Tilling and Planting

Tag: Sin

Jewish Holidays Revisited

Intro

In this last post about the seven Jewish Holidays (or feasts or festivals) found in the Bible that God instituted, I’m giving a brief summary of how the feasts point to Jesus – either His first coming, second coming, or both. These aren’t in the same order that I did the individual posts on, but they are in the order of when they occur on the calendar. So let’s dive in.

Passover

Passover reminded the Jews about the night the angel of death killed the firstborn of Egypt, but passed over all Israelite homes as long as they put the blood of the Passover lamb on their doorposts. This marked the end of slavery and the beginning of freedom for them.

Jesus fulfilled this by becoming the unblemished, spotless Passover Lamb and shedding His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. By receiving this forgiveness, we are freed from our sins and are no longer slaves to them.

Unleavened Bread

The Feast of Unleavened Bread – which happened right after Passover – reminded the Jews of their flight from Egypt. Further, throughout Scripture, leaven is used as a picture of sin. This is important.

Jesus fulfilled this one because of His sinless life. And since leaven is a picture of sin, you could say Jesus lived an “unleavened life”. This goes hand in hand with Jesus being the unblemished, spotless Passover Lamb. Because only a perfect lamb could be sacrificed for the Passover.

Day of Firstfruits

The Day of Firstfruits served as a celebration of the barley harvest. And the Jews took this time to give thanks to God for His provision – appropriate. In addition, it reminded the Jews that the first fruits of everything belonged to God. Food and firstborn among animals and people.

Jesus fulfilled this by becoming the wave offering (the priest presented a wave offering for this festival) that He presented to God and then His atonement was released to be received by us (just as the wave offering was released to be used). This one occurred on Resurrection Day.

The first three holidays point to Jesus’ sacrifice, death, and resurrection. And it gets better from here.

Pentecost

Also called the Feast of Weeks, Pentecost celebrated the wheat harvest and the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai. It came 50 days after the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The fulfillment of this one came on the day of Pentecost itself when the disciples were all gathered in the upper room. Holy Spirit poured out upon them and they preached the gospel to untold thousands. And the result was a harvest of 3000 people. The connection isn’t quite as obvious here (other than the usage of the word “harvest”), but the New Testament refers to the Holy Spirit as a type of first fruit that God gives believers. And like the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks is a feast of giving of the first fruits – of wheat rather than barley. Furthermore, the Jews remembered the giving of the law during this time. The law symbolized and instituted the Old Covenant; the outpouring of Holy Spirit symbolized and fully established the New Covenant.

With this one, we’ve reached the end of the Spring festivals and the end of the ones completely fulfilled by Jesus’ first coming.

Feast of Trumpets

Moving on to the Jewish holidays found in the fall, the Feast of Trumpets kicks off a ten day period of introspection and repentance. From the first trumpet blast sounded, the people began to look at their lives and confess their sins to God and others. They seek reconciliation and forgiveness.

In terms of fulfillment, this one hasn’t been fulfilled yet. The Feast of Trumpets is the first holiday on the Jewish calendar that points to the Second Coming of Christ. How so? Well, so much around the Second Coming is associated with trumpet blasts. A trumpet blast precedes the rapture of the church, a trumpet will herald the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord, angels will sound seven trumpets each for a different judgment on the inhabitants of the earth, etc. The festival urges people to seek forgiveness from God before it’s too late.

Day of Atonement

The confessing of sins from the Feast of Trumpets and the ten days following, culminates in the Day of Atonement – the most sacred and solemn day on the Jewish calendar. On this day, the high priest sacrificed a goat for a sin offering for the people and then on a second goat – the scapegoat – pronounced all the sins of the nation and laid them upon the goat. Someone then took the goat out to the wilderness and released it. It’s a little different now without the temple and the priesthood established. That’s why there’s a ten day period of confession. But the idea is the same. Sin must be atoned for and forgiven.

One thing interesting about this feast comes from the fact that I see elements of both Jesus’ first and second comings. It’s pretty obvious from a reading of Hebrews that Jesus serves as our High Priest, but also served as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. However, it also points to a future redemption of the entire nation of Israel when Jesus returns. Similarly, the Day of Atonement reminds us of the seriousness of sin and the need for judgment of it. And the Second Coming includes judgment of the wicked and of sin itself.

Feast of Tabernacles

This final of the holidays on the Jewish calendar (as instituted by God) is the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. The Jews take this time to live in tabernacles (think tents) and remember their ancestors’ journey through the wilderness after escaping Egypt. It’s a time to reflect on the provision and presence of God. After all, the official Tabernacle that the Lord directed Moses to make was the place of God’s presence among the Israelites.

