Resurrection Day

The Federalist--How Jesus' Final Words Affirm The Humanity Of The Unborn

This Good Friday, may we all hear the psalm Jesus quoted on the cross with new ears.

"... When Jesus cries out from the cross, some of the bystanders think he is calling for Elijah. I had read past this detail countless times. Elijah was a towering figure in Jewish history. But why would a crowd standing near a dying man hear the name Elijah specifically? Why that name and not something else?

He cried out in Aramaic, the everyday language of Galilee, the tongue His mother spoke to Him: “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.” My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And in Aramaic, Eli (my God) sounds nearly identical to the first syllables of Eliyahu, which is Elijah. They share the same root. A dying man forcing sound through His chest in the noise of a crowd, and El-ee becomes El-ee-ya fast enough. The confusion only makes sense if you know which language was being spoken.

That small detail pulled me into something much larger.

Jesus was not crying out in wordless anguish. He was quoting a psalm. In first-century Jewish practice, quoting the first line of a psalm invoked the entire text, the way you might cite a chapter by its opening sentence. The Mishnah records that rabbis tested students by reciting a psalm’s opening line and watching them complete it from memory. Every learned person at the cross who heard those first words would have known immediately which psalm He was praying and would have begun running through the rest of it in their mind.

The psalm is Psalm 22, written by David approximately 1,000 years before the crucifixion, several centuries before crucifixion even existed as a method of execution. I want you to read it before I say anything more about it.

Psalm 22 (ESV):

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.
Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd;
my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet,
I can count all my bones,
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O LORD, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD!
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
they shall come and proclaim his righteousness
to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.

The prophetic fulfillments are precise enough to make you stop. Verses 14 and 15 describe hypovolemic shock, dislocated joints, a heart like melting wax, and a tongue sticking to the jaw. All descriptions of the pain and suffering you undergo through crucifixion. The soldiers dividing garments and casting lots appear word-for-word, and John pauses the narrative to note the fulfillment explicitly.

The mockers quoting verse 8 back at Jesus (“He trusts in God, let God deliver him”) are phrases Matthew records the chief priests actually saying at the cross. Those were educated men who knew this psalm and knew its messianic weight. In reaching for it as a weapon to discredit Jesus, they were completing it. The psalm ends with a single Hebrew verb, asah, meaning “He has done it,” and Jesus’ final word from the cross in Greek is tetelestai, meaning “It is finished.”

Jesus chose this psalm deliberately. He was not grasping at a childhood memory through pain. He was doing what He had done throughout His ministry: pointing, teaching, saying look carefully at what is happening around you.

But the part of the psalm that I want to draw your attention to, and that I believe is directly relevant to the work of Them Before Us, comes earlier in the text.

Before the description of suffering, before the mockery, before the soldiers and the garments and the lots, the psalm locates the speaker’s relationship with God here: Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God (Psalm 22:9-10).

Not from the moment of ministry, not from baptism, not even from the moment of birth, but from the womb. God was already his God before he drew his first breath, before any declaration of faith, before any conscious act. That is where the psalm places the origin of this relationship. ...

The psalm Jesus chose to pray as His final public theological statement is a psalm that begins with God’s knowledge of a person and God’s claim on a person from before birth. Both the psalm and the Gospels are making the same claim: that life, dignity, and the image of God are not present after birth but from the very moment life begins. That is where personhood starts. That is where God already knows us.

One of his final acts before the cross was to anchor our beginning in the womb, connected to a God who foreknew us, and then look ahead past the cross to what only the resurrection can make possible.

The psalm that opened with God’s knowledge of a person before birth closes with its gaze on the future: Posterity shall serve him; it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation; they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn (Psalm 22:30-31). The psalm begins and ends with the unborn. That is a beautiful picture, and it is the picture Christ chose to leave the watching world as His final public act. ..."

Read it all.

John 20:

11 But Mary stood outside at the tomb weeping. As she wept, she stooped down and looked into the tomb, 12 and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.

