Shana Tova, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Teruah, Day of Trumpets

As per Wikipedia:

Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew: ראש השנה‎, literally "head [of] the year"), is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im ("Days of Awe") which usually occur in the early autumn of the Northern Hemisphere. Rosh Hashanah begins on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. The day is believed to be the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, and their first actions toward the realization of mankind's role in God's world. Rosh Hashanah customs include sounding the shofar (a hollowed-out ram's horn) and eating symbolic foods such as apples dipped in honey to evoke a "sweet new year".

On her blog "The Sharpest Pencil", Lana writes:

Jewish religion teaches that Rosh Hashanah is the Day of Judgment. On Rosh Hashanah, God is said to inscribe the fate of every person for the upcoming year in the Book of Life or the Book of Death. The verdict is not final until Yom Kippur.
  Rosh Hashanah marks the beginning of the Ten Days of Awe or Repentance (the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), during which we reflect upon our actions over the past year and seek forgiveness for our transgressions in hopes of influencing God’s final judgment.

From the Christian perspective, The Feast of Trumpets is one of the three Jewish feasts, ordained by God in Leviticus 23, which is yet to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ with the Rapture of the Church.

My friend Scottie has some very interesting videos on the subject of bible prophecy, and some great explanations of the feasts in his videos. Below are some thoughts on the Feast of Trumpets and the Rapture of the Church. Take a look:

A quick outline of the feasts and the Christian significance of each is below. Please visit http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Introduction/introduction.html for a more detailed explanation of the feasts from both the traditional Jewish, and Christian perspectives.

SPRING FEASTS - Fulfilled by Jesus Christ at His first advent.

• Passover - Fulfilled by Christ as he died on the cross, shedding His blood as the Perfect Lamb of God to atone for the sins of mankind, for all time.

• Feast of Unleavened Bread - Christ, The Bread of Life. The burial of Christ after his death, the perfect sinless sacrifice who took the burden of the worlds sin upon Himself, buried after His death, sinless.

• Feast of First Fruits -  The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ was the First Fruit of the resurrection from the dead.

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1 Corinthians 15:20 (ESV)

• Pentecost - Fulfilled by the giving of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the Church. All believers would now be sealed and empowered by the Holy Spirit upon acceptance of Christ's sacrificial death and bodily resurrection from the dead.

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested[a] on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:1-4(ESV)

FALL FEASTS - Yet to be fulfilled by Christ upon His Second Coming

• Feast Of Trumpets - The soon to be fulfilled Rapture of the Church, and the end of the Church Age which began on Pentecost.

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 (ESV)

• Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement - Yet to be fulfilled at the Second Coming of Christ. The fulfillment of God's promise to save Israel

• Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) - Yet to be fulfilled at the Second Coming of Christ. The Millennial  Reign of the King of Righteousness on Earth

The Burden of Damascus

 The Burden of Damascus -  Isaiah Chapter 17

 (Isa 17:1)  An oracle concerning Damascus. Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins.

(Isa 17:2)  The cities of Aroer are deserted; they will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.

(Isa 17:3)  The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus; and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, declares the LORD of hosts.

(Isa 17:4)  And in that day the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean.

(Isa 17:5)  And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.

(Isa 17:6)  Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten— two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or five on the branches of a fruit tree, declares the LORD God of Israel.

(Isa 17:7)  In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel.

(Isa 17:8)  He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the Asherim or the altars of incense.

(Isa 17:9)  In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

(Isa 17:10)  For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,

(Isa 17:11)  though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain.

(Isa 17:12)  Ah, the thunder of many peoples; they thunder like the thundering of the sea! Ah, the roar of nations; they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!

(Isa 17:13)  The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.

(Isa 17:14)  At evening time, behold, terror! Before morning, they are no more! This is the portion of those who loot us, and the lot of those who plunder us.

 

Dempsey in Israel, Jordan, to tie last ends before Obama decides finally on US military action in Syria

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 13, 2013, 8:44 AM (IDT)

US and Jordanian special forces

Chairman of the US Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey arrived in Israel Monday, Aug. 12 for critical talks with Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, followed by parallel talks in Jordan. debkafile reports he has come to lay the ground ahead of President Barack Obama’s final decision to embark on limited US military intervention in the Syria civil war.

