Friday, February 26, 2016

WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday February 28, 2016

Over 98,000 readers worldwide
larrydalexander.blogspot.com


THE FEAST OF BOOTHS
(Remember GOD’s providence and provisions in your wilderness experience)
(Leviticus 23:33-44 & Nehemiah 8)

   In Leviticus 23, verses 33-44, the LORD instructs Moses to tell the Israelites to begin observing a “Festival of Shelters” or, “Festival of Tabernacles” (also known as the “Festival of Booth”), on the fifth day following the “Day of Atonement”. It was to last for seven days, and was to remind the Israelites of how their ancestors had to camp outside in tents for forty years after they were released from captivity in Egypt, because of their rebellious sin against GOD in the wilderness.
    The Feast of Booths begins with a sacred assembly on the first day, and all regular work must be suspended on that day. On each of the seven days, sacred offerings must be presented up to the LORD by fire. On the eighth day, the people would again gather in a sacred assembly and present another sacred offering to the LORD by fire. It would be a solemn closing ceremony, and again, no regular work can be done on this day.
    During this seven-day period, a time when the fall harvests are complete, the Israelites are to gather the fruit that came from the citrus trees, along with palm fronds and other leafy branches from the willows that grow by the streams, and rejoice in the LORD throughout. All who are Israelites by birth must live in tents for the duration of the festival.
    Several hundred years later, in chapter 8 of the book of Nehemiah, after the Israelites had been released from captivity in Babylon, we see a revival of this holiday by Ezra the Scribe. On that occasion, a week after the construction of the walls of Jerusalem were completed, all of the people of Israel re-assembled on the square, just inside the “Water Gate” on the east wall of the city. They asked Ezra, their High Priest, teacher, and scribe, to bring out the book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had given for Israel to obey.
    It was now mid-autumn, during the Jewish month of “Tishri” (the seventh month on the Jewish calendar), and the people of Israel, which numbered between thirty and fifty thousand, needed “a fresh infusion of commitment”, or “spiritual revival” to “re-fuel them” following their exhausting task of finishing the wall around Jerusalem.
    There Ezra brings the scroll of the Law of Moses before the sacred assembly of men, women, and those children who were old enough to understand, and began to read aloud to them from the Law. The people stood on their feet and praised the LORD, just as Ezra and all the priests and Levites did, and they all raised their hands toward Heaven. Then they bowed down with their faces to the ground and worshiped GOD some more. 
    Afterwards, the thirteen Levite priests who were present, along with Ezra, and Nehemiah the governor, instructed the people, as they interpreted and translated the Scripture from “Hebrew” to “Aramaic”. Most of the people could not speak or read in the ancient Hebrew tongue that was widely used before their “Babylonian captivity”. The majority of them now spoke in the “Aramaic tongue of Babylon”, which was a “Semitic language” that was actually widely used, even by non-Aramean people like the Jews, from circa 7 B.C. to A.D. 7. In fact, it is also the language that JESUS HIMSELF communicated in, while here on HIS earthbound mission.
    Here in this chapter, we see three very positive responses to the Word of GOD;

·    An “Intellectual Response” (Vs.1-8) - The Israelites had an overwhelming desire to know
    what GOD’s plan for them was, and, just how GOD wished for them to live their lives.
·    An “Emotional Response” (Vs.9-12) – The Israelites experienced a “conviction” by
    GOD’s Word that is associated with the “joy” of knowing of GOD’s forgiveness. The
     association of these two things (conviction and joy) may seem strange on the surface,
     however, the more we become aware of the extent of our sins, the greater our joy will be
    in GOD’s forgiveness of those sins.
·   A “Volitional Response” (Vs.13-18) – The family leaders, and the priests and Levites, met
   with Ezra to go over the details of the Law of Moses, the man of GOD, more closely. A
   they studied, they discovered that the LORD had commanded that the Israelites should
   live in shelters during the upcoming “Festival of the Tabernacles”, or, “Festival of
   Booths”. The people were to go to the hills and get branches from olive, myrtle, palm, and
   fig trees, and use them to make “shelters” or “booths” in which they could live during the
   seven days of the festival. And so all of the people who had returned from captivity in
   Babylon, “willingly and voluntarily” went out and cut and gathered the branches, and
    built their shelters to dwell in during the festival week.

