PART 2- WAR IS NOT CHRISTIAN

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In Part 2 of our new War Is Not Christian series over at Subversive Radio, our host Keith Giles looks at: *Jesus turning over tables in the Temple *Early Christians on Non-Violence and War

INTERVIEW: Crissy Brooks (MIKA)

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Listen to my interview with Crissy Brooks of MIKA. Find out more about MIKA here>

New Podcast: War Is Not Christian

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LISTEN: Subversive Radio Special Edition: War Is Not Christian with Keith Giles. In light of the upcoming Pacifist Fight Club: Round 2 (This Time It's War!), host Keith Giles takes a moment to explore common scriptural objections to Jesus and Non-violence.

FOR LEADERS ONLY

Today’s article is directed only to the leaders among us. We all know how important leaders are in the Body of Christ, and that’s why I want to take this moment to address all of those who are leaders in the Church.
However, this article is also – at the very same time – addressed directly to everyone who calls themselves a Christian.

Let me explain:

First of all, every follower of Jesus is commanded to love:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34)


Secondly, loving one another means serving one another:

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, (therefore)…serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13-14)

Third, those who are leaders in the Church must be servants:

“The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11-12)

Therefore, if every Christian is called to be a servant, and if loving one another means serving one another, and if those who serve others are leaders in the Body of Christ, then every Christian is a leader.

That means Christianity is for leaders only.

The more we serve others in the Body of Christ, the greater we become. The greater we become the more authority we are given to serve others. The more we exercise our authority to serve by serving more people, the greater servants we become, and the greater we become in the Kingdom. It’s really very simple.

WHAT ABOUT NON-LEADERS?

Simply put, lack of leadership in the Body of Christ is a disease. Some call it “Diotrephesia”.

“I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not acknowledge us. Therefore, if I come I will call attention to the deeds he is doing – the bringing of unjustified charges against us with evil words! And not being content with that, he not only refuses to welcome the brothers himself, but hinders the people who want to do so and throws them out of the church!” (3 John 1: 9-11)


The symptoms of Diotrephesia are:
*Always seeking to be first
*Strong desire to do all the talking
*Tendency to "Lord it over" others
*Fixation with literature, conferences, and titles that imply leadership is about being in control rather than being a slave.
*Tendency to assume the entire church fellowship is under his authority and control.
*Continually finds ways to exploit the talents of others for his own gain.
*Keeps others dependent upon himself for spiritual health

There is no room in the Body of Christ for any so-called “non-leaders”. The New Testament has nothing to say about followers of Christ who do not serve, or embrace the greatness of being humble. Those in the Church who refuse to serve must be taught how to serve, or be served themselves by everyone else until they either become so ashamed of themselves for their lack of leadership that they also begin to lead by serving.

LEADERS, SERVANTS, AND FOLLOWERS
Those of us who are leaders in the church (and that’s all of us) are called to be just like Jesus, and even Jesus “did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life” for others. Paul the Apostle follows up these thoughts by pointing out that everyone in the Body of Christ is called to love – and to serve – everyone else. In short, everyone who calls themselves a Christian is, in fact, a servant, and therefore, a leader. This means that Christianity is for leaders only.

See you at the Leadership Conference on Sunday.

-kg

LISTEN: Subversive Radio Interviews Chase Andre & Thomas Crisp

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Listen to Subversive Radio host Keith Giles interview Dr. Thomas Crisp and Chase Andre about their involvement in Pacifist Fight Club coming up on May 5, 2012 at Fuller Seminary (Irvine). Learn about Pacifist Fight Club at www.PacifistFightClub.com

Pacifist Fight Club: Round 2 - This Time It's War!

We will fight for peace, but we will do no violence

This is a FREE Event.

*BRING YOUR OWN SACK LUNCH

*WATER, COFFEE & TEA PROVIDED

DETAILS:

Saturday, May 5, 2012, 9:00 am to 2pm

Fuller Seminary (Irvine), 2061 Business Center Drive, Irvine, CA 92612

Topics:

"Christians in the Military" - Thomas Crisp (Biola)

"Just War Theory vs No War Theory" - Shane Crash (Pacifist Army)

"The Dangers of Christian Nationalism" - Chase Andre (Biola)

"Christian Zionism: Israel, Palestine and the Kingdom of God" - Keith Giles (Pacifist Fight Club)

"How Love Overcomes Hate" - Brandt Russo (Can't Ignore The Poor)

To find out more about Pacifist Fight Club listen to Subversive Radio this Sunday night at 9pm (PST) to hear our guests, Thomas Crisp and Chase Andre talk about the upcoming Pacifist Fight Club event.

