Tilling and Planting

Tag: Prophecy

  • Jesus The Passover Lamb

    Jesus The Passover Lamb

    Intro

    Easter has just passed us by. During this time we remember His death and resurrection. We remember that, much like the sacrifices of the Old Testament were made to pay for sin, Jesus’ sacrifice was made to pay for our sin. In this, I remember John the Baptist calling Jesus “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” (John 1:29). And this fits with the idea of Jesus being a sacrifice like the sacrifices that the Jews were required to do. But this begs the question: Why a lamb? Why not a bull or any of the other animals? As my title kind of indicates, it all has to do with a particular Jewish holiday. So today I’m going to show the parallels between Passover and the Crucifixion and show how Jesus is the ultimate Passover Lamb.

    Passover Summary

    Before I dive into the parallels, I’m going to give a quick summary of the start of Passover found in Exodus 12. That’ll give a clearer picture of why Jesus is the ultimate Passover lamb. The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites and after a handful of generations of oppression, God raised up Moses to lead them out. But Pharaoh was stubborn and refused. Consequently, God sent a series of plagues. After the first 9, God sent a warning to the Israelites. Unlike the other 9 plagues, the 10th – the death of the firstborn – would sweep through both the Egyptian and Israelite households. However, in His great mercy, God provided a way for His people to avoid the final plague. They were to take a lamb, kill it, and spread its blood on the doorposts of their homes and the angel of death would pass over their house.

    Parallels

    Just by reading my summary, I’m sure you can draw a pretty obvious parallel in that in both scenarios you’ve got guilty people (Israelites who were no saints and then all of humanity who are also terrible sinners) who are under a penalty and yet God provides a means of salvation because of His great love and mercy. So, that snippet alone demonstrates an important aspect to Jesus being the Passover lamb for all of humanity. But there is so much more. Let’s dive in.

    Mature Male

    According to Exodus, the lamb must be a 1 year old male. For a lamb, this is the age of maturity.

    The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.

    Exodus 12:5 (NIV)

    Likewise, Jesus was born as a man and was fully mature when He was crucified – Luke records Jesus was about 30 when He started (Luke 3:23) and had a ministry of about 3.5 years, which made Him about 33.5 years of age when He died.

    No Broken Bones

    As soon as you read this heading, you’re probably thinking of how you know none of Jesus’ bones were broken. That’s a pretty common thing to hear when talking about the crucifixion.

    These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,”

    John 19:36 (NIV)

    But did you know that the Passover lamb also could not have any of its bones broken?

    Do not break any of the bones.

    Exodus 12:46b (NIV)

    Admittedly this is one I forgot about. What’s great is the specificity God used and then He ensured that Jesus fulfilled all that specificity.

    Spotless

    If you reference Exodus 12:5 again (I have it above under “Mature Male”), you’ll see that it also states the lamb must be “without defect”. A couple other very common ways to describe this is “without blemish” or “spotless”. God required perfection for the Passover lamb. And not just for this one instance, but every year when the Jews celebrate it. It represented salvation.

    What about Jesus? Based on that paragraph you can say that Jesus’ sacrifice was for salvation. And we’ve also heard all the time that He was a sinless, perfect human being.

    “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

    1 Peter 2:22 (NIV)

    To take this parallel even further, the priests were required to carefully examine every single lamb brought into the temple for the sacrifices. And what happened to Jesus before His crucifixion? Pilate and Herod both examined Jesus and found no cause for Him to be sentenced to death.

    Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”

    Luke 23:4 (NIV)

    Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.”

    Luke 23:13-16 (NIV)

    For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”

    Luke 23:22 (NIV)

    And this is just Luke’s account. Matthew’s account in Matthew 27 records that Pilate washed his hands declaring that he was innocent of Jesus’ blood. Jesus clearly fulfilled the requirement that the Passover lamb be perfect.

    Substitution

    In the story of the first Passover, the Israelites killed the lamb as a substitute for the lives of their firstborn. Jesus died as a substitute for us. We all deserve death and separation from God for eternity. But Jesus took that punishment upon Himself when He died on that Cross.

    The Blood on the Doorposts

    Even the placement of the blood on the doorposts has a parallel.

    Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.

    Exodus 12:22 (NIV)

    Applying the blood to the top and sides of the door frame forms the sign of the cross. And not only that, but you also get the sign of the cross when the blood is dripping from the top and down the sides.

    An additional thing found in this verse is the hyssop plant. Look at what John says in his gospel.

    A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.

    John 19:29 (NIV)

    Even the plant used to apply the blood to the doorposts had a parallel in the crucifixion!

    Freedom From Slavery

    The death of the firstborn convinced Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. That first Passover led to their freedom from physical enslavement. Likewise, Jesus death leads to our freedom from spiritual enslavement.

    Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

    Romans 8:1-2 (NIV)

    Timing

    As if all this wasn’t enough, do you know when Jesus died? During the time that the lambs were slaughtered for Passover. Talk about divine timing! In addition, he entered Jerusalem on the donkey the same day that the lambs were brought into the city in preparation for the Passover. For Passover, the Jews brought the lamb into their home for a few days before killing it. Likewise, Jesus entered the city a few days before His death. On the same day. Crazy right?

    Wrapping Up

    This is a little bit of a shorter post, but it’s a powerful one. There are so many parallels between the Passover and Jesus’ Crucifixion. It just goes to show how much thought God put into it all and how much He wants His chosen people to see all the parallels and recognize Jesus as the promised Messiah – the conquering King, yes, but more importantly, the ultimate Passover Lamb – the one who saves from sin and sets us free for all eternity.

    So today – though Easter is over – let us remember Jesus’ sacrifice as the ultimate Passover Lamb.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Christmas Characters: Part 4

    Christmas Characters: Part 4

    Intro

    It’s taken a while, but I’m finally at the end of my Christmas Characters series. For those of you who prefer to keep Christmas in December, I’m sure you’re quite relieved. For the rest of you who don’t mind Christmas in July, you probably wouldn’t mind a few more Christmas-themed posts. But I’ve got other topics I’d like to cover so I’ll stop here and pick up Christmas again later this year.

    But now on to the main event! Today I’m talking about takeaways from the groups of people that came to visit Jesus unannounced. Yep, that’s right. I’m talking about the lowly Shepherds and the wealthy Magi (or Wise Men).

    The Shepherds

    And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

    Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

    “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

    When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

    So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

    Luke 2:8-20 (NIV)

    We don’t get a whole lot about the shepherds – we don’t even know how many there were. What we do know is that these shepherds lived out in the fields just outside of Bethlehem. And we see that they dutifully watched the sheep – even through the night. Shepherding is a hard job that requires constant attention. It takes a special kind of person to do such a job. Perhaps that’s why – unlike many ancient cultures – the Jewish culture actually respected shepherds to a degree (except for the wealthy, but they tended to look down on everyone). So, the traditional idea of God choosing the lowest-of-the-low to be the first isn’t 100% accurate. Sure, they were still a bit dirty and probably smelled of sheep, but they were fairly respected people.

    Not Ordinary Shepherds

    And that’s especially true if you believe that these were more than just ordinary shepherds. The fact that they lived in the fields is particularly noteworthy since the Mishnah (a group of traditions that governed the Jewish people after the Maccabean revolt) requires that sheep be kept out in the wilderness – not in homes or fields since they’d eat the crops. Of course it’s also noteworthy that the fact they were able to be in fields indicates the time of year had to be during harvest season and the time when there were no crops left (June/July – September/October).

    Back to the requirements found in the Mishnah. The exception to this rule goes to the sheep raised for the Temple sacrifices. Since those sheep needed to be blemish-free, they were raised in the safety of fields and more carefully watched over. In addition, the job of raising these important sheep fell to priests. And lastly, it’s known that the fields around Bethlehem were indeed used for such sheep-raising. So given all this, the first people God chose to announce Jesus’ birth to were actually shepherd-priests. More respected people who would have heard the angel’s message and understood some of the things said more readily than the traditionally imagined uneducated lowly outcast of a shepherd.

    Their Response

    When the angel declared who Jesus was (Savior, Messiah, Lord), these shepherd-priests would have recognized and understood what each of them meant and their significance – far better than any uneducated shepherd. Couple that with the presence of so many angels, and it’s no wonder that the shepherds jumped up and said “we need to see this baby for ourselves!” And when they got there and saw Jesus in a manger as the angel said, they rejoiced and became the first evangelists for Jesus telling everyone they could about it. And even though Luke records that everyone was “amazed” by what the shepherds said, that amazement probably came in the form of amazed that respected priests were running around like this talking about a baby.

    Takeaways

    So what takeaways do I have for you? When God tells you to do something, do it. The angels told the shepherds to go to Bethlehem and they did. No questions asked. Second, when God does something in your life, tell people about it. Your story can encourage others and give them hope. The shepherds told anyone and everyone they could about the infant Jesus and what the angels said. And third, don’t be afraid to do something out of pure joy, even if others say you look foolish. The shepherds probably looked a little foolish running around town like that, but they didn’t care.

    The Magi

    Perhaps the most mysterious of the Christmas characters are the people we call the Magi or Wise Men. We get very little about them from the Bible. Matthew records their story in only a handful of verses. Check them out.

    After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

    When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

    “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
        are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
    for out of you will come a ruler
        who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

    Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

    After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

    Matthew 2:1-12 (NIV)

    We get almost nothing about who these guys are or where they came from. And like the shepherds, we have no clue how many of them there were. We traditionally use three because of the three gifts they brought. But there very likely were more. What we see is that the Magi came from “the East”. Not real descriptive. Probably was east of the Jordan river, but that’s still a large area. Common beliefs include as close as Jordan or northern Saudi Arabia to as far as Persia (modern day Iran).

