A Jewish Day vs. A Gentile Day

A Jewish Day vs. A Gentile Day

You know, we Gentiles look at a typical day the exact opposite as does a Jew. I mean to say, they start their day, in biblically correct fashion, in the evening! 6:00 P.M. starts the Jewish day, at sunset. I will use an unusual piece of text where it is written verbiage that defines the end of a day. "And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance." (Deut. 21:22-23) So here we see in Deuteronomy that in order for a body to be buried "that day", and not hang there in the night, it could not be on the cross it hanged on any later than twilight, which in the Talmud is called Shema, or hour of prayer. For the Jew, each day begins with a time to sleep. "And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep." (Gen. 28:11) Now if there was business to be taken care of, sometimes that continued from one day to the next! "But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun." (Exod. 17:12) "And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until eventide: and as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his carcase down from the tree, and cast it at the entering of the gate of the city, and raise thereon a great heap of stones, that remaineth unto this day." (Josh. 8:29) Note here that Joshua obeyed the law set in Deuteronomy!

Now there are English divisions of the new day of the Jews that are typical designations of the Jews. For example, the first watch ends at 10:00 P.M.; "Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street." (Lam. 2:19) Midnight for the English is the same as for the Jew, and there is scripture for that. "And Moses said, 'Thus saith the LORD, "About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt: And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts."'" (Exod. 11:4 - 5) "And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was afraid, and turned himself: and, behold, a woman lay at his feet." (Ruth 3:8) We can see here, too, that Jews aren't necessarily interested in sleeping during the dark of night, not anymore than God; but of course, God NEVER sleeps! Jesus spoke on two occasions of Jews being busy during the night, one of a wedding (Matt. 25:6), another of one merely going to a neighbor to borrow bread (Luke 11:5)!

At 2:00 A.M. is another division of the Jewish day, and that is when the second watch ends. "So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands." (Judges 7:19) Now it may seem that the Jews are awfully busy at night, but it was typical then, because someone had to guard camps and cities all night from enemy attack, and those that were awake at night had to resort to sleeping in the day!

3:00 A.M. for the Gentile has the designation of rooster crow for the Jew; "Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping." (Mark 13:35 - 36) "And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, 'Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice.' And he went out, and wept bitterly." (Matt. 26:75) So here is revealed a little piece of trivia; you can ask people what time of day was it when Peter denied Jesus for the third time, and you'll have many scratching there heads for days!

4:30 A.M. is designated as second rooster crow in the Jewish division of the day. "And Jesus saith unto him, 'Verily I say unto thee, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny Me thrice.'" (Mark 14:30) In the Talmud, this is twilight of sunrise, as opposed to the twilight of sunset.

6:00 A.M. is designated as sunrise, and this is when the third watch ends for the Jew. In the Talmud, it is called for that there be three trumpet blasts. "The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar." (Gen. 19:23) Ah, another brain buster of Bible trivia! What time was it when Lot entered Zoar? "And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians," (Exod. 14:24) Note on this verse the last watch of nightfall ends. "Until the LORD have given your brethren rest, as He hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the LORD your God giveth them: then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD'S servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sunrising." (Josh. 1:15) Another brain buster to stump the congregation Bible whiz! "And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies; and they came into the midst of the host in the morning watch, and slew the Ammonites until the heat of the day: and it came to pass, that they which remained were scattered, so that two of them were not left together." (1 Sam. 11:11) From this information we can gather that it took at least 6 hours for Saul to slay the Ammonites. Now for two armies to battle it out in that short of a time, either the Ammonites were well-outnumbered, or The Israelites were some pretty good warriors! Gives authority to the verse, "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31)

9:00 A.M. is the first hour of prayer for the Jew. "For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day." (Acts 2:15) Now this verse is obscure in designating the time of day for the Gentile, but for the Jew, the third hour is 9 A.M., when Jews engaged in the exercises of the synagogue. On feast days they neither ate nor drank until 10:00 A.M. or noon, and this was what Peter was using to prove that the amazing feat of the apostles speaking in many tongues was not the result of being drunk with wine.

12:00 A.M. is noon, first Mincha, according to the Talmud; a time to pray and eat! "And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon." (Gen. 43:16) "And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, 'O Baal, hear us.' But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made." (1 Kings 18:26)

1:30 P.M. for the Gentile is great vesper time for the Jew. Called the second Mincha in the Talmud; prayer time! 3:30 P.M. is designated as small vesper time for the Jews. A time of 9 blasts on the trumpet, according to the Talmud.

