The Jewish feast perfectly fulfilled by the Lamb of God

How will they know, unless we tell them?

Introducing ‘Passion Play Music’, by Paul Luckraft and Roger Boyce.

Testimony: The harvest is ripe in our schools. Following Charles Gardner’s report last week on the positive response of schoolchildren in Doncaster to the Easter story and the Gospel message, we copy below a testimony from David and Jean Foster at the Manor Park Christian Centre in London, celebrating a similar openness in schools in Newham.

From David and Jean Foster

On the same note as Charles Gardner’s article, we have been astounded at the openness of the primary schools here in Newham to hearing about Christianity and the Gospel. Back in December, we had a primary school contact us (Manor Park Christian Centre) about sending 180 children before Christmas in order to share with the children the story about why Christians celebrate Christmas.

At the end of each two-hour session (the children were split into two groups of 90), we presented every classroom a copy of ‘The Christmas Story’ by J. John and gave every teacher a copy of the Gospel tract ‘Why Christmas’. During both of the sessions, I clearly explained the Gospel to the children and then prayed for them.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, we had 300 children come from three different primary schools over a two-day period to do ‘The Easter Experience’, promoted by the Christian organisation Faith in Schools. We offered six workshops for the children, all of which told the reason that Christians celebrate Easter. In one workshop, for instance, the children made an Easter garden while two of our ladies told them about the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus. We gave all the classes a copy of ‘The Easter Story’ by J. John and every teacher and many of the children took away the Gospel tract ‘Why Easter’. At the end of each of the four two-hour sessions (75 children in each), I clearly explained the Gospel to the children and then prayed for them.

98% of the children coming have never been inside a church building. The majority of the children come from families of Muslim backgrounds. I had one Muslim trainee teacher come up to me after I had prayed for the children and beg to also have a copy of ‘The Easter Story’ by J. John that I had given to every class.

Last week I had another primary school ‘begging’ me to allow them to bring their children to hear the stories about Jesus. So on 8-9 May we will be having another 90 children coming to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

It is quite obvious that the Lord, in his timing, is at work across the UK amongst the children and planting a hunger within their teachers to find out more about Christianity and this Jesus whom we worship.

God bless,

David

Please keep David, Jean and these school visits in your prayers.

Primary pupils awestruck by popular Easter project

It was an awesome privilege once again this Easter to find myself sharing the Gospel message with many hundreds of primary schoolchildren here in Doncaster.

With regard to the commandments of God which formed the bedrock of our national life today as well as that of Israel long ago, we are told: “Teach them to your children and to their children after them” (Deut 4:9).

As for keeping the Passover (fulfilled at Easter), we are similarly urged to pass on the message to the next generation: “In days to come when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery’” (Ex 13:14).

The Easter Journey

Though much of what we share is unfamiliar to this new generation, many schools warmly welcome our so-called ‘Easter Journey’ project. This involves a group of volunteers virtually taking over school premises for a morning, during which the children are invited to explore the meaning of what Christians believe.

With the aid of scenery, props, costumes and key roles being acted out, pupils are imaginatively transported to Jerusalem as they travel from Palm Sunday to the Passover meal known as the Last Supper, followed by the Garden of Gethsemane and the Good Friday crucifixion, before finally witnessing the wonder of the resurrection on Easter Sunday.

With regard to the commandments of God, we are told: “Teach them to your children and to their children after them”.

In setting the scene for the Upper Room meal, it’s been a sheer delight to explain the significance of the occasion to so many children over the past ten days. Most of them are polite and well behaved – and some of the schools are in quite tough areas.

Volunteers work hard to get the right table setting for the Last Supper for each of up to nine groups of children. Photo: Charles GardnerJudging by the wide-eyed attention of these seven to eleven-year-old pupils, the words and pictures conveyed will no doubt have found much good soil for seeds of faith to germinate.

The Fields are Ripe!