Like the Day of Atonement, this festival points to both the first and second comings. And to me, it looks fairly obvious how. For Jesus’ first coming, John in particular used the Greek word for tabernacle to describe Jesus dwelling with mankind – much how God dwelt with the Israelites in the wilderness. And like those tabernacles that Jews live in to commemorate this festival, His first coming was temporary. However, all these festivals see a greater fulfillment than what is on the surface. And for this one, it also points to Jesus’ second coming, but as a permanent dwelling with mankind. The Bible also mentions that all nations will celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. All nations will celebrate God dwelling with mankind for all eternity. That’s powerful.

And that’s the last of the Jewish holidays in this list. To sum up: the first four festivals in the Spring all point to the establishment of the New Covenant through Jesus’ death, resurrection, and sending of Holy Spirit. The last three in the fall primarily point to the second coming of Christ and His reign and rule over all and the destruction of sin once and for all (with some additional elements pointing back to His sacrifice and first coming).

Wrapping Up

And there you have it. All seven Jewish Holidays that God Almighty established. It’s incredible seeing how much they point to Jesus and all the foreshadowing that exists.

Even though this has come to a close, I’m not quite done with Jewish Holidays. There are two more that are very well known that I think a lot of people forget were not established by God. Despite that, you see God’s fingerprints all over the circumstances surrounding the establishment of these holidays. Join me next time as I explore the first of these two: Purim.

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!

July 25, 2026
Atonement for Sin

Intro

We’re at the end! Kind of. Today I’ll be discussing the final Jewish feast that God instituted in the Old Testament. However, I’m aware of a couple of other really well known holidays not instituted by God that I intend to discuss in upcoming posts. So while we’ve reached the end of the Divinely established holidays, the series of Jewish holidays isn’t quite at its end. But getting back to today’s topic, the holiday I’m analyzing today is known as the Day of Atonement – or Yom Kippur. The Day of Atonement is the most holy and solemn day on the Jewish calendar. However, it is also one of the most powerful references to Jesus in all the Jewish feasts. Buckle up, this is going to be fun.

What is it?

As I mentioned, the Day of Atonement is the most holy day on the Jewish calendar. This day ends a 10 day period of introspection and repentance by the Jewish people that started with the Feast of Trumpets. On this day, the High Priest makes atonement for all the sins of the entire nation of Israel. That’s a heavy burden. Before diving into the foreshadowing, let’s take a deeper dive at how God ordained this day and how it has evolved.

As God Ordained

The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron who died when they approached the Lord. ²The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.

³“This is how Aaron is to enter the Most Holy Place: He must first bring a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴He is to put on the sacred linen tunic, with linen undergarments next to his body; he is to tie the linen sash around him and put on the linen turban. These are sacred garments; so he must bathe himself with water before he puts them on. ⁵From the Israelite community he is to take two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

⁶“Aaron is to offer the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household. ⁷Then he is to take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁸He is to cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat. ⁹Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering. ¹⁰But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

¹¹“Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. ¹²He is to take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of finely ground fragrant incense and take them behind the curtain. ¹³He is to put the incense on the fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the incense will conceal the atonement cover above the tablets of the covenant law, so that he will not die. ¹⁴He is to take some of the bull’s blood and with his finger sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover; then he shall sprinkle some of it with his finger seven times before the atonement cover.

¹⁵“He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. ¹⁶In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same for the tent of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their uncleanness. ¹⁷No one is to be in the tent of meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel.

¹⁸“Then he shall come out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull’s blood and some of the goat’s blood and put it on all the horns of the altar. ¹⁹He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites.

²⁰“When Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat. ²¹He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. ²²The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.

²³“Then Aaron is to go into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments he put on before he entered the Most Holy Place, and he is to leave them there. ²⁴He shall bathe himself with water in the sanctuary area and put on his regular garments. Then he shall come out and sacrifice the burnt offering for himself and the burnt offering for the people, to make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵He shall also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.

²⁶“The man who releases the goat as a scapegoat must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp. ²⁷The bull and the goat for the sin offerings, whose blood was brought into the Most Holy Place to make atonement, must be taken outside the camp; their hides, flesh and intestines are to be burned up. ²⁸The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; afterward he may come into the camp.

²⁹“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— ³⁰because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. ³¹It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance. ³²The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments ³³and make atonement for the Most Holy Place, for the tent of meeting and the altar, and for the priests and all the members of the community.