    A couple of things we can derive from the text is that they were very wealthy. The gifts they brought are a testament to that. After all, not everyone has gold lying around to give as a gift. And same with both frankincense and myrrh – both were very expensive to have around. So we know from their gifts that the Magi were wealthy people. We also see that they paid attention to the heavens and studied the celestial bodies to understand signs and such. Many people in the land of Judea missed the Star of Bethlehem and yet these foreigners come into Jerusalem asking about the king of the Jews.

    A couple of other notes is they travelled a great distance to honor a Jewish king. This might suggest that their people had relations with the Jews already. And lastly, I want to point out that they were religious in some form. After all, God warned them not to return to Herod via a dream and they obeyed.

    Who Were They?

    Persian/Babylonian

    I’m going to discuss a couple of the most prominent theories as to just who the Magi were and where they came from. The more traditional theory is that they were of some order of astrologers or priests that served in the ancient Babylonian and Persian courts. Think back to Nebuchadnezzar and his court. He had a bunch of wise men who couldn’t interpret his dream and then Daniel walked and said, “here it is”. Some have speculated that these Magi studied Daniel’s prophecies and recognized the time as when the king of the Jews (the Messiah) was to be born.

    While this could be true, the evidence isn’t terribly strong. For instance, we don’t know if those ancient orders were still active during the first centuries BC and AD. After all, those lands were under a totally different empire (Parthian) and we’re not sure if they had anything similar in their courts. To be sure, these people would fulfill the parts we do know about them being from the East and being wealthy enough to have and purchase the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

    Nabatean

    Another theory that’s growing in prominence is that they were Nabataean. The Kingdom of Nabataea encompassed parts of Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the Sinai. So they’d fit the Easterly requirement. In addition, they had great relations with the Jews. Herod the Great’s mother was Nabataean and he maintained political ties with them through his reign. So it could easily make sense that the Nabataean’s would want to honor a new Jewish king – especially since they were renowned traders and would desire to maintain strong relations with any nation they did business with.

    Furthermore, Nabataean’s held a virtual monopoly on the trade of Frankincense. In fact, they dealt in Myrrh as well and had gold in abundance. So even if the Magi did not come from here, they probably purchased some of their gifts from the Nabataean traders, who, by the way, would have been very familiar with the stars for navigating the desert at night.

    Takeaways

    In the end, it doesn’t matter a whole lot who they were. I personally grew up believing they were from the Babylonian/Persian area and adopted the belief that they were familiar with Daniel’s prophecies. But honestly, I’m starting to lean toward the Nabataean theory. Regardless of where they came from, the takeaways are the same. First, they recognized God doing something significant. They likely knew the positions and types of stars and other celestial bodies by heart and would have noticed the craziness of everything going on during those couple of years leading up to Jesus’ birth and beyond (check out my post on what the Star of Bethlehem likely was for more detail). For us, the takeaway is to be so immersed in know the Word of God and His Spirit that you recognize when God is moving and can respond and partner with Him.

    Second, is that they showed great honor and worshipped the King of kings – long before He did anything. This is powerful. Today we must do the same and show God honor and give Him worship – even before we see any miracles, any answers to prayer, etc.

    Wrapping Up

    The biggest takeaways with these groups of people probably have to do with worship and telling people about Jesus. And not just at Christmas. It seems that people are more likely to talk about Jesus at Christmas and Easter, but not in June. We should be open to talking about Him all year round.

    By the way, did you notice any major themes that links all the Christmas Characters? Some of the most cross-cutting themes were Obedience, Hope, Devotion to God, and Spreading His messages. And I think if we practice all these things, we’ll find the abundant life that Jesus came to give us (John 10:10).

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Christmas Characters: Part 2

    Christmas Characters: Part 2

    Intro

    Thanksgiving is over and December is here, therefore Christmas season is in full swing and officially here! (Though it did seem to be in full swing even before Thanksgiving with all the decor in the stores, but that’s another story.) I’m glad you came back to read part two in my four part series: Christmas Characters. Today’s characters I’m looking at are Simeon and Anna. These two people worshipped in the temple daily for decades. Both were incredibly prophetic and had some amazing (and hard) things to say to Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus. So let’s jump right into it.

    Who Were They?

    These two Christmas Characters could actually be considered barely a part of Christmas. After all, they didn’t come to see Jesus and it’s 8 days after His birth before they do see him. But that doesn’t really matter. What matters more is that they recognized Jesus as the Messiah while He was still an infant. This is going to be the common thread for all the Christmas Characters.

    Back to the characters, I already hinted that both Simeon and Anna were incredibly gifted in prophecy. And both were also pretty old. Though the Bible only calls out Anna as old. It doesn’t give any indication on just how old Simeon was. But there’s a couple of specific lines in there that I believe suggest he was getting up there in age. I’ll explain more about that later. But for now, ladies first.

