What do we liken the today’s God- worshippers with? They are like a people who read a story about the first world war, after which, they acted it into a movie. Though they precisely demonstrated every inch of the story in their action, there were some qualities lacking in it all. Which? The emotions, the fears, and, the life-and-death kind of struggle which the soldiers in the jungles engaged in. Why lack these qualities? It’s simple. These actors are not faced by any threat in their action; yes, they are not real, it’s just a play (a drama). This is exactly what most of the today’s God- worshippers are doing. We have in the bible read about God creating man, man getting deceived and throughout the ages, God raising prophets, afterwards, sending Christ who in turn, sent the apostles, and this trend has continued until now.
We think of what we read in the bible, about Adam and Eve with Satan there in Eden. We think of Moses and the Israelites at Mt. Sinai with God giving commandments and statutes. If we will be frank, we will admit that, we see these men as supernatural great people who lived then (just the same way actors imagine how the real people were extra tough guys), and somehow admire their lives; and so, we sort of begin to imitate them in a play kind of practice. This has become like a mere story taught and acted throughout the professed God- worshipping- generations, but which has in the same way lacked those real qualities, which were in Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, yes- all the prophets and the apostles, as demonstrated by Christ in his days on earth when he came the first time.
But now brethren, as we approach this Passover, and prepare for it, it’s important that we change from this kind of thinking, and become real, or else, we will never reach our destined goal. Let everyone know and understand that, God is present, and so speaks presently. Being the eternal giver of life, what has been his life since eternity, is the same in which, “ He made the world and everything-Acts.17:24-25”; and, “…through whom are all things, and by whom we exist-1Cor.8:6”. It is the same that He taught the angels, Adam, and all the prophets, beginning with Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, just to name but a few. What? The eternal purpose for creating, and sustaining life (our message, “the everlasting foundation”, has details. See it in our web, www.endtimecog.org please). Seeing that He doesn’t change, He had this purpose explained in writing, which is what we today read as scriptures in the bible, that, “……..it may be for the time to come as a witness forever-Isa.30:8”. Therefore, every time we open the bible, lets never read a mere story about Abraham, Elijah, and the like. It is you God is talking to, telling us what He told them in their times. If anyone doesn’t hear God talking to him/her when he reads the bible, then, let them know they are merely perpetrating that movie-maker kind of life, which Christ calls, “….a worship in vain-Mark.7:7”. This is because God created us with a purpose, and it is what He explains in his laws, so that, by reading and living them, He may have us accomplished according to his will. With that said, lets now come to our topic message, “THE PASSOVER”.
WHY OBSERVE IT?
As we continue, please, let everyone be self- examining to see whether, you have a reason to observe the Passover, or you are merely carrying on with a tradition you inherited from your fathers. “ And God said, ‘ let us make man in our image, and our likeness, and let them have dominion….upon the earth-Gen.1:26”. Here, God is not talking about Adam and Eve, but, about you and me. It is therefore very important that, as we read every sentence, every one looks into one’s heart to see whether this is what we are, and what we are living for.Here God wants us to, first be like him, after which, we can now rule upon the earth. We may not have known this, but let’s understand that, we are in this physical bodies for the sole purpose of, choice-making and, learning based on our choices( our message, “ Man’s creation process”, has details). God is what He is by freely choosing to be so. We also will become like Him by freely choosing His life. This is why He never instantly created us to the finished condition, but rather, he did, “….first the physical-1 Cor.15:46”, so that, whoever freely chooses to be like him, God may move to the second stage which is, “…. Spiritual- v;46,49”. We all know that, man chose to be like Satan-Gen.3:4-6. This halted his God’s-creation-process, and so, he remained physical, and in God’s image only, without the likeness- Gen.1:27. Since God is the only one who knows what life is, then, what he acquired as knowledge from Satan was a lie, for which reason, man remained ignorant of God, of himself, and of his God-ordained life, thus, “…..becoming a fool-Rom.1:22”. Have you at any time known yourself to be a fool? If not, then know and understand that, you are still in that lie of Eden.