³⁴“This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of the Israelites.”

And it was done, as the Lord commanded Moses.

Leviticus 16 (NIV)

Hoo boy. The instructions for this holiday come immediately after the deaths of two of Aaron’s sons who tried to offer incense in a manner that they weren’t supposed to. And the instructions takes an entire chapter to describe! In addition, there’s a little snippet in Leviticus 23 to give a few more instructions specifically for the people.

²⁶The Lord said to Moses, ²⁷“The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present a food offering to the Lord. ²⁸Do not do any work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹Those who do not deny themselves on that day must be cut off from their people. ³⁰I will destroy from among their people anyone who does any work on that day. ³¹You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. ³²It is a day of sabbath rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath.”

Leviticus 23:26-32 (NIV)

This was a day of enormous magnitude. For on this day the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies (the only time he could) and offered atonement for the sins of the entire nation. And if he didn’t do things just right, he would be struck dead. No pressure. Can you see why this became the most holy and solemn day of the year for the Jewish people?

Perhaps the most interesting part about these instructions is the two goats. One to serve as the sin offering for the nation and the other to serve as the scapegoat and be released into the wilderness – where it would die. I’ll discuss these goats more throughout the different sections, so keep them in mind.

As Observed

Over the years, the Jews developed different observances for this day. As well as some additional beliefs that aren’t outlined in Scripture. One such belief is that on this day, the Book of Life is opened, names written in it and then sealed again until next year. God never said that.

Second, at some point, the man responsible for leading the scapegoat out into the wilderness started leading the goat up to a cliff and pushing it off. Again, God did not command this. In fact, He specifically states to release the goat into the wild – to die, yes, but not by the hands of the Israelites. I believe this is meant to symbolize that God takes care of the sins of the people. I imagine that at some point, however, people started wondering (and worrying) what it might mean if the scapegoat came back into the camp. So they figured they’d make sure it never did. I can see the logic there, but it is at the expense of obedience to the Lord. We’re not much different today.

Another unusual custom was the tying of a scarlet ribbon around the scapegoat and a matching one in the temple. The idea being that when God accepted the sacrifices and the scapegoat offering, the ribbon in the temple turned white. This might be the strangest belief of them all. Some blending of mysticism with Judaism.

In more modern times, we see such practices as increased charitable giving. Weeks of introspection and repentance. Asking God and others for forgiveness, and forgiving others. Praying special prayers, giving food to others, having special meals, giving special blessings, etc. There’s quite a bit. After Yom Kippur is over, there’s also a lot of celebration with even more joy than the observances leading up to it.

Where is Jesus?

I mentioned that this holiday foreshadows Jesus more powerfully than many of the others – and that’s saying something! And like the Feast of Tabernacles, the Day of Atonement contains elements of Jesus’ First and Second Comings. Take a look.

First Coming

First of all, the obvious. Hebrews makes the case that Jesus is our High Priest. But in addition to being our High Priest, He also serves as the blood sacrifice (Hebrews 9:7-14). So not only does Jesus fulfill the High Priestly role found in the Day of Atonement, He also fulfills the twin roles of the bull offering and the goat offering – both of which were sin offerings.

Another piece is the Mercy Seat. The High Priest had to sprinkle the blood on the Mercy Seat. God – through Jesus – offered Mercy to all mankind. Furthermore, the word for Mercy Seat in Leviticus means “propitiation”, and the New Testament says in multiple places that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins (translated in some English Bibles as “atoning sacrifice”) – see 1 John 4:10 and 1 John 2:2.

Lastly, Jesus fulfilled the scapegoat requirement as well since God placed all of mankind’s sin upon Jesus and He took them away forever!

Second Coming

I don’t have a whole lot to say about this. The biggest things to note is that Yom Kippur points to a future redemption of all of Israel. And this won’t happen until Jesus comes back. The Jews also associate the Day of Atonement with judgment – which points to the great and terrible Day of the Lord at the Second Coming.

Another interesting connection comes from the word translated as “scapegoat”. The Hebrew word used here is Azazel. This word is also associated with the devil. Which points to the final judgment of the devil himself.

The Scarlet Ribbon

Remember the scarlet ribbon I referenced earlier? The mystic-type belief that when God accepted the sacrifices the one tied around a door handle in the temple turned white? Even though God did not give this instruction to the people, it seems like there was something to it. Ancient literature gives accounts of this actually happening during the Second Temple period. I’d be more skeptical of the whole ordeal if not for the fact that all of a sudden, the literature records the color change ceasing. You read that right, they say it just stopped for the last 40ish years before the destruction of the Second Temple. What happened 40ish years prior to the temple’s destruction? The Crucifixion.

