Passover is a celebration of the liberation of the Jewish people from tyranny and slavery in Egypt. So Passover is often described as the holiday of freedom.
Every year when we celebrate Passover we can see ourselves as metaphorically leaving ‘Egypt’, that is leaving slavery in all its forms, from tyrannical governments to our own personal slavery to our fleshly lusts and desires that are not in harmony with our Creator.
But in liberal democracies freedom is often misunderstood as the ability to do whatever you like with no oppressive authority telling you what to do. This is not how the Bible defines freedom though – Passover celebrates the freedom to properly worship and honour the Almighty and such freedom comes with many obligations and responsibilities.
Further, Passover is also a commemoration of the incredible interaction of the Almighty with humanity in a most visible and tangible way.
It led to the giving of the Torah on Mt Sinai, which is arguably the greatest event in mankind’s history to date as it gave us a moral code to live by and was one of the strongest and most enduring evidences of the very existence and character of the Creator of the Universe. The whole of the Bible, both the Tanakh and the New Testament are built on the foundational reality and truths of the Mt Sinai event. Without the Exodus and Mt Sinai, we would not likely have been sent our Messiah Yeshua ben Yosef. His whole existence and purpose flows out of the events and interactions that the Chosen People had with the Almighty.
I have written on all this in the past.
For example, here True freedom: free to pursue ultimate meaning-relationship with God and here 600,000 Traditions That Establish the Truth of the God of Israel and here The Passover and The Messiah.
I have celebrated Passover with many people over the years, from a number of Jewish gatherings to many family get-togethers.
But this year was different.
It was, without doubt our most powerful and important Passover celebration to date.
For my wife and I especially, this Passover gave us the opportunity to really celebrate an amazing few months where we have escaped from tyranny, faced many hurdles, doubts and fears but have seen the Almighty work out a most incredible miracle at the 11th hour!
This incredible miracle has seen us enter our ‘land of milk and honey’; our ‘Garden of Eden’. But even our garden has its serpent. We just saw a brown snake passing through between the houses today as I write this.
I wish to share a little of the story here in the hope that it might inspire many more and help others gain the strength to trust HaShem and to stand strong on His Word; His moral and ethical instructions, regardless of our fears and doubts.
The story really started early in 2020 with the news out of Wuhan, China about what sounded like a frightful new terror. From what followed by the end of 2021 it was clear our tyrannical government would look for more and more ways to generate fear and division in order to control us even more. Despite the evidence to the contrary, they called schools places of ‘high-risk’ for transmitting the virus and the ‘writing was on the wall’ (to use the Biblical saying). So by December, we were praying that the so-called Christian school I worked at would see fit to reject the enforcement of the government’s illegal vaccine mandate, but we began to prepare for the worst. I had already written an article in October about the unethical and immoral nature of the various mandates, from the masks, and lockdowns to the vaccine mandates[1].
With the likely expectation of being terminated from the job I loved, and not being able to afford the mortgage any more, December saw us looking across the State for a new home which we could afford once ours was sold and the mortgage paid out.
We looked and travelled far and wide. We saw many properties that were a ‘dog’s breakfast’, as one Real Estate salesman described them. By February after two months of looking and having now been terminated, we were getting a little desperate. At least our property had a great deal of interest and we were able to sell it for a great price, but it was looking like we might need to live in a caravan for a while.
On one of our trips up north (the cheapest properties within 500 km of Brisbane appeared to be either out near Warwick or inland from Bundaberg and Marybourough), we saw a place in Maroondan near Gin Gin that was 25 acres next to a river and was so reminiscent of our home in Kooralbyn that we had had to leave over 20 years ago. We put in an offer but eventually failed to offer a bid that was high enough for the owners.
Next we put in an offer on a 5 acre property just out the back of Childers and this fell through as well.
We had set a budget based on our funds left after the sale of our Daisy Hill property and then late one night, one of my daughters sent through a listing of an 8 acre property that was also in Marrondan that was $50k over budget but that looked so incredibly good. I couldn’t resist showing my wife, but said don’t look for too long as we can’t afford it! She just keep looking at each photo and saying ‘WOW!’.
So I spent the night in turmoil thinking can we? What if I use the little Super I have that I have saved over the last 3 years? So I called the Real Estate agents, asked some questions and decided to go for it. But due to the floods at the time we couldn’t even get to physically see the place!
After upping our offer a little, Sara, the amazing owner of the property, selected our bid even though it was not the highest. It was like we had won the lottery!
There were a lot of ‘co-incidences’ that I can’t detail here, but they all seemed to scream that this was meant to be.
What was meant for evil had been turned to great good!
Our Father in Heaven had smiled so lovingly on us and blessed us at the 11th hour with the most amazing property that has absolutely everything and more that we could have imagined. Baruch HaShem!
He took us out of slavery, through the Red Sea of fear and doubt, and rescued us at the last moment and gave us our very own paradise.
My wife and I have seen His Hands at work though all this. We have had our fears and doubts and at times it has seemed so much easier to go with the flow and accept the tyranny. So we certainly don’t judge those who have given in to the tyranny or who perhaps are not well enough informed to even recognize the evil being forced on them. But having stepped out in faith, He has abundantly rewarded us! His Name be praised for ever and ever. His mercy and grace endures forever!
Many may think they really have no choice, that there is nothing they can do to stand up against these unethical and immoral impositions being forced on them.
Many things in life seem impossible and unachievable when first sighted, yet we know from life’s experiences that if you work at something, repeatedly and over time, you can normally achieve great things. A baby learning to walk fails many times but just keeps trying until the skill and strength to stand and walk grows enough.
It is much the same with learning to stand on the ethical principles and Moral Instructions (Torah) that God presents to us. We need to practice them over time; in the little things; in the closet as well as in the public square, and then when the real challenge arrives, we may find we have the strength to stand and trust HaShem to deliver us.
The story is told of a great Rabbi many years ago in Russia who had a gun put to his head by a Russian soldier. Reputedly he laughed and the soldier asked why he had no fear of the gun and its power to end his life. His reply was that the soldier holding the gun had One World and Many Gods; but he has One God and Two Worlds. If the soldier pulled the trigger, he would simply go from this world to the next! What strength of faith and trust in HaShem! Be this Rabbi!
There is so much more I could share about how the Almighty has directed our path to paradise but I will close for now. If you really want to know more please feel free to get in touch.
Global Truth International 