Jennifer Saake, author - "InfertilityMom" / "HopeHarvester" / "StrokieGal"

GIVEAWAY! The Old Testament Handbook
Link to entry form from my blog at https://jennifersaake.blogspot.com/2023/11/beautiful-giveaway.html and purchase at https://bit.ly/OTHandbookBlg

It would be nearly impossible to miss… In the pitch black of night, soldiers carried torches of fire in the darkness, weaving like a snake toward a garden.

Jesus could have taken off toward Bethany. He was less than two miles from the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. He could have taken the exact path of King David when he fled Jerusalem: through the Kidron Valley, past Gethsemane, over the Mount of Olives, toward Bethany and then the wilderness (2 Samuel 15). But He stayed. Knowing with absolute certainty what was ahead, He stayed.

God is really good at the details. Nothing is lost to Him. Something I didn't realize until I spent time in Israel: Jesus likely already had blood on His feet by the time He reached Gethsemane.

At Passover, the people of God are told to sacrifice a lamb as an act of obedience and remembrance of how they were freed from slavery in Egypt. A lot of people -> a lot of lambs sacrificed in a very short amount of time -> an extravagant amount of blood.

In Deuteronomy, the priests are instructed to pour out the blood of the Passover lambs. Because of the incredible amount poured on the floor of the temple complex, it would run into the Kidron Valley, soaking the ground. On that night, if you were to walk from Jerusalem to the Garden of Gethsemane, your feet would be covered.

The true and better Passover Lamb would have walked through the blood of sacrifices that would never truly be enough. It's very possible that He died with the dried blood of lambs still on His feet.

On Friday afternoon, after all the sacrifices were made, they would dump massive amounts of water on the temple floor in an effort to quickly clean everything up before Sabbath began. Scholars have said it would have looked like the temple itself was bleeding due to the amount of blood and water gushing out.

Also on Friday afternoon: A soldier pierced His side and out flowed water and blood (John 19:33-35). The true and better temple, bleeding out.

As they were cleaning, Jesus died and the 6-story veil that separated the people from the Holy of Holies in the temple, from the place where God's glory dwelled, was torn. Hebrews 10 says Jesus Himself is that veil. And when His body is broken, when the true and better High Priest makes the true and better sacrifice?

The veil is torn from top to bottom. All are welcomed in. There's no longer a need for temporary sacrifices... A way is permanently made. Once, for all.

Darkness will soon fall... but God will not run. Instead, God will die. So that we might live. Hope always gets the final word.

I can tell you this, if tomorrow were my last night, I don’t think washing feet would top my priority list.

There are so many details that astound me—the specific importance of each of the Passover cups. The significance of Jesus *not* drinking the final cup (yet). The words to the songs they sang on their way to Gethsemane. The fact that He must have spent so much time in Gethsemane that Judas knew to look for Him there. The simple beauty that out of all the possible places that night, God went back to a garden. That in His darkest hours, the ones who knew Him best, who had years of history and inside jokes and memories made, left. That even at the end, Jesus called Judas friend. How after being seized, He healed one of the people who came to arrest Him. The betrayal of one His dearest. That Jesus said “I have prayed for you” and “when you have turned back” to Peter. The kindness given in advance, the assurance Peter must have clung to after denying Him—Jesus knew all along and would welcome Him back, loving Him no less. The specificity of a charcoal fire blazing as Peter denied once, twice, three times. That it appears only one more time, days later, when Jesus cooks breakfast and Peter is restored once, twice, three times—even a unique smell that would likely take him right back is lovingly redeemed.

But today, it’s the washing of dirty, dusty feet that I can’t get over. Of all the things to do, of all the priorities He could have had in His final hours, He chose this. Bending low, coming close, drawing near in the mess. The sticking-it-out, staying-with, here-for-all-of-it… it’s astonishing.

I’ve long been convinced one of the most stunning phrases in Scripture is found at the end of John 13:1. “Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

He did. He really, actually, truly did.

