With Desire Christ Anticipated the Passover

I'm going to go by quick.

Well, as we've heard many times, and we've got it in the forefront of our minds, that Passover is approaching. And preparing and thinking and all the preparation that goes on, sometimes it's crossed my mind, what is our attitude towards this solemn annual event? And we can think about what is it, what should it be? Part of the reason I thought of this is, you know, there have been times in the past, mostly fairly far back in the past, when I was a bit younger, when I wasn't as enthusiastic, probably as I should have been or as I thought I should be.

You know, when I think about it, it's like, okay, Passover's coming. You know, before that, I've got to get the leaven out. You know, there's never enough time, you know, you're doing that and you make a mess in the house. Then there's pre-Passover trials, whatever they might be. You know, you don't get hit every year, but it's fairly common. And so, as I say, you're thinking, boy, if I've got to go through this every year or however so often do I really want to Passover. And then there's that issue of examining yourself. Now, I'm more clear on this, I think, than I was, but when I was younger, I sometimes felt like there was an implication that I wasn't doing enough.

If I didn't, you know, I wasn't digging down deep enough, if I didn't feel just torn up and hate myself, and then later feel this rejuvenation and great feeling. Now, sometimes you do have that, but I realize there will be some years when you examine yourself and say, yeah, I'm not perfect, but maybe I'm a little further down the road than I was.

And that's a good thing. And I wanted to make it clear, looking back at the times where I wasn't so sure, I thought, man, I must not be good at examining myself, and I was getting tired of hearing that I had to examine myself. I don't think it was ever one in the ministry's intention to make me feel that way. And it's certainly not my intention to make anyone here feel that way. We examine ourselves, you don't examine someone else or anything like that. But although Passover's a serious occasion, it's solemn, it's not meant to be something that we dread.

We shouldn't be thinking, oh, no, Passover's coming. It shouldn't even be something that we only put up with. Thinking about Passover's real meaning should leave us with anticipation and even a joy. And I know most of you probably, you know that feeling also, where you come in and it's solemn and things are serious, but also you have that inner joy of thinking about what it means.

So with that in mind, I want to talk about what our attitude is and perhaps can be towards the Passover. Now, we can learn a lot by first looking at Jesus Christ's attitude. What was His attitude? Along those lines, let's look at the passage of Scripture that first set me on this line of thought. It's Luke 22 and verse 15. Luke 22 and verse 15. I've come to learn that sometimes just reading one Scripture a certain way that you hadn't thought of before can trigger an entire sermon like this one did.

Now, I know, of course, this is in the section where Jesus had already sent two of the disciples to go into town to get ready. And there's a long story. You'll see a man carrying a pitcher and follow him and say to the person that owns a house, you know, that my time is at hand or the Master says my time is at hand.

He'll show you the room, get it all ready. And now we come to the fact that the time comes. Oh, okay. I was looking through. Sorry, I looked at the wrong verse and said, that's not what I wanted to say. Here we go. Luke 22 and verse 15. He sits down with the disciples and he says, I'm reading the New King, James. He says, with fervent desire, I've desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Now, the Old King James just, that one of the reasons it struck me, he says, with desire, I've desired to keep this Passover.

And it sounds almost redundant in a way it is. I wanted to know what this meant and I looked up to Greek. It turns out it's the same word both times for desire. With desire or with fervent desire, I've desired to keep this Passover.

The Greek word was epithelia, epithelia, which means a longing. It can be translated well, desire, but it's more like a craving, something you really, really want. Matter of fact, the meaning, it's such a strong desire that most often in the King James and even the New King James, it's translated into the English word for lust. Now, Jesus never felt a wrong lust. We know he never sinned.

I think the reason it's used, it's sort of, if you have the Old King James when you read in Deuteronomy, and it talks about going to the Feast of Tabernacles, you know, get your second tithe and go to the place where the Lord puts His name and spend it on. And the Old King James says, whatever your soul lusts after, and we've always said, well, it's not what you lust after, it's what you earnestly desire.

That's the meaning, and that's what Christ meant here. He had an earnest desire for this Passover. Jesus had strong feelings. And I thought, to understand that, first of all, let's look at some of the other places where this phrase is used. Does that convey what we want? If we go back to Matthew 13, we'll see. Matthew 13, verse 17. We're going to follow this thread to sort of get a feeling or an understanding of how strong this longing and craving was.

Matthew 13, verse 17, in Christ's teaching, He brings something out about the prophets of the Old Testament. He says, for assuredly I say to you, many prophets and righteous men desired the epithelia to see what you see and didn't see it, to hear what you hear and they didn't hear it. So He was saying a lot of those prophets in the Old Testament, they had a strong desire to understand, to know the things that you and I are able to know.