WE BECAME SLAVES
Let’s not forget please, that God is talking to us now. Let’s assume we are hearing from him for the first time, and are for the first time, placing ourselves in his plan. This will help every one of us to know where we stand spiritually-James.1:24; 2 Cor.13:5. Now, let’s think soberly please. What we are right now living by as knowledge, is something we learned from our fathers, who learned from their fathers, back to the first parent Adam who learned from Satan, who is “…..a liar- John.8:44; Jerem.16:19”. And because we accepted it, then, it is what we obey in doing all that we undertake in life. Our teacher, who is our creator, and the only one who has true knowledge about His creation is telling us, “…. We are slaves of the one we yield to, to obey, whether to sin(the lie) which brings death, or to obedience which brings righteousness unto life-Rom.6:16”. We all know, and God confirms it that, to begin with, as taught and accepting what our parents taught us, “…. Everyone of us sinned-rom.6:23”, and so, “…..became a slave of sin-John.8:34”. Do we each accept that? If anyone of us doesn’t, let them know that they have nothing to do with the Passover, for, “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves-1 John.1:8”. Are we preparing for the Passover, because we accepted ourselves to be in a spiritual slavery, held captives by Satan to live his lies, thus sinning against our maker? How can we know and be sure?“ Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path”; and again, “…..we guard our ways by doing according to this word-Psalm.119:105, 9”. We must therefore read this word carefully, and know for sure whether, our Passover observance will be in sincerity and truth.
God did see human beings in great suffering, and his purpose for them being completely out of their minds, and so, he sent his messenger.
THE DELIVERER
The messenger whom God sent to deliver mankind from this spiritual slavery is Christ Jesus. His deliverance mission is confirmed in Isaiah, where it is written, “….to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners who are in dungeons, from the prison, those who sit in darkness- Isa.42:7”. Now, if we remember, you and I were created to be made like God for the sake of rulership upon the earth.So, the deliverer’s first step is( am using the present because Christ is speaking now, not when He came those days) to make us know ourselves, the purpose of our lives, and how we have been deceived out of it, and what we need to do, to go back to the process. So, let’s listen to his message, and see whether this is what we have accepted. Remember, this message is meant to lead us to the Passover, and if we are not in line with it, then, we are not fit to sit at table with Christ that day. He says, “ The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the gospel( message)- Mark.1: 15”. Get it please. In this one verse, Christ has explained everything about His mission, and how he will accomplish it. I am putting it in my wording. Listen please. “ The kingdom for which you and I were created is very near. But, the life we are living now is wrong and cannot qualify us to inherit it; therefore, turn from it(repent), and accept what I am teaching you( the gospel)”. Are we accepting this? Do we know that we have been living wrongly, and for the wrong purpose? If yes, then we have believed in Christ and his gospel. This acknowledgement warrants, a turning from one direction to another, and also, a change of masters. Satan our captor, who is also the ruler of this world( the present age), who also has blinded us from God’s purpose, will not let-go his grip on us that easily. He is fighting to uphold his kingdom, by furthering his lies, convincing us that, this word of the bible is just a mere story taught by philosophers, and has nothing to do with practical life. He must fight back, and the way he is doing it is by putting every possible effort to destroy, and silence Christ. Many of us talk of Christ having died for them. But do we know why Christ died? Do we know when it becomes true, He has died for you? Listen please. “the world hates me because I testify to it, that its deeds are evil(opening their eyes)- John.7:7”. And again, “.. the light( truth) has come into the world, but men love darkness than light- John.3:19”. Let’s at this point understand please. If Christ, after coming to the world, agreed with Satan, and men( Satan’s followers), He would not have been fought. He would, like them, reject God’s word, and join the society; for which reason, Satan would have loved him because, He would have perpetrated his lies. But as it is, He disclosed to mankind that they have been deceived. So, Satan bent all his efforts, using men as his agents to destroy Christ, but God upheld and protected him until he delivered the message fully, and also taught a people who accepted it to a level of being able to teach others, of whom He says, “ …….you are not of the world-john.15:19”. So, for Christ to die for you, you must accept his message, for which He was killed, and for which, Satan through his agents will hate and fight you, because up to now, he has not given up his effort to retain men in darkness, “……blinding their minds so that they don’t understand and accept the message about their God-made lives- 2 Cor.4:4”.