While I’m not totally on board with the miraculous color turning of the ribbon, I have to admit that the timing of it ending makes sense. With the death of Jesus, God stopped accepting animal sacrifices for sin.

I don’t know the truth behind this, but I’m not going to rule out anything here. God may have honored the ribbon for His own reasons – if only to use it as another pointer to Jesus’.

Wrapping Up

And there we go. All seven God-ordained Jewish holidays wrapped up. For this last one, I wish for you to remember the seriousness of sin, the holiness of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, and the coming hope of His return.

Next time I’m going to give a summary outline of all seven festivals and how they point to Jesus. After that, I’ll move to one of the two well-known holidays that God did not ordain – but make an appearance in the Bible. Stay tuned!

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!

July 11, 2026
Unleavened Bread?

Intro

Here’s post number four discussing a Jewish holiday. In case you missed it, I’ve covered 3 of the 7 holidays (or feasts) instituted by God in the Old Testament (catch up here for Passover, here for Pentecost, and here for Firstfruits). I’ll confess that I didn’t plan this out so I’m doing them in a weird order. But oh well. Now onto the topic of this week’s post, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. What is unleavened bread, you ask? That’s a great question since, unless you’re familiar with the process of bread-making, you don’t have much reason to know what leaven is. And yet, Jesus uses it as a negative illustration multiple times. Given that, I think it important to know what leaven is and the reason behind the feast.

The Basics on Leaven

Okay, first question to answer: what is leaven? In a word: fungus. But not just any kind of fungus. Leaven is a fungus that ferments sugars and is used to cause dough to rise. You may have also heard it by its arguably more common name, yeast. For those of you familiar with bread making, you know how important yeast is to the process. But you also know that you don’t need a lot! Put too much in and you’ll probably end up with a loaf that collapses shortly after baking and is gummy or spongy, etc. Not good. A little goes a long way here.

Now before you get all excited about the possible sermon illustrations that compare leaven to how Christians ought to live out there lives (i.e., don’t shove it down people’s throats), that’s more what Jesus’ illustration with salt is about. Jesus called us the salt of the earth (see Matthew 5:13). And similar to leaven, a little salt goes a long way. However, Jesus does not call us the leaven of the world. In fact, He warns against the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herod. Plus Paul warns against the leaven of immorality (1 Corinthians 5:7) and legalism (Galatians 5:2-11). So what was Jesus and Paul comparing leaven to that makes it a negative? Before I answer that question, I’m going to take as step back and first talk about the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

The Feast

“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

“Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel. Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”

Exodus 12:14-20 (NIV)

Here in Exodus 12 we see a detailed outline of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. This feast begins the day after Passover – as seen in Leviticus 23:5-8. The Jews observed it for 7 days in accordance to God’s command. It was part of the commemoration of the Jews’ departure from Egypt. And as the name implies, the big deal of the festival was leaven – specifically the removal of leaven from their food and homes. No leaven could be found in their homes for the duration of the 7 day feast. And all their bread had to be made without it.

In fact, some days before Passover, the search for leaven in the house began. By the time the Passover came, the Jews had cleared the house of even the smallest speck of leaven. And I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but here’s an interesting thought about that practice. What did Jesus do at the temple a few days before Passover? Cleared the temple. Jesus accused them of turning His Father’s house into a “den of thieves”. Given what leaven represents in the Bible, Jesus literally fulfilled one aspect of this feast by doing that. More on that in the next section.

No Leaven in Jesus

Going back to the question of what leaven represents, the answer is sin. Because, like sin, it only takes a little leaven to work its way through an entire batch. And when we’re talking about sin, that batch may be an individual, or an entire church community. Because of that representation, Jesus does not compare His followers to leaven. Rather He uses leaven in conjunction with the religious and political leaders.

With this in mind, it becomes easy to see Christ in the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Jesus was sinless. No sin, no leaven. And He called Himself the “bread of life”. So this feast could be named the Feast of Jesus Christ, because being without sin and being the bread of life makes Him Unleavened Bread. Simple deductive reasoning there. This festival and Passover are very easy to find Jesus in. John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God and He died during Passover when the sacrificial lambs were being slaughtered. And with this one – done around the same time as Passover – we can recognize that just as the bread used in the feast had no leaven in it, Jesus also was without sin and therefore made the perfect sacrifice for mankind’s sin and redemption.

