May 6, 2025

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: ‘Never again will I give your grain to your enemies for food, nor will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled. For those who harvest grain will eat it and praise the LORD, and those who gather grapes will drink the wine in My holy courts.’” (Isaiah 62.8-9)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD TO US:

How I would love to have seen that day when the foreshadowing of glory divine mentioned in these versions was experienced! When did that happen? I believe it was on the Day of Pentecost (Greek for “Fifty Days”) which is the Christian celebration of the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the believers who were gathered in Jerusalem fifty days after Passover. The actual religious celebration on that day in Jerusalem was Shavout. Shavout is the end of the seven weeks following Passover when the “bread of the first fruits” was consecrated. It was consecrated on the fiftieth day. For those who have followed my reflections, the mention of “fifty” should cause you to consider the term “Jubilee.” It is the promise of “Jubilee” that redemption and authentic liberation is realized. It has long been my contention that the ultimate Jubilee is described in, or with, the Book of Revelation. That has been a reflection on which I have written often in the past so I will not do so again at this time. Suffice it to say, that “fifty” has a tremendous spiritual significance in our understanding then of Pentecost. Understanding Shavout only adds depth to that understanding. For the time, let us consider the two primary offerings (of which there were many) presented on Shavout. One offering was “bread,” in fact there were two loaves, which represented “first fruits.” The grain which had been hidden away, or “buried,” on the second day of Passover, was now fully ripened (as in a grainery) and ready to be used to make bread. It is significant that there are “two” loaves of bread as the “perfect witness” is borne by the presence of “two.” (reference Deuteronomy 17.6, for example) For those familiar with the Seder, or Passover Meal, the matzah (or unleavened bread) is broken in three pieces. The middle piece is later broken in half. One half is used to represent the “bread of haste” which the Hebrew slaves took with them on their exodus out of Egypt. The other half, the larger piece, is hidden to be revealed later as a sign of redemption, the fulfillment of the promise. That piece of bread is not eaten until the end of the feast which is around midnight, traditionally. We here that Jesus and the Eleven departed from the Upper Room to go to the Garden of Gethsemane around that hour. They would not have left without eating the bread of redemption.

The other offering, would be a “blood” offering. In actuality, according to traditional Jewish practice, there were twenty-six such “blood” sacrifices, the first of which was the “sin offering.” A goat was sacrificed to represent the sin offering. You can imagine why I shudder when I think of the contemporary cultural naming of public icons as “the g.o.a.t.,” of the greatest of all time. If there was anyone who would claim that moniker it would have been Paul who declared that he was the chief of all sinners. (ref. 1 Timothy 1.15) Sadly, if there was anyone in the gospel story to whom that term might apply, it would be Judas of Kerioth who denied authentic allegiance to Jesus and sought to offer Him to be sacrificed. Would that make Jesus on the Cross more a goat than a lamb? Curiouser and curiouser the full implication of what Jesus did on the cross representing the sins of the world as well as the redemption from sin by the blood of the Lamb. Is there no wonder why only Jesus, as God’s Son, could be and is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”? Also, it is important that twenty-six sacrifices were offered beginning with a goat and ending with fourteen lambs because twenty-six is the numerical representation of the name of God given to Moses which we know as the Tetragrammaton. Only God can save His people and redeem them from the captor’s snare. The ultimate captor is Satan who seeks to draw all people in via the power of sin and hold them captive for eternity apart from the blessing of God. None of their efforts are sufficient to escape “the captor’s snare.” Only One, the One True God, is able to free His people. Such freedom comes with tremendous sacrifice. What greater sacrifice has there been “that a man would lay down his life for the sake of another.” (John 15.13) Of course, we know that sacrifice is one life for the sake of all others is Jesus the Christ. He shed His blood on the world from the Garden, where He sweated blood in fervent prayer, to Golgotha, where He bled out as a perfect sacrifice for our redemption.

The final offering of Jesus on the cross was the surrendering of His spirit into the hands of God. Following His death, confirmed by the spear of a Roman centurion, He was buried, dare I say hidden as the bread of life, only to be “found” on the third day. It was on the “Day of Pentecost,” Shavout, that the Spirit of Christ who is the Son of God, was poured out on His disciples and then others who believed. This gifting was as Jesus had prayed for it on the night when He was betrayed by Judas of Kerioth. (read John 15) Then, on that day, was the declaration of Peter, who Himself was redeemed by Jesus at the lakeside (John 21), in super distinction to what the High Priest was doing for Shavout. What we may be able to see is the first communion service of the Church with “the breading of bread and the cup representing the blood of the covenant.” Shavout has another symbolic representation which is the “giving of the Law, the Ten Commandments.” Jesus is the manifestation of the fulfillment of the Law which comes in spirit and in truth. Far more than be written on the hearts of believers, the Law of the Lord who is Christ Jesus and the Word of God who again is Jesus Christ is breathed into the very being of those believers. It is, as I suggested at the start, the foreshadowing of the fulfillment of the promise which Isaiah claims is given by God. The glorified Jesus who reveals the final truth to John the Elder of Ephesus and the Seven Churches of Asia Minor speaks of it saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. ‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21.3-4)

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness which we know is folly but righteous works which declare Your glory and further witness the truth that can set all who believe free from death. So may we live by the name of Jesus our Christ in whose name we pray. AMEN.