I will say it again, it was just too early. Now is the time to celebrate. The flowers are beginning to bloom, trees are leafing, birds are singing. Spring is here. And really, this is the right time to celebrate the death and resurrection of our Savior. This took place during the week of the Jewish Passover.
Tonight when the sun goes down, Jewish people will not only celebrate the ending of the weekly Sabbath, they will be celebrating the new moon of Nissan, the first month of the Jewish Calendar. This is the month the Passover took place and the children of Israel we freed from Egyptian bondage.
This comment is from the Temple Institute in Jerusalem:
We know that Nisan, the month referred to in Exodus 12:2, "'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months,'" is the first month of the Hebrew calendar, and is considered the new year for marking the Temple pilgrimages. And we know that the commandment to mark the month of Nisan was the first commandment given to the nation of Israel as they prepared to leave Egypt.
Think about that, this was the first commandment given to the nation of Israel. Not the 10 commandments, or the Shema, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart....", which Jesus said was the greatest commandment. But this, "mark this day as a "new beginning".
If you aren't doing a Bible Study at this time, this might be a good time to start reading and studying the book of Exodus, at least through chapter 14. There are 14 days from the first day until Passover is celebrated. That would be a chapter a day.
If this was the first commandment and a very important one, why don't we consider it as a great commandment for us? What would it mean to us if TODAY, we made up our mind to start over, a new beginning, a dawning of a new day (as we talked about on Resurrection Day). What would this mean to you? Are you willing to do it?
Am I? jl
No comments:
Post a Comment