Zombie Apocalypse

Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. . .

Romans 1:3-6

Vernon Weiss (aka Regular Joe) writes 5 G’s and a Cup of Joe (http://5gsandacupofjoe.net/). One of his recent posts is Why Is Zombie Apocalypse So Popular? (http://5gsandacupofjoe.net/2012/04/30/why-is-zombie-apocalypse-so-popular/). I look forward to reading his post, but haven’t yet. Here’s why: I awoke one morning this week troubled, thinking about a Zombie Apocalypse. No, not that one will happen; rather that there are some dangerous statements made in relation to a zombies.

Zombie Apocalypse (video game) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today it is time to begin putting together my thoughts on paper (albeit electronic paper). Once I’ve done that, I’ll go over and see what Regular Joe has to say. I suggest you do also.

Resurrection. Let me clarify a point here and now. For us, the True-Born Believers in Y’shuaJesus, resurrection is a good thing. We believer death does not have a hold upon us. As Randy Travis sang, “Death. Where is your sting?” Death can’t jump up and bite us. The demonstration of this was in the life, death, and resurrection of Y’shuaJesus. This is one of the key points of the Gospel message. We die in our flesh and are reborn, filled now with the Spirit of G-d. We die with Messiah, and rise to new life with Him. This is symbolized in our baptism.

But the word resurrection is taking on an different theme these days. It’s a new word for the dead becoming zombies. Normally, in the Zombie World, a person dies, usually infected with a disease, then comes back as a zombie. A zombie has no mental capacity, only primal functions of what is usually explained as the reptilian brain, for benefit of evolutionists, I’m sure. These zombies are walking dead, craving fresh flesh. Their bite is infectious, causing others to become zombies, if they aren’t eaten completely. Nothing affects zombies; they feel nothing, don’t breath, and only have one inherent desire: to eat. They are put back into death by killing that lower portion of the brain that is controlled, in some zombie books and movies, by the infection or virus.

In the past, becoming a zombie has been called turning or converting. It has also been called reanimation, as if we, the living, are animated, cease, and are animated again. Reanimation is also used in other-than-zombie talk to refer to revival of a person. Interesting. Once becoming zombies, they are sometimes referred to as the undead. According to an article in Wikipedia, “Undead is a collective name for beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. It could also describe a dead body animated by supernatural forces. . .” Even more interesting!

So why are zombies important to us? It’s that the word resurrection is being used to describe the living, dying, and subsequent return as a zombie. It occurs this way in the book The Return Man, by V.M Zito. The book didn’t tie the word resurrection to Y’shuaJesus, though. Resurrection is the name of the disease that causes death, followed by becoming the somewhat stereo-typical zombie. The word resurrection also occurred once in an episode of the television show Walking Dead. But in Walking Dead, there’s a particularly nasty scene that really bites us. One of the characters in the show is considered the closest person in the group to a preacher, as he is often portrayed reading his Bible, and “thumping” on it. In one scene, as he considers the zombie hordes, he laments that he knew G-d promised resurrection from the dead, but didn’t think this was what G-d had in mind. Ugh!

What’s my point? Simple. They, the unbelievers, have once again stolen a word that describes a very specific action of great importance to believers. It is defiling. It is steering other unbelievers away from, rather than toward, the Gospel Message. “But it’s only fiction!” one might exclaim. Sure. But don’t you see something sinister behind it? After all, the whole premise behind zombie is irrational. In a false logic model, the enemy of Messiah hammers away at illogical = resurrection = Messiah. See?

Enough for now. Let’s have a truly blessed weekend out there! Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Legacy

Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity. There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. This also I have seen that it is from the hand of God.

Ecclesiastes 2:20-24

Once upon a time, either on the radio or sitting in a pew, I heard a preacher talk about Solomon and his depression. It seemed to that preacher, that was the only explanation for Solomon to write such things. It seems that many others think this is the case, too. We work hard to build a life for ourselves, to make a difference in the world. We spend our lives to build a legacy. We need others to believe this is the correct approach to life. We need everyone to be on board with this idea to ensure that the economy grows. If too many believe they don’t have to buy materials to better adorn their homes and offices and places of work, the economy won’t grow and we’ll slide into a recession and then a depression. People will be out of work.