13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put Him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”

Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have put Him, and I will take Him away.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned and said to Him, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

17 Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father. But go to My brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’ ”

18 Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that He had said these things to her.

Luke 24

17 He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”

They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. 18 Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”

19 “What things?” Jesus asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. 20 But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. 21 We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.

22 “Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. 23 They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! 24 Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”

25 Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. 26 Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” 27 Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

28 By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, 29 but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. 30 As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. 31 Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And at that moment he disappeared!

32 They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” 33 And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, 34 who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter."

Hallelujah!

Thank You, Lord Jesus!

If You are Arrested for Stealing a Wallet in Japan, Which Embassy do You Call for Help? That’s the Nation You are “subject to the jurisdiction thereof”.

Glad I could help, lady person.

It doesn't mean you're in the country and subject to its laws. It's talking about citizenship.

If the parents are subject to Nepal and not America, then so is the child, even though they may all be in America at the moment.

“It cannot be presumed that any clause in the Constitution is intended to be without effect.”–James Madison

"The Birthright Citizenship Clause Too Many Forget, but President Trump Is Right To Question" by Amy Swearer and Hans A. von Spakovsky:

"... President Trump's order prohibits federal agencies from issuing or accepting citizenship documents for children born in the U.S. when neither parent is a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of the child’s birth.

Critics paint it as flagrantly unconstitutional, including a misinformed federal judge in Seattle who issued a temporary injunction against it last week. But the new policy fits squarely within the text and original meaning of the 14th Amendment.

For the first century following the 14th Amendment’s ratification, few legal scholars would have batted an eye at a directive like Trump’s. If anything, they’d have been more confused as to why the federal government started issuing passports to the U.S.-born children of illegal aliens, tourists, and “temporary sojourners” in the first place.

Contrary to popular belief, the 14th Amendment doesn’t say that all people born in the U.S. are citizens. It says that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” are citizens. That second, critical, conditional phrase is conveniently ignored or misinterpreted by advocates of “universal” birthright citizenship.

This was intended to constitutionalize the protections of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which provided that “all persons born in the United States, and not subject to any foreign power” would be considered citizens.

The change in language didn’t reflect a desire on Congress’s part to abrogate the statutory definition or adopt universal birthright citizenship. In fact, the Civil Rights Act remained valid law for another 70 years, with courts and legal scholars alike assuming that it was perfectly consistent with the citizenship clause.

That’s because the sponsors of the 14th Amendment made it clear that “subject to the jurisdiction” of the U.S. means owing your political allegiance to the U.S., and not to another country. Children born to aliens are citizens of their parents’ native land, and thus owe their allegiance to, and are subject to the jurisdiction of, that native land.

Legislative history shows that Congress intended the Fourteenth Amendment to eliminate permanent race-based barriers to citizenship—not to bestow citizenship on everyone born within the geographical confines of the United States. Congress didn’t intend birthright citizenship to apply to the U.S.-born children of those who owed only a limited allegiance to the United States.

Even modern proponents of “universal birthright citizenship” admit that the children born on U.S. soil to diplomats or tribally affiliated Native Americans don’t obtain birthright citizenship. In fact, they and their children were only made citizens through the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924—legislation that wouldn’t have been necessary if the 14th Amendment adopted common law rules of universal birthright citizenship.

While critics of Trump’s order claim that universal birthright citizenship is “the settled law of the land,” the Supreme Court has never definitively addressed this issue.

The first time the nation’s highest court opined on the meaning of the citizenship clause—in the famous Slaughter-House cases of 1872—it stated that the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” excluded “children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign States born within the United States.”

The court confirmed this understanding in 1884 in Elk v. Wilkins, denying birthright citizenship to an American Indian because he “owed immediate allegiance to” his tribe and not the United States.

Most legal arguments for universal birthright citizenship ignore these early cases and point to the 1898 decision U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark. However, that decision simply held that U.S.-born children of lawful permanent residents are U.S. citizens.

