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the six miracles of calvary - grave clothes

4/30/2017

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Picture
The Grave Clothes…
Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,  And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.  Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.  (John 20:6-8)  This was a miracle of Calvary.

Let us be quick to understand that the Scriptures are on a par with other sources of history that rely upon personal testimony and written records to establish truth. The Bible is not an unclaimed orphan when it comes to holding its own as a reliable source of true history. There was not one, but four Gospels, written and examined by church counsels to establish their place in Biblical canon. The Gospels do not contradict each other, but rather, complement each other in establishing a completed account of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
​

The sketch of Jesus’ grave clothes, above, gives a good approximation of the reality. The Jewish method of preserving bodies was quite different from the Egyptian method. It took about one hundred pounds of spices to properly prepare a body by the Jewish method. This varied some as to how the idea was applied. Some sources say that the Jews laid strips of cloth long-ways on the body.

Others hold that the body was wrapped round and round. Round and round is a much stronger way of applying the same amount of cloth and would hold the spices in place better than applying the cloth lengthways. Art work on the grave clothes of Jesus is scarce and most of it portrays the grave clothes wound around the body.

The Scriptures portray the three hours of darkness, the victory cry from the cross, the rending of the veil in the Temple, the earthquake, the opening of graves, and now we look at the brief mention of His grave clothes.

John does not dwell on the miracles of Calvary but in one brief statement tells us that the linen clothes were lying together in one place and the head wrapping, still wrapped together in a place by itself. The grave clothes are not unwrapped and hurriedly dropped to the floor but are neatly in place like they were place with the body in them. It infers that the grave clothes were lying precisely as the body had lain there.

“In the record, there is no mention of the clothes being unwrapped. The head wrapping is still a head wrapping and separate from the rest of the clothes. With the body removed, the windings of cloth would have collapsed somewhat because of the hundred pounds of spices applied to the linen cloth. None of the fastenings had been loosed, no bandage undone, none of the folds disturbed, no change in position. No change except the body had somehow come out of the wound cloth and spices, leaving the empty shell.

Luke corroborates John’s story by saying that the linen clothes were “lying by themselves.” (Luke 24:12)

“The natural body had dissolved within its wrappings and become merged in the spiritual body, a transmutation that no fastenings could tie down. It vanished from within the graveclothes and moved on its way to the stone at the door of the sepulcher (which had not yet been removed). Though the rising of His body is mentioned in many places in the Bible, the act of His rising is never mentioned. It simply says: “He is risen!” (The writers of John and Luke took no license to fill in the details with their imaginations.)

“If the friends of Jesus had taken away His body, they would not have removed the clothes from His body. If His enemies had taken his body and for some reason removed the clothing, they would not have neatly arranged them to resemble His body. Indeed, no human hands could have abstracted the body from its clothes without leaving behind marks of disturbance on bandage and fold.” (Nicholson, edited slightly.)

The arguments that Jesus merely “swooned” or that His disciples stole His body have not convinced the many millions of people who have believed that He genuinely died, was buried, and rose again on the third day. (In the Jewish way of listing days, each day was automatically joined to a night to complete the obvious 24-hour cycle. The days were: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Mentioning a day-and-night did not mean a 12-hour day and a 12-hour night. Jonah and Jesus are related in a “three days and three nights” space of time.) There was never a major Jewish charge that the three days and three nights was a conflict with the Jewish way of counting time. This has bothered some people, so I mention it here.
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year
MAY 1, 2017 - MONDAY
A.M.  1Kings 1-2       P.M.  Luke 22:54-71
 (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
And he said unto them, These
are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.  (Luke 24:44)

Song for Today:  
How Great Thou Art (6:07) (FBC -Jax, FL)                      

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iqtCTtVIB4
       

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The six miracles of calvary - opened graves - pART 2

4/27/2017

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Picture

The Six Miracles of Calvary –
Opened Graves -  Part 2
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.   And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  And the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,   And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. (Mat 27:50-53

The opened graves were meant for display. They remained open from the time Jesus took His last breath until after His resurrection. When Jesus rose from the dead, so did many saints rise from the dead and came out of those opened graves. What kind of resurrections were these? The writer of Hebrews speaks of “a better resurrection:” Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
 (Heb 11:35)

Do you see these two different resurrections tucked away in this one verse? “To life again” and “a better resurrection.” Heb 11:35 refers to some who were stretched around a drum and beaten to death. But, if they renounced their faith, they were offered mercy that amounted to “resurrection from certain death.” Some would not renounce their faith and died on the drum, trusting they would experience a better resurrection than being rescued from the drum of death.

This reminds us of another temporary resurrection some received in the Bible.
Some women received their dead raised to life again.

