John's Journal

As I write these thoughts, we are approaching the 2025 spring Holy Day season when we discuss matters such as, what are the Holy Days, and what days of the year should Christians make Holy in their lives to best honor Jesus Christ, our Savior and God?

In this world, the Holy Days are a source of much controversy about the calendar and what days should be the actual Holy Days. They cause rash arguments as to whether or not we should recognize the Holy Days. They cause people to proclaim that this is the time of the Lord's return and the end of the world. In this world, they generate much hatred, angry statements, and many proclamations of insider knowledge.

Personally, I hope that this is the year of our Lord's return. I have to admit, it does feel that way, but my Lord teaches me not to rely on my feelings. I am now sixty-eight years old, and it seems to me that every year many people proclaim that this is the year of the Lord's return as though they are attempting to make Jesus Christ into a liar because He taught us:

But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. (Matthew 24:36 NIV)

This world is tiresome with its constant quest to rule the universe without our God, and its following after the god of commerce with no concern for God's Law of Love, to love Him, and to love all your neighbors. But let His return be done in God's good time and not my foolish expectations.

What is important? It is important to know, that whether you believe it or not, the Holy Days, all of them, Spring and Fall, provide us with the righteous and holy plan of the One True God who is over all, and through whom, and for whom, all things exist.

In the Holy Day summary found at the bottom of this day's journal entry, I hope to share with you the same hope that I have found from the knowledge that our Eternal Lord and Savior provides for us if we look into their meaning with the Holy Spirit of Jesus our Messiah and Teacher.

I find it interesting that the Passover is the most important event for any Christian, but so few understand even the string of events that took place that day over two thousand years ago. That knowledge is a wondrous gift given to us because they prove the perfect Word and Truth of God. Without the Passover, none of the other Holy Days mean anything. Without knowing the truth of that Passover and Holy Day week, many believe that the Lord our God lied when He said, For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40)

The Passover begins, and Jesus Christ performs the Passover ceremony with His disciples. During this remembrance, He changes the symbols of eating the roasted flesh of lambs with unleavened bread and bitter herbs to eating only the unleavened bread, and He replaces the spreading of the lambs blood on the doorposts and lintel of their homes with the drinking of a small amount of wine (Exodus 12:3-14 and Matthew 26:26-28), and He also added the foot washing that is written about in John 13:1-17.

Judas is identified as the one through whom the betrayer would work, Satan takes control of him, and he leaves the Passover meal after the foot washing (John 13:18-30). Jesus continues by teaching His disciples a great many lessons and prays (John 13:31 – 17:26). After dinner, Jesus leads His apostles to Gethsemane, a garden, where He prays to His Father in Heaven (Matthew 26:36-46).

Tuesday night in the garden after prayers (probably around midnight, so possibly Wednesday early morning)

It has been a long, busy day for our Lord. Jesus Christ is turned over to the chief priests and Pharisees by Judas Iscariot. Judas did not perform this deed out of malice, but from a sincere belief that Jesus had come into this world to establish Himself as King of Israel. He was wrong and Satan was allowed to use his wrong interpretation to bring Jesus to the religious authorities. He is brought before Annas (John 18:13), the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest. Peter denies Jesus. Annas passes Jesus to Caiaphas (John 18:24), who then passes Him to Pilate. Pilate struggles with ill omens surrounding his destiny, but despite his bad feelings and a belief that Jesus was not guilty of anything, he crumbles before the political powers and sentences our Lord, the Creator of All, to death so as to keep his constituency happy. The world powers then piled upon Jesus with insults, pressing a crown of thorns upon His head, heaping physical abuse upon His body, and scourging Him (Mark 15:15-20). The Lord is badly beaten and physically exhausted as the sun rises Wednesday morning, and His friends have run into hiding, denying their relationship with Him.

Jesus had been so harshly beaten that he could barely walk, so the soldiers forced a man who was walking by to carry our Savior’s cross. In this manner, they led Him to Golgotha, the Place of a Skull. The soldiers then hung Him upon His cross as they, along with passersby, others hanging from their own crosses, the chief priests, and scribes continued to mock and revile Him (Isaiah 53, Mark 15:21-32).

The creation recognized the anguish of its Creator and darkness fell upon the earth for a period of three hours.

