I D E N T I T Y

A CHRISTIAN CHURCH PUBLICATION

Volume 2, No. 1

Published Quarterly by the Ministry of Christ Church

4955 Sierra Pines Dr.

Mariposa, CA 95338

“INRI”

“Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudeorum”

LATIN ENGLISH

Iesus 1. Jesus
Nazarenus 2. Nazarene
Rex 3. Ruler or King
Iudeorum 4. Judeans

Properly Translated

“Jesus of Nazarene King of the Judeans”

“Jesus the Nazarene Ruler of the Judeans”

“Jesus of Nazarene Ruler of the Judeans”

“Jesus the Nazarene King of the Judeans”

For years, Christians have been confused and deceived by the biblical translations relative to the inscription on the cross when Jesus was crucified. The Jews use it to substantiate their false claim of being Israel. They mistranslate the word Iudeorum (Judean) to the word “Jew”.

It is true that “Jews” lived in Iudeorum (Judea) at the time of the crucifixion but they were not of the original tribe of Judah of the nation of Judea. It becomes clear that they were invaders of Judea and were not Israelites when we understand the words of Jesus in Matthew, Chapter 15:24, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and again His words in John 10:26 Jesus speaking to the Jews said, “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you”.

Again in John 8:41-47 Jesus says that the Jews are not of God – therefore how could Jesus himself be a Jew? (not of God). Jesus identifies the Jews as Satan’s children in John 8:41-44, then if Jesus were a Jew, He would be an offspring of Satan by His own words – how then can He be your God? The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, all one. John 14:9.

We find when we read John 19:19, JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. But in reading further, verse 21 tells us the Jews themselves did not proclaim Him king and wanted written above the cross, not The King of the Jews but that he said I am King of the Jews. And Pilate being exhausted of the matter replied in the 22^nd verse, “What I have written I have written.” (Scofield)

THE PROOF THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST - Part I of III

By Bertrand L. Comparet

As we approach the anniversary of the greatest day in all history – the day of Jesus Christ’s resurrection – it would be well for us to give some thought and study to just what it is that we celebrate with such faith and joy. What is the foundation upon which our faith is built? What is the meaning of the tremendous events of that last week in Christ’s earthly life? What was accomplished thereby? For the answers, we must look to both the Old and New Testaments, for they are just the parts of one book, and each proves the authenticity of the other. We know that the Old Testament is truly the inspired word of God because its greatest prophecies were fulfilled in the New Testament; and we know that the New Testament is also the inspired word of God because its great events were those which had been prophesied in the Old Testament.

Remembering this, let us review the Scriptures dealing with Jesus Christ’s ministry, and see just what He did accomplish. I need not review the Fall of Adam, the loss of our original position in God’s plan, and the need for a Redeemer: that is familiar to all Christians. The Redeemer is one of the principal themes of the Bible; though most of it, in the Old Testament, is not generally understood because so much of it is stated in the form of symbols and ritual.

The first promise of a Redeemer is found in genesis 3:15. God had called Adam, Eve and Satan before Him to account for their actions; and He told Satan, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between THY SEED and HER SEED: He shall crush thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.” The Redeemer who destroys the power of Satan is to be a descendant of Eve; but the time when He would come is not yet stated. It is obvious from certain other verses of the Scripture that God further told them in considerable detail that He, Himself, would be the Redeemer, that He would pay for us the penalty of death. Abel knew this, for he understood the necessity and the significance of the blood sacrifice – and in hebrews 11:4, Paul tells us that “BY FAITH, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” Now you can’t possibly have faith in something that you have never heard of – so this confirms Abel’s knowledge of the promised Redemption. But there is also another clear evidence of this. God had said, in the presence of Eve, that the Redeemer would be her “seed” or descendant – though He didn’t specify in which generation He would come. So when Eve bore her first child, Cain, the King James’ Version of the bible quotes her as saying, “I have gotten a man from the Lord;” but in the original Hebrew, what she said was, “I have gotten a man – even Yahweh.” (and YAHWEH, as most of you know is the name of God). This is, she thought that her first child would be the Redeemer, God born in a human body. Well, she is not the only one who has hoped for redemption before the time for it. But note that she understood that the Redeemer was to be YAHWEH Himself.

