It was an hour before sundown when Passover would begin this year.  I still needed a few items for our Seder.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with a Seder, “seder” is Hebrew for “order”.  Passover has been observed continuously by the Jewish people throughout the world for approximately the past 3500 years.  The modern seder involves the recounting of the Exodus story, including the essential elements of bitter herbs representing the bitterness of slavery, unleavened bread (matzah), (the bread was unable to rise because the Israelites had to leave Egypt in haste), and the shank bone of the lamb, symbolizing the slain Passover lamb, described below.

The Feast of Passover is an eight day long feast that the Jewish people were commanded to observe throughout their generations (Exodus 12:7).  We learn of the history of the Israelites’ enslavement, leading up to their deliverance,  in Exodus chapters 1-11.  Please note that the command to observe this as a perpetual statute was given before the giving of the Law (also known as “The Torah” or “instruction”) found in Exodus chapters 19 and 20, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Back to my true story.

I went to the dairy aisle to get cheese, as I thought I could make “Matzah pizza” (only unleavened bread is to be eaten during the eight days of Passover).  There was a woman pushing a cart loaded to the brim with frozen pizzas.  I thought, “Well, I know she’s not Jewish and certainly not observing Passover.”

Then I heard her literally crying to someone on her cellphone.  “This is the first time in all my years that I haven’t had a Seder.”  The woman was about seventy years old.

I waited until she completed her call and said, “I’m sorry, but I overheard what you said about not having a Seder.”

She explained that she was visiting from another country.  She had just had the flu.  Her husband, a Holocaust survivor, was a doctor who was back home with his medical practice.  There was really no one to join her here.

We started to chat.  I empathized with her plight of loneliness, particularly during a significant holy day.  I thought about having her to my home, but she was still a bit sick, and I was a bit hesitant to expose my husband and me to her illness.

“You know, I have been in the same situation, Sylvia.”

I tried to comfort her that the same One who delivered our people from bondage is near to her broken heart. (Psalm 34:18)  She continued weeping and wiping her tears.

I then began to talk to her about the primary significance of Passover.

“You know, Sylvia, it’s not just about the Seder.  It’s about the fact that the deliverance of our people was real. Consider what the God of Israel required for such deliverance and for the sparing of the firstborn son of each family…blood upon the door!  He said, “‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments–I am the LORD.  ‘The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Ex. 12:12-13)

We decided to exchange phone numbers.  I happened to have some literature in my purse entitled, “How would you recognize the Messiah?”  The graphics on it showed a large fingerprint, for indeed there are many clues in the Hebrew Scriptures describing the Messiah’s birth, life, purpose, death, burial, resurrection.

Sylvia then said two things that startled me.  She asked, “Have you ever read the Zion Chronicles?”

I replied, “Oh, the historical novel series by Bodie Thoene?  No, but I bought one of those books as a gift for someone.  I know they cover the period from WWII to the establishment of the modern State of Israel.”

Sylvia, amazed that I had heard of the series, said these words:  “Well, I read all of them.  Afterward, I was thinking of converting.”  Those were her words!  Implied in the word “converting” was her impression that she had to leave her Jewish heritage and adopt a new one.  The Biblical usage of the term, “to convert” really means “repent” ( “t’shuvah (Biblical Hebrew–’to literally turn around’).  It applies to both Jewish people and Gentiles, for all people need to have a change of heart with respect to who the Messiah is;  and how they can become rightly related to a Holy God.  As God Himself has said through the Prophet Isaiah:

“Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the LORD,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:7)

So, though Sylvia obviously thought she would have to switch “religions”, actually she needed to discover that the “converting” she considered is actually the universal need for rebellious mankind to “turn” from their wicked, sinful ways, and “return” to a Holy, sinless God, and receive salvation through the precious, sacrificial blood of the pure and spotless Lamb of God — the Messiah of both Israel and the whole world.

To my surprise, she then added, “And who is this pastor…?”  She couldn’t remember his name.
I suggested she might be speaking of the very pro-Israel Pastor John Hagee.

“Yes, that’s him!”, she exclaimed.  “My husband and I watch him every week!”

Well, the ground of her heart was prepared.  I told her, “You weren’t able to have a seder tonight, but God sent a Jewish believer in Messiah to tell you about The Passover Lamb.  Do you know that Yeshua of Nazareth was called the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and The Passover Lamb in the New Testament ( 1 Corinthians 5: 7)?

She did not.  I explained the prophetic significance, how the blood on the door of the Israelites’ homes protecting their firstborn sons relates prophetically to the blood of Messiah protecting us from the consequence of our sin — eternal separation from the Holy One of Israel.

