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HEART TO HEART Pastor Lynda MacDonald, Nova Scotia, Canada |
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BEING BORN FOR THE SECOND TIME In John 3:1-7, the writer
(John the Beloved) recorded an encounter with Yeshua (Jesus) by a teacher of the
Torah (Law) named Nicodemus. He
came in the night to Yeshua because it was not acceptable for a religious
leader to have anything positive to do with the Messiah. His quest was to
know how he could be sure about his eternal soul. He asks Yeshua in verse 4
“how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb
and be born?" Nicodemus was stuck on the idea of a natural birth –who
wouldn’t be if they knew nothing about a spiritual one? Yeshua answered
Nicodemus with these words that are filled with life, “"Most assuredly,
I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You
must be born again.' Scripture is full of symbolic uses
for birthing. We see the natural baby stages that move to maturing used over
and over to teach us the “birth stages” in our spiritual growth. I want to open up to you a
fascinating teaching that I learned about 5 years ago through a wonderful
messianic teacher –the late Zola Levitt. In his book “The Feasts of the
LORD”, he has a chapter called “unto us a child is born” (pages 21-31). In
this chapter 2, he moves through the growth stages of a baby in its mother’s
womb as it develops. He found a startling thing. The unborn baby grows and
develops in exact timing with the 7 Feasts of the LORD (Passover, Unleavened
Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles) and the
Feast of Dedication that we call Chanukah. I
would like to share this amazing discovery with you in the hopes of “birthing
a passion” in you for the Hebraic Roots level of Biblical study. This term is
merely a way of searching for scriptural truth with the understanding of the
land, language, culture and lifestyle of Israel as God planned it. I describe
it as “instead of looking at a body of water at eye level, I look all the way
to the bottom to see the whole picture”. Let’s start with Passover (Pesach) – According to Leviticus 23:5 Passover
is to be remembered on the 14th day of the first month. On this 14th
day (according to pregnancy stages), the egg appears. Zola makes mention that
at Pesach an egg is used as one of the symbols. In both events –Pesach and
the appearance of the egg- the chance of new life is available. Unleavened
bread –
Lev 23:6 this feast occurs
on the 15th day of the first month –the next day after
Pesach. Fertilization of the human egg
must happen within 24 hrs or the egg will move on and leave the body. First Fruits -“the spring planting”, it occurs on
the first day of the week (Sunday) that follows Pesach. It could be the day
after or several days later according to when Pesach is held. The fertilized
egg takes between 2 – 6 days to travel to the uterus to reside for the
remainder of the time. The egg must be planted in order to grow. Pentecost (Shavuot) – the harvest. Time is
needed for the development of the seed that it would grow. It is 50 days
after the First Fruits Feast. In regards to the “new little life inside the
womb”, it takes 50 days to fully develop into the human fetus that comes from
what was once the egg. The next Feast does not
occur for a long length of time –the fall season. It is The Feast Of Trumpets. Trumpets always brings
the image of “hearing –sounding” For this amazing time of
development for the new baby –months pass, as he/she needs time to continue
the growth stages. In the 7th month, the baby begins to hear clearly.
It responds to sound! In scripture, the trumpets will sound to announce the
arrival of Yeshua, the king. We will hear the trumpets announce His return. Yom Kippur (Day of
Atonement -Redemption) – The day that blood needed to be shed to deal with our sins. When
Yeshua comes back, He will deal with the sins of Israel (us included by
adoption) as Zechariah 13:1 tells us “when that day comes, a
spring will be opened up for the house of David and the people living in
Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity.” During the months preceding
this day, the baby has gone through much change, one of which is the
readiness to move from the reliance on it’s mothers oxygen to when the baby’s
own oxygen would be useable at birth. In the second week of the seventh month,
on the 10th day (Yom Kippur this year is Oct 9th- the
second week), this change in the baby’s system occurs. “The blood was
accepted”!!! Halleluyah- the blood for our eternal life needed to be
accepted. Hebrews 9:28 and 10:16 –18 re-emphasizes that too. Feast of Tabernacles
–Succot
(John 1:14 “and the Word became flesh and tabernacled with us) This Feast
represents the time that Yeshua will set up His throne here with us forever.
The first day of the rest of eternity!! For the developing baby –the time has
come that the baby can survive if born. (My insert –this was the “REAL” birth
date of Yeshua) Zola makes an exciting
point. He says, “Tabernacles is the end of the feasts –the end of the road,
the end of God’s plan, the beginning of the kingdom. The baby would live if
born at Tabernacles time (speaking of the 9 + months of growth). The believer
will live once he enters the kingdom.” Now all of us who follow
the Feasts of God know that there is still another event on God’s calendar
called “the Feast of Dedication” (John 10:22). Does it fit into this pattern? There is approximately 280
days for a normal pregnancy time. The miracle of Chanukah had to do with
light. Chanukah happens at the exact time of the 280 days closure (an 8 day
span of time). Birth occurs! This is the time that we could describe as the
“day that another light came into the world –a miracle of a life that brings
light”. Yeshua said to His own in Matthew 5:14, “you are light for the
world.” I did some checking through
the Internet sites that assist new mothers who are looking for help as to the
stages of development throughout pregnancy. The sites I checked were
non-religious ones with no connection to Zola’s research. Everyone I looked
at provided almost the exact stage-growth as he did. I was amazed but hey!!!
Our God has perfect patterns. Why would He not use them over and over? Our God is truly an awesome
God. |
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