A SONG OF PRAISE

Psalm 33

 Poetic praise, by King David

1 It’s time to sing and shout for joy!

Go ahead, all you redeemed ones, do it!

Praise him with all you have,

for praise looks lovely on the lips of God’s lovers.

2 Play the guitar as you lift your praises loaded with thanksgiving.

Sing and make joyous music with all you’ve got inside.

3 Compose new melodies[b] that release new praises to the Lord.

Play his praises on instruments

with the anointing and skill he gives you.

Sing and shout with passion; make a spectacular sound of joy—

4 For God’s Word is something to sing about!

He is true to his promises, his word can be trusted,

and everything he does is reliable and right.

5 The Lord loves seeing justice on the earth.

Anywhere and everywhere you can find his faithful, unfailing love!

6 All he had to do was speak by his Spirit-wind command,

and God created the heavenlies.

Filled with galaxies and stars,

the vast cosmos he wonderfully made.

7 His voice scooped out the seas.

The ocean depths he poured into vast reservoirs.

8 Now, with breathtaking wonder,

let everyone worship Yahweh, this awe-inspiring Creator.

9 Words he breathed and worlds were birthed.

“Let there be,” and there it was—

Springing forth the moment he spoke.

No sooner said than done!

10 With his breath he scatters the schemes of nations who oppose him;

they will never succeed.

11 His destiny-plan for the earth stands sure.

His forever-plan remains in place and will never fail.

12 Blessed and prosperous is that nation who has God as their Lord!

They will be the people he has chosen for his own.

13–15 The Lord looks over us from where he rules in heaven.

Gazing into every heart from his lofty dwelling place,

he observes all the peoples of the earth.

The Creator of our hearts considers and examines everything we do.

16 Even if a king has the best-equipped army,

it would never be enough to save him.

Even if the best warrior went to battle,

he could not be saved simply by his strength alone.

17 Human strength and the weapons of man

are false hopes for victory;

they may seem mighty but they will always disappoint.

18 The eyes of the Lord are upon

even the weakest worshipers who love him—

those who wait in hope and expectation

for the strong, steady love of God.

19 God will deliver them from death,

even the certain death of famine, with no one to help.

20 The Lord alone is our radiant hope

and we trust in him with all our hearts.

His wrap-around presence will strengthen us.

21 As we trust, we rejoice with an uncontained joy

flowing from Yahweh!

22 Let your love and steadfast kindness overshadow us

continually, for we trust and we wait upon you!

The Passion Translation (TPT)

THE PASSOVER BLOOD DRESS REHEARSALS

Did you know that for centuries ahead of time, God held a “dress rehearsal” for the crucifixion of Jesus the Messiah every single year in the exact city where it would happen and on the exact day that it would happen?  It is called Pesach (Passover), and it is greatly misunderstood.  Even though this day is all about Jesus the Messiah, most of the people who celebrate it don’t even believe in Jesus.  And most of the people that believe in Jesus don’t celebrate it.  But as you will see below, the Scriptures have some amazing things to say about Passover.

Passover

7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
(1 Corinthians 5:7-8)

On Passover, the people of Israel are commanded to gather in Jerusalem to remember the exodus out of the land of Egypt.

During the original Passover, right before the people of Israel left Egypt, God instructed the people of Israel to kill a lamb and to put the blood of that lamb on the doorposts so that the death angel would pass over their homes.  Because Pharaoh would not let the people of Israel go, God sent a plague which killed all of the first born sons, but those who had their doorposts covered by the blood of a lamb were spared from the plague. It was a time of great deliverance for the people of Israel that we remember down to this day.

So why did God have His people put the blood of a lamb on their doorposts?

Why be that specific?

Well, even today most doorposts are made of wood.

And where does wood come from?

It comes from a tree.

So the message of the original Passover was that the blood of the lamb on the tree delivered them from the wrath of God.

And that foreshadowed precisely what would happen on that day more than 1000 years later, and it is the very heart of the gospel message.

After the people of Israel got to the Promised Land, God required that His people gather at Jerusalem on that specific day every single year in order to celebrate the Passover.

Looking back, we can now see that God had His people gather together every single year in the exact city where Jesus would die, on the exact day when Jesus would die, and He had them act out rituals which precisely foreshadowed the shedding of the blood of the lamb on the tree (the cross).

Even though this was done every single year for centuries in advance, most of the people still missed it.

And the parallels between Jesus the Messiah and the Passover lamb are astonishing.

First of all, both Jesus and the Passover lamb were males and were “without blemish”.

Secondly, the bones of the Passover lamb were not to be broken, and the bones of Jesus were not broken on the cross either even though it was customary to break the legs of those being crucified to speed up their deaths.

Thirdly, the Passover lamb was always bound to the altar at 9 AM.  That is precisely the time when the Scriptures tell us that Jesus was nailed to the cross.

Fourthly, the Passover lamb was always sacrificed at 3 PM.  At that moment, a priest would blow a shofar at the Temple and the people would quietly contemplate what just happened.  That is precisely the time when the Scriptures tell us that Jesus declared “It is finished” and died on the cross.  The veil of the Temple was supernaturally torn from top to bottom, and there was a great earthquake.  The lamb of God paid for our sins, just as the day of Passover had been foreshadowing for more than 1000 years.

