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Passover

2020 Spring Holy Days and COVID-19
A Sign on Your Hand . . . A Memorial Between Your Eyes
Examining Examine

2020 Spring Holy Days and COVID-19
Ron Saladin

Seems like rotten timing. COVID-19 appears to be approaching a peak right when the spring holy days are arriving. Or, could this be an exercise in what Paul wrote to Timothy, to rightly divide the word of truth, using all scripture as inspiration from God and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness?

I think that possibly is the case. After all, God is not surprised by the timing, and the timing is causing some conflict among Christians. This also is not surprising, as Job’s friend Eliphaz said man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. A lot is revealed about each of us when the sparks fly, not only in how we divide the word, but also in how we treat each other.

One conflict is centered around this: do we honor the government’s guidelines of social distancing, or do we ignore and proceed with usual services, both sabbath and holy days?

The current guidelines extend through April 30th, and involve just staying home as much as possible, avoiding groups of more than 10 if you do go out, and remaining at least six feet apart from others when out, among other things. This makes observing the spring holy days a bit difficult, to say the least.

Why is our government implementing this? To persecute Christians?

No.

The government is doing this to slow and help eradicate the spread of a highly contagious disease which results in a miserable death for some people.

Does our government have a God-given right to do this?

Yes.

Paul outlines this is Romans 13:1-2 (KJV):

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

Man’s governments do not always do what is right, but nevertheless, the authority to govern is valid and originates from God.

Romans 13:3, KJV  For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:

Is the government’s current efforts to save lives a good work or an evil one? Will social distancing for a period of time save lives? The evidence clearly indicates it will. Would we observe the government’s social distancing to save a family member? What about a church family member? What about a stranger? We’re not talking about one life though; thousands are at stake.

Romans 13:4-5, KJV  For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

There are times we should stand against wrong government mandates. Just be sure they are indeed wrong, as our carnal human nature tends to bend us towards lawlessness and resistance to authority. If you do not subject yourself to the government guidelines which are proper, there is a violation of conscience, a rebellion against the God-ordained authority put in place.

I think we all are familiar with the statement from Jesus to render to Caesar the things which are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s. God has given an authority to even evil governments like Caesar’s to oversee people. When they do what is right, we are to obey them.

Jesus, standing before Pilate, acknowledged even Pilate had a certain level of power, which was given to him from above.

And David, anointed to be the future king, dodged Saul for years, even refusing to kill him because Saul was, while alive, the LORD’s anointed for the position of king. Don’t take lightly the God-ordained authority government has. Governments do not always do what is right, but when they do, they are to be obeyed as ordained of God.

We are all free to do what we think is best. Here is what we are recommending.

Church sabbath services will be canceled through April 30th. We will look at restarting on May 2nd as the time draws closer.

2)  Communion service is after sunset on April 7th, the beginning of April 8th. We  are urging all to stay home and do the communion service at home. We are including a guideline from the CGI hymnal on how to do a service at home.
Obviously, if you are alone, you cannot fulfill the symbolism expressed in the footwashing. Nevertheless, the rest of the service can be done at home by using the guidelines provided. It does not have to be followed exactly,  but it is helpful as an outline. Also we have included a simple recipe for unleavened bread for those who do not purchase matzo at the store.

3) Passover day is Wednesday, April 8th. All leavened products should be out of the house by no later than that evening, before sunset. Remember the Night to Be Much Observed (Exodus 12:42).

4) The First Day of Unleavened Bread is Thursday, April 9th (starting at sundown on the 8th until sundown on the 9th).
The Last Day of Unleavened Bread is Wednesday, April 15th. All should observe these Holy Days and the week of Unleavened Bread.

5) Remember the principle of honoring God with an offering at this time of year. Either designate and set it aside for later delivery or mail it to the organization of your choice.

What I have outlined here for our part of God’s church is not based on a fear of COVID-19. Rather, it is based on a reverential fear of God and honoring what He has ordained. It is an attempt to rightly divide the word.

You are free to disagree and do what you think best.
Respectfully, Ron

A Passover Service For the Home
copied from the Church of God, International hymnal

The New Testament Passover, sometimes called the Lord’s supper, is observed after sundown on the evening beginning the 14th day of the first month on the Hebrew calendar. If at all possible, every member should try to observe the Passover with a local church. This service is provided for those who are unable to attend and must keep it at home.
In preparation for the service, only a few things are needed: a towel and basin for each person who will participate in the footwashing service, some  unleavened bread, and a small amount of red wine. Each participant will also want to have his own Bible.