The Obama plan, if it goes forward, would involve Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Israel, Jordan and possibly Turkey. debkafile’s Washington and military sources reveal its 11 high points - most of which were first reported exclusively in DEBKA Weekly 598 on Aug. 1:

1. US, British, French, Saudi and United Arab Emirates will establish a no-fly zone over central and southern Syria, stretching from the Jordanian-Israeli borders up to and including Damascus.
2.  The Israeli Air Force will provide these forces with air cover from Syrian air space.
3.  A 40-kilometer deep military buffer zone will be drawn from the Jordanian-Israeli borders up to the southern and western outskirts of Damascus. The military units controlling this zone will hold the entire area of the capital within artillery range.
4.  The southern Syrian town of Deraa, where the Syrian uprising sprang up, will be declared capital of Liberated Syria.
5.   President Obama has determined that there will no American troops in the buffer zone or anywhere else on Syrian soil, only special Syrian rebel forces.
6.  Those forces will consist of 3,000 fighters trained in Jordan by US military instructors. They will be headed by Jordanian special forces and operate under US officers based in Jordan.
7. To host them, the US Army has just finished building in the Hashemite Kingdom a huge training camp and logistical system, debkafile’s military sources report. All the weapons and equipment required to train and arm the rebel force are already stacked there.
8.  The American operational command center for the Syrian operation is already in place in Amman led by US Brig. Gen. John Wright, who at 57 is a veteran of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
9.  The US air force units for imposing the no-fly zone over Syria are already in position at Middle East locations and ready to go at 36 hours’ notice.
10.  A Druze unit trained by US military instructors will be a key component of the special rebel force. It was put up by the million-strong community which populates 120 villages and towns in the Jabal al-Druze area of southern Syria. They are situated in a commanding position overlooking the Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi border triangle.
11. US forces deployed in the Middle East, especially in Jordan and Israel, will stand ready for possible reprisals against American, Israeli, Jordanian or Turkish targets, if ordered by Syrian President Bashar Assad in retaliation for the no-fly and buffer zones.

Daniel's End Times

Study Notes on the topic of Daniel's End Times

Dan 12:1  And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.  

Dan 12:2  And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  

Dan 12:3  And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.  

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

Dan 12:5  Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.  

Dan 12:6  And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?  

Dan 12:7  And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.  

Dan 12:8  And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?  

Dan 12:9  And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.  

Dan 12:10  Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.  

Dan 12:11  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.  

Dan 12:12  Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.  

Dan 12:13  But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

Libnah is being awakened from a 3,000-year sleep

The ALMIGHTY said He would make Himself known in the latter days.

"Surely I come quickly..." Jesus Christ (Rev 22:20)

From The Jerusalem Post:

Digging up treasures

07/11/2013 16:04   By ADAM ROSS

The supposed ancient city of Libnah is being awakened from a 3,000-year sleep as excavations reveal findings from First Temple, Canaanite periods.

Photo by: Adam Ross

The residents of the Shfela, which extends from Latrun in the North to Kiryat Gat in the South, are well aware of the historical significance of the area in which they live. The vast excavations at Beit Guvrin that open a window to the Bar Kochba revolt in Second Temple times and the Eila Valley where David slew Goliath, a stone’s throw from Beit Shemesh, are just two of the historical treasures.

It is here, perhaps unbeknown to locals that an archeologist licensed from Bar-Ilan University is almost certain that he has uncovered the biblical stronghold of Libnah.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Libnah or Lobna (Hebrew: לִבְנָה‎, whiteness; Latin: Lobna) was a town in the Kingdom of Judah. The town of Libnah revolted during the reign of King Jehoram of Judah, according to II Chronicles (21:10), because he "had abandoned [the] God of his fathers."
Josiah, King of Judah, married Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah (1 Chronicles 3:15; 2 Kings 23:31-32;2 Kings 24:17-18; Jeremiah 22:11). Two of their sons, Jehoahaz and Zedekiah also became Kings of Judah. Libnah was one of the places the Israelites stopped on the Exodus. (Joshua 10:29)

ASSYRIAN WARRIORS HURLING STONES. The carving is from a wall decoration in the palace of Sennacherib at Nineveh (early seventh century BCE). http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/gerald_larue/otll/chap10.html

As recorded in the Bible at 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37, in 732 BCE , 185,000 Assyrian soldiers under King Sennacherib were killed by an angel of God while encamped near Libnah, thwarting their advance from Lachish to Jerusalem.