LISTEN SUNDAY NIGHT AT THIS LINK>

OR CALL IN TO PARTICIPATE: (646) 915-8079 at 9pm on Sunday night (PST).

OR VISIT WWW.PACIFISTFIGHTCLUB.COM>

LISTEN: THE POWER OF WEAKNESS

IT SEEMS illogical, but we may be most useful to God when we’re at the end of our rope.

Keith Giles joins host Derek Gilbert to discuss his new book, The Power of Weakness. 


Drawing on examples from scripture, Keith argues that our natural Key Performance Indicators — to borrow some jargon from the business world — may actually lead us away from the path God wants us to walk, and that His glory is most evident when He works through those least likely to succeed.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW >

LISTEN: Subversive Radio - Episode 1

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Every Sunday night at 9pm (PST) I'll be hosting a new Blog Talk Radio show called Subversive Radio.

We'll talk about all the things I blog about here, take calls and sometimes even talk to special guests.

Follow the link to listen in LIVE on Sunday nights at 9pm (PST) or listen anytime after that to our archived podcast versions of previous shows.

This Sunday night (4/22) my guests will be Dr. Thomas Crisp (Biola) and Chase Andre. We'll talk about their upcoming presentations at Pacifist Fight Club: Round 2 "This Time It's War" on May 5th at Fuller Seminary (Irvine Campus), and about their Dorothy Day Society, among other things.

Make sure to join us, call in, or just listen.

VISIT SUBVERSIVE RADIO ONLNE HERE>

What Happens When The Largest Church and the Smallest Church in Orange County Work Together?

About ten years ago, my wife and I started serving the people who live at the California Studio Inn on Segerstrom street in Santa Ana, California. At first, our only goal was to love people and to bless them in the name of Jesus. We didn’t market our church, we didn’t preach any sermons, we simply showed up with a bounce house, and ice cream for the kids, a short puppet show, and sometimes free groceries and clothes. Our hope was that people would start to wonder, and then to ask us, “Why are you coming out here every month to bless us like this?” We were hoping to create a desire in them – a divine curiosity – to understand our motivation. And when they did eventually ask us that question, our answer was, “Because Jesus loves you, and we love you, too.”


At first, my vision for ministry at the motel was grand. We were going to have large gatherings where I would preach the gospel and people would be saved, delivered and healed. We’d have dramatic stories to tell of how hundreds came to Christ and lives were transformed. But, as I soon learned, God’s plan was different.

The first thing God said to me was to simply love and befriend one family at the motel. He challenged us to embrace them, to welcome them into our home, to have them over for dinner, to let their kids play with our kids, and to let their challenges and their struggles become our own.

Over time, we did begin to see dramatic transformation and deep spiritual growth. But that growth, and that transformation, was mainly being done in my own heart, and in my family.

We learned that when we can’t, God can. We learned that getting burned and taken for a ride was the best way to develop our instincts for how people survive in this environment. We learned how to love people, even when we knew they were trying to play us. We learned how to bear the burdens of people who had never known the love of Christ. We also learned when to stop carrying the burdens of some people so that they could learn to lean more on Jesus than on us.

Eventually, someone from Saddleback Church contacted us about wanting to start a Sunday morning church service at our motel. Over time we began to work together to facilitate this weekly service.

Ron Wilbur was the main person I dealt with on a regular basis. He and I became fast friends and we both learned to work together as we began to see God at work in this motel.

People started making professions of faith in Christ. Baptisms started happening in the swimming pool, or in people’s homes. Residents of the motel started volunteering to help set up, post flyers at the motel, serve the food, even teach on Sunday mornings as needed. Slowly, we started to see God at work in the lives of the people here, and we realized that He cared much more about this than we did.

Just over a year ago, however, things changed dramatically. After a particularly loud Sunday morning worship service in the parking lot, the manager shut everything down. We thought it was over. But, as we were soon to learn, God had everything under control. See, this particular motel is actually two motels in one. While we were kicked out of the first motel, the manager at the second motel – herself a committed follower of Jesus – gave us carte blanche to re-start the Church on her side of the fence.