6:00 P.M. comes once again, sunset. The Talmud calls for 6 blasts on the trumpet on the eve of the Sabbath. "Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them, and healed them." (Luke 4:40)

Now wasn't this an interesting peek into the typical day of the Jews? Their day starts in the evening - "And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." (Gen. 1:5), and many noteworthy things happened in biblical history. Can you hardly wait to use the newly given Bible trivia you now have?

One Death Or Two?

One Death Or Two?
 

I have been conversing with an unusual Jehovah witness who doesn't act anything like the ones here in the U.S., and one thing unusual about him is that he doesn't go away like the others when you tell them what church you belong to. Even stranger, he made wrong assumptions what we talk about, and seemed very determined to control the conversation, and didn't want to talk about commonly known false doctrine of their church, and even when you talk to him pointedly about it, he refused to answer, but rather wanted to be accusatory of what I believed rather than face the facts of his church's doctrine. He was obsessed with talking about hell fire, which he thought we constantly talk about (which we don't), and he was also obsessed with talking about burning in hell, and burning in torment for all eternity, and apparently thinking his doctrine controls what our God does and will do. I have called this putting our God in a box, and it's not a new concept. There are many people who want to believe God works under the rules they give Him, not the rules He gives us. I also noted to myself he never once mentioned Jesus, although I often did. As a matter of fact, he would not touch it when I asked him if he knew that Jesus was the full embodiment of Jehovah, according to Col. 2:8 - 9, but he referred to what I was saying as a human philosophy! So much for Jehovah witnesses, who don't believe in the divinity of Jesus, apparently. In any case, he was quite insistant that I answer the question, "Will God give eternal life to sinners too for the pleasure of torturing them for eternity?" He wanted a yes or no answer, and the answer is actually yes and no.

There are two kinds of sinners, and all of mankind, save Jesus Christ, has been and still is a sinner, but some of us are saved by grace, and many are not We who have accepted Christ as our personal Savior and have repented our wicked ways and have taken on the yoke of Christ and are constantly reading the Bible to hone our Christian walk and ambassadorship, though we are sinners, we will have eternal life - "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." (Rom. 8:1-2) Herein is an answer regarding some sinners, those who have accepted Christ. They will not be condemned, therefore, they will have eternal life in heaven, and their judgment will be concerning their works in this way; "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire." (1 Cor. 3:11 - 15)

Now everyone knowing true Christian doctrine knows that we will die and go to judgment one way or the other. "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" (Heb. 9:27), but Jehovah witnesses think you just wait somewhere and know nothing until judgment day. In this scripture, it is explained that you are judged after you pass from this life! Jesus told the saved criminal, "And Jesus said unto him, 'Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with Me in paradise.'" (Luke 23:43) So this sinner and criminal hanging on the cross next to Jesus on His cross was guaranteed eternal life in paradise, which we all know is heaven. The criminal died, and went to heaven. He did not wait, or Jesus would have said so. Since this was a criminal, and apparently sinned a lot, this also destroys the concept of a "purgatory", which appears nowhere in the Bible.

Okay, now one of the Jehovah witness' greatest concerns was about whether our God would be so cruel as to make someone burn in hell and the lake of fire for all eternity. This is where he wants desperately for God to fit into his box, his set of concepts concerning God. When we were young, we had to fit into our parents' set of rules. We couldn't make our parents' rules bend to our will, nor can we make our God's rules bend to what we want them to say or mean. Let's look into this great concern he had in the second death.

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." (Rev. 20:6 - 15) Sorry for the length, but this much Scripture was necessary for points to be made. The Bible makes it very clear; the lake of fire is for torment day and night forever and ever. The sinners who were saved by accepting Christ as their Savior, who resisted taking the mark of the beast, these who took part in the first resurrection will not see the second death, as it is written in Rev. 20:6; however, in the next chapter of Revelation it is written; "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Rev. 21:8)

