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Yom Kippur: Israel's Reconciliation
The B'rit Chadasha Pages | 9/29/06 | Michael D. Bugg

Posted on 09/29/2006 8:27:34 AM PDT by Buggman

In my first article on the Fall High Holy Days, we saw that the Feast of Trumpets is intimately linked by both Yeshua and Sha’ul with Yeshua’s Second Coming on the clouds of heaven, and saw that this corresponded with the expectations of the rabbis. Now we come to the second of the Fall Feastdays, and the holiest day of the Jewish—which is to say, Biblical—calendar: Yom Kippur takes place on the tenth of Tishri, nine days after Rosh Hashanah.

On that day, the high priest would put on a special coat of white linen and carry out a very unusual sacrifice.

And he shall take the two goats, and present them before YHVH at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for YHVH, and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which YHVH's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before YHVH, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. . . .

And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. (Lev. 16:7-10, 20-22)

Today, the sacrifices which were the centerpiece of the Levitical ceremony cannot be held of course, but this does not make it impossible to observe the day. Like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is not a pilgrimage Feast: No one was required to be in Jerusalem (other than the cohenim, or priests) for its service. However, those outside of Jerusalem still bore the responsibility for not doing any work, gathering in a holy convocation (i.e., in their home synagogues), and for denying themselves (Lev. 23:27ff). Out of these three commands, modern Judaism has built its customs.

After a final, festive meal in the afternoon before Yom Kippur, Jews the world over dress in white in remembrance of the High Priest’s white linen robe that he would wear within the Holy of Holies, and at sundown go to what is known as the Kol Nidre (“All Vows”) service. The Kol Nidre is a prayer sung to a haunting cadence, which asks God to release one from any wrongful oaths taken that year. It dates to the Middle Ages, when Jews were forcibly converted to Christianity; they would ask God to release them of the vows taken at the point of a sword. Another traditional song is Avinu Malkeynu (“Our Father, Our King”), which translates as follows:

Our Father and Our King
Our Father and Our King
Our Father and King
Be merciful to us
Be merciful unto us.

For we have done no deeds
Commending us unto You
For we have no deeds commending us to You
Be merciful, save us, we pray.

Synagogue services typically run all day, with observant Jews petitioning God to forgive their sins. Fasting, denying one’s self, is mandated by Torah, and observant Jews will usually refrain from any comforts at all during the day, including bathing, wearing leather shoes, etc. It should be noted that Isa. 58 and Mat. 6:16-18 both speak against fasting to be seen and fasting in lieu of true repentance:

“Wherefore have we fasted,” say they, “and Thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?” Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to YHVH? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? (Isa. 58:3-7)

True self-denial is not the mere restraint from food, though it may include fasting from food (Mat. 6:16-18, 1 Co. 7:5).

Yom Kippur ends with the Neilah (“The Closing of the Gates”) service and a final blast from the shofar. It is said by the rabbis that the gates of Heaven through which our prayers of repentance can rise close at this time, sealing one’s fate for the year. Of course, in the Messiah Yeshua, we may always “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16). However, there is still an eschatological truth to the rabbinical belief, discussed in the previous article on Rosh Hashanah.

Of course, it may rightly be asked in what sense can one be atoned for on this day without blood, “for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul” (Lev. 17:11). One who believes in the Messiah Yeshua, of course, looks to Him and His perfect sacrifice for their atonement. Non-Messianic Jews follow the belief established by Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai that acts of righteousness provide atonement (Avot de Rabbi Nathan 4:18). However, even in the Jewish community, the need for blood redemption still runs deep. In the ceremony called Kaparot, practiced only in very Orthodox circles, a chicken is waived over the head three times as the man says,

“This is my substitute, my vicarious offering, my atonement. This fowl shall meet death, but I shall enjoy a long, happy life.” After reading several selections from Job and the Psalms, the person lays his hand on the head of the bird as a symbol of identification, it is killed as his substitute, and given to the poor for their final meal before the fast. (Howard and Rosenthal, The Feasts of the Lord, p. 126)
Why is a chicken used instead of a goat, for example? Because goats, bulls, oxen, rams, and lambs could only be offered for sacrifice in the Temple, so the rabbis forbade the use of any animal which might make it appear that one was continuing the sacrificial system. (Turkey or chicken is substituted for lamb for the Passover dinner in most Ashkenazi homes for the same reason.)