Elijah was staying with a widow and her son at Zarephath, and Elijah raised her son from the dead, (1Kings17:22-24).  Elisha performed a miracle that enabled an older widow and her husband to have a child. After several years, the child died and Elisha raised him from the dead (2Kings 4:27-37).  Jesus raised a widow’s son from the dead (Luke 7:12-16). Peter raised Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9:41). Paul raised a young man from the dead when he fell out of the third loft while Paul was preaching long. (Acts 20:9,10)

Did Lazarus and these other resurrected people die again? Many Bible students believe that these who were raised from the dead by Elijah, Elisha, Jesus, Peter, and Paul died again. This is based upon : But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.  (1Co 15:20)
Jesus was the first one in all the history of humanity who was raised from the dead with an eternal body. Unlike Lazarus, Jesus could pass through the stone door of His grave. He could appear in a room and disappear. He lifted from the earth and disappeared into the sky as a select group watched Him. He will return in like manner, some day.

Jesus’ resurrected body was far different from the body that died on the cross. The laws of physics did not bind and restrict his resurrected body as we are and as He was before His resurrection.  None of those who were raised from the dead were said to have passed through a wall, to have suddenly appeared in a room or disappear from a room. Keeping these things in mind will help us know the difference between Jesus’ resurrected body and the resurrected body of all the others. Jesus was the first and only one to rise from the dead with an eternal body.

When Jesus came out of His grave, the huge stone that weighed more than a ton had not yet been removed. It was removed soon after He came out of the grave to show the disciples that the tomb was empty. An angel came down from heaven to do it. But, when the stone was being moved, Jesus was not there. “On the other hand, when Lazarus was raised, he was called back into his former body and Jesus commanded those at the grave site to: “Take ye away the stone.” (Nicholson)

We may safely assume that all the others who were raised from the dead, were called back into their natural, earthly bodies. Today, we would say that their bodies were “revived” but not “resurrected.”


The opened graves and resurrected bodies of many dead saints was a symbol to those living or visiting in the city of Jerusalem at Passover. It was a dynamic expression of the power of the cross and the resurrected Savior! The earth had been darkened in the middle of the day for three hours. Everyone had experienced the earthquake. It was no secret that the veil in the Temple had been split. The hushed testimony of the priests in the room with the veil was now oozing out into the population. We assume that the dead saints that came out of the opened graves were people who recently died and were known by the people who lived in Jerusalem.

As the “many” appeared to “many” in and around the city of Jerusalem, word went like the wind throughout the million people who were gathered in the city of Jerusalem for Passover. Word was getting out that the powerful Roman guard that had crucified Jesus was awed and humbled by what they had witnessed. The price of our redemption had been paid. The way was open for sinful men to approach God through the shed blood of God’s only begotten Son.

Those who would submit to Him as Lord and receive His offer of forgiveness would be eternally saved. No one can ever live good enough or be good enough to be saved. But, through Christ’s death on the cross, all may be saved who want to be. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Rom. 10:13; Joel 2:32)


Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that thou bidst me come to Thee, O Lamb of God I come, I come.

Read Through the Bible in a Year      
APRIL 28, 2017 – FRIDAY   
A.M.  2 Sam 19-20       P.M. Luke 21:20-38
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)


Song for Today:  
Just As I Am (3:30) (Acapella Choir)                                         

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxA0TFe3-Uo
 You may need to adjust your volume control.
 



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The six miracles of calvary - The opened graves

4/26/2017

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Picture
The Six Miracles of Calvary – Opened Graves
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.   And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  And the graves were opened… (Mat 27:50-52a)

The earthquake opened graves near the cross. Not all the graves; just the graves of many of the saints from the Jerusalem area.  The earthquake and the opening of the graves coincided with three hours of mid-day darkness and the ripping of the 60’ veil in the Temple and Jesus’ penetrating cry of victory as He gave up His spirit into the hands of His Father.

For the one million people packed into and around Jerusalem for the annual observance of Passover, these things were overwhelming evidence that the hand of God was orchestrating these dramatic events. Not only were the Jews impressed; the Roman Centurion who commanded a hundred battle-hardened Roman soldiers concluded: “This is the Son of God!”

When the graves were opened, we must realize that the tomb where they laid Jesus was not a typical burying place. Isaiah said: And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.  (Isa 53:9) Jesus was crucified between two criminals and buried in a rich man’s grave, (Joseph of Arimathea).

The graves that were opened were not elaborate graves like the new tomb Jesus was buried in. It had a stone that could be rolled in a stone trough to seal the entrance. It was designed to be opened and closed several times to admit the future burial of members of the family. Most people were buried in holes dug into the ground, just like today. The stone memorials that were laid on top of the graves varied according the wealth of the family.

“Please note that the graves opened but no one came out of the graves at that time. No one would have broken the Sabbath to repair the opened graves. So, the opened graves lay there gaping open for crowds of people to see them. If they had been opened only to enable dead people to come out of them, would they not have been opened later? No, the stark appearance of these opened graves was an intensified witness of the occasion. An earthquake had opened certain graves and left other graves untouched. These graves contained the bodies of saints. The opened graves were one of the miracles of Calvary.