If Solomon were around writing his thoughts today, he’d certainly be singled out for psychiatric therapy, a regular dosage of anti-depressant medication, and no doubt someone would convince him to attend some “joy” seminar somewhere. Solomon would be called a “doom-sayer” and labeled a nut. I suppose that most would believer Solomon would be getting rich on spreading his depressive thoughts about the internet.

Therefore I [the LORD] will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Isaiah 13:13

Y’shuaJesus spoke about seeking the Kingdom of G-d. He didn’t say we were to try and build that kingdom here on Earth. That’s the Lord’s work; that isn’t ours. So what is our legacy to be, then?

This morning returning from dropping my son at school, Watching You by Rodney Atkins played on the radio. It’s about a boy who is watching his father, who wants to be like his father IN EVERY WAY. The boy says a naughty word, and his father asks where he learned that word. The boys says he’s been watching. In another verse the boy is praying to our Heavenly Father as though he were a friend. The father asks where the boy learned to pray that way. The boy replies, “I’ve been watching you.”

It’s not the riches we have to leave as an inheritance, not the great buildings we’ve built to house ourselves and our families, not the products we create or repair or construct for others, but the character we allow the Lord to create in us and pass on to others that is our legacy. Our character is built through our relationship with Y’shuaJesus. We forsake the earthly kingdom, seek the Heavenly Kingdom. We allow G-d to be the center of our lives, creating in us, as the psalmist wrote, “a clean heart.”

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Identity

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:36

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13

The identity of a True-Born Believer in Y’shuaJesus as Lord, Messiah, is deeper than the external appearance—it is the driving force of our lives in concert with one another. Whether we are dark or light skinned, live on one continent or another, work in fields, or offices, or drive truck, we are all born of the Blood and Flesh of Messiah. We are one in Him. We “have been all made to drink into one Spirit” as Paul heard it from G-d.

Unbelievers have a conscience, an internal mechanism, that provides some guidance in their lives—if the conscience isn’t seared, that is. This conscience is placed there by G-d that the whole of humanity doesn’t simply go bonkers before giving a chance to build a complete people for G-d’s Name upon Earth. This explains why non-believers do things that are considered good, even righteous, while worshiping false gods, or not god at all.

Unlike the conscience of an unbeliever, True-Born Believers have the Spirit of G-d, the Mind of Messiah. We are sealed. Our names are written in the Book of Life with permanent ink. Conscience can be seared, deformed, destroyed. The sealing of G-d is once forever. Like the Blood of the Lamb upon the doorposts of Jews in Egypt protected from the Death Angel, we are protected from eternal death, even from the Wrath of G-d when finally the last of those who are to be saved are brought into the Body of Messiah.

Back in my days with Calvary Chapel, we sang a song that included the lines from a Psalm, How good and pleasant it is when brothers (and sisters) dwell together in unity. We need to shed our fleshly concerns, our worldly ways, and see one another as One in Messiah. Then we can, together, in the unity of the Spirit of G-d, with one voice, give praise to our Lord and seek His way on Earth, drawing all that are willing, able, into fellowship with Him.

This is our true identity on Earth.

I was Christian, I was Buddhist, I was Hindu, I was Jew
Now I am only one in You, awaiting my ultimate fate
Doubting not what You have told me to be true
I am one people, I belong to You—I knell at Your gate.

From “I Wait” by Wil Robinson ©1989

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

More Thoughts on “Image”

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. . .

Romans 8:29 & 30

Let me ask again: Am I like the wizard of Oz that stands behind a curtain, with a projector displaying a powerful entity upon the wall, as if that were him? Is the person that I am within, the person I display to the world? If I project a righteous image, is that truly who I am within? Mark reports Y’shuaJesus commenting on things that come from within us.

