Gathered Around the Fire

DID JESUS FULFILL THE ONE NECESSARY SIGN?  THE SIGN OF JONAH For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.     Matthew 12:39-40 If Jesus died on Good Friday at 3:00 PM as most churches practice:  Then Jesus failed to meet the one criteria he stated would be the only sign of His validity as the Son of Man, the Messiah, the Christ!  On the first day you shall hold a solemn  and  holy assembly , ...   no kind of work shall be done in them,  save [preparation of] that which every person must eat—that only may be done by you. Exodus 12:16   When it was morning , all the chief priests and the elders of the people held a consultation against Jesus to put Him to death;   And they bound Him and led Him away and handed Him over to Pilate the governor. Matthew 27:1-2 The Scripture passage above states that in the m...

THE DAY OF PREPARATION The day that the Passover lamb must be killed.  It is important to remember that the Biblical day begins at sundown, not at midnight, not at sunrise.   This is where people have mistakenly placed the crucifixion on Friday at 3:00 PM because they assume Jesus and his disciples ate the last supper at sundown on the Passover Sabbath, (Wednesday) rather than the eve of the Day of Preparation (Tuesday) after sundown, which would still be rendered as the Day of Preparation in the bible since it took place after sundown.  So why is it important to discuss which day he died and which day he supped with His disciples?  Because of the sign of Jonah:   Jesus said only ONE sign would be given to prove his authenticity, as the Messiah, the promised deliverer of Israel. That ONE sign was that he would be in the ground three days and three nights .  If Jesus does not fulfill this one sign it disqualifies Him as the Messia...

At Sundown Jesus follows the pattern of the Passover Seder   using the four cups in His Last Supper.  At the time of the third cup, the cup of Redemption,  taken after supper.    Jesus institutes what we now refer to as the Lord's Supper . Likewise He also  took   the   cup  after supper , saying, “ This   cup  (redemption)  is   the  new covenant in My blood, which  is  shed for you.      LUKE 22:20 After dark Jesus left the city and went up to the Mount of Olives, where He is later betrayed and arrested, this all happened in the hours after sundown (so this is already day four) or the Day of Preparation for the  (Passover)  Sabbath.  The following day at sundown begins the Passover. As the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread it was also a Festival S abbath, not to be confused with the weekly 7th-day s abbath) This will become more important as we look ...

Examined by The Pharisees: Is It Lawful to Pay Taxes to Caesar? 15  Then the Pharisees went and plotted how they might entangle Him in His talk .    16  And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.    17  Tell us, therefore, what do You think?  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”    18  But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said,   “Why do you test Me, you hypocrites?   19  Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius. 20  And He said to them,  “Whose image and inscription is this?” 21  They said to Him, “Caesar’s.” And He said to them,  “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22  When they had heard t...

Over the next four days, the four-footed Pesach lamb would be examined in the temple  courtyard by the chief priests, to determine if there was any blemish or flaw. The lamb was tied to the horns of the altar for four days, and  the Priests and the Levites would examine it,  whether or not it was pure, spotless, without blemish, they would examine it for broken bones, infected or discolored flesh everything was scrutinized.    Jesus, as the Lamb of God, was submitted to the entire examination process so that all things would be fulfilled.  It was during these same four days  immediately following His triumphal entry that Scripture records that the Herodians and the Jews began to test Jesus, trying to catch him by His words. Now it happened  on one of those days ,  as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him  2...

*** First Time Visitors *** Please go to the  First Time Visitors  tab or    go to  Thursday Night   tab   If you want to share what we are doing with a friend please direct them using the URL for that page.                                      ============================ We were praying for some friends tonight, and we declared the goodness of the Lord over them .  We asked for angels to surround their homes. For the peace of God to engulf them. and several other things. As I was praying some of these things out. Aaron was getting a picture, of an empty frame without a painting, the canvas was mostly painted dark with a little bit of color at the extreme edges. He told us that God said,   "Paint it with your words. Speak out the things you want to see in this person's life." So we did pray out things for them.  The word...

Yesterday we talked about the two prophetic actions as signs Jesus gave during the triumphal entry into and through Jerusalem on the D ay of Presentation .   But as He drew near to the city of Jerusalem itself but across the Kidron Valley from it. He began to weep about the hardness of their hearts, the blindness of their eyes. That they missed the obvious spiritual significance of the things happening all around them, during their day of visitation.   41  Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,  42  saying,  “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day , the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.   43  For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,   44  and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon a...