Well, that made me think, the one that I think there's a good example to express that is in the book of Daniel. Let's go to Daniel, chapter 9. We'll see that Daniel had that longing, that epithelia. Now, of course, Daniel was written in mostly Hebrew with a little bit of Aramaic in it, so I'm not following up on the same word, but I think we'll get a feeling for how much he really wanted to understand. He had that deep desire. Daniel 9, we're going to begin in verse 1.

And here Daniel starts calling out to God to give him understanding of something. He says, this is in the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, or however you say that, of the lineage of the Medes, and he was made king over the Rome of Chaldeans. He says, in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah. So I understood some, that's Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

So he said, I read in Jeremiah, solve this, but you'll see that Daniel didn't quite know how to understand it or how to interpret it. So it says in verse 3, Then I set my face towards the Lord God to make requests by prayer and supplications with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Eternal my God, and I made confession, and I said, O Lord, great and awesome, God who keeps his covenant and mercy with those who love him, with those who keep his commandments.

So he begins this prayer, and I want to skip ahead to verse 18.

We'll read 18 and 19 to see how strongly Daniel had this feeling. As he's wrapping up this prayer, he says, O God, incline your ear and hear, open your eyes, and see our desolations in the city which is called by your name. For we do not present our supplications before you because of our righteous deeds, but because of your great mercies.

O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, listen and act. Do not delay for your own sake, my God. For your city and your people are called by your name.

See, you can almost... I'm trying to put the expression into it, but I imagine Daniel was saying it even more strongly. He had this, as Christ said, many prophets desired to know the things that you know and to understand. And we see that in Daniel.

What's interesting is after this heartfelt prayer, even when God sent an angel to reveal to Daniel, he still ended up wondering... if we flip over to chapter 12.

Chapter 12 and verse 8, we'll see... this explains where Christ said a lot of them desired to understand, but they didn't. It wasn't time yet.

In Daniel 12 and verse 8, he says, Although I heard, I did not understand. And I said, my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.

Now, this whole story isn't related to the Passover in particular, but for me, as I looked at that, it gave me more of that gut feeling of what it means to really have that longing, that desire. And if I transfer that to the way Christ felt when he was sitting down with his disciples, he said, with fervent desire, I've wanted to keep this Passover.

Let's look at one other case. If we turn to 1 Peter, 1 Peter will look in chapter 1.

To start off to establish this, I was looking for places where the same Greek word was used, not meaning lost in a wrong way. And I found a few that I think convey some of that.

1 Peter 1 and verse 12. It's a similar case, but this time not with prophets.

Although Peter starts off, he's writing about prophets who were writing to serve us. And that's who it means when it says, to them. It means that the prophets of the Old Testament. To them it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. And then he says this, things which angels desire to look into. That is that same Greek word again, that epithelia. That struck me, that the angels have had the strong desire to know the things that we can know. Sort of as Daniel was expressing that strong desire, saying, God, please hear me, please open my mind to understand.

This sort of indicates that the angels have been around for longer probably than we can imagine. And they became aware that God had a plan. He created this earth and he put mankind in it. It seems that there were times when they were looking, saying, what are you going to do? How is this going to work out? They really wanted to know. They had this deep longing.

Now we're blessed that we can know. But let's consider, let's think, keep in mind that feeling. What a strong meaning is inherent when Jesus said that with desire, I've desired to keep this Passover with you.

It was a strong emotional drive.

But for what in particular?

Well, in studying it, I think we can attach that desire to two things in particular. One, of course, was time with his closest friends on earth.

This was going to be their last night together.

And when you think, they'd spent three and a half years of Christ's ministry. And they were together almost day and night.

They traveled. They woke up in the morning and they traveled. They walked over the dusty roads. Many times they probably set up camp. Now, much of the time was spent with Jesus teaching them and explaining them things they should know. There were probably times they sat around the campfire enjoying their food and telling stories, perhaps jokes. It wasn't just passing time, though. They had a mission. These disciples came to know that Jesus was the Messiah.

And they thought of themselves as on the ground floor of a movement that would change the world. There was a booklet that one of the ministers in the church wrote years ago, I think, that referred to them as revolutionaries. They were the young men who were on fire for what they were going to do. And Jesus was part of that. He was excited about what was going to happen.

