YAHSHUA – Page 2 – Light from the Word

Mount Moriah, A Holy Site

“After these events, God tested and proved Abraham and said to him, Abraham! And he said, Here I am. [God] said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the region of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you…On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance, and he said to his servants, Settle down and stay here with the donkey, and I and he young man will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and laid it on [the shoulders of] Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his own hand and a knife; and the two of them went on together. And Isaac said to Abraham, My father! And said, See here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, My son, God Himself will provide a lamb for the burnt offering. So, the two went on together.” (Gen. 22:1-2,4-8)

Let’s assume that it was almost dawn when Abraham arrived at the place God ordained him to go. Before him, everything stood clearly. It was as if Abraham was living in the future although, he did not perceive the spiritual meaning of what he was seeing. The place, yes, the place, most definitively was where Adam and Eve stood before the Lord listening to their fate as a consequence of their rebellion against Him, but again, that place was also where God promised them a Redeemer. Many years later, Abraham stood in that place, as he called, “The Lord will provide” with certainty of those words. These were prophetic words the Lord was speaking through Abraham, confirming His promise to Adam many years past. Now, Isaac needed to hear them. His life was at the point of being sacrificed in that mount called, the Mount of the Lord. Even though tied to the altar, Isaac still believed the words, “The Lord will provide a lamb for the sacrifice” on this mount. Abraham and Isaac could only understand what was happening in their tangible way, but not in the spiritual realm. They could not perceive that in that place, God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit were standing alongside with them, agreeing that was to be the place His Son was to be sacrificed. Redemption was going to take place where our parents sinned, for it needed washing with the redemptive blood of the Lamb of God; the only blood free from stains of sin; the only blood with the washing power. In fact, in the course of God’s timing, His Son came and was crucified in that place for all to see. And like Abraham and Isaac, people of that time, saw many things that were happening, but they did not perceive their meaning; they did not perceive the anguish of God’s Son in His cry, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? was their cry in hell, because they had rejected the Son of God; they did not know that YAHSHUA was suffering their pain of hell, where the presence of God was completely void. No, they did not, instead, they offered Him vinegar to drink to ease His pain. They did not perceive that the earthquake they felt was the earth responding to the touch of YAHSHUA’S blood when it was shed upon it; that Nature trembled at the touch of the Creator’s blood. Yes, nature did, but men did not.

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Come My People, Hide Yourselves For a Little While

There is a storm brewing out in the entire world, rapidly getting stronger and stronger. It has become visible to many of us who are spiritually awake, while others continue asleep in their comfortable life-style without realizing it, for they have no knowledge neither understanding nor perception of the coming judgment, as the Bible says, For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also will disclose the blood shed upon her and will no longer cover her slain and conceal her guilt (Isa.26:21). But in the midst of God’s judgment, there is hope for His people- those who revere and honor Him. It is called “The blessed hope.” We are awaiting and looking for the blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Messiah YAHSHUA, Who gave Himself on our behalf, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people eager and enthusiastic about beneficial deeds. (Titus 2:13). When the Lord comes out of His place to apply judgment on the earth, will He spare His people? Or will He gather them with the wicked to destroy them? No, that is inconsistent with His nature; with the way He acted in the past judgment when He saved the few righteous people, who lived among the wicked ones. In the case of righteous Noah, He provided an arch to save Him from the universal flood; in the case of Lot, God sent His angel to pull him out of the city before destruction. Israel was taken out of Egypt before the last judgment fell on the land. Egypt’s army was destroyed and left under the Red Sea, when it closed on them.

The world’s iniquities are multiplying with the time approaching its judgment. The worse it gets, the closer and certain it is for God’s judgment to fall on it. This is a sign God’s people must not ignore; He calls each of us to be set apart in times as this. One cannot hear His voice when involved in the world’s chaos. Come alone to meet Him, that’s the call He makes in Song of Songs chapter 2: Rise up, my love, My fair one, and come away; for, behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land; the fig tree puts forth and ripens her green figs, and the vines are in blossom and give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one and come away (S.S 2:10-13). At the sign of iniquities’ maturity, it will be the time to get away from it all and be at the presence of the Lord in order to hear His voice more clearly. “The time of the singing has come.” The invitation is for all those who love the Lord. It is in His presence that we will be hidden from His wrath. He calls us now to be in His presence to receive His instructions for this end-time. That’s the only way to escape it all; knowledge, discernment and understanding of His word will carry us out of the coming storm.