Back to the clearing of the temple, can you see how Jesus fulfilled the practice of cleaning a house of leaven? If leaven is sin, and the temple market made it a “den of thieves” – i.e., sinners – then Jesus cleared His Fathers house of leaven (sin). Pretty incredible when you think about it.

Wrapping Up

Jesus our Passover Lamb – perfect and spotless. Jesus our Unleavened Bread of Life – sinless. The Firstfruits of the Resurrection. The one who sends Holy Spirit to Reap a Harvest. Praise God. And that’s just 4 of the 7 festivals instituted by God Almighty that all point to Jesus and His plan of redemption for mankind. Incredible. Let us all remember this and be grateful for all He has done. For His great love, grace, and mercy shown to us. Amen.

Join me next time as I find Jesus in the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).

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!

May 23, 2026
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!

April 11, 2026
Saved – or not?
Intro

I’m hitting on a long debated question with no end in sight. That question being “Can a person lose their salvation?” It’s also known as the “Once saved always saved” question. And I’m going to be up front with you. I don’t think anyone can actually know for sure the answer to this question. In the end, I believe only God knows the whole truth. But that’s okay. So long as we trust in Him and seek Him, we can become sure of our own personal salvation. And God doesn’t call us to ensure the salvation of others, He calls us to bring the gospel to others and let Him work the salvation in them. We are not the judges of another’s salvation, God is.

With all that, the structure for this post will be to put forth the question in greater detail and then present both sides of the debate. I will be as objective as possible and will wait until the end to present my personal opinion. But I will again be up front and say that I could be wrong. I am not so prideful that I believe I have all the right answers – though that has been a struggle of mine, see my post about that very topic. Now that I’ve got all the fun disclaimers out of the way, let’s get started.

The Question

First I’m going to elaborate on the question “Can a person lose their salvation?”. It often starts out something like this. A person has an encounter with God and answers a call to salvation. They pray and are now thought to be saved. However, in time they abandon their faith and walk a road diametrically opposed to God and His Word. By the fruit they are producing people who never knew their story would not assume they are a Christian at all. And as far as the Christians who do know them, they wonder if this person will spend eternity in Heaven or Hell. This is a tricky situation to navigate – especially when talking to any loved ones of such a person.

Now the question becomes, was this person truly saved at that moment they prayed? And if so, are they still saved and going to Heaven despite their lifestyle and wanting nothing to do with God? Or did they lose their salvation and are now on their way to Hell for eternity?

Now that I’ve set the stage, I’m going to present the arguments of both sides with their strengths and their weaknesses. The opposing doctrines are called Eternal Security (once saved always saved) and Conditional Security (can lose salvation). When referring to people who hold to these viewpoints, I’m going to use the terms Eternalists and Conditionalists – just for simplicity’s sake. Okay, here we go.

Eternal Security

To expand a bit on the doctrine of Eternal Security, it claims that once a person receives salvation through faith in Jesus, they are eternally secure and destined for Heaven. I’m going to go over the key points and related Scripture passages in an objective manner. Everything I write here that’s not Scripture will be paraphrases and summaries of the arguments I found in my research.

All Scripture is from the NIV.

Biblical Foundation

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.

John 10:27-29

To the Eternalist, once a person has been saved, they cannot lose that salvation because no one can overcome the Father to remove them from His hand.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Bolstering the argument made for previous verse, Paul emphasizes that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13-14

A couple arguments I found about this passage. Only an authorized person can break a seal. So if God places Holy Spirit as a seal, then God alone is the one who can break it, not us. In addition, a deposit in this passage is like the earnest money when buying a house. It’s a guarantee that I will purchase the house at full price. For the believer the guarantee is for the rewards they will receive.

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6

God is the one who initiates and finishes our salvation. This gives believers confidence that He will do what He said He will do.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy

Jude 24

It is up to Jesus, not us, to present us before God. Believers are eternally secure because of His ability to keep us, not in our ability to maintain our own salvation.

Arguments and Explanations

In this section, I’ll lay out some arguments and explanations from Eternalists as to what they believe.

“”

This position points to the promises found in Scripture and testifies that those who are genuinely in Christ have a secure standing before God. This view rests on passages declaring the irrevocable nature of God’s gift of salvation, the sealing work of the Holy Spirit, and the believer’s eternal position in Christ.