    Anna

    There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.

    Luke 2:36-37 (NIV)

    We know a bit more about Anna than we do Simeon. For instance, Anna came from the tribe of Asher and her father’s name was Penuel. We also know that she got married and lived with her husband for seven years until he passed away. Plus, Luke records her as a prophetess. And finally, she lived at the temple and prayed day and night until she was 84. The original text could actually be translated as saying she was a widow for 84 years after her husbands death. That would put her over 100 years old by this point! Either way, Anna spent the majority of her live devoted to God, fasting, praying, and worshipping at the temple without ever leaving. That’s powerful.

    I find it interesting that she didn’t actually leave. Did the priests give her living quarters because they recognized her as a prophetess? In those days, widows were supposed to be taken care of by family if they never got remarried. So the fact that she lived at the temple could also suggest that there was no family nearby who could help her. Perhaps her family lived too far from Jerusalem and the temple that she so longed to be near. Or perhaps most of her family wasn’t living or were unwilling to help. Who knows. In any event, she lived in the temple day and night and devoted herself to God.

    The results of being totally devoted to God were that she was regarded as a prophetess by all and she immediately recognized Jesus as being the Messiah. Verse 38 tells us that when she saw baby Jesus “she gave thanks to God” and then proceeded to talk about Jesus to ” all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).

    Takeaways

    As with my last post, I will point out key takeaways from the lives of each Christmas Character. For Anna, I think it’s pretty obvious. Living a life of devotion to God. Now that doesn’t mean you should go and live at your church and do nothing else but worship and pray (and eat and sleep, presumably). For one, I don’t know about your church but ours doesn’t have showers, so if you don’t go somewhere else to take one periodically….

    But barring that, each one of us can still live a live of worship that is devoted to God. Walking in step with Holy Spirit and doing all that He calls us to. And when we do, we become more and more sensitive to His leading and His speaking and we will recognize and see things in others that we can call out and encourage them with. That is one of the main reasons the gift of prophecy exists. Did you know that? We are to call out the gifts and abilities that God places inside each one of us and encourage each other to use them. I can only imagine how uplifting this experience was to Mary and Joseph.

    The other key takeaway is that Anna told everyone who would listen that the Messiah had arrived. And that’s another thing that we need to do. Tell people about Jesus. Jesus commands it in Matthew 28.

    Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

    Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)

    Simeon

    Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

    “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
    For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
    a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

    The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

    Luke 2:25-35 (NIV)

    As I hinted earlier, we don’t know a whole lot about Simeon. And yet, he gets more verses than Anna does! But what we do know is powerful. First we know he was a righteous and devout man who was waiting for the consolation of Israel – one among many. Luke also states that Holy Spirit was upon him and moved him to go to the temple that day – the fact that Simeon responded suggests strongly that this was not the first time and probably happened with some regularity. We also know that Holy Spirit told him he would not die until he saw the Messiah. When I take this line with what Simeon says upon taking Jesus in his arms – “you may now dismiss your servant in peace” – I see an elderly man who has lived his life and is ready to go home.

    When we read Simeon’s statements, we can also discern that he is a very prophetic man as well. Which makes sense since Holy Spirit is upon him and Simeon is frequently moved by Him. Like Anna, he immediately recognizes Jesus as the promised Messiah and declares Him to be God’s salvation, a light to the Gentiles, and the Glory of Israel. And then his prophetic message takes an interesting turn. He states that Jesus will cause the falling and rising of many (likely indicating that some will see Jesus as the Messiah and others will not), will experience opposition, and will reveal what’s in the hearts of many others. And we can see this throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry. Lastly, he tells Mary that a sword will pierce her soul. Many, including myself, see this as a direct reference to the pain she will bear watching Jesus be crucified.

    Takeaways

    So what are the takeaways from Simeon’s life? I see a few things. First, even though Luke doesn’t state it, we can surmise that if Simeon is so in tune with Holy Spirit, then he – like Anna – must’ve be devoted to pursuing God. Second, we see that when Holy Spirit moved, Simeon obeyed. We need to move and obey God when He directs us to. Third, we should be willing to be used by God. And lastly, never give up hope for the fulfillment of a promise from God. Simeon had a direct promise from God that he would see the promised Messiah before dying. And he held onto that promise and saw its fulfillment. This one is similar with the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Elizabeth held onto hope while Zechariah lost hope. Despite his age, Simeon did not lose hope in God’s promise.

    Wrapping Up

    Have you noticed some themes cropping up from these first two posts about Christmas characters? A lot of old people!

    In all seriousness, there’s a few common themes I see. First, all these people were righteous, devout people who sought God and waited for promises. And there’s a theme of hope woven throughout their stories. Anna and Simeon held hope in the promised Messiah – and both got to see Him before they passed. Elizabeth held hope that she would bear a child. Zechariah had that same hope at one time, but lost it.