In Biblical times, of course, a bull and two goats were the sacrifices made. The bull was offered for the sins of the High Priest and the other priests, so that he could be purified before entering into God’s presence. The goats, one for Yhvh and one for the scapegoat would then atone for Israel. The word “scapegoat” is a translation of Azazel. Keil and Delitzsch explain the significance of the word:

Azazel, which only occurs in this chapter, signifies neither “a remote solitude,” nor any locality in the desert whatever (as Jonathan, Rashi, etc., suppose); nor the “he-goat” . . . The words, one lot for Jehovah and one for Azazel, require unconditionally that Azazel should be regarded as a personal being, in opposition to Jehovah. . . We have not to think, however, of [just] any demon whatever, who seduces men to wickedness in the form of an evil spirit, as the fallen angel Azazel is represented as doing in the Jewish writings . . . but of the devil himself, the head of the fallen angels, who was afterwards called Satan; for no subordinate evil spirit could have been placed in antithesis to Jehovah as Azazel is here, but only the ruler or head of the kingdom of demons. The desert and desolate places are mentioned elsewhere as the abode of evil spirits (Isa. 13:21 and 34:14; Mat. 12:43; Luk. 11:24; Rev. 18:2). (Keil, Johann and Franz Delitzsch, Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, [e-Sword version 7.0.0, ed. Rick Meyers, 2000-2003])
And yet, while the “scapegoat” was, in effect, given over to Azazel, to the very Enemy himself, the “two goats . . . must be altogether alike in look, size, and value; indeed, so earnestly was it sought to carry out the idea that these two formed parts of one and the same sacrifice, that it was arranged that they should, if possible, even be purchased at the same time” (Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, p. 248). So all speculations that the scapegoat might represent Satan or the Antichrist or some other evil entity fall short. What could these two goats signify other than the dual-natured Messiah Yeshua? He carried away all our sin, just as the scapegoat would be sent into the wilderness with the sins of Israel: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us” (Psa. 103:12). Unlike the lambs, goats, and bulls that died on the altar, our Messiah rose again. Thus, like the two goats, He was both sacrificed and yet lives.

A red ribbon was tied in the horns of the scapegoat. When the goat was led out before the people, if God accepted the sacrifice, the ribbon would miraculously turn white as a reminder of the promise that “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18). It is most interesting that for the forty years between the sacrifice of Yeshua and the destruction of the Temple, the scarlet ribbon did not turn white!

Forty years before the Temple was destroyed the chosen lot was not picked with the right hand, nor did the crimson stripe turn white, nor did the westernmost light burn; and the doors of the Temple’s Holy Place swung open by themselves, until Rabbi Yochanon ben Zakkai spoke saying: “O most Holy Place, why have you become disturbed? I know full well that your destiny will be destruction, for the prophet Zechariah ben Iddo has already spoken regarding you saying: 'Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour the cedars'” (Zech. 11:1). (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 39b)
Hebrews 8 -10 explains that when Messiah completed His sacrifice on the cross, He entered the heavenly Holy of Holies, of which that of the Tabernacle and the Temple were merely copies, to complete the Yom Kippur ritual of atonement. The sacrifice was not accepted because it was being offered by the wrong High Priest:
For Messiah is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others . . . But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. (Heb. 9:24-25, 10:12-13)
But if this is the sole and sufficient fulfillment of the feastday of Yom Kippur, then we have a problem. In every other feastday that we have seen fulfilled in history, the fulfillment took place on that day. Yeshua was offered up on Passover as the Lamb of God, thus taking away our sin just as leaven was removed from the Hebrews’ houses during the seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. He rose as the firstfruits of the dead (cf. 1 Co. 15:20-23) on Sfirat HaOmer or HaBikkurim, the Feast of Firstfruits. The Church was given the Ruach HaKodesh (the Holy Spirit) in power on Shavuot, or Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks. And we have seen that His Second Coming seems likely to occur on a Rosh Hashanah in order to fulfill that feastday. Why then would the Day of Atonement be out of sequence?