“We have the rending of rocks and opening of graves. They are not the same thing. The rending of rocks involved force. The opening of the graves involved design. The rending of rocks gave no prophecy of the future. But the opening of the graves was a budding of the coming glory. In a few hours, dead people would come out of those graves. Clearly, the opening of the graves was an exhibition of a greater truth that coincided with several other things” (Nicholson, edited)

The most thrilling thing about the opened graves is the rest of the story that plays out when Jesus comes out of His grave. Keep in mind that a million people are in town witnessing these things. After the drama is over, they will go back home and spread their testimony for the rest of their lives. They will be talking with their children and handing down the story to their grandchildren and the greatgrandchildren. This is truly, the greatest Passover! Ever! Tomorrow we will look at the rest of the story of the opened graves. Ω
 
 Read Through the Bible in a Year      
APRIL 27, 2017 – THURSDAY   
A.M.  2 Sam 17-18       P.M. Luke 21:1-19
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)

Song for Today:  
Then Came Sunday (3:38) (CMC ) (Choir)                                         

 https://www.facebook.com/faith.r.schofield/videos/10155472822927780/                                      
            You may need to adjust your volume control
 
 
 
 
 


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The six miracles of calvary - the earthquake - pART 4

4/25/2017

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The Six Miracles of Calvary –
The Earthquake – Part 4

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  (Mat 27:51)

We need to go one more step in looking at earthquakes and mountains in the Bible.  We began with the miraculous earthquake on the mountain that has three names: Mt.Moriah/Mt. Zion/Mt. Calvary.  This famous earthquake occurred at the instant Jesus uttered His cry of victory: “It is finished!” The 60’ veil in the Temple rent from top to bottom in the presence of appointed priests who were inside the Temple, getting ready for the Evening Sacrifice.

A million people had gathered from all over Israel and several foreign countries to celebrate the annual Passover Feast. They had witnessed the three hours of darkness from noon until 3:00 p.m. A million-people experienced the earthquake. The hand of God orchestrated the earthquake to impress upon all those people the enormity of what was taking place on the cross.
 

“Why should not the earth have been affected by what Christ accomplished on the cross? Did not man’s sin bring a curse on the earth?  Thorns and briars and inclement seasons, man’s sweaty toil, the savagery of brute beasts, and all the countless antagonisms of nature are the footprints of man’s sin. If then, man’s redemption is as real as man’s sin, should not the earth feel its effects?

Indeed, it would seem as if both man and earth were almost but one vital organism. Is it credible that so great a change in man’s estate, that is, his redemption could be effected, and creation not have a share in it? And if a share, that it should not give expression to it?

“The Scriptures speak of the coming regeneration of the earth, that is, a physical regeneration which shall be the counterpart of the world’s moral glory under the reign of Christ. We cannot but see that we have in the earthquake at Calvary, not only a pledge but an earnest, of the fulfillment of those prophesies.

“In Romans, Paul speaks of “the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain together until now,” and says, “the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God; because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”  He even attributes to creation the feeling of “hope.

“So, then, we have the authority of Paul for representing the trembling of the earth as a foretaste of its destined millennial blessedness, when “the trees of the field shall clap their hands”─when the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days.”(Nicholson – Died June 7, 1901. So, his comments on the Six Miracles of Calvary would have been at least 115 years ago.)

Reading the Bible will reveal that God blends His control of the earth with His dealing with the people of the earth, each one made by the hand of God. It is amazing that God does this so smoothly and so effortlessly to bring about His purpose and plan with nations, communities, and individuals. It would be a great help to any person who comes to understand that God can cause crops to come forth in abundance or He can withhold the early and latter rain and cause a drought.

God can cause the sun to diminish or increase its radiation. Without effort, God can cause or prohibit an earthquake or a tsunami. During the Great Tribulation, earthquakes will occur on both sides of the earth at the same time, which are not now observed and are thought to be an impossibility today. Earthquakes can turn concrete runways, highways and bridges on their sides and stop the flow of traffic. Reading the book of Revelation should give us pause. Half of the earth’s population will be destroyed during the Great Tribulation and much of it from earthquakes.