Further, that decision concerned the constitutionality of acts that created a class of lawful permanent residents who, just like Black people under Dred Scott, were perpetually excluded from citizenship based solely on their race—exactly the situation the 14th Amendment was designed to prevent.

Our nation’s current immigration and nationality laws no longer create this type of permanent race-based barrier to citizenship. Today, the federal statute defining citizenship (8 U.S.C. § 1401) simply repeats the language of the 14th Amendment, including the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

That language retains the same meaning today as it had when it was drafted and ratified. It doesn’t evolve to mean something else just because previous administrations erroneously interpreted it more expansively.

As a result, the president has the authority to direct federal agencies to act in accordance with the original meaning of the 14th Amendment, and to issue government documents and benefits only to those individuals who are truly subject to United States jurisdiction.

Far from being an attempt to rewrite the Constitution or “end birthright citizenship,” Trump’s order is a much-needed and long-overdue course correction, reversing a decades-long policy that was never constitutionally mandated in the first place." .......

Once again, we have Birth Tourism and Anchor Babies because BOTH PARTIES WANT IT. 

SCHUMER AND THUNE. THUNE AND SCHUMER. BOTH. #UNIPARTY.

JUST LIKE ICE FUNDING, MASSIVE FRAUD, RIGGED ELECTIONS, YOU NAME IT.

BOTH PARTIES WANT THIS DISASTER OR THEY WOULD HAVE FIXED IT YEARS AGO, JUST LIKE HONEST ELECTIONS.

Genesis 11

4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Long ago You spoke against a Sex-Trafficking One World Government, Father, and Open Borders ARE that. Your Kingdom is Eternal, Lord Jesus, but You chose to put men and women into families and then into tribes and nations, for Covenant with You. Patriotism is an idea from Your Throne in Heaven. We thank You for our families, tribes and our nations, even as You Deliver and Restore them by Your Power and Your Glory, Lord, Hallelujah! 

17

"Trump Shall Become a Trumpet": George Washington's 3 Visions and Rededicate 250

"... We offer prayers of adoration and thanksgiving for the countless blessings God has bestowed upon our Nation.  We acknowledge that, through Christ’s redeeming sacrifice, in the words of Holy Scripture, “Death is swallowed up in victory.”  Above all, we echo with tremendous joy those sacred words that have given life, hope, and purpose to Christians for thousands of years:  "He is risen.""--President Donald Trump

Religion and the Congress of the Confederation - Religion and the Founding of the American Republic | Exhibitions (Library of Congress):

"The Continental-Confederation Congress, a legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, contained an extraordinary number of deeply religious men. The amount of energy that Congress invested in encouraging the practice of religion in the new nation exceeded that expended by any subsequent American national government. Although the Articles of Confederation did not officially authorize Congress to concern itself with religion, the citizenry did not object to such activities. This lack of objection suggests that both the legislators and the public considered it appropriate for the national government to promote a nondenominational, nonpolemical Christianity.

Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, sponsored the publication of a Bible, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians. National days of thanksgiving and of "humiliation, fasting, and prayer" were proclaimed by Congress at least twice a year throughout the war. Congress was guided by "covenant theology," a Reformation doctrine especially dear to New England Puritans, which held that God bound himself in an agreement with a nation and its people. This agreement stipulated that they "should be prosperous or afflicted, according as their general Obedience or Disobedience thereto appears." Wars and revolutions were, accordingly, considered afflictions, as divine punishments for sin, from which a nation could rescue itself by repentance and reformation.

The first national government of the United States was convinced that the "public prosperity" of a society depended on the vitality of its religion. Nothing less than a "spirit of universal reformation among all ranks and degrees of our citizens," Congress declared to the American people, would "make us a holy, that so we may be a happy people.""

The Prayer in the First Congress, A.D. 1774. Stained glass and lead, from The Liberty Window, Christ Church, Philadelphia, after a painting by Harrison Tompkins Matteson, c. 1848.

The preacher later defected to the British!