The Exodus
The Feastdays of the Torah are divided into three groups—the spring feasts, Shavuot (Pentecost), and then the fall feasts—each of which is linked to a distinct stage of the Exodus and Israel’s instruction at Sinai. In addition, there are at least three minor feasts (that is, those which were not ordained at Sinai) which are also prophetically significant. The key to understanding the Feasts’ prophetic significance is to understand their historical significance.

When YHVH reorganized Israel’s calendar by proclaiming the month of the Pesach (Passover) to be the “beginning of months” (Exo. 12:2), He was establishing that His plan of salvation begins with the Passover. However, to truly understand God’s plan, we begin our brief study not with the Passover, but with the six “silent” months which separate the Passover from the previous Sinai-ordained Feastday, Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. Within this “silent period” lie two minor Feasts: Hanukkah, which celebrates the victory of Israel over the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes, and Purim, which celebrates her victory over the forces of Haman some three centuries earlier as is described in the book of Esther. Hanukkah has an eschatological significance which will be explored in another article, but for now it is enough to note the element these two feasts share in common: Both celebrate YHVH’s “hidden” protection of and provision for His people. Though He did not act with any obvious miracles like fire from the sky or supernatural plagues, nevertheless He brought His people to victory against overwhelming odds: In Purim by the placement of a Jewish queen, and in Hanukkah by giving the Jews might in battle.

These “silent” months between Sukkot and Pesach correspond to the 430 “silent years” which lead up both to the Passover of the Exodus (Gal. 3:17) and the Passover of the Messiah. Both periods were characterized by the lack of a true prophet to lead the people, “a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of YHVH" (Amos 8:11). God had not forgotten His people, but it probably felt to them like He had.

When the Lord fulfilled His promise to redeem His people from bondage, it was through the Passover and the death of a Lamb. God’s people were set free from Egypt via the blood of the lamb painted on their doorposts, so that they would not die in God’s wrath. Likewise, God’s people were set free from sin by the blood of the Lamb painted on their hearts, so that they would not die in God’s wrath. The seven days of the Feast of Matzah, in which all the leaven had to be removed from Israel’s houses and no leaven could be eaten, represents the quick removal of Israel from Egypt (in which there was no time to make leavened bread) and the complete removal of all sin in our lives by the sacrifice of Yeshua as we flee the ways of the world.

In the third month after Israel’s departure from Egypt, they arrived at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19:1). There God descended on the mountain in fire, with the sound of a shofar (vv. 16ff), and called Moses up the mountain to begin giving him the Torah. According to Jewish tradition, the day that this happened was the day of Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, a date consistent with the Biblical record. Like HaBikkurim, the Feast of Firstfruits for the barley harvest, on which Messiah was raised as the Firstfruits of the dead (cf. 1 Co. 15:20), Shavuot is a firstfruits festival for the wheat harvest. On the first Shavuot, the firstfruits of the nation of Israel began receiving the Torah. On Shavuot after the death and resurrection of the Messiah, the firstfruits of the Church began receiving the Torah written on their hearts by the giving of the Spirit of God in the form of fire and with a great sound (Jer. 31:33, Ezk. 36:26-27, Acts 2:3ff).

After giving Moses the first commandments, the Lord called him back up the mountain to receive further instruction, and Moses remained with Him for forty days (Exo. 24:18). It was during this period that Aaron led the people in the sin of making and worshiping the golden calf. When Moses descended again from the mountain and saw this, he smashed the stone tablets on which God had written His commandments, signifying that Israel had broken the covenant they had made to follow all of God’s commands, and many in Israel died, both at the hands of the Levites whom Moses commanded to take arms against their kinsmen, and by a plague sent by God. Moreover, Moses removed the Tent of Meeting (not the Tabernacle, which had not yet been built, but a different tent in which Moses lived and met with YHVH; Exo. 33:7ff) to outside the camp, signifying that the people’s sin was great enough that God had removed the visible place which was the focal point of Israel’s worship and His Presence.