    The last thing I see are a lot of prophetic voices. Holy Spirit moved on all these people. We see Elizabeth recognize that Mary carried the unborn Messiah and declare her the “mother of her Lord”. Zechariah prophesied that his son, John, would become a prophet, prepare the way of the Lord, and teach people salvation and forgiveness of sins. Simeon prophesied that Jesus’ ministry would be opposed, would teach truth, would reveal the hearts of many, and would suffer – bringing pain to Mary. We don’t see Anna – a prophetess – declare any type of prophetic message over Jesus or His parents, but – like Elizabeth and Simeon – she immediately recognizes Him as the Messiah through Holy Spirit and proceeded to tell everyone who would listen about Him.

    As I continue through the next two Christmas posts, I think these same themes are going to continue to come up. And these themes of hope in God’s promises, seeking God as righteous and devout people, and being sensitive to Holy Spirit’s leading and speaking are all things we need to day in our lives. Think on them and pray for them in your own lives.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • The Star of Bethlehem

    The Star of Bethlehem

    Intro

    Wait just a minute, Christmas is over, why are you talking about “The Star of Bethlehem”? I know, what a horrible thing I’m doing by talking about Christmas out of season. But I’m going to do it anyway. The reason I’m doing it is because it fits well with the themes of my other Christmas posts this year. Dates and times and prophecies, etc. Next Christmas season, I want to talk about the different characters of the holiday, and the star doesn’t really fit that. So, let’s let the Christmas season extend just a wee bit longer and answer the questions What was the Star of Bethlehem? How did it move? Why did it move? It’s quite fascinating when you get into it. So, let’s do that.

    What Was the Star of Bethlehem?

    For centuries, people have debated what the Star of Bethlehem was. One thing that everyone agrees on is that the star was not an actual star. Stars remain in a pretty fixed position and from Earth, they don’t appear to move (except over incredibly long periods of time). And yet, the Magi claimed that they were able to follow the star, and they witnessed it “rise” and “stop”.

    After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. Matthew 2:9 (NIV)

    So, excluding a literal star, what else could this phenomenon been?

    Angel

    Something I found while researching this topic is this idea that the Star of Bethlehem was actually an angelic being, not a celestial body at all. The argument for this is that the Greek word for star is aster. This word is used 24 times in the New Testament and is mostly used to refer to a heavenly body. However, in Revelation 12:4 it’s used to describe angelic beings. So, there’s precedence to aster being used to describe angelic beings and not just celestial bodies. Furthermore, the way the star seems to move appears unnatural. Which could suggest that it was something else that can move about freely. And finally, it doesn’t appear like anybody except the Magi noticed the star. God selectively revealing an angel to specific people would explain why no one else noticed.

    It’s Weak

    Despite the evidence, the arguments are pretty weak. Every time the Greek word aster appears in the New Testament, it’s translated as “star”. Including the instance in Revelation. Using other clues, we extrapolate John saying “stars” in Revelation 12:4 is a poetic way of referring to angels. We don’t have enough clues to say the same about the Star of Bethlehem. Even the odd movement can’t save this theory. As you’ll see later, the way some heavenly bodies shift around and the way they look from Earth at different angles, etc. makes their movements seem quite bizarre. Ancient astronomers and astrologers certainly thought so. That’s why they were oftentimes attributed to signs from the gods.

    And lastly, just because the Bible makes no specific mention of it doesn’t mean that others didn’t notice it. It just means that no one thought much of it. And besides, people will not see what they don’t want to. After all, the Pharisees had access to all the Scriptures about the Messiah and missed Him. And some people are just spiritually blinded. The gospels record a time when God spoke from Heaven and some people heard words, while others said, “It’s just thunder”. So, Herod and the priests could have seen it and just said, “What an unusually bright object in the sky.” And then go on with their lives as if nothing happened.

    Celestial Phenomenon

    More probable than an angel, the Star of Bethlehem likely was a phenomenon that the Magi took note of and determined the significance of. In my first Christmas post of the season, I talked about the time period in which Jesus was born being the perfect time. Since God set the heavenly bodies up in motion, He could easily orchestrate the timing of an incredible astronomical event that would cause people to notice. Now within this theory of an astronomical event, there are two primary sub-theories I’m going to mention. If you followed along with my post about when Jesus was born, you’ll be able to quickly pick out which one I hold to.

    Jupiter and Saturn

    In this first theory, there was a series of unusual planetary conjunctions that occurred. It started on May 29, 7 B.C. with Saturn coming together with Jupiter in the constellation Pisces. (Note that Jupiter represents royalty in almost all cultures, and some say that Saturn represents Jerusalem with Pisces representing the nation of Israel – but I couldn’t find a good source for those two). Normally this conjunction would only take place every 804 years. However, this time it happened again on October 3 and December 4 of the same year! I can see why some would see that as a significant enough event for the Magi to really take notice. Especially when it happened once more in the Spring of 6 B.C.

