denying Christ
My apologies to those of you for whom this journal entry may make no sense. It's very technical in nature, and pertains to a particular set of religious beliefs that I happen to be familiar with. It is also very long.
There is a phrase in the King James version of the Bible (without its context): "a night to be much observed". Any of you who do not recognize this phrase in more than a passing way, feel free to stop reading if you want, because I don't think the rest of this will be very interesting. But if you are familiar with it, please read on.
The context of this phrase is a sentence in the chapter about the first Passover, describing when the Israelites were brought out of the land of Egypt by night. Specifically, it is found in Exodus 12:42. Here is some of the context (including the previous two verses), in a variety of translations, in rough order from old to new, harder to easier to understand, and literal to liberally paraphrased:
King James Version: Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.
New King James Version: Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years--on that very same day--it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
Revised Standard Version: The time that the people of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the LORD, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the LORD by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Today's New International Version: Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord's divisions left Egypt. Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.
New Living Translation: The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years. In fact, it was on the last day of the 430th year that all the LORD's forces left the land. This night had been reserved by the LORD to bring his people out from the land of Egypt, so this same night now belongs to him. It must be celebrated every year, from generation to generation, to remember the LORD's deliverance.
So, paraphrasing pretty similarly to the way the New Living Translation did, the upshot of all of this is that there is a night that the Lord's people are supposed to celebrate every year, to remember the Lord's deliverance of their predecessors from Egypt. A large number of people in the world do in fact celebrate this night--in fact, one of them just left my office here at work, to go do so. He is an (Italian) Jew. The Jewish people, being a portion of the people descended from the ancient Israelites, the portion that still keep the ancient traditions, celebrate this night now, 3500 years (roughly) after the events described in the Bible which they commemorate. They call their observance the Passover. As I mentioned earlier, this is the observance described (both the first Passover in the land of Egypt, and the instructions for how to keep it in succeeding years) in the entire chapter of Exodus 12, and there are additional teachings about it elsewhere, which for sake of brevity, I won't bother pointing you to.
There are other groups of people, though, that also celebrate this night, based on a belief in the Bible, and who are Christian, accepting Jesus as the Christ, and accepting the New Testament of the Bible in addition to the collection of Law, Prophets, and Writings that the Jews accept as their scripture. One of these groups can be loosely called "The Church of God". While I believe that Christ's true believers are bound together by a common Holy Spirit, and not any particular church organization or background, I must clarify that I am talking about a group of people who have been largely influenced by the teachings of the late Herbert W. Armstrong, a charismatic preacher of the mid 20th century who introduced many of the truths of the Bible to millions of people, and built a church group of tens of thousands around these sets of beliefs. This group of people, in whatever church organization they happen to be in now, celebrates the night being referred to in Exodus 12:42 just as the Jewish people do... and on the same night that the Jews do... but instead of using the same name as the Jews use to describe it, because many of them don't actually believe it is the Passover, they have invented a name for it based on this descriptive phrase out of the King James and similar translations of the Bible, calling it "The Night to Be Much Observed". Now I have to acknowledge that I have many friends in this group of people, and I am in fact a part of it, so what I have to say may be somewhat alienating. But I feel so strongly about it that I'm willing to take that risk. So here is my stand.
I believe that calling this night the "Night to Be Much Observed" or any variation on this theme, is in fact, highly misleading. So misleading that it denies the true nature of the night. Whenever a friend of mine refers to our celebration as the "Night to be Observed", the "Night to be Much Remembered" (where did that come from??? maybe another translation that I haven't found yet, or maybe a corruption of the tradition), or, in a bizarre twist, what I've heard recently from a couple different friends, an abbreviation: the "Night to Be"... I cringe and wince and don't even feel like talking to them for a while. While I acknowledge that this feeling is somewhat over-dramatic on my part, I can't help it to some extent because I am very tuned to linguistics, and so I'm intensely aware of how this phrase has its roots in a specific, antiquated translation of the Bible (which to me automatically eliminates it as a legitimate candidate for the name of an observance) but more importantly, how it was a descriptive phrase, and not a naming phrase. But if this were the only reason I feel strongly about it then I would just laugh at my idiosyncrasies, share them with others perhaps so they could see how silly my mind is, and move on with life, and call it by the name of our tradition ("Night to Be Much Observed") with no real reservations. But there is something much more important going on here.