Digging up treasures | JPost | Israel News

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A Treasure in Earthen Vessels

Bob Hoekstra daily devotional. May 22 :  "An Attitude Carried About by Earthen Vessels"

Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  (2 Cor 4:10)

As earthen vessels, we are to live by trusting in the treasure (the Lord Jesus) who dwells within us: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." (2 Cor 4:7) Also, we are to give Him all honor and glory as He sustains us day by day through the trials of life: "that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." In addition, to help us magnify the treasure who lives in us, there is to be an attitude (an outlook) carried about (embraced) by the earthen vessels. - Bob Hoekstra

A scripture to keep me reminded that my life is no longer my own. That my life was bought in blood, by the Creator of all things. The Eternal sacrificed Himself so that I would not have to spend an eternity separated from Him. A reminder that I need to continually die to myself and my worldly aspirations, and follow Jesus in newness of life and purpose. My old self is dead, but I am now alive in Christ. As He died and was resurrected, so too am I dead to my former self, but now live resurrected with Christ to a new life.

Living In Him, He In Me

The scripture invokes Christ's words, "...take up his cross daily, and follow Me". Continually dying to myself, stifling my desires, lusts, and worldly aspirations, guided to do the will of The Eternal by HIS Holy Spirit indwelling me. He who left His throne to manifest Himself as a man to live in the world as I do, with all its temptations and corruptions.

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Heb 4:14-15)

He came to earth to live as a man; showing mankind how to live.... Perfectly..... and at the appropriate time; then, taking that Perfect Life... gave it to those who would destroy it. 

The Eternal giving Himself over to death as the payment for all the crimes and corruptions of His creation. 

The Almighty gave His life willingly, depositing in escrow once the payment for the debt due for the sins of mankind for all time, redeeming all who would believe and accept Him and His Sacrifice.

And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (Heb 5:9) 

The Law set down by God, and given through Moses to the Jewish people, could not make them clean, but could only condemn, and foreshadow the coming Perfect Blood Sacrifice:

But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

(Heb 9:7-10)

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

(Heb 9:11-12)

He gave The Law to the Hebrews as the standard of what it is to be Holy... A Royal Commandment to live by... He knew they would not measure up:

 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 

(Rom 3:19-20) 

The Almighty, Eternal, Perfect God cannot allow perverse, corrupted, selfish people into His Holy Eternal presence, so he had to remove that tainted nature from mankind.

From the fall of man, sin entered into the world by man exercising the free will God had given him. That free will allowed man to chose to disobey God; having been in a perfect state, in perfect fellowship with God, the actions of selfish man became his demise and the corruption of the world and all in it.  

Sin and death had entered into the world through one man. And Life was given by the selfless act of one man, the Son of Man, the Son of God.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.  (Rom 5:12-19)

Christ's sacrifice provided the payment which was due God for the sin of all mankind. 

For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Mat 26:28)

        

Not Good, Missed Time with God

05/22/13 Missed completing my morning devotional this morning. Not good. This morning's scripture: 2 COR 4:10 Study in progress.

The Diamond in the Rough

Bob Hoekstra daily devotional. May 21 :  "The Process that Magnifies the Treasure"

2 Cor 4:7-9

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 
2Co 4:8  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 
2Co 4:9  Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 

>>>>>>>

The Diamond in the Rough

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, 2 Cor 4:7

He keeps me, and sustains me, He is my bulwark against the storms, He is my armor against attacks, He is the Perfect Architect who builds the indestructible; an earthen vessel which cannot be crushed, as long as I abide in Him.

My steadfastness in Him is my testimony.

When I am asked how it is that I am sustained in the times of persecution, calamity or disaster, my strength  my power, my existence, is enabled by the amazing grace of  My Savior.

My Provider, My Healer, My Lord, My Jesus


PRAYER REQUEST:

Please keep in prayer all those who have had their existence devastated by the terrible storms and tornadoes in our country this week.

 "Lord God, we ask you to please keep and sustain all those who have been impacted by this tragedy. Protect them Father, heal and comfort them, and walk with them Our Holy Father. In your precious name, thank you Lord Jesus, amen"