XPost: alt.religion.christian.adventist, alt.religion.christian.boston-church,   
   alt.religion.christian.baptist   
   XPost: alt.religion.christian.biblestudy   
   From: Donna@mail2devotion.com   
      
   Eliyahu,   
      
   I had thought to just leave you alone to your own beliefs but the Lord   
   will not let me. Twice I awoke in the middle of the night with you on   
   my mind and things I should say to you and some questions.   
      
   First of all we have a written record, the old testament, that tells   
   all about the beginning of this world, how sin came about here,   
   prophets and prophecies, the chosen nation that were supposed to teach   
   the nations about the true God in word and example, and how God would   
   send the Messiah to save His people; four thousand years of written   
   history. But then it stopped. Doesn't that put a question into the   
   minds of the Jewish people? Why such detailed history on times, events   
   and peoples and nations to just come to a halt and nothing said in the   
   past 2,000 years?   
      
   The Messiah did come and He fulfilled all of the prophecies given   
   about Him. The Israelite nation did not recognize Him because He did   
   not match the preconceived ideas they had about how He would come.   
   Have you ever wondered what would have happened to the Israelite   
   nation if the Messiah had come as they thought He would? They would   
   have all died because they were not living or doing what God asked of   
   them. They had not taught the nations so as to prepare a people for   
   His coming. They had added to God's laws to the point they made the   
   Sabbath a burden which gave Satan a big hand up for his deceptions.   
   They were so engrossed with keeping the letter of the law that they   
   forgot the spirit of the law…LOVE.   
      
   The sacrificial system was to have pointed them to the true sacrifice   
   for our sins. It takes a lot to raise an animal as a pet and come to   
   care for it a lot and then have to slay it. To take the life of any   
   creature because of a sin we commit would cause great grief and   
   repentance, but it became just a thing to do, with no thought of the   
   true meaning. They did not all even raise their sacrificial animals   
   but began to buy them just before entering the temple.   
      
   The Messiah, the Son of God, was to be the true sacrifice and we are   
   given the story of Abraham and Isaac to show the great love in that.   
   God showed, by staying Abraham's hand and providing a sacrifice, that   
   He was providing the ultimate sacrifice, His son for all of mankind's   
   sins.  When the true Messiah, Jesus, died for our sins, the temple   
   curtain was rent from top to bottom showing that no longer was the   
   sacrificial system in place.   
      
   Jesus Christ spent His life in thought, word and deed as an example of   
   God's love for us. He taught and He rebuked. He rebuked all of the   
   misconceptions the Israelite nation had, yet they rejected Him still   
   because He did not live up to their preconceived ideas of what He   
   should be and a lot were too proud to admit they were in error.  When   
   the Israelite nation, with the help of the Roman government, put the   
   Messiah to death and learning that He arose and His disciples teaching   
   and preaching with all power and authority they still rejected, the   
   Israelite nation was no longer the chosen people; they were cut off.   
      
   Now the Israelites were on the same level with all men. No longer were   
   they the chosen nation. The gospel message is given to people as   
   individuals. To be a true child of Abraham no longer means to be of   
   the blood line. A true child of Abraham will live out of love for God   
   and mankind as Abraham did. God's true people are scattered all over   
   this earth, individuals of His true church who are the heirs by   
   adoption. For any Jewish person to be among God's chosen people today   
   they must be adopted back in.  And, the only way to God is through His   
   son, Jesus Christ.   
      
   Our first parents, Adam and Eve failed at overcoming the temptation to   
   sin. When Jesus came, He came as a baby, taking upon Himself all the   
   weaknesses of mankind so that He could show us how to live and   
   overcome sin; that it was possible and had been from the beginning.   
   Only in overcoming all temptation could He be the perfect spotless   
   sacrifice for us. Then He promised us a comforter so that when He went   
   back to heaven as our High Priest and mediator, we would still have   
   Him with us helping us to overcome as He did. Such a love cannot be   
   measured. He could have done with us when He first came, but He did   
   not. He has allowed us 2,000 years to learn and overcome and do the   
   work He first gave unto the Israelite nation; to prepare a people for   
   His coming.   
      
   There is a common enemy to all mankind, Satan, and he is not happy   
   with the way God planned and worked out His ways for His people. He   
   tries to duplicate as close as possible all of the things Jesus did.   
   In fact he tries to duplicate everything. He is planning to come as   
   Jesus before Jesus Christ does. Many many peoples of all the nations   
   will believe it is Jesus Christ because they have or are already   
   falling for the deceptions he has put into place over the past 6,000   
   years. To the Jewish peoples he will say he is the Messiah. No one   
   will have any excuse if they accept him because we have all scripture,   
   the life of Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit to teach us all truth.   
      
   I was also reminded of Saul of Tarsus. He was a devout Jew, a Pharisee   
   and very zealous for God. One can tell that he truly loved God and   
   thought he was doing right, but he had been deceived. He was going   
   about looking for all the Christians to put to death believing he was   
   doing as God wanted. At one point, at the stoning of Stephen, he   
   hesitated, but then continued on. God must have been speaking to his   
   heart and Saul must have been praying for guidance because Jesus came   
   to him.   
      
   Acts 26:13-18 "At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from   
   heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and   
   them which journeyed with me.   
   And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking   
   unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest   
   thou me? [it is] hard for thee to kick against the pricks.   
   And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou   
   persecutest.   
   But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for   
   this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these   
   things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will   
   appear unto thee;   
   Delivering thee from the people, and [from] the Gentiles, unto whom   
   now I send thee,   
   To open their eyes, [and] to turn [them] from darkness to light, and   
   [from] the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness   
   of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that   
   is in me."   
      
      
   Why is there a gap of 2,000 years between the history of God's chosen   
   until now? It is these years when Messiah came and the final working   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)