THE LAMB OF GOD
Are we living that same life which Christ lived, or put in another way; is this the life we want to know and accept, and live it? If yes, know and understand that, striving to live it is the way to preparing for the Passover, and also is how, one gets united with Christ in a death like His-Rom.6:12-14( the very meaning of Passover). At this point, the Lord in his message is revealing something which most of us may not be very clear about. Get it please. “The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him, and said, ‘behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world-John.1:29”. Why is Christ being called the lamb?Jesus had no sin. He needed no deliverance, because He was never captivated by Satan. All this preaching and teaching of God’s life, He is doing, sacrificing his life for human beings. If it were for Him, he would have stayed in heaven and continued to enjoy His glorious state-John.17:5. But He fought to make men know “….. God and stop worshipping idols, and be free from Satan’s destructive lies-Acts.14:15; John.8:32”. It is because of this sacrifice that He is the lamb which God gives those who want to be saved from Satan’s grip, which, as we have seen, is possible only when someone accepts and begins to live that same life. Let’s get details. I also believe, we are together following, as we are now about to join Christ in the Passover. Jesus has finished his work of teaching us the will of God (see our message, “God’s work”, found in our web). Mankind has sinned, and is awaiting the penalty of sin which is death-Rom.6:23. Christ has here come, to save man by opening their minds to see their mistakes, and know how they could have lived the right life. So, everyone who hears these teachings of Christ, and begins to live them shows that they regret having lived Satan’s way, and that, if they can be given a chance to live, they will never again follow Satan. Satan on the other hand is so mad with Christ for disclosing his (Satan) lies to man, and so, he is planning to kill Him. Since death is the fruit of sin, and Christ has never sinned, if He dies, He will take the death penalty of those who accept to live the life of God for which, Satan wants to kill Him.
THE HOUR COMES
This message is for those who are given to understand, and it’s my prayer that God enables us to see ourselves in it. We began by saying that we must be real, and no more, mere actors. This is why it is present because this is what we will in a few days do, come the Passover. It is this real, and never a story. Are we there brethren? Christ knows very well what Satan is about to do. So, after finishing his teachings which pertains to God’s kingdom for which we were created, and the life therein, in which also, He will be the king- John.18:37, to those of us who have believed, He wants us to understand how, this plan was made long time, even before, we were created. Let’s follow with Him.
“ Now the feast of unleavened bread drew near( its truly near), which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and scribes were seeking how to put him to death……..then came the day……on which the Passover lamb is slain……… and Christ sends, saying, ‘ go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it……..When the hour came, He sat at table……and said to them( us), ‘ I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer- Luke.22:1, 7, 14”. There are so many God worshippers, who claim to follow Christ and His teachings, and misuse those same teachings to make a difference between the old and new testaments. But Christ here, is disapproving them. I know, most of us are used to seeing messages about the Passover which begins with the Old Testament. This time round, God has purposed that the message begins with us (the New Testament), because we are the ones who are doing it now, not those who lived in the Old Testament. Through this, God is also proving to everyone who wants to obey him, about his unchanging eternal purpose for life (read our message, “the everlasting foundation” please), and giving us a strong reason to observe the passover when the time comes.Let’s therefore understand please, by wondering; which hour is being talked about here? If we read elsewhere in the bible, we see that Christ was slain before the foundation of the world-see Rev.13:8. What does this mean?
