The New Under Ground Church-THE TRUTH MUST BE TOLD

Thursday, November 13, 2014

The Christmas Story - "Love Came" - A Prayer Meditation

Published on Nov 10, 2014

http://www.prayerscapes.com present "Love Came", a contemporary meditation on the Christmas story. The film explores the significance of the coming of Christ for life now. Featuring the original paintings of Julie Palmer, which illustrate the story and lyrics.

Here is the prayer poem in the video:-

Love came, held safely within a gentle womb
All the truth, majesty, and creativity of a living God
Poured into a tiny heart
Making a quiet entrance in a dark and uninviting shack
Just one star shone anew as a handful of people were brought
Led by angelic voices, and open hearts
A young mother
A faith-filled father
Men of wisdom who searched for truth
And a group of humble herdsmen
They came to bow before a new life
And acknowledge that the rescuer had arrived
That the Word of God had come alive
And that the extraordinary transformation of heaven and earth
Had begun

(Poem by Julie Palmer, c. 2011)

Category
- Music
License
- Standard YouTube License

Tempted In Every Way

Posted on November 13, 2014 by nhiemstra

Yesterday, I ended the message as a downer for those of you who refuse to accept the offer Yahweh has given you. However, for those who joyfully embrace the reality of Yeshua, the author of Hebrews describes Him for us:

We need to hold on to our declaration of faith: We have a superior chief priest who has gone through the heavens. That person is Yeshua, the Son of God. We have a chief priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses. He was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn’t sin (Hebrews 4:14-15)

All of us know that our God is spirit. An entity we can never even begin to fathom. In the Scriptures, He has “appeared” as a burning bush, as a disembodied voice, as brilliant jewels. John saw Him and wrote:

“Instantly, I came under the Spirit’s power. I saw a throne in heaven, and someone was sitting on it. The one sitting there looked like gray quartz and red quartz. There was a rainbow around the throne which looked like an emerald.
Around that throne were 24 other thrones, and on these thrones sat 24 leaders wearing white clothes. They had gold crowns on their heads. Lightning, noise, and thunder came from the throne. Seven flaming torches were burning in front of the throne. These are the seven spirits of God.
In front of the throne, there was something like a sea of glass as clear as crystal. In the center near the throne and around the throne were four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like a young bull, the third had a face like a human, and the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and were covered with eyes, inside and out. Without stopping day or night they were singing,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, who is, and who is coming.” (Revelation 4:2-8)

Go ahead and try to imagine that! Even Daniel tried to described Him:

“I watched until thrones were set up
    and the Ancient One, who has lived for endless years, sat down.
        His clothes were as white as snow
            and the hair on his head was like pure wool.
        His throne was fiery flames,
            and its wheels were burning fire.
¹⁰A river of fire flowed.
    It came from him.
        Thousands and thousands served him.
        Ten thousand times ten thousand were stationed in front of him.
    The court convened,
    and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9-10)

Yes, these are amazing descriptions, but they are way beyond our understanding. What we have here is a God Who is far beyond what our minute minds can grasp. How do we begin a relationship Him? He is so far beyond us, and we are so small. But this very God, who had originally designed His man, as the Psalmist says, “a little lower than yourself” (Psalm 8:5) understands our limitations that are a result of our sin and rebellion.
So, to resolve our separation from Him, He became a man, with all our limitations, the God-man, Yeshua, Jesus. And He continues to exist as this God-man, as one who can fully relate to me. He has been through life as I am living it and is now sitting glorified in heaven as one day I will also be glorified because of Him.
A. W. Tozer wrote:

Now, at this very moment, there is a Man in heaven appearing in the presence of God for us. He is as certainly a man as was Adam or Moses or Paul. He is a man glorified, but His glorification did not dehumanize Him. Today He is a real man, of the race of mankind, bearing our lineaments and dimensions, a visible and audible man whom any other man would recognize instantly as one of us” (The Warfare of the Spirit)

The fact that Yahweh, my blessed Father, would love me enough to not only die for me, but to become what I am, to bridge the gap with His own nature, is amazing. He experienced life as I have experienced it with all the temptations, pains, and tribulations. He was hungry, tired, stressed, and betrayed. He has experienced it all and fully understands what I am going through now. Not only that, but having experienced what I have experienced, He was able to persevere through it without sin, providing me with a role model. When He was persecuted, He forgave. When He was alone, He looked to the needs of others. When He was tired, He secluded Himself in prayer. His life alone is all that I need to learn how to live to please our Father. He is indeed my High Priest, my Friend, my brother, and my Savior.

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The Robe of Jesus the High Priest

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The Robe of Jesus the High Priest

By Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg and Peter Shirokov

13 … I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash.

The description of the Son of Man’s clothing is consistent with his priestly duties (though different from the Aaronic priesthood). A robe reaching to the feet and a sash were both prescribed for priests in the Mosaic tabernacle (Ex.28). In addition we read in Lev. 16:3-4:

“Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments)."

To read this article on Jewish Studies for Christians site, click HERE (recommended).

In Revelation1:13 we read about a robe reaching to the feet and a sash, but we do not read about a white turban. We do, however, read in vs.14 that his head (and then separately his hair) is described in terms of white wool. There is some similarity to the high priest’s attire for the Day of Atonement during which, unlike his daily clothing, the High Priest’s clothing was all white. In a much later rabbinic discussion on the function of priestly vestments we read in the Babylonian Talmud, Zevachim 88b:

“R. ‘Inyani b. Sason also said: Why are the sections on sacrifices and the priestly vestments close together? To teach you: as sacrifices make atonement, so do the priestly vestments make atonement. The coat atones for bloodshed… The breeches atoned for lewdness… The mitre made atonement for arrogance. The girdle atoned for [impure] meditations of the heart… The breastplate atoned for [neglect of] civil laws… The ephod atoned for idolatry… The robe atoned for slander… the head plate atoned for brazenness…”

This reference cannot be taken as background information since it was written much later, yet it shows general interpretive trajectories (as with almost everything in the Talmud) that may be traceable to the time of Jesus and before. So at least one thing is clear; Jesus’ heavenly garments are intentional, they are in fact highly symbolic – they show that Jesus is the heavenly priest, fully prepared and qualified to carry out his duties.

Other symbolism that comes to mind is the image of Jesus as the Word of God. In Jewish worship, biblical scrolls are adorned and literally dressed. In the Synagogue, scrolls are usually kept in a mantle which is an outer cover to preserve them from the elements. In more recent days, scrolls were outfitted with crowns and finials, called rimmonim (pomegranates). Just as priests wore breastplates, so the torah scrolls also have breastplates. Both the crown and the breastplate are typically made from precious or semi-precious metals and under the covering, the scrolls even have a belt-like sash that prevents the scroll from unrolling when folded.

There is no reason to expect an exact correlation between the priestly vestments in the Mosaic Tabernacle and those of Jesus. Jesus’ priesthood is decisively of a different order (the order of Melchizedek and not the order of Aaron). Relative correlation can, however, be established and it shows the general idea of Jesus as the heavenly priest.

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Yours,

Dr. Eli Lizorkin-Eyzenberg
Jewish Studies Department, Dean of the faculty
eTeacherBiblical, Israeli Academy of Linguistics and History

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