Saturday, August 5, 2017

The Bottom Line Of Human Righteousness

The primary difference in people.

The best you can say about any human being is that they have repented of their sins and rested their soul, by faith, in the atoning death of Jesus Christ for their unrighteousness. RB

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one ...." Rom.3:10


"If we confess our sins, he (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9


"For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God." Rom.10:3

"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness ...." Isa.61:10








Thursday, August 3, 2017

God Is Revealing Sealed Prophecy In These Days Of "Increased Knowledge"

This "Sign Post" of Jewish feast days and prophecy is the work of our son, Robert Paul (Bob). As you will see, he is a student of God's word and, I believe, has special insight into prophecy through the prism of Jewish feast days. RB
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Daniel could not begin to imagine the extent of the prophecy that God (Yehovah) gave him in Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, (neither Daniel nor anyone else understood this prophecy) even to the time of the end (when we would then begin to understand): many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” This prophecy was about 2500 years ago and just 1,500 hundred years ago there were some who thought the sun, planets and stars revolved around the earth. Remember when the earth was “flat”! Now, there are millions running to and fro, flying through the air, speeding down highways and cruising across the ocean while communicating with anyone anywhere on earth and Googling whatever information or knowledge is needed. Look what we have learned about DNA. That knowledge has changed medicine, forensics, denied evolution and lengthened life spans. Too bad all this knowledge cannot grant us wisdom from above… only God can do that. (James 1:5).
Yes, sometimes we think we are pretty smart. But plant a tomato seed and try to pinpoint exactly when your first tomato will be ripe and ready to eat… or the barley ready to harvest. Only God knows because He knows when the sun is going to shine, when it’s going to rain and what the temperature will be 24/7. Knowledge has increased and although we can give a close estimate for a harvest, we will never be able to pre-determine God’s timetable revealing the first day of each new Hebrew year or new months or feast days, prior to the sighting of the new moons. The moon cycle is not even an exact number of days. It is 29.5305882 days. Isn’t God awesome? Google it. In the following verses, read some of the history of God’s commandment concerning the Hebrew calendar year (By the way, I am referencing God’s Biblical calendar, not the “civil” Jewish calendar which was created by the Jews years after the Bible was written. They did it for their own convenience to better align their calendar with the pagan January through December calendar.):

Ex12:1-2 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month (*new moon) shall be unto you the beginning of months (*new moons): it shall be the first month (*new moon) of the year to you.

Ex13:3-4 And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out in the month (*new moon) Abib. (or Aviv which was changed to the name “Nisan” [their flight] after the Babylonian captivity. Esther 3:7 [the 12th month, Adar, is also mentioned here])

*The Hebrew for “new moon” is chodesh or hodesh and translated “month” in these two references and in 252 other places in the Bible. Hodesh is translated “new moon” in 20 Bible references such as Ps 81:3 “Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day”. The first sighting in Israel of the first sliver of each new moon is what designates the beginning of each of the 12 Hebrew calendar months, not to mention the sun, stars and moon are for signs and seasons. Gen 1:14

This complicated system of the reckoning of times and seasons could be why no one knows the day nor the hour of Jesus’ return. We can know when it’s getting close based on what Jesus said in Luke 21:7-28. Verse 28 “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” Yes, God has his own calendar, His own timetable and designated feast days given to the nation of Israel many years ago… and He said the feast days were to be observed “forever” and the only way to observe them, on the day designated, is to know when the first day of the month for that feast is. Ex 12:17 “And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever” (the feast of unleavened bread was one of three yearly feasts that God ordained after the children of Israel were delivered out of Egypt. Ex 23:14-17) All of the feast days are “shadow pictures” of things to come in the future. (Colossians 2:16 “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday [Heorte] is the Greek word here, translated “feast” in 26 other Bible references], or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come…”) The shadow pictures of the Spring feasts, starting in the month of Abib (March/April of the pagan calendar), have already been fulfilled by Jesus, our Passover lamb, in His death, burial and resurrection and in the gift of the Holy Spirit, during the feast of Pentecost, to indwell believers after Jesus’ ascension to Heaven. That was a time when Jesus (Yeshua) came as a servant and redeemer. The Fall feast and Holy Days, observed in the 7th Biblical Hebrew month, Tishri (Sept/Oct of the pagan calendar), are yet to be fulfilled when Yeshua will return as reigning King and Judge. One of those Holy Days is called “The Day of Trumpets” when no one knows of the day or hour that the trumpet will sound. This yearly holy day is coming up on Tishri 1 of the Biblical Hebrew calendar, somewhere around September 22, 23, 24 etc., because… no man knows the day or the hour… until the new moon is sighted in Israel. 'I’m just sayin'… it’s a yearly Holy Day and a “High Sabbath”.

The feast days and holy days designated by God were to be observed by the Israelites forever. As a Christian, I have been “grafted in” (Romans 11:13-21), therefore I might be considered a “spiritual Jew”. Learning about the feasts of the Lord and observing them has brought even more life to the scriptures for me in these times of increased knowledge. There is a whole lot more to all this than I’ve shared so, let us ask God to give us “the spirit of wisdom and a revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Eph 1:17) for these last days. The more we know, the more we will understand about what happens when it happens and we will trust God no matter what happens. Let us be found faithful.  Robert Paul Blair (Bob)