WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson
commentary
For Sunday November 10, 2013
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REMEMBER AND CELEBRATE
(Never stop celebrating GOD’s
deliverance)
(Exodus 12:1-14)
Every since satan convinced Adam and
Eve to disobey GOD in the Garden of Eden, man has been on an endless mission to
satisfy himself, or medicate his “accepted sin nature”, as he desperately tries
to make himself a life, apart from GOD. In fact, we have reached the stage
where we are willing to remember, honor, celebrate, and worship anyone who has
the ability to make us “feel good”, for a short space in time, and take our
minds off our problems (i.e. through their music, drugs, sex, lifestyle,
personality, etc). This is far from what GOD intended for HIS people.
In the Old Testament, the concept
of “Zikkaron” (Zik-ka-rone), which is a festival, practice, or object, that is intended
as a link for future generations, to a distinctive act of GOD. The name derives
from the Hebrew word “zikrown” (zik-rone), which is “a memento, or a memorable
thing, day, 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.
In Exodus 12, verses 1-20, before they left Egypt, GOD gave detailed
instructions for the observance of the Passover celebration. Here GOD instructs
Moses and Aaron on how the Israelites must continue to remember how HE rescued
them from the chains of slavery in Egypt. In honor of GOD, WHO created us, they
were to always remember and celebrate the Passover at the proper time, in the
early spring each year, in the month of “Abib” (which is translated “fresh
young ears” in the Hebrew), and, it must always be at the place where GOD has
chosen HIS name to be honored.
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, down through the
generations.
The Passover, most notably depicts for us, a very vivid painting of the
coming salvation that would be ushered in by CHRIST JESUS. The sacrificial lambs’
blood that was smeared over and on the sides of the doorposts of the
Israelites, allowed for them to be passed over by the “angel of death” and
saved by the merciful hand of GOD. It is a picture of how “the saving blood of
CHRIST JESUS” would come to deliver all mankind, who chooses HIM, from the
“chains of death and sin in the “world”, which was ushered in by Adam and Eve.
The Old Testament goes back beyond the birth of CHRIST, and into the
dreams of the prophets. It gives us a glimpse of how the story of JESUS’ earthy
ministry began in the mind of GOD HIMSELF, and was relayed to us, through the
messages of HIS servants. GOD, is characteristically, a GOD WHO always works
out HIS purpose for the world, and the history we look back on, is not just a
random series of unrelated events.
We are well along in the process of the plan that GOD began, with the
foundation of this world. Since the beginning, many have participated in
helping, or hindering, that process. It is a great honor to help in GOD’s
process, and, it will also be a great privilege to see the ultimate goal of the
CREATOR realized. However, it is a great dishonor when one hinders GOD’s
process by rebelling against its progress, and unless that hinderer repents,
serious judgment awaits him at the end of the road.
In biblical times, a herald was used to announce the coming of an
important person, sometimes days before their arrival. John the Baptist’s,
important announcement of the coming of CHRIST JESUS had already been echoed by
the likes of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Malachi hundreds of years earlier. It was an
announcement of the coming of a GREATER PERSON, WHOM GOD would use to baptize
everyone who accepted HIM, with HIS OWN HOLY SPIRIT.
I would love to see the world come together in a celebration and
remembrance of the magnitude we’ve seen in the last few years with the passing
of Michael Jackson, or Whitney Houston, or even Elvis Presley, where we show
our appreciation, instead, for what JESUS’ “Life-saving death” has done for us
all.
Those people were, and are, praised and worshiped even in death, because
they catered to our sin nature and made us feel good for a short space in time.
JESUS, through HIS vicarious sacrifice, has saved us from eternal damnation,
and has the power to make us feel, goodness and joyfulness, forever and ever.
There is no person in the entire world that is harder to face than our selves.
And the very first step to repentance, and a right relationship with GOD, calls
for us to do just that. We must at first, swallow our pride and admit our sins
to ourselves, and how hopeless we are without GOD. And when death comes knocking at a true
Christian’s door, JESUS’ blood, which has been placed over and around us, will
protect us and deliver us safely into GOD’s OWN glorious presence, in the
Kingdom of Heaven.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
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