In further corroboration of this, the great prophecy of isaiah 9:6, which all agree refers to Jesus Christ, says, “for unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, THE MIGHTY GOD, THE EVERLASTING FATHER, the Prince of Peace.” And in fulfillment of it Jesus Christ told the Apostle Philip, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” - john 14:9

It was not mere death, alone, that could make the sacrifice which brings redemption – for all things die, under the curse of sin; but emphasis was always laid upon the shedding of blood, a violent death of the sacrifice, not the natural death of ordinary mortality. So in leviticus 17:11 we are told, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you, upon the altar to make an atonement for your soul: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” And in hebrews 9:22 Paul says, “For almost all things are by the Law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood is no remission.”

The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament were never intended to be considered as sufficient in themselves: they were just symbolic of the great sacrifice which was to be made, not by us, but FOR us, by God Himself. In the thousands of years that this knowledge was carried down from generation to generation, it was heard by the surrounding pagan people, who lack the spiritual insight which God gave to His own people ISRAEL, and they reversed it, and wove it into their own pagan religions in a distorted and parodied form: to the pagans, man had to make the sacrifice to appease angry gods. Only in our own religion have we the pure truth that God Himself made the sacrifice to save us; and the great Patriarchs understood this. Hence we find the incident, recorded in the 22^nd chapter of genesis, where God tells Abraham to take his only son, Isaac, and offer him as a sacrifice, a burnt offering. Abraham cheerfully starts out to do this, not with the grief of a loving father about to lose his only son, but with serene confidence. When Isaac asked his father, “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?” Abraham replied, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt-offering.” He understood the reality that God would provide “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” as the sacrifice for us; and even in the symbol, the burnt-offering, Abraham’s faith was rewarded: God did provide the ram, caught in the thicket, as the sacrifice to save Isaac.

Jesus Christ’s authenticity and authority as Redeemer depend upon his being the One named in the Old Testament as such, the One who fulfills the Old Testament prophecies. He Himself recognized this, and always cited these prophecies as proof of His authority. He opened His ministry this way. luke 4:16-20 tells it: “And he came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it is written, “The spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord, * * “ and He began to say unto them, “THIS DAY IS THIS SCRIPTURE FULFILLED IN YOUR EARS.” So, at the very start, He quoted isaiah 61:1-2 as His authority.

Again, in john 5:39, 46, He told the Jews, “Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and it is they which testify of Me. * * For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me.” And when John the Baptist, in prison, began to wonder if he could have been mistaken, and sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus “Art thou He that should come? Or do we look for another?” Jesus again based His authority on the Scriptures, for in the 11^th chapter of matthew He told John’s disciples, “Go and show John again those things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.” He was not saying merely, “Report that I can do miracles” --- for that would not have been proof: remember that the magicians at Pharaoh’s court were able to duplicate a number of the miracles that Moses performed. But the things which Jesus reminded them of were all mentioned in isaiah, especially chapter 29:18-19 and 36:5-6. What Jesus really was telling John the Baptist was, “John, you know the scriptures. Remember what Isaiah said? You see that I am fulfilling his prophecies. I need not boast of Myself: the scriptures identify Me.” And again in matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”

As Jesus Christ Himself recognized, the proof of His identity and of what He accomplished does not rest upon His ability to perform miracles. The shallow and unspiritual Jews constantly demanded that He perform a miracle as a “sign”, to prove who and what He was; and He always refused, for that would prove nothing. The proof must and did consist in His fulfillment of those Old Testament prophecies which foretold what the Messiah, the Redeemer, would do when he came.

THE D’ANDREA CASE

By Tom Hawk

A few weeks ago in East Naples, Florida, a white man, Thomas D’Andrea was on trial for theft before an all Negro jury. This situation was an outgrowth of the new civil rights hysteria. After due deliberation said jury returned with a verdict. The jury foreman orally advised the judge that the verdict was “guilty”, but the written official verdict which they handed to the court said “not guilty”. When the judge questioned the panel members in an attempt to straighten out this mess he found that 1/3 of the members said D’Andrea was guilty; 1/3 said he was not guilty, and the balance apparently had no opinion on way or the other. The real problem came to light when the jury foreman admitted that he could neither read nor write, nor could the others. They were able only to sign their names. The judge was forced to declare a mistrial and D’Andrea will be tried again in January.