This is the tenth year of the project, for which schools are queuing up; unfortunately, we have to turn down invitations for lack of resources. The feedback from teachers accompanying the groups on the journey is invariably upbeat, speaking of the sense of wonder being captured.

Indeed, the fields are ripe for harvest, yet many Christians are under the mistaken impression that schools are closed to the Gospel. We know there are aggressive atheists working towards that end, but the national curriculum still encourages Christian visitors to share what they believe in the classroom.

Linda Gardner, who became a Christian herself through a Gideon Bible received in school, has been engaging Doncaster’s primary pupils with the Gospel message for the past 24 years, through assemblies and RE lessons as well as special projects such as Christmas and Easter Journeys.

Employed by a trust¹ supported by churches, her diary is bulging with appointments at schools straddling a wide geographical area. About half the borough’s 100 primary schools have been reached on a regular basis over the years, while Linda’s colleague Dan Budhi is making an impact in the secondary schools.

Many Christians are under the mistaken impression that schools are closed to the Gospel, but the fields are ripe for harvest.

The message – particularly of the Easter Journey – is of a loving God who has come to rescue us from slavery to sin and degradation, and whose sacrificial blood cleanses and sets us free. It’s a message that brought freedom to an ancient people who had been slaves for 430 years, and that brought freedom to us in Britain as we turned from paganism to the living God and became world leaders.

Linda Gardner, heading up Christian work in Doncaster’s primary schools. Photo: Charles GardnerMost importantly, in the schools, it’s a message that can change lives. And we pray they will never forget it. This is, after all, why we are urged to celebrate the major festivals – for the crucial lesson they teach us to remember about the path to freedom.

Remembering Hope

Young people have never been so helpless, fatherless and without love, care and discipline. My prayer is that – should darkness, despair or loneliness threaten to lead them astray – these children will remember the lesson of the rescuing servant King who died because he loves each and every one of them; and how, like the Red Sea opening up to let the Israelites cross to freedom, he was raised from the dead to be with us forever.

I pray also that, if ever any of them should be caught up in a web of violence, drugs or sexual abuse, they will recall the hope we shared with them. For no-one is beyond the reach, and help, of Jesus, as the powerful testimony of Bishop Ron Archer forcefully brings home.

As a distraught ten-year-old, he held a gun to his head wanting to end his short life. But something stopped him, and God soon began speaking to him through the scriptures.

This is a message that can change lives – and we pray that the children will never forget it.

From Pain to Power

Addressing an international conference of the Bible-distributing Gideon movement, the bishop shared how – as a so-called ‘trick baby’ born to a prostitute and one of her clients – he had come to that dark moment.

His mum became pregnant at 16. It wasn’t supposed to happen and the pimps to whom she was indebted did everything they could to kill the unborn child with drugs, alcohol and repeated kicking and stabbing.

But the baby refused to die and was born two months prematurely with neither pancreas nor bladder, unable to function properly and later developing a severe stutter as he grew up being physically abused.

“That baby was me. Life was so horrific with so much vitriol and pain that by the age of ten I had had enough and wanted to die,” Ron recalled.

Then the miracle happened. “There was a teacher with a Gideon Bible who came to my school and saw dysfunctional kids like me as her mission field. She would read me stories of dysfunctional characters whom God used – like Moses, who was also a stutterer. She said, ‘Ronaldo, God will turn your pain into power.’

“And I began to understand there was hope for me. I began to memorise the Bible, I stopped stuttering, stopped wetting my bed…and eventually became a pastor until everyone in my family got saved.”

He said everything changes “when a child begins to understand the love of God and the power of his Word,” adding: “I may have been a ‘trick baby’, but the trick was on the devil because of you [Gideons] and the power of the Word of God.”

For Ron’s full testimony, click here.

References

1 Doncaster Schools Worker Trust, in association with Scripture Union.

Do the biblical accounts of the Passion and the Resurrection agree?

Simon Pease reviews ‘Three Days and Three Nights that Changed the World’ by David Serle and Peter Sammons (2018, Christian Publications International).

