March 12, 2010

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take eat this is My body (which is broken for you, I Corinthians 11:24).” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it all of you for this is MY BLOOD of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” (Matthew 26:26-28).

Dear Brethren,

In just a few days is God’s Passover! And with the continued blessing of life and health each of us will be partaking of those precious symbols that have the meaning of health and well being along with forgiveness for our Spiritual sins.

Note this in a Psalm of David:

“Bless the LORD O My soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD O my soul and forget NOT all His benefits: He who FORGIVES ALL your iniquities, who HEALS ALL your diseases” (Psalm 103:1-3).

Preparing for the Passover gives us an opportunity to study and reflect on these and many other Scriptures that have a bearing on the awesome Master Plan of God that was developed before the foundation of this world (Ephesians 1:4; Titus 1:2). A loving incredulous plan designed for the potential salvation of all of mankind; and it has its beginning with the Passover.

With the wondrous realization of this awesome future for mankind by God, for YOU, and me, should leave us very humbled as was David while looking up at the silvery moon and the blazing stars of the heavens, as a young man caring for the flocks of sheep, and then expressing his awe in rapturous prayer to the Creator of the Universe, the LORD God:

“O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your Name in all the earth. Who have set Your glory above the heavens. . . . When I consider your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, WHAT IS MAN that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than God (Margin: Elohim, God), and You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have DOMINION over the works of Your hands; You have put all things UNDER his feet, all sheep and oxen— even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the sea. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your NAME in all the earth” (Psalm 8:1, 3-9).

When we study the parallel Scriptures in the Book of Hebrews, we find the apostle Paul made adaptations under inspiration from Christ to what David wrote so eloquently in this most beautiful and meaningful Psalm:

“. . . For He has NOT put the world TO COME, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one (David) testified in a certain place, saying, “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? You made him a little lower than God (Elohim, Psalm 8:5); You crowned him with glory and honor (us, Mr. HWA), and set him OVER the works of Your hands (matter, Mr. HWA). You have put ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER His feet (the whole entire universe, Mr. HWA).” For in that He put ALL in subjection under him, HE LEFT NOTHING THAT IS NOT PUT UNDER HIM. But NOW we do NOT see YET all things put under him. But we SEE Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, FOR THE SUFFERING OF DEATH crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the GRACE OF GOD, MIGHT TASTE DEATH for everyone. For it was fitting that for Him, for whom are ALL THINGS and by whom are ALL THINGS, IN BRINGING MANY SONS TO GLORY, to make the CAPTAIN (Christ) of their salvation PERFECT THROUGH SUFFERINGS” (Hebrews 2:6-10).

David - a Man after God’s Own Heart

When we study the Psalms it becomes easy to see why David was a man after God’s own heart (I Kings 14:8; Acts 13:22). And though he was not perfect his heart was right; he did not want to sin. Always he repented with true godly repentance upon finding he had made wrong decisions that led to sin.

David’s sin with Bathsheba, and his cause of the death of Uriah, led him away from God for some little time for he had justified what he done due to the times in which they lived. But once he saw fully what he had done by Nathan, a prophet of God, who made his sin very plain, he cried out to God for forgiveness with his whole heart (II Samuel 12:1-15; Psalm 51). And though he had to pay a terrible penalty for what he had done, God forgave him.

David made other wrong judgments during his life just as everyone has and does (Ecclesiastes 7:20; I John 1:7-10). However, just as he did after realizing the terrible sins he had committed in the account of Bathsheba and Uriah, he always sought forgiveness each time through godly repentance.

David – King over All Israel in Christ’s New Age

Having this kind of heart and dedication with endurance made it possible for God to speak of David as coming to be king over all Israel during the millennium, and beyond— in the world to come (Ezekiel 37:15-28).

God made known to David the wondrous blessings that lay in store for him (II Samuel 7:8-17). Likewise, our Father and Jesus Christ have also made known to each of Their true people in this age the glorious future filled with promise upon Christ’s return to this earth— and beyond! (Revelation 5:10).

This awed David! It should also awe each of us to realize that we are numbered among His true people of glorious promise.

Then King David went in and sat before the LORD (sat on his feet in a kneeling position before the Ark); and he said: “Who am I, O Lord GOD (Adonai JHVH, this title has to do with lordship of the earth)? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? And yet this is a small thing in Your sight, O Lord GOD. And You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord GOD? (II Samuel 7:18-29).

Companion Bible: Man = Hebrew the man. “And is this the law of man? That is the man [mankind] of Psalm 8:5, 6., who is to have dominion over all the earth, embracing all the world in the scope of this blessing in connection with the Messiah. This is an explanation of greatest surprise and wonder of this revelation concerning David’s son and David’s Lord.”

Job also had cause, as did David, to ask God about His purpose for the creation of man:

“What is MAN that You should EXALT him, that You should set Your heart on him, that You should VISIT (margin: attend to him) him every morning, and TEST him every moment? How long?” (Job 7:17).

We have seen the answers in the above Scriptures.

