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Easter – Part 2 (Exodus and Leviticus)

March 24, 2013 by memullin

Temple slaughter_area_2In Exodus, God gives Israel the law.  The law was a gift to man, to help him to realize his total inability to meet God’s standard and his obvious and ongoing need for a Savior  . . . who bleeds.  According to Paul, the “law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”  Galatians 3:24

The atonement provided for under the law was only intended as a temporary fix, to cover the sin. It doesn’t take sin away.  The sacrificial system sets up the foreshadowing of the lamb slain to cover the sins of men. In Leviticus, an often overlooked book of the Bible, God lays out a means by which man may atone for sin in order to be able to have restored relationship with God.  He sets up the place for fellowship (Mercy Seat) – where He will meet with man – through His representative (the High Priest).  He carefully details every piece of wood, precious stone, curtain, garment, utensil of the worship.

The starting point of the worship of God was the bronze altar where the sacrifices were made.  It was a bloody place.  At the time of the feasts, the valley behind the temple would have been flowing with blood from the many sacrifices being offered.  Shed blood was a central part of the worship and approach to God.  No one entered the presence of God without a blood covering, a sacrifice to atone for sin.

God told His people in Leviticus 17:11, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.”

All this was looking forward to the cross, the shed blood of the Lamb of God, the blood that would atone for the sin of the whole world.

We’re out of space for today.  Check out our next blog for more about Easter.

Posted in Blood, Easter | Tagged , , , , |

Easter – Part 1 (Genesis)

March 23, 2013 by memullin

adam-and-eve-cast-out-of-paradise-after-eating-from-the-tree-of-knowledge-in-the-garden-of-edenBefore Creation, before man was in need of a Savior, there existed God who loved.  Easter is about God’s love.

The need for Easter is first revealed in Genesis 3:15.  When man violated the one rule God had given him, man’s perfect fellowship with God was broken.  Easter represents  his one way back to that fellowship.

God is holy.  Sinful man cannot approach or have a close relationship with a holy God.  Such sin is an abomination to God.  Just as darkness and light cannot co-exist in the physical realm, so too holiness and sin cannot co-exist in the spiritual realm.

In the chapters of Genesis, the reader is given plenteous evidence why a Savior is needed.  In only a few generations, the heart of man was so far from God that God Himself said, “the wickedness of man [is] great in the earth, and  . . . every intent of the thoughts of his heart [is] evil continually.”

Man, without God, is hopelessly unable to maintain his own righteousness.  God shows He is just. He will judge evil and sin as seen in the worldwide flood, the confusion of language at the tower of Babel and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

The wages or payment for sin is death.  Romans 6:23.

It is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment.  Hebrews 9:24

Don’t lose hope.  This is not the end of the story.  Check out our next post for more of the Easter story unfolding.

Posted in Easter | Tagged , |

In the Cross of Christ I Glory

March 20, 2013 by memullin

In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o’er the wrecks of time;
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
 
When the woes of life o’ertake me,
Hopes deceive and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me:
Lo! It glows with peace and joy.
 
When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more lustre to the day.
 
Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.

by John Bowering

Posted in Crucifixion, Easter, God | Tagged , , , , |

Hosanna

March 13, 2013 by memullin

palm sundayHosanna, loud hosanna,
The little children sang;
Through pillared court and temple
The lovely anthem rang.
To Jesus, who had blessed them,
Close folded to His breast,
The children sang their praises,
The simplest and the best.
 
From Olivet they followed
Mid an exultant crowd,
The victor palm branch waving
And chanting clear and loud.
The Lord of earth and heaven
Rode on in lowly state
Nor scorned that little children
Should on His bidding wait.
 
“Hosanna in the highest!”
That ancient song we sing,
For Christ is our Redeemer,
The Lord of heav’n our King.
Oh, may we ever praise Him
With heart and life and voice
And in His blissful presence
Eternally rejoice!

Posted in Bible, Easter, God, hymns, Jesus, Palm Sunday, worship | Tagged , , , , |

The Romans Road to Easter

March 11, 2013 by memullin

RomansRoad132x200Maybe you are like some and wonder why it was necessary that Jesus come and die for the sins of the world.  Why would the world need such a strange thing as a man tortured, beaten and hung on a cross to die?

As a starting point, consider the law of God as He gave it to Moses in Exodus 20 (the Ten Commandments).