…

Salvation stands on God’s sovereign initiative, rooted in grace. By grace, believers are forgiven and granted life in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). This gift is not earned; it is received through faith. Because God is the origin of that work, the outcome ultimately rests in His hands rather than on shifting human merit or performance.

However, humans must respond in faith. True faith produces transformation over time, yet the anchor of one’s security remains in the finished work of Christ on the cross (Romans 5:1-2). Through ongoing trust that aligns with obedience, believers experience assurance-not because they never stumble, but because Christ’s atoning sacrifice is sufficient to cover sin’s penalty.

“”

“Does the Bible support eternal security?” BibleHub.com
https://biblehub.com/q/does_the_bible_support_eternal_security.htm Accessed March 22, 2026

“”

Ephesians 4:30 tells us that believers are “sealed for the day of redemption.” If believers did not have eternal security, the sealing could not truly be unto the day of redemption, but only to the day of sinning, apostasy, or disbelief. John 3:15-16 tells us that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will “have eternal life.” If a person were to be promised eternal life, but then have it taken away, it was never “eternal” to begin with. If eternal security is not true, the promises of eternal life in the Bible would be in error.

“”

“Eternal security – is it biblical?” GotQuestions.org
https://www.gotquestions.org/eternal-security.html Accessed March 22, 2026

“”

Salvation depends upon God to bring it to pass, not us. Nothing, not even our sin, can frustrate the eternal and sovereign purpose of God who determined to save us by grace through faith in His Son. Since God’s holiness has been satisfied by the death of Christ, He can be just and the justifier of those who receive His Son by faith.

…

Sin does not change our relationship to God as His children though it does affect our fellowship, the intimacy of our walk with God, our ability to serve Him, and the rewards we will receive in the future kingdom.

…

Regeneration refers to the impartation of spiritual and eternal life which makes us new creatures in Christ. This can never change. First, it is based on the work of the Son, not our works. And second, as physical birth makes one a child of his parents forever, so spiritual birth does the same.

…

This argument is simply this. The New Testament plainly states we are saved by grace through faith in the person and work of Christ, and that salvation is not of human works or works of righteousness which we have done. If, however, having put our trust in the person and work of Christ, we can lose our salvation by what we do or do not do, then in the final analysis, we are saved by works.

“”

“Assurance of Eternal Security” Bible.org
https://bible.org/seriespage/14-assurance-eternal-security Accessed March 22, 2026

Conditional Security

To expand a bit on the doctrine of Conditional Security, it claims that a person who receives salvation through faith in Jesus, can lose it through unbelief and rebellion against God. I’m going to go over the key points and related Scripture passages in an objective manner. Everything I write here that’s not Scripture will be paraphrases and summaries of the arguments I found in my research.

All Scripture is from the NIV.

Biblical Foundation

There are several passages warning against falling away from the faith.

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Hebrews 3:12-13

My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

James 5:19-20

Extra argument I found about the James 5 passage, bringing a person back into the fold saves them from death. This is not a physical death, but a death of the spirit/soul implying that a soul made alive by salvation can experience death.

There are other passages that indicate that salvation remains only by continuing to persevere in faith and obedience (take note of the conditional “if” statements in these passages).

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

Colossians 1:21-23

But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Hebrews 3:6

We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

Hebrews 3:14

Other passages contain exhortations to examine oneself to ensure your own salvation.

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?

2 Corinthians 13:5

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble

2 Peter 1:10

Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

1 Timothy 4:16

The Conditionalist points out that such warnings, conditional statements, and exhortations make no sense if it were not possible to fall away and lose salvation.

Arguments and Explanations

In this section, I’ll lay out some arguments and explanations from Conditionalists as to what they believe.

“”

Perhaps more mis-understood and mis-represented than Calvinism is the theological belief and the Biblical teaching that a Believer is Secure in Christ based on a condition. What is the condition? Is it get saved, sin, then lose your salvation everyday? Certainly not! This truly would be a miserable condition wouldn’t it? Some claim that the focus turns from Christ to yourself in examining every last detail of your performance thus making you fall into the trap of some sort of works salvation. Does this sound like the ‘good news’ to you? Not me! I should go ahead and tell you that I too am a Conditional Security Believer and I affirm that I am saved by grace through faith alone. I have become a recipient of God’s grace through my faith in the work of Christ alone and I remain in God’s grace through this same faith alone. It is Christ plus nothing.

