So much has happened in DBS, I can't believe it's all over now! It's heartbreaking to say goodbye to all my classmates, but I am so very grateful for my time with them and in the word over these last 3 months!
Last week, we were studying Revelation and something really got highlighted to me - Jesus was the perfect Passover Lamb. There are many symbols all throughout the Old Testament that pointed to Jesus, and the Passover Lamb is one of, if not the biggest one. Jesus' sacrifice washed away all our sin and closed the gap between us and God, but then that got me thinking - was that the function of the Passover Lamb? The first Passover Lambs were sacrificed right before the people of Israel left Egypt. The blood was used to mark those who belonged to God and to thereby save them from the spirit of Death - that's what Jesus' blood does for us. The Passover Lamb came before the covenant at mount Sinai and the sacrificial system that was given there. God would give them a complete and very detailed system for the cleansing of their sin through sacrifice, but they did not yet have this at Passover. They had been in Egypt for 400 years without sacrificing to God or being cleansed from their sins in any way, yet this one act - Passover - still closed the gap enough for God to see the blood and spare them. (Fun tid bit - it was also 400 years that the people of Israel waited in silence before Yeshua (Jesus) came as the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb!) In everything I've been studying about the Old Testament, I'd realized that Jesus could not have been the fulfillment of any other sacrifice that God had laid out for them. The sacrificial system was very clearly laid out, and no one sacrifice covered all sin completely. Even though Yeshua came as the completely pure and sinless sacrifice, there would have been no one type of sacrifice He could have fulfilled to do what needed to be done. That is why He had to go outside of the Levitical sacrificial system entirely. The Passover Lamb came before the sacrificial system was implemented, so it was all-encompassing. It singlehandedly covered an ignorantly sinful people from everything they deserved, and they didn't even know it. As I pondered this, God reminded me that Jesus was also a priest in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5). Melchizedek was the priest of YHVH in the time of Abraham - WAY before the Aaronic line became priests. Yeshua could have been born into the priestly line of Aaron if God had wanted to do it that way, but He didn't. Intentionally. Again, He went outside of the system they had received at Mount Sinai and modeled Jesus after something much older and greater. Jesus came as the perfect priest and the perfect sacrifice, but not within the parameters that they understood under the Law. 1 Timothy 1:9 says "We also know that the Law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious..." Jesus was none of these things, therefore He was not bound by the Law. He was able to step outside of it and fulfill it because His very nature superseded it. Jesus' life was not modeled after what was in the Law, the Law was modeled after Jesus! It's little revelations like that that blow my mind!! Out of everything I've learned during this time, I think the biggest impact has come from a deepening love for revelation. I love that God piques my interest and then answers my questions. I love when we read His word together and He explains it to me. I love that He gets to show me His favorite little details in His story just like I would if I were to read one of my books with someone I loved. I am so in love with who He is and how I get to see Him through this wonderfully beautiful story we call the Bible. Getting to know and be in relationship with Him is the source of all my life and my joy! <3
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This week I went through a little trial by fire, to which I will not give much detail because it is now in the past and not much worth dwelling on. In short, I had to wrestle with what to do when one of our teachers' opinions directly contrasted with my own understanding of the scriptures and how to love and forgive this man even though he said some very hurtful and offensive things. This occurrence really sent me to God as my comforter and the source of my strength. I had to go to Him to have the strength to love and forgive in a way that I am not capable of doing on my own. It really highlighted how much I need Him because I am rarely strong enough on my own to do anything that is truly stretching.
It's also been on my mind to change the way I tell my testimony... (these things are connected in my brain and I'll try to make sense as I write it down. If not, I'm sorry if it seems like I'm jumping around a bit) I feel like testimonies are usually a story that goes something like: "this is how messed up I was, this is how I found Jesus, and this is how He either radically encountered me or changed my life in some significant way." Most testimonies I've heard follow this pattern, and I usually do too when I'm telling mine, but it doesn't sit well with me. Here's why... I don't love Jesus because of my memories. Although I have some pretty awesome ones, that's all they are - moments from the past. I have some old friends that I have really good memories of, but that I haven't talked to in years. That's not the kind of relationship I want to have with Jesus. I love Jesus because I have an active relationship with Him. I love Him for who He is right here and right now with me. He's my best friend in the whole world and He knows me better than anyone else. Better yet, He knows all of my shortcomings and still likes to hang out with me! I can talk to Him more than anyone else I know and He always knows how to make me smile! He calls me higher. He challenges me. He enjoys spending time with me. He knows my story - what makes me me - even better than I do. He understands me even when I don't. He's so encouraging and always here for me. I can be whoever I am around Him - sad, happy, angry, excited, exhausted, depressed, curious, worried...anything. That's why I love Him. That's why He's worth it all. That's what I want my story to be. Not a few instances of times where He really came through in the past, but the day to day reality of Him being with me through highs and lows and making both better - especially in instances like this week where I was melting down and He scooped me back up and gave me the courage to be filled with His love when I didn't have enough of my own. <3 We just had Thanksgiving and are now getting closer and closer to Christmas. Tonight is also the first night of Hanukkah, one of my favorite holidays! It can be pretty hard to spend the holidays away from my family, but I have been blessed to have good friends around me. The beauty of living in the community of the body of Christ is that we are all family - these are my brothers and sisters and I love spending time with them, so my holidays are not spent alone.
Hanukkah is the festival of lights, the week when we celebrate God's miracle for the people of Jerusalem. The Maccabees had reclaimed the Temple and cleansed it, but they did not have enough oil to keep the lamp of the presence lit. That's when God intervened and kept the lamp lit for them for an entire week while they made more holy oil. It was an amazing sign in the midst of 400 years of silence and the people being horrifically oppressed by the Hellenists that God was still with them. It's a beautiful holiday and one of my favorite family traditions. This is the first year I will be spending it away from my family, but that doesn't mean I can't spend this week in joy and thankfulness for everything God has done. For Hanukkah, we are thankful that God was still with us even in our darkest hour when we thought He had abandoned us. Thankfully now we know that He is always with us and will never abandon us. Even though it's something we as Christians all know, it is good to remember and definitely worth celebrating! I won't be home to fry up latkes and donuts, light candles, or play dreidel with my siblings, but I can celebrate and remember in the little things. Mostly, I'm just thankful to be in DBS with these amazing people and I want to be able to share this time with them before we all go home for Christmas. It's an interestingly bittersweet feeling as we come towards the last two weeks of class... We are all anxious to spend Christmas at home with our families, but we are also so sad to be leaving one another. These people have really become some of my closest friends and the idea of parting ways (possibly forever) is really heartbreaking. But while leaving them is so sad, I am so grateful and overjoyed to have them in my life and to know that these are my dear brothers and sisters no matter where God ends up taking us. <3 |
ErikaJeremiah 29:11 Archives
March 2023
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