And He does, still. Despite our mess and our mess-ups, our running away and our hiding, our betrayals and straight up denials. He just comes near. Reaches for a cloth. Stoops low. God, on the ground, loving us to the very end.

Pro-life OBGYN group speaks out after being banned from conference without explanation Christina Francis, CEO-elect of the American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs spoke to Live Action News about being banned from an annual conference.

The Licentiousness of False Teachers — For the Gospel We often focus on the need for false teachers to “repent of their teachings.” They ought to. But equally important is the need for sinful false teachers to repent of their sinful lifestyles. On the blog, Costi Hinn addresses the sad prevalence of licentiousness within the prosperity gospel.

Lost your way? Find it in the Bible! "Your Word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." Today is National Bible Day! Time to pull it out and plumb its depths--you will never exhaust its riches!

"Discontented with their present state" is an accurate description of many in the visible church that have fallen for the lies of a false gospel. This is why they are continually pursuing a "breakthrough."
A real Apostle, Paul, wrote this - "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Phil 4:12-13.
It's ironic that modern-day "apostles" are the exact opposite of what Paul believed, taught, and experienced:
* He didn't rebuke foul weather when it threatened his life.
* When he could not heal his brothers in Christ, he did not pursue a "breakthrough" because "Jesus came to model the miraculous." He didn't blame the sick for their sin of lack of faith - or himself because the "lack was at his end of the equation."
* He didn't rebuke his thorn in the flesh or cast out the spirit of harassment.
* He didn't engage in spiritual warfare to overthrow a wicked government or encourage fellow believers to influence the spheres of society in order to make the world a better place.
* He didn't blame his lack on failure to tithe or sin in his life.
Paul was content in suffering and the difficult circumstances God caused him to experience. Paul had no desire to "bring heaven to earth" in order to make life comfortable for himself and others.
His mission - "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." 1 Cor 2:2.
It's the modern-day false apostles that teach you can "be like the Most High." They will tell you that your words have power and are causative. They will tell you that you can perform greater miracles than Jesus. They will tell you that you can establish his kingdom on earth and that his kingdom is visible - the world will be Christianized and sickness and poverty will be eradicated. They will tell you that our job is to bring heaven to earth - and in doing so, they're preaching a false gospel that's deceiving many on earth, who sadly will never experience heaven in this life or the next.

- Remembering the miracle of God taking on flesh and dwelling among us (Zechariah 2:10; John 1:14)...

- For the purpose of paying the full cost of sin (Isaiah 53; 1 Timothy 1:15-17)....

- For ALL who call upon His name in repentance (Psalms 145:18-20; John 1:9-12; Acts 3:18-19; Romans 2:5; 2 Corinthians 7:10).

May you have a beautiful Christmas focused on Him.
https://jennifersaake.blogspot.com/2022/12/christmas.html

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Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares Yahweh.
- Zechariah 2:10

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- John 1:14

15
It is a trustworthy saying and deserving full acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost.
16
Yet for this reason I was shown mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Christ Jesus might demonstrate all His patience as an example for those who are going to believe upon Him for eternal life.
17
Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
- 1 Timothy 1: 15 -17

Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our peace fell upon Him,
And by His wounds we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.

By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living,
That for the transgression of my people...

But Yahweh was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If You would place His soul as a guilt offering,
He will see His seed,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of Yahweh will succeed in His hand.

As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will divide for Him a portion with the many,
And He will divide the spoil with the strong;
Because He poured out His soul to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors.

- Isaiah 53: 4 -12

Yahweh is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will work out the desire of those who fear Him; He will hear their cry for help and He will save them.
Yahweh keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
He will work out the desire of those who fear Him; He will hear their cry for help and He will save them.
Yahweh keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
- Psalm 145: 18 - 20

There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone.
He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
He came to what was His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
- John 1: 9 -12

But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;
- Acts 3:18 - 19

But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
- Romans 2:5

For godly sorrow produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world brings about death.
- 2 Corinthians 7:10

All Scripture on this post is quoted from the Legacy Standard Bible (LSB).
Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com

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