In the process, we made a few changes to the format. Rather than have teachers come and share the “sermon of the week” with us, we decided to have everyone read the same scriptures together during the week and discuss those verses when we gathered together on Sunday morning. We started off with the Gospel of Mathew and the Sermon on the Mount.

Over the next few months we witnessed a dramatic change in the lives of the residents. They were actually growing in their faith. They were reading the scriptures and they were coming on Sunday morning to share their insights, their thoughts, and their questions with everyone else. The participation factor was much higher, and as a result, we started to see them becoming disciples of Jesus – real followers who were grappling with the words of Jesus and working to live out His teaching in their actual lives.

Now, after just about a year and a half of this new format, we’re seeing new opportunities emerge. On Easter Sunday we planted four new motel churches in Anaheim, and two of those motel churches were led by members who came out of our little motel church. We’re starting our first weekly Bible Study soon, too. Led and hosted by the residents themselves, not Ron or myself. In fact, one former motel resident, who is now part of our house church family, and who was recently baptized himself, wants to join the Bible Study group. So, it’s all coming around full circle.

I’m amazed at what God has done. It blesses me so much to see what happens when the largest church in Orange County and the smallest church in Orange County come together to let God build His church in a little motel. The key has been working together, laying down our own agendas, and letting go of our need to own or brand the process. Ron has been a joy to work with. His humility and his transparency are phenomenal. I’m honored to serve alongside a brother like him.

Now, we get to see what God has in store for this little church in the next few years. I can’t wait.

-kg
**

THE POWER OF WEAKNESS

New ebook by Keith Giles:

In his second letter to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul described an encounter with God that taught him a valuable lesson about humility and perspective.

The author, Keith Giles, explores this Kingdom principal of weakness in the lives of people like Moses, Gideon, Samson, Solomon and even Jesus to help us understand how we can unleash the “power of Christ” in our own lives.

REVIEW BY ARTHUR SIDO:

The Power of Weakness is the latest offering from Keith Giles and it was both a pleasure and encouragement to read. In a church culture that sees sickness and poverty and weakness as something to be avoided and prayed about, Keith takes us back to the Bible to demonstrate that God has always used people when they were at their worst or those who were least "qualified".

The bulk of The Power of Weakness is an examination of the lives of a number of well-known figures from the Bible, men like Moses and Solomon and even Jesus Christ Himself, to show the glory of God in achieving great things through the weakness of man. After looking at the compelling evidence from the Bible, Keith turns to a more practical application, each and every individual Christian. If God can and has done great things through the weakness of men like Gideon and Paul, certainly He can and does through weak vessels like you and I. In a church culture that glorifies and exalts the most educated, smoothest speaking and best credentialed men, Keith reminds us that it is rarely the obvious (in our eyes) vessels that God works through.

As Keith points out, there is a reason that God glories in using the weakness of man to accomplish His great works, namely that it leaves no doubt in the mind of those who witness or read about these events as to where the honor and glory belong. It is not because of human talent or skill or intelligence but God alone who accomplishes His tasks. Along with the biographical examples, Keith points us again and again to Scripture to demonstrate his central thesis of God glorying in weakness. This message is not an unusual one in the church but it is one of the many cases where our rhetoric doesn't match our practice. You might hear an awful lot about "not many wise" in the church but look at the guys called to lead and more often than not it is the man who is the best sermonizer or the most educated or the most successful in the community rather than the weak.

I would certainly recommend The Power of Weakness to anyone who is struggling with feeling adequate to serve God or those who are looking at taking the next step in ministry. It is a critical reminder that God doesn't pick the best and brightest to do His work, He often picks just the opposite!
**
Download your copy of The Power of Weakness at Amazon.com > 

JUST WONDERING

Imagine you live in a huge mansion. One day you discover that there’s a wing of the building you didn’t know was there before. You explore and find a large family that’s been living there a long time. They’ve got nice stuff over there, some of it better than yours. 

So, you go over there, kill them, enslave the survivors, and take their stuff. 

Is that what a Christian would do? Because that’s essentially what the first American settlers did to the Native Americans, and what we continue to do in Africa, the Middle East, South America, etc.