…

Arminians believe that “It is abundantly evident from the Scriptures that the believer is secure.” Furthermore, believers have assurance in knowing there is no external power or circumstance that can separate them from the love of God they enjoy in union with Christ. Nevertheless, Arminians see numerous warnings in Scripture directed to genuine believers about the possibility of falling away in unbelief and thereby becoming severed from their saving union with God through Christ. Arminians hold that if a believer becomes an unbeliever (commits apostasy), they necessarily cease to partake of the promises of salvation and eternal life made to believers who continue in faith and remain united to Christ. Therefore, Arminians recognize the importance of warning believers about the danger of apostasy and exhorting them to persevere in faith as a means of building them up in their faith and encouraging them to mature spiritually, which is a sure and biblical way to avoid apostasy.

…

Marshall concludes: “The New Testament contains too many warnings about the danger of sin and apostasy for us to be complacent about these possibilities…. These dangers are real and not ‘hypothetical.’” Methodist scholar Ben Witherington would add: “The New Testament suggests that one is not eternally secure until one is securely in eternity. Short of that, there is the possibility of apostasy or rebellion against God by one who has believed in Christ. Apostasy, however, is not to be confused with the notion of accidentally or unconsciously “falling away.” Apostasy is a conscious, wilful rebellion against God . . . . Unless one commits such an act of apostasy or rebellion, one need not worry about one’s salvation, for God has a firm grip on the believer.”

“”

“Conditional Security of the Believer” Drews2CentsForYou
https://drews2centsforyou.wordpress.com/2011/05/17/conditional-security-of-the-believer/ Accessed March 22, 2026

“”

Additionally, believers can “fall away from the faith:”

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. (1 Tim 4:1)

One cannot fall away from something without first having it, just as one cannot leave a place to which they have never been. Only Christians can fall away from faith. This departure from faith (that Hebrews 6 and other passages warn us against) must be man’s choice since God has promised not to change His mind. God will never stop believing. Only we can do so.

…

Faith is like a bucket placed under a faucet that freely pours out the living water of grace. The bucket does not conjure up the water; it simply receives. Still, if the bucket departs from its position that benefits from the water’s flow, it will no longer receive. Those who depart from the faith forfeit the salvation that is only received by faith.

…

The conclusion of this is that if one in good standing rebels, stubbornly persisting in a disobedient lifestyle, they are no longer part of the faith and no longer Christians. They have “fallen away from the faith” (1 Timothy 4:1). They have departed from Christianity. Please note that this involves much more than occasional falling. Falling away is a much more grievous thing than occasional falling. It is a stubborn, hardened, rebellion against God.

“”

“Is Eternal Security Conditional or Unconditional?” Apologetics Index
https://www.apologeticsindex.org/3046-conditional-security Accessed March 22, 2026

Criticisms

Now in this section I bring up a couple popular criticisms of both positions and responses to those criticisms.

Eternal Security
1. Some people feel that Eternal Security gives people a license to sin.
  - Response from aforementioned reference to BibleHub article.
  - “Scripture counters that those who truly love Christ demonstrate obedience (John 14:15). Moreover, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin (John 16:8). A believer who deliberately and unrepentantly pursues sin calls into question whether they experienced genuine conversion (1 John 2:19).”
2. Why else would there be warnings against apostasy if it were not possible to lose salvation?
  - Response from GotQuestions.org https://www.gotquestions.org/apostasy-salvation.html
  - “The passages warning against apostasy serve two primary purposes. First, they exhort everyone to be sure of their salvation. One’s eternal destiny is not a trifling matter…The second purpose for the Bible’s warnings against apostasy is to equip the church to identify apostates. They can be known by their rejection of Christ, acceptance of heresy, and carnal nature (2 Peter 2:1–3).”
Conditional Security
1. Risk of works-based salvation
  - In my research, Conditionalists time and again acknowledge that we cannot perform works to achieve salvation and the only reason we can lose salvation is by abandoning faith – they surmise that one needs faith to receive salvation, so by abandoning faith it logically follows that you can lose that salvation.
2. Undermines assurance
  - I referenced this one earlier.
  - “Arminians believe that “It is abundantly evident from the Scriptures that the believer is secure.” Furthermore, believers have assurance in knowing there is no external power or circumstance that can separate them from the love of God they enjoy in union with Christ.” Drews2Cents
Additional Information