Now he was really concerned about this second death, and denied that God would be so cruel as to torment anyone in hell and the lake of fire forever. Called our God insane because of it, even! And he kept asking if God would give eternal life to sinners for the pleasure of torturing them for all eternity. Our God did not want for us to be tortured for all eternity, that is why He sent Jesus to pay our sin debt, that we should not have to be in eternal punishment. God does not take pleasure in torturing us, our God is a loving God, who spared not His Son, that we should hope on Him for eternal life in heaven. Whoseover rejects Jesus as Savior and Redeemer, whosover will not repent and take up their cross and follow Christ, whosoever will not be His bondservant, these rebels put THEMSELVES into condemnation of hell and the lake of fire, not God. God put His rules in this Bible so that it would be plain to us how to receive eternal life in heaven after our first death on earth. If we reject it, by His rules, which we have, then He punishes us, and if we expire and with our last breath we have rejected Christ, then we have put ourselves in eternal punishment, not that God wanted us to be there, not that He likes that idea, else He would not have sent His Son to be sacrificed to pay our sin debt. We cannot put God in our box with a set of rules that appeal to us. It's the same as our parents; they gave us rules, and if we did not abide by them, we were punished according to their rules. God will punish us by His rules, and there is no Jehovah witness who can change the rules by twisting the Scriptures to mean what they want them to mean and have God go along with it. We couldn't make our parents change their disiplinary rulings, how can we fool ourselves to believe we can change what God has put forth?

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28) Now here is a place where interpretation is very necessary. "And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." (Matt. 25:46) Does not everlasting punishment mean punished forever? "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Dan. 12:2) "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John 5:28 - 29) I hope he reads this and understands, and that this answers what he thinks is a yes/no question.

Let me put this out there; I told him that Jesus was the full embodiment of Jehovah, so his church should be called Jesus witnesses, not Jehovah witnesses, because it is written, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." (Col. 2:8 - 9) If the Jehovah witness cannot accept Christ as Savior and Redeemer, and refuses to believe in the deity and divinity of Jesus, then his rejection of Christ will put him in that lake of fire where the second death is. Pray for all who reject Jesus to this end, they are blind to Christ's saving grace as their Savior!

Christ's 4 Appearances To Paul

CHRIST'S 4 APPEARANCES TO PAUL
 

Everyone realizes Christ appeared to Paul on his way to Damascus (see Acts 9:4 - 6), but how many know Jesus appeared to him three more times? And why? It was very important that Paul be converted on the first appearance, but what were the other three appearances for?

"Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, 'Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city.'" (Acts 18:9 - 10) Jesus foreknew, obviously, that Paul would be fearful of speaking at Corinth, where he would stay for 18 months, so He edified him that he should speak freely whenever needed, which at one point proved Jesus' words to Paul, because Gallio, the proconsul of Achaia, protected Paul's preaching under Roman law. Furthermore, the Greeks' anger against the Jews made Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, a scapegoat worthy of a beating right in front of the judgment seat. If you look to 1 Cor. 1:1, Sosthenes is referred to by Paul as a brother, a convert to Christ! The beating made him convert? Perhaps so! In any case, Paul was untouched during His stay there.

"And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw Him saying unto me, 'Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning Me.' And I said, 'Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on Thee: And when the blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him.' And He said unto me, 'Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles.'" (Acts 22:17 - 21) Here again, Christ is commanding His servant Paul to leave Jerusalem, that he might be protected from the mob that inevitably was set off by his preaching. Upon being bound with thongs, he spoke up of his Roman citizenship, which caused the chief captain to abandon scourging him. Even furthermore, the chief captain rescued him the following day from the Sanhedrin, where Paul baited the Pharisees against the Sadducees!

"And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, 'Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of Me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.'" (Acts 23:11) On this his last visit to Jerusalem, Paul hears from Jesus for the last time in his flesh. Christ's words of support were for Paul's spiritual strengthening for his task in Rome, already named to him before he got there! Imagine not only being talked to by Christ not just one time, but four times in your lifetime?

So now we have the reasons why that Jesus spoke to Paul three other times during his converted life. The first after his conversion was to build his confidence, as was the last, and the second after his conversion was to get him to go out of town (Jerusalem), and go preach to the Gentiles. While Paul did not die an old man, yet he lived quite a life! He went from a Christian-hating Pharisee who condoned the stoning of Stephen to a converted Christian visited by Jesus Himself on the road to Damascus. He made three missionary journeys, wrote plenty of epistles, and was stoned, beaten, shipwrecked, bitten by a poisonous snake with no ill effects, had audiences before two governors and a king; Felix and Festus, the governors, and king Agrippa. What a life he had!