I believe the night we're talking about, the night the Jewish people are celebrating, and the night I will be celebrating in a few hours, is, in fact, a commemoration of the Passover. I know that some people don't believe this, and I'm sorry I don't have time to try to explain why I do believe it. If you're actually willing to hear me out I'd be happy to discuss why I believe this, rather than any alternative, with you at any time. (The issue is simply too complicated to summarize in a blog posting.) Alternatively, my Dad has written two study papers discussing the issue in great detail. (posted online here). So for the remainder of this post, for those of you who either disagree with me or are aware of the issue but don't have an opinion, please pretend that I could be right, or at least try to see it from the perspective of someone who believes what I do, so that you can understand why I feel so strongly about it.
As we celebrate the Passover tonight, (a night of watching, a night to be observed forever), I feel like anybody who doesn't acknowledge that this night is in fact the Passover is missing the whole point. It is true that Christ gave a new meaning to the Jewish symbols of the Bread and the Wine--these symbols represented the Passover lamb, and Christ told us that they represent Him. His body, and His blood. And of course they should, because Christ is the Passover lamb in the ultimate figurative sense--his perfect and pure human sacrifice was more important than any lamb or goat sacrificed and eaten, because only He could take away the sins of the whole world. And last night, on the anniversary of the night that Jesus was betrayed, we as a group celebrated a commemoration of Christ giving us these new symbolic meanings. But when did Christ actually die? When did his physical death cause him to become an actual Passover sacrifice? At the exact same time that the Jews were killing the Passover lambs! in the middle of the afternoon leading up to the start of the seven days of Unleavened Bread. When was he placed into the grave? Around the same time that the Jews were eating their Passover meal that night.
Those of you who don't believe this, and yet believe that the Passover should be observed, undoubtedly think that this night (the one "to be observed" in Exodus 12:42) commemorates the walking out of Egypt of the Israelites. Well, I believe it does, too. Here's what I see. With the blood of the Passover lambs on the door frames, the Israelites ate the Passover meal. That night, around midnight, the angel of the Lord came through the land of Israel and killed the firstborn sons of all the Egyptians. Finally, with his land destroyed, his status as a God mocked and discredited, and his firstborn son and chosen heir to the Kingdom of Egypt dead, Pharaoh couldn't take it any more, and sent word immediately to Moses and Aaron that the Israelites should get out, NOW! The Israelites then wasted no time, and began their journey out of Egypt that same night. There was no time to wait--they were being driven out. God knew this, and this is why he made them eat their meal with sandals on their feet and staff in hand. They were prepared to flee--and they did flee the land of Egypt, that same night. As you can see, I agree that tonight is a commemoration of the coming out of Egypt, exactly as the verses I quoted in those translations above say it does. But I believe that earlier that same night, the Passover meal was eaten by the Israelites. And I know that this night has a name--the Passover--and to take such great pains to avoid using that name, in fact turning a descriptive phrase into a replacement name... is something I can no longer agree with silently.
I mourn for the idea of people coming together every year, observing a meal at the beginning of the Days of Unleavened Bread, and thinking about nothing more than God's deliverance from sin. Often, not even that is talked about, and for lack of a better spiritual focus, the night turns into a commanded social event. No doubt, deliverance from Egypt, from oppression, and from sin is a powerful and important concept, and worthy of celebration and commemoration all by itself. But why did the Israelites come out of Egypt?--what was it that enabled their Exodus? The blood of the Passover Lamb freed them from the wrath of the angel of God. They were awake until the middle of the night waiting for the fearful event, and then they were driven out hastily by Pharaoh's army. It is this that we are celebrating tonight!, not just the walking out of Egypt. And why have we been delivered from sin? The sacrifice of God's Passover Lamb, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior. He died so many years ago, and tonight we should remember that. Last night we remembered his last night of life, how he gave us the symbols of his New Covenant, representing his body and his blood, and how in a touching display of his humanity, he told us that he wanted us to remember him. Now tonight, we should remember once again that he was hanging on a Cross all day the next day, and died together with thousands of Passover lambs, to take their place and to open up salvation to humanity. If we don't believe that tonight commemorates the Passover, then we lose that focus.