Five years ago, on Sand Mountain, Alabama we had four tornadoes in one day and 46 people died from them. God was in charge. The greatest single factor that affects our economy is the weather. He is in charge! He was in charge when Jesus uttered His last cry from the cross and a great earthquake coincided with it. Ω
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year      
 APRIL 26, 2017 – WEDNESDAY   
A.M.  2 Sam 15-16       P.M. Luke 20:27-47 
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)


Song for Today:  
Because He Lives (2:58) (George Beverly Shea) (Orchestra)                                         

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsnWfWdVw1M                                        
      You may need to adjust your volume control
 
 

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the six miracles of calvary - the earth quake - part 3

4/24/2017

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Picture
 The Six Miracles of Calvary –
The Earthquake – Part 3

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  (Mat 27:51)

When Jesus cried in a loud voice and gave up His spirit into the hands of His Father, the veil in the temple ripped in half from top to bottom and there was a great earthquake. The mid-day three-hour darkness was gone. In Sunday school, we don’t dwell on earthquakes and the shaking of mountains. So, this part of the crucifixion of Jesus is easy to pass over as a light thunder before a summer shower. It was not that.

The following link highlights the greatest earthquakes of the Bible and it is worth the time to study it and file it where you can return and review it.
http://www.icr.org/article/greatest-earthquakes-bible/

Today, we want to follow Nicholson’s lead and compare the earthquake at Calvary with the earthquake on Mt. Sinai. At the time of the earthquake on Mt. Calvary, several graves were opened and the people who were watching this drama play out, might have ignored the earthquake, and given attention to the opened graves. But, there’s no indication that they did that. The earthquake was so intense that it riveted attention on itself.

The earthquake at Calvary was echoing back to the earthquake at Mt. Sinai. The earthquake at Sinai was a message of the awesome power and holiness of God who was offended by the sins of a nation of people. At Sinai, the mountain quaked and the people quaked, not at the mountain but at the God who was on the mountain and with whom they had to do. On Mt. Sinai, it was dark and dreadful. On Mt. Calvary, the awesome darkness of three hours had been lifted in a halo of mercy just as Jesus proclaimed: “It is finished!” and ascended into Heaven to the bosom of His Father.

“On Sinai, God instituted the dispensation of Law, which brought out the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Human sin had existed before Mt. Sinai, but the utterances from Sinai brought it forth into prominence before men and stripping it of all disguises, made it appear as it really is—sin exceeding sinful, the blackness of darkness forever.” (Nicholson)

It is hard for us to think of ourselves as being bad people. We’re not perfect people, but not really bad people. It takes the help of God for us to compare ourselves with His perfect holiness. There were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the trumpet, exceeding loud; so that all the people of the camp trembled. Mount Sinai was altogether a smoke, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace.”

He made it clear to them that Jehovah was all-powerful and all-knowing and could not be persuaded to ignore what they truly were in His presence: hopelessly unfit to relate to such an one. “But, here at Mt. Calvary one had appeared on a cross to pay the price of human moral deficiency that we call sin. At last the darkness was gone and the suffering was ended.

The work was finished that made it possible for a holy God to be just and yet the Justifier of him who believeth on Jesus.” Now, there were the sweet mercies of Calvary. The shout of Calvary’s victory was heard instead of the trumpet sound of Sinai’s wrath. Mt. Calvary had absorbed into itself the fiery Mt. Sinai.


“Sinai, was the prophecy of the forth-coming Calvary. Calvary was the fulfillment of Sinai, satisfying its demands. As the earth had convulsed as it shook in pain on Mt. Sinai, even so, the earth had convulsed and had shaken in joy on Mt. Calvary.  Calvary’s mercy is as powerful as Sinai’s vengeance. And meanwhile, from them both we are taught to say: “Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” If man’s redemption is as real as man’s sin, should not the earth feel its effect?” (Nicholson) Ω
 
  
Read Through the Bible in a Year      
 APRIL 25, 2017 – TUESDAY   
A.M.  2 Sam 13-14       P.M. Luke 20:1-26 
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)

Song for Today:  
One Day (3:36) (Ladies Quartet) (Calvary Memorial Church)                                         
https://www.facebook.com/100009410046480/videos/1842910572699260/
                 You may need to adjust your volume control
 

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the Six miracles of calvary - earthquake - part 2

4/23/2017

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Picture
The Six Miracles of Calvary –
Earth Quake – Part 2

And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  (Mat 27:51)

Some people write off this earthquake as an anonymous earthquake with a naturalistic cause. We are reminded that multitudes want an earth without a creator; weather and earthquakes untouched by God. But, the Bible has a lot to say about God’s relationship to mountains, earthquakes, and weather. The Bible makes a strong case for God’s hand in the earthquake at the crucifixion of Jesus.  The earthquake of that moment had a witnessing function. In our day of computers, we might say that God was adding “bold” and “underscore” to the message of the cross.

God had already established His use of mountains, including quaking mountains as a means of communication with people, especially His own people. Let’s begin with Mt. Moriah. God told Abraham: …Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.  (Gen 22:2)

●Many scholars believe Mount Moriah was the same mount upon which Jesus was crucified and on which the Temple was built. God was testing Abraham to see if he loved Him as much as the heathen around him loved their gods. Isaac is a type of the coming Messiah in that he carried the wood for the fire as Jesus carried His own cross for the crucifixion. Isaac was Abraham’s only son, even as Jesus was God’s only Son.

These things reinforce the belief that the place of sacrifice of Isaac and Jesus was the same place: on Mount Moriah. It was later called: Mount Zion and Christians today call it: Mount Calvary. God has chosen to do special things on Mountains.


The writer of Hebrews says: By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:  Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.  (Heb 11:17-19)  

It was in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah that God chose to put His name forever (1Kings 9:3;  11:36; 2Kings 21:7)


●God’s hand was strong on Mount Sinai. When the people were three months out of Egypt, they came into the wilderness of Sinai and were there for eleven months. The wilderness of Sinai was the area around Mount Sinai. Exodus 19 tells us of the Preparation for receiving the Law of God. Exodus 20 tells us of the Proclamation of the Law of God.

In Exodus 19, Moses informed the elders of Israel and the people about God’s covenant with them and His plan to own them as His unique possession. The people responded well in promising to obey His laws. There ensued a three-day purification of themselves. They were to wash their garments and abstain from sexual intercourse during the three-day period. No person or animal was to touch the mountain from which God was speaking to them, under penalty of death.

Pagan deities were said to permanently “dwell” on mountains. Not so with God. He descended from Heaven (1Kings 8:30, 1Kings 8:49) to converse with His people.  Only when summoned by the blast of a ram’s horn were the people to go toward the mountain.

​God instructed them:

And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: (Exo 19:12) 

These “bounds” were scattered columns of stone, hastily constructed. They were stacked high enough to clearly indicate a boundary. 
In the late 90’s Larry Williams & Bob Cornuke took a camera and went looking for Mt. Sinai, using the Old Testament as their guide. They found piles of rocks scattered in a line, marking a boundary line. The mountain was under military restriction and no one was supposed to be there.

Under cover of night they made it to the top of what they believe is Mount Sinai. They discovered that the top of the mountain was stone and that it had been blackened by intense heat. That would coincide with the Bible description below (Ex. 19:16-18) of the presence of God on the mountain. Their story is told in a book:
The Gold of Exodus by Howard Blum © 1998. You can find it at Amazon for as little as $2.00. We continue in Exodus 19.

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.   And Moses brought forth the people (elders) out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.  (Exo 19:16-18)

Immediately after the giving of the Ten Commandments, we find these words: And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking:
and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.  And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.  (Exo 20:18-19)

Mount Sinai was the mountain where Moses received the law of God written on tablets of stone. It was also the mountain of communion between God and Moses. When he came down from the mountain, his face so shined with the glory of God that they had to put a veil over his face, the people feared him, so.

And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.  And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.  (Exo 34:29-30)

God shook Mount Sinai as His way of getting the attention of His people and communicating to them His great power and His unbending holiness. The Psalmist wrote: The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.  (Psa 68:8) They needed rain while they were assembled at Sinai, so God gave them rain: “the heavens also dropped…”

The purpose of this article is to show that the earthquake at the crucifixion of Jesus was not a routine earthquake with a naturalistic explanation. The earthquake at Calvary was from the hand of God and was for communication even as God had previously used mountains and quaking mountains for communication with His people. Ω

Read Through the Bible in a Year  
APRIL 24, 2017 – MONDAY      
A.M.  2 Sam 10-12       P.M.  Luke: 19:29-48
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)


Song for Today:  
God On the Mountain (5:08)
– (Cong. & Solo) (Gaither Group)             
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCTl4tUYIAg                    
          You may need to adjust your volume control
 
 
 
 

 
 



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the six miracles of calvary - the earthquake

4/20/2017

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The Six Miracles of Calvary – The Earthquake
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;  (Mat 27:51)

When Jesus proclaimed: “It is finished!” and followed it with a great wordless cry of victory, He commended His spirit into the hands of His Father. Along with this came a mighty earthquake. We note that this was not an earthquake of a trifling magnitude.

Rocks did not merely crack but broke in two. At the same time, the earthquake did not disturb the solid rock structure of the Temple. It did not displace the cross while it shook the hill of Calvary. The earthquake opened graves but not all graves. They were the graves of saints.

 
“It seemed as though the earthquake were a living thing, whose divine intelligence discriminated the various dead at Golgotha. It seemed as if it sensed the meaning of that shout of victory. It seemed to indicate the program that was to follow and to preintimate the Savior’s victory for His saints by His resurrection on the third day.
 
“Now, because of all these incidences, how plain it is that the earthquake at Calvary was not such as nature ever causes. Rather, it was nature lifted out of the course of nature; lifted solely and independently by an act of God…(Nicholson)
 
It was as though the earthquake had an active part to play in the great display God was making before a million people who had gathered in Jerusalem for Passover celebration. Was there ever such a collection of testimony at any Passover Feast down through the centuries? The answer is, “No! There was never such a display of such power and design as to portray the crucial message: The Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the world has just been slain!”
 