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Friends Who Would Not Give Up

The word friendship is a warm word, connecting the world together in a bond of peace, for it overlooks an offense and forgives it. The blessing that a friend brings is noticeable in times of one’s trials. Solomon said, “A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity” (Prov. 17:17). This is a good definition of friendship. The harmony existent in friendship makes one secure and confident in one another. The foundation of the love existent in friendship comes from the unselfish heart; a heart that knows how to deny self to reach out to a friend no matter what the circumstance. David and Jonathan were good examples of good friends. We see it when Jonathan risked his own life to save David’s in time when his father wanted to kill him. He had no jealousy toward him knowing that David was to be the future king after his father’s death and not he. Even in its imperfection, friendship offers much good to those who have friends. In the report of Luke 5:18-10, there is a perfect example of friends helping their paralyzed friend to get to YAHSHUA for healing. Guided by faith, they lifted their friend up on the roof and lowered him through the tiles in front of YAHSHUA. This was an amazing act of courage compelled by compassion. Those men overlooked the possible danger ahead of them and the damage they were causing to someone’s roof, if that was the case. Faith took them to the Healer even if they had to break through a roof. The Bible tells us that when they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him with his stretcher through the tiles into the midst, in front of YAHSHUA (Luke 5:18-19).

When YAHSHUA saw their faith, He said, Man, your sins are forgiven you (Luke 5:20). YAHSHUA saw beyond the physical condition of this man. He saw the root cause of his problem. For him to receive his physical healing, his spiritual condition, had to be dealt with first. So, it was that this man left the place spiritually and physically healed at the words of YAHSHUA, “I say to you, arise, pick up your stretcher and go to your own house. instantly [the man] stood up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went away to the house, recognizing and praising and thanking God” (Luke 5: 24-25). That was the day of his freedom, not only physical, but spiritual; a day of celebration in recognition and acknowledgment of the Son of God by all who witnessed the miracle. as we read, “And overwhelming astonishment and ecstasy seized them all, and they recognized and praised and tanked God and they were filled with and controlled by reverential fear and kept saying, We have seen wonderful and strange and incredible and unthinkable things today!” (Luke 5:26) The healing of that paralyzed man caused great awakening in the lives of all those present. The deed of friends toward one friend, resulted in more than his physical healing; it resulted also in the awakening of the crowd of Whom YAHSHUA was: the Messiah, the Son of God, Who was to come. As a result, a short- lived revival happened that day in the hearts of the people, although years later, the same crowd cried, Crucify Him, crucify Him!

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At the Right Place at the Right Time

A Samaritan woman had no idea that her day would finish the way it did, as she went as usual doing her task for that day. It was about noon when she had the most important encounter, which changed her life for eternity. A woman with a spiritual need, seeking and searching the truth about spiritual things, the Samaritan woman was thirsty for the water that would satisfy her eternally. She knew enough about the Law to understand some aspect of it and follow it to some extent, but not in its entirety, for she was bathed in idolatry mingled with the Law’s tradition. YAHSHUA met her at the heat of the day, when she came to fetch water, while He sat down to rest by the well. The Bible says that “It was necessary for Him to go through Samaria” on His way to Galilea from Judea. God’s plan for the Gentiles was being fulfilled in that ordinary day. It started with YAHSHUA asking her for a drink. The Samaritan woman presented Him a question which defined the separation between Jews and Samaritans, since the Jews had nothing to do with them. She asked, “How is it that You being a Jew ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink?” The Samaritans were people of low class to the Jews due to their background origin.