Unleavened Bread

Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
(Exodus 12:15)

Immediately following Passover is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  The Scriptures tell us that we are to remove all leaven from our homes and eat unleavened bread for seven days.

So why would God have us do such a thing?

Well, in the Scriptures leaven always represents sin.

We remove leaven from our homes to show that the lamb of God removed all of our sin on Passover.

It is a perfect picture of what Jesus has done for us.

Firstfruits

20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
(1 Corinthians 15:20-23)

Did you know that for centuries ahead of time, God held a “dress rehearsal” for the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah every single year in the exact city where it would happen and on the exact day that it would happen? It is called Firstfruits, and you can read more about it in Leviticus 23.

During the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the day after the regular weekly Sabbath that falls during those seven days is known as Firstfruits.  The people of Israel would bring “a sheaf of the firstfruits” to the high priest who would wave it before the Lord.  By doing so, the people of Israel were signifying that they trusted in the Lord to bring in the rest of the harvest.

Well, in the Scriptures the apostle Paul described Jesus the Messiah as “the firstfruits” of those that would rise from the dead.  And we trust that at His coming the rest of the harvest will be bodily resurrected at that time as well.  The Scriptures promise us that not only will our spirits live forever, but that our actual physical bodies will be resurrected someday too.

In 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 we read the following…

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

What a wonderful day that will be.

Despite what you just read above, there are many Christians that actually believe that the Bible says that we should not be celebrating these Biblical festivals.

One of the main verses that they like to use is Colossians 2:16.  But as you will see, it actually says just the opposite of what they think that it says.

This is the text of Colossians 2:16…

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

When they bring this verse up, they will typically say something like this: “See!  Nobody is allowed to judge me regarding the observance of a holiday, a new moon or a Sabbath day.  I can do whatever I want.”

But that is not what it says at all.

First of all, please notice that the verse says that these days on the Biblical calendar “are a shadow of things to come”.  That means that they still have significance!

In addition, there is a very important detail that most people that read this verse have missed.  In most Bible versions, the word “is” in the last phrase is in italics.  That is because it is not in the original.  The word “is” was added by translators.

So a much more accurate rendering of that verse would be as follows…

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body of Christ.

What this verse is really saying is that we should not let anyone tell us how to observe these things (which are a shadow of things to come) except for the body of Messiah.  It is only those that believe in Jesus that should be instructing us how to properly follow God’s commandments.

This is why it is so important to read verses in context.  The surrounding context of this chapter makes this abundantly clear.  In verse 8, it says the following…

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

And in verse 22, there is a warning not to get caught up in “the commandments and doctrines of men“.

At that time, there were lots of people (such as the Pharisees) that were trying to get the new believers in the Messiah to adopt the man-made traditions of Judaism.  The apostle Paul was constantly warning against this and so was Jesus.

But we need to be very careful that as we are rejecting the traditions of men that we do not throw out the commandments of God.  The apostle Paul made this abundantly clear in Romans 3:31…

Do we, then, nullify the Torah by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the Torah.

And in Matthew 5:17-19, Jesus could not have been any clearer…

17 Think not that I am come to destroy the Torah, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

A lot of people get confused and think that somehow we must earn our way into heaven by keeping His commandments.

But that is not the case at all.  The truth is that none of us is perfect.  We have all broken God’s commandments and so we all needed a Savior.  God’s laws show us our sin, and if we did not have Jesus the Messiah we would have to pay the penalty for our sin.

Thankfully, Jesus willingly chose to lay down His life and pay the penalty for our sin on the cross.  This is the message of Passover.  If you have never invited Jesus to come into your life to be your Lord and Savior, you can learn to do so by reading this article: “The Most Important Thing“.

Once we become Christians and our sins are forgiven, does that mean that we get to throw out the commandments of God and do whatever we want?

Not according to Jesus.  Now that we know Him, we should want to show our love for Him by keeping His commandments.  And there is great reward in keeping them – both in this life and the next.  Just remember the words of Jesus the Messiah in Matthew 5:19…

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

The Power of Bold Faith

Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen. 2 This testimony of faith is what previous generations[a] were commended for. 3 Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated[b] by the power of God’s words! He spoke and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen.

4 Faith moved Abel[c] to choose a more acceptable sacrifice to offer God than his brother Cain, and God declared him righteous because of his offering of faith. By his faith, Abel still speaks instruction to us today, even though he is long dead.

5 Faith lifted Enoch from this life and he was taken up into heaven! He never had to experience death; he just disappeared from this world because God promoted him. For before he was translated to the heavenly realm his life had become a pleasure to God.[d]

6 And without faith living within us it would be impossible to please God.[e] For we come to God in faith[f] knowing that he is real and that he rewards the faith of those who give all their passion and strength into seeking him.

7 Faith opened Noah’s heart to receive revelation and warnings from God about what was coming, even things that had never been seen. But he stepped out in reverent obedience to God and built an ark that would save him and his family. By his faith the world was condemned, but Noah received God’s gift of righteousness that comes by believing.

