It’s no coincidence God frees Petros (Peter) from jail during Passover/Unleavened Bread, which even at that time was understood to be a removing of “sourness” from one’s life. In Acts 12, the “leaven” of Herod and of the leaders was shown to be “spoiling” Israel.
Author: Jeff
The vision of Acts 10, repeated in Acts 11, has been misinterpreted for millennia, in part because many people reading the text fail to see the vision of the animals in the context of Peter’s later meeting with Cornelius and the conversion of Cornelius household to the Gospel and God’s gift of the Holy Spirit upon Cornelius. Many Christians see the vision of the animals on the sheet as simply a change in dietary laws. The focus on physical food rather than upon the spiritual reality of God’s call of both Jews and Gentiles to believe in the one and only Messiah Yeshua becomes lost when this vision is interpreted out of context.
Continuing the study of “the saints” in Acts 9:32, we learn that righteousness and holiness are gifts of God. Peter’s healings, including baptism of the dead, show that the “commonwealth of Israel” isn’t a new Israel but a more inclusive Israel.
Some devout believers in Yeshua (Jesus) think they can never call themselves “holy” or “saints” because they still sin. So why does God and His servants apply such terms frequently to those who sincerely seek Him? At the heart of holiness is God’s acquittal of sin through Yeshua, rather achieving sinlessness.
What did Yokhanan (a.k.a. John the Baptist) mean when he told his disciples that Yeshua was “the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world”? What does it have to do with Passover and the day the Passover lamb is selected?
Sha’ul (Saul) encounters the true Messiah, Yeshua, while traveling to Damascus to arrest His followers. Over more than a dozen years, God transforms the “bulldog” of traditional Judaism of the time into one of the most powerful witnesses of Messiah Yeshua in the Roman empire.
The “Preacher” in Ecclesiastes said “there is nothing new under the sun.” The hatred against Yehudah, the Jews, has persisted throughout time, and the spirit of Amalek has taken many forms, including Haman, Antiochus IV, etc. Yet the LORD has kept Israel in the form of mostly Yehudah intact. Through Yehudah came the Messiah, the Seed of Eve Who crushed the serpent’s head and the Seed of Abraham Who brought God’s blessing to the world. That preservation of Yehudah above all odds through the eons, in the face of concerted genocidal efforts, is testimony that indeed the LORD is the one at work.