The Samaritans occupied the country formerly belonging to the tribe of Ephraim and the half-tribe of Manasseh. The capital of the country was Samaria, formerly a large and splendid city. When the ten tribes were carried away into captivity to Assyria, the king of Assyria sent people from Cutha, Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim to inhabit Samaria (2 Kings 17:24; Ezra 4:2-11). These foreigners intermarried with the Israelite population that was still in and around Samaria. These “Samaritans” at first worshiped the idols of their own nations, but being troubled with lions, they supposed it was because they had not honored the God of that territory. A Jewish priest was therefore sent to them from Assyria to instruct them in the Jewish religion. They were instructed from the books of Moses, but still retained many of their idolatrous customs. The Samaritans embraced a religion that was a mixture of Judaism and idolatry (2 Kings 17:26-28). Because the Israelite inhabitants of Samaria had intermarried with the foreigners and adopted their idolatrous religion, Samaritans were universally despised by the Jews.” (GotQuestions.org)

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Until the Full Number of Ingathering of Gentiles Has Come In

Abraham, a friend of God, was chosen for a sublime purpose denied to the rest of humankind. From the beginning of his life, Abraham was a man that walked with God. No, he was not an idolatrous as his family was according to history. In fact, “Abraham lived in Noah’s house thirty-nine years, and he knew the Lord from three years old; he went in the ways of the Lord until the day of his death” (Ancient book of Jasher, pg.20). From the time that our forefathers sinned, God had a plan to redeem the human race through His Son. The nation of Israel was born for this purpose and Abram’s offspring was the one chosen to bring the Holy Seed into the world. When God redeemed Jacob’s sons from the land of Egypt, and took them through the wilderness for forty years, when the journey would have been of just days, His purpose for them was to form a nation after His heart. Since the sons of Jacob were deeply intrenched in idolatry for having lived in that country for over four hundred years, they had forgotten the God of their father Abraham. Now, the Lord God was taking away the gods of Egypt from their hearts, by instructing them through the Law. In the third month after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, the same day, they came into the Wilderness of Sinai (Exodus 19). It was in that wilderness that the Lord covenanted with them, saying: I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (1) You shall not make yourself any graven image (2) you shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them (3) you shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain (4) earnestly remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (5) regard your father and mother, that your day may be long in the land the Lord your God gives you (6) you shall not commit murder (7) you shall not commit adultery (8) you shall not steal (9) you shall not witness falsely against your neighbor (10) you shall not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s (Exo. 20:1-17).

Israel was created and formed by the Lord God to be a light to the Gentile pagan nations. Israel was to shine God’s purpose of redemption to a Gentile world corrupt and confused with many gods. Israel was to be for God a kingdom of priests and a holy nation; these were the words Moses was to tell them (Exo. 19:6). A beautiful plan, which included God’s plan of salvation by sending His own Son to the world through the nation of Israel. God’s covenant with Abraham was solidified in YAHSHUA’S coming, death and resurrection. Abraham became the father of many nations: As it Is written, I have made you the father of many nations in the sight of God in Whom he believed. Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the non-existent things that as if they existed (Rom. 4:17) “And in your Seed (YAHSHUA) shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice (Gen. 22:18). Abraham, God’s friend, so God called him, has no equal to him in his supreme calling. His name is on the list of heroes of the faith, defining him of strong faith, a vessel in God’s hand to fulfill His promise of a Redeemer (Heb. 11:8-11). Although, Abraham’s descendants were far from being that which God intended for them, he, was a righteous man, worthy of the calling for his faith sustained his belief in God’s promise through the covenant in Genesis 22. God honored his faith and reassured Isaac of His promise in His covenant to Abraham saying, I am the God of your father Abraham; do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you and make your offspring numerous for my servant Abraham’s sake (Ge. 26:24).