    But then, to top it all off, in July of 5 B.C. a nova (an exploding star) lit up the sky. According to ancient Chinese astronomers, it was so bright it could be seen during the day. And if this were the Magi’s cue to start traveling, they would have arrived that fall and on October 5 of 5 B.C. the nova would have appeared as being above Bethlehem from the vantage point of Jerusalem. I understand why this theory appeals to people. Especially if they believe in the older dates of Jesus’ birth being between 7-5 B.C. However, as you might know from my earlier post, I don’t believe in those dates. So, as incredible as this series of events was, I don’t think it corresponds to the Star of Bethlehem. Although, it may have gotten the Magi’s attention to watch for something else.

    Jupiter and Venus

    The years 7-2 B.C. contained so many astronomical events that still amaze astronomers today. Case in point, after the nova in 5 B.C., another planetary conjunction occurred on August 12, 3 B.C. involving Jupiter (again) and Venus in the constellation Leo. Jupiter represents royalty, Venus has been known as the “morning star” for millennia (Jesus is called the bright and morning star in Revelation 22:16), and Leo is the lion, which fits with Jesus coming from the tribe of Judah since the lion was the symbol of Judah. Furthermore, another of Jesus’ names is the Lion of Judah. And it gets better from here. On September 14, 3 B.C. Jupiter came into conjunction with the star Regulus in the constellation Leo. Regulus was well known as the king star. Some scholars consider it to be the star of the Jewish Messiah.

    On February 17, 2 B.C. Jupiter and Regulus came together again in Leo. Then they did it again on May 8 of that same year. And then to make things better, on June 17, 2 B.C. Jupiter and Venus again came together in Leo, though this time they were so close that they would have appeared as one brilliant star. Things got a little more interesting in August. On the 27th of August, 2 B.C. four planets (Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Mercury) came together in one brilliant display within Leo. Perhaps the Magi took their cue to start moving here. And of important note, on December 2 of 2 B.C., due to Jupiter’s retrograde movement, it would have appeared to “stop” in the sky above Bethlehem from the vantage point of Jerusalem. And not only stop but stopped inside the constellation Virgo – the Virgin – and remained there for several days.

    Coming to a Close

    Notice that in both theories, every single event involved Jupiter. As stated earlier, Jupiter represents royalty. The Messiah was to be of royal lineage. Furthermore, Jupiter in Hebrew means “righteousness” and Jesus is our righteousness. So, I do believe that the earlier ones (7-5 B.C.) caught the Magi’s attention, but not until 2 B.C. did they say “alright, it’s time to move”. After all, the four planets coming together in August is quite the event!

    Now, I want to mention that I concluded in another post that Jesus’ birth occurred in fall of 2 B.C. And I still hold to that. However, you’ll notice that none of the events described occurred in the fall of 2 B.C. In fact, the only fall-ish event would be in September of 3 B.C. Now that doesn’t negate a birth in the fall of 2 B.C. Nothing in the Bible suggests that the star first appeared on the night of Jesus’ birth. The star only guided the Magi to the place of His birth – Bethlehem. And besides, maybe I’m slightly off and his birth was late August. Perhaps when four planets joined together inside Leo. Not sure. What I am sure of, is that the event occurring on the night of Jesus’ birth is less important than the event announcing His birth in general.

    Wrapping Up

    Whether the Star of Bethlehem was an angelic being or celestial bodies doing a dance through the heavens doesn’t matter, what matters is that it guided the Magi to Bethlehem where they met the King of kings and Lord of lords. Let us all remember to seek Jesus every day of the year.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Prophecies Fulfilled

    Prophecies Fulfilled

    Intro

    When most people hear the word “prophecy”, they think of foretelling the future. And when you flip through the Old Testament, that’s a pretty accurate description of the word. The Old Testament contains hundreds of prophecies. The Messianic prophecies alone number well over 300! And Jesus fulfilled most of them already. The ones about His second coming haven’t been, but we’re getting there. And speaking of prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, what did the prophets foretell of the birth of Jesus? After all, it is Christmas so why not explore some of the prophecies about the birth of the Messiah. I won’t hit all of them, just the ones that are either the most known or else ones I deem the most important. Since I am including so many Scriptures, I’m going to say this once. I took all of the Scripture from the NIV Bible.

    Genealogical Prophecies

    The Old Testament records several prophecies about the lineage of the Messiah. I’m not even sure I’ve got them all listed here. But here are the major ones.

    The People and Prophecies

    Abraham

    Genesis 22:18, “and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me”. God promised Abraham that He would bless all the world through his offspring. Only the Messiah could fulfill such a calling.

    Isaac

    Genesis 26:4, “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed”. Here we see God giving the same promise to Isaac that He did Abraham. This is very important, because we know that Abraham had other children. Everyone knows about Ishmael and how God chose Isaac over Ishmael. However, after the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife (Keturah), and they had 6 sons together (Genesis 25:1-2). Thus, it was important that God affirm His promise with the one son of Abraham that He desired to bless and had already chosen.

