The Seder
Posted on June 17, 2013 in Uncategorized
I am so proud of our <a href=”https://candygibbs.com/you-are-chosen-mentoring-programs-for-girls”>Chosen girls</a>! We had the incredible opportunity Wednesday night to celebrate together with a Seder. For those of you who are new to the Feasts, a Seder is the Passover meal. The girls have spent the last eight weeks learning about the seven Feasts of the Lord. I think it is an incredible undertaking for an 8, 9, or 10-year-old girl to trust the Lord, and trust our teaching and our activities to communicate with them a great amount of information.
The information is symbolic. The Jewish feasts are representations of greater truths, an example of that could be an American wedding. In our culture, many aspects of the wedding ceremony symbolize other things. We use a white wedding gown to symbolize purity, we use rings to symbolize love that is eternal, and a flower girl represents the bride’s youthfulness. There are many beautiful symbolic images that take place in an American wedding. In much the same way, <strong>the Jewish feasts were established by God to symbolize great truths.</strong> One of the things that the girls and I have learned together is that the Lord established seven feasts (seven, in biblical terms, represents perfection or completion). These feasts take place over the course of a year’s time. After observing the seven feasts a beautiful masterpiece is created. <strong>A person of faith who is able to look at the feasts with an open heart and mind sees a beautiful portrait painted of the Lord’s Christ. </strong>
I’m amazed that in the feast of Passover we see a beautiful reflection of the death of Christ and what that means to us as His followers. The <a href=”https://candygibbs.com/unleavened-bread”>feast of unleavened bread</a> is a beautiful explanation of Jesus’s burial and the significance in that His body saw absolutely no decay because there was no sin in Him. Sin being what causes decay, and in the Jewish custom leaven is a representation sin. The third feast would be the <a href=”https://candygibbs.com/ourfirstfruits”>Feast of First Fruits</a>. This feast is an incredible depiction of Jesus Christ as the first fruits offering of all of us that will follow him into eternal life. The next feast would be the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Pentecost. I’ve loved this one because crossing all doctrinal lines, the feast of Pentecost is the picture of the Holy Spirit and his power in our lives. <strong>I love that when we receive the Holy Spirit, we do receive power, wisdom, insight, and direction. </strong> The next feast would be the Feast of Trumpets. The Feast of Trumpets symbolizes the rapture of the church when God Himself will blow the shofar and call us all together to meet him in the sky. The sixth feast is Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, where we realize that there truly is a penalty for sin and it must be paid. We celebrate the fact that our Christ Jesus paid that debt and we do not fall under the judgment of God, rather under His grace and mercy. Finally, the last feast, the Feast of Tabernacles symbolizes the day when we will all live together (tabernacle) with God.
<strong>The Feasts of the Lord are one way that He chooses to communicate that His heart’s desire is his relationship with us. His desire in the garden was to for us to walk with Him in the cool of the day and experience Him. After the fall of man, the redemptive love of Christ Jesus and the work that He did for us on the cross was set into motion. Again going full circle and culminating with us living together in a beautiful existence face-to-face with the Lord God!</strong>
<p ><a href=”https://candygibbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Sedar-Collage.png”><img alt=”Sedar Collage” src=”https://candygibbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Sedar-Collage.png” width=”432″ height=”432″ /></a></p>
Wednesday night in Amarillo, Texas, a group of about <a href=”https://candygibbs.com/you-are-chosen-mentoring-programs-for-girls”>100 young ladies</a> celebrated the fact that we have a Savior and He’s not forgotten us. The Word tells us in Colossians 3:12 that not only has He not forgotten us, He has chosen us. This group of girls and many like it across the country who participate in our Bible study called <a href=”http://www.youarechosen.org”>Chosen </a>understand that our God has chosen us and that we have the privilege of choosing Him! Last night that’s just what we did in the Seder celebration. It is my privilege to serve these girls! I have been amazed at their capacity to understand His truths! I hope you enjoy these pictures. It was a wonderful evening. I’m sure that the Lord grinned as he looked down on the young ladies. One of my favorite scriptures tells us that in our weakness, He is strong. There was an awful lot of strength in our midst Wednesday night. Praise His Name!
All my love,
<a href=”https://candygibbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Candy-Sig.jpg”><img alt=”Candy Sig” src=”https://candygibbs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Candy-Sig.jpg” width=”123″ height=”92″ /></a>