There is so much out there I can’t squeeze into this. I’m going to summarize some more stuff I found.
1. Both believe God orchestrated salvation and that the believer receives it by faith through grace alone.
2. Conditionalists define those who commit apostasy as those who received in faith and then turned their backs on God and rejected their faith – thus losing their salvation.
3. Eternalists define those who commit apostasy as those who merely pretended to be believers. They talked the talk, but never received salvation by faith. So when they fall away from the faith, they are merely showing their true colors.
4. Both acknowledge backsliding as different than apostasy in that it’s occasional sinning and not permanent rejection.
5. Conditionalists do not believe that occasional backsliding causes one to lose salvation, only rebellion and rejecting their faith (this answers another common criticism of Conditional Security – Which sin will end salvation?).
6. The people who cry “Lord, Lord, did we not…” are people who never had relationship or faith as indicated by Jesus’ response “I never knew you.” So this cannot be used to support Conditional Security.
7. Conditionalists say that people receive salvation by faith and through faith they continue to walk with God. So when a person rejects that faith and rejects that relationship with God, how can they still be saved?
8. Eternalists believe God holds our salvation and perseverance of faith no matter our choices. Conditionalists believe that God holds our salvation no matter our choices, unless our choice is to stop letting God into our lives and reject Him and His salvation.
9. Both sides claim to have eternal assurance of salvation. For the Conditionalist, willful rejection negates that assurance.
10. Eternalists focus on God’s ability to hold us. Conditionalists focus on that and our ability to choose/reject God.
My Opinion

I promised at the beginning I would give my opinion – with the caveat that I could be wrong. In the end, I lean a bit more towards Conditional Security.

On the one hand, the idea of Eternal Security sounds really nice. Not having to fear losing salvation or your place in Heaven – no matter what. And the arguments that those who fall away never received salvation through faith to begin with makes sense (see 1 John 1:19 for a passage that supports this position).

However, the arguments that this can lead to people being morally lax is valid. By the same token, though, the arguments that Conditional Security can lead to a works-based salvation is also valid.

And Conditional Security answers the question of why so many passages exist regarding the perseverance of faith and warnings against falling away.

And God shows us time and again that He will not override our free will. He gave us choice and He gave us the ability to choose to have faith. So if we choose to have faith (“without faith it is impossible to please God” Hebrews 11:6) and receive salvation, He comes right into that relationship. But what should happen if we choose to abandon that faith? Will God say, “Sorry you’re stuck with me for eternity”? That doesn’t mesh with my understanding of Scripture.

My Conclusion

In conclusion, I lean toward Conditional Security. But regardless of which is true, I know I received my salvation by faith through the grace of God by the work of Jesus on the cross and did nothing to earn it. I am personally secure in Christ and choose to follow Him every day, seeking to draw closer in my relationship with Him. And no external power has the ability to separate me from God.

I also acknowledge that the church houses people who have a profession of faith and yet no heart change. And many of these people probably believe they are saved when they are not.

Final Statements

Both sides agree with the statements I just made in my conclusion. In fact, these two viewpoints agree on more than they disagree. The ultimate question surrounds apostasy and whether that exclusively belongs to people who profess faith without true heart change, or if truly saved people can reject their faith and lose their salvation. And in either case, only God knows their hearts. It’s not my place to say if a person lost their salvation or were never saved to begin with. In either case, God calls me to bring that person back into the fold if possible.

The other major difference surrounds responsibility. Both sides acknowledge that God holds us securely in His hand when we come to salvation. For the Eternalist, that’s it. Now God holds us for all of eternity and nothing changes that – because if we commit apostasy than that shows we never received salvation in the first place. However, the Conditionalist claims we have a responsibility to continue to have faith and allow God to hold us. By rejecting His hold, we reject the eternal security He offers us. To be sure, if this happens God will pursue us relentlessly – perhaps more than He did before we received salvation. And praise God He pursues us – even those of us still in the faith. He never stops that pursuit.

Wrapping Up

Hoo boy. This has been quite the ride. Admittedly I hadn’t known a whole lot beyond the surface-level arguments of either side until I started working on this blog. And I highly encourage you to read the articles I posted. Be forewarned, some are a bit dense. And please remember, do not try and judge another person’s salvation. Only God can do that. Pray for other’s whose salvation you may be uncertain of. If given the opportunity, lovingly correct and point people to Jesus. Even those who commit apostasy can be brought back into the faith – James 5:19-20 makes that clear.

As I said at the beginning, ultimately only God knows the whole truth about this topic. I don’t think it’s black and white enough to come down hard on one side or the other. And the most godly position any of us can take on anything that isn’t clearly laid out in Scripture is being humble enough to admit we might be wrong on whichever side we agree with. Though if you genuinely don’t know which to believe, that’s okay too. Admit that. Honesty is the best policy. Until next time, God Bless.

Outro

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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!
March 28, 2026