The parallel is not difficult to understand: Forty years after Yeshua ascended into Heaven, Israel still had not repented as a body from her “golden calf.” Just as Israel in the Exodus fell into the sin of worshipping God in the manner of their tradition (in this case, image-based worship), which they learned while in Egypt, instead of worshipping God in the manner in which He had commanded them, Israel in the first century fell into the sin of worshipping God in the manner of their traditions rather than doing so through the Messiah as He had commanded them. While the details differed, the essential core of the sin was the same.

So was the punishment. As Israel in the Exodus was punished by the sword and plague, so Israel in 70 AD was punished by the sword and plague. And as Israel in the Exodus had the Tent of Meeting removed by their prophet, Moses, so Israel in the first century had the Temple removed by the prophet after Moses, Yeshua HaMashiach. The destruction of both Temples took place on Tishbi b’Av, or the 9th of the month of Av. While it cannot be proven, the timing of the Golden Calf incident makes it quite possible that Tishbi b’Av is the day on which Moses removed the Tent of Meeting as well.

In the Exodus sin, God’s fury was so great that He said to Moses, “Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation” (Exo. 32:10). YHVH-Tzva’ot, the Lord of Hosts, was actually planning to destroy the whole nation and start over with Moses and his children! This is, in fact, what Replacement Theology claims that God did to Israel in the first century: destroyed them, and replaced them with the Messiah’s “children,” the Church.

Those who believe that God has cast away His chosen nation need to take another look at Exodus. Moses, who had not joined in the sin of the people, interceded for Israel so that God would not utterly destroy them, though He did punish them, even (temporarily) taking away their place of worship. Are we to think that Yeshua did any less, or that His intercession for Israel would be any less heard? And notice the basis on which Moses interceded for Israel: Not on the basis of their obedience or repentance, but on the basis of YHVH’s Name—that is, His reputation—and His promises (ibid., vv. 12-13). It is on this same basis that the Lord has already begun returning Israel to her land: “Thus saith the Lord YHVH; ‘I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for Mine holy Name's sake . . .’” (Ezk. 36:22).

The Future Fulfillment
“Okay,” the amillennialist answers, “clearly not all of the Jews were destroyed, but the Temple was, and since we are now the Temple of God, there will be no other.” Again, keep reading. After seeing to the punishment of Israel and removing the Tent of Meeting, Moses was told by God, “And I will send an angel before thee . . . for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way” (Exo. 33:2, 3). But Moses, not content that a lesser angel go with Israel, returned up the mountain, and interceded with God for another forty days, going without food or water, until YHVH relented and agreed to send His Presence with Israel. The form in which His Presence went with Israel was in the pillar of fire and cloud which was intimately connected with the Tabernacle:

The Tabernacle of Israel was known by several names. . . The name dwelling from Heb. mishkan, from shakan, to “lie down,” a “dwelling,” connected itself with the Jewish, though not scriptural, word Shekinah, as describing the dwelling place of the divine glory. (Unger, F., The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, R.K. Harrison, ed. [Moody, 1988] “Tabernacle of Israel,” p. 1238)
According to the Talmud, the day on which Moses returned with the second set of stone tablets, showing that YHVH had forgiven Israel and restored fellowship with them, was the day of Yom Kippur (Tractate Taanit 30b), and the forty days that he fasted before God correspond with the forty days of T’shuva (Repentence) that are traditionally observed leading up to the Day of Atonement. (This forty-day period of fasting may be the same forty-day period that Yeshua spent fasting and being tested in the wilderness after His baptism.)

Likewise, the day on which Yeshua will return to restore His fellowship with Israel, and direct them in building a Temple greater than that which they built on their own, just as Moses directed Israel in building a Tabernacle greater than the former Tent of Meeting which was taken away from the camp, will be on Yom Kippur. Like the Levitial High Priest emerging from the Holy of Holies to show that God had accepted the sacrifice of the goat on the people’s behalf, Yeshua will emerge from the Holy of Holies in Heaven to show Israel that God has accepted His sacrifice on their behalf.

