A Poignant Song for Passover/Good Friday with a Couple Amazing Bible Passages!
Song: Were You There? by Worship Leader & my friend Traci Brewer Sommer accompanied by her Mom Joanie Brewer
One of the amazing attributes of the Holy Bible is its Divine Origin. As the great Apostle Paul explains:
2 Timothy 3:15-17 (KJV)
15And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
The Holy Scriptures are so clear and simple to understand, that children can comprehend the core message of the Bible and find Salvation from their sins through faith in Christ Jesus! Yet the Bible’s revelation is so profound that the greatest minds cannot assail the heights nor plunge the depths of the Bible’s teachings! That is the nature of Divine Origin! As Lord Jesus Christ declared:
Luke 10:21 (KJV)
21In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.
But maybe you’re a skeptic or worse an Evolution-Believing Atheist and you say,
“I don’t believe nor care what some guy named Paul said 2,000 years ago about the Bible being inspired by God! The Bible is just a collection of 66 books written by men over 16-Centuries in 3 different languages on 3 different continents by some 40 different men, the vast majority of whom never knew one another, who somehow wrote revelations and doctrines that agree with and complement one another…but nevertheless, the Bible is just written by men!”
Well, you probably wouldn’t say it quite like that, but I bet I just made you think!
Still believe the Bible is not of Divine Origin? I can prove to you that it is with just 2 Bible passages! But before you continue reading, I must WARN YOU, you will then be without excuse! Actually, keep reading since you are already “without excuse” because God revealed His Existence and Divine Nature to you by the things He Created! Read Romans Chapter One!
One of the proofs of the Bible’s Divine Origin is the Proof of Prophecy. What is “Prophecy?” History foretold. All 66 Books of the Bible, both Old and New Testament, contain one or many passages that foretell of future events! And two-thirds of all those prophecies have already come to pass exactly as the Bible foretold that these global earth-shattering events would happen! This of course gives us the assurance that the remaining one-third of prophecies yet to be fulfilled shall indeed come to pass exactly as foretold in the Holy Bible! by the way, the Books of the Holy Bible are the Only Books on Planet Earth which contain Prophecy!
Since today is “Good Friday,” Passover in the year Jesus Christ was Crucified as God’s Passover Lamb Who takes away the Sin of the world, I’ll share just two amazing Crucifixion Prophecies.
First is Psalm 22, written by King David 1,000 years before Jesus Christ was Crucified; yet, if you are at all familiar with the Gospel records of the events of Christ’s Crucifixion, you will immediately marvel at the exact details foretold in this Psalm, including the very words spoken by Jesus from the Cross and the very words spoken by the Jewish leaders who rejected Jesus and requested He be put to death, along with the very actions of the Roman Soldiers which crucified Jesus!
Psalms 22:1-31 (KJV)
1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.
11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the LORD’S: and he is the governor among the nations.
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
Wow, oh wow! No need for commentary. Except that verses 23—31 are still being fulfilled today, every day, by those who come to Jesus, both Jews and Gentiles, and by those who die! Where do you fit in these verses?
A second Passover/Good Friday Prophecy is that recorded by the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah Chapter 53, some 750-years before Jesus Suffered and Died for our Sins. Like Psalm 22, this prophecy also foretells details of Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection; but in addition, reveals the Theological impact of Jesus’ Sacrifice for our sins—God’s Atonement for sin which brings Salvation to all who put their trust in Jesus. This passage so profound, that Jewish Synagogues ignore and refuse to read this Chapter in their annual readings of the Old Testament, because the Jewish Man called Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament so clearly fulfilled this prophecy! If you are Jewish reading this, I plead with you, Come to Jesus Your Messiah, Savior and King!
Isaiah 53:1-12 (KJV)
1Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
As the song you are about to hear says, when one contemplates what Christ suffered to be God’s “offering for sin,” “Sometimes it causes me to tremble!” We should all tremble before such an Awesome God and Savior!
Now Enjoy, Were You There? by Worship Leader & my friend Traci Brewer Sommer accompanied by her Mom Joanie Brewer ~ Turn Up Your Volume!
Pastor Jim Alderdice is on a Mission from God to Restore the Bible to our Schools, Sciences, Politics, Public Square & Personal Lives!