Time to clear out all the junk that I have allowed into my life. YOU see the real ME.
Sep 21 in The Feasts
There are seven feasts mentioned in the Bible, the Spring feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, FirstFruits and Pentecost) and the Autumn Feasts (Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles). Each packed with symbolism, insights and meaning.
The Feast of Trumpets starts on the Eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and runs for 10 days until Yom Kippur, the day of Atonement. The 40 days preceding the feast is called the month of Elul. The meaning of Elul is to ‘search’ or ‘inspect’ and is therefore a month of introspection, of soul-searching preparing our hearts before the day of the Lord, the day of judgement. It covers repentance, mercy and forgiveness. A precious time of drawing close to God where one on one we deal with things we have picked up (knowingly or unknowingly) through the year which need to be dealt with. A time where we allow God to shine His light on us and show us the truth of our condition, highlighting anything that needs addressing. If we were brought before His court today with Satan the great accuser at our right hand doing the accusing, what would he have to say?
On the 1st of July 1555, John Bradford was burned at the stake for preaching the gospel. It is said of him that ‘before the fire was lit, he begged forgiveness of any he had wronged, and offered forgiveness to those who had wronged him … A century later, Thomas Fuller wrote that he endured the flame “as a fresh gale of wind in a hot summer’s day, confirming by his death the truth of that doctrine he had so diligently and powerfully preached during his life.” (Bradford is commemorated at the Marian Martyrs’ Monument in Smithfield, London). The phrase “There but for the grace of God go I” was traced back to Bradford. An expression of humility and reliance on God’s grace rather than his own morality. It is found in A treatise on prayer by Edward Bickersteth (1822): ‘The pious Martyr Bradford, when he saw a poor criminal led to execution, exclaimed, “there, but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford”. He knew that the same evil principles were in his own heart which had brought the criminal to that shameful end’.
“Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24
It is during this month that the full book of Psalms is read out, 3 a day until Yom Kippur when the final 36 Psalms are read. It is a month where you review your spiritual condition, if God were to return right now, where would you stand? A time to take stock over the past year and get yourself right. A time to humble ourselves and make amends. A time of self-examination and reparation. A time to turn away from ourselves and concentrate on the needs of others. A time to repair any broken relationships, forgive or ask forgiveness. A time to change our ways if heading down a wrong road or if we have picked up any wrong habits. Are our thoughts clear? our mouths blameless? our eyes pure? our feet on the right path? our hearts blameless and sincere? am I saved?
“For we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” 1 John 1:8
Repent means to change your mind over something, a turning around, leaving something behind. The cross reconciles man to God through Jesus. His blood was shed for a reason. As we repent of our sin, like the blood that Moses instructed the Israelites to put over the thresholds of their homes to keep them from the destroyer; His blood (the blood of the lamb) saves us. It brings us out of Egypt (synonymous with a world ruled without God) saves us from death and cleanses us from sin (sin is acting independently from God and only comes to steal, kill and destroy us in the end) allowing us to turn our back on our past and walk a new path, out of Egypt into Canaan (God’s perfect plans, a land of promise) a second chance where our sin is not flaunted in our face but forgotten as far as the east is from the west. Removed. A brand new start, although this time you do not walk that path alone for God is on your side. “I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” John 12:47
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”.