She understood.  She was smiling.

She remarked, “This is amazing.  I was crying before, but now I am not sad anymore.  Thank you.”

I told her, “Don’t thank me, thank the One who arranged this meeting, knowing your loneliness, sadness and frustration…He’s the same one that planned the deliverance of the Israelites, and whose eye has been upon you, and who has sought to comfort and encourage you with His personal love.”

We planned to get together before she returned to her country.  I thought I would simply give her some of my Prophetic Prints and that we would chat for ten minutes.

We met the next weekend.  I brought an Isaiah chapter 53 print, matted in her favorite color – blue, and these other prints:  “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit.“  (Psalm 34:18), “A Father of the fatherless is God in His holy habitation.” (Psalm 68:5).  The latter print was particularly appropriate for her husband, about whom she had previously spoken.

“My husband lost his dad during the Holocaust.  His father was killed by the Nazis.  When my husband was thirteen, he was forced to board a cattle car to Auschwicz.  Someone told him and his family to move to the last car.  When the train pulled out, the last car remained; someone had detached it from the rest of the train!!

Then Sylvia continued, “I was three when my father died.  My mom was left to raise many children alone.”

So the print was obviously appropriate.

The ten minute conversation turned into two and a half hours, as we sat on the bench outside the grocery store where we had originally met.  She shared her amazing history.  She grew up in a place where I did not even think any Jewish people lived.  Her family was part of a small, thriving Jewish community there.  I also learned that her mother and my grandmother were from the same city in Eastern Europe.  Her history was richly woven, with much pain and much blessing.  There was interaction between her family and the non-Jewish neighbors.  After her mother had been orphaned, a little non-Jewish girl had compassion on her; upon seeing her difficult situation, she loaned Sylvia’s mom her school books overnight.  The two remained friends into their eighties.  The woman’s son later became famous in that country.

I also learned that Sylvia had been a scientist. A searching one at that!

Finally, she wanted to know how I prayed.  I found this interesting.

“Do you just pray the Shema?”  (“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” – Deut. 6:4), she inquired.

I explained the life of prayer. I don’t pray rote prayers.  I talk with Abba, the Heavenly Father.  I pour out my heart to Him about everything and anything…at any time, in any place!

Then we got back to the Passover.

“Sylvia, remember we spoke about the Passover lamb’s blood protecting the Israelite firstborn son?  Eternal life depends on believing what THE Passover Lamb did for you two thousand years ago on the tree (1 Peter 1:17-20; 2:24).  Even as it says in Exodus 13:8, “You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt‘.”

“Would you like to receive Him now?”

“I’m not ready.”

“I respect that.”

It turns out she just thought of sin as the biggies:  Murder, adultery, theft–which she had not committed.  She did not understand that we are accountable for sins of the spirit:  Hatred, coveting, bitterness, etc.  If we don’t see that we have the sickness of sin, we certainly won’t seek to have the Great Physician’s remedy for this sickness.  In other words, why seek a savior if we don’t think we need to be delivered from anything?

Once that was explained, it seemed like a light went on.

Sylvia, our hearts lie open before Him to whom we will have to give an account (Acts 17:30-31).

“Ooooh, now I understand.”

But she was not yet ready to pray.  That’s OK, because no one can make this life changing decision for another.  We must individually understand, and be convicted of the awfulness of sin, and the awfulness of eternal separation from a Holy God.  A parent can’t do this transaction for a child, a husband can’t do this for a wife, and a friend can’t do this for a friend.

That is uniquely the role of the Ruach HaKodesh (The Holy Spirit) — to “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”  (John 16:8)

She still wanted to ponder the truths I had shared.  She mentioned her interest in the Book of Revelation, which addresses events in the last days.  I ”just so happened” to have a copy of the Book of Revelation on CD in my purse and gave it to her.  She was amazed!

We parted as friends.  Sylvia will be back here in a few months.  She volunteered her home address and phone number, and asked that we keep in touch.

I just love watching the LORD at work, drawing people to Himself…designing appointments that are so personal to the one is ordained to hear the Good News.  That’s the business He’s in!  And, the Messiah told us to pray and ask that more laborers be sent into fields (of people) to gather in the harvest.  The hour is very late.

*Image courtesy of datafox from Wikipedia Commons. Image was resized to 250×300 pixels.

When I mention “Ethiopian”, those of you who are familiar with Scripture probably think of the apostle Philip’s encounter with an Ethiopian eunuch, as recorded in the New Testament Book of Acts, chapter eight verses 25-39.