If being "Christian" means being like Christ, then I have a very hard time believing that America - or any other nation on this Earth - has ever been like Christ.

-kg

LOVE THE SINNER?

"Among the plastic saints of our times, Jesus has to do all the dying, and all we want to hear is another sermon about his dying." - AW Tozer

Just before Good Friday I posted the above quote on Twitter and Facebook. One of my friends from high school wasn't sure what the quote meant, so I tried to explain the quote to her. As we began to dialog back and forth, an interesting thread began to develop. 

I explained to her that this quote is meant to be a commentary on how Christians here in America tend to forget that Jesus said "If anyone would come after me, he must first die to himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me." (Luke 9:23). Today, Christians just want to hear stories about Jesus' death and His cross, but want nothing to do with talk of their own dying to self or taking up their own cross to follow Jesus into selfless love for others.

I talked about how Jesus set us an example to love others and that loving others as Jesus expects involves being inconvenienced for the sake of others.

My friend then made a comment about the over used phrase that Christians throw around that says, "Love the sinner. Hate the sin."

In response I said, "If we did more actual loving of people, this phrase wouldn't be such a problem." And I think this is true. Unfortunately, what we see is people who call themselves followers of Jesus doing very little in the way of "Loving Sinners" and far too much in the way of "Hating the Sin" (and therefore the sinner, too).

Until we are marked by our love and known as great lovers of people, it will never matter what we say with our mouths or what our bumper stickers say. 

In other words, "Don't tell me Jesus loves me, SHOW me the love of Jesus."

My friend, who does not identify herself as a Christian, said that this sounded great, but that, in her opinion it seemed like that was ok for some Christians, but not for every Christian.

"Well," I told her, "the problem with this not being for every Christian is that Jesus never gave us any other options." We either follow Him, or we don't. Jesus invited people to follow him, and then he explained what that involved, which is total surrender.

“In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:33)

My friend responded by saying that if her Christian friends would spend as much time loving and serving others as they did trying to convert her, she would be a much happier person.

The funny thing about this is that Jesus never told his followers to convert anyone. He simply told us to love others, to be known for love, to love God, and to teach others to follow Him too. 

If people don't want to follow Jesus, we're not supposed to beat them up. We just continue to love them.

"Why don't more Christians do this?" my friend asked.

Why? Because once we start trying to actually love one another, or love our enemies, or love the poor we discover - almost immediately - that it is far from easy. It's actually impossible. Why? Because love like this involves sacrifice. It means laying down my desires and wants in favor of meeting another person's needs. This is what "taking up my cross" is all about. My cross is the instrument of death to self so that the life of Christ can live in me - and love through me. That's the only way it works.

The bottom line is, character and actions speak louder than words. Yes, Jesus is about so much more than getting us to love others and demonstrate compassion. This is part of it, certainly, but He's mainly about wanting us to know Him, and sometimes this is more easily accomplished in our hearts when we obey Him in acts of compassion. 

God says this over and over again throughout the Bible: 

"He defended the cause of the poor and the needy (God says), is that not what it means to know me?" (Jeremiah 22:16) 

Here, "Knowing God" is related to showing kindness to the poor. Elsewhere it says: 

"If anyone has material possessions, and sees a brother or sister in need and does nothing, how can the love of God be in him?" (1 John 3:17) 

So, the sharing of possessions is related to sharing the love of God within us? Wow.

Again, the Bible affirms that no human being of flesh and blood is our enemy. We are called to love people, no matter what they believe or how they behave towards us. Our only enemy is spiritual and our only weapons are prayer and trusting in God.

Hopefully the next few decades we'll see more and more Christians focus on the "Loving the Sinner" part than on "Hating the Sin." If so, maybe there's hope for the Gospel to penetrate even the hardest hearts - maybe even our own?

-kg

SUBVERSIVE RADIO IS ON THE AIR

Starting this Sunday evening at 9pm PST the first broadcast of Subversive Radio will begin.

  

If you'd like to call in and ask a question or participate in the conversation, please call (646) 915-8079.