And with all that they experienced, they came to love each other. And the way that only men who share this... Maybe not only men, but women, too, who share that kind of experience. They say that soldiers in the field developed this attachment to each other. And that's one of the main reasons they're willing to go and face death in battle. Not always for their country or for the leaders, the politicians at home, but for each other. Because they're in it together.

And so that night was their last chance to have that special time together. Jesus wanted to have it. He was desirous of that fellowship and that company.

As a matter of fact, when I was thinking of a modern example, soldiers were what comes to mind. When a family has a member... Say the man of the house is in the reserve or he's a full-time soldier. When they get the word, you're going to be deployed. You're going to go over to Afghanistan or Iraq. They want to spend as much time together as possible beforehand. And then when he's gone, they have that longing to spend time together.

Now, it brought to mind, I've seen a commercial on television. And I honestly, I've been thinking about it. I can't remember what it was advertising. It might have been a phone service or a computer because it shows a soldier, a U.S. soldier in the Middle East, probably Afghanistan. And he's able to sit before a screen and talk to his wife. And it shows her talking to him. And then at the end of the commercial, there's a split screen. And he's here talking to her. She's here talking to him. And he puts up his hand. And she puts up her hand. And you've seen that. And they're longing to be together. And it looks like they are, but of course they're half a world apart. But to me, that brought up some of that emotion. Jesus said, I'm desiring to spend this time with you.

I think that summarizes some of it, but there's much more. And that's the second thing that I want to attach that desire that Jesus was expressing.

He desired to eat the Passover, he said, before he suffered. It wasn't just that, hey, I want to have a good time together. We're going to spend this time. It was what was about to happen afterwards that made it so special. Why was it such a special night? Now, the disciples didn't understand. That's probably why they didn't feel that same desire to be together. But Jesus did. He had a strong desire to spend that Passover with them before he suffered.

Adam Clark's commentary of the Bible cast some light on that for me. For one thing, it said that particular phrase, with desire I've desired. He said, in Hebrew, that's an idiom that expresses all the feelings I've been trying to describe, how that strong emotional tie. And he explained why Jesus used it here. Let me just read it to you. It says, having purposed to redeem a lost world by his blood, Jesus ardently longed for the time when he was to offer himself up, because of the great love he had for the human race. So Jesus' desire wasn't just for the time with those men, but he was longing for completing his mission, his purpose for coming in the flesh. As I said, Jesus wasn't just concerned with having a fun time that night. He was focused on what was going to happen. This great, meaningful act of love. Let's go to the book of Romans, chapter 5, to see that described.

Now, you might notice, not only here, but throughout the sermon, some of the same scriptures come up that I've been using the last couple weeks, but that's because they say what we want to say. Romans 5, and we'll begin in verse 6.

For when we were still without strength, and due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than having been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, reconciled to God by the death of his Son. Much more having been reconciled will be saved by his life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received the reconciliation.

Now, it's a big concept. As I said before, that's the heart of Christianity. That Jesus died in our place. And Mr. Bledsoe summed it up very well in the sermonette. That's the heart of what we're looking at, and that's why it's so important for us to review this. And he did it, though, so we could be part of God's family. It occurred to me it must have meant a lot to Jesus in the flesh to have finally reached that point. If you think back to the last kingdom of God seminar we had, one of the major points of that was that he was portrayed as the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the earth.

We don't have to go there, but it says it in Revelation 13, verse 8. Showing that, as I said, referring to the angels. God had this plan in place from the beginning. From the very start we're going to create mankind, and the one who was then known as the Word was going to be slain.

And then there are prophecies throughout the Old Testament, looking ahead thousands of years. And so that when Jesus started his ministry, of course we read in Mark 1, verse 14, he said, the time is at hand. How long he'd been looking forward to it. So he was excited. Now the time is finally at hand. But that was three and a half years before this point. Just think how much more, when the great act is only hours away, then the most important thing in human history since creation was about to happen.

Now the time really is at hand. And Jesus desired it. The time is at hand. He's on the verge. He really wanted it to happen. Now we can probably relate to at least that feeling in some ways. When you've been preparing and planning for something and you just want to get into it, I think of that whenever I'm scheduled to speak. When I've prepared a sermon.

Now, you remember back in the old spokesman's club, if you ever get called on for an impromptu, you weren't so desirous of that. But when you've prepared and planned and perhaps rehearsed, you want to get there. I think that sometimes during the song, before the sermon, it's like, okay, I'm ready. It makes me think of a friend of mine, a scholar who does historical portrayals. He's worked in our shiitaka program. Very good. He's a good scholar and a good actor.