Of if 10 is too many, consider what Jesus later told his disciples, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

Whether you take the 10 or the 2, the bottom line is that God has a standard of holiness. That standard is given in His law. Keep it, and maintain fellowship with God; violate it in any point, and be forever separated from God by your sin.

This standard of holiness is not just for the Jew. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  Romans 3:23.  There’s none righteous. Not one. Romans 3:11-18.

It doesn’t end there. “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this, the judgment.” Hebrews 9:24. The payment or wages that a man receives for his sin is death.  Romans 6:23

But God, in His mercy, has provided a sacrifice, an offering that would satisfy the requirement of the law. That sacrifice was His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

“God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  2 Corinthians 5:21

“I am justified (made just as if I’d never sinned) through His (God’s) grace.  Romans 3:24 “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Romans 5:1

I had a great need. I have a great God.  He gave me a great gift in the life, death and resurrection of His Son Jesus.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Posted in Easter, Roman's Road, salvation |

Were You There When They Crucified My Lord

March 10, 2013 by memullin

easter Were You There When They Crucified My Lord :

Were you there when they crucified my Lord ?
Were you there when they crucified my Lord ?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucified my Lord ?
 
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree ?
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree ?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they nailed him to the tree ?
 
Were you there when they pierced him in the side ?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side ?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they pierced him in the side ?
 
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb ?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb ?
Oh, sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb ?
Negro Spiritual

Posted in Easter, hymns | Tagged , , |

Finding Easter Part 2 – Who’s Jesus?

March 9, 2013 by memullin

It’s easy to get Jesus wrong.  You could consider Him just a wise teacher, gentle prophet, or worse, a mere man. You could limit Him in your thinking to the 33 years of his life and try to hold His influence to those narrow boundaries.

But Jesus won’t stay in the small enclosure you built for Him. No, He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the great I Am, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, He is the coming King and Messiah (the promised one) whose arrival is foretold by the Old Testament prophets.

Understanding the implications of Easter, requires an understanding of exactly who Jesus of Nazareth was and is. According to the gospel of John, He was in the beginning with God, co-equal to God, part of the trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

So what was God doing living as a man in a remote village outside of Jerusalem in the first century A.D.?

God became man to solve man’s problem, because man was eternally separated from God by his sin, and the only way to change man’s future, so he could be in communion with God, was for a man to live a perfect life, fulfilling all the requirements of God’s law, and to then give up that perfect life in sacrificial offering for the sins of all the other men who lived and would live. That is what Jesus did for me, for you, for the whole world.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.  1 John 2:2

Silhouettes of Three Crosses

Posted in Easter, God, Jesus | Tagged , , , |

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

March 6, 2013 by memullin

isaac wattsWhen I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

By Isaac Watts, 1674-1748

Posted in Crucifixion, Easter, God, hymns, Isaac Watts | Tagged , , , , , |

Finding Easter

March 5, 2013 by memullin

easter-empty-tombBefore Valentine’s Day was over, the  eggs, bunnies and baby chicks were making their way to the store shelves. It is hard to find any of the true symbols of Easter in marketplace today. The significance of Easter for mankind seems all but forgotten amid the chocolate and marshmallow.

But close your eyes for a moment and stick your finger into any portion of your Bible, and wherever your finger lands you will see Easter, its foretelling, its revelation, its implications, and/or  its denouement. Easter is what the whole book is about.

Skeptical? Consider the foretelling of Easter as found in Genesis, Leviticus,  and Numbers.

The revelation of Easter, the events leading up, the capture of Jesus, the trials, the crucifixion and the glorious resurrection, is all described in eye-witness accounts in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The implications of Easter and its denouement or final resolution are the subject of the next series of posts.  Review the Biblical accounts of Easter to bring a fresh remembrance to the study.

Posted in Easter | Tagged , , |

Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus

December 23, 2012 by memullin

Come, thou long-expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us, 
Let us find our rest in thee.
 
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.
 
Born thy people to deliver,
Born a child, and yet a king.
Born to reign in us forever,
Now they gracious kingdom bring.
 
By thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone
By thine all-sufficient merit
Raise us to thy glorious throne. Amen.
 
Charles Wesley, 1744

Posted in Christmas, hymns | Tagged , | 1 Comment »

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