Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

One of my favorite pop groups is Chicago. I’ve enjoyed the music, mainly because of the brass. I love their use of horns. One of their hit songs was call “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” In it they ask the question, and then follow it with another question: “Does anybody really care about time?”

Time is an unusual commodity. You only have a finite amount of it each day. You cannot save time; you can only spend it. If you do not use it productively you can never get it back. Let’s take a closer look at time.

God invented time when He separated the light from the dark. God made evening and morning = 1 day.

The Jewish calendar was developed as a lunar-based method to track the length of a year, with either 12 or 13 months. Each month has either 29 or 30 days

They add an entire month every 2-3 years.

Julian calendar had 365 days per year, plus Leap Day every 4^th year in February.

Gregorian calendar, which is still used today, has 365 days per year. Every four years a Leap Day is added to February. However, even this has problems. Every 100 years they skip adding the Leap Day. Every 400 years they add the Leap Day.

Even this is not exactly accurate. The most accurate measure of time is the atomic clock. However, due to the earth’s rotation on its axis continually slowing, a Leap Second is now added periodically to keep “time” consistent. The last one was added on Tuesday, June 30, 2015.

Over the years I’ve noticed several important markers of our world has some unusual characteristics. For instance, the number Pi, which is the ratio of the circumference of a circle compared to its diameter. Both the circumference and diameter are finite numbers; measurable definitively. However, the resulting ratio is always the same number: 3.14159265359 … It is a non-repeating decimal. We call this an irrational number. It has no ending. You cannot measure it definitively.

Another anomaly is a mathematical constant called “e”. It is called the base of “natural logarithms. The value is approximately 2.71828 … It is also a non-repeating decimal, irrational, yet occurs naturally in our world.

What does this tell us about the world God created? It is not rational. It is beyond our ability to fully understand.

It was not until today that I considered time also being a non-absolute. God said evening and morning. We try calling it 24 hours. As close as we have come to quantifying it we still have to make adjustments, because every attempt to define God’s creation comes up short.

For most of us, knowing the current hour is sufficient. Any industry related to transportation has to keep things down to minutes. Perhaps NASA needs split-second accuracy to place a spacecraft on a planet millions of miles away that takes years to arrive at its destination. All I know is that God does not operate in time. He gave time to man so we could mark our lives. He knew we would need definitive parameters in which to live. We push the boundaries of our existence to the max but still cannot find a way to quantify God. I believe that is intentional.

The First Day of the Week

The First Day of the Week

Have you ever wondered why Christians have church on Sunday instead of “The Sabbath”, which is Saturday? What!?! You mean Sunday is not The Sabbath?

The Sabbath Day, as mentioned in The Law, was the seventh day of the week. It’s the day God “rested” from creation. It’s the day Moses was commanded to institute the rites of sacrificial worship. It was the day Israel was commanded to “rest”.

For the Christian, we celebrate on Sunday, the “first day” of the week. Why? I believe it is because it was the day of resurrection. Of all the days mentioned in scripture regarding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the day He rose is cemented by the many references. All four Gospels record the day of His resurrection.

There is much debate about the day Jesus was crucified. Most liturgical churches signify Friday as the day of crucifixion. However, some say Jesus died on Thursday, or even Wednesday. The debate hinges on the term “day of preparation” found in the Gospel accounts.

Matthew 27:62 (ESV) The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate

Mark 15:42 (ESV) And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

Luke 23:54 (ESV) It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.

John 19:14 (ESV) Now it was the day of Preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”

The other factor in the debate is the word “Sabbath.” This term was used, not only of the seventh day of the week, but also other “high holy” days in the Jewish calendar; one of those being The Feast of Unleavened Bread. There was a day of preparation where all of the leaven would be removed from the house. This was a pains-taking process that ensured that only unleavened bread would be used during the seven-day feast.

One other consideration was the way days were marked on the Jewish calendar. They considered the start of the day to be the evening. In Genesis you see this phrase repeated as the days of creation are described: “The evening and the morning was the [first] day.” It would be very easy to debate the day Jesus was crucified.

If you use the words of Jesus, the process becomes a little more obvious.

Matthew 12:40 (ESV) For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Using this as the measure, you can count backward from The First Day of the Week (Sunday). This introduces a new problem. Do you count the day of the crucifixion as well as the day of the resurrection? Or, do you insert a period of three days and nights between the two events?