    The Israelites had not celebrated this way since the days of Joshua, and Ezra read to them from the Scriptures on each of the seven days. On the 15th day of the month, they held a solemn assembly, just as the Law of Moses required.
    This harvest-time festival had previously always been a time of great rejoicing and celebration. However, this particular Feast of Tabernacles was marked with exceptional joy, because now, once again, GOD had defeated the Israelites enemies, and Jerusalem was, now, once again, “a walled city”.
    The “revival” that followed was not unlike what our modern-day revivals should be like. It should be “a self-humbling experience” that is expressed in “fasting”, “earnest repent”, “confession of sins”, and “an eagerness to study GOD’s Word”.
    History teaches us that GOD is faithful, and, that HE remains faithful to HIS commitment to us, even today. And we should show praises to GOD because HIS grace and mercy has remained upon us, as HE patiently waits on us to return to HIM and accept HIS offer to us, of “eternal life”, through CHRIST JESUS.

A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander





                                 
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website

  



Friday, February 19, 2016

WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday February 21, 2016

Over 97,000 readers worldwide
larrydalexander.blogspot.com

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
(The blood that atones for sin)
(Leviticus 16)

   In Leviticus 16 the LORD gives Moses specific details of a holy ritual that involved a sacrificial blood atonement that was to be carried out by the High Priest, (who, at that time, was Moses’ older brother, Aaron) only one day a year. This day, now known as “Yom Kippur”, would be the only day that the High Priest would be allowed to enter into the inner room of the tabernacle that was known as the “Most Holy Place”.
    On this tenth day of Tishri, a solemn day of fasting and prayer, the High Priest would enter into the “Most Holy Place” to make atonement for the sins of, first, himself and his family, and then, the entire nation of Israel. In fact, the Hebrew word “kippur” in the bible, has a special association with sin, guilt, and forgiveness, and, it also actually involves the offering up of a blood sacrifice to the LORD. This sacrifice, in a way that only GOD knows, deals with the guilt of a repentant heart to the extent that GOD will take great joy and pleasure in forgiving the reconciled person.
    These instructions were given to Moses shortly after Aaron’s two sons died because they had disobeyed GOD by burning a different kind of fire than HE had commanded them to burn. Here the LORD tells Moses to specifically warn Aaron not to enter the Most Holy Place at his own choosing, but rather, at the time of the LORD’s choosing, and if he entered any time other than the time that HE commanded him to, the penalty for doing so would be death (Vs.1-2).
    The Day of Atonement must be viewed in relation to the death of CHRIST, where, in the New Testament, we are taught that JESUS died as a propitiation (substitution) for all of our sins, past, present, and future. The wages of sin has always been “death”, and GOD the FATHER, the “just JUDGE, will always require it to be so. JESUS is the eternal “sacrificial LAMB” that provided the permanent basis for forgiveness of all mankind, just as the sacrificial animals of the Old Testament provided the basis for each person who provided the sacrificial animals, to be forgiven, but only for the sins that they had committed up until that point.
    In GOD’s instructions for Aaron regarding his personal preparations for the Day of Atonement (Vs.3-4), HE tells Moses that his brother must first bring a young bull for a sin offering for himself and his family, and a ram for a whole burnt offering. Then he must wash his entire body and put on his “linen tunic” and his under garments that are worn next to his body. He must then tie a “linen sash” around his waist and put his “linen turban” on his head. These would be his sacred garments for this occasion.
    Taking up at verse 5, we see detailed instructions for the provisions of “two male goats” for a sin offering, as well as a ram like Aaron’s for a burnt offering before the LORD. At this point Aaron would present his young bull as a sin offering for himself and his family. Then he would bring the two male goats and present them to the LORD at the entrance of the Tabernacle. He would then cast sacred lots to determine which goat will be sacrificed to the LORD, and which one will be “the scapegoat”. The goat chosen to be a sacrifice to the LORD will be presented by Aaron as a sin offering, and the goat chosen as a scapegoat will be presented to the LORD alive. The scapegoat will then be sent into the wilderness, symbolically carrying the sins of the people with him, as an atonement for Israel.
    After Aaron kills the bull for his personal sin offering, he was to fill an incense burner with burning coals from the altar that stands before the LORD. Then, after filling both hands with fragrant incense, he will carry the burner and the incense behind the inner curtain, and into the Most Holy Place.
    There in the LORD’s presence, he will put the incense on the burning coals so that a cloud of incense will rise over the Ark’s cover in the place of atonement that rests on the “Ark of the Covenant”. At this point in HIS instructions, the LORD inserts this warning for Aaron, “If he (Aaron) follows these instructions, he will not die”.
    Afterwards Aaron was to dip his finger into the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on the front of the atonement cover, and then, seven times against the front of the Ark. At this point Aaron must slaughter the goat as a sin offering for the people, and bring its blood into the Most Holy Place behind the inner curtain. There he will sprinkle the blood on the atonement cover and against the front of the Ark, just as he did with the bull’s blood. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place, and, he will do the same for the entire Tabernacle, because of the sins of Israel. No one will be allowed inside the Tabernacle at all, while Aaron is making atonement in the Most Holy Place. Everyone is excluded from entering any part of the Tabernacle until he is completely finished making atonement for himself, his family, and all the people of Israel.
    In verses 18-19 the LORD instructs that Aaron will go out of the Most Holy Place to make atonement for the altar that stands before the LORD, by smearing some of the blood from the bull and the goat on each of the altar’s horns. He must then dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle it seven times over the altar to cleanse it from Israel’s defilement and restore it to its former holiness.
    After Aaron has finished making atonement for the Most Holy Place, the Tabernacle, and the altar, he will then bring forward the living goat and lay both of his hands on the goat’s head, and begin to confess all of the sins and rebellions of Israel over it. By doing this he is, symbolically laying all the sins of the people of Israel on the head of the goat. He will then send the goat out into the wilderness lead by a man who was pre-chosen for the task. After the man sets the goat free in the wilderness, it will carry away the sins of the people, upon itself, and into a desolate land (Vs.20-22). Then the man must wash his clothes and bathe in water before he returns to the camp (v.26).
    After releasing the scapegoat to the man who led it into the wilderness, Aaron will return to the Tabernacle and divest himself of his linen garments, and leave them in the Tabernacle. He will again wash his entire body with water in a sacred place, put on his regular garments, and then go out and sacrifice his own whole burnt offering, and the whole burnt offering of the people. In this way, he will make atonement for himself and for all the people of Israel. He must also burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar (Vs.23-25).
     The bull, and the goat, whose blood was used as a sin offering in the Most Holy Place by Aaron, will be taken outside the camp, and their entire remains will be burned. The man who does the burning must wash his clothes and bathe in water before returning to the camp (Vs.27-28).
    In all future generations the atonement ceremonies were to be performed by the anointed High Priest. The Day of Atonement was commanded by the LORD to be a permanent annual observance. And just as Moses and Aaron followed all of GOD’s instructions by the letter, so should all future generations of the Jewish Faith.
    The writer of the Book of Hebrews, however, points out that JESUS’ vicarious sacrifice for our sins when HE died on the cross, did not have to be an annual event such as the Day of Atonement would be. It is a once-and-for-all-time sacrifice that GOD the FATHER accepts for all the sins of man, for all time. And so, with the vicarious sacrifice of CHRIST JESUS, came the nullification of the effects of the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement, which was a ritual only for the Jews, has been replaced by JESUS’ Day of Crucifixion, because HIS blood covers not only the sins of the Jews, but rather, it covers the sins of all people, for all time.

