A leap year in the Jewish calendar has an extra month....and it is labeled as....Adar II....which follows....Adar I....and has 29 days. 2024 is a leap year in both the Jewish and the Julian calendars. The recent solar eclipse of the sun that occured on Monday April 8....was the last day of Adar II. The Jewish month of Nisan began on our Tuesday April 9....and the 8 day Passover celebration begins on the 15th of Nissan....April 23 to us.....but in the Hebraic tradition actually begins the previous sunset....which would be our April 22.
So Pesach as it is called.....pronounced pay-sah I believe....the Passover celebration....begins on the 23rd outside of Israel....and ends on nightfall of the 30th. Two Seder feasts are celebrated....one at the beginning of the Passover....and one at the end.
An Israeli official yesterday said that any response to Iran would wait till after Passover. Sounds reasonable right? Well there was an obvious reason for that....as the response came yesterday. In God's providence....at the most dangerous time in the new state of Israel's history....their strong ally....the United States....is literally being torn apart from within.
When the Israelites first came up to the boundaries of the Promised Land....twelve representatives....one from every tribe.....kind of like our Senate with two from every state....whether a big or small state....twelve men were sent to spy out the land. The people were called to have faith in the God whom they had witnessed work continuous miracles with them. They were called to believe. They did not.....and God.....(and this shakes me up when I read it)....God sent them off to the wilderness for forty years....and told Moses not even to bring up the situation....and then.....because of the people.....God wouldn't even let Moses cross the Jordan. Does that not humble you as it does me?
God is in effect telling us to get ready to enter the Promised Land....but we would rather stay here and make America great again. Have we not been as in the wilderness for forty years? Israel itself is about to come to that moment when they will be forced to actually look to the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob....and Moses and David and the prophets. Paul's prayers will be answered....as many Jews swill see and believe in the Messiah whom they themselves pierced....just as all of us....you hopefully and me....know that our sins also put Jesus on the cross. Passover should remind us of what was happening at that Passover meal with Jesus and the Apostles....and later on Calvary....and then in that tomb....followed by that upper room....and later as Jesus arose in the clouds....in the same way they He will return. Maranatha....Come Lord Jesus!
