Month: March 2010 Page 1 of 3

I thirst

On March 31, 2010

The fifth saying of Jesus as He hung on the Cross, living up to His Name, which was to save His people from their sins was a request in which Jesus expressed a need. His saying was ‘I thirst’ (John 19:28). Though cursorily it may seem like an expression of his physical condition, is there more to this than what is evident.

One of the dictionary definitions of the word, ‘thirst’ is an ardent desire, craving or longing. Interestingly, one can go without food for days, but not without water. Thirst is a physical condition that can bring the strongest of the strong to their knees, some even to the point of death. Samson the strong after killing a thousand warriors in battle cried to the Lord when he felt thirsty, questioning, now shall I die of thirst? (Judges 15:18-20). The grumbling Israelite pilgrims questioned Moses, if he had led them out of Egypt to kill them and their children and cattle with thirst (Exodus 17:3). When no water in the desert of Beersheba was found, Hagar, unable to bear the possibility of her son, Ishmael dying of thirst, goes a bow shot length away until God miraculous opens her eyes and she sees a well (Genesis 21:14-16). So thirst can make the strong weak, and the living dead.

And here we hear Jesus saying that He thirsted. Why did Jesus say that he thirsted?

The logical human explanation was that He experienced a human physical condition and that is certainly plausible. Jesus hungered (Matthew 4:2), slept (Mark 4:38), grew (Luke 2:42), groaned (John 11:33), wept (John 11:35) and so in his Humanity also thirsted (John 19:28). Now if this was merely a personal physical need to be satisfied, isn’t it interesting that Jesus only asks for being quenched after he accomplished all the things He knew He had to fulfill (John 19:28). Jesus’ personal needs came only after doing what God wanted Him to do. He satisfied God before He prayed to be satisfied himself. We must have the same attitude as well.

But the scripture gives us evidence that there is more. Jesus said, ‘I thirst’ so that the scripture may be fulfilled (John 19:28). Jesus came to fulfill the scripture and fulfilled it (Psalm 69:21). Jesus, who knew no sin was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) and the imputation of our sins on Him made him experience a separation from God the Holy Father as expressed by the prophet Isaiah who said “… your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2) . So Jesus’ relationship with God the Father had been broken because of our sins. This is further substantiated by the fact that Jesus addressed God, in His previous saying as My God, my God (Eloi, Eloi) and not as Father (which is how He addressed God in the first saying from the Cross). Jesus very well could have thirsted for the oneness He had with God the Father (John 10:30). Another explanation as to why Jesus thirsted is that he experienced the thirst of hell. Acts 2:27 and 31 are very explicit that God would not let soul of his Holy One (Jesus) in hell. In Matthew 12:40, we hear Jesus saying that “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly: so shall the Son of man (Jesus) be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ” Revelation refers to hell as the bottomless pit or abyss (Revelation 9:1-2). Ephesians 4:9 tells us that Jesus ascended into heavens, but that he also first descended into the lower parts (heart) of the earth.

So Jesus descended down to hell on our account, but what is the state of affairs in hell? An overbearing need to be quenched. We see this in the parable that Jesus told about Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man died and was buried and in hell he was tormented by thirst. (Luke 16:19-31). So it is not implausible that when Jesus’ soul descended to hell, he thirsted as well.

But in hell, the thirst that is to be quenched is not physical as the rich man describes but more in the spiritual realms. Jesus spiritually thirsted that his desire to bring many sons unto glory be quenched (Hebrews 2:10); that all are saved and none perish (2 Peter 3:9); that God’s eternal wrath would now be quenched as he accomplishes his task of saving all men and women in totality and that all will drink of Him (Jesus) and receive from Him living water (the Holy Spirit – John 7:38-39) so that they will no longer be thirsty.

Finally, when the curtain falls, we can find ourselves in only one of two states – eternally thirsty or eternally quenched and this depends on whether we agree to drink of (believe) Him, Jesus Christ, who with a craving, a longing and an ardent desire said, ‘I thirst’ [for you].

Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?

By Mano Paul

On March 30, 2010

In Christian, Seven Sayings

The fourth saying of Jesus as He hung on the Cross, living up to His Name, which was to save His people from their sins was a question directed not to any man, but to God. It is the only question in the seven sayings of Christ from the Cross and it was Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being translated, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Mark 15:33-34; Matthew 27:46)

Even in dying, Jesus did not forget the scripture and was quoting from Psalm 22:1. But it is important to recognize that the answer is not specified explicitly. I wonder why? We can only seek the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to try and understand the extent of meaning and implication of this saying.