    Bonus: One of Abraham and Keturah’s sons (Midian) became the father of the Midianites. Later we see Moses marrying a Midianite woman.

    Jacob

    Genesis 28:13-14, “There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring’”. Here God promises Jacob the same promise He made to his father and grandfather. Not Esau, Jacob’s older brother. Again, this is a very important thing since in those days the eldest child got the blessing and a double portion of the inheritance. But here we see God giving the promise to Jacob.

    God had to make the same promise over and over in order to narrow it down for His coming people – the Israelites. That way they could better recognize the Messiah when He finally arrived.

    Judah

    Genesis 49:10, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his”. Here in Genesis 49, we see Jacob giving each of his sons a blessing. And these blessings are very prophetic in nature. To Judah, he prophesies that from his lineage will come a ruler that bring all nations to obedience. Jesus’ first coming fulfilled the first part, but the second part is yet to come. And now I will show that fulfillment to you.

    Jesse

    Isaiah 11:1, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit”. Centuries later, God spoke through Isaiah to further narrow down the lineage of the Messiah. Here God announces that Jesse would be the forefather of the promised one.

    David

    2 Samuel 7:12-16, “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever”. God promises David that his kingdom and through will last forever. A very clear reference to coming Messiah. Interestingly, this promise occurs before Isaiah’s prophecy about David’s father. However, not everyone would have necessarily interpreted the promise to David as a Messianic promise. Maybe God’s just saying that his lineage will rule over Israel forever. But in a strictly natural way.

    Fulfillment

    Abraham Through Judah

    Matthew 1:1-3, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram“. Right off the bat, Matthew declares that Jesus descends from Abraham – a necessary requirement to be the Messiah. Furthermore, he affirms Jesus’ descent from Issac, Jacob, and Judah. All very important to specify since all these men had other sons. But God specifically promised certain ones that the Messiah would come from them.

    Luke 3:23, 33-34, “He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph…the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor”. And comparing to Luke’s genealogy, we see that he too shows that Jesus descends from all these same men.

    Jesse Through David

    Matthew 1:6, “and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife.”. In order to further demonstrate the validity of Jesus’ claim as Messiah, Matthew continues in his lineage to show that Jesus comes from Jesse. And finally, we have David. Perhaps more than any other forefather, David was most important for Matthew to lay out for his Jewish audience.

    Luke 3:3132, “the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon”. As you see here, Luke does the same in his own account.

    That’s it. I’m done with the genealogies. I know, they can be kind of boring to read. But the Jews find them important, so we must address it.

    And that’s it for the Genealogical Prophecies. God makes no more specific promises to any descendant of David. And as you can see from Matthew and Luke, there are two different ways to reckon Jesus’ lineage from David. This has caused some confusion and skepticism. Now, I don’t claim to know what the correct understanding is here. I have seen differing ideas on the subject and there are two that are most likely which I will briefly mention here.

    The Levirate Marriage

    In those days, if a man died without having any sons, it was tradition for the man’s brother to marry the widow and have a son who would carry on the deceased man’s name. This is known as a Levirate Marriage. In this viewpoint, Joseph’s legal father – Heli (seen in Matthew) – died without having kids and his brother, Jacob (found in Luke) married his widow and had Joseph. Thus, Matthew records the legal line of Joseph while Luke records the biological line. Now in order for this to work, Melchi (Luke) and Matthan (Matthew) would have had to been married to the same woman to get Heli and Jacob with different lineages back to David. This one is a little complicated, but it does work.

    Joseph Vs Mary

    The more modern and popular theory is that Matthew and Luke are recording the differing lineages of Jesus’ parents. In this theory, Matthew focuses on Joseph’s lineage – once again the legal lineage because Joseph was Jesus’ legal father. Luke, on the other hand, zeroed in on Mary’s lineage – again the biological lineage. Now, to make this one work, you have to explain why Luke says, “He was the son, it was thought, of Joseph” rather than saying “the son of Mary”. First off, he says “it was thought” thereby pointing out Jesus wasn’t truly the son of Joseph. Furthermore, the language of the day didn’t have a word for “son-in-law” so Luke couldn’t have said “Joseph the son-in-law of Heli”. Though that may have been Luke’s meaning all along. For that was the nature of marriage, you effectively become a child of your spouse’s parents.

    Humanity Prophecies

    Other prophecies concern the humanity of the Messiah, i.e. he wasn’t going to be some angelic being or a spirit that has no physical form.

    Born as a Child

    Prophecy

    Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. I think most people know this passage. This relates to the humanity prophecies in the simple statement that ‘a child is born’. Indicating that the Messiah would be born human.

    Fulfillment

    In many ways, the genealogical prophecies I gave earlier demonstrate the fulfillment of this prophecy. One additional passage I’d like to include is Luke 1:31, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.”

