Hello Horty,
I have not forgotten you. We have been helping my daughter-in-laws, Debbie and Becky. Their dear dad has been suffering lately. The Lord has taken him out of the body of humiliation and pain. He is now in Glory! Do you wonder why I can say that? I say that because I have come to know the King of Glory!
Let me back up about 60 years. When I was a little girl about 8 to 10 years old, I had no real knowledge of God. My family did not feed upon His Word. Then one day I was taken to a place where I heard the Torah story of God creating man and putting him in a beautiful garden. Adam’s heart was pure and clean. Though God told him he could eat of any tree in the garden, but not the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Sin came upon man; death came also! Sin separated man from God. God made coverings for Adam and Eve by shedding the blood of animals. He used the skins of those animals to cover them.
From there I got to see pictures of Abraham taking his son, Isaac, to sacrifice him because God told him to do so. Just as Abraham was about to plunge the knife into Isaac, God stopped him! God had provided a ram for the sacrifice. It was caught in the brush behind Abraham. Abraham obeyed God! God was able to provide Himself a sacrifice.
I leave that little girl to come to today. I learned over the years that the shedding of blood of animals was needed to cover sin. There is now no ceremonial way to atone by blood as God ordained in the Old Testament. That little girl had no hope of ever being atoned for, nor do any others, since the shedding of blood by the priests, in the Temple was the prescribed way.
God provided a sacrifice, a blood atonement for that little girl. The prophet Isaiah spoke of the one to come: Isaiah 7:13 & 14 “And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (God with us).” Isaiah 11:1 “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:” Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” Ps 22:16-18 “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”
All of these prophecies have been fulfilled and testified of by God Himself. Lu 1:26 “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS (same as Emmanuel, Mat. 1:23-25). He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
JESUS, Emmanuel, God with us, was born in Bethlehem, taken to Egypt for a while, returned and raised in Nazareth as prophesied! There is more, but lets go to the time of His sacrificial death: John 19:23-24 “Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots (Ps 22:18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.). These things therefore the soldiers did. Mark 15: “And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take.”
The Torah or Old Testament, prophesied that Emanuel would not stay in the grave: Psalms 16:10 “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (the grave); neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” Psalm 30:3 and 41:10 “O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Many testified that JESUS was risen from the dead: Mark 16:5-16 & 19-20 And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid.
Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept. And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not. After that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
19-20 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
God has not been slack in keeping his promises. We have been slack in believing that He kept His promises, and slack in accepting His provision.
Let us return to the little girl, me. I heard that I was a sinner in need of a blood sacrifice and was showed the way to cleansing and forgiveness through the blood shed by Emanuel Himself. JESUS was the Christ, the Son of God, the sinless lamb of God! Did I believe and receive Him? Not at first.
I went my way, telling God I would just be good. After some days of arguing in her heart with God, I got into trouble at home; I had sinned again. That brought on a thoroughly earned spanking. Right then I decided that I was on my way to hell, and if I did not repent and turn to God in the name of JESUS, the sinless blood sacrifice, that I was going to hell when I died. I went off alone where I fell down before God, weeping. I told Him that I could not be good, that I did not want to go to hell. I asked Him to forgive me and said that I wanted JESUS in my heart. At that instant my heart was cleansed. It seemed that a spring of living water came up inside of my heart. I knew I was saved from the penalty of sin! Horty, I tell you, there is no more need of doubt. Messiah has come. He does live, I now know, and you can too! Salvation was the best thing that ever happened to me. Let it happen to you. Talk to God and ask Him to forgive your sin by applying the blood of JESUS. You will be old in body but not in spirit, for you will be alive, fully alive and on your way to Heaven!
I love you Horty,
Kay, the little girl who learned of, and applied, the atoning blood of JESUS
