Robert Simpson's Posts (2)

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Caleb and Joshua - why?

The Lord has taken me back to review the story of the twelve spies surveying the land God was giving them. I'm sure you remember the salient details - the land was awesome, the spies came back, and 10/12 made up stories about the residents being Nephilim and recommend against going forward. Only Caleb and Joshua brought the true report and recommended going forward.

As I meditated on this message I had two immediate questions:

1. WHY? Why did God even send the scouts? Why didn't he do as he had done in other occasions and simply told his people to go, that he would be with them? Of course we won't know this answer until Glory, but I this it probably has something to do with trying to develop character and backbone. Dare I say it - Spiritual Maturity.

 

2. Why were 10 of 12 "leaders" liars? What would cause them to return, misrepresent the facts, knowing it would mean staying in the desert? This, I think, is a little easier to comprehend. I think it's the fear factor. Fear of the unknown. Fear of making changes. Fear of disrupting "routine". They quickly learned that, while fear is a proper motivation, it is so only  when we talk about fear of the Lord. I walk away from the story fearing God more - but endeavoring to fear NOTHING or NO One else. After all, If god is with me, why should I fear?

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As we approach another celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday, the  timing of the death of Christ always kind of bothered me.

 

Matthew 12:40 states:

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” 

 

Even a casual student of scripture then should [must?] contrast the statement in Matt 12:40 with our remembrance of “Good Friday”. How exactly would death on Friday afternoon, and resurrection on Sunday morning equate to 3 days – let alone 3 nights?

How did we come to commemorate Good Friday at all?

I believe Friday was arbitrarily selected at the day of crucifixion centuries ago by a church leader who, knowing the next day was the Sabbath, reasoned the death had to have been on a  Friday. WRONG.

Several years ago, I decided to research this in Scripture to see really what was said. What I found was amazing – and not surprisingly- completely accurate to both the 3  day/3 night timeline, and the recording of Christ’s last day on earth. [at least as a mortal] The link below explains this in great detail on a visual chart. To understand it, you should have at least a basic understanding of two things:

1.       Jewish Festivals as detailed in the Old Testament

2.      The Jewish Calendar

3.      The Jewish day

One last note. The real key to all of this is John 19:31. In it we learn Christ was crucified the day before a Special Sabbath – i.e. not the weekly Sabbath. Intrigued? Read on and enjoy.

 

www.tcompedge.com/resurrection.pdf

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