This case is grim proof of how successful the anti-Christ element has been in bringing about a break down in law and order through vicious laws, illegal court orders and warped constitution interpretations. The human termites who bore from within in darkness to bring about the destruction of White Christian civilization have systematically destroyed most of the federal and state constitutions. The so called courts of justice, acting under the guise of “civil rights” have freed murderers, rapists, sex offenders and dope peddlers by the dozens to further prey upon the public. The court rulings have made it next to impossible to convict criminals. Not even the highest court has in any case questioned the guilt of the freed scum, rather they have been released on the flimsiest of technical grounds. Ridiculous excuses that make honest judges blush with shame.

Hand in glove with this attack against the courts is the anti-Christ war on civil liberties. Under the pretense of securing rights for the largely uneducated, colored races they have, and are at this moment, stealing liberty from the white man. They are accomplishing this evil with the help of small cowardly men in Congress. White proselytes whom the Bible tells us are twice as dangerous as the children of the devil.

The state laws that required a person to pass a simple literacy test before being registered as a voter have now gone “down the drain”. When a nation allows the votes of morons and illiterates to equal those of educated informed persons the seeds of destruction have been planted and its fall is inevitable. Such a voting system is called a democracy. The great men who founded this nation set up a republic for they well understood that a democracy as a form of government was foredoomed to failure.

Thanks to the traitors who sell their souls for votes and to the diabolical anti-Christ we now have a democracy, and unless great men once more arise, our days as a free people are numbered.

THE PROOF THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST - Part II of III

By Bertrand L. Comparet

In part I we saw that the authority and power to redeem us could come only to the One who was prophesied in the Old Testament: and therefore, the test of whether Jesus was in truth the Redeemer, the Christ, consisted of whether He had fulfilled these prophecies. We saw that He, Himself, recognized this, and always cited them as the proof of His authority. Now, let us examine them I more detail.

Much of the Old Testament prophecy is found in its symbols and rituals. For example, all of the great feasts, or Holy Days, were symbolic of either the first or second coming of Jesus Christ. The spring Festivals were symbolic of His first coming, crucifixion and resurrection; and He fulfilled the reality of which these were the symbols, each on the day of the appropriate festival. The Fall Festivals are symbolic of His second coming, for which we now are waiting expectantly; and we know that in whatever year He comes, he will fulfill the realities symbolized by these Fall Festivals, each on its own day.

First of the Spring Festivals was the Passover, the type of salvation from death, God’s deliverance of His people. So important was this that in exodus 12:14, God Himself commanded that celebration of the Passover should be an ordinance forever among His people ISRAEL. Clearly it symbolized the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. You will remember that it was first commanded when the people of Israel were still in Egypt. Moses had performed many miracles as proof that he was sent by God to command that Pharaoh release the nation of Israel; and some of these miracles wrought great devastation in Egypt, but still Pharaoh would not yield. So in the 12^th Chapter of exodus, God warned Moses that He was going to pass through the land of Egypt and kill all the first-born in Egypt, from the cattle in the fields to the eldest son of Pharaoh; but the people of Israel would be spared if they would follow the instructions, to kill and eat the Passover Lamb, and put its blood on the door-posts outside the front door. They could not just secretly eat the lamb while hiding at home: there must be the public proclamation of their faith, by putting the lamb’s blood on the door-posts, that by the death of the lamb they would be saved: and by eating the flesh of the lamb, they gained strength for their journey out of Egypt, from slavery to freedom. All of this, of course, is symbolic of our salvation and redemption by Jesus Christ upon the cross. Let’s examine it in detail.

First, the lamb for the Passover offering was to be selected on the 10^th day of the Hebrew month Nisan (Nee-sawn’), but not actually sacrificed until the 14^th day of Nisan. God instructed Moses, “In the 10^th day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the household of their fathers, a lamb for an household. * * And ye shall keep it until the 14^th day of the same month; and the whole Assembly (Qahal) of the Congregation (Edah) of Israel shall kill it in the evening.” (exodus 12:3,6) The Hebrew words here translated “in the evening”, actually mean between noon and sunset, or ”in the afternoon”. Then God commanded, “they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel of the door of the houses where they shall eat it.” The flesh of the lamb was to be roasted and eaten with bitter herbs; and the family were to be ready to march out of the land of Egypt immediately. exodus 12:46 further provides that not a bone of the lamb may be broken.