A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander  





                                 
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website


Friday, February 12, 2016

WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday February 14, 2016

Over 96,000 readers worldwide
larrydalexander.blogspot.com

THE FEAST OF WEEKS
(It is important to thank GOD for HIS many blessings)
(Leviticus 23:15-22)

   In the first century the “Feast of Weeks”, celebrated in the month of “Sivan” on the Jewish calendar, was known as the day of “Pentecost”, because it was observed seven weeks and one day (50 days) after the “Wave Offering” of barley, during the “Feast of Unleavened Bread”. It is also known as the “Feast of Harvest” (Exodus 23:16), and the “Day of Firstfruits” (Numbers 28:26).  
    Jewish tradition has historically linked this feast day to the occasion when Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai, however, nothing biblical links the Feast of Weeks to that occasion, nor is it linked to any of the fall festivals that occur in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, which is “Tishri”. The Feast of Weeks, celebrated in the month of Sivan, would be during the time period of May/June on our Gregorian calendar, whereas all of the fall festivals are observed in the September/October period.
    During this festival, new grain is offered up in thanksgiving to the LORD and special sacrifices are also offered. It is a celebration to give thanks to GOD for HIS many blessings throughout the year. Here in verses 15-22 of Leviticus 23, we see the LORD handing down detailed instructions for when and how HE desires for the Feast of Weeks to be celebrated. Taking up at verse 15 the LORD says that;

    “From the day after the Sabbath, the day the bundle of grain was lifted up as an offering, count off seven weeks. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, fifty days later, and bring an offering of new grain to the LORD. From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the LORD as an offering. These loaves must be baked from three quarts of choice flour that contains yeast. They will be an offering to the LORD from the first of your crops” (Vs.15-17 - NLT).