Our Savior sets us free by dying upon that cross at the hands of our evil world. At His death, an Angel of the Lord slashed the veil of the temple that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. The slashing of the veil was a symbolic act that demonstrated that God has now made Himself accessible to all who come to Him. We no longer need a high priest, or any mediator to stand between us and God, because we are now allowed to approach the Holy of Holies, who is Jesus our Messiah, without the aid of anyone else.

This was the closing of Passover Day. Passover is not a Holy Day and Passover is not set on Friday. It is a day of preparation for the week-long event of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Without the sacrifice of the Holy Lamb of God on Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread has no meaning. The first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is a Holy Day and a Sabbath Day (Leviticus 23:4-8). God’s Holy Word teaches us that a person who has been condemned to death according to the Law must not be hung on a tree overnight but must be removed from the tree during the same day that they were hung (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). What made this situation even more important is that as the sun set on Passover, the first Holy Day, or Sabbath Day, known as the Feast of Unleavened Bread would begin. No Jew wanted to be involved with handling a dead body on a Sabbath day. So, Joseph of Arimathea (Mark 15:42-43) and Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews (John 3:1), worked together to bury our Lord in a tomb (John 19:38-42) before the setting of the sun.

The first night and the first day pass. All the people of God are observing the Holy Day, also known as a Sabbath Day, the first Day of Unleavened Bread. Jesus Christ lies dead in the tomb.

The second night and the second day pass. The people of God are eating only unleavened bread while still involved with the socializing surrounding the Days of Unleavened Bread, and they are also preparing for the weekly Sabbath that begins at sundown. Jesus Christ lies dead in the tomb.

The third night and the third day pass. The people of God are observing the weekly sabbath day. Jesus Christ lies dead in the tomb.

Our Father in Heaven raises His Son Jesus, our Messiah, from death. Jesus Christ lives and walks upon the earth again, freed from the power of darkness and death.

Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb (John 20:1).

Jesus had risen around sundown Saturday evening. When Mary had visited the tomb and spoke to Jesus (John 20:11-17), He had already been up for many hours. It was also on this day, that Jesus ascended into Heaven to appear before His Father, as can be discerned by the events involving Mary Magdalene and the other women. After His ascencion, the countdown began for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which took place forty-nine days plus one day later, on Pentecost.

Our Lord made Himself our Passover Lamb by dying upon the cross according to the will of His Father in Heaven, and He had remained dead for three nights and three days, just as prophesied. There is never any untruth from our Lord, our God, Jesus Christ.

In Revelation 3:3 NIV, we read: Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

For me, this is confusing. I read several commentaries on this verse and they all have the opinion that the people of Sardis were doing something wrong. I ask myself, 'What?' It seems that at the time that those words were written, the people of Sardis were living a pretty good life and were not being hunted or killed for their beliefs, much like many of us today. The commentators seem to believe that living a good life is wrong. Of course, if you are one who reads the Bible a lot, then you may have also noticed that almost every word of the Bible condemns us in some way. I'm not being judgmental of the Bible. NO, NOT AT ALL! But the Bible teaches a Spritual lesson, and we are flesh. We cannot possibly live the life that the Word wants for us while we live in our current bodies. So, maybe the commentaries are correct.

For Sardis, I guess the issue is that somehow they were losing their teaching that they had heard from the beginning. You ever wonder what that teaching is? It seems to me that it's pretty simple. From the first word in Genesis, which if you study it well, tells us that the Son of God will die for us and save us, to the last quote in Revelation that reads, Yes, I am coming soon, we are taught that only through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ (Who is God) are we able to reach salvation. He IS our Savior! How could He possibly expect us to be able to retain our own salvation when He has allowed us to be engulfed under governments of darkness (mostly not of the flesh or this world)? Just as our original parents never had a chance against that serpent of old, we also don't have a chance unless Christ has taken care of all the details. He has, therefore we are saved.

So, I ask, what is it we forget? What was it that the Church at Sardis was forgetting? Did the quiet life lived by the people of Sardis cause them to somehow forget that first and last lesson? Is their good life, given to them by God, causing them to forget God?

We all need to be careful. Everything we are taught engulfs us with condemnation, but Jesus Christ (God) is love. Why is it we read every word from Him as judgment against us? He loves us, whether we are influenced by the spirit of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, or Laodicea, we all belong to Christ. I think we all try to do the best we can. I think that God surrounds us with a life to shape us into the child He wants us to be. I think He controls the darkness and the light and it all works according to His plan, and no other.

We should all try to remember: ...yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 1 Corinthians 8, NRSVUE