It Began with the Passover in Egypt

Now the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, “This month shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the 10^th of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb . . . Now you shall keep it until the 14^th day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. They shall take some of the BLOOD and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. . . . It is the LORD’S PASSOVER. . . . Now the BLOOD shall be for a SIGN for you on the houses where you are. And WHEN I see the BLOOD, I WILL PASSOVER YOU; and the PLAGUE shall NOT be on you to DESTROY you when I strike the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:1-3, 6-7, 11, 13).

The Messiah – the True Lamb of God

The birth of the Messiah—

Right after the birth of the Messiah (2:7), an Angel of the Lord stood before the shepherds living out in the fields near Bethlehem, and said, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people [mankind]. For there is born to you this day in the city of David A SAVIOR, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:8-11).

The True Lamb of God—

To begin His ministry it was necessary for Jesus Christ, to set the example for mankind by being baptized. And He was baptized by John the Baptizer who was to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah (Luke 1:76-79; Matthew 3:13-17).

While baptizing at the Jordan River John saw Christ striding toward him and said to those with him: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the SIN of the world” (John 1:29; 3:16; Acts 2:36-39).

The Change in the Passover Symbols—

The Passover symbols were changed from what they had been through the millennia during the final Passover service that Jesus Christ observed with His disciples— from the eating of the lamb and bitter herbs, and still observed by the Jews today, with a place setting for the Elijah to come— to the symbols of eating BREAD, representative of His broken body for our healing (Mark 14:22-24; Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:4-6, 10-11), and the drinking of WINE symbolizing His life’s BLOOD being shed for the remission (the blotting out of past sins)— thus the removal of the death penalty.

The MARCH-APRIL, 2010 Philadelphia Remnant Magazine

To enable us to focus more fully on the need to prepare for the Passover, it is my hope that each of you will read thoroughly our Philadelphia Remnant magazine that was placed on our website some few days ago. A printed copy of it was also mailed to your homes this week.

The articles in it are for the most part focused on the Passover and designed to aid us in preparing for this most important time in the life of each of us as the true people of God.

A Marriage Contract—

By the drinking of the WINE by the members of the Church also establishes the acceptance of the Marriage Proposal of Jesus Christ— the New Covenant of Marriage with Christ just as the first marriage took place between Christ and Israel (Exodus 19:4-6; 24:3-8; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Hebrews 8:7-13; Jeremiah 3:14). This coming marriage will take place upon the return of Jesus Christ and His acceptance of His Bride (Revelation 19:7, 9).

The Vital Importance of the Passover—

By seriously focusing on the many Scriptures that speak of the Messiah, who emptied Himself of His divinity (Philippians 2:7-8), and was born into human life, to not only become the true Passover Lamb by experiencing excruciating sufferings and a horrible murderous death to make possible payment for the sins of all of mankind, but to also preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God during His ministry.

The Passover, 2010, is now only a few days away. We must be preparing ourselves through prayer, Bible Study, and fasting, to do as much as we can, with God’s help, to be counted worthy to participate with others of like minds to partake of those vitally important symbols.

We who have been graced to be numbered among the ELECT people of God MUST remember the vital importance of the Passover and the imperative need we, as individual members are to take most seriously God’s purpose for the BREAD AND THE WINE, IF we are to be counted worthy by Christ to partake of them (I Corinthians 11:.

The 7^th Millennium—

In addition, we must try hard to live our lives as did Christ, totally dedicated to Him, and His purpose for our present day schooling (MYSTERY OF THE AGES, Pages 228-229).

It will not be long now before the beginning of Christ’s New Age. The people of Israel at that time will be waiting for their liberation from slavery just as is creation now (Romans 8:18-23). This will take place upon the revealing of the Sons of God!

Our responsibility will be to aid Jesus Christ, just as it will be for King David, and all others in this coming resurrection, in turning this world right-side-up while teaching the Good News, a new way of life to them that can lead to everlasting life for all who desire to live His way of righteousness.

We must be using this remaining time to be preparing ourselves to partake of those precious symbols in a most discerning manner in order to be counted worthy to continue to be under the BLOOD of the true Lamb of God while living the only way to live, God’s way.

Encouraging Scriptures

The key Scriptures that will lift us out of depressed and wrong attitudes and enable us to involve ourselves in this most vital service has to do with true godly repentance of our erroneous mistakes in judgment as did David. As did David, we will receive forgiveness as found in the Apostle John’s writings:

“If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, if we CONFESS our sins, He is FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS, and to CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have NOT sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is NOT in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that we may NOT sin. And IF anyone sins we have an ADVOCATE with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He HIMSELF is the PROPITIATION for our sins, but also for the whole world” (I John 1:6-9).

Needless to say, this is NOT a license to sin!

Enduring Unto the End

Brethren all the years we have been blessed to be members of God’s true Church is truly a most wonderful blessing from our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. But this is not enough in and of itself for we must faithfully endure unto the end as did David and Christ.

And to make this possible we must prepare for this coming Passover and each one to follow in order to make ourselves worthy to partake of those precious symbols that represent life to each of us.

At the same time we should also realize our efforts alone will not be enough to make ourselves worthy for we must also rely on the mercy and grace of God to make the real difference.

It is God’s Passover and we must think of it in just that way. It is a most wonderful blessing given to us as members of His Church to make possible everlasting life in just a few short years.

Until next time, your brother and servant in Christ,
Don Billingsley

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