There we read how an angel dispatched Philip to a desert road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza, where he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians.  This man was in charge of all her treasure. On his return from Jerusalem, where he had come to worship, the eunuch was sitting in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah.  His exposure to the God of Israel undoubtedly stemmed from the influence of the Queen of Sheba, who, more than a millennium before, had brought back the wisdom of Solomon and the knowledge of the Holy One of Israel to Ethiopia!  Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go up and join this chariot.” 

Philip heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
And he said, “Well, how could I unless someone guides me?  And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this:

“He was led as a sheep to slaughter;
And as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he does not open His mouth.
He was humiliated and denied justice.
Who will tell about his descendants,
Since his life has been taken from the earth?” (Isaiah 53 verse 7)

The eunuch asked Philip the same question that has been debated for two thousand years: …”Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this?  Of himself or of someone else?

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Yeshua to him.”

The eunuch believed.  Then they traveled a short distance together and the eunuch saw water — remember, they were on a desert road. “Look, water!  What prevents me from being baptized (mikvahed).  Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

This eunuch who was in charge of a queen’s treasure, was now in possession of a better treasure–He had found the Messiah, the King of the whole earth.  Thus, the Gospel went to Africa through this man!

But who is the other Ethiopian mentioned in Scripture in conjunction with a Jewish king?

He’s a man named Ebed-melech, which in Hebrew means ’servant of a king’.  We meet this amazing man in Jeremiah chapter 38, verse seven.

The context is that the Kingdom of Judah and her king, Zedekiah, were facing judgment because of idolatry and evil.  The prophet Jeremiah prophesied that the LORD would give the city of Jerusalem into the hand of the Babylonian army, and the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar.

Zedekiah’s officials told him to put Jeremiah to death because they believed Jeremiah was discouraging the people by his words of warning.  Zedekiah relinquishes responsibility and tells the officials, “Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you.”  (Jeremiah Chapter 38, verse 5) The officials then cast Jeremiah into a cistern.  There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

BUT Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch, while in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern.  Ebed-melech went to where the king was, outside the palace and boldly said, “My lord, the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the cistern; and he will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.” (verse 9)  The king responded and commanded Ebed-melech to take thirty men under his authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet form the cistern before he died.

Ebed-melech took the men, worn out clothes and rags. He told Jeremiah to put the clothes and rags under his armpits.  Jeremiah does so, and they pulled him up with the ropes.

Then the city of Jerusalem was captured.  On the ninth of Av (4th month; approx. August), the city wall was breached.  The Chaldeans (Babylonians) burned the king’s palace and the houses of the people; they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.  The king’s sons were killed and Zedekiah was bound in fetters of bronze.

Amazingly, Nebuchadnezzar gave orders about Jeremiah:  “Take him and look after him, and do nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.”  (Jeremiah chapter 39, verse 12)

Now Jeremiah gets a specific word for the Ethiopian eunuch!

“Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD (Yahveh) of Hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold I am about to bring My words on this city for disaster and not for prosperity; and they will take place before you on that day.  “But I will deliver you on that day,” declares the LORD, “and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread.  “For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me,” declares the LORD.’”  (Jeremiah chapter 39, verses 16-18)

What we can learn from this Ethiopian Eunuch’s life:

1. The BOLDNESS  an obscure servant had to speak to a wicked king, because he knew what was right, did not go unrecognized by the LORD (or the king).
2. The Ethiopian’s TRUST in Yahveh (The LORD) in grave circumstances did not go unnoticed by the LORD.  The LORD sees when you trust Him in difficulty!
3. As a result of his trust in Yahveh, he was given a special prophetic word of encouragement and hope to assuage his fears.

In these difficult days of shifting sand (economically, politically, etc.), we must have the wisdom and boldness of Ebed-melech.  We must stand for what is right, even if it means speaking to those who are opening the door to destruction. The LORD knows who are His:  “For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

Isaiah the Prophet declares in chapter 56 verses 3-5:  “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from His people.  Neither let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

For thus says the LORD, “To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will
give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.”

The Scriptures have indeed memorialized these men to vast numbers of people throughout the world over the past 2,000 years.

Here’s the result of the faith of two Ethiopian eunuchs:  One brought the Gospel to Africa; the other saved a major prophet’s life…a prophet that still speaks in 2009!

Never think your acts of faith and obedience are insignificant.  They can yield fruit and have far reaching powerful, amazing consequences–even spanning many generations.