Faith of the Patriarchs

8 Faith motivated Abraham to obey God’s call and leave the familiar to discover the territory he was destined to inherit from God. So he left with only a promise and without even knowing ahead of time where he was going, Abraham stepped out in faith. 9 He lived by faith as an immigrant in his promised land as though it belonged to someone else.[g] He journeyed through the land living in tents with Isaac and Jacob who were persuaded that they were also co-heirs of the same promise.

10 His eyes of faith were set on the city[h] with unshakable foundations, whose architect and builder is God himself. 11 Sarah’s faith embraced the miracle power to conceive even though she was barren and was past the age of childbearing, for the authority of her faith[i] rested in the One who made the promise, and she tapped into his faithfulness.

12 In fact, so many children were subsequently fathered by this aged man of faith—one who was as good as dead, that he now has offspring as innumerable as the sand on the seashore and as the stars in the sky!

13 These heroes all died still clinging to their faith, not even receiving all that had been promised them. But they saw beyond the horizon the fulfillment of their promises and gladly embraced it from afar. They all lived their lives on earth as those who belonged to another realm.[j]

14 For clearly, those who live this way[k] are longing for the appearing of a heavenly city.[l] 15 And if their hearts were still remembering what they left behind, they would have found an opportunity to go back. 16 But they couldn’t turn back for their hearts were fixed on what was far greater, that is, the heavenly realm![m]

So because of this God is not ashamed in any way to be called their God, for he has prepared a heavenly city for them.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

17 Faith operated powerfully in Abraham for when he was put to the test he offered up Isaac. Even though he received God’s promises[n] of descendants, he was willing[o] to offer up his only son! 18 For God had promised,

“Through your son Isaac your lineage will carry on your name.”[p]

19 Abraham’s faith made it logical to him that God could raise Isaac from the dead, and symbolically,[q] that’s exactly what happened.

20 The power of faith prompted Isaac to impart a blessing to his sons, Jacob and Esau, concerning their prophetic destinies.

21 Jacob worshiped in faith’s reality at the end of his life, and leaning upon his staff he imparted a prophetic blessing upon each of Joseph’s sons.[r]

22 Faith inspired Joseph and opened his eyes to see into the future, for as he was dying he prophesied about the exodus[s] of Israel out of Egypt,[t] and gave instructions that his bones were to be taken from Egypt with them.[u]

Moses

23 Faith prompted the parents of Moses at his birth to hide him for three months,[v] because they realized their child was exceptional[w] and they refused to be afraid of the king’s edict.

24 Faith enabled Moses to choose God’s will, for although he was raised as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he refused to make that his identity, 25 choosing instead to suffer mistreatment with the people of God. Moses preferred faith’s certainty above the momentary enjoyment of sin’s pleasures. 26 He found his true wealth in suffering abuse for being anointed,[x] more than in anything the world could offer him,[y] for his eyes looked with wonder not on the immediate, but on the ultimate—faith’s great reward![z] 27 Holding faith’s promise Moses abandoned Egypt and had no fear of Pharaoh’s rage because he persisted in faith as if he had seen God who is unseen.[aa]

28 Faith stirred Moses to perform[ab] the rite of Passover and sprinkle lamb’s blood,[ac] to prevent the destroyer from harming their firstborn.[ad]

29 Faith opened the way for the Hebrews to cross the Red Sea as if on dry land, but when the Egyptians tried to cross they were swallowed up and drowned!

Jericho and Rahab

30 Faith pulled down Jericho’s walls after the people marched around them for seven days!

31 Faith provided a way of escape for Rahab the prostitute, avoiding the destruction of the unbelievers, because she received the Hebrew spies in peace.

More Faith Champions

32 And what more could I say to convince you? For there is not enough time to tell you of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. 33 Through faith’s power they conquered kingdoms and established true justice. Their faith fastened onto their promises and pulled them into reality! It was faith that shut the mouth of lions, 34 put out the power of raging fire, and caused many to escape certain death by the sword. In their weakness their faith imparted power to make them strong![ae] Faith sparked courage within them and they became mighty warriors in battle, pulling armies from another realm into battle array.[af] 35 Faith-filled women saw their dead children raised in resurrection power.

Yet it was faith that enabled others to endure great atrocities. They were stretched out on the wheel and tortured,[ag] and didn’t deny their faith in order to be freed, because they longed for a more honorable and glorious resurrection!

36 Others were mocked and experienced the most severe beating with whips; they were in chains and imprisoned. 37 Some of these faith champions were brutally killed by stoning, being sawn in two or slaughtered by the sword. These lived in faith as they went about wearing goatskins and sheepskins for clothing. They lost everything they possessed, they endured great afflictions, and they were cruelly mistreated. 38 They wandered the earth living in the desert wilderness, in caves, on barren mountains and in holes in the earth. Truly, the world was not even worthy of them, not realizing who they were.

39 These were the true heroes, commended for their faith, yet they lived in hope without receiving the fullness of what was promised them. 40 But now God has invited us to live in something better than what they had—faith’s fullness! This is so that they could be brought to finished perfection alongside of us.  ~The Passion Translation (TPT)