GOD’S SALVATION MASTER PLAN
Brethren, lets open-mindedly follow God’s word, and be sure we know so that, we can confidently obey and become the very project which God started by created our physical lives. Do we know that, if Adam had not sinned, we would not be observing the seven holydays, which begin with the Passover, ending with the last great day? Had he obeyed God, we would only be observing the seventh day weekly Sabbath, which would serve as a continual reminder of the coming kingdom (our message, “the spirit of God’s Sabbath (holydays)”, has details)-Heb.4:7, 9-11. But since, when God was creating us(Adam), Satan was already the ruler of this world, and God allowed him to continue in it, so that by him, we may have a choice to make( see Deut.8:2; Judges.2:21, and our message, “ why the physical bodies?” for details), He knew of a possibility of man sinning. Therefore, God and, the word who later became Jesus fore planned long before they created us that, if man sins, there was a plan B-See Eph.3:9. This plan B is what the seven holidays portray. This is why, He never introduced them to Adam at the beginning but only gave him the weekly Sabbath-Gen.2:1-3. Now that Adam did sin, God introduced the plan B( make sure to read the message, “ The spirit of God’s holidays”), adding to the weekly Sabbath, the seven holidays, saying, “ on the fourteenth day of the first month of the year in the evening is the Passover-Lev.23:5”. So now, which hour? One that Christ introduced to the disciples during that time of the supper? Not at all. One that was planned before ages began, of which He came to reveal and fulfill. It is a day and time which God had physically revealed to Israelites when He was about to deliver them from the Egyptian slavery, which is a type of the true deliverance from the slavery of sin, which all those who worship God in spirit and truth are undergoing-Read, Exod.12:1-3,6-7, 11-14. This proves beyond doubts, the unchanging eternal purpose of God for us, revealed in every generation from the Old testament to the new, with no change at all, for God changes not. In the same manner that, by the blood of a lamb( hope you have read the above given verses of exodus please), the Israelites were saved from the killer angel, so also, everyone who accepts Christ’s message is saved from Satan’s grip and destructive life. So, when John saw Christ coming, and knowing well that He is the fulfill-er of that prophecy of the Passover lamb, he told the Jews, who were very conversant with the term that, “ this is the true lamb, of which you have been remembering each year by killing a lamb( paraphrasing mine)-John.1:29”.But because the Jews used to sing scriptures like a song, and not like an information on what life they should live, they never understood John, in the same way, a great majority of us are doing right now as we write-Ezek.33:31-33.But the elect, from whom the true Church of God descends, did understand and followed Christ from that moment until death, for, “The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked as Jesus… and said, ‘ behold the lamb of God’, and the two followed Jesus-John.1:35-37”. The elect of this present age will also understand what we are saying here, and will follow Christ, until either their death, or when he comes and makes them spirit beings. It is also these believers who sat at table with Christ during His last Passover on earth. Are you their true descendant? You can be only if, “…..you do what I command you( says Christ)- John.15:14”.
