this was a custom that developed because of Solomon’s prayer when he dedicated the temple that he had built to God? In this prayer he entreats God no less than eight times that He will hear the prayers of those who face the altar in the temple in Jerusalem when they pray.  Concerning Daniel’s situation in particular, Solomon prayed this:

1 Kings 8:46 & 48

When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near,

If they turn to you with their whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen, and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name—then hear their prayer…

And Daniel prayed on his knees. This is something he probably also took from Solomon’s prayer that day:

1 Kings 8:54

When Solomon finished making these prayers and petitions to the LORD, he stood up in front of the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands raised toward heaven.

We know that because of what Jesus has done for us, we have freedom in the Spirit to pray anywhere, at any time, facing anywhere, in any posture before Him. But there is something to be said for what Daniel mirrored for us:  I am sure that Daniel prayed many times throughout the day, but three times a day he prayed formally. This ‘habit’ kept him connected with his God throughout his life. Also, his posture of kneeling showed the humility he had before God, his submission to Adonai, the Lord and Master of his life.

Points to ponder:   Diarise a specific time in your day for prayer, making it a set appointment even though you are praying at other times as well. And consider kneeling/prostrating before Him in that time, to teach your flesh a lesson or two! Face Him, gaze upon Him…

Falling on my knees