You may also listen in online at Blog Talk Radio> 

BLOOD

A Poem by Keith Giles



There was rhythm in the air that morning
a seed-planting rhythm in a land
of broken ground. It traveled
from my heel to
my fingertips and
circled in my neck until
I bowed my head in submission. The beat
continued, echoed across
the arid stretch
of the hillside and all
of the faceless people stood
swaying to the rhythm
the compelling metronome
of hammer and nail and
the crescendo mounted until the blood
the blood gushed hot and wet onto the grass
we held our breath until they lifted
the crossbar over our heads, until the sky
turned to black cloud, until he whispered
that it was finished
and the soldiers took him down.
But the rhythm never left my feet
kept time with
the beating in my heart, turned
my blood to wine.

-kg

THE COMING FLOOD

Every now and then, when I mention to people that we've planted a house church in our community, they will respond by saying something like: "That's good because I believe God's Judgement and persecution is coming soon and the Church needs to be ready to go underground if it's going to survive." (Or something close to that).

Personally, I've never resonated with that response. Mainly because my reasons for starting a house church have nothing to do with fear of persecution or judgment. Actually, we started our house church because God called us to plant a church where all of the offering could go to help the poor in our community. So, I don't participate in house church out of fear, but out of love.

Over the weekend, I had a very interesting conversation over lunch with author Ross Rhode, and a few others who were attending the Momentum conference with me. Ross had been sharing with those at our table about how God's Spirit has fallen throughout history - and most recently in America - in the form of several revivals. Someone asked why they never seem to last very long, and he suggested that it was usually because men tried to control the strange manifestations that often accompanied an outpouring of the Spirit (such as tongues or shaking or laughing). The other cause? When people made it attractional. In other words, when the revival experience could only be appropriated by visiting a certain place and hearing a certain man preach, the revival eventually burned itself out.

That got me to thinking. Actually, what happened was that I saw a picture in my mind of a massive field of dirt. It had been plowed into rows, but nothing was growing there. Slowly, as Ross continued to talk about the ebb and flow of revival, I began to see a series of irrigation ditches being carved out around the field. Ross said, "If the Spirit of God ever does fall again, the house church movement is the perfect vehicle to keep it going." I nodded in agreement. "Yes, because in a house church whenever we get too many people at once we are quick to send them out to start another church. We don't want to get bigger, so we'll always keep sending them out as they get saved to keep spreading the revival."

I believe the house church movement in America is a genuine move of the Holy Spirit. Over the last five years I have spoken to countless people who have felt God's calling to step out of the Church, or down from the pulpit, to start a house church in their community. One by one, story after story, I've listened to people tell me how God compelled them - even as others warned them not to, or mocked them for leaving - they knew that to obey God they had to lay it all down and plant churches in their homes, and neighborhoods.

What if? What if God is inspiring so many people to leave the traditional model of institutional church so that He can build a nationwide network of house churches that will quickly spawn more house churches as the fire of revival spreads across this nation?

As I shared this with Ross and the people at our table, I mentioned that it was like what I was seeing in my mind's eye. That God was creating this network of house churches to operate like irrigation canals that would rapidly disperse the Spirit of God as it fell on this nation - allowing the empty, desolate field to burst into life as the rivers of living water began to fall from the sky and flood the earth with the presence of God.

Ross began to pray spontaneously. As he prayed, all of us around the table joined in. In my heart, as I prayed, I could see the sky growing dark. I heard the crack of thunder in the sky. I heard the steady patter of heavy rainfall drenching the dry and thirsty ground. The canals around the large field began to fill with sweet, living water. The field grew dark with moisture. New life began to spring up as the seeds that had been planted years before were nourished by this living water. Suddenly the field was overtaken by large, green, fruitful plants.

My eyes were filled with tears when we all finally stopped praying.

"Why can't it happen here?" someone asked. "Why can't we pray and ask God to rain down His Spirit on us  again?"

I believe He wants to. I believe that what is coming is not a sword of judgment, but a flood of His Holy Spirit upon a barren land.

Rather than sit back and pray that God would hurry up and return so we can get out of this place, our prayers should be for God to revive this nation. Our prayers should be like those that Paul the Apostle uttered when he yearned for all Israel to be saved and his own soul cursed to hell out of desperate love for his people.

What do we want more? For Jesus to return and bring swift judgment upon this heathen nation? Or do we cry out for Jesus to show mercy and to reveal His love to all men, women and children on this earth?

Pray for God to heal this land. Pray for His Spirit to fall. Pray for the Gospel to go forth and for lives to be transformed by His Word.