But when YAHSHUA came to fulfill His promise to Abraham’s descendants, there was no place for Him in their hearts. He was rejected, and handled to the Gentile nation of Rome to be scourged and suffer the death of crucifixion according to their merciless ways. However, that’s when the Gentile nations were engrafted in God’s plan of salvation, mentioned as the mystery Paul referred to. In the space of time, as it was prophesized by Daniel 9:24-27, seventy weeks of years, or 490 years, were decreed upon Israel and upon the holy city to finish and put an end to transgression, to seal up and make full the measure of sin, to purge away and make expiation and reconciliation for sin, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and prophet and to anoint a Holy of Holies in which the coming and death of their Messiah happened. Israel’s last week of years is yet to take place, when the time will come for God to deal with the nation by judgment through a period of tribulation of seven years, bringing them to repentance and their restoration, according to Zechariah 13:8-9: And in that land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, but one-third shall be left alive; and I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will hear and answer them, I will say, It is My people; and they will say, The Lord is my God.

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YAHSHUA Torn Down Wall of Religions to Convey Compassion Toward Sinners

The spirit of religion permeates far and widely everywhere there is man. Self-righteousness is the down fall of their faith, for their critical attitudes. There is no mercy in their ways of judgment when they speak against those of different ways of believing. YAHSHUA condemned such people with a parable He told His disciples about two men who went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: “God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men, swindlers, adulteress- or even like this tax collector here… but the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, , be favorable to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am! I tell you, this man went down to his home justified, rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:10-14). Religion is a wall that separates and destroys the faith of many. It is in another word, tradition. It establishes the do’s and don’ts not found in the word of God, as if in the time of the Law. Christians go as far as only to consider one translation of the Bible to be right, not knowing the true background history of that version. Tradition is good in some ways, when it comes to family’s customs. It connects us to our long- gone forefathers, keeping alive the family tradition, that which made them unique. The spirit of religion is the spirit of self-righteousness. There is great difference between the true religion and that of self-righteousness. The true religion is shown through action of love; it does not judge ones weak in the faith, it does not elevate self, but submit to the authority of YAHSHUA, Who is the source of man’s righteousness. “True religion is that pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world” (James 1:27). It is nothing to do with the outlook and pretension to be that which we are not.

Paul said, “As for the man who is a weak believer, welcome him; but not to criticize his opinions or pass judgment on his scruples or perplex him with discussions. Who are you to pass judgment on and censure another’s household servant? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he shall stand and be upheld, for the Master is mighty to support him and make him stand. Why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you look down upon or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. And so, each of us shall give an account of himself to God.” (Rom. 14:1,4,10). Standing in one’s idea to be the only right one, independent from what the Word of God teaches, is certainly a spirit of religion, a man- made belief. YAHSHUA fought the religious Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes of His days on earth. He was strong in His definitions of whom they were- hypocrites, double-minded people, hiding their own identity by their self-righteousness, performing deeds of appearance of good, when their inner was full of foul smells. One certain day when scribes and Pharisees came to YAHSHUA complaining about His disciples for not washing their hands before eating. He then replied to them saying, “And why also do you transgress and violate the commandment of God for the sake of the rules handed down to you by your forefathers?… So, for the sake of your tradition, you have set aside the Word of God… You pretenders! Admirable and truly did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, “These people draw near Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far away from Me. Uselessly do they worship Me, for they teach as doctrines the commands of men” (Matt.15:3-30). With these words, YAHSHUA shone the bright light of truth, exposing whom they were. These blind guides were the authorities of the people in those days, leading the people to destruction. YAHSHUA uttered a series of woes to those religious authorities, condemning them to eternity.

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Mountains with Past History and A Future

Mount Horeb, the mount of God. The Mount where God covenanted with Israel in the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land. In a terrifying and powerful manner of His holiness, God came down to the mount of Horeb or Mount Sinai. When He touched it, Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke and it quaked greatly (Ex. 19:18). The holiness of God shocked the earth, for it could not stand before His presence. Even Moses, who talked to Him face to face, was afraid of it. The seriousness of that event should have made a difference in the lives of the people of Israel as long as they lived. Reminding the people of their background history, the Lord God said to them, I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before or besides Me (Ex. 20:1). Enslaved for over four hundred years, the sons of Jacob had forgotten His God. They had followed instead, the gods of Egypt. For this reason, God came down in an expression so strong as to show them Him to be the only true God, holy and powerful. He came to break the chains of idolatry from their hearts. This was a firm and serious declaration, causing Israel to realize Who He was in the fullness and power of His holiness. God came down to covenant with them, calling them to holiness in the conditions of the covenant clearly and well expressed.