So much for the symbol of the Passover: Now let us see how the reality fulfilled it. On the 10^th day of Nissan, Jesus Christ was selected for death: mark 11:15-18 records it. “And they came to Jerusalem; and Jesus went into the Temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew the seats of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves; * * And He taught, saying unto them, ‘Is it not written, “My house shall be called of all nations the House of Prayer”? But ye have made it a den of thieves’. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy Him: for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His doctrine.”

On the 14^th day of Nisan, Jesus Christ was crucified --- the day the Passover lambs were killed; and in fact, He died at the very hour which was in the midst of the slaughter of the lambs. The Hebrew day began at sunset. The night was divided into four “watches” of three hours each. The day was divided into 12 hours, beginning at sunrise, which at that time of the year was about 6 a.m. in our time. He was crucified somewhere around noon, “the sixth hour of the day” in Hebrew time: for john 19:14, speaking of the end of His trial before Pontius Pilate, says it was “about the sixth hour;” and luke 23:44, speaking of a time just after Jesus was nailed to the cross, also says “it was about the sixth hour.” Since neither man carried a wrist-watch, John estimated the crucifixion to be soon after noon. All the biblical accounts agree that there was darkness over the land from ”the sixth hour” (noon in our time) until the ninth hour, or 3 p.m. in our time, when Jesus Christ died on the cross. Remember that the Passover lambs were to be killed between noon and sunset, and this was in the very middle of that period. And john 19:33, 36 records that, while the legs of the two thieves were broken, to hasten their deaths, not a bone of Jesus Christ’s body was broken, thus fulfilling the rules regarding the Passover lamb. In I corinthians 5:7, Paul reminds us that “Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us.”

This sacrifice made for us by Jesus Christ was, in every respect His own voluntary act --- even to the instant of death itself. In your King James’ Version, matthew 27:50 says, “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” This is not an adequate rendering of the Greek, which says that he ”DISMISSED His spirit” --- an act of his own will. This fulfills His own words in john 10:17-18, ‘I lay down My life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.”

Since Jesus Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross was the fulfillment of the Passover, and since God expressly commanded that “This day shall be unto you for a memorial: and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever,” exodus 12:14 perhaps you are wondering why we no longer celebrate the Passover in the old way? There is a good reason for this. The Passover, as the ordinance in the Old Testament prescribed it, looked to the future, to something which had not yet happened. It was the believer’s proclamation that “I believe that my Redeemer will, some day in the future, come and make the true sacrifice for me, giving His life to redeem mine.” As long as Christ had not yet come, this was the proper form for it. But after He had actually come and given His life for us, we could no longer say that we were still waiting for something to be done in the future: that would be a rejection of what He had already done for us.

It was still to be “an ordinance forever” --- but its form must be changed so that it now recognizes that our redemption has already been made. That is why Jesus Christ taught us the new form of it, the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. We still symbolically eat the sacrifice for the nourishment of our spirit; “Take, eat, this is My body.” matthew 26:26; mark 14:22 and we still symbolically proclaim our faith that by His blood we are saved: “This is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” matthew 26:28 The form is changed, to show our recognition that our redeemer has already come and redeemed us; but the real meaning of the sacrifice is, indeed, eternal.

OUR CONSTITUTION IS A CHRISTIAN DOCUMENT

By Rev. William P. Gale

The United States of America is a union of sovereign states and is a Christian nation, or, a Christian union. It was Christianity which motivated the first settlement on this continent.

Legal instruments, charters and the constitutions of the colonies are filled with evidence that Jesus Christ inspired the early American settlers. The bible was the controlling factor in their lives. At least one colonial constitution declared Christianity the established religion and others maintained that the furthering of the kingdom of Christ was a purpose of government. Belief in the gospel of Christ was, in many colonies, a requisite for holding political office. Early constitutions provided legislative authority to support the expense of the church through taxes and to make it a public charge.

The first colonial grant to Sir Walter Raleigh, in 1584, authorized the enactment of statutes for government. It provided that statutes, “…be not against the true Christian faith.”