 A room should be prepared for the service with adequate seating and room to move around for footwashing. The footwashing can be done in another room if one is available. Only enough unleavened bread and wine for the participants should be brought into the room. There should be a small glass for each person with about half an ounce of wine in it. The unleavened bread should be placed, unbroken, on a plate or serving tray. Both bread and wine should be covered with a white table napkin before the service begins.
When the time is come, everyone should take his seat quietly. While it is not necessary to be somber at this service, we traditionally allow each person some time for reflection and self-examination. The head of the family, or whoever is chosen to lead in the service, will open with prayer.
In the open prayer, we should give thanks to God for His Son, our Passover, who died in our place. Some reference to God’s love for us, and our love for one another is important. Also, it is good to mention that we are about to wash one another’s feet, and to ask God to instill in us an attitude of service toward those whom God is calling.
Then, the following verses should be read aloud:

Luke 22:7-20
1 Corinthians 11:17-26

As Jesus and His disciples reclined at supper, and before He instituted the symbols of His body and blood, Jesus has a lesson of humility and service to convey to the twelve. To introduce the footwashing service, read:

    John 13:1-17

Then break for the footwashing service. When all are finished, they should return quietly to their seats. Remember that this is a time many of your brethren cherish for reflection and self-examination.

After the footwashing service, the following scriptures should be read aloud:

    John 6:47-58
    1 Peter 2:19-25
    Isaiah 53:1-9
    1 Corinthians 11:23-24, 27-32

Then uncover the unleavened bread and pray, asking God to bless the bread as the symbol of the body of Christ, broken for our sins. Give thanks to God for His power to heal, and for the forgiveness of sins which we have in the Son.

Then break the bread into bite-sized pieces and pass it around to those assembled. Wait patiently until everyone has been served and has eaten the bread before proceeding.

Then read:

    1 Peter 1:18-21
    1 Corinthians 11:25

When you have read the scriptures, uncover the wine and pray, asking God to bless the wine as a symbol of the shed blood of His Son Jesus Christ. The prayer should include thanksgiving to God for His Son who shed His blood and died in our place, and an acknowledgement that we are sinners who can hope only in His mercy.

Afterward, read aloud selections from John 13 through John 17. If the group is small, you can take turns reading the passages. If the group is large, only two or three should read.
After the evening was over, the gospels tell us that they sang a hymn and then went out. We do not close in prayer, but we do sing a hymn together. Some appropriate hymns are:

In Thy Lovingkindness, Lord        
’Tis Midnight
Christ Our Passover                
Go to Dark Gethsemane
Jesus Paid It All                
The Nail-Scarred Hand
Just As I Am                    
Nothing But the Blood
Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed        
There is a Fountain
Amazing Grace

Any leftover bread and wine which was blessed and used during the Passover service should be destroyed. It should not be used for any other purpose.

Unleavened Bread Recipe
3/4 c. flour
3 Tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix the above ingredients together. Place on floured board. Knead for a couple of minutes to mix thoroughly, adding a little flour to keep it from sticking. Roll out with rolling pin into flat bread. If you don’t have a rolling pin, press the dough flat with your fingers. Place on a greased cookie sheet, prick with a fork, and bake at 350º for about 10 minutes.


Examining Examine 
​
by Ron Saladin

At Passover time, it is common and appropriate to remember this verse: Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup (1 Corinthians 11:28, ESV).

The American Heritage Dictionary gives three definitions for the word examine.
1) to inspect or analyze (a person, thing, or situation) in detail
2) to test knowledge or skills by questioning
3) to interrogate formally to elicit facts

We can see these definitions applied in the various places the word examine appears in the KJV of the Old and New Testaments. A check of the concordance shows 5 scriptures in which the English word examine is translated from five different words in the Hebrew and Greek.

1) Hebrew darash Ezra 10:16 has the nuance of a formal inquiry to obtain facts for the purpose of action.

     “And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.”

The “matter” involved the unlawful intermarriages of Israelites with the people of the land.

     Deuteronomy 7:3: “Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.”

The Canaanites were a wicked, perverted lot, and Israel was not to learn their ways, much less embrace them as family. Most Christians are probably aware the Bible forbids Christians to marry non-Christians. Even so, often this warning is ignored when a decision is made to begin dating someone. As the relationship grows, it becomes increasingly difficult to do what God instructs us to do, to remain apart from situations which hinder our relationship with God. Missionary dating, the idea of a Christian dating a non-Christian with the intent of converting a non-believer to Christ, is just not a Biblical idea. Yet many who confess Christ do just that and end up seeming to be the one “converted” - converted, that is, to the ways of the world, living together, sexual involvement or marriage with rearing children in a family split as to what it means to love God. That’s why God said not to become involved.

Deuteronomy 7:4: “For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the 
anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.”

And it’s not just marriage that turns us away from God; it’s our culture via the media that we can become emotionally wed to. We can vicariously live with the modern-day Canaanites through our sex-saturated, debased entertainment and become just like one of their family. The consequences will eventually be painful. Ezra records the sending away of wives and children as the Israelites attempted to get back to what God had originally instructed. It would have been much better to have heeded God’s advice from the start.

2) Let’s look at another examine, Hebrew bachan.
Psalm 26:2: “Examine me, O LORD, and prove me, try my reins and my heart.”

Like our American Heritage Dictionary definition, David asks God to inspect and analyze in detail who he is. Controlling a horse while riding is accomplished by applying pressure to sensitive areas, i.e. the bit in the mouth controlled by the reins. The pressure applied through the reins to those sensitive areas motivates the horse to move in the direction desired by the one holding the reins. Most of us have plenty of pressure in our lives. How we usually respond to that pressure reveals our sensitive areas which motivate us to respond. Who holds your reins? How we use our time and money are good indicators of what our sensitive areas are. How much of our time and finances are devoted to honoring God? For most people - not much.