Notice how in this saying, Jesus did not address God the Father as Father as he did in the first and last saying, but as God. What could be the reason for this? One explanation is that the father and son relationship, Jesus had with God the Father, had been broken when the sinless became sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), because God the Father is Holy and can have nothing to do with sin. What communion can light have with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14). Another explanation that is scriptural as well is that Jesus in His obedience to God made himself of no reputation, for He considered it robbery to be made equal with God (even though He was), humbling Himself as a servant (not Son) and addressed God the Father as My God. (Philippians 2). Jesus, the first born of all creation, experiences what it means to be an orphan as His Father was God.

Lama Sabachthani when translated means ‘Why hast thou forsaken me?’ Without the answer given to us explicitly in the scripture, we can pray for wisdom and search the scripture to understand this question and apply what we learn to be faithful servants of God as Jesus was. Besides the word, ‘forsaken’, the other words that can be used to acceptably signify the meaning of the word ‘sabachthani’ are ‘abandon’ or ‘deserted’.

Human acts such as the loss of a parent, betrayal by a friend or loved one or a divorce from a spouse causes the sense of being deserted, abandoned, or forsaken. God had to divorce his Only begotten Son so as to save the wedding of the people of God, the church with the Lamb (Revelation 19). God hates divorce is what the scripture says, and that means, God’s love for us was so great, that He willingly forsook (deserted) his Son, Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. Enough Said. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us (1 John 3:1).

The closest answer of this question, I can find is from Galatians 3:13-14. God had to forsake God because God could not forsake man. Nicole Nordeman’s beautiful song ‘Why’ attempts to answer this question Jesus had for God which was ‘Why did you forsake me?’ and states that God’s answer to Jesus was ‘you and I’ are the ‘Why’. God had to stay true to the covenant he had made with a friend of his, a man by the name Abraham. Because Abraham had obeyed God, God has made a covenant to bless Abraham and his seed/children (Genesis 22:16-18).

God made God to become sin, because he wanted to make us righteous
God make God a curse, because of his word/covenant to bless us
God forsook God because he could not forsake us, He could not deny himself and what he had covenanted (2 Timothy 2:13)

Mark 15:34 (KJV)
³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Galatians 3:13 -14 (KJV)
¹³Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
¹⁴That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Woman, Behold thy son! … Behold thy mother!

By Mano Paul

On March 29, 2010

In Christian, Seven Sayings

The third saying of Jesus as He hung on the Cross, living up to His Name, which was to save His people from their sins was to his mother and his disciple who stood by her. To the mother, he said “WOMAN, behold thy son!” and to the disciple, He said “Behold thy mother!” (John 19:26-27).

Seeing his mother and the other women, his near and dear ones at the foot of the cross PIQUES Jesus to state a PROFOUND FACT and exposit a PROVISION of MAGNITUDE proportions and say the THIRD saying on the cross. Woman, Behold thy son! Behold thy mother!

As we analyze this saying, let us break the saying into two main subheadings

WOMAN (vs 26)
BEHOLD THY SON! BEHOLD THY MOTHER! (vs 27)

WOMAN

Ever wonder why Jesus addressed Mary his mother as Woman and not Mother?

He called her woman to remind Mary of her PURPOSE that she was a VESSEL, God’s handmaid in humble obedience (Matthew 1:21, Luke 1:26-38) and that which was prophesied by SIMEON’s was now being FULFILLED (Luke 2:34-35). He was DISASSOCIATING every human tie to establish heavenly ASSOCIATIONS.

He called her woman to let all know that he was SON OF GOD. Epitaphs on tombstone reflect the sonship of the deceased. The TITULUS (Inscription) above his bruised and pierced with thorns head did not read that he was Jesus, the carpenter’s son, the son of Mary but instead read INRI – IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDAEORVM (Latin) which meant Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews (English).

He called her woman because His TIME HAD COME. The two familiar references in the Bible in which Jesus addresses his mother Mary and in both cases, he calls her “Woman” is 1^st at the wedding at Cana. There he calls her woman, and tells her that his hour is not yet come (John 2:4). Now the 2^nd time: On the Cross, he calls her woman because His Time had Come. He was going in for the final round. SIN WAS BATTLING with the captain of salvation, whispering hellish threats in His ears, only to hear Him say “It is Finished”. But before he could say that “It is Finished”, He had some earthly obligations to complete one of which was the provisional arrangements for his family, his mother.

And that’s when he begins by saying, Woman …and completes it saying Behold thy son! (and to the disciple, he said) Behold thy mother!

BEHOLD THY SON! BEHOLD THY MOTHER!

Why did Jesus say “Behold thy son! Behold thy mother!”?

He was fulfilling the fifth commandment – Honor thy Father and thy Mother (Exodus 20). He was making provisions for his mother. He who does not provide for his relatives, especially his family, is worse than an infidel and has denied the faith. (1 Timothy 5:8).

