Winds of Salvation

In a previous post we went through various stories in Israel’s history that relate fire to the day of Pentecost in Acts 2.  We noted that fire from God’s presence had great symbolic importance relating to God’s acceptance of a priesthood and a Temple.

Those of us who have gone to a Bible-believing church for any length of time have already been taught about the connection between wind and the Holy Spirit in the Bible, so we won’t cover those more direct connections here. This post will reflect on wind in Israel’s history to see the “sound of a rushing mighty wind” in Acts 2 in a fuller light.

One connection between wind and Pentecost that I have yet to hear covered in church relates to the ultimate salvation story of the Hebrew Bible – the crossing of the Red Sea. [Exodus 14:21-29]

After their walk out of Egypt God takes them to the edge of the “Red Sea.” This point is surrounded by impassible mountains to the north and south and the sea to the east. The west becomes blocked when the Egyptian army rolls in at dusk, effectively trapping them along the coast.

God intervenes by interposing His column of fire/cloud between the western side of the Israelite camp and the Egyptians, halting their advance. He instructs Moses to raise his walking stick over the sea. As Moses does this, God sends a strong wind to divide the waters, drying the seabed in the process. The Israelites then proceed to walk across the dry seabed over the remainder of the night and emerge at the other side by morning.

The Egyptians, showing more guts than good sense, enter the water-lined chasm in hot pursuit as the cloud lifts. God abruptly changes the wind direction and the fearsome Egyptian military machine finds its permanent home at the bottom of the sea.

God’s creative use of the wind in the final saving event of Israel’s Exodus firmly establishes wind as a symbol of God’s saving power. Israel’s first worship song, written immediately after this event, poetically links the wind with God’s “breath.”  [Exodus 15:8-11]

God’s “breath” not only brings salvation. It also brings life to the first human being. [Genesis 2:7] Presumably this life is passed on in the great chain of human reproduction, so you do not need to see God physically breathing into each human being as it is born.

In one of the great prophetic passages of comfort to a people in exile, God gives Ezekiel a vision of a valley of dry bones. [Ezekiel 37:1-14] These bones represent a nation totally destroyed beyond hope of restoration. In this vision, God puts the bones back together and covers them with flesh and skin. He tells the prophet to call for “breath” to come “from the four winds” and enter the bodies to bring them back to life. Interestingly enough, the words translated “breath,” “wind” and “spirit” in this passage are the same word in the Hebrew language that this was first written in. God’s “breath” or “wind” gives hope for a lost and hopeless people.

One important aspect about wind as noted in Exodus 14 and 15 is that human beings cannot control it. It is symbolic of God’s sovereignty that the wind can only be controlled by God. Psalm 104:4, referring to God’s greatness, states,

“you make the winds your messengers,
fire and flame your ministers.” [NRSV]

[Note that some older Bible translations translate “messengers” as “angels” and “winds” as “spirits.” These older Bibles may also follow the Greek translation of the Psalm in stating that God “makes his angels spirits.” This way of translating is illogical in the context of the Psalm, which is about how God orders and uses the creation for His glory. Besides, it makes no sense for God to “make his angels spirits" when He originally created them that way. In both ancient Hebrew and Greek, the words for “angel” and “spirit” have a wide range of meaning that must be considered in the context of the passage.]

Among the more shocking things Jesus’ disciples saw during His ministry with them was Him rebuking the wind and waves for nearly drowning them. At His command, the wind dies down, allowing the waves to settle. Among themselves the astonished disciples ask, “who then is this, that he commands even the winds and water, and they  obey him?” [Luke 8:25] This is one of the passages that suggests that Jesus is, in fact, God almighty Himself in human flesh.

In 2 Kings 2:9-11 God uses a whirlwind to transport Elijah into the heavens. At least symbolically, Elijah has been transported to heaven, another symbol of salvation. In a similar vein Colossians 1:13 notes how God’s saving power has already “rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.”

Another biblical image of wind that applies is that of God speaking to Job out of a whirlwind. [Job 38:1] By the time God has questioned Job about the difference between Creator and created there is only one reasonable response in Job 42:5-6:

“I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye sees you;

therefore I despise myself,

and repent in dust and ashes.”

So as God signals His presence with the sound of a mighty rushing wind and speaks through His disciples there is also only one reasonable response [Acts 2:37-38]: Repentance, baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit.

The sound of the might rushing wind in the upper room wasn’t just a meaningless sound effect intended to draw a crowd. For the disciples, it was loaded with meaning!

It was a sign of salvation, just as for Israel at the Red Sea.

It was a symbol of hope for Israel and anyone else who would come to Jesus.

It was symbolic of the transfer of the disciples from the “kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His beloved Son. “

It was a sign that what happened to the disciples was from Jesus’ own sovereign will, since He had already demonstrated control over the wind.

It was also a sign that God was empowering these men as God’s messengers and ministers, using the same elements as mentioned in Psalm 104:4 to “ordain” them. Empowered by His Spirit, they can function as His ministers and messengers, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ’s ministry of salvation via His death and resurrection.

