The First Passover

The Passover is a national holiday of the Jews, both Jesus’ day and today. How did it start? Why is it so important?

Throughout the Old Testament, God has given many examples of what His one and perfect sacrifice would look like. One of these examples was Passover.

When the Jews were slaves in Egypt, God told Moose that He would send the angel of death to kill the first born of every house hold.

The family had to take a perfect lamb with no spots or defects and bring into their home to live with them for a week. Then, they had to kill the lamb and smear the blood on the door posts of their home. When the angel of death came, he would see the blood and pass over the house, spearing the first born.

By the blood of the lamb, death passed.

Jewish thinking vs. Greek thinking

When we read the Bible, we must understand that first century Jews didn’t think like we do today.

Today, in America, we think like the Greeks did. We love bullet lists. If someone were to ask a Greek to describe God, he would say, “He is powerful. He is all knowing,” etc.

The Jews, however, thought differently. They saw things in pictures and in illustrations. If someone were to ask a Jew to describe God, he would say, “He is my shepherd. He is a rock. He is living water,” etc.

We can’t understand what these pictures mean unless we understand the Jewish culture and customs. What does a shepherd do anyway?

By learning the Jewish culture, we are able to understand the pictures and illustrations used throughout the Bible.

The End of the Beginning

A short video I made. In this video, air plane passengers discuss the life of Jesus; His birth, His miracles, His death, and His glorious resurrection. Song dramatic song is performed by David Phelps.

"It Is Finished"

When sin entered the world, so did death. For every sin mankind committed, something had to die. The practice of sacrificing animals, especially lambs, began.

Whenever Man sinned, an innocent animal would have to be killed, and by its blood that sin was cleansed. A sacrifice had to be constantly given, for we are constantly sinning.

The Jewish people under Moses sacrificed twice a day; in the morning at 10am, and in the afternoon, at 3pm. At the time of sacrifice, a priest would blow the shofar, a Jewish horn. At that moment, the lamb’s throat was slit, and all the religious Jews would pause for a moment, begging God to remember the final and perfect sacrifice He’d promised to Abraham. This practice continued for years.

About 2,000 years ago, Jesus hung on a cross. At 3pm, the shofar sounded for the sacrifice, and Jesus said, ‘it is finished.’ Then He died.

The daily sacrifices weren’t needed anymore, for He was the last, perfect, and sinless sacrifice.

Spicy Shrimp

The hot plate of shrimp looked delicious. The smell curled into the air. It would taste wonderful, Jenny* thought.

One problem: Michelle had ordered the plate of shrimp, not Jenny.

As we all waited for the rest of the food to come, we played a card game. As a part of this game, everyone but the narrator has to close their eyes.

I was the narrator. Everyone else had their eyes closed. I looked over at Jenny; her eyes were wide, her mouth open, and she was fanning herself. Then, she grabbed her drink and started drinking quickly.

I started laughing. I knew what had happened; she had taken some shrimp. Michelle had order spice shrimp, and it burned Jenny’s mouth.

This story made me thing about what happens when we sin; often, the sin we did will turn us in, and we’ll be caught. Jenny would have saved herself the embarrassment if she’d kept her hands to herself. I wonder how much guilt and shame we could avoid if we simply avoided sin. After all, if there’s no crime, we can’t get caught.

*Name has been changed.

Too Old?

Some say the Bible isn’t relative anymore since it’s too old. If you follow that same logic, gravity doesn’t apply anymore since it’s too old. Just because something is old doesn’t mean it’s useless.

The Bible is relative to today. It may not talk about iPhones, or TVs, or cars, but it does address things that haven’t changed, like how mankind should live, or what the nature of God is, and these principles apply whether we are in the first century, or the 21st century.

While at TeenPact, I asked a question: how can you find out if something is absolute truth? The answer: if something is relevant to all people at all times, then it is absolute truth.

The fact that the Bible is old gives more reason to believe it; it has stood the test of time.