And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Mark 7:18-23

There is the rub, then. It is not “IF” we have within us something that when it comes out defiles our image, our identity. We have seeds of corruption sown within our hearts. If we are to be fully honest, fully real people, from time to time we are going to show some of those defiling qualities. We can only and always, until we meet the Lord in the air, be mere sinners saved by the grace of a loving Heavenly Father through His Son, our Messiah, Y’shuaJesus.

In our desire to be authentic, we must still struggle with not acting upon inner, defiling, thoughts. We walk the edge of a razor, dance upon the edge of a cliff. We must at all cost persevere to be conformed into the image of Messiah. It is a process. Our salvation is immediately bestowed upon us at the time of our coming to accept Y’shuaJesus as Messiah, as Lord of our lives. And from this point forward we are being conformed into the Lord’s image—the image for which we were intended.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Image, Identity, and Legacy

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature
after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth
after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the
earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that
creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that [it was] good.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and
over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God
created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him;
male and female created he them.

Genesis 1:24-28

Image. I can’t articulate, at the moment, what it means when G-d says we are created in His Image. I’m sure that at some point in my life I’ve heard some sermon or other on the topic. I know that if I read the commentary at the bottom of the page in one of my study Bibles, I’ll be told what that author thinks, and often there will be other opinions given, too. But today, for the moment anyway, I’m vague on previous teachings, and I’m not willing to check the commentaries. Until the word “image” popped out at me, I wasn’t thinking about it at all.

Identity. I began this morning with several thoughts bouncing around in my head. One was identity. I’d previously noted the following in a journal: “Identity => given, associated with a name [someone from a place] often used or [someone’s son or daughter] also used. Identity had not been something we’d look for, we just were. . . we didn’t need to ‘find ourselves.’ Identity & soul are linked, too, to place. . . a place and a place in the world. Belonging.”

Drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen this morning, with my Bible before me, I scanned through the index just to see if the word “identity” came up. As expected, it didn’t, but “image” did. This seemed to tie together another event that is on my mind. Recently, the executive officer for an international ministry that supports persecuted Christians, in which I participate, died. The events are not clear, yet, but he left a note at the ministry saying he faced investigation for a serious crime. Furthermore, he wrote that he was suicidal and depressed at the thought of the way the accusations would affect his wife and children. It matters not if the allegations against this man are true or false, that he is dead, possibly taking his own life, then he appears guilty. All that remains now of this man is the image of a man’s corruption, and way it tarnishes G-d’s image.

The thing is, we are all capable of committing the most heinous crimes, most unforgivable acts. It isn’t why did this happen, but why doesn’t it happen more often? It isn’t “How could he?” but “Why have I been spared such horror?” When bad things happen to good people, we ought to wonder why it hasn’t happened to us instead. We are all fallen with Adam. Yes, through the grace of Messiah Y’shuaJesus, we are forgiven, redeemed during the final judgement when wicked are separated from the Lord’s True-born believers.

Legacy. Always a close companion to various thoughts that bounce around my head is what will I really leave behind. If I project a particular image, it is based upon the identity I’ve developed as I’ve grown up. Does that image match my true identity? Or am I projecting something that isn’t truly me? Am I like the wizard of Oz that stands behind a curtain, with a projector displaying a powerful entity upon the wall, as if that were him? I am created in the image of G-d. Do I display that image? Is that truly my identity in this world? If so, my legacy will be intact, I’ll leave behind whatever the Holy Spirit does through me.

More later! Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon y’all this day and every day. May the mercy of the Lord operate abundantly in our lives.

