April 17, 2022
He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” And they remembered His words. Luke 24:6-8
As disciples of our risen Savior, one of the joys of our fellowship with each other is helping each other remember His precious words! We all need reminders, and OH! what a blessing to recall the treasures given to us by Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!
Life! It is in this life – this very moment, minute by minute, and day by day – that we are to separate ourselves from sin. Upon claiming faith in the atoning blood of Jesus, we are immediately invited to join ourselves to Him. What a precious invitation that the Savior continually extends . . . to unite our weaknesses with His strength, our lack of understanding with His wisdom, our unworthiness with His mercy, and our love for Him with His abundant grace to honor His Commandments (see John 14:15). In the process of restoring our characters to His image and likeness, it rests with each of us to co-operate with the agencies of Heaven. To procrastinate or neglect my part in the rescue operation from sin is a deliberate placement of my soul into great peril.
For centuries and millennia prior to Christ’s birth in Bethlehem, that old serpent known as Satan succeeded in circulating myths and legends to counterfeit a death-and-resurrection scenario. The central theme was sun worship: the death and resurrection of the sun god. Different nations and cultures employed various names for the “main characters,” and God’s people were especially targeted with lures into counterfeit systems of worship. Throughout the Old Testament, God’s merciful invitations to return to Him were repeatedly ignored by the majority, and the ten tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel were eventually destroyed by being totally dissolved into pagan nations.
In Israel, the sun god was often known as Baal. He was the consort of Ashtoreth, a goddess of fertility who played a role in the yearly “rebirth” of the sun god. Worship involved sexual rituals and infant sacrifices. This pagan worship included adoration of heavenly bodies in addition to the sun. The Babylonian name for Ashtoreth was Ishtar (this is the word from which “Easter” is derived). She was the goddess of love and war, and also the goddess of mothers and prostitutes. Her title, queen of heaven, was broadly recognized (see Jeremiah 7:18, 44:17-19, 25). One of the names for her lover was Tammuz. The practice of weeping for Tammuz (Ezekiel 8:14) led up to a riotous celebration of the resurrection of the sun god. Today, this period is called “lent” in the Catholic church, and the queen of heaven title is assigned to the virgin Mary. In recent decades, many Protestants have incorporated “lent” into their doctrines.
The celebration of Passover had its glorious, prophetic culmination in the resurrection of our Passover Lamb, the crucified Savior. From the beginning, the days of the week were known by number: the first through the seventh. God’s people came to refer to the sixth day as the Preparation, for at sundown would come the Sabbath, a time of rest and restoration with the Creator. The restorative value of Sabbath rest brings vitality for the new work week, the first day of which is Resurrection day (still called by that name in many languages). Jesus kept the Sabbath in His death and arose to His vital new role as our heavenly High Priest, to intercede on our behalf in the heavenly court. Our English names for the days of the week are patterned after pagan gods, and they begin and end at the darkest part of the night (midnight to midnight). God’s designation begins and ends each day at sundown. Much is revealed through these contrasts and is worthy of continued study. More words to remember regarding who is behind these contrasts: He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law… Daniel 7:25a