But it's amazing, even though he knows he's good and he rehearses and he prepares, in the time leading up to when he's going to go on stage, he gets real. He's just antsy. It's when he goes to about a half a bottle of Pepto Bismol because his stomach's churning. But I remember once I was operating the sound for the whole production, and so it was my job. I put the mic on him and later he's waiting in the wings.

And we always have local dignitaries get up there and say things. And I saw my friend, he's back there, and he says, I wish he'd just shut up. I want to get on. He was ready to go. He was desirous. We think of that. Think of the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, we're looking ahead six months, but the brochure is coming out. And as I said the last couple of days, Sue and I have been looking at sites and making decisions, and it's easy to have that anticipation. Once you've done the preparation and planning, you want to go. What about the Day of Atonement? Do you feel that kind of anticipation?

Maybe not in the same way, and maybe it's different for all of you, but I have to say, for me, anytime I'm going to fast, I look forward to it with dread. But what's interesting is when it finally starts, the night that starts at Atonement, the sun goes down, I have sort of a feeling of relief, because now it's started. For me, knowing I'm going to fast is as hard as fasting itself. I'm just assumed once it's in, I don't have to feel bad about knowing I'm going to feel bad. Now I just have to feel bad for... You know what I mean. Well, like I said, maybe not the same for all of you, but I think maybe it was that way for Jesus to some degree.

He had known, as I said, for thousands, perhaps millions of years, that he was going to suffer tremendously as a sacrifice for man's sins. He was on the verge much worse than we would ever feel fasting. So no wonder when that time came, he might have felt some relief. Let's look at the book of Luke 12.

And verse 49, I think, might... It gives some indication of how he was feeling, I think. Because after you get past the difficult stuff, it's mostly good laying ahead. I'll confess, I added this to my sermon notes later. I came across it. I said, this summarizes what I was trying to express here. Here Jesus is in the middle of his teaching.

He says, I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled. I don't think it's not that he wanted to burn up the earth, but it's going to happen. I wish it were started. He says, but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it's accomplished.

How much he had that desire to be on with it to accomplish it. Now, one more perhaps weak comparison, because I don't want to compare anything I've done to what Jesus went through in the suffering and crucifixion. But I've trained for and run a number of marathon races. It's something I love and hate at the same time. When I've been training, I look forward to it, and I'm anticipating it's going to be great, but I also dread it.

Then on the morning of the race, I've run the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati a couple of times. You have to gather early, because thousands of people are there.

They start the race at like 7 o'clock, so you're getting there, and it's often still dark, and it's starting to get light, and you're packed into the street. You know what's going to happen, and about 4 or 5 hours ahead, there's going to be fun times, it's going to be exciting, but you're going to feel a special kind of pain that doesn't come any other way.

I'm looking forward to the finish, but as I'm there, you're not going to back out. You want to get there, and I have a fervent desire for that starter's pistol to sound. And that's what I think perhaps that's some of what Jesus was feeling, when he said, with desire, I've desired to have this passover with you. He wanted the starter's pistol to sound. But I'm focusing here mostly on just the physical thing he was going to experience, at least when I compare it to running the race. He wasn't just looking forward to having conquered a physical, mental, and emotional ordeal, but he was looking forward to what he was going to achieve.

He was going to achieve something amazing. The greatest thing ever, which we read about in Romans 5, the reconciliation of mankind with God. From the time of Adam and Eve's sin, ever up until that point, man has been at odds with God. We sin, and sin separates us from God. All of us have sinned.

But Jesus had a fervent desire to end that estrangement. Now, that's something we probably also can relate to on a smaller scale. Most of us have been in a situation where, say, a friend or a family member has done something wrong. There's a dispute between us, and you know that he or she is in the wrong. But you don't want there to be a gap between us, or between you. You want to repair the relationship. But at the same time, you know when you finally confront each other, it's going to be difficult.

So if you're like me, sometimes you've avoided people. Because you know how difficult it's going to be. Maybe you're wimped out like I have. But when it finally comes, say he comes to you and he says, look, I need to apologize. I don't want this between us. How happy are you to have that happen? Imagine, that's probably a very small taste of the way God feels for us and certainly felt at that point.

The sacrifice of Jesus Christ was going to make possible human reconciliation with God. No wonder Jesus had a fervent desire for it. We know, and I don't want to discount later, we know that in the garden, He would pray, Father, if it's possible, take this cup from me. He wasn't fervently desiring the suffering, but He wanted it so bad that He also then would say, nevertheless, Father, not my will, but Your will be done.