Collateral Damage (four)

Another parable put he [Y’shuaJesus] forth unto them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Matthew 13:24-30

Out back I’m watering today. It’s cool, though the last few days have been dry and windy, which dries the ground out. While during the hottest days of summer, we often water selectively, today I’m watering a large area using an irrigation sprinkler. Water covers both what we have planted as well as those nature has provideds for us. Some call them weeds. They’re really just plants we will eventually remove as we have the opportunity. Unlike the owner of the field to which Y’shuaJesus was referring in the scripture, we won’t let them grow to harvest. But there are many times I think about this scripture when I’m inadvertently stepping on a new shoot while navigating around in the garden area. G-d’s more concerned with collateral damage than I, for which I’m exceedingly pleased.

In Genesis chapter 18 we find the Lord considering what to do with a couple of very evil towns. Finally, He decides to destroy them both. He tells Abraham about His plan. “And Abraham drew near, and said, ‘Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?’ ” Genesis 18:23

Matthew Henry comments: “Here is the first solemn prayer upon record in the Bible; and it is a prayer for the sparing of Sodom. Abraham prayed earnestly that Sodom might be spared, if but a few righteous persons should be found in it. Come and learn from Abraham what compassion we should feel for sinners, and how earnestly we should pray for them. We see here that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Abraham, indeed, failed in his request for the whole place, but Lot was miraculously delivered. Be encouraged then to expect, by earnest prayer, the blessing of God upon your families, your friends, your neighbourhood. To this end you must not only pray, but you must live like Abraham. He knew the Judge of all the earth would do right. He does not plead that the wicked may be spared for their own sake, or because it would be severe to destroy them, but for the sake of the righteous who might be found among them. And righteousness only can be made a plea before God. How then did Christ make intercession for transgressors? Not by blaming the Divine law, nor by alleging ought in extenuation or excuse of human guilt; but by pleading HIS OWN obedience unto death.”

So, while a couple of wicked towns and their inhabitants are destroyed, Lot and family are saved. Again proving G-d is concerned with collateral damage.

Yet we continue to live in a world in which we are persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, even murdered. There are laws enacted to protect people in America from discrimination of all forms. Some of those people actively engage in acts that are forbidden by G-d, as spoken of in His Word. Yet I know, from firsthand experience, that employers restrict some Christians from the exercise of their religion. Such restrictions, discrimination, is forbidden under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. Pagans in America are free to preach their religious views, approving of activities that are anathema to Christians, yet Christians are all to often restricted from expressing the love of G-d by sharing the Gospel message.

These are trials in which we must endure. Sometimes we suffer the collateral damage from the simple fact that we live in a fallen world. Additionally, “. . .[G-d’s] judgements [are] in all the earth.” Psalm 105:7 These are not the wrath of G-d, to which we will not be made a part. We endure in the knowledge that the righteous live eternally—even if they fall “asleep” in Y’shuaJesus, they will be awoken. Though we today suffer various calamities along with pagans in this fallen world, there is a wrath coming to Earth in which we shall not partake. Y’shuaJesus said so. Believe. Prepare today and endure to the End.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Collateral Damage (three)

For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. Matthew 24:21,22

Despite various trials and persecution—tribulation—we learn from the Bible of G-d’s continued concern for His Elect. G-d demonstrated it, and recorded it to encourage us. G-d has been straight with us. Take Matthew 24, for instance. The disciples have commented on the Temple. These disciples are beginning to understand that thought Y’shuaJesus is Messiah, it’s not as they’d expected: He isn’t yet the Messiah who came to conquer. These disciples have yet to understand entirely Y’shuaJesus’s role as a suffering servant Messiah, either. So when they commented on the Temple, Y’shuaJesus seized this moment as an opportunity to share a little insight with them. He could easily have introduced the subject with something like: Hey, remember when I sent you out in pairs to preach? I gave you power, told you everything would be alright. Well, there’s a future coming that’s gonna be a bit hairy. There’s some things that will happen before I establish my Kingdom on Earth. There are gonna be some trials and suffering amongst y’all.

Matthew Henry commented on the question the disciples asked about when the destruction of the temple was to take place: “But Christ, in his answer. . . looks further than their question, and instructs his church, not only concerning the great events of that age, the destruction of Jerusalem, but concerning his second coming at the end of time, which here he insensibly slides into a discourse of, and of that it is plain he speaks in the next chapter, which is a continuation of this sermon.”

