REVIVALTALK

  Exodus 12:19 – “For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses…” Several years ago I met this gentlemen who lived alone.  He had been married, but had lost his wife to illness.  He was blessed with several sisters who loved and cared for him.  They would come and clean his house each week, but several times a year they would come and give the house a good spring-cleaning.             What is spring-cleaning?  It is cleaning the house from top to bottom.  It usually occurs when the season changes and the weather gets warmer.  One thought is that it originated with the Jewish people when they would give their homes a thorough cleaning leading up to Passover.   In the days before Passover the family will clean the house and remove any leaven (a substance like yeast or baking powder).  In Exodus chapters 12 and 13 Moses instructed the peo...

Thursday night of the Lord’s Passion Week is filled with different events.  Jesus shares the Passover Seder meal with His twelve disciples in an Upper Room in Jerusalem. The Christian world refers to this day as Maundy or Holy Thursday.  It is the time set aside on the Christian calendar to commemorate the Lord’s last Supper.             It was during this supper that He instituted Holy Communion or as it is called in some churches, “The Lord’s Supper.”  At the Passover meal we learn that He broke the bread, distributed it to His disciples, and said, “This represents My body which will be broken for you.”  He then took up the cup and told them, “This cup represents my blood that will be shed so that a new covenant will be instituted.  Christian’s today celebrate Holy Communion and commemorate the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord.           ...

   Outside the old city walls of Jerusalem in an Arab neighborhood is a place called, “Gordon’s Calvary,” or the “Garden Tomb.” It is surrounded by an Arab Bus Station and on the top of the sight believed to be Golgotha, the Place of the Skull, there is a Muslim cemetery.   Outside the walls of this serene place is all kinds of activity. People are consumed with their everyday life. Like any other city in the world, the   people are trying to survive. When we made our journey to what is believed to be the place where Jesus died, was buried, and rose from the dead, there were several things that captured my attention. There were a number of birds that were singing. There were many signs of life in the garden. I experienced such peace as we spent time in prayer and communion with our guides.    Perhaps those who live in the surrounding neighborhoods only see this place as another tourist stop, but for me it was a place of refuge and rest. It was a place to be...

  Zechariah 9:9 -  “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!   Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!   Behold, your King is coming to you;   He is just and having salvation,   Lowly and riding on a donkey,   A colt, the foal of a donkey.”             In Matthew 21 there is a vivid word picture of the Triumphant Entry of Christ into the Holy City of Jerusalem. This took place just five days prior to His death. The timing of His entry into Jerusalem was very important. His entry occurred on the tenth day of the month of Nissan in the spring of the year. Five days later on the fourteenth day of the month the Feast of Passover was to be celebrated. This entry was important because the Passover lamb was taken up and set apart on this day.  The lamb had to be set apart for four days to make sure there were no blemishes.  Jesus is our Passover lamb.  He was our substitute and...

There are seven major feasts that God established with Israel in the Old Testament. The first of these seven feasts was Passover. Passover always comes in the first month of the year on the Hebrew religious calendar. This month is known as Abib in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, and later came to be known as Nissan after the Babylonian captivity.  Although there are a total of seven feasts (the divine number for perfection or completeness in the Bible), God divided the seven festivals into three major festival seasons. Every male was to present themselves before the Lord three times in a year in each festival group.  The Jewish male would travel to Jerusalem for Passover in the spring, Pentecost at the end of spring, and the Feast of Tabernacles in the fall.  The fall festival season consisted of Rosh Ha Shana (Trumpets), The Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles. The first group is Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and First Fruits.  These three festivals ...