Three Days and Three Nights that Changed the World (abbreviated here to ‘Three Days and Three Nights’) is a robust defence of the reliability of the Gospel accounts and their agreement concerning the timing of Jesus’ crucifixion, contrasted with Christianity’s traditional ‘Good Friday’ narrative. Jesus stated that he would be buried for “three days and three nights” which, counting back from his resurrection appearance early Sunday morning, either places his crucifixion on Thursday or possibly Wednesday.

The authors are convinced of the case for Thursday and make a strong argument, presenting compelling evidence against Wednesday on various grounds. For example, if Wednesday was the day, Jesus’ six-mile journey from Jericho to Bethany would have taken place on the Sabbath, violating its regulations. Whilst a Thursday crucifixion does not produce a literal 72-hour period, biblical examples are provided to show how a partial day counted as a day in Jewish thought.

Contradictory Accounts?

John’s Gospel appears to contradict the synoptic accounts; he presents Jesus’ crucifixion as taking place before the Jewish religious establishment celebrated Passover, whilst Jesus and his disciples ate the Passover meal the previous day. However, extensive research uncovers a fascinating reason for this.

The Judean religious leaders adjusted their calendar following the Babylonian exile, whilst other groups such as the Galileans, Zealots, Essenes and Samaritans retained the one established by Moses. This cultural insight highlights some of the rivalries and tensions described in the New Testament.

Here is a robust defence of the reliability of the Gospel accounts and their agreement concerning the timing of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Perhaps most importantly regarding the Thursday crucifixion is how it fits symbolically with the historical calendar of Jewish worship according to the prescribed format of Leviticus 23. Passover was followed immediately by the Festival of Unleavened Bread, of which the first day was a day of rest, or ‘High Sabbath’. Therefore, immediately after Jesus’ crucifixion on the Thursday (Passover), there would have been a special Sabbath on the Friday (Festival of Unleavened Bread), followed by a normal Sabbath on Saturday, with Jesus’ resurrection on the Sunday (the celebration of First Fruits, Lev 23:9-14).

More than a Detective Story

However, the book is much more than just a detective story. It celebrates the wonderful truth of the resurrection and includes a fascinating chapter on Jonah - the one miraculous sign Jesus offered the Pharisees. Several Bible quotations are used to demonstrate that Jonah actually died and was resurrected.

The New Testament writers emphasised strongly not just the importance of Messiah’s death (literally on the day of Passover), but also the symbolic significance of First Fruits - as the very first harvesting of the religious year – as resurrection day. Jesus is the ‘first fruits’ of those raised from the dead: the promise of the resurrection to come.

First Fruits vs. Easter

Three Days and Three Nights usefully includes a summary of Peter Sammons’ ‘The Jesus Pattern’ (which is effectively a prequel), which explores all seven ‘moedim’ (Levitical festivals) as they relate to Jesus and their spiritual significance for believers.

Born-again believers are ‘First Fruits people’ rather than ‘Easter people’. The authors attack institutional Christianity’s choice of a feast day based on pagan fertility rites, especially since the decisions for dating Easter and ‘Good Friday’ were motivated by a profound hatred of the Jews. The historical evidence for this is clearly presented.

By contrast, Scripture indicates that the New Testament Church at the very least kept the Jewish Passover and used all the Levitical festivals as an important part of their teaching about Jesus – a model Christians could learn from.

Born-again believers are ‘First Fruits people’ rather than ‘Easter people’.

Removing the Veils

Three Days and Three Nights is crafted carefully to help readers make sense of a technical subject by providing several diagrams, the most of impressive of which is a fold-out chart tracking all the events of the ‘Passion week’. As well as providing a handy reference point throughout, this shows how the events of the religious calendar relate specifically to Jesus. For example, the Passover lamb was carefully examined for blemish at exactly the same time as Jesus underwent extensive cross-examination regarding his Messianic credentials and sinlessness.