Jesus had a strong, fervent emotional longing and desire that night. He wanted to have that special time with His close friends and companions. He wanted to proceed to the great task for which He'd been waiting and preparing. And He wanted to achieve the most wonderful thing that would be done since the creation of mankind in the first place. So Jesus desired the Passover. How about you and me? Well, we should desire the Passover, but I suspect that for most of us, I think about how we should feel.

It's easier, you know, that thing about having something between you and your friend, for me, it's easier to picture that from the side of the one who's caused the offense, the one who needs to go and apologize. You know, we've all been there. We've done something wrong, and probably more than we care to admit, and it can be tough, partly because who likes to admit that they're wrong, but also because it's rough to go to someone and say, I'm wrong, I'm sorry, because you wonder how are they going to take it.

You know, maybe He's going to be angry. Maybe He won't accept my apology. You know, I've gone to people and it's like, maybe He's going to punch me in the face. So that's when sometimes you do avoid someone. What if He yells and throws things? And then you think of your relationship with God. You might have avoided going to someone that you wanted to reconcile with and you had trouble facing that situation.

But have you ever hesitated going to God? I know I have. We shouldn't, but sometimes you think, oh, I can't believe I did that. God's going to be so disappointed. Can I go and ask Him to forgive me? And especially if you're one of those... at this particular time is when you say, I can't believe I have to go at God and ask Him to forgive me again. And you're going to have to go and say to God, I know you forgave me before.

I've done it again. Please. But you don't want to do it. It's not that you don't want to be forgiven. It's just that awkward situation. And that's the way it is. True repentance is uncomfortable. When you have to admit, I'm a sinner. As we read last week, Paul says, I know that in my flesh nothing good dwells, because I know I want to do good, but at the same time I want to sin. And I just abhor this struggle going on within me. If it's an estrangement with a friend or a family member, when you do go and apologize and you find out they really wanted you to come to them, they weren't waiting to punch you in the face, they wanted to put their arms around you and say, I'm so glad.

I want us to be together again. Well, that's the way we should look forward to going to God, because He will forgive us. He wants to. He wants to be reconciled, no matter what. Jesus said with fervent desire, I've desired this Passover. And that's because He wants us to come and ask for forgiveness.

The Father wants that. Let's go to the book of Colossians. Colossians chapter 1, and we'll begin in verse 18. Read once again more about this desire for reconciliation. Begin in verse 18, it said, He, that is Jesus Christ, is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself. So the Father wanted the reconciliation, and so, of course, Jesus Christ and His sacrifice made that possible. Whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross, and you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled. So we've been enemies, we've been separated from God, but Jesus wanted that sacrifice because He knew it would make us able to be reconciled. And so God already has that fervent desire. He wants us to have it.

He wanted it so badly He was willing to sacrifice His firstborn Son, and Jesus Christ did so willingly and with a desire, knowing how bad it would be. So why should we hesitate then? We should want the same thing. And unlike our dealings with other people where we're not sure how they'll react, with God, we know He'll forgive us. It's not a sure thing. It never fails. As a matter of fact, if we're here near the back of the Old Testament, if we look at the New Testament, we look to 1 John chapter 1. I believe we read this last week. 1 John 1 and verse 9. It says, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. As a matter of factly, if we confess and repent, He is faithful to forgive us. God is faithful. He is going to forgive us. As I said, that reconciliation is a sure thing. We don't have to think, when you are thinking, Oh, can I go to God again? Well, yeah, you can. And He knows that. He's very patient. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God wants to reconcile. Let's go back to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians 6 will begin in verse 18, which is right at the end of the chapter. And then I want to carry in to read the start of chapter 7.

It says, here, speaking of, quoting a direct quote from God, it says, I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Almighty. Going into chapter 7, Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in God. Here He's saying, we have the promise that He wants to make us His children. So, you go, Therefore, having the promises, let's go for it. Let's get in here. Let's repent. Let's be cleaned up. That's how we can look forward to the Passover and never, as I said, that sometimes we think, Oh, am I examining myself enough? Do I feel bad enough? Well, if God will let us see ourselves as we need to, and that's one of the things I've heard ministers point out in the past, where we should ask God to help us see ourselves the way He sees us. But I always like to think also of what it says in Jeremiah 24, Oh God, I know that, you know, well, I'm not going to quote it because I don't have it clear, but I always ask God, Please show me myself as much as I can handle and not anymore. And you can reveal a little more as I become more able to handle it. Hopefully, I've cleaned up some of what you showed me before.

But this shows it is humanly possible. We can have that desire. We can have that wanting to do thing, to be with God and be reconciled. Let's go to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians 1 and verse 23.

This is another one of the cases of the Apostle Paul using that Greek word, epithumea. Epithumea, that desire, longing, even a craving. And here he's applying it to himself.

And it's interesting the way he portrays this. He says, I'm hard-pressed between the two. That's between two alternatives. Having a desire to depart and be with Christ. Now, it's interesting. Having a desire, that's where that Greek word, epithumea, when he says to depart, he means to end his life. He says, I've got a desire to have the end of this physical life so I can be with Christ.

Now, how often do we feel that way? Most of us don't, which is understandable. It's built into us to have a self-preservation mechanism. We want to keep our physical life. But Paul had enough faith and enough strong desire to be with God that he said, I have that craving, that strong desire to get out of this flesh and be with Christ. But he says, nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.

So he knew that God had work for him to do, so he said, I really want to get there, but I'm willing to stick around and help you out. I'm sure, well, he doesn't say it quite like that, because as I say that, it makes it sound like he's an okay, okay, I'll stay alive for you.

But it's interesting, Paul didn't dread death. He had such faith in the resurrection and such a longing to finally be with God that he was looking forward to it.

Now, we might, as I said, not have that eager desire to reach the end of our physical life, but we can feel some of that desire to be reconciled with God. And we could focus some of that. The same desire we have to be in the kingdom of God is good to think about as we come to the Passover, and focus on desiring to take that bread and wine and know that it pictures our redemption. Now, Jesus, I want to go to another place where Jesus pointed out to his disciples that they would at times feel some of that longing, that desire.

Let's go to Luke 17. Luke 17 will read verse 22. So my son is training to take my place. So I've been saying for a year he likes to speak in services. I noticed earlier he's starting to practice to lead songs, too. He'd never done that before. So, Forrest, he's following your example. Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked here. Luke 17 and verse 22. Here in the middle of Jesus' teaching, he says something interesting to his disciples.

He says, the days will come when you will desire Epithumea to see one of the days of the Son of Man and will not see it. By Son of Man, he means himself. So he's saying, the days are coming when you're going to have this strong desire to have one of these days that we're having now.

As I said, when they were traveling around and going from place to place and sometimes hungry, because remember the time where Jesus fed the 5,000 with a couple loaves? Not a couple loaves, but before that happened, of course, people were coming and going. He said, they were so busy they didn't have time to eat. And I'll bet when they're in the middle of one of those things and they're dragging down, they're probably not thinking, boy, these are the best times of my life. They're probably thinking, I wish we could get to the end of this day.

But Jesus said, there's the times coming when you're going to desire one of these. You'll look back and miss having me here and miss all of this. Now, that same situation doesn't apply to us directly because we've never physically been with Jesus Christ in the flesh, so we don't miss that. But in a way, it might apply to us in this era because we're part of the Church as the body of Christ. And I could see a time coming when we might miss these days, the time that we have to spend with God's people, to spend with the body of Christ.

We don't know what persecutions might come where we might be scattered and not able to have these things. And we might long for the days of fellowship on the Sabbath like we have now. And of course, if you're like me, well, I shouldn't say like me, but you have days where, oh, you're over sleep and you're rushing to get to church, and it seems like you've got to take care of this or that, and you're not thinking, boy, I'm going to miss this if we don't ever have it. Now, when you don't have it, and any of you who are at home watching us on a screen are probably thinking, I know what it's like.

I wish I were there, not just on the computer. In case we have trouble picturing that, though, I thought the example of Elijah in the Old Testament came to mind. If you want to go to 1 Kings 9, I thought it was interesting that Elijah portrayed this in a way that I think summarized what I wanted to say about it. I'm sorry, 1 Kings 19, not 9. I go to this story a lot because I guess it's easy for me to draw different lessons out of it, but Elijah, of course, was God's servant in a nation that had turned away from God and was worshipping these false gods.

And so Elijah felt isolated, and finally God sent him to call out the priests of Baal, and he challenged them. Of course, they went up on the mountaintop, and each, you know, the priests of Baal called on their God, who wasn't a god, and so the sacrifice wasn't burnt up. Elijah called on the true God, who burnt up the sacrifice, but then Elijah had a letdown. And when the queen threatened to kill him, he lost heart and he fled off into the wilderness. And when he's down in the dumps, it's interesting, we'll see what he says.

1 Kings 19, beginning in verse 9. He's out there, he's in a cave, and he said, He went into a cave to spend the night in that place, and behold, the word of the eternal came to him, and said to him, What are you doing here, Elijah? And this is his answer. He says, I've been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts. For your children, for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant, and torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.

I see two things there. One, he says, I've been very zealous for the Lord God. That sounds like someone who would desire, with fervent desire, to keep the Passover and to be with God's people. And he felt isolated and alone. He said, I'm the only one left. Now, sometimes we might feel that way, that we've been cut off. But God reminded Elijah, no. Later on, he said, I've reserved 7,000 men in Israel who haven't bowed to these false gods. You're not alone.

And that's an important thing for us to remember. We're not alone physically in the flesh, and we're never cut off from God if we'll just turn to Him. If we'll accept that reconciliation that He desires. He already has the strong desire on His part. We only need to turn to Him and let that desire build up in us. Let's go to Psalm 42, before I shift gears a little bit. Psalm 42 and verse 1.

I'm very thankful, actually. I had in mind earlier when I was working on this to contact whoever... Well, it turned out to be Mr. Shoemaker. I didn't remember who was leading songs and asked if this could be sung. And I forgot to do it, and lo and behold, it was the first song we sang today. Let's read in verse 1.

That's something to strive for. To be zealous for God, for His way of life, to have that thirst inside us. That's another way to describe, perhaps, what that epithelia means. But, does it come naturally? Do you know you're going to feel that? And the answer is usually no. Well, I know it doesn't come naturally, and we're not always going to feel it.

More often than not, we don't feel that same zeal, that strong desire. And Jesus, when He was in the flesh, that last night, He said, with desire, I've desired it. Earlier, He'd said, I wish the fire were already kindled, but I don't know if He always felt it all the time. And, of course, we're human. We're flesh and blood, strongly influenced by Satan the devil. Now, we try to not be strongly influenced, but we know He influences the world. And so, that physical nature that's in us tends to push away from God. It's not natural for us to strongly desire to be reconciled to Him. And if you're like me, sometimes you look in your heart and you feel a little disappointed, that you're lacking that desire. Because we can read about it, and we can feel it at times, and we know we'd be better off if we had it. But sometimes you don't. But there's where I'd point out, that's at a good starting point to be able to get it. When you recognize that you don't have it, that's when you have a realization that there's something we need from God, but we don't have it. We need God's righteousness. We don't have it, not unless we get it from Him. We need reconciliation with God. And it's good if we can have a zeal, a desire to be with God. Now, how can we get it? How can we develop an earnest desire to reconcile with God? Well, I would say the first and most important step is to go to Him and ask Him to help you have it.

Let's look at it in the book of Acts, chapter 11.

Acts 11, and we'll read verse 18.

Now, this we're coming in near the end of a pretty long story. The story is when God first began to show that He was going to call Gentiles, non-Israelites, those who weren't Jews at that time, into His church. And now the Jews, they'd been God's chosen people, the Israelites had, and then most of Israel was in captivity and lost their identity. So those who were Jews felt even more special because they still knew who they were. And if you wanted to be among God's chosen people, you had to be circumcised and come in. You had to physically become an Israelite. God is about to show that that's not the case anymore. He was going to reveal that circumcision of the heart was the standard, which it still is for us today. So He revealed that to one of His leading apostles, Peter. And of course, you know the story. Peter's on the roof and he sees a vision of a sheep coming in with all these different animals. And the voice says, slay and eat. And he says, I don't eat any unclean animals. What God has cleansed, don't call unclean. I didn't mean to go through the whole story. So anyways, then messengers show up and say, we come to take you to Cornelius, this Roman soldier. And Peter said, well, normally I wouldn't go, but I just had a vision from God telling me not to call any man unclean. So he goes. And I always liked that part when he gets there. And I'm summarizing because I didn't have it in my notes. But he gets there and Cornelius says, oh, it's great to have you here. And Peter says, okay, I'm here. What do you want? He said, well, I was just told to bring you here and you tell something to me. So they're both kind of wondering. And suddenly the Holy Spirit comes out on those Gentiles, those non-Israelites. And they begin speaking in tongues. And Peter says, now I know what's going on. God was telling me not to call any man common, that you don't have to be an Israelite. God is calling them. Now, he says, can anybody forbid water for baptism? We've got to baptize these guys. They already have the Holy Spirit. But then he gets called into question. Other people say, what are you doing? You can't hang out and baptize Gentiles. So Peter tells them the whole story. And I'm finally coming up with the scripture I wanted to read. He tells them the whole story much better than I just did to you. But in Acts 11 and verse 18, those who hear the story say, when they heard these things, they became silent. And they probably went, hmm. And he said, well, then God is also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. God must have granted to the Gentiles repentance. And I looked at that again, and I said, well, wait a minute. It doesn't say God granted to the Gentiles forgiveness. It says he granted repentance. Now, we know repentance must come first. You repent from your sins and then you're forgiven. But it says God granted repentance. So the desire even to ask for forgiveness has to be something that starts from God. He grants you the ability to repent. We don't even have that on our own. Let's go to Romans chapter 2. I could have gone here first and saved that whole story, but I thought it was good to make that point of how, as I said, you don't even know to repent unless it starts with God's grant from God through His Spirit. Romans 2 and verse 4. Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

The goodness of God leads you to repentance. And that's, of course, before you know anything about the truth, God starts working with you by the power of His Spirit and starts leading you to where you understand enough that you do want to repent. And I'm saying this not to make us feel bad. It's like, oh, I don't even know enough to repent. But rather to make us feel good that God realizes that and He made it that way. He made us knowing we don't have the ability to repent and seek forgiveness, except that He grants it to us. And, of course, this is part of His overall plan. That's why there is going to be a resurrection for those who He did not grant that to. He has a time in mind for them and a plan that everyone will have their opportunity. And we're blessed that we have it now. We're looking forward to a better resurrection. And, of course, we have unique challenges and difficulties to get there. But knowing this, knowing that God has granted us repentance, how much more do we need to look to Him to help us to feel the desire for the reconciliation? He's the one that started it in the first place. So all the good things in our relationship with God come from Him. If we go to Ephesians 2, Ephesians 2 and verse 8. I'm not sure if this is on the memory scripture. I hope this is one of the cards, because it comes up often enough, or it's a good principle to remember. For by grace you've been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. That faith that you need, it's not something you have in yourself. You can't work it up. It's a gift from God. So He grants us repentance. He gives us the gift of knowing we need to repent. And then He gives us the faith of Jesus Christ. Now, we want to progress from there to where it's not just His faith, but it dwells in us and we adopt it and it becomes our own. But we don't work it up from ourselves. As I said, one of the reprint articles I read that Herbert Armstrong wrote years and years ago. I'm not sure why he phrased in that way. He was trying to explain the need for this. He said, Stop trying to work up faith! You have no faith! You need God's faith! He's like, hmm, He's right. He put it very bluntly, but we want that faith of Jesus Christ. That's a gift that it's nice to know. If we don't already have it, we can get it. And we don't have to physically work it up or figure out how to do it on our own. So every good gift comes from God. Let's go to Luke 11. Luke 11 and verse 13.

There we go. Luke's a long chapter. Here's another point. If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him? He'll grant us repentance. He'll give us the faith of Christ. He'll give us His Holy Spirit if we ask Him. All these good things come from Him. And of course, if you'll flip the... For me, it's a turn of the page. In Luke 12 and verse 32, He reminds us that He wants to give us the greatest gift of all. He said, Do not fear a little flock. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's God's good pleasure. He wants to give us all of this, and it starts from Him. So, I don't know if I've gone in a little bit of a circle talking about how Jesus Christ had that fervent desire, and showing how strong it was and how much we should have it, but acknowledging that sometimes we don't. But that's okay, because we can get it from the source of all good things. I mean, think of it. If you really understand it, who wouldn't fervently desire to take the Passover?

And most of us do when we think about it clearly, but every now and then there's usually some point in our lives where maybe we don't. But I've been describing a goal, and we can be there. We can have that desire. Some of us might already be there. We might be there some years and not as much others. But in any event, God is willing and able to supply what we lack and give us what we need. God is able to give us a desire to repent if we're lacking it.

And I've sometimes been in that situation where I know I need to repent, but I'm not feeling converted enough. And so I have to ask God, please grant me repentance. Help me to see how bad the sin is so I can ask you to forgive it properly. And that's one of those cases where sometimes when you least feel like going to God is when you need to the most, and He understands that. He's not going to say, you know, slap you around a little bit and say, why didn't you get here sooner? He's just going to say, I've been waiting on you. I'm so glad you're here. I desired this with a strong desire. You know, if you're having trouble asking God for His mercy, start by asking Him to give you the desire to repent. I wrote it down and I said, sometimes I felt a fervent desire to have that fervent desire. I didn't have the fervent desire, but I wished I did, and God can help us with that. It's okay. That's a good starting point because God has reached out to us. He has a fervent desire, a strong desire for us to come to Him. And once a year, we mark that in a special way, how strong His desire is, and we memorialize that. And so we want to be like Christ. As we look ahead to this coming Thursday evening, let's all have a strong desire and prepare to keep the Passover.