    Here the LORD begins HIS instructions by specifying the exact time of year that HE wanted HIS people to observe the Feast of Weeks in HIS honor, and what preliminary item (leavened bread) they would bring to get started. Worshippers were to first provide two loaves of this leavened bread as a wave offering of firstfruit. It would be the only time of the year that leavened bread will be brought to the LORD as an offering, however, none of the bread was to be burned on the altar.
    In verses 18-20 the LORD instructs that, along with the bread, the people of Israel were to present seven one-year-old lambs with no physical defects, one bull, and two rams as a burnt offering. These whole burnt offerings together with a grain offering and a drink offering would be given to the LORD by fire.
    Afterwards a male goat must be offered up as a “sin offering” and two one-year-old male lambs must be presented as a “peace offering”. Portions of the lambs, along with the bread of the firstfruit are to be a wave offering that would be given to the officiating priests as their share for performing the ceremonies for the people. These offerings are to be considered “holy” to the LORD, but will belong to the priests.
    The day of the feast is designated as a holy day and no regular work will be done on this day. Everyone will meet together in a sacred assembly and it will be a permanent law to observe this day forever, and wherever, the Israelites may dwell.
    The LORD ends this passage with a reminder for the Israelites “not to harvest the grains on the edges of their field, or pick up the grains that the harvesters may let drop to the ground” (Leviticus 19:9-10 & Deuteronomy 24:19-21). It must all be left for those who are poor, and, for the foreigners who lived among them.
    And so, just as the priests needs were met by GOD through the sacrificial offerings of the feasts, so the needs of the poor and the strangers would be met by the people through the gleanings of the harvest. The lesson we take away from this passage is that, we are to, first, thank GOD for HIS blessings, and then, bless others with what we’ve been blessed with.

A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander





                                 
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website




Friday, February 5, 2016

WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday February 7, 2016

Over 95,000 readers worldwide
larrydalexander.blogspot.com

THE FIRST PASSOVER
(Remember to celebrate what the LORD has done)
(Exodus 12:1-14)

   Exodus 12 highlights GOD’s instructions to Moses and Aaron for the first Passover observance. They were to give these instructions to the people of the nation of Israel while they were yet still in the city of Goshen, in the land of Egypt. And so, here in this passage we see Israel being referred to as a “nation” for the first time in Scriptures.
    Here in this passage we also see the month of Abib, which means “fresh young ears” being declared by GOD as the first month on the Jewish religious calendar. It was not until after the Jews capture by Babylon many centuries later (586 B.C.), when 4 of the 12 months of the calendar were given Babylonian names, and the month of Abib became known as “Nisan”, which means “start”.
    The city of Goshen in Egypt, where the Israelites resided, was where GOD originally introduced the “concept of the Church” on earth, and how it was to be “set apart” as far as how it was to be related to the world. Even though the people of the Church (Goshen) had to exist and toil in the world (Egypt), it must, at one and the same time, also remain separated from the ways of the world. Israel, in Egypt, became GOD’s concept of what the Church would be like in its relationship to the world. The Church, like Israel, was to be “GOD’s representative” here on earth, and therefore, the laws of GOD would have to become paramount to each.
    Here in this chapter of Scripture, GOD is seeking to instill a sense of unity among HIS people that would help them to maintain the same attitude of being “set apart” in their behavior and lifestyle, from the world, long after she leaves Egypt and enters into the “Promised Land” of Canaan. They were to never forget the lesson that GOD taught them through their hardships in Egypt, so that they would never again desire to choose the ways of the world over the ways of GOD, their SAVIOR. That is why the rituals of the Passover are rift with symbolisms regarding their four hundred years of captivity in Egypt.
    In the Old Testament, the concept of “Zikkaron” (Zik-ka-rone) is a festival, practice, or object that is intended to link future generations, to a past distinctive act of GOD. The name derives from the Hebrew word “zikrown” (zik-rone), which is “a memento, or a memorable day, thing, or writing”. Through the Zikkaron, GOD’s people could sense their personal participation, along with the original generation, in the very act that GOD had performed for that previous generation.   
    And so, the Passover is one of a small number of feasts that comes to us directly from the heart of GOD HIMSELF. These celebrations, or, observances, whisper ever so gently, for us to come closer to GOD, and are intended by HIM, to help us to keep our minds stayed on HIS grace and mercy, from generation to generation.
    The Passover, also most notably depicts for us, a very vivid picture of the coming salvation that would be ushered in by CHRIST JESUS. When JESUS was living here on earth, HE plucked from these proceedings, the very “communion services” that we often observe in the Christian Church today, and HE commanded us to “Do this in remembrance of HIM”.
    The sacrificial lambs’ blood that was smeared over, and on the sides of the doorposts of the Israelites homes in Goshen, allowed for them to be “passed over” by the “angel of death” and to be saved by the merciful hand of GOD. It is a picture of how “the saving blood of CHRIST JESUS” would later come to deliver all mankind, who chooses to follow HIM from the “chains of death and sin in the “world”, and into the glorious presence of GOD in Heaven.