Zephaniah describes these particular times in this way: “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.” Zephaniah 3:8,9.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon those who are counted as His Sheep. May the rest of the peoples be stirred to seek the LORD before His indignation and fierce anger are poured fully poured out upon the Earth.

Collateral Damage (Two)

Thou hast given us like sheep appointed for meat; and hast scattered us among the heathen. Psalm 44:11

After World War II, many of the Jewish people scattered about the world returned to the land that had been home to their descendents. When the British administrators of that land departed, the Jews were left to fight for their land. Despite the difficulties involved, Israel was reborn. I’ve heard it said by Jews in Israel that there, at least, they belong, for as prosperous as they may have been elsewhere, they were still second-class citizens.

A “True-Born” Gentile Believer renounces his or her worldly citizenship, accepting the second-class status of Christian. In fifty-one nations on Earth, to do so is illegal, and punishable in many of those countries by death.

The True-Born Believers, Gentile and Jewish, are scattered throughout the world. Perhaps we aren’t being slaughtered each day, every day, where we live. Perhaps we think it can’t happen, either. Such were the thoughts of millions of Jews in days prior to Germany’s reign of terror, the days leading up to Kristallnacht

“Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, or Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of coordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938, carried out by SA stormtroopers and civilians. German authorities looked on without intervening. The attacks left the streets covered with broken glass from the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues.” (from Wikipedia)

In the days of Noah, people were living ordinary lives, going about their business as if nothing was about to happen. Noah preached righteousness, and followed G-d’s plan preparing for the waters to rise and engulf a world turned against the LORD, the One True G-d.

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .

Collateral Damage

He [is] the LORD our God: his judgments [are] in all the earth.
Psalm 105:7 King James Version (KJV)

Bagels with cream cheese and lox (cured salmon... — Bagels with cream cheese and lox (cured salmon) are considered a traditional part of American Jewish cuisine (colloquially known as lox and a schmear). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A good breakfast. I enjoy sitting in a diner and having a nice omelette. It’s even better when served with a poppyseed bagel, toasted, that I slather with butter. Ummm. Good. I’ve often thought that if there were no place close by to have a good breakfast, I wasn’t meant to live there, and should move on.

An open Bible. Better than the breakfast is the Bible, open on the table before me. Reading it. And occasionally someone will comment, nicely, about this. Sometimes omeone will begin a conversation with me, which I thoroughly enjoy. I can only remember one time when someone laughed about my choice of morning reading. But, at several inches over six feet in height, it’s no wonder.

Today it’s BB’s Bagels. The diner is built to appear like a 1950s-style roadside diner. It’s often packed with people enjoying breakfast, or just a bagel and coffee. There are an endless variety of conversations to listen to, if I choose. The ceiling is low, painted panels, with a recessed channel the entire length made with stained wood strips. A row of lights illuminate the counter area. Tables with chairs and booths make up the remainder of the seating area. While in the American Fifties, the metal chairs would be chromed, here they are painted black, matching the torn, worn, Naugahyde-covered booths.

Looking out the window, I look out across an outdoor seating area. A breeze plays with newly sprouted leaves on the trees lining the road. The morning sun reflects from windshields and chrome on cars and trucks passing quickly headed to some destination I can only guess. If not for the style of vehicles, and the clothing worn by waitresses and customers, I could be back in America’s Baby Boomer year. From our perspective today, those were the “Good Ole Days.” Days of endless summer. Days filled with laughter. They were the days before, while in school, we practiced diving beneath our desks while the teachers pulled the blackout draperies across the wall of windows in our classroom. Before the “Cold War” that consumed us. That was before we learned about “Free Love.” That was before we learned to die in jungles a long way from home all the time questioning “What are we fighting for?”