For example, if Jesus rose on Sunday, do you count Sunday as one of the days? If so, then you would have to place the crucifixion on late Thursday. The three days and nights would then be Thursday night, Friday daytime, Friday night, Saturday daytime, Saturday night, and Sunday daytime. However, the women came to the tomb early and Jesus had already risen. Therefore Jesus would have only been in the grave three nights and two days.

If you consider the most popular time-line of the Friday crucifixion and Sunday resurrection, including both of these days in your count, you come up with three days and two nights.

If you include the day Jesus was crucified as one of the days, and exclude the day of resurrection, you would come out with the three days and nights: Thursday, Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday, and Saturday night. However, we know Jesus actually died late in the day because the Jewish leaders wanted Him off the cross before The Day of Preparation. Therefore, you’re still left with only two days and three nights.

You would actually have to back the date of the crucifixion to Wednesday in order for there to be enough days and nights to satisfy the “three days and three nights” model. In this case, Jesus would have died late Wednesday. Therefore, He was in the tomb Wednesday night, Thursday (The Day of Preparation), Thursday night, Friday (The Sabbath marking the beginning of The Feast of Unleavened Bread), Friday night, and Saturday. This time-lapse has Jesus being resurrected some time Saturday night in order for the tomb to be empty by Sunday (The First Day of the Week). This Wednesday-Saturday doctrine became popular in the 1700’s.

Here’s another thing to consider. Jesus said the resurrection would occur “on the third day.”

Matthew 20:18-19 (ESV) “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Using this to reduce the number of actual days in the tomb you are back to a late Thursday afternoon crucifixion. The count would then be Thursday night, Friday, Friday night, Saturday, Saturday night, with Sunday (the third day) being the resurrection.

I have one more curveball for you. If you consider the travail in the Garden of Gethsemane, the trials, and scourging, all which appears to have transpired the night and morning preceding the crucifixion, as part of the “nights in the heart of the earth you then have a Friday crucifixion with a Sunday resurrection.

Here’s the bottom line for me. If it mattered in terms of our eternal destiny it would have been more clearly stated in scripture. Not knowing exactly the day of the week Jesus died does not change the fact that He died, on a cross, to pay the debt of sin for mankind. He rose again on the third day, The First Day of the Week, Sunday. This is the reason the Christian church gathers on Sunday instead of Saturday, The Sabbath.

Acts 20:7 (ESV) On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Just as Christmas is not the actual date of Jesus’ birth, we still celebrate the miraculous manner by which He was born. The actual date of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection are not the important thing, it is that we continually remember what was done for us. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

The element of faith actually assumes there are some things that we do not understand with our human mind. It is what makes salvation attainable by all. Let us lay aside the things that keep us apart (the day of events) and focus on the reality that we can pass from death into life through Jesus Christ, the Spotless Lamb of God, that was crucified, buried, resurrected, ascended, and seated at the right hand of God, sent us the Holy Spirit and lives to make intercession for us. That, my friend, is a fact!

It Is Finished

It Is Finished

These words spoken by Jesus on the cross have inspired many songs, sermons, and stories about His crucifixion. I have spent many hours looking at these three little words to try and understand what Jesus meant when He spoke them just minutes before He died.

Some obvious conclusions:

1, His life was over.

I do not believe this to be the meaning. He knew He would rise from the dead. He had already spoken that to the disciples.

2. The price for sin has been paid.

This cannot be the meaning of the phrase. Jesus had not yet gone to heaven to place His blood on the real Mercy Seat in Heaven. That is when sin was remitted.

3. Salvation was provided for all.

One of the most important events to provide salvation was the resurrection. Until Jesus was resurrected, ascended to Heaven, and seated at the right hand of God, our salvation was not yet complete.

4. All prophecy had been fulfilled regarding the life of Jesus.

Again, all prophecy had not yet been fulfilled. Jesus rose on the third day.

5. Jesus had fulfilled the Law by living a sinless life.

This is true. However, I feel there is more to it than just fulfilling the Law.

6. Jesus had fulfilled all righteousness.

Romans 8:1-4 (ESV) There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

            This is also the reason Jesus was baptized by John.

Matthew 3:13-15 (ESV) Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented.

Everything Jesus did in his life on earth was done to fulfill righteousness. If He was not righteous, He could not have served as the eternal sacrifice to provide for forgiveness of sin.

The meaning of the phrase is subjective since we were never told explicitly what Jesus meant. However, there are some clues that help us understand potentially what was meant.  The Greek word used for “finished” in the phrase uttered by Jesus on the cross only appears two times in scripture. The other time is in the previous verse in John.

