KEEPING IN TIME WITH GOD In A.D. 312, the Roman Imperial throne was empty and several rivals fought to seize control. Two of the rivals were Constantine and Maxentius. Maxentius had challenged Constantine to a battle. Constantine was afraid of Maxentius because he heard that he was a master of magical arts. Therefore, Constantine prayed to his “supreme god” which was Mithras, the Persian sun god. In response to his prayer, he reportedly saw a vision of a flaming cross in the sky next to the sun, along with the words, “Conquer by this!” He then confronted Maxentius and won the battle. The result was that Constantine said he was now a follower of Jesus. Since the church had gone through centuries of persecution, they believed him. In fact, Constantine appeared to be the church’s friend because he gave the church great favor. In return for his favor, Constantine demanded control. Constantine legalized Christianity and then began to reorganize the church and give it a new image. The church was grateful for his blessings so they let him do it. There were a few things he immediately changed – 1. The Death of the House Church - He enacted a law that “houses of prayer” must be abolished and forbid Christians to hold church in private homes. He built a church called St. John Lateran in Rome. The style of the building is called a basilica. Its interior design was patterned after the throne room of the imperial palace. At the front of the basilica was a section reserved for the clergy.. It had a throne in the center wehre the bishop could sit, surrounded by a semi-circle of his advisors. Facing the apse was a large open area, the nave, where the Bishops subjects (members of the church) could come and listen. The setting was rigid and formal. 2. A Change of Worship - worship in the house churches had been spirit led and intimate, with little in the way of set forms or liturgies. To Constantine’s Roman mind, the highest experience of worship was found in the solemn rituals of the Roman Imperial court. These rituals originally developed for pagan emperor worship were imported into the church. A few years ago, the Learning Channel televised a six part series on the Roman Empire. This is what they said about the church – “It’s interesting that imperial Rome is probably best preserved in the church it once persecuted. Look at a church and what you see in its architecture is the architecture of the imperial throne room. Sit in a church and what you hear is imperial court ceremony: the solemnity, the choir, and the hymns are all derived from the ceremonies of the roman imperial court.” 3. The Rejection of the Church’s Jewish Roots – For nearly 400 years, the early church had celebrated the feasts. Paul continued to celebrate the feasts even after Jesus’ death and resurrection for in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 we read – “Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast – as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, bread of sincerity and truth.” Like many Romans, Constantine hated the Jewish people. Because of his hatred, he determined to establish the paganized Christianity of Rome as the standard for the entire church. Every church in the empire was commanded to conform to this non-Messianic standard. Those who would not conform were severely persecuted. 4. The Influx of Paganism – Constantine claimed to be a Christian but did not seem to understand who Jesus was. He was a devoted follower of Mithras, the Persian Sun god. When he saw the vision of the cross next to the sun, he apparently assumed that Jesus was a manifestation of the sun god. In 321, Constantine made the Christian day of worship a Roman holiday. He didn’t call it “Christ day”, but he called it “Sun day” – the venerable day of the sun. Before the time of Constantine, Christians never celebrated Christ’s birthday. But the pagan Romans had long celebrated December 25 as the birthday of Mithras. Mithras’ birthday was one of the Romans’ favorite festivals, a time for good cheer and gift giving. Now that Jesus was viewed as a manifestation of the sun god, this day was declared a “Christian” holiday – Christmas, the birthday of Jesus! It also bothered Constantine that Christians celebrated Christ’s death and resurrection on Passover, a Jewish holiday. At Nicea, he outlawed this celebration and directed that Christ’s death and resurrection be celebrated on the Sunday following the first full moon, a time associated with the spring fertility festival. This was also a festive holiday for the Romans. Being a fertility goddess, the symbol of Ishtar (or Eastre) was the egg. The ancient pagans would decorate eggs and give them as gifts in celebration of this festival. The result was that Christ’s resurrection was taken out of its biblical context and celebrated at a pagan feast. In Leviticus 23 the feasts of the Lord are revealed through Moses. The Lord said that these feasts were to be a statue forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. In Exodus 23:14-17, God’s appointed times are described – “Three times a year you are to celebrate a feast to Me…celebrate the feast of unleavened bread (Passover)…celebrate the feast of harvest (Pentecost)…and celebrate the feast of ingathering (Tabernacles). Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord. These feasts are literally appointments with God and are designed to create a rhythm in our lives. They align our lives with God’s timing and help us to be in sync with the Spirit of God so we are at the right place at the right time. The Three Appointed Times – 1. Passover 2. Pentecost 3. Tabernacles If we celebrate these feasts, not as religious rituals or traditional observance, but as times to meet with God and allow Him access to our lives, they enable us to draw continually closer to God and set us free from Satan’s oppression Passover – Passover is the celebration of God’s love and power in delivering His people out of the hand of their enemy. Exodus 12:3-14 – “Take a lamb for each household…and on the 14th day of the month, slaughter them at twilight. Then take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses…That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast…Eat it…with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.” It’s a time… *To praise God for His work of deliverance in the past *To seek Him for a fresh release of deliverance today *To gain faith for His work in the future. a. Begins the Biblical calendar b. Occurs in the spring, which is the time to clean house, both physically and spiritually. Each year before Passover, every Jewish family searched their house and removed all leaven, anything made with yeast. Leaven symbolized impurity. This physical housecleaning represented the necessary spiritual checkup – a major step in deliverance – which God established as the first element in His yearly cycle of feasts. c. Coming into the Passover season, examine your heart and ask, “What do I need to be delivered of this year? Have any big or little sins of impurity crept into my life over the past year?” God wants us to enjoy Him and experience His goodness as we celebrate the cycle of His feasts every year. Each time you go through the cycle, God meets with you and draws you close to Him. In this process, the destructive strategies of the enemy in your life are broken. You continually gain a new concept of god as you develop an understanding of repentance and deliverance, of the love of the Word of God and of experiencing the power of God. Under the New Covenant sealed by Jesus’ blood, death and resurrection, we are free to celebrate a feast or to not celebrate a feast. God will allow you to miss His blessing if that’s what you want. So don’t get judgmental with people who don’t want to celebrate God’s feasts. The biblical cycle of feasts was established for us to receive God’s blessing. Nissan – Abib - March/April – The first of the 12 months in the Jewish calendar. Abib is a Hebraic term for the stage of growth of grain when the seeds have reached full size. The harvest was waved before the Lord this month (Lev. 23:4-11). When you give your gift to the Lord, declare that the fullness of your harvest is being secured and that every seed you sow will prosper in new ways. Every month is linked with an understanding of one of the twelve tribes. The month of Nisan is the tribe of Judah – the apostolic leadership, warring tribe who knew how to operate with sound. This is a key time to PRAISE! Nissan is the month of Passover, and the entire month is a prolonged festival. It’s the month of redemption, the month of the beginning of miracles and the month that sets the course for your future. Nissan is associated with the Hebrew letter “hei” which signifies violent praise. To the Jews the letter hei pictured the wind blowing through a lattice over a window. Prophetically this signifies a window with the wind of God blowing down into you every year. This month is associated with the constellation of Aries, the ram (lamb), which is very appropriate for Passover. God created the stars in heaven as markers in the sky and they reveal His glory. IN SYNC WITH GOD – in tune, in agreement, and in harmony Ecclesiastes 3:1 – To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven. If there is a time and season for “everything”, then it would be a good thing to be “in sync” with God, to be “in step” with God or to be “in time” with Him – since He is the only One Who knows these times and seasons for each of our lives! Part of being “in time” with God is being on His timetable. Psalm 104:19 says, “He appointed the moon for seasons.” Long before calendars, the internet and iphones, the Lord had His calendar for His people – the moon! This is how the people of God knew the days, the months and the years. There is a weekly cycle as well as a yearly cycle in the heavens. These are to help us to know what the Lord’s heart is for a certain time. For with each new month, there are new directions and insights for our lives. Genesis 1:14 – “Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years.” Seasons – an appointed time, an appointment, a fixed time or season. Same word used for feast or festival. So the feasts are just “appointments with God”! It is already on His calendar – let’s put it on ours!! That is why He said in Psalm 81:3 – “Blow the trumpet at the time appointed of the New Moon, at the full moon, on our solemn feast day.” Our word for month comes from the same root word for “moon”. Our keeping these appointment will help our us stay in time with God. It is like staying “in rhythm” with Him as in a divinely led dance or singing a new song. In music, there is a device that helps you keep the time – it is called a “metronome.” Metronome - A device used to mark time by means of regularly recurring ticks or flashes at adjustable intervals This perfectly describes the purpose of the feasts! To keep us in time with the movement of God, to keep us in tune with His heart and in harmony with His song. Each year is different because we have not been at this place and won’t be at this place again. Some years, the timing is fast and some years it is slow. He knows, He shows and we go!! We will leave our times of meeting with Him with a built in metronome by Holy Spirit. We will walk in His timing, our lives will be “in sync” with His heart and we will be in step with His divine dance.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 12:11:11 +0000
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