    The following is a rather detailed description of a Passover Commemorative Feast like the one that was handed down by GOD to HIS servants, Moses and his older brother Aaron, for HIS people, Israel in Exodus 12;
  
    According to Jewish ways of counting days, the new day begins at 6:00 o’clock in the evening. The Passover day, itself, is on the 14th Nisan. Preparation for Passover is done on the 13th Nisan, and is completed by 6:00 p.m. In preparing for Passover, there is first, a “ceremonial search for leaven”. Every bit of “leaven” must be totally removed from a household. This is in conformance with the tradition of this very first Passover in Egypt, as it is recorded in Exodus 12, where it was commemorated with the eating of “unleavened bread”.
    Then, on the afternoon of the 13th Nisan, came the “sacrificing of the Passover Lamb”. All the people would come to the temple and the worshipers would each kill their own lamb for sacrifice. Two long lines of priests stood between the worshipers and the Altar, each holding a gold or silver bowl. When the lamb’s throat was slit, the blood was caught in one of these bowls, and was passed up the line to the priest at the end of the line, who would pour the blood onto the Altar.
The lamb is then skinned and gutted, and the fat is extracted. The meat is then handed back to the worshiper, and it is then, carried home to be roasted on an open fire with a spit made of Pomegranate wood. The table that is used is shaped like a square with one end open. It was very low, and the diners were reclined on couches, resting on their left arm, with their right arm free for eating.

This is a list of things that were necessary to obtain for the Passover meal:

(1). There is the “Lamb”: It is to remind them of how their houses had been protected by
       the blood of the lamb when the Angel of Death passed through Egypt, on the eve, of the
       great exodus. 
(2). There is the “Unleavened Bread”: This is to remind them of the bread that they had
       eaten in haste, when they left out, from slavery in Egypt.
(3). There is the “Bowl of Salt Water”: To remind them of the tears that they had shed in
       Egypt, and the water of the Red Sea, through which they had miraculously passed to
       safety.
(4). There is the collection of “Bitter Herbs”: Horse Radish, Chicory, Endive, Lettuce, and
       Horehound to remind them of the bitterness of slavery in Egypt.
(5). There is a paste called “Charosheth” (Khar-o-sheth): A mixture of Apples, Dates,
       Pomegranates, and nuts, to remind them of the clay, of which they had to make bricks
       in Egypt. Also mixed through it, were sticks of cinnamon to remind them of the straw,
       with which the bricks had been made.
(6). There were the “Four Cups of Wine”: The cups contained a little more than half a pint
       of wine, with three parts wine mixed with two parts water. The four cups were drank
       at different stages of the Passover meal, and were to remind them of the four promises
       in Exodus 6:6-7, where GOD says, “I will bring you out from under the burdens of the
       Egyptians”. “I will rid you out of their bondage”. “I will redeem you with a stretched
       out arm, and with great judgments”. “I will take you to ME for a people, and I will be
      to you a GOD”.

