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'Be strong, be strong and be strengthened!'

Friday, March 29, 2013

THE SHABBAT OF RESURRECTION

John 5:28
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice

This is the fourth day of the S'phirat Ha'omer  העמר םפירת, the Counting of the Omer. The Master has appeared in his resurrected body to several of the believers. Cleopas and his companion who met him on their way to Emmaus are probably sharing notes with those to whom he appeared in the upper room and with the women who saw him at the tomb (Luke 24). The event that may have become the greatest conversation piece at that time might have been the fact that at the time he committed his spirit unto the Father,

 Yeshua cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many (Matt. 27: 50—53).

It seems actually that all the resurrected apparitions of the Master appeared during the first forty days of the Counting of the Omer.

One of the days of Chag Hamatzot  המצות חג or Unleavened Bread is usually a Shabbat. Ezekiel 37 is usually read in synagogues on that day. It is interesting that Ezekiel 37 is all about the resurrection of Israel it its own land, an event significant as to the coming of Mashiach.

The schedule of the Book of Ezekiel provides us with timeline of events we can refer to as we see History unfolding. Ezekiel 34 exposes the false shepherds who lead Israel astray and announces the Good Shepherd, the David who comes to be the true king of Israel, a prince among us. Ezekiel says that at the time of his rule,

I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am ADONAI, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations. And they shall know that I am ADONAI their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares ADONAI (Eze. 34:25-30).

In Ezekiel 37, after the introduction of the David, of the one who died, and behold is alive forevermore, who has the keys of Death and Hades, (Rev. 1:18) Israel becomes a nation resurrected in its own land. Interestingly enough, the next two chapters tell us about the war of Gog and Magog, and starting with Ezekiel 40, the Book of Ezekiel ends with the rebuilding of the Messianic third Temple

May it be soon Abba, even in our days!

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's other devotional 'Under the Fig Tree' in Kindle edition click here.



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