The earthquake had a great task to perform: It had to open the graves and get things ready for the upcoming resurrection of many saints who were going to walk out of those newly opened graves. What we are saying here is that the earthquake was the mighty director of an integrated drama. No one could avoid noticing the earthquake as it shook the ground under the feet of a million people and yet was so selective in its breaking of rock in two and opening graves. It was a symphony with the tympani drums rolling at their utmost, climaxing in the clash of symbols and the rolling of the earth.
 
The earthquake had a witnessing function of its own, in breaking rocks, opening graves and reducing the bravery of seasoned Roman soldiers who had faced death many times but who had never stood in the presence of so great a shaking of the earth. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.  (Mat 27:54)

We have yet to review God’s display at Mt Sinai when God thundered and shook the earth in preparation for the announcing of His law through the hands of Moses. We also must look at what the mighty hand of God is going to do in the latter days as this age draws to a close, and the great rendering of the earth at the close of the millennium in preparation for the new heaven and new earth.

God does not hesitate to use His mighty power over the earth He created as a means of communicating with men who will not have God to rule over them. The shaking of the earth has only begun. There is much yet to come. At present, we must be careful not to ignore the role of the mighty earthquake that occurred when Jesus hurled His last cry as He gave up the ghost and departed from the cross. Ω

Read Through the Bible in a Year  
 APRIL 21, 2017 – FRIDAY      
A.M.  2 Sam 1-3      P.M.  Luke: 18:1-17
(Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
​
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)


Song for Today:  
To God Be the Glory (3:25)
– (Congregational & Orchestra)             
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Ay52PSRrY
 You may need to adjust your volume control
 

 
 
 
 

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the six miracle of calvary - the veil - Part 4

4/18/2017

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The Six Miracles of Calvary – The Veil – Part 4
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;…  (Mat 27:51)

“There were two loud cries from the cross. The first, just before the darkness had ended; the second, after the darkness had passed. The first was an agonizing wail of abandonment; the second a voice of joy.

“The first was crushed out of Him by that agony insufferable, of which the dread darkness was the sign; the second was the bounding forth of His feelings of achievement and deliverance in the restored light of the Father’s communion. The first pronounced the words: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The second was a shout, pronouncing nothing, but following the words: “It is finished.”

“His work was done. He had borne our sins. The burden was gone. So then, this second loud voice from the cross was he Conqueror’s outcry of victory. The victory was evident in the supernatural loudness of a dying man’s voice. The Roman centurion was overcome with amazement at it, and the solid earth rocked. With that shout of victory coincided the rending of the veil.” (Nicholson)

“The rending of the veil was simple but extremely complicated.  It opened the way of the common sinner to have access to a Holy God. The sinner no longer needed a priest to offer blood on his behalf. The great High Priest had offered His own blood, once and for all and His own body had been rent even as the veil had been rent.

“It had now become impossible for the high priest to continue to carry within the veil, the blood of atonement. The unbroken secrecy of the Holy of Holies was now at an end. The priests who had ministered in front of the veil might now safely enter into the presence of God, freely. The people in the outer court might now advance into the Holy Place of the priests and from there into the Holy of Holies, for themselves. When the very presence-chamber of God had ceased to be screened off, the spirit and meaning of the first veil also were exhausted.

“The rending of the veil, therefore, was the destruction of the Tabernacle/Temple dispensation. It took the meaning out of the entire structure. It disjointed the ritual and decapitated the divine economy of the ages. “ (Nicholson)

Why did God institute such a system, to begin with? Sin! All the Tabernacle arrangement was God’s abiding statement that He would not commune with a man whose sin is upon him in its deep and damning curse. When that problem was done away with in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, there was no longer any need to obstruct man’s path toward the presence of a Holy God. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,  By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;  (Heb 10:19-20)

Many people assume they are saved by their tears of repentance or that they have reformed their lives to such a degree that God looks upon them with favor and forgives their sins because of their earnestness.  Not so! We cannot live such a righteous life that God will overlook our past sins. It is not based on that. When we are forgiven our sins, it is because the Lamb of God shed His precious blood on the cross. You can never live a good-enough life that will earn you a place in Heaven. But the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin. (1John 1:7)

The priests who were attending their duties in the Holy Place when the veil was rent in twain, would soon be out of work. The High Priest would soon be out of work!  There would be no further need for his services. All the sacrifices around the Temple that were being sold would soon have no market. There were sheep farms around Jerusalem for raising sacrificial lambs to be offered as a blood sacrifice. Those farms would soon be out of business. Their services would no longer be needed.
 
God allowed the Temple machinery to continue for another forty years. The people who sold sheep and goats and doves for sacrifice would never voluntarily go into another business.