The appendices include Scripture references and a suggested timeline of the events between Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, specifically to repudiate attacks on the authenticity of the biblical narrative.

Ultimately, Three Days and Three Nights provides an important testimony concerning the reliability of the biblical account, at a time when many believers are rediscovering the Jewish context of Scripture. The book makes an important prophetic point: just as the scriptures affirm that Jewish recognition of Messiah has been veiled until his imminent return, so too did Christianity once lose sight of Messiah’s Jewishness and God’s faithfulness towards the Jews. However, the Lord will finally remove both these veils and accomplish his purpose of ‘one new man’ in Christ. Three Days and Three Nights makes a contribution to the unfolding of this plan.

‘Three Days and Three Nights that Changed the World’ (202pp, paperback) is available on Amazon for £16. Find out more about the book and accompanying resources on the Christian Publications International website.

Two meditations for Holy Week.

Reading the Gospel accounts of the last week in the earthly life of Jesus, there are two points that I want to offer for meditation. The first concerns what is known euphemistically as Jesus’ ‘triumphal entry’ into Jerusalem and the second focuses upon his last meal with his disciples.

Riding on a Colt

Matthew records the instruction Jesus gave to his disciples to go to the village ahead where they would find a donkey with her colt. They were to bring them to him for his entry into Jerusalem. Matthew quotes a verse from Zechariah, “See your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zech 9:9 and Matt 21:15).

I often wondered why Jesus chose to ride into Jerusalem on a colt, the foal of a donkey. I could understand his choice of a donkey as a sign of his humility; but why choose the foal of a donkey. It was one of my colleagues in the Issachar Ministries team who pointed to a verse in Exodus that I had not previously noticed. It says, “Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck” (Ex 34:20).

A little research reveals that the donkey was the only animal in God’s creation whose firstborn foal had to be redeemed by offering the sacrifice of a lamb. Donkeys were very important for transport. They carried heavy loads and were usually willing workers. They were certainly very important in an agricultural community: in fact, so important that the owner had to give thanks to God for the firstborn foal before it could be used. The strength of this command was enforced by the instruction in Exodus 34:20.

Of course, Jesus knew this command! But this was the very reason why he chose to ride on the foal rather than the donkey. Here we see Jesus, having deliberately set his face to go up to Jerusalem, with the full knowledge of the murderous intent of the religious authorities to end his life, he now chooses to ride on the foal of a donkey. The foal had not yet been redeemed, hence it was still with its mother. But in this action, Jesus himself was redeeming the foal.

Here was Jesus, the Lamb of God, offering himself as a sacrifice for the sin of the world, symbolically redeeming the foal on his way to the cross.

For the One I Love

The incredible humility and determination to go through with the terrible events that he foresaw show something of the amazing character of Jesus. But, added to this, his incredible love is shown a little later in the week when he met with his disciples to share a last meal with them. This is the second point in this meditation.

One of my lasting memories of the late Lance Lambert whom I was proud to call my friend, was on one occasion when my wife and I shared a meal in his Jerusalem home with him and his sister. It was a Friday evening, a Shabbat meal. At one point in the meal Lance took a piece of bread, dipped it in the cup and gave it to me, and similarly to Monica, saying to each of us a little expression of love. He explained that in many Jewish families it was the custom for either the father of the family or the mother of the family to do this, particularly if they had guests as an expression of love.

Lance said it was a particularly poignant practice for the mother to do this for one of her children who had been away and was now back at the family table, or one who had been sick and now was recovered. She would say “This is for the one I love”. Her love was being expressed particularly for the one who had a special need, or to show joy at the reuniting of the family around their table.

At the Last Supper Jesus took bread and broke it and gave a piece to each of his disciples – a symbolic act through which he was giving himself to them and showing his indescribable love. Judas, the man who would betray him was also there and it is surely one of the most poignant acts of Jesus to give bread to the man who was going to be responsible for his betrayal into the hands of his enemies (John 13:26).
The act of giving the bread dipped in the cup symbolising his blood, was highly significant for each of his disciples.