Congressional Fast Day Proclamation, May 17, 1776

Congress proclaimed days of fasting and of thanksgiving annually throughout the Revolutionary War. This proclamation by Congress set May 17, 1776, as a "day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer" throughout the colonies. Congress urges its fellow citizens to "confess and bewail our manifold sins and transgressions, and by a sincere repentance and amendment of life, appease his [God's] righteous displeasure, and through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain his pardon and forgiveness." Massachusetts ordered a "suitable Number" of these proclamations be printed so "that each of the religious Assemblies in this Colony, may be furnished with a Copy of the same" and added the motto "God Save This People" as a substitute for "God Save the King."

 

Trump announces May 17 event to rededicate U.S. as ‘one nation, under God’

“When our founders proclaimed the immortal truths that echoed around the world and down all the way through time, they declared that all of us are made free and equal by the hand of our Creator,” the president said.

In honor of the occasion, Trump announced at the breakfast that he will hold an event, titled "Rededicate 250" on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on May 17 “to rededicate America as one nation under God.”

3

President Trump announces May 17, 2026  National Mall prayer event:

“This morning, I’m pleased to announce that on May 17, 2026, that we’re inviting Americans from all across the country to come together on our National Mall, to pray, to give thanks, to rededicate America as one nation under God,” the president said.

Trump did not specify why May 17 was selected, however, shortly before the Declaration of Independence, the colonial Congress had declared May 17, 1776, a national day of fasting and prayer.

May 17 also comes a few days after multiple Christian denominations celebrate the Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ.

Trump also revealed that the Department of Education will be taking steps to protect prayer in public schools.

“I’m also pleased to announce that the Department of Education is officially issuing its new guidance to protect the right to prayer in our public schools,” Trump said. “That’s a big deal.”

“Now the Democrats will sue us, but we’ll win.”...

“They always like to say, ‘Trump is a dictator.’ They love that. I’m not a dictator. But they were like dictators. They were like the Gestapo,” Trump chided.

“They were arresting people for going to church, and they were arresting people and treating people horribly,” he went on. “I made a lot of amends to those people.”" .......

Spiritual Intelligence Briefing #15: Did Trump Become THE Trumpet?--Part II - YouTube--Dr. John Redenbo

9:40 President Trump Truth Social Post - Kim Clement 12:55 Biblical Precedence of "What is a Trumpet?" 18:46 The Trump Word 22:12 The Visions of George Washington 32:20 A Wink back to the ForeFathers 32:44 Trump is the Trumpet 36:24 The Timeline 45:14 Old City Philadelphia 49:40 The Prince of Persia 54:59 9/11 58:12 The Golden Age Announcement 1:02:04 The Third Great Woe - Vision of George Washington 1:09:03 Prophecy of Trump "Cyrus" 1:16:51 Valley Forge Winter 1:26:38 God Speaks in Code 222 1:29:19 Encouragement

Did Kim Clement prophesy Donald Trump’s second term? | News Analysis | Premier Christianity

Kim Clement Prophecy - Trump The Trumpet | Prophetic Rewind | House Of Destiny Network--this prophecy retweeted by PDT

The Vision of George Washington at Valley Forge

Psalm 144

5 Lord, tear open the sky and come down.
Touch the mountains so they will smoke.
6 Send the lightning and scatter my enemies.
Shoot your arrows and force them away.
7 Reach down from above.
Pull me out of this sea of enemies.
Rescue me from these foreigners.
8 They are liars.
They are dishonest.

9 God, I will sing a new song to you.
I will play to you on the ten-stringed harp.
10 You give victory to kings.
You save your servant David from cruel swords.
11 Save me, rescue me from these foreigners.
They are liars.
They are dishonest.

12 Let our sons in their youth
grow like strong trees.
Let our daughters be
like the decorated stones in the Temple.
13 Let our barns be filled
with crops of all kinds.
Let our sheep in the fields have
thousands and thousands of lambs.
14 Let our cattle be strong.
Let no one break in.
Let there be no war.
Let there be no screams in our streets.

15 Happy are those who are like this.
Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!

Thank You, Good Father!