We thought that hard work would always bring prosperity. That the Good always win, Evil always loses. We thought we were righteous, and we carried that thought in our actions around the world. We sent dollars to feed those less fortunate, less blessed. We sent missionaries to save a people who didn’t know the truth. We thought that would keep our economy growing.

But we were wrong. We thought we were immune to the judgements of a Holy and Triumphant G-d.

Sitting on the torn, worn Naugahyde-covered booth, looking out on a perfect day, having enjoyed my omelette and bagel, and a second cup of rich, bold coffee, I could easily forget the trials of a nation of people who think they “are all that. . .” That is to say, a nation of people who think they deserve the fruits of their labor. In churches across America, the cry is “Pray for our Nation.” We quote “If my people will humble themselves, pray. . .” and we think that will do it all. We think our economy will rebound and everything will be alright.

I think, rather, we should say, “We tried,” and follow that in humility, in honesty, saying, “But we tried on our own.” We need now to say, “The LORD is G-d and we kneel before the Lord Y’shuaJesus saying, “Come, Lord, Come!”

PS I walked out of the diner to an overcast sky. The cool, humid breeze feeling like a storm coming. Only a patch of blue left open to the sun, where it shined on the spot I could see from inside.

Perspective!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine upon us that we may know You!

Trials and Such

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. . . (Acts 1:1-3)

Holy Spirit painting (Photo credit: hickory hardscrabble)

The time between the Rescurrection and the Ascension is forty days. This in-between time was filled with visits from Y’shuaJesus. The visits, I think, were to bolster the faith of those who just weren’t sure about Y’shuaJesus’s mission. Some had believed He was to be a physical savior for the nation of Israel, freeing it from the Roman Empire, leading a Maccabee-type revolt. Others just didn’t understand at all. Disciples discussed the events among themselves. Like the disciples on the road to Amaoz. The disciples all needed to feel the burning in their hearts of the presence of Y’shuaJesus. They needed to be reminded of their true missions.

This time between also must have been a time of trial. The number of days between the Resurrection and the Ascension caught my attention. Forty. It is the number of days Y’shuaJesus was in the wilderness, tempted. It was the number of years Israel spent wandering in the desert. It was the number of Ali Baba’s thieves. (It’s okay to smile, this isn’t your trial/test.) There were a lot of forty-year periods in Moses’s life. After being tossed into the river, he was groomed to be an Egyptian prince for forty years. Then he let his anger get the best of him, and spent forty years in the wilderness. As if eighty years of testing weren’t enough, he gets called back to Egypt to rescue a rather stiff-necked people, and suffer trials with them for another forty years. Not such a great retirement package!

It seems to me our own lives are times in between. I’d thought perhaps we were here just waiting. But it looks more like we’re also being tested the whole time here. Even if we’ve experience a moment of Power from on High, a Pentecost of our own with an in-filling of the Holy Spirit, we are still in test mode. Isn’t life in Messiah exciting? He called us, like He called His disciples and Apostles. He walked with us a while, like He did with them. Then He leaves us for some testing and tribulation, stopping by every now and again to make sure our faith is bolstered, that we remain strong.

But oh, how glorious are those time in His embrace!

And His Spirit He gave to us to give us His Strength, His Power. No, not to get out of the test, but to deal with it. There’s a line in one of the Lord of the Rings books, in which Frodo is in a very dark and gloomy forest. He says something in about it certainly not being a sunny walk in May. He’s scared. He feels lost. Then he looks ahead and sees the sun, shining onto the end of the path. It’s like that with our lives, I think: we aren’t just walking a nice path along the river’s edge. We are running a track meet, an obstacle course, jumping hurdles. There is a promise to a feast for the winner. And we are all winners in Messiah, if we have given ourselves to Him, if we’ve accepted His way of salvation. All will eventually acknowledge Y’shuaJesus. All will eventually knell before King Y’shuaJesus and declare that indeed He is Lord. Will we do it now, while it is still Day, before the Night comes to take some away?

Thank you Lord Y’shuaJesus!

Lord Bless, Keep, Shine. . .