But the most amazing act of Jesus at the Last Supper was surely to dip the bread in the cup and give it to Judas, who was to betray him, conveying the message (whether spoken or unspoken): “This is for the one I love”.

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Will we watch with him?

This week can we too watch with him, for one brief hour, in this his time of victory through life laid down (John 12:24-25; Rom 12:1)? Let us join these beautiful, ancient olive trees, who once watched their Lord and Maker, so hard-pressed, give all for us: that we might lay down our lives too, for him, much fruit to bear, and by his death, receive new life in him.

GETH-SEMANE – garden of the olive oil press

O Garden, Garden, Gan Gat-Semenah, was this sight just for you, to keep?
Your Lord in such dire straits, alone, His friends asleep?

Did you watch with Him one brief hour, while He did seek to flee
From His afearéd choice. “Avi, my Father, take this dread cup away from Me!
Yet not My will, O Lord of Mine, but Yours be done”.

O Garden, full of Tears, and witnessing such awe-some things,
Oil so hard-pressed, now poured out, Your Master held by satan’s rings.
Trees that He planted, olive-healing for His blinded sheep,
You witness such deep pain and agony, His death-door openings.

Was ever garden formed for this, to wait like Miriam for her heaven's sword?
Mirror of Gan Eden, broken, yet through great love, to be restored?
Ancient trees, all-giving, and like Father, watching in His perfect time
For Jesus - come to weep His life full out, to give in all-surrender, and
In suffering now, His learned obedience, laid down His will before His Lord.

We, too, do need this breaking, willingly, no sentient feeling
Only - our will surrendered too with heavy tears before the King.
Our hiding place, security, is found alone in Him. Cross-bound, alone;
And broken, willingly, like Him we too may learn obedience through
Our suffering - “Thy will be done”. Ourselves now to this Love unknown,
Embraced and held, in our reflecting all-surrender, we must bring.

This garden will again be new, restored to pristine beauty now,
And man, like olive trees that watched the victory of their Lord, will bow
The knee to Him. His sweat, like blood - expression of His love
Out-poured in prayer, His life laid down - will bear the promised fruit.
And we, brought back to Eden, fruit of His fruit, no longer sleeping-mute,
Will give Him all our thanks and praise, for death and life hard-won by Him,
And yes, for His long-suffering, our very life in Him, and to complete our vow.

Gan Gat-Semenah, Good Friday

The three saddest words in Scripture?

Perhaps the three saddest words in Scripture, reflecting the thoughts of two downcast and despondent disciples about the one they believed was going to redeem Israel, are “we had hoped” (Luke 24:21).

But these disciples were not alone in their gloom and despair. All who had known Jesus and believed in him had been gripped by hope that this “prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people” (Luke 24:19) would indeed bring about the restoration of Israel at this time. It had been a mighty hope - the biggest of all. But now it was gone, in the past. “We had hoped”.

Mary and the other women who visited the tomb with spices earlier that morning – they had hoped. Peter, John and the other disciples, hiding in a home somewhere in Jerusalem – they had hoped.

The early morning news that the body was no longer in the tomb had done nothing to raise their hopes. Just more confusion, shock, amazement and tears.

But all that was about to change. One word started a chain reaction that birthed a new hope and caused it to burst into life: “Mary” (John 20:16).

Hearing her name spoken by her risen Rabboni transformed Mary from a broken mourner into an excited messenger: “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18).

Hearing her name spoken by her risen Rabboni transformed Mary from a broken mourner into an excited messenger.

Similar experiences followed. Eyes were opened and hearts burned (Luke 24:31-32). Minds began to grasp the reality of what the scriptures had prophesied (Luke 24:45). Joy and worship replaced doubt, despair and fear.

But one question remained: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). After all, that had been their great hope. Surely this was now back on the agenda?