Have a wonderful Passover, everybody.
There is a phrase in the King James version of the Bible (without its context): "a night to be much observed". Any of you who do not recognize this phrase in more than a passing way, feel free to stop reading if you want, because I don't think the rest of this will be very interesting. But if you are familiar with it, please read on.
The context of this phrase is a sentence in the chapter about the first Passover, describing when the Israelites were brought out of the land of Egypt by night. Specifically, it is found in Exodus 12:42. Here is some of the context (including the previous two verses), in a variety of translations, in rough order from old to new, harder to easier to understand, and literal to liberally paraphrased:
King James Version: Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.
New King James Version: Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years--on that very same day--it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
Revised Standard Version: The time that the people of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. It was a night of watching by the LORD, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the LORD by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Today's New International Version: Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord's divisions left Egypt. Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.
New Living Translation: The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years. In fact, it was on the last day of the 430th year that all the LORD's forces left the land. This night had been reserved by the LORD to bring his people out from the land of Egypt, so this same night now belongs to him. It must be celebrated every year, from generation to generation, to remember the LORD's deliverance.
So, paraphrasing pretty similarly to the way the New Living Translation did, the upshot of all of this is that there is a night that the Lord's people are supposed to celebrate every year, to remember the Lord's deliverance of their predecessors from Egypt. A large number of people in the world do in fact celebrate this night--in fact, one of them just left my office here at work, to go do so. He is an (Italian) Jew. The Jewish people, being a portion of the people descended from the ancient Israelites, the portion that still keep the ancient traditions, celebrate this night now, 3500 years (roughly) after the events described in the Bible which they commemorate. They call their observance the Passover. As I mentioned earlier, this is the observance described (both the first Passover in the land of Egypt, and the instructions for how to keep it in succeeding years) in the entire chapter of Exodus 12, and there are additional teachings about it elsewhere, which for sake of brevity, I won't bother pointing you to.
There are other groups of people, though, that also celebrate this night, based on a belief in the Bible, and who are Christian, accepting Jesus as the Christ, and accepting the New Testament of the Bible in addition to the collection of Law, Prophets, and Writings that the Jews accept as their scripture. One of these groups can be loosely called "The Church of God". While I believe that Christ's true believers are bound together by a common Holy Spirit, and not any particular church organization or background, I must clarify that I am talking about a group of people who have been largely influenced by the teachings of the late Herbert W. Armstrong, a charismatic preacher of the mid 20th century who introduced many of the truths of the Bible to millions of people, and built a church group of tens of thousands around these sets of beliefs. This group of people, in whatever church organization they happen to be in now, celebrates the night being referred to in Exodus 12:42 just as the Jewish people do... and on the same night that the Jews do... but instead of using the same name as the Jews use to describe it, because many of them don't actually believe it is the Passover, they have invented a name for it based on this descriptive phrase out of the King James and similar translations of the Bible, calling it "The Night to Be Much Observed". Now I have to acknowledge that I have many friends in this group of people, and I am in fact a part of it, so what I have to say may be somewhat alienating. But I feel so strongly about it that I'm willing to take that risk. So here is my stand.
I believe that calling this night the "Night to Be Much Observed" or any variation on this theme, is in fact, highly misleading. So misleading that it denies the true nature of the night. Whenever a friend of mine refers to our celebration as the "Night to be Observed", the "Night to be Much Remembered" (where did that come from??? maybe another translation that I haven't found yet, or maybe a corruption of the tradition), or, in a bizarre twist, what I've heard recently from a couple different friends, an abbreviation: the "Night to Be"... I cringe and wince and don't even feel like talking to them for a while. While I acknowledge that this feeling is somewhat over-dramatic on my part, I can't help it to some extent because I am very tuned to linguistics, and so I'm intensely aware of how this phrase has its roots in a specific, antiquated translation of the Bible (which to me automatically eliminates it as a legitimate candidate for the name of an observance) but more importantly, how it was a descriptive phrase, and not a naming phrase. But if this were the only reason I feel strongly about it then I would just laugh at my idiosyncrasies, share them with others perhaps so they could see how silly my mind is, and move on with life, and call it by the name of our tradition ("Night to Be Much Observed") with no real reservations. But there is something much more important going on here.