Yom Kippur is not yet complete. Our High Priest is hidden from our eyes, beyond the veil, making intercession for us day and night, but He has not yet emerged to show all Israel that His blood-stained garments have been turned as white as snow, proving that the Father has accepted the High Priest’s sacrifice on behalf of all Israel, not just the remnant that now believe. When He does, carrying the sign of a covenant restored before Israel even as Moses did, then the Temple promised by Ezekiel will be built, just as the Tabernacle was.

When will the High Priest come forth? On the last day of Daniel’s Seventieth Week when Israel and Jerusalem will “make reconciliation for iniquity” (Dan. 9:24). The word for reconciliation, kaphar, is most often translated “atonement.”

With Israel’s sins atoned for, the way will be made for the final stage of the Messiah’s reconciliation of all things to Himself. Next we will study Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles, when Yeshua will be officially crowned King over all the nations . . . on His birthday.

Shalom, and God bless.


TOPICS: Judaism; Other Christian; Religion & Culture; Theology
KEYWORDS: atonement; christ; christianity; day; eschatology; feastdays; feasts; jesus; judaism; kippur; messiah; messianic; prophecy; sacrificd; secondcoming; temple; yeshua; yom; yomkippur
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To: Diego1618; kerryusama04; Dr. Eckleburg; HarleyD; jude24
only eating a meal and they came together on the FIRST of the week. It does not say first day!

Well, an understanding of Greek constructs would help one know the word "day" is implied in the phrase.

It's like saying, "I'll meet you at Billy's BBQ Hut at three."

One does not need to say "three o'clock" for most folks to know what one means.

221 posted on 10/15/2006 2:38:59 PM PDT by topcat54
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To: topcat54

I noticed you never mentioned anything about that sermon Mullah Calvin gave. Is that what you guys hear in your churches on the Catholic Sabbath? No wonder you sound so bitter.


222 posted on 10/15/2006 2:46:31 PM PDT by kerryusama04 (Isa 8:20, Eze 22:26)
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To: topcat54
Like I said.....he came out of the tomb on the Sabbath and you cannot provide any scripture that will contradict that simple fact. I know you will try....and you will wish you can....but the simple fact is, Our Saviour was Lord of the Sabbath and that was the day of his resurrection.

All the verses you quoted can be refuted with scripture as I have done on this forum countless times. If you choose to close your eyes to simple scriptural truth, that is your affair.

223 posted on 10/15/2006 2:50:20 PM PDT by Diego1618
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To: topcat54
Act 13:44 The next Sabbath the whole church assembled to hear the word of the Lord. But it does not say that. Unless you belive that nearly the whole city is another way to denote baptized Christians.

This is sad, really sad.

224 posted on 10/15/2006 2:51:48 PM PDT by kerryusama04 (Isa 8:20, Eze 22:26)
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To: topcat54; Diego1618; kerryusama04; Dr. Eckleburg; HarleyD; jude24
You struggle very hard to cling to your false beliefs

You refuse to read and believe the Word of G-d

You place more faith in the Traditions of man.

Not unlike the Pharisees that Y'shua referred to in Matthew

Mt. 16:11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you
about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Mt. 16:12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard
against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the
Pharisees and Sadducees.

b'shem Y'shua

225 posted on 10/15/2006 2:56:42 PM PDT by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 144:1 Praise be to YHvH, my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.)
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To: kerryusama04
This is sad, really sad.

What is more sad is that many good Christians choose to honor the "Day of the Sun" brought to us by the most apostate organization ever. Simple scriptural truth would open their eyes if only they would look....and cast off their pride.

226 posted on 10/15/2006 3:01:34 PM PDT by Diego1618
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To: Diego1618; DouglasKC; XeniaSt; Buggman
What is more sad is that many good Christians choose to honor the "Day of the Sun" brought to us by the most apostate organization ever. Simple scriptural truth would open their eyes if only they would look....and cast off their pride.

