V RaptureChrist Newsletter
April 1, 2005

Yesterday, as I was passing by, on the side of an old abandoned warehouse in huge letters about seven feet tall, I saw "John 3:16."

What could motivate a young man to paint this Bible verse? 

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so than anyone exercising faith in Him might not be destroyed, but have eternal life.

God sacrificed His son for us, so we might gain eternal life. Jesus/Yeshua's sacrifice will be remembered again this year on the night of April 23, 2005 during the feast of Passover. 

1 Corinthians 11:23-26
For I received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night in which he was betrayed took bread. When he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "Take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME." In the same way he also took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. DO THIS, as often as you drink, IN MEMORY OF ME." For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. 

God commands us to observe this feast. In fact, He says:

Exodus 12:14-17
“Keep, then this custom of the unleavened bread. Since it was in this very day that I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt, you must celebrate this day through out your generations as a perpetual institution”

When the people of Israel left Egypt during the Exodus they fled so quickly that they did not have time to let the bread rise, so they ate unleavened bread for seven days. This unleavened bread symbolized the sinless staff of life which whoever eats of it will gain eternal life, and pointed to the fulfillment of this feast of unleavened bread with Yeshua's sacrifice.  See Significance of the Holy Days. 

Christ is the bread of life for us. So we celebrate His sacrifice by eating unleavened bread (symbolizing the sinless Christ) and drinking wine (symbolizing the blood He shed for us on the cross) when the feast of Passover comes each year..

While we may speculate as to why the graffiti was painted, the message is eternal. Perhaps it was due to the death of Pope John Paul II which reminds us that death is the common lot of all humanity and that our only hope for salvation is Jesus Christ.

This graffiti helped bring home the message that the sacrifice of Christ is for all people and the location of the graffiti, in a humble industrial district, reminded me that Christ chose common fishermen to send out His message, not the learned scribes and Pharisees of His day.

1 Corinthians 1:27
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

We often ask ourselves why a just man had to die on behalf of those who are unjust - and such a terrible death as the cross. It was a horrible way to die, but without this payment, we are all condemned to death. But why?

Our parent Adam in the Garden of Eden was told by God:

Genesis 2:16-17
Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die."

Adam disobeyed God and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If Adam and his wife Eve had chosen instead to eat from the Tree of Life, they would have lived and still be alive today. We are all now condemned to death, because the penalty for sin is death.

Romans 5:10-12
For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by His life. Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Therefore, as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned.

Yeshua came so that we might have life. He is the bread of life come down from heaven. 

John 6:32-35
Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world." Then they said to Him, "Lord, always give us this bread." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."

Some teach that we do not die but live forever in another place. This is a lie from the Devil.

Genesis 3:1-4
Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Yes, has God said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'" The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'". The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die,"

Eve died and all her children died, but the Devil still continues to preach this lie.

We all die, and the dead are dead, not in some other dimension. They are waiting to be resurrected back to life.

Acts 24:15
having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. 

God tells us that all will be resurrected both evil and good.

John 5:29
and will come forth; those who DID THE GOOD DEEDS to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

Let us do good deeds according to His commandments, knowing that our past sins have been blotted out by our  Messiah's sacrifice..