3) Here’s another examine, Greek anakrinō.
In 1 Corinthians 9:3, Paul responds to criticism he was receiving from some at Corinth. He starts his response with “Mine answer to them that do examine me is this,” The Greek here is the idea of scrutinizing, interrogating, examining to make a judgment, i.e. American Heritage Dictionary: to test skills and knowledge, question. Even Paul the Apostle was falsely accused of wrong motives. Ever have that happen to you? How did you respond? When we are questioned about our motives or ability, we tend to respond in ways which reveal a level of pride or the lack of it, called humility. To be critically examined by someone else is a good opportunity to examine ourselves. It’s not so much how we respond outwardly but what we feel inwardly that makes our examination worthwhile.

4) Our fourth examination of examine is in 2 Corinthians 13:5 where Paul turns the focus of the examining back on the Corinthians themselves, Greek peirazō.

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

A profession of faith is necessary for becoming a Christian, but real faith produces change, not immediate perfection, but a continuing growth away from the old way of living into the new. We start out as babes in Christ, but babes are expected to grow. Can you look back to your conversion and see any positive growth? The measuring stick is in The Book.

5) One final scripture which brings this focus on examine to the point, Greek dokimazō.

1 Corinthians 11:28: “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.”

Paul instructs the Corinthians and us to take a close look at ourselves before we participate in the New Testament Passover. Sharing in the bread and wine representing the body and blood of Jesus Christ is to be in covenant with Him. Paul warns this is not something to be done casually: vs. 29: “For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.”

The warning is not given to deter people from participating, but rather to come with an examined life. Confess the wrong, change what can and should be changed, and look to God for help with what you struggle with. For the Christian, this is the heart and soul of the word examine.


A Sign on Your Hand . . .  A Memorial Between Your Eyes    by Cynthia Saladin
The last time we took the children to the Magic House, we were given a sticker to place somewhere, visibly, when we paid our admission. The sticker was a sign that we’d paid the admission price. Walking around the Magic House, it was fun to see where those stickers were placed on each person. Some wore them matter-of-factly on their left shoulder. Some were placed in very odd places that we won’t mention. But everyone had a sticker.

Then when we went through the Lewis and Clark exhibition in the basement, the attendants stamped our hands with “Seaman’s pawprint.” Having been once through this popular exhibit, we weren’t supposed to come back. The stamp was a visible sign that we’d already been through this exhibit once.

I couldn’t help thinking of our trip to the Magic House when I picked out the children’s memory verse for this coming Sabbath: “And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the LORD has brought you out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:9, ESV). The Passover was to be as a sign on their hands and as a memorial between their eyes! What? Where else are hands and foreheads mentioned?

How about Deuteronomy 6:8: “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes” talking about God’s law.

How about Ezekiel 9:4: ‘And the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” ’

Even Revelation 14:1 has a reference to something on the forehead: the Father’s name - a very good thing for the 144,00.

Some have postulated that God intended for a physical thing to be placed on the forehead and the hand. The Jews called them phylacteries, and Jesus wasn’t particularly impressed with their effectiveness in writing His law on their hearts (Matthew 23:5). Likely Solomon had something quite different in mind than the legalism of the Pharisees when he wrote: “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.” (Proverbs 3:3, ESV)

If the Passover and God’s law wasn’t to be physically written as a sign on the hand and the forehead, what did God mean? I suspect He meant that the observance of God’s Passover (Exodus 13:9) and the observance of God’s law (Deuteronomy 6:8) were to act as schoolmasters to bring them into a closer relationship with God. After all, God is the One who redeemed them. Recognizing that redemption through observing the anniversary could be a powerful way to deepen the relationship. That would be what the “hand” stood for - the things that God’s people did.

The “forehead” reference could very well refer to what the people spent their time thinking about. Look at Psalm 119:11, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (ESV).

I have been redeemed from sin. I need to guard myself from sinning against God. I believe that observing God’s Passover and His law and thinking about God’s Passover and His law are valuable tools for me, today, in deepening my relationship with Him.

There’s another interesting reference to the hand and the forehead - one that gets a lot of attention as the time for Christ’s return approaches. It’s Revelation 13:15-17: “And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.  Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead,  so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.”

I believe that the mark of the beast is whatever you do (your hand) and whatever you dwell on (your forehead) that is against God. You aren’t going to get the mark of the beast unless you worship the beast. You aren’t going to worship the beast if you worship God. If you worship God, then His name is written on your forehead (Revelation 14:1), not the mark of the beast. So how do you keep from worshipping the beast and getting that mark - because it does say that if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived? What can you do? I believe Psalm 119:11 gives us the answer. It’s the same answer we had in Exodus 13:9 and Deuteronomy 6:8. It’s just in the simple terms of a shepherd: “Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee.”

What’s on your hand? What’s between your eyes?
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