Speaking from experience, it is a very difficult task. Opening ones mind to allow the scriptures say what they say after being thouroughly immersed in a doctrine from birth is very hard.

Incidentally, I generally find that those who have converted to the beliefs we share are much more passionate than those who have grown up in truth. Is it the same with you guys?

227 posted on 10/15/2006 4:14:45 PM PDT by kerryusama04 (Isa 8:20, Eze 22:26)
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To: kerryusama04; DouglasKC; Buggman; XeniaSt
The thing that I could never understand as a child growing up was the one and one half days of the Easter tradition when scripture clearly said three days and three nights. When I found the answer I wanted to shout it to the world......until I found that the world didn't care.

Exuberance comes first...I believe....followed by realization that you are up against a formidable adversary who concentrates only on Christianity, knowing that that is from whence he will see his doom. You then recognize that your minority position is most logical....and when you hear the taunt "All these Churches can't be wrong...can they?" The answer is actually, "All these Churches can't be right...can they?"

Our adversary will continue to divide and conquer.....keeping most of organized Christianity in their own little corner of Apostasy. That is why this forum is so valuable as many folks who normally would not be exposed to Biblical truth and logic may find it here from time to time.

228 posted on 10/15/2006 4:46:03 PM PDT by Diego1618
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To: Diego1618; kerryusama04; DouglasKC; Buggman; XeniaSt
Well said. I think everyone that comes into the knowledge of the truth goes through the exact same process. Sometimes it takes longer and sometimes shorter. I remember when I first was called by God, I did want to tell everyone about what had been revealed to me, what I had learned.

In answer to Chris's question, sometimes those that grew up in truth are a little less passionate, but sometimes they're just tired of butting their heads up against a brick wall for so long. The truth is so obvious to us that it's sometimes difficult, and frustrating, for us to accept that others just can't see it. It's right there! In black and white, in the bible! Yet for whatever reason God has not decided to call everyone at this time so the truth isn't obvious.

God does call people, and he sometimes uses us as vehicle to draw them to the truth. As Diego said, we need to continue to use this forum and other vehicles to get the truth out.

229 posted on 10/15/2006 6:27:26 PM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: DouglasKC; Diego1618; Buggman; XeniaSt

The amazing part are the different paths we all take and end up at the same conclusion.


230 posted on 10/15/2006 6:47:53 PM PDT by kerryusama04 (Isa 8:20, Eze 22:26)
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To: topcat54; kerryusama04; Dr. Eckleburg; HarleyD; jude24; Diego1618
Sorry, 1 Cor. 10:16 tells us precisely what was meant by the phrase "break bread" in the context of the church gathering, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?"

Sorry, 1 Cor 10 specifically is referring to the Lord's supper because it refers to the bread AND THE WINE. 1 Corinithans 11 also specifically mentions the Lord's Supper.

But Acts 20 NEVER mentions wine, the cup of communion. Don't you find it a little odd that a vital part of the "Lord's Supper" is totally neglected? If Acts 20 is about the Lord's Supper, don't you find it odd that they never even discuss drinking the wine?

The logical, and correct answer, is that this was simply a fellowship meal, a breaking of bread. Even this is incidental to the real point of the account. The point of the account is to relay the miraculous healing that Paul did to the young man who fell from the window. It isn't some mythical Sunday worship service. The only reason you HAVE to believe that is that you can't accept the fact that the bible teaches something contrary to your opinion on the sabbath.

If it was after sundown on Saturday, then it would be "Sunday" according to our reckoning. The "first day of the week" would have run from subdown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday.

No, it would be "Saturday night" according to our reckoning. Again, the actual term used in greek is "first of the sabbaths" (mia ton sabbaton). And again, this shows absolutely that the sabbath is still considered valid by the author since the author, a gentile Christian, is marking time, in holy scripture, by the sabbath which you say no longer exists.