Jesus was also reestablishing a profound fact – the importance of the family, which is the first institution on earth, the basic unit of society. The first time, God says it is not good was when he saw man without a helper and made him a family, by creating a woman (help mate) out of man. The family in Heaven is God, the Father, Jesus, the Son and His Holy Spirit, the Helper.

Salvation is plural, not singular. It includes the family. Rahab and her family were saved. Zacchaeus was told that Salvation had come to his house. When the disciples were questioned, What must I do to be saved? Though the question was singular, the answer came in plural as the disciples replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved and your household”

Even with no psychological anesthesia to dilute the awful crushing reality of impending death, even in this crisis, Jesus’ focus was unwavered. He saw his mother, he saw his disciple is what the Bible says. The operative word is ‘SAW’. Jesus’ eyes saw his mother and his beloved disciple and as they focus on him, he makes them focus on each other. They looked up at him and he made them look at each other.

John 19:26-27 (KJV)²⁶ When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
²⁷ Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Verily, I Say Unto Thee, Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise

By Mano Paul

On March 26, 2010

In Christian, Personal God, Seven Sayings

Even cursorily evaluating this statement the second saying of Christ Jesus as He hung on the Cross, living up to His Name, which was to save His people from their sins, we see PROFOUND TRUTHS hidden in it. Delving deeper accentuates these subheadings so much further that it is simply baffling to the human mind, the depth of meaning that each word (carefully chosen) in this SECOND SAYING of Christ Jesus – Verily, I say unto thee, thou shalt be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). Deeper analysis uncovers the hidden treasures in this expression of Christ Jesus.

VERILY (the SAYING was a PROMISE)

We see the usage of the word ‘Verily’, to mean PROMISORILY, MOST ASSUREDLY, TRULY and in simple terms to mean that IT CANT BE OTHERWISE! The term ‘Verily’ is used ONLY in the second saying on the cross, but it mentioned many times in the Gospels to express ABSOLUTE TRUTHS. Matthew records it 24 Times, Mark 12 Times, Luke 6 Times and John 24 Times. By using the term ‘Verily’, Jesus was CLARIFYING ALL DOUBTS and questions in the mind of the criminal as well as all those who heard him, that what he had once said before was INDEED true and that is JESUS IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH and THE LIFE and no Man cometh unto the Father but by him. There is NO OTHER WAY or MEANS to SALVATION and this was a PROMISE – Verily / Truly / It cant be Otherwise

I SAY UNTO YOU (the ADDRESS was PERSONAL)
Replace the word ‘YOU’ with your Name and you will still hear Jesus unto you the same He said to the penitent malefactor on the Cross. Jesus is a Personal God and He is interested in your personal life and mine and He is making this a personal statement to and for you.

TODAY (the element of TIME was the PRESENT)

Jesus said ‘Today’ meaning that the DAY of SALVATION for the criminal was not any other time, but THE PRESENT. You don’t have to WAIT for another time to be believe in the Name of Jesus and be saved. I plead, DON’T PROCRASTINATE or TARRY. The Scripture records that Now (the PRESENT) is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2). Now is the appointed time for us, the creation to meet the Creator God, Jesus as a Savior.

SHALT THOU BE WITH ME (Man’s PRESENCE with GOD)
“Shalt thou be with me”, indicates the PRESENCE of God WITH Man. It is the PRESENCE, NOT PROXIMITY. God is NOT Only NEAR you in your situations of life, God is WITH you in your situation. In the fiery trials that the three Hebrew boys, Hanniah, Mishael and Azariah faced, Jesus Christ, the Son of God was in the fire with them as expressed by a pagan king. God became Immanuel, meaning God is present with us, in the person of Jesus, so that Man could be present with God and Jesus affirms this.

IN PARADISE (the DESTINATION is PARADISE)
Ever wonder why Jesus did not use the word ‘Heaven’ but instead said paradise. The history of the word paradise is an extreme example of amelioration, the process by which a word comes to refer to something better than what it used to refer to. The old Iranian language Avestan had a noun pairidaēza-, meaning “a wall enclosing a garden or orchard,” which is composed of pairi-, “around,” and daēza- “wall.” The adverb and preposition pairi is related to the equivalent Greek form peri, as in perimeter. Daēza- comes from the Indo-European root *dheigh-, “to mold, form, shape.” This Greek word paradeisos was used in the Septuagint translation of Genesis to refer to the Garden of Eden, whence Old English eventually borrowed it around 1200.

Honestly, I don’t know if Paradise is a geographical location synonymous with ‘Heaven’ when God’s throne is, or if it is metaphorical as in the saying that God lives in the praises of men and /or if it is physical with a longitudinal and/or latitudinal construct. I dont know. But what surfaces is that if the root of the word paradise was pairidaēza meaning “a wall enclosing a garden” it reminds me of the garden of Eden where man communed with God was shut from man by a wall of