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By This I Know That You Are a Man of God

Actions speak louder than words. Do what I do; do not do what I say. If I tell you, I am a born-again Christian, but my actions deny the very essence of my faith, I am a hypocrite, and the Holy Spirit is not abiding in me. Look at what YAHSHUA called the Pharisees of His day. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, pretenders! You blind guides, you are like tombs that have been white-washed, which look beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything impure; blind fools! These are just a few definitions extracted from Matthew chapter 23 where we find a host of definitions our Lord uttered against the Pharisees. This religious sect is alive and well in our churches today. Hypocrisy is evident in the life style one chooses to have. Some are performing miracles in the name of the prosperity gospel; they prophesize falsely to acquire fame. The gospel they preach is not the gospel from the Bible. However, time will confirm who they are. Woe are they, for condemnation has been pronounced by our Lord, YAHSHUA. “I never knew you; depart from Me.” He told the crowd, “Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name? And then I will say to them openly, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who act wickedly” (Matt. 7:22-23). YAHSHUA gives us a picture of someone active in the church. Their activities are those of prophesying, performing miracles, casting out demons. These are well received as from God. They performed these, but did not have a relationship with God. Their lives were instruments for their own gain. They own mansions, airplanes, fancy and expensive cars in the name of miracles, but their insides are filled with hypocrisies and love of money. A god they love more than the true God they presumably serve.

YAHSHUA entered the synagogue in Nazareth, where He had been brought up, as was His custom on the Sabbath day and He stood up to read…He opened the scroll and read Isaiah 61:1-2). He stood as the One Who had come to fulfill the Law and the prophets. He stood as a messenger of the word of God. He said to the people, Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled while you are present and hearing. But the people wondered about Him, saying, Is not this Joseph’s Son? That’s all they thought of Him. For this reason, they rejected His message in disbelief. YAHSHUA then responded, saying, “I say to you, no prophet is acceptable and welcome in his [own] town. But in truth I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed up for three years and six months, so that there came a great famine over all the land; and yet Elijah was not sent to a single one of them, but only to Zarephath in the country of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow” (Luke 4: 16-26). Here, we have the reason why Elijah was not sent to a widow in Israel. It was because of their unbelief. Naturally, they would have not believed him. Miracles happen when faith is present. God’s plan to save Elijah, rewarded the widow from Sidon, because she believed Elijah to be a man of God, sent to her by God. Before Elijah performed the miracle of bringing her son to life, she did everything Elijah told her to do, even giving him her last substance. That was faith in action, for she did not know for sure, but believed the words of Elijah, “Fear not, go and do as you said. But make me a little cake of first and bring it to me, and after ward prepare some for yourself and your son, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: The jar of meal shall not waste away or the bottle of oil fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth. She did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days” (I Kings 17:13-15). Her first step of faith opened heaven to bless her as Elijah, the man of God was blessed. In the death and resurrection of her son, she saw the glory of God shinning through His servant, Elijah, who faithfully served Him. It was no small thing to her when Elijah brought her son to life. As a widow, she needed her son to provide for her and was depended on him for everything else. He was to her strength and security for her future. The Lord God honored her faith and blessed her for it. YAHSHUA mentioned her to the crowd, who lacked faith in Him. He stood in the synagogue of Nazareth as the Son of God in all the miracles He performed before the eyes of all people. Yet, He was not believed to be the Messiah that was to come by His own, especially those of His town called Nazareth. In contrast, the prophet Elijah performed only one miracle, and that was sufficient for that widow to believe him to be a man of God: “By this I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.” This was her confession (I Kings 17:24).