231 posted on 10/15/2006 6:53:30 PM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: XeniaSt; Diego1618; kerryusama04; Dr. Eckleburg; HarleyD; jude24
You struggle very hard to cling to your false beliefs

When you have something substantive, like a specific example in the Bible of baptized Jews and gentiles worshipping Jesus together on the Jewish last day sabbath, please come back and share that with us. Otherwise your comments have little impact on those of us who follow the practices of the apostles.

"Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight." (Acts 20:7)

232 posted on 10/15/2006 6:54:57 PM PDT by topcat54
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To: DouglasKC; kerryusama04; Dr. Eckleburg; HarleyD; jude24; Diego1618
No, it would be "Saturday night" according to our reckoning.

But not the sabbath/ That ended at sundown. It was "the frst day of the week."

The fact remains that, in this account, where the church -- baptized Jews and gentiles together -- is found worshipping, there is no mantion of any activity on the Jewish last day sabbath. Nothing. Nada. Zero. The same is true for the rest of the Scriptures. No last day sabbath worship for the universal church anywhere.

233 posted on 10/15/2006 6:59:11 PM PDT by topcat54
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To: topcat54; kerryusama04; Diego1618; DouglasKC; HarleyD; Dr. Eckleburg
But it does not say that. Unless you belive that nearly the whole city is another way to denote baptized Christians.
If was a first century evangelistic crusade. If Billy Graham were a Calvinist, we would say it was a Billy Graham crusade.

Well apparently he wasn't much of an evangelist. He preached for weeks at a time and you're making the contention that not one person out of a whole city became a Christian? Or are you saying that everytime Paul baptized one he told them about a secret Sunday service (unmentioned in scripture) and that the the new Christians went alone to unmentioned Sunday services while Paul continued preaching on the sabbath?

234 posted on 10/15/2006 6:59:59 PM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: kerryusama04
The amazing part are the different paths we all take and end up at the same conclusion.

Of course that proves nothing. Unless you want to start counting numbers for and against. There are lots of cults and heresies that share common false beliefs but come from different quarters.

235 posted on 10/15/2006 7:01:44 PM PDT by topcat54
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To: topcat54; Diego1618; kerryusama04
No, it would be "Saturday night" according to our reckoning.But not the sabbath/ That ended at sundown. It was "the frst day of the week.

The "first of the sabbaths". Marking time by denoting WHEN the sabbath actually began and ended. Thus showing that the author BELIEVED the sabbath was still in effect.

The fact remains that, in this account, where the church -- baptized Jews and gentiles together -- is found worshipping, there is no mantion of any activity on the Jewish last day sabbath. Nothing. Nada. Zero. The same is true for the rest of the Scriptures. No last day sabbath worship for the universal church anywhere.

No wine. No ceremony. No mention of Lord's supper, but just breaking bread. Do you think that everytime "breaking bread" is mentioned in the bible that it's the Lord's Supper? Because it's mentioned alot.

236 posted on 10/15/2006 7:03:36 PM PDT by DouglasKC
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To: kerryusama04
This is sad, really sad.

The truly sad thing is your insistence that Acts 13:44 says something that is plainly not in the text.

237 posted on 10/15/2006 7:04:04 PM PDT by topcat54
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To: kerryusama04
I noticed you never mentioned anything about that sermon Mullah Calvin gave.

Yet another sign of last day sabbatarian desperation.

238 posted on 10/15/2006 7:13:02 PM PDT by topcat54
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To: DouglasKC; Diego1618; kerryusama04
No wine. No ceremony. No mention of Lord's supper, but just breaking bread.

The essential are all there. What is really conspicuously missing is any mention of a synagogue or worshiping on the last day sabbath of the Jews in Acts 20.

239 posted on 10/15/2006 7:16:30 PM PDT by topcat54
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To: topcat54; XeniaSt; Diego1618; DouglasKC; Dr. Eckleburg; HarleyD; jude24
When you have something substantive, like a specific example in the Bible of baptized Jews and gentiles worshipping Jesus together on the Jewish last day sabbath,a verse repealing the 4th Commandment please come back and share that with us.
240 posted on 10/15/2006 7:17:58 PM PDT by kerryusama04 (Isa 8:20, Eze 22:26)
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