I believe the night we're talking about, the night the Jewish people are celebrating, and the night I will be celebrating in a few hours, is, in fact, a commemoration of the Passover. I know that some people don't believe this, and I'm sorry I don't have time to try to explain why I do believe it. If you're actually willing to hear me out I'd be happy to discuss why I believe this, rather than any alternative, with you at any time. (The issue is simply too complicated to summarize in a blog posting.) Alternatively, my Dad has written two study papers discussing the issue in great detail. (posted online here). So for the remainder of this post, for those of you who either disagree with me or are aware of the issue but don't have an opinion, please pretend that I could be right, or at least try to see it from the perspective of someone who believes what I do, so that you can understand why I feel so strongly about it.
As we celebrate the Passover tonight, (a night of watching, a night to be observed forever), I feel like anybody who doesn't acknowledge that this night is in fact the Passover is missing the whole point. It is true that Christ gave a new meaning to the Jewish symbols of the Bread and the Wine--these symbols represented the Passover lamb, and Christ told us that they represent Him. His body, and His blood. And of course they should, because Christ is the Passover lamb in the ultimate figurative sense--his perfect and pure human sacrifice was more important than any lamb or goat sacrificed and eaten, because only He could take away the sins of the whole world. And last night, on the anniversary of the night that Jesus was betrayed, we as a group celebrated a commemoration of Christ giving us these new symbolic meanings. But when did Christ actually die? When did his physical death cause him to become an actual Passover sacrifice? At the exact same time that the Jews were killing the Passover lambs! in the middle of the afternoon leading up to the start of the seven days of Unleavened Bread. When was he placed into the grave? Around the same time that the Jews were eating their Passover meal that night.
Those of you who don't believe this, and yet believe that the Passover should be observed, undoubtedly think that this night (the one "to be observed" in Exodus 12:42) commemorates the walking out of Egypt of the Israelites. Well, I believe it does, too. Here's what I see. With the blood of the Passover lambs on the door frames, the Israelites ate the Passover meal. That night, around midnight, the angel of the Lord came through the land of Israel and killed the firstborn sons of all the Egyptians. Finally, with his land destroyed, his status as a God mocked and discredited, and his firstborn son and chosen heir to the Kingdom of Egypt dead, Pharaoh couldn't take it any more, and sent word immediately to Moses and Aaron that the Israelites should get out, NOW! The Israelites then wasted no time, and began their journey out of Egypt that same night. There was no time to wait--they were being driven out. God knew this, and this is why he made them eat their meal with sandals on their feet and staff in hand. They were prepared to flee--and they did flee the land of Egypt, that same night. As you can see, I agree that tonight is a commemoration of the coming out of Egypt, exactly as the verses I quoted in those translations above say it does. But I believe that earlier that same night, the Passover meal was eaten by the Israelites. And I know that this night has a name--the Passover--and to take such great pains to avoid using that name, in fact turning a descriptive phrase into a replacement name... is something I can no longer agree with silently.
I mourn for the idea of people coming together every year, observing a meal at the beginning of the Days of Unleavened Bread, and thinking about nothing more than God's deliverance from sin. Often, not even that is talked about, and for lack of a better spiritual focus, the night turns into a commanded social event. No doubt, deliverance from Egypt, from oppression, and from sin is a powerful and important concept, and worthy of celebration and commemoration all by itself. But why did the Israelites come out of Egypt?--what was it that enabled their Exodus? The blood of the Passover Lamb freed them from the wrath of the angel of God. They were awake until the middle of the night waiting for the fearful event, and then they were driven out hastily by Pharaoh's army. It is this that we are celebrating tonight!, not just the walking out of Egypt. And why have we been delivered from sin? The sacrifice of God's Passover Lamb, Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior. He died so many years ago, and tonight we should remember that. Last night we remembered his last night of life, how he gave us the symbols of his New Covenant, representing his body and his blood, and how in a touching display of his humanity, he told us that he wanted us to remember him. Now tonight, we should remember once again that he was hanging on a Cross all day the next day, and died together with thousands of Passover lambs, to take their place and to open up salvation to humanity. If we don't believe that tonight commemorates the Passover, then we lose that focus.
Have a wonderful Passover, everybody.