This is our calling. This is our destiny. Pray for revival to come. Pray for souls to come to the saving knowledge of Christ. And then, work hard while it is still light enough to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom to all who have yet to hear it.

"Repent! The Kingdom of God is upon you."

Let it rain.
-kg

CHRIST IN THE PASSOVER

At the beginning of the dinner, a woman lights the candles and sings a blessing. Without her, the story of our redemption cannot be told. Like Mary, the mother of Jesus, she brings the light into the world and shares it with all of us.

"And Jesus said, 'I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" (John 8:12)

First, three matzahs are placed in one single pouch. Early on in the dinner, the middle matzah is broken and one half is wrapped in a cloth and hidden. Later on, a child will find the "affikomen" (a Greek word meaning, "that which comes last"). This final piece - taken from the "bread of affliction" is shared by all at the very end.

Early on in the meal, we dip our matzah into horseradish and charoset (a sweet mixture of honey and nuts). This symbolizes how our bitter afflictions can be sweetened by our hope in God. It's also at this point in the Passover that Jesus identified Judas as the betrayer, saying:

"One of you shall betray me." Peter motioned to John to ask who he was. Jesus answered, "He it is, to whom I shall give a sop." After he dipped sop, Judas left to betray him." (John 3:21-30)

What I find interesting is that, during the meal, everyone dips the sop together and eats it. Very likely the disciples considered that it could be any one of them who would betray Jesus. Most especially, Peter might have feared that it was him due to the fact that Jesus rebukes him and prophesies that Peter will deny him three times before the cock crows. This might explain Peter's dogged determination to stay with Jesus throughout the night, and even to cut off the soldier's ear with the sword.

Another fascinating aspect of the Passover is the inclusion of the prophet of Elijah. There is a cup poured for him, and a place set at the table for Elijah. At one point, a child goes to the door to see if he will return and announce the coming Messiah. In Malachi 4:5 it says that the prophet Elijah will be sent before "the great and terrible day of the Lord." Jesus said of John the Baptist, "...this is Elijah" (Matthew 11:14).

If we read the prophecy in Malachi about the return of Elijah to prepare the way for the Messiah we find this:

"See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." - (Malachi 4:5-6)

When the Angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist) he repeats this same promise:

"But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John...Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." - (Luke 1:13-16-17)

Jesus also affirms that John the Baptist is the fulfillment of the Elijah prophecy saying, "Indeed, if you are willing to accept it, he (John) is Elijah, whose coming was predicted." - (Matthew 11:14)

This is a serious revelation for me, because it suggests that the "Day of the Lord" may have been fully realized in the first coming of Christ (although I leave room for the second coming version as well). However, when the Angel of the Lord refers back to the prophecy in Malachi, he is affirming that the coming of Elijah - in the form of John the Baptist - is a fulfillment of that same Malachi promise, which appears to speak of what we would normally refer to as an "end times" event, or a final judgment, not simply a messianic precursor.

It starts to make me wonder in what ways Jesus fulfilled the "Day of the Lord" prophecies in his first coming. He most certainly came to judge the Jewish leaders of the day, (the Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees), and his crucifixion resulted in the tearing of the temple veil, and soon after the temple in Jerusalem was utterly destroyed...and remains so to this very day.

At the final cup, "The Cup of Praise", it is a tradition to sing the Hallel (Psalms 113-118). This is most likely the very same hymn that the disciples sang (Matt 26:30) as they left the Passover table. The song says, "The stone which the builders refused is become the head of the corner...it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:22-24)

It was this fourth cup with Jesus refused to drink from, saying, "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the Kingdom of God." (Mark 14:35)

After the singing, Jesus and his disciples left the city and went to the Mount of Olives. It was dictated by tradition that the Atonement Lamb's body was to be offered up to God outside the city walls. (see Hebrews 13:11-14)

At 3pm on Good Friday, the shofar was blown to announce that the lamb was being sacrificed. It was also the moment at which Jesus declared, "It is Finished" and the veil in the temple was ripped in two.

I cannot express to you how amazing it is to me that God predicted all of this, thousands of years in advance, and instituted the Passover Seder to remind the Jews of His plan. It blows my mind that God fulfilled all of this on very exact day, even the same hour of the day, that He ordained so long ago.

-kg