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Where Everything Is Visible, There Is Light

God created two great lights to brighten the earth; one for the day, the other for the night. Light is this case, gives life, warmth, and good health. The world very much depends on this great light, called the sun. It thrives on its warmth as its beams reach far and widely day after day, and without It, vegetation, as our food source, would not survive, and without its warmth our body would not function; our soul would fall into depression. “From promoting the growth of plants and crops to keeping people warm, sunlight is essential for life. In addition, many people enjoy the feeling of sunlight, and there is increasing evidence to support its many health benefits.” All lives depend on the light of the sun. Places where the sun is limited, people are prone to cancer of various types. So, the sun is life sustainer. Its light rises up lowly in the dark of the day, announcing its arrival with its rays dispersing the dark of the night, bringing in the dawn, the beginning of a new day. Everything becomes visible at its light and fear disappears. This is the Lord God displaying His faithfulness day after day. The Bible says, Of the heavens has God made a tent for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and it rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its going is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the ends of it; and nothing is hidden from the heat of it (Ps. 19). While the sun makes its round, the earth rests; we close our eyes as in a sleep till the sun wakes us up with its light, calling us to our duty. Our earthly life functions around the sun’s schedule.

As our physical life depends on the light and warmth of the sun, so does our spiritual life. YAHSHUA is the sun of the earth; He is Light, exposing the darkness in us and in the world. He said, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the Light which is life; you will have the Light only a little while longer. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness may not overtake and overcome you. He who walks about in the dark does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may become sons of the Light and be filled with Light.” (John 8:11; 12:34-36a). “In Him was Life and the Life was the Light of men; and the Light shines on in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it. There was – the true Light coming into the world that illumines every person.” (John 1:4-5). His presence in us shines truth, guiding us in the way we must go, keeping us from stumbling and falling.

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A Wedding and One Hundred- Eighty Gallons of Wine

The first wedding ceremony was performed by God Himself in a beautiful garden, called the Garden of Eden. Since Adam was created before Eve, there was not found a helper meet for him fit to be his wife. God however, performed an astounding act to make this happen. He caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs or a part of his side and closed up the flesh. And the rib or part of his side which the Lord God had taken from the man, He built up and made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. Then Adam said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a man. (Gen. 2:21-23). Adam’s rib constituted a covenant that united the two to be one. They were one in the flesh, one in body in God’s plans for them. The beauty of this union is very significant for today’s confusing life style, for God didn’t create two women, or two men to unite them as husbands and wives, but one male and one female in order to procreate and fill the earth. Constituted by God, the first wedding was sealed by Him, saying, therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh (Gen. 2:24). Adam woke up from surgery pleasantly surprised seeing what God had brought him out of his own body. He then called her Woman, for she was taken from him. She was created for him to be a help mate. Life was complete for Adam. In perfect harmony Adam and Eve lived happily in that beautiful garden, until sin entered into their souls. And their lives became what we experience today.

In the New Testament, John chapter 2, the story is told that YAHSHUA was invited to a wedding, perhaps his mother’s family. The incarnated God, Who performed the first wedding in a garden, was now performing His first sign at the beginning of His ministry by participating in the celebration of the wedding, when providing a new wine at the end of the old one, – an ample supply of one hundred eighty gallons! (John 2:6) It was not just a wine as usual at a wedding celebration; It was a wine that symbolized the new covenant- the covenant of blood, which was to be made reality at the shedding of His blood for our redemption. It was the new covenant when Jews and gentiles would be as one in the sight of God, in His purpose of their salvation. As the bridegroom of His church, YAHSHUA was going to pay for His bride’s redemption with His own blood. But it is necessary for His bride to be a willing bride, as it was in the case of Rebecca, who was willing to leave family behind to be Isaac’s bride. YAHSHUA became the bridegroom of whosoever will accept His gift of redemption. When the time comes, He will come back to fetch His sanctified bride as she is now being sanctified by the Holy Spirit; She will be presented to Him blameless and holy. Indwelt by the Holy Spirit, He constitutes the guarantee of her salvation. As a ring guarantees the bride of her bridegroom’s commitment to her, so, the Holy Spirit seals us with the engagement ring guaranteeing our salvation. Revelation registers the future wedding of YAHSHUA with His bride by saying, Let us rejoice and shout for joy; let us celebrate and ascribe to Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has prepared herself. She has been permitted to dress in fine linen, dazzling and white- for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. That was the result of the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctification. Now glorified, the bride of Christ became as He is in holiness (Rev. 19:7-8).

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