In A.D. 70, Titus, the Roman General, surrounded Jerusalem and during Passover, closed off the city and began destroying the Temple and the City of Jerusalem. Over a million Jews were slaughtered at the hands of the Jewish soldiers. As the Temple burned, the gold inside the building melted and ran down on the stones.  The soldiers took pry bars and began removing stones as they removed the gold and put it into their pockets. As was prophesied in Jesus’ day: not one stone shall be left on another. Israel had rejected their promised Messiah and God finally removed the whole Jewish system of worship and scattered the Jews.

For two thousand years, there was not a nation called Israel…not until 1948 when Israel once again became a nation. One day another Temple will be rebuilt on Mt. Zion. Today, there is an industry working at making musical instruments and various pieces for Temple worship.  The Jews as a whole, still do not realize they slew their messiah. One day they will realize it. Jesus will sit upon the Throne of David and reign as the King of Israel. Ω
 
Read Through the Bible in a Year  
APRIL 19, 2017 – WEDNESDAY      
A.M.  1Sam 27-29      P.M.  Luke: 17:1-19
  (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)


Song for Today:  
Behold What Manner of Man Is This (2:13)
– (Mennonite Youth Group )             
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqZPIVW18oU                           
             You may need to adjust your volume control
 

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the six miracles of calvary - the veil - part 3

4/17/2017

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Picture
The Six Miracles of Calvary – The Veil – Part 3
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;…  (Mat 27:51)

The Temple that existed when Jesus was crucified was a marvel of construction. It was the Second Temple or Herod’s Temple. It consisted of an outer courtyard where the common people could assemble, plus two rooms in the building-proper.

The first room was called the “Holy Place” and was entered only by appointed priests. In the picture, you can see the furniture: the lamp-stand, the altar of incense and the table of show-bread. The “Holy Place” was entered by going beyond the first veil.

The second room was called the “Most Holy Place” or “Holy of Holies.” It was entered by going beyond the second veil. In the picture we see this veil, ripped from top to bottom. Most likely, the rip in the current was not as irregular and ragged as pictured here. But no one knows what the ripped edges looked like.

From Nicholson, we learn the following things about the veil. We learn that upon the “ground-work” or “foundation-work” of “fine-twined linen” was displayed the colors of blue, purple and scarlet. The blue corresponded to the blue heaven; the scarlet corresponded to the earth and the purple was a mixture of heaven and earth. It pictured God coming down and blending with His redeemed ones and working with them to yield to His holiness and becoming like Him.

Those three colors were interwoven with a mass of cherubim (angelic beings). It hung by hooks of gold from four pillars overlaid with gold. The Scripture calls it a ‘cunning work,’ the cunning of God. It was copied from the pattern showed to Moses on the mount.

Only the High Priest had ever seen beyond the second veil. And now the veil had suddenly ceased to exist. It was rent. Suddenly its office was at an end. There it still hung, but the eye might now see through it and beyond it.

As a veil, it was gone. All at once the concealment had ceased. It fell in its own place before the Holy of Holies, as if resigning its office. In all the magnificent building, not another thing was marred or misplaced. May we repeat: nothing else in the Temple building was marred or misplaced! Just the veil!


It was not because of natural decay that the threads of the veil had parted asunder. It parted in the middle, thus opening in the very center of what it had served to conceal. And when did it happen? At the exact second when Jesus Christ expired on the Cross! That was the august moment for which the veil of concealment had been waiting; the moment for which through all the ages it had continued to exist.

At the beginning of the three hours of darkness, Jesus had cried: “My God, My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?” At the end of the three hours of darkness, Jesus cried: “It is finished!” in great triumph. That’s when the veil rent in two.

The timing of Jesus’ death and the renting of the veil coincided with an assembly of witnesses God had assembled to give testimony to what they had seen. Jesus died at exactly 3:00 p.m., at the exact moment the evening sacrifice was to begin. At that time, the priests were present inside the Holy Place, in front of the veil, actually engaged in their duties relating to the Evening Sacrifice. They were eye-witnesses of the ripping of the veil because God arranged it to be so. It is no accident that “a great company of the priests became obedient to the faith. (Acts 6:7)”

God placed adequate witnesses at every stage of revealing Himself to a million people who had gathered for Passover. From all over the land of Israel and from several foreign countries the Passover Feast drew at least a million people every year to celebrate. This year was no exception. They were packed into the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding area as one big mass of people.

You can be assured that when the sky turned black for three hours and covered the crucifixion of the miracle-working Galilean, a million people took note of it. When the darkness ended as suddenly as it had come and it began to be whispered among them that the most sacred veil in the Temple had mysteriously ripped from the top to the bottom: it was like a spear through their souls!