Now this is the procedure, or various steps by which the Passover Meal is eaten:

(1). First the “Cup of the Kiddush” (first of the four cups of wine) is prayed over and
       drank. “Kiddush” means “sanctification”, or “separation”. This cup symbolizes the
       separation of this meal from all other common meals. The head of the family prays
       over the cup, and then everyone would drink it.
(2). Then there is the “first hand washing”, which would be done only by the person who
       was to celebrate the feast. They must wash their hands three times in a prescribed way.
(3)  Now, a piece of parsley, or lettuce was taken and dipped in the bowl of salt water and
       eaten as an appetizer to the meal. The parsley, or lettuce symbolized the hyssop, with
       which the blood had been smeared over the doorposts in Egypt.
(4). “The breaking of the Bread”. Two blessings are used in the breaking of the bread.
      “Blessed be THOU, O LORD, our God, King of the universe, who bringest forth from
        the earth”, or “Blessed art THOU, our FATHER in Heaven, who givest us today the
        bread necessary for us”. On the table, there are three circles of unleavened bread. The
        middle one is taken and broken, to remind them that as slaves, they never had a whole
        loaf to eat. As it is broken, the head of the family would say, “This is the bread of
       affliction that our forefathers ate in Egypt. Whosoever is hungry, let him come and eat.
       Whosoever is in need let him come and keep Passover with us”.
 (5). Next came the telling of the “Story of Deliverance”, or, how GOD delivered the Jews
        out, of Egypt.
 (6). Then Psalms 113 & 114 are sung. Psalms 113-118 are known as the “Hallel”, which
        means “the praise of GOD”.
 (7). Then the second cup of wine is drunk. It is called the “Cup of Haggadah”, which
        means “the cup of explaining or proclaiming”.
 (8). Afterwards, all those present, now wash their hands in preparation for the meal.
 (9). A grace is said. “Blessed art THOU, O LORD, our God, who bringest forth fruit from
       the earth. Blessed art THOU, O GOD, who has sanctified us with THY commandment
       and enjoined us to eat unleavened cakes”. Then small pieces of bread are distributed.
(10). Some of the bitter Herbs are placed between the two pieces of bread and are dipped in
         the Charosheth and then eaten. This is called “the Sop”, and is what JESUS is
         referring to in the Gospels, when HE is identifying Judas Iscariot as the person who
         will betray HIM.
(11). Now comes the Meal Proper, or the eating of the Lamb. All the meat must be eaten, or
         the leftovers must be destroyed to assure that they are not used later in a common
         meal.
(12). The hands are again washed.
   
The next two steps are the one’s which JESUS made HIS own, and we commemorate them
during our Communion Services:

(13). The remainder of the unleavened bread is eaten.
(14). There is a prayer of Thanksgiving, containing a petition for the coming of Elijah to
         herald the MESSIAH. Then the third cup is drank, which is called the “Cup of
        Thanksgiving”. Then this blessing is said: “Blessed art THOU, O LORD, our God,
         King of the universe, who hast created the fruit of the vine”.
(15). The second part of the Hallel, Psalms 115-118, is sung.
(16). The fourth cup is drank, and Psalms 136, which is known as the “Great Hallel” is sung.

Two short prayers are prayed to end the Passover Meal:

All THY works shall praise THEE, O LORD, our God. And THY Saints, the righteous, who do THY good pleasure, and all thy people, the house of Israel, with joyous song, let them praise and bless and magnify and glorify and exalt and reverence and sanctify and scribe the Kingdom to THY name, O GOD, our King.
For it is good to praise THEE, and pleasure to sing praises to THY name, from everlasting to everlasting THOU art GOD.
__

“The breath of all that lives shall praise THY name, O LORD, our God. And the        spirit of all flesh shall continually glorify and exalt THY memorial, O GOD, our King. For from everlasting unto everlasting THOU art GOD, and besides THEE we have no King, Redeemer, or Savior”.

    JESUS celebrated HIS last Passover here on earth with HIS disciples on the eve of HIS crucifixion. HE blessed and divided the bread that HE said symbolized HIS very body that would be broken and bleed like that of a sacrificial lamb on the altar of GOD. And HE shared the wine saying that it symbolized the blood that HE would later shed to cover the sins of this world, past, present, and future. It was not until after HIS death, and after the coming of the HOLY SPIRIT that HIS disciples really understand the importance of what JESUS meant by these statements.

A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander





                                 
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official Website