    His Virgin Birth

    Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel”. Isaiah declares that the Lord will do something that any sane person would call impossible. A virgin birth. But God is the God of the impossible. After all, He created the whole universe from nothing.

    Fulfillment

    Luke 1:26-35 contains the longest description of the fulfillment of this prophecy. For brevity’s sake, I’m not including the entire thing. The previous prophecy references Luke 1:31 and Mary responds to the angel with “How can this be since I am a virgin?” (v 34).

    Matthew 1:20-25 records the angel telling Joseph that Mary’s conception is of God. And in verse 22 we get a direct quotation of Isaiah’s prophecy. “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew kindly provides us with a meaning to the name “Immanuel” as well.

    Place And Time Prophecies

    Born in Bethlehem

    Prophecy

    Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times”. Here Micah makes plain that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Nobody disputed this prophecy.

    Fulfillment

    Matthew 2:1, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem”. Matthew records Jesus’ birth as occurring in Bethlehem. In fact, in verse 5 when Herod inquires of the scholars where the Messiah was to be born, they quote Micah.

    Luke 2:4-7, “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them”. Luke records that Mary gave birth to Jesus while they stayed in Bethlehem during the census.

    Born During the Roman Empire

    Prophecy

    Daniel 2:40, 44, “Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others….In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.”

    Here we see Daniel declare that God will set up a kingdom during the time of the fourth. One that will never fade away or be destroyed. Daniel further elaborates that the first of the kingdoms is the one he writes this, Babylon. So, after Babylon, there will be three more kingdoms – and the Mesiah will come during the third one after Babylon.

    Fulfillment

    Luke 2:1, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world”. Luke records that Jesus’s birth occurred during the Roman occupation of Jewish homeland. And the fourth kingdom recorded by Daniel, was the Roman Empire. We see from the records in the Bible that Persia (the second) followed Babylon (the first). However, that’s where the Bible leaves off until we get to the New Testament and Rome (the fourth). That makes it a bit harder to demonstrate from the Bible alone the fulfillment of this prophecy.

    Fortunately, we can see from history outside of the Bible that Jesus came during the fourth kingdom. Daniel lived during the reign of Babylon and Persia. Greece (the third) conquered the Persian Empire. And lastly, Rome overcame Greece to become the fourth kingdom to rule over Jerusalem and the Jewish people.

    Called Out of Egypt

    Prophecy

    Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son”. Now this verse has duel meaning here. God regarded Israel as a son, and He brought the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt. So, what Hosea spoke here had a historical fact tied to it. However, there’s also a hidden Messianic prophecy here.

    Fulfillment

    Matthew 2:14-15, “So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’”. Here in Matthew, we see that Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath. In addition, we see that Matthew connects that with Hosea 11:1. Few probably caught Hosea 11:1 as a Messianic prophecy until after Matthew made the connection.

    The Prophecy of the Innocent

    Prophecy

    Jeremiah 31:15, “This is what the Lord says: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more’”. Jeremiah records a rather sad sounding prophecy. This idea of mourning and weeping because of the children.

    Fulfillment

    Matthew 2:16, “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi”. If you continue reading, you find that Matthew quotes Jeremiah’s prophecy saying that this act fulfilled it.

    Probability

    During my quick research into prophecies about the Messiah’s birth, I found an interesting article about the probability of someone fulfilling 8 Messianic prophecies. I’m going to summarize the findings here and include a link to the full article.

    The story goes that a mathematics professor (Peter Stoner) conducted a class exercise on the probability of someone randomly fulfilling 8 of the 353 Messianic prophecies. The American Scientific Affiliation reviewed the work, and the processes used and concluded that everything was sound.

    The results? The students found that the probability for a person to randomly fulfill a mere eight of the prophecies was 1 in 100 quadrillion! To show off what that number looks like, that’s 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.

    Professor Stoner illustrated it better as such. He said that if you lay down a 100 quadrillion silver dollar coins within the state of Texas, they would cover every square inch of the state and would pile up two feet across the state.

    Then imagine if you mark only one of them with a X on it, then you blindfold a man and drop him in the middle of the state. And then you tell him to walk in any direction for as far as he wishes, the prophecy probability previously calculated is expressed here as that man selecting the one and only silver dollar with a X marking on it! With only one chance to pick it up.

    And that’s only 8 prophecies. Out of 353! Clearly the chances of this happening randomly are astronomically impossible. These types of statistics strongly demonstrate the truth of what the gospels say. And personally, gives me a greater confidence in my own faith. Oh yeah, here’s that link.

    Wrapping Up

    Wow! Imagine being able to fulfill all these prophecies. Without even trying! After all, Jesus couldn’t control the circumstances of His birth. As an adult He might be able to manipulate a few circumstances to deliberately fulfill prophecies, He couldn’t do it as an unborn or infant. I love that because it gives us greater confidence that Jesus truly is the Messiah. The Son of God. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And may God richly bless you each and every day as you seek Him.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!