Finally, it was a sign of God’s overwhelming presence – a presence that confronts human beings with their own limits in the face of His overwhelming greatness. His is a presence that demands a clean conscience and a clean heart. Only repentance (change of heart and action) and acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf may clean up the conscience in a way that allows us to remain in His presence without discomfort. It is no wonder that the Apostle Paul would later call this a “ministry of reconciliation” between God and humanity.

On that Pentecost day Jesus Christ sent the sound of a “rushing mighty wind” that was not just a crowd-drawing sound effect. It was a sign of God’s mighty saving hand: the winds of change in God’s plan of salvation.

A Fire From the Presence of God

Reblogged from Wascana Fellowship 2.0:

The inspiration for the song of that title on our Songs page came from noticing how often God’s will makes itself known by fire from heaven in the Old Testament. This post will explore the theme of fire from God’s presence in relation to His acceptance or rejection of priests, temple, and repentance. We’ll also see how these relate to the events of the day of Pentecost and how they may have shaped the Apostle Paul’s view of the church.

Read more… 943 more words

Accomplishments in Life

I really like what one of our members has written on his own blog, and would like to share it here as well. jv

Accomplishments in Life.

Between Passover and Pentecost

[This is a revised edition of an item I first posted in 2010.]

After years of worshipping the Lord Jesus at Passover and Pentecost (times drawn from the Old Testament), it finally occurred to me that the best thing to talk about in the time between festivals is: the time between the festivals. Jesus even taught his disciples during 40 of the 50 days between his resurrection and Pentecost. Since Passover and Pentecost are uniquely tied together with a 50-day interval between two “wave offerings”, it might be a good time to talk about harvests and time intervals.

Jesus did. Note in John 4:34-38 that Jesus describes his own mission in terms of a harvest that is already begun, yet unseen by the world. He calls himself the vine and us the branches in John 15:1-5 in another harvest metaphor. In this case there is pruning for further growth and the bearing of more fruit later.

Sooner or later it occurs to the reader that harvests, by nature, spread out over time. There must be a sowing or planting, followed by growth, followed by flowering, followed by bearing the fruit or seed, followed by harvest. It         takes          time.

I had a conversation about ministry to children with a pastor who was complaining that his outreach programs to children had taken huge resources, yet were not returning much in terms of generating new believers. I asked him when the best time to harvest is: when the plant is small or when it is hunched over bearing mature fruit? He was delighted. He responded, “Of course! Harvest wheat when the head is full! Not when it is still empty!” He determined that it is best to teach the Bible to the young, but wait until mature adulthood to seek a full committment to Christ.

The number 50 had great symbolism. In ancient Israel, a man was considered an adult for purposes of census at the age of 20, and life expectancy was about 70 years (at least according to the Psalms). The expectation of adult maturity was the same as the number of days between these harvest first-fruit offerings. 50 years was the number of years from Jubilee to Jubilee, when debt was forgiven and land returned to the family (rebooting the economy).

Jesus was referring to this Jubilee during his first recorded sermon in Luke 4:16-19. He was quoting Isaiah 61:1-2, which was based on a proclamation in Leviticus 25:8-10. His mission was a proclamation of the Jubilee of God: freedom from the oppression of sin and human greed. Again, this involves an interval of time.

After all this, should it be surprising that it takes time to mature in Jesus Christ? Should it be surprising that Jesus’ mission is begun – but not over yet? Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection (1 Cor 15:20), but there is a harvest to be completed yet (v. 21-24). Christ, those who are his at his coming, then comes the end. (Does the last phrase suggest a final harvest of later-redeemed people? I like to hope so.)

What matters is that the end is not yet. We still have time. We have time to grow in Christ. We have time to do what He has called us to do. The holy interval of redemption is not over yet, either personally or collectively for the world. What will we do with the interval we have been granted?

At any rate, the symbolism of the Jubilee is not that life is over at that time, but rather that it is a new beginning without a debt hanging over our heads. The Jubilee has begun, but its completion will bring about a whole new fresh start for everyone and everything!

Jesus said it best, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev. 21:5)

Jesus and the Red Sea Crossing

It is interesting that almost all research into the events of the Exodus by modern Evangelical Christians focuses on trying to establish an archaeological verification of dates and locations. As important as those things are to know, we should perhaps also look at the Exodus as a template for understanding our Saviour and how He saves His people in New Covenant terms. The part of the story we’ll be dealing with today is found in Exodus 13 and 14, featuring Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea.

The account offers several clues that tie into Jesus’ death and resurrection. Obvious ones are the Passover lamb and the blood on the doorposts. Most Christians have been taught that Jesus is the one to whom those symbols refer, so I won’t take the time to go over those in this post.

After the Exodus God tells the Israelites to celebrate an odd seven-day celebration that features unleavened bread (bread made without yeast; Leviticus 23:1-21). The Apostle Paul relates the significance for Christians of leaven in his first letter to the Corinthians. Since I plan a post specifically about that, I will defer that subject for the moment.