In 1606, King James the I of England issued a charter to form the colonies of Virginia. It began, “We are greatly commending and graciously accepting of their desires for the furtherance of so noble a work which may be Divine Providence of Almighty God hereunto tend to the glory of his divine majesty and propagating the Christian religion to such people as yet live in the darkness and miserable ignorance of the true knowledge and worship of God.”

In 1620, the Pilgrims wrote the Mayflower Compact which stated, “…having undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith and the honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia.”

In 1620, King James I granted the New England Charter. It stated, “We, according to our princely inclinations, favoring much their worthy disposition in hope thereby to advance the enlargement of the Christian religion to the glory of God Almighty…..”.

In 1629, the Charter of Massachusetts Bay was granted by Charles I. This was canceled in 1684 and a provisional government set up, but a new charter was issued in 1691 by King William and Queen Mary. The purpose did not change during those years. The fundamental orders of Connecticut under which the provisional government was instituted in 1638 and 1639, stated in part, “…where a people are gathered together, the word of God requires that to maintain the peace and union of such people there should be an orderly and decent government established according to God, to order and dispose of the affairs of the people at all seasons as occasion shall require, to therefore associate and conjoin ourselves and our successors, and such as shall be adjoined to us at any time thereafter, to enter into combinations and confederations together to maintain and preserve the liberty and purity of the Gospel of our Lord, Jesus, which we now profess…”.

Rhode Island pioneer settlers, in 1638 signed a government document which read, “We whose names are underwritten do hereby solemnly, in the presence of Yahweh, incorporate ourselves into a fine politic, and as He shall help, will submit our persons and lives, and estates unto our Lord, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and to all those persons in most absolute laws of His, given us in His Holy Word of truth, be guided and judged thereby…”. The document then quotes exodus 24:3-4, ii chronicles 3, and kings 2 and 17.

In 1691, under the new Charter granted by William and Mary, “…Whereby our settled people inhabitant there, may be so religiously, peaceably and civilly governed as a good life and ordinarily conversations may win and incite the natives of the country to their knowledge and obedience of the only true God and Saviour of mankind and the Christian faith which is our royal intention…..”.

The Charter issued to Rhode Island in 1663 refers to this persuasion, “In the holy Christian faith and worship.” In this colony, Roger Williams, a Protestant Christian, joined with others in the institution of a local government by signing with others, “…a pledge to cement person, lives , and estates unto our Lords, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Hosts.…”.

Thirteen of these separate and sovereign states formed prior to the Declaration of Independence, began moving towards one Christian nation after the signing of this document by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The Preamble to the Constitution declared, “…that free fruition of such liberties and privileges, humanity, stability and Christianity called for as is due to every man in his place and proportion without impeachment and infringement has ever been and will be the tranquillity of churches and commonwealths, and the denial thereof will be the disturbance, if not its ruin, or both.”

The Constitution of Massachusetts, 1780, (Part 1, Article 3) provided, “The legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require the several towns, parishes, and precincts and other bodies, politic or religious societies, to make suitable provisions at their own expense for the institutions of the public worship of God and for the support and maintenance of Protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality in all cases where provisions shall not be made voluntarily.”

The Constitution of New Hampshire, 1784 and again in 1792, Article 6 of the Bill of Rights, gave power to the legislature to authorize, from time to time, the several towns, parishes, bodies corporate, religious societies within the state, to make adequate provisions at their own expense for the support and maintenance of public Protestant teachers, of piety, religion, and morality.

In Maryland, by the Constitution of 1776, “…The legislature may in their discretion, lay a general and equal tax for the support of the Christian religion.”

In 1683, William Penn prepared a framework of government for Pennsylvania. It stated, “All treasurers, judges, and other officers and all members elected to serve in provincial council and general assembly and all that have the right to elect such members shall be such as profess faith in Jesus Christ.”

In Delaware, by the Constitution of 1776, every office holder was required to subscribe to the following, “I do profess faith in God the Father and in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Ghost, one God, blessed forever more and I do acknowledge the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration.”

In Maryland, by the Constitution of 1776, every person appointed to any office of profit or trust took and official oath but also subscribed to, “a declaration of his beliefs in the Christian religion.”