THE PASSOVER CHANGES NOT
We have heard so many opposers of God telling us about a Christ who came and overthrew God’s plan which they term as Jewish traditions, and are now engaged in a lawless, in-vain-worship-Mark.7:6-9. Therefore, for those of us who have heard Christ preach, and have accepted Him, and are now striving to become like Him in every way, let’s be seriously learning to live like Him, that we may also live with Him forever. So now, when the Passover will come on the fourteenth day of the first month of the year at evening, we will sit with Christ. And remember please; this is not a play but a reality, for even though Christ is in heaven, He also lives in his temple which is our hearts, and this, only if we sincerely have accepted, and are living by his teachings- John.14:23; 1Cor.6:19-20. Have we chosen a special male lamb for slaughter in that day? No. Why? “….. Christ our Passover lamb( the true lamb of God) has been sacrificed- 1 Cor.5:7”. Isn’t this then an end of the Passover practice? No. Why? Christ is the true lamb of God. So, when the time came for Him to practically fulfill the Lamb-prophecy, because they could not eat human flesh( which is him), and they could also not continue slaughtering lambs because, that will mean denying Him as the real lamb, He made substitutes( not abolished the Passover). Let’s get it please. “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘ take, and eat; this is my body….and the cup….drink of it, all of you….this is my blood-Mat.26:26-28”. This was done on the exact date, the exact time, a good reason why it is, when the hour came; which hour? “Then came the day of unleavened bread( which is called the Passover-Luke.22:1),, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed-Luke.22:7”. The twisters of God’s word are coming up with so many ideas springing from sensual simple carnal minds devoid of the spirit and are confusing the simple. Brethren, we should not be among them, seeing that, Christ in his love and carefulness has appointed shepherds for His flock, and equipped them with knowledge. This is what you are reading here. Therefore, we the true Church of God are continuing with what God had in mind before the foundation of the world, which is clearly explained in his word, the scriptures. Having all this said, and now knowing what the Passover is about, that it is a physical event that demonstrates our spiritual life, what manner of life ought we to live as a way of preparing the Passover? Let’s capitulate please.
Christ died for proclaiming the true life of God as explained in his word. This He did, not for Himself, but for us who were deceived out of it by Satan. To be a partaker of His sacrifice, one must accept and begin to live that life which made him to be crucified. It totally changes, what we know about ourselves and our lives, to what He says we are in his word.Since we are God’s creation in progress, we therefore who have accepted Christ stop living for what we are now, and begin to follow unquestioningly, what the word says, for by it, the progressive creation process is ongoing, and by keenly following the word, we live for what it promises, yes, what we will become, as it is written, “To those who by patience in well-doing, seek for glory, honour, and immortality, He will give eternal life-Rom.2:7”.
PREPARE FOR THE PASSOVER
Brethren, the Passover is about here, and as baptized members, we can’t avoid partaking of it, lest we be cut-off from Christ, for, by not partaking of it, it’s like saying, we never died with Christ. But now please, this partaking can’t be done in pretense, for it is impossible to lie to God, with whom we are dealing here, for, “before Him, no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him whom we have to do with-Heb.4:13”. Since God has here been very gracious to us, and being his beloved sons and daughters, he has made known to us what it takes, lets prayerfully strive to fit in that passover table. How? That day, we will sit with Christ, and the only way one can be sure he/she is sitting with Christ is, “…by this, we are sure we know Him, and are in Him, and He in us, if we keep( keeping is doing, living by) His commandments-1John.2:3,5,24”. And again, “ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love…….john.15:10”. You can’t read my heart, nor can I read yours, but God can and does. Let’s completely stop this worship of each other, feeling ok when I justify you, or you justify me, thus making each other our fear and concern. This is the furthest the Pharisees went, becoming hypocrites, and taking the grace of God in vain-2Cor.6:1-2. We are helpless before Satan, but it is not us who is doing it. The very powerful God is the one “….at work in us, both to will and do, for his own good pleasure-Phil.2:13”, for not by power, nor by might, but by my spirit, ‘ says the Lord-Zech.4:6. But God will not work in anyone by force. This is where you and I come in. If we accept His teaching, “…He and the son will come in and make their dwelling in us-John.14:23, and they will enable us to do all that Christ did, and lastly make us what He became after resurrection. With this in mind, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful-Heb.10:22-23”. Yes, just obey and remain there, and wait for God in there, and come the Passover, we will surely rejoice being true partakers of Christ’s death, and will confidently maintain the hope of sharing with him in a resurrection like His, thus being fulfilled in God’s plan of creating us, that of making us spirit beings like us. I prayerfully wish all of you an inspiring awakening Passover.
May the grace of our Lord, and his great love which would not leave Him spare His life, but gave it for us, be fulfilled in every one of us, and may we move, ever forward until that day of our meeting Him up in the air. The joy of our Lord and His peace be with us.
This is Christ speaking to us through his instrument,
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