Religious Holidays

There was a great deal of excitement in the local area when the first Resurrection Sheaf, which was to be followed by many other like sheaves (Lev 23:10,11), was waved over and around Jerusalem.

December is here and our culture’s “Christmas Season” is in full swing. There will be decorations, gift buying, work parties, family gatherings, and the obligatory Christmas music piped through the speakers into every public space. It’s been a tough year for many reasons. Perhaps we can busy ourselves with the festivities and forget our trials—at least for a spell.

Understanding the three days and three nights of Matthew 12:40
We know He rose on Sunday, the first day of the week. Glorious resurrection! What a manifestation of God’s power! All the hopes of mankind were dependent on that victory. Jesus offered Himself to be crucified so I could attain to immortality. I will give Him my worship forever!

It was a Friday afternoon, and the priests were busy getting ready for the afternoon sacrifice. It wasn’t a normal Friday afternoon sacrifice; today was the Passover. The priests were preparing for the customary 3 o’clock sacrifice to make atonement for the people as they had done so many times before.

Christmas! The annual commemoration of Jesus’ birth, Christmas, has been celebrated for hundreds of years. The mere thought of Christmas likely brings many different thoughts to your mind. Perhaps you are looking forward to the family gathering and getting caught up with relatives you haven’t seen since last year. Or it could be that the thought of Christmas saddens you a bit as you think about bygone years and loved ones who are no longer here to share Christmas with you. Or maybe you’re planning a nice Christmas dinner at home with only your spouse and children.

The prophet Isaiah foretold that Jesus’ visage and body would be marred more than that of any man in history (Isaiah 52:14). As an Emergency Medicine medical provider who is Advanced Trauma Life Support certified and who frequently cares for critically injured trauma patients, my mind goes to these words when caring for patients whose faces and bodies have been bruised and battered by trauma. What did Jesus endure from a medical perspective in His Passion for you and me?

The gift of life in the form of a little baby never ceases to bring a sense of awe and wonder. We wait, we imagine, we hope, we anticipate, but one day it becomes a reality. The birth of Jesus was no exception. And His birth should continue to fill us with awe and wonder, particularly because it shows the hand of an Almighty God, Who through the mouths and pens of men of old, prophesied in detail about this Baby that should be born.

Christmas! The annual commemoration of Jesus’ birth, Christmas, has been celebrated for hundreds of years. The mere thought of Christmas likely brings many different thoughts to your mind. Perhaps you are looking forward to the family gathering and getting caught up with relatives you haven’t seen since last year. Or it could be that the thought of Christmas saddens you a bit as you think about bygone years and loved ones who are no longer here to share Christmas with you. Or maybe you’re planning a nice Christmas dinner at home with only your spouse and children.

The Halloween holiday and season represent an ancient European variant, All-Hallows’-Even (“evening”), that is, the night before All Hallows’ Day.

As we reflect on the birth of christ, we are touched by the fact that there was no room for Jesus in the inn. “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

Jesus came into a world that had no room for Him. “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:10). Jesus created the world and all things in it (col 1:16), and yet the world had no room for its Creator.