A review of the records of the first and second Continental Congresses of the United States with particular reference to the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights, makes it clear that no religion other than Christianity was in the minds of those who wrote the Constitution. Nor is there any law or constitutional provision in the United States of America, nor in any state of the union, which prescribes separation of church and state. A letter from Thomas Jefferson, written to a personal friend in New England gave rise to this concept. Jefferson completely repudiated any such idea in his inaugural address several years later. Our Constitution is solidly based in Christian Scripture. Our beginnings bear solemn witness to Christian guidance and leadership. Our history is one of Christian heritage. It follows that our Supreme Court clearly declared this Republic to be a Christian nation on February 29, 1892. (The Holy Trinity Church vs. The United States, case 143 U.S. versus 471)

Scripturally, the Holy word of God, upon which our government and its sovereign states are established, provides clearly that Jesus Christ is at the head of our government. isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

THE PROOF THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST, Part III of III

By Bertrand L. Comparet

In part I and part II we studied the scriptures that prove that Jesus was really the Christ, the Redeemer. Now, let us go from there.

His crucifixion came at the prophesied time. His ministry covered three years. The Gospel of John records at least three, and possibly four, Passovers in this time. The first Passover is recorded in john 2:13-25, which also records Jesus’ first cleansing of the Temple by driving out the money-changers. john 5:1 mentions “a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem”. It is not further identified; and while it might be the second Passover, we can’t be sure of this. john 6:4 records what is at least the second, and possibly the third Passover. And john 11:55 and following shows that Jesus’ last visit to Jerusalem, ending with the crucifixion was also for a Passover, at least the third, just possibly the fourth. As Jesus Christ’s ministry had already begun before the first of these Passovers, either three or four is consistent with a ministry of three years.

For the significance of this, let us turn first to the prophet Daniel. In daniel 9:26-27, the prophet says, “And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah the prince be cut off, but not for Himself: **And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” We know that the “threescore and two weeks” --- sixty-two weeks, or 434 days, had worked out correctly on the prophetic scale of one year for a day. The people of Judea knew that the Messiah was due, and were restless in anticipation of their deliverance: that is why the Romans were so worried about what even a small disturbance might cause. As to the words “in the midst of the week” --- a “week” on the prophetic scale being 7 years, then “in the midst of the week” would be any time after three years; and, as we have seen, Jesus Christ’s ministry fulfilled this. That he did “confirm the Covenant with many” is proclaimed by Paul in romans 15:8, where he says, “For I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God. TO CONFIRM THE PROMISES made unto the fathers.”

Again, Paul shows us that Jesus Christ did “cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,” as Daniel prophesied. In hebrews 10:11-18 we read, “and every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this Man, AFTER HE HAD OFFERED ONE SACRIFICE FOR SINS FOREVER, sat down at the right hand of God; **For BY ONE OFFERING He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. ** Now where the remission of these is, THERE IS NO MORE OFFERING FOR SINS.” Although the Jews still curse and revile Him, even they seem to have recognized the futility of offering any more animal sacrifices: for nowhere in the world today have they revived the ancient sacrifices.

On what day was He crucified? This will surprise you, indeed: for one thing is absolutely certain, HE WAS NOT CRUCIFIED ON A FRIDAY! Yes, I know that nearly all churches celebrate Friday, but they are certainly wrong.

First let us note that the word “Sabbath” means not only the regular weekly Sabbath, Saturday, but it also means several other Holy Days, which are expressly called “Sabbaths” in the Bible. For example, let’s take the New Year, the so-called “Feast of Trumpets”, in the Hebrew, leviticus 23:24-25 reads thus: “Speak unto the Sons of Israel, saying ‘In the 7^th month, on the first of the month, ye have a SABBATH, a Memorial of Shouting, a holy convocation; ye do no servile work, and ye bring near a fire-offering to Yahweh.”” You will note that this was on the first day of the seventh month, regardless of which day of the week it might be; but it was always A SABBATH. Again, let’s take the Day of Atonement. In the Hebrew, leviticus 23:27-28, 31-32 says “on the tenth of this seventh month is a DAY OF ATONEMENTS: ye have a holy convocation; and ye humble yourselves, and bring near a fire-offering to Yahweh; and ye do no work in this self-same day, for it is a day of atonements, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your God. Ye do no work --- a statute age-long to your generations in all your dwellings, IT IS A SABBATH OF REST to you, **” In fact, the words Holy Convocation and Sabbath are practically interchangeable --- at least, every “Holy Convocation” is a Sabbath. Again, let’s take leviticus 23:2-3 to illustrate this: in the Hebrew, it says “Appointed season of Yahweh which ye proclaim, Holy Convocations, are these: they are My appointed seasons: six days is work done, and in the seventh is a Sabbath of Rest, a Holy Convocation.”