John 19:28-30 (ESV) After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John tells us that Jesus knew all was finished (same word used here as in verse 30). He then asked for something to drink in order to fulfill a prophetic word. If “It Is Finished” was in regard to fulfillment of prophecy He would not have spoken the first “finished” before the prophetic word was fulfilled.

Everything we have recorded of Jesus’ life tells us He was on mission. From the early years, the trip to Jerusalem, He told Mary and Joseph that “He must be about His Father’s business.” His baptism by John was “to fulfill righteousness.” This was the first primary objective of His life, and the only one for which Jesus was directly responsible.

Once His death was accomplished, the next step would be that of Father God, to raise Him from the dead. More things would be accomplished after the resurrection, but “It Is Finished” ended thirty-three years of a man, Jesus, living a life totally surrendered to God, empowered by the Holy Spirit. He fulfilled His mission of preserving His flesh, and blood, from ever experiencing sin, and thus became the spotless Lamb offered for the forgiveness of the sin of mankind.

The Names of God

The blog series on The Names of God has been published as a collection and is available on Kindle. Click Here to check it out.

The paperback is also available at CreateSpace.com. Click Here to check it out.
It will soon be available on Amazon.com as well.

I hope you enjoy reading it. It can be a valuable tool in your study of the Bible.

The Intersection of The Law and Grace

The Intersection of The Law and Grace

I’ve been spending the past few days looking at Grace and The Law. Some very interesting things have turned up as I’ve searched through the various passages that mention these topics by name. However, I’ve come across another topic of interest that is at the very crossroads of these two gifts from God.

I plan to spend more time on this later, but I have come to believe that the Mercy Seat is the very place where our salvation was provided. If you remember, the Mercy Seat that was atop The Ark of the Covenant in the Moses’ tabernacle is where God’s presence was found on earth. He met with the High Priest once a year when the priest brought the blood of the lamb to atone for the sins of the people.

If you read Hebrews you find out that the plans for the tabernacle given to Moses by God were taken from the dimensions of the real tabernacle in Heaven. This is where Jesus took His own blood, the blood of The Spotless Lamb, the Son of God, and placed it there as an eternal sacrifice to not just cover sin, but remove it from us forever.

It is at the Mercy Seat where God’s Justice that demanded death for violation of The Law came in contact with God’s Grace, His desire to redeem man and restore their relationship lost in the Garden; God the Father in agreement with God the Son, in the middle of God’s Presence, the Holy Spirit. The Triune God had completed His plan of redemption.

Once we are In Christ we live our life from that place, the Mercy Seat, immersed in the presence of God forever.

More On The Law

More On The Law

I read, with interest, a quote regarding law from a very unlikely source; Bob Dylan. He said, “If you choose to live outside the law, you must follow the law more stringently than anyone else.” In this particular case he was speaking of civil law, and he’s absolutely correct.

An example of this is someone who decides to drive after having a few drinks, or smoking some pot. They follow the laws of the road strictly by driving below the speed limit, coming to a complete stop at stop signs, and so forth. The reason is they do not want to get caught violating the one law they chose to disregard: driving under the influence.

This process is flawed from the beginning. Because of their impaired state they cannot successfully adhere to the remaining laws even though they try very hard. There is a similar thing that occurs with someone trying to obey The Law of Moses.

If a person chooses to try to obtain their righteousness by keeping The Law, we already know from scripture that they will fail. However, people still try and fall victim to becoming the judge of others in the process. If you attempt to keep The Law by your own power and realize that you missed it in a particular area, you become aware of everyone else that fails in the same area. Not only do you notice it, you become very critical of them by pointing out their sin to others, and possibly even to them directly.

This is one of the reasons the scribes and Pharisees were such vicious people. They knew in their hearts they were living beneath God’s standards, but they attacked anyone who outwardly violated The Law. This is a defense mechanism. If you can deflect the attention away from yourself no one will pay attention to your shortcomings.

This is why they despised Jesus. He always saw through their smoke screen of accusation and spoke directly to the sin in their own heart.

What are we to do? First of all we must admit that we are not capable of keeping The Law. When we acknowledge it in ourselves we can then accept the reality that no one else can keep it either. Then we must accept, by faith, the salvation provided for us by grace through Christ. At that point we become ambassadors to share this Good News with others.

Let us lay aside a critical spirit and embrace those we meet today with the love of God that has come to us through Jesus. Let’s be redemptive in our approach to relationships so others can experience a restored relationship with Father.