Jesus’ reply is illuminating. He does not deny this will happen, but clarifies that it is not going to be ‘at this time’; rather, at some future time known only to the Father. Meanwhile, here is a bigger hope to work towards: the salvation and restoration of all. A hope that will go to the ends of the earth.

Was this why the disciples’ hopes had been so devastatingly dashed? So they could be replaced by something even more glorious?

Have you known what it is like to have your hopes destroyed, reduced to nothing? Perhaps God has allowed this so that he can replace them with even bigger ones. Ones that will go further than those you had previously cherished.

When you are tempted to say “I had hoped”, then go to the empty tomb. Pour out your grief and despair, and maybe through your tears you will hear from the risen Lord, perhaps just one word, perhaps just your name. But that can be enough for a brighter hope to arise, for a new journey to begin.

The message of Easter/Passover is the solution to the corruption of our time.

At Easter/Passover every year, for the past four years I have looked anxiously at the bare branches of the beautiful ash tree in our garden to see if the Ash Dieback Disease has struck. Once again, this year the first signs of life are showing which confirm that it has escaped the dreaded disease.

I know it sounds silly, but I’ve actually prayed over that tree and asked the God of Creation to protect it from the corrupting disease that is borne on the wind in our region of the country. Each year I thank God for the new life that I see in this ancient tree that is part of the natural heritage of Britain. And each year I thank God for the little enactment of ‘Passover’ in my garden - that the disease has passed over my home.

In the same way as Jeremiah got a message from the almond tree that he saw near his home (Jer 1:11), I see this ash tree as representing the spiritual heritage of the nation, under attack from secular humanist forces that aim to spread corruption and to destroy its Judaeo-Christian foundations.

Jeremiah got a message of warning that the nation of Israel was facing grave danger from corruption within and from armed attack that would come from outside. Only God could save the nation from the onslaught of the mighty Babylonian army but God would not save a nation that was filled with unrighteousness and corruption – a nation that deliberately turned its back upon his word.

Corruption Within, Threats Without

In the same way, God is warning us today of the dangers we face from the growing threats of terrorism in the world and the very real dangers of World War III on the horizon. If God did not save his chosen people Israel because of the unrighteousness in the nation, what makes us think that we are safe?

If God did not save his chosen people Israel because of the unrighteousness in the nation, what makes us think that we are safe?

We too are a nation that has turned its back upon God and there is a vast amount of corruption within our borders – even the Bank of England has been (allegedly) implicated this week in the corruption in the banking industry and fixing the LIBOR interest rates.

Promise of Being Created Anew

But Easter has a message of good news and new life and hope for the worst of sinners, which includes people like you and me. We may not be guilty of fixing interest rates, but we are all in need of what only Jesus can do for us – renewing our corrupt human nature.

Paul said that if anyone is in Christ, he or she is a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) – our sins are forgiven and we actually become a new person. This is the message of Good Friday!

But that’s only part of the Easter message. In the world of nature, death and resurrection are built into the very DNA of Creation. Jesus said that a seed has to fall into the ground and actually die before it releases new life. This is why he died for us and then rose from the dead so that through his resurrection, the power to live a new life is actually given to us.

Message of Life, Hope and Joy!

Charles Gardner has written movingly in this issue of Prophecy Today UK about the death of PC Keith Palmer, who was killed by a terrorist while he was protecting our Parliament. It was right that the nation recognised the bravery of this man who died a hero. But it is even more important that as a nation we recognise the death of Jesus who died a Saviour and who is longing to bless us and our nation with new life.

Death and the hope of resurrection are built into the very DNA of Creation.

The message of Easter does not end with Good Friday. It is not a message of death, but an offer of new life. It is a message of hope and joy! Many Christians believe that Brexit offers an opportunity for Britain to be free from the morally and spiritually corrupting forces of the European Union. But in order to walk in true freedom – individually and corporately – we need the spiritual new life and power of the Risen Christ, which is the message of Easter Day. It is available to each of us – it is our joy for today and our hope for the future!