A million people would go home and tell how it had become fearfully dark with an earthquake and the sacred veil had been destroyed just at the moment of the Evening Passover and at the exact moment when the darkness was lifted. The six miracles of Calvary are there for anyone who wants to know about them. The ripping of the veil is the centerpiece of miracles that occurred that week. In the next part, we will examine the consequences of the ripping of the veil. Ω


Read Through the Bible in a Year  
APRIL 18, 2017 – TUESAY      
A.M.  1Sam 25-26      P.M.  Luke: 16:19-31
  (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)

Memory Verse This Month:
​Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)


Song for Today:  
The Old Rugged Cross (3:37)
– (Gaither Congregational)             
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbOGtRTCER8
 You may need to adjust your volume control
 

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the six miracles at calvary - the veil- part2

4/17/2017

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The Six Miracles of Calvary…the Veil--Part 2
And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;…  (Mat 27:51)

Everything in the Tabernacle and the later Temple had symbolic meanings. These structures were copied from the Heavenly structure. God gave Moses directions on the earthly structure and its dimensions. Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.  (Heb 8:5) Hebrews 9:23 also refers to the heavenly pattern from which the earthly tabernacle was made.

The Tabernacle and the Temple were about sinful men being able to successfully approach God. Since the first sin in the Garden of Eden, human beings could only meet with God through a blood sacrifice. God had declared to Adam and Eve that if they partook of the forbidden fruit in the Garden, there was but one decree for them and that was death. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.  (Gen 3:3)

But God killed an animal and in so doing, shed its blood. God covered the nakedness of sinful Adam and Eve with the bloody skins of an innocent animal. That act was a picture of what would occur one day when God’s own Son would give His life on the cross for the sins of the world.

If the Tabernacle and the Temple were devices for helping sinful men to meet with a holy God, what was the function of the two veils that hindered sinful man from approaching God? It was God’s way of saying: “Not so fast! You may come this far, but no farther. You must meet some conditions to come into My presence. My authority that was violated in the Garden of Eden must be ever kept before you.” “I’m not the old man upstairs without a name!” I have a name!  You are not free to make Me in your image! I am God and besides Me there is none else!”

The two veils put the brakes on careless people who want to be buddies with God and help Him write the rules. God is in charge and He will always be in charge. The end result of our relationship with Him is:  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  (Rom 8:4)

God invites us to come to Him, to fellowship with Him, but it’s going to be on His terms. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.  (Isa 45:22-23)

Adam and Eve lost their kingdom over assuming God’s authority for themselves. Isaiah hammers this home: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way
; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  (Isa 53:6)

What is sin? It’s not about chewing tobacco and dipping snuff. Sin is about defying the authority of God and going our own way. The specific acts of sin are not the issue. The attitude of defying God’s authority is the problem. To be saved, this has to be fixed! We have an attitude problem. We want to be in charge and tell God what we will do and what we expect of Him because we say so. Friend, that is not going to work. That attitude got Adam and Eve thrown out of the garden and on their way to death.

The veils were there to tell the inquirers after God that they cannot casually charge into the presence of God and tell Him what to do. Going through the points of the Roman Road and “repeat this prayer after me” is not going to change anything unless there’s a change of attitude about who God is and who is eternally in charge of everything. (I am not against the Roman Road and asking people if I can pray with them. I’ve done it hundreds of time. But neither am I so naïve as to believe that even this good ritual is going to save a man’s soul unless he is truly humbling His heart before God.” A proud man cannot be saved. A proud Christian cannot walk with God. The message is: BOW THE KNEE! And if you’re too old and crippled to bow your knee, then bow the knee of your heart!

For all the sins and abominations of the Jewish people for fifteen hundred years, intruding past the veil was not one of them. Somehow, they knew not to go past that second veil. At some point, some of the priests began tying a rope around the ankle of the High Priest when he went into the Holy of Holies once a year so that if he should die while he was in there, the other priests could pull his body out of the Holy of Holies without taking their own lives into their hands by rushing in and carrying him out.

The veil was a figure of the Christ who was to come and offer Himself to God. When He cried out the second time and proclaimed: “It is finished!” the veil in front of the Holy of Holies ripped from top to bottom, (the full sixty feet) and now we have access to God through Him.

Having therefore, brethren,
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;  And having an high priest over the house of God;   Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.  (Heb 10:19-22) Ω

Read Through the Bible in a Year  
APRIL 17, 2017 – MONDAY      
A.M.  1Sam 22-24      P.M.  Luke: 16:1-18
  (Bible Gateway will read this to you if you like. Look for the speaker icon.)


Memory Verse This Month:
Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.  (Act 2:36)
​

Song for Today:  
He Said Arise (3:19)
– (Calvary Memorial Choir)             
https://www.facebook.com/100009410046480/videos/1838235149833469/                      

                  You may need to adjust your volume control
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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    Dan Carr is a "retired" pastor, writer, teacher and continues to write at this website. This blog and other articles are e-mailed free to anyone who wants them. Go to: 
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    Dan and Barbara live 
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    We enjoy gardening, reading, church, family and friends.

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