Now, let’s consider the Passover: it began with evening of the day of the Preparation, the day on which the lambs were killed and on which day Jesus Christ was crucified. Now no-one can dispute that the Passover is a Holy Convocation, a Sabbath. leviticus 23:5-8 makes it so. Here is how it reads in the Hebrew: ”In the first month, on the 14^th of the month, between the evenings, is the PASSOVER to Yahweh; and on the 15^th day of this month is the FEAST OF UNLEAVENED THINGS to Yahweh; seven days unleavened things do ye eat; ON THE FIRST DAY ye have a Holy Convocation, ye do no servile work; and ye bring near a fire-offering to Yahweh seven days; IN THE SEVENTH DAY is a Holy Convocation; ye do no servile work.” Jesus Christ was crucified on Nisan 14^th, the Passover, the day the lambs were killed; the next day, Nisan 15^th, was the first day of the 7-day feast of Unleavened Bread, a Holy Convocation or Sabbath Day, regardless of the day of the week on which it fell. All the Gospels agree that the day following the crucifixion was a Sabbath; but john 19:31 also mentions that “THAT Sabbath was an HIGH DAY.” --- not just the ordinary Saturday Sabbath of every week, but a special Sabbath, a High Holy Day, which it was, for it was the first day of Unleavened Bread.

The next thing to note is that all four gospels say that Jesus was resurrected on “the first day after the Sabbaths” --- Note that Sabbaths here is in the plural. Your King James’ Version Bible doesn’t show this, but it is in the original Greek of all four, matthew 28:1; mark 16:2,9; luke 24:1; and john 20:1. So this plural, Sabbaths, shows that Friday was the High Holy Day Sabbath, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, followed by Saturday, the ordinary weekly Sabbath. So the crucifixion necessarily occurred on Thursday, not Friday; and was followed by two Sabbaths, the High Holy Day Sabbath on Friday and the weekly Sabbath on Saturday. And note that if the High Holy Day Sabbath had fallen on Saturday, this would not have made TWO Sabbaths of it.

Furthermore, remember that Jesus Christ Himself said in matthew 12:40, “for as Jonas was 3 days and 3 nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the son of man be THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS in the heart of the earth.” Nobody can make “3 days and 3 nights” out of the time from 4 or 5 o’clock Friday Afternoon until sometime early Sunday morning, before dawn – 2 nights, 1 day and a tiny fraction of another is all you can count. But if He was in the tomb part of Thursday, all of Thursday night, all of Friday and Friday night, all of Saturday and most of Saturday night, you have two whole days and a part of a third day, two whole nights and most of a third night. He did not say that it would be “72 hours”, so it need not be full days and nights down to the very last minute.

So we see that in His crucifixion, Jesus Christ fulfilled, on the correct day, all the realities of salvation and redemption of which the Passover was the symbol. He is fully identified as the true Messiah or Christ promised to us in the Scriptures.

PARENTS LOOSE SCHOOL PRAYER BID

Rochester Times Union

The Supreme Court today denied a hearing to New York City parents who sought an order allowing their children to “pray voluntarily to God each day” in a Queens public school.
The case is the first to reach the court involving the question of “voluntary” prayers by public school pupils.
In decisions in 1962 and 1963, the court barred use of state-composed prayers and the Lord’s Prayer, as well as Bible reading when done in devotional exercises.
The Queens parents asked that school authorities give their children “an opportunity to express their love and affection to Almighty God each day through a prayer in their respective classrooms.” The parents represent various faiths.
The controversy arose after Principal Elihu Oshinsky of Public School 184 in Whitestone forbade recitation of two prayers kindergarten children said before they ate milk and cookies.

One prayer was: God is great, God is good, And we thank Him for our food. Amen.

The other was: Thank You for the world so sweet, Thank you for the food we eat, Thank You for the birds that sing, Thank You, God, for everything.

Identity Church Magazine