There may be a benefit to studying the chronology of the early part of the Exodus itself in this regard. Our first clue is that once the people are allowed to leave Egypt they make camp in three places: Succoth, Etham and Pi-hahiroth. We are not told how long they camped at each place, but one would think that a people on the move from slavery would not waste time in one place when the slaver’s army has chariots.

Pharaoh’s army meets them at Pi-hahiroth at the edge of the sea, cutting off their escape, at about nightfall. God interposes the pillar of cloud/fire between the two groups. Moses raises his staff to divide the waters, and the Israelites cross during the night. At some point in the night the Egyptian army also enters the dried-out pathway. At sunrise, after the last Israelites have crossed, Moses once again raises his staff and the waters return in place, drowning the Egyptian army.

In Israelite reckoning, days started at dark, so they technically left Egypt on the same day as the Passover meal was eaten. On the third night God dramatically completes their rescue at the Red Sea. At dawn the threat is entirely eliminated. After this event, they never have to worry about Egyptian slavery again.

So… in the Exodus/Passover story we have three days of leaving Egypt that begins with the death of the firstborn,and end with a final victory at dawn at the end of the third night. Does anything about that pattern of three days followed by a dawn victory seem familiar?

The Apostle Paul has this to say about the crossing of the Red Sea, “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. … These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.” (I Corinthians 10:1-4, 11; NRSV)

While in the context of his letter Paul has in mind the many corrective measures God used on Israel in the wilderness, his mention that Christ was involved in the entirety of the events is significant. If He is the one who saved Israel in Egypt, then something about how He did so in the Gospels should have stood out to His people.

I had wondered in years past why there was a particular offering on the first day of the week during the week of Passover in ancient Israel (Leviticus 23:9-14). The connection to the Feast of Weeks becomes obvious in Lev. 23:15-21.

But why start a countdown on a Sunday during Passover week?

Why an offering of the first grain of the harvest at sunrise>?

Why don’t the people get to eat of the harvest until after this ceremony?

There doesn’t seem to be a connection… unless this dawn harvest ceremony during Passover week referred back to an event during the Exodus.

 Just as He is the “rock” who led Israel through the Red Sea and permanently destroyed the threat of Egyptian slavery, He now permanently destroys the threat of death for His followers. Salvation is not complete until the enemy is overcome completely.

It makes sense for Jesus Christ, who is the Saviour of Israel, to follow the pattern He set out in His original saving act for Israel. He dies with the Passover lambs and is risen from the grave in the full view of Israel at dawn, just as the wave offering is being made at the Temple.

God had planted a seed in Abraham and harvested a nation on the day they crossed the sea.

Jesus planted a seed in His followers and is harvesting a people for His eternal kingdom, beginning with His resurrection. Jesus told them so when He said, “For  as  Jonas  was   three  days  and  three  nights  in  the whale’s  belly;  so  shall the Son  of man  be   three  days  and  three  nights  in  the heart  of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40, KJV)

That is why the harvest of souls for Jesus Christ could not begin until that Sunday during Passover week.

It is all there in both Old and New Testaments if you have the eyes to see it.

Jesus' Final Passover: A Covenant Meal

Reblogged from Wascana Fellowship 2.0:

The most fundamental truth of Christianity is that Jesus, who is God in the flesh, died and was resurrected to redeem humanity from the slavery of sin and death.

One of the easiest things to determine in the New Testament is the "season" of Jesus' death. All four of the Gospels spell out that Jesus died during the Passover season. He apparently died at the time the Passover lambs were being slain at the Temple in Jerusalem, 3:00 pm on the 14th day of the first month of the Jewish calendar.

Read more… 628 more words

I thought it would be good to revisit this post over the Passover/Easter season. jv

Six New Songs

In spite of the general busyness of life a few of us have written more songs for worship at Wascana Fellowship.

Put On the Armour of God – This song by Gail Leippi is based on Ephesians 5:10-18.

Jesus Christ Has Provided – This song’s melody originated in a well-known commercial jingle that Wanda Valade slightly reworked and John Valade lyricised.

The following four songs are based on tunes written by much better musicians than I (John Valade) am, as well as I remembered them. For the most part they were melodies I heard in the background on our cable music service, so I do not usually know the origins. All I did was rewrite lyrics and sometimes change the timing a bit.

A Feast of Trumpets – This is the most original of the four songs, but could be characterized as “written in the style of Dwight Armstrong.” It is probably a mix of melodic lines I picked up from the old Worldwide Church of God hymnal, but with original lyrics suggested by Psalm 81.

A Stream of Living Waters Flows – The melody and flowing nature of this piece as I heard it haunted me and suggested the phrase “stream of living water flows from my God.”

O My Shepherd – The piece of Celtic music this originally comes from had a slower tempo than this reworking. The melody line inspired the first phrase.

Who Can Compare – This melody line may be the most famous one I have borrowed. The instrumental version of “On the Boat to the Isle of Skye” that I heard is such a hauntingly beautiful piece that it cried out to be turned into a hymn.