Today is Day #33, which is a very special day of Counting the Omer. In Jewish tradition, the 50 days of Omer counting is a time of semi-mourning except for Day#33. The reason why Day #33 is considered a day of "sadness interruption" has been obscured over time. However, Day #33 is traditionally recognized as the day when a horrible plague, which killed thousands of Jews, finally ceased. According to medieval history, this day (now known as Lag B'omer) became a happy day that interrupted the sadness of the Omer period for 24 hours. Lag is comprised of the Hebrew letters "lamed" and "gimel" which have a numerical gematria value of
33. Thus, the name "Lag B'omer" literally means the
33rd day of the Omer. How perfectly appropriate this story is today during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Christian tradition, it is well accepted that Jesus was crucified at age
33.
While this was, of course, a time of deep sadness for the disciples, it was also actually the greatest event in the history of mankind to stop the plague of sin. Thus,
33 signifies a dark time...a time of death, a dark tomb BUT also signifying great life potential. Think of Day #33 as the time of burying a seed in the ground before it sprouts.
Few people recognize that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus WHILE IT WAS STILL DARK. Most people think of Jesus rising on "Easter morning"...but scripture tells us He was already risen in the darkness!
Now the first day of the week [SUNDAY] Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, WHILE IT WAS STILL DARK, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
~ John 20:1 (NKJV, emphasis added)
Remember, it is darkest just before dawn. Thus, when Mary arrived on that Sunday morning,
Jesus was already risen and the tomb was empty. This could indicate that Jesus was resurrected on the Sabbath (Saturday) which actually makes excellent theological sense. The Sabbath represents REST. Jesus is our SABBATH REST. The seventh day means COMPLETION. Mission accomplished. Thank you, Yeshua!
If we contemplate our own death, most people would find that "dark" and depressing. However, scripture teaches us to number our days aright.
So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.
~ Psalm 90:12
It further tells us that we are like a puff of smoke or a vapor.
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears f
or a little while and then vanishes.
~ James 4:14
Repeatedly, Holy Scripture reminds us to focus on the BREVITY of this life.
LORD, make me to know my end,
And what is the measure of my days,
That I may know how frail I am.
~ Psalm 39:4 (NKJV)
Atheists, on the other hand, focus on this life as all that there is. Statistics and polls show that the number of people claiming to be atheist keeps increasing each year. Recent books written on this topic have become best-sellers.
Now, I've always had a difficult time understanding Atheism. Even if someone is not very spiritually minded, it takes a huge amount of faith to look at the precision orderliness of the universe and make the mental leap to a conclusion of random development. It's like throwing a handful of metals and materials against the wall and then expecting to create a precision Swiss watch. No matter how many trillions of times you do it--plain common sense says it just won't happen! Maybe that's why the Bible wastes precious little breath on Atheists. In fact, there is only ONE statement in the Bible to address this idiocy:
The fool hath said in his heart, "There is no God."
It is stated twice in scripture perhaps for double emphasis on the ridiculousness of this position. (Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1). Apparently, from God's perspective, it's such a ludicrous thought that no further explanation is necessary. Atheists can go back to their random development theory of the Swiss precision watch. We'll see you in Infinity...or not.
In the well-known poem by Dylan Thomas, the first stanza states:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
At the root of an Atheist's angst lies a deep anguish over the realization that, sooner or later, despite their self-proclaimed "superior intellect," they too must face Death. They are not going "gently into that good night" but instead "rage, rage against the dying of the light" kicking and screaming the whole way.
One of the most famous Atheists, Christopher Hitchens, wrote obsessively about poet Dylan Thomas. Apparently, Hitchens also experienced this "raging against the dying of the light". He ultimately got esophageal cancer, lost his voice and died a premature death in 2011. He wrote a book entitled "Mortality" which documented his cancer struggle. It is interesting that his own mortality was the most important topic foremost on his mind at the end of his life. Why, as an Atheist, would he even care about his mortality or think others would bother to read about it? Based on his own philosophy, Death should have been a welcome and pleasant rest for him.
You see, Death is the great equalizer and at the core of an Atheist's soul (although they don't believe that they actually have one), they truly think that they are smarter and better than everyone else. The Atheistic movement even arrogantly calls its members the "Brights." Since, they believe they are smarter than others, it PAINS them deeply that their own "brilliant" doctrine requires that they will ultimately cease to exist. This, in their thought process, is simply NOT FAIR. Even their clouded minds recognize that "ceasing to exist" is not a natural state for the complexity of mankind created with a body, mind and soul. Only when we understand that we are spiritual beings, do we recognize this normal longing for significance and meaning. Animals don't wake up every morning wondering if their life will make an impact on the world or where they end up in the afterlife. There is only ONE common thread found in EVERY culture ever studied through archaeology, anthropology, cave drawings, manuscripts, art, etc. and that is:
BELIEF IN A HIGHER POWER
It's pre-programmed into our DNA. When we look into the mirror of our souls and minds, we clearly see the unmistakable fingerprint of our Creator.
We find that one of the common tenets of Atheism is an obsession with Earth preservation, or as I like to ironically point out: "Creation Worship." According to many Atheists, "surplus" people are wasting precious resources from their Mother Earth. Look no further than global warming protestors, animal activists or the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) to see an ugly close-up of this unfettered anger. They save chickens and hug trees with aggressive activism, yet the slaughter of millions of humans doesn't rate a blip on their radar screen. In fact, they welcome it. Scratch the surface of every Atheistic society and you will always find approval of mass genocide. This position is actually a logical result of Atheism. It makes perfect humanistic sense if you believe there is no God or afterlife. Since this temporal life is all that they have to look forward to, any desecration of their ONLY EXISTENCE causes uncontrolled fury!
For God's sake (oops, they mean for Pete's sake), this is their only home so don't you dare mess with it!
So, the biblical statement that reminds us: "our days are numbered" is either very ominous sounding (to the atheists) or a great and wonderful promise to God's People. God numbers the very hairs on our head.
And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
~ Matthew 10:30
He knows every single day of our life beforehand.
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.
~ Psalm 139: 16
When we are in a dark place, we look onward to the dawning of that new eternal day. This is how the First Century Church was able to praise Him in the prison cells, in their crucifixions, in their dark times of persecution. If this life is all there is, then even scripture tells us, we do indeed have a right to be depressed!
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
~ 1 Corinthians 15:19 (KJV)
But Praise God Yeshua has risen from the dead so that we also may experience life after death!
But now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. ~ 1 Corinthians 15:20
Despite all their talk about an organized and polite society without requiring God's Laws, Atheists actually promote that we are no different than creatures in the animal kingdom. But the one major rule of the animal kingdom is "kill or be killed." In that respect, the animal kingdom is much more honest than an Atheist's supposed utopian God-less fantasy. Animals openly structure their lives around territorial prowess, limited resources, random mating and survival of the fittest.
So, when we come to think of it, Atheism, which says we are no different than other creatures on the planet, is becoming fully actualized in the current state of Western Civilization. Our nations have now become fixated on a death culture, random sexual matings, no particular moral code and a constant state of territorial combat.
It becomes quite clear that without a belief in the One True Almighty God...
we become like animals.
Prayer:
