Tag Archive | Yeshua

O Come, Let Us Adore Him!

Dec22

As we approach the day we celebrate the birth of the holy Son of God, born to a virgin, God incarnate, let us not forget the awesome miracle that occurred that day so long ago! There are so many things about the birth of Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) that never cease to amaze me, every single one of them proving the miraculous fulfillment of prophecies given by God to His prophets hundreds of years before.

For example, in Isaiah 7:14, the prophet said, “A virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.” When the angel Gabriel appeared to the virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-35), she believed his words telling her that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, causing her to conceive the Son of God! 700 years after the prophecy given by Isaiah, Matthew wrote, “All this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.” (Matthew 1:22) Thus, Jesus’ birth totally fulfilled this prophecy!

The fact that Herod, in a jealous rage, sought to have all the male babies under two years old killed, hopefully, in his mind, to prevent another from usurping his kingdom, was another way in which Satan tried to prevent Christ from fulfilling His earthly ministry. Here is another miracle! An angel of the Lord appeared at night to Joseph in a dream and instructed him, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” (Matthew 2:13)

Thankfully, Joseph heeded the angel’s warning and took Mary and the baby Jesus, while it was still night, and left for Egypt, staying there until the death of Herod. And yet another prophecy was miraculously fulfilled: “Out of Egypt I called my Son.” (Matthew 2:15 and Hosea 11:1) What if Joseph had chosen not to obey God’s voice through the angel?

Even the fact that Joseph and Mary were required to journey to Bethlehem to register for a census fulfilled another prophecy. Joseph, though currently living in Nazareth in Galilee, was of the house and lineage of David, requiring him to return to Bethlehem to register. The prophet Micah had told us hundreds of years before, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2) This was clearly a prophecy of where the Messiah would be born! Was it a coincidence that this census required Mary and Joseph to journey to this small, seemingly insignificant village? I think not! Matthew reiterated this prophecy when he recalled what the Wise Men answered Herod upon his inquiry as to where the Christ Child should be born, “So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for from you will come forth a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.'”

The Wise Men (probably at least three, although the Bible does not state the number of them) were possibly astrologists and prognosticators from the East, possibly Persia, which is the present-day country of Iran. You may remember the story of Daniel, the Israelite young man taken captive by the Babylonians, thrown into the lion’s den and miraculously saved from certain death! Have you ever thought about the possibility that while Daniel served in the King’s court, he told many stories and gave prophecies about a coming Messiah? God used Daniel in amazing ways during his years there. Later on, the Persian empire (Iran) conquered Babylonia and God used their King Cyrus to rescue the Jews and send them back to their home country of Israel! An amazing story, to be sure. My point here is this: Could it have been that Daniel told stories of this Messiah which were handed down through the generations to the Persian people, and that these Wise Men may have come to inquire whether these stories might have indeed been fulfilled that night in Bethlehem? They looked at stars as guideposts; God guided them to the Ultimate Guidepost, the Lord Jesus Christ! This is the incredible way in which God looks after His Word to fulfill it!

One thing we do know is this: Matthew 2:9-11 says, “After hearing the king, they (the Wise Men) went on their way; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on ahead of them until it came to a stop over the place where the Child was to be found. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And after they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary; and they fell down and worshipped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

Miracles? Coincidences? I believe the Wise Men knew that this was indeed the Christ Child that had been promised and awaited these many years! Do you believe in miracles? I do! I also believe you have to choose to believe, because God comes to those who look for Him, as He did to a young virgin girl, wise men looking for a sign, and men and women through the centuries who have been willing to obey and act on the promises of God given to them. Will you “come and adore Him” today as the Wise Men of old did? I pray that at this beautiful Christmas season, your anthem will be, “O Come, Let Us Adore Him”! Please listen to my piano arrangement of this beautiful old hymn and worship Him with me!

He Is Risen!

Apr4

musicnote[1]One of my favorite hymns is “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”, whose words were written by Charles Wesley, brother of the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley.  The Wesley brothers were both involved in active ministry and faithful followers of Christ.  Charles lived from 1707-1788 and wrote hundreds of hymns during his lifetime.  It seems no Resurrection Sunday service is complete without singing this beautiful hymn!

But, with all of the fanfare and excitement surrounding this holiday celebrated annually each spring, it is important to look at some facts concerning Easter.  First of all, the holiday as celebrated today, has pagan origins, not always pleasant to look at.  The name is derived from “Eostre”, an Anglo-Saxon goddess who was celebrated at a pagan spring festival celebrating the vernal equinox.  She was the “dawn goddess”.  Going even further back in history, the roots of the celebration can be traced all the way back to Nimrod, grandson of Noah, and his wife Semiramis, who is also known as “Ishtar”.  The Feast of Ishtar was started thousands of years ago by Nimrod, who wanted to be worshipped as the “Sun God”, and his wife, known as the “moon goddess”, goddess of spring and fertility, and the Queen of Heaven. This feast celebrated the rebirth or reincarnation of nature and the goddess of nature. Nimrod built the city of Babel, where God confounded the languages at the Tower of Babel.  Their wickedness was known throughout the earth!.

Jesus Christ’s (Yeshua, the Messiah) resurrection occurred just after Passover, on the Jewish Feast of First Fruits, celebrated the first Sunday morning after Passover.  For centuries Christians celebrated on this day, but in AD325, Roman Emperor Constantine, presiding over the large council at Nicea, set the date of the celebration of Christ’s resurrection as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox (explaining the wide difference in dates for Easter each year), and in seeking to “Christianize” the pagans and the entire world, decided to give new names and meanings to the old pagan festival celebrating fertility in order to keep people happy who were already celebrating these events.  Thus, the celebration of Christ’s resurrection was combined with a pagan fertility festival and renamed Easter!  All of these facts are readily available online if you care to do the research.

The truth is, the Early Church did not celebrate Easter, but rather the Passover; rabbits and eggs have nothing to do with Christ’s resurrection, but rather are symbols of the ancient pagan fertility rites; sunrise services looking to the East are based on pagan customs (Ezekiel 8:15-18) and Good Friday and Lent are manmade events. Jesus predicted that He would be in the ground “three days and three nights”, so the math just does not work if you believe he was crucified on Good Friday. The truth is, he was more than likely crucified on Thursday morning, embalmed and laid in the tomb before sundown on Thursday, as the Jews were prohibited from working on the Passover, which was Friday (a day on the Jewish calendar is from sundown to sundown); Jesus celebrated the Last Supper with his twelve disciples probably on Wednesday evening, a night earlier, as he knew he would be dead by the next evening when Passover was to be celebrated. Then, the regular Sabbath was Saturday, and the biblical Feast of First Fruits was celebrated on that Sunday following the first Sabbath after Passover. Jesus arose from the dead at the dawning of the first day, Sunday, thus becoming the “first fruits of them that slept” (I Corinthians 15:20-23). He not only fulfilled His promise to rise again after three days and three nights (the math works here!), but He fulfilled the Sabbath and the Feast of First Fruits! He became our Passover Lamb with His atonement for our sins, as well. When the veil of the temple was torn in two at Jesus’ crucifixion, God was giving us a sign that Christ had indeed fulfilled the requirements of the Law, becoming our sin offering so we might have Eternal Life!

So, knowing all of the pagan origins of this holiday and the fact that even many churches today continue to combine the pagan with the spiritual, perhaps in ignorance, should we refuse to observe this Resurrection Sunday? Emphatically not! This day celebrates the greatest event in history…the resurrection and eventual ascension to Heaven of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, sent down to us by our Heavenly Father to show us the way to God by giving His life for us and providing His blood as atonement for our sins! It is a final work, a once-and-for all event, spoken by our Lord when He uttered the words, “It Is Finished!” By accepting His finished work, we enter into salvation from our sins and Eternal Life is assured! We do not have to work for our salvation; it is a free gift, provided through Christ’s death, burial and resurrection!

So, how shall we celebrate this day? On Resurrection Sunday, let us join with millions around the world in singing Charles Wesley’s song, “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”, knowing that we are not celebrating a mixture of pagan symbols and man-made ceremonies that are not in the Word of God, but a risen Savior!  Let us rejoice out of a deep sense of awe and gratitude for what our Lord did for us on Calvary and through His resurrection, providing salvation through Jesus Christ, the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world”!