Day 45 of the Fruit Feast. i have been having a very strong taste for sweet fruits over the last couple of days. The interesting part to me is twofold. First, i have no craving for the savory at this point. i may want a tomato, but the cucumber and sweet pepper just are not what i desire right now; and forget about salt, thats gone too. Second, it doesn't matter whether i eat little or much so long as its sweet. Once i get my fill of sweet, i don't want to eat anymore. i don't know how long this is going to last, but i like it-----mostly. It was alittle frustrating today because of the lack of very sweet fruits available. i bought 3 watermelons yesterday. This morning i was really looking forward to eating a sweet juicy watermelon. When i cracked one open, it was brown inside........BROWN! Disgustedly rotten, couldn't even juice it. Then i opened a second one and it was not brown but very, very light and mushy inside. Like it didn't ripen well at all. i juiced that one and mixed part of it with my celery juice and part of it in a smoothie. It was not a very sweet melon at all. i had some ripe bananas and while they were good and sweet i was missing the juicy. So, after i drank the celery juice and the smoothie i was full but not satisfied. i have one whole durian left but i am saving it for my Sabbath meal on Friday evening. So for lunch i started with 24oz of fresh liquid sunshine. Now that was very good. i ate 5 more bananas and that went well. So i chopped that third watermelon. The flesh was not optimal but it was indeed sweet and juicy. i thought 'Ahhhhhhhh'. i ate half of it then and saved the rest for dinner after my workout.
But i wanted more sweet so i ate a mango for dinner and as it turned out it wasn't completely ripe and alittle bitter. i had a clementine and it was juicy but not sweet. Talk about trying the patience. But when i ate the rest of the watermelon and 3 more bananas i was totally satisfied. i think i am in a transitional season of fruit here. Its not the optimal summer fruit and we are just at the end of winter. i am glad we have a good supply of oranges and surprisingly Durian along with the staple of bananas. i am surely looking forward with earnest expectation to the sweet juicy mangos, the ripe mameys, the locally grown watermelons that the summer will bring. i am looking forward to juicy valencia oranges and of course creamy delicious Durian. Fruit, what a tremendous blessing from the Creator!
i returned the rotten watermelon to the market and got two more. The local market knows me so well they don't even ask a question nor ask for a receipt they just say "go and get another one". Very nice folks down there. i hope these two are better than their predecessors.
But just to finish up what i started yesterday. About this Romans 14:5 verse and this "day" thing.
Romans 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Many teach and believe this is referring to the 7th Day Sabbath of the 10 commandments. According to the principles outlined in the last blog, let us show why this is erroneous. It makes it appear that the keeping holy of a day of worship is "optional". In other words, if it works for you do it, if not don't and the God of Heaven is fine with it. First off, it would contradict what was said by the Spirit earlier in the Epistle.
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Romans 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
How is something "holy, just and good" optional? This would also contradict many other scriptures concerning the Covenant.
Exodus 34:27 And the LORD said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
Exodus 34:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
Deuteronomy 4:13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
So part of the Covenant is the 10 Commandments to be kept by those who serve the God of Heaven. Let us look at the 4th commandment of the 10.
Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Exodus 20:9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Exodus 20:10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
Exodus 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
So to make the 4th commandment "optional" is to make all of the 10 commandments optional. For the Lord does not separate out one and say "keep 9 of them". That would mean to murder or not to murder would be optional. To steal or not to steal, to commit adultery or not. Of course no Christian that is at least partly serious about serving Christ believes this. It is because of sunday keeping traditions (which, by the way, have no biblical basis) that people are so hyped to do away with the 4th commandment. Also, this particular commandment was the first one given in the Garden of Eden as the Lord completed creation.
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Genesis 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Genesis 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
When something is declared by Christ to be "blessed", "sanctified", "holy" and commanded to be obeyed, i don't think its optional for those that say they worship the One who made the declaration. So what was Romans 14:5 speaking about if it wasn't the Sabbath? In the bible there were other holy days that Israelites were commanded to keep. There were 3 annual feasts:
Exodus 23:14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
and one holy Convocation called the Day of Atonement::
Leviticus 23:27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
Now with these feasts and holy convocations, there were 7 ceremonial sabbaths. At the beginning and ending of each feast and one on the Day of Atonement. Each of these feasts had certain provisions. Of these were that they must be kept at Jerusalem and there must be offered specific sacrifices (lambs, goats and bullocks) with the feasts. Each of these were a sign pointing to the coming of Christ. For example.
The first feast of the year was the Feast of Unleavened bread (aka The Passover). On the 14 day of the first month (or first new moon) of the year (that is in April usually on the Gregorian calender we commonly use today), a Lamb was killed at the end of the day. The 15th day was a ceremonial Sabbath. Christ was declared to be the Lamb.
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
i can show many other scriptures to illustrate this, but i think the point is made. Christ was not only crucified on the 14th day of the first month, but actually died at the exact time of the sacrifce of the ceremonial Lamb.
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Matthew 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
Matthew 27:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
The veil of the Temple was rent in twain because the ceremonial lamb was no longer necessary, the real Lamb had come and died for all sin. Jerusalem has since been destroyed along with the temple. In the modern Jerusalem there is no Holy Temple with the Shekinah glory and the Ark of the Covenant. On the exact site is now a mosque. The Ark of the Covenant is not there anymore, but its in Heaven.
Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
The 10 commandments are still in the Heavenly Ark. All 10 of them. So that now, not only cannot a person kill the sacrifices for the Passover, they cannot go to Jerusalem to keep it. Most people who still keep the Passover today, do it out of a sense of community and tradition. But its not biblically necessary anymore.
So a person that wants to keep holy the time of Passover may if they wish. But its not a salvation issue. This is what Romans 14:5 is referring to as many gentile converts were wondering how to handle this situation. Many jewish believers (including the apostle Paul), still kept the Passover as a matter of tradition. But they knew it was not being disobedient to Christ if they did not keep it.
By the way, i am in no wise seeking to offend anyone for their own beliefs. Neither am i promoting any denomination or organized religion (i don't believe in them). As a follower of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, i am seeking to explain what i have learned and walk in the Light given me by Grace. As the Word says "let every man be persuaded in his own mind".
AMEN.
Breakfast:
24oz Celery-watermelon juice (not very satisfying), 36oz of banana-watermelon smoothie.
Lunch:
24oz OJ, half a mini watermelon, 5 bananas.
Dinner:
Half a mini watermelon, 3 bananas, 1 clementine, 1 mango.
Spiritual Bread: 1 Samuel 1-6
Exercise: 100 squats, 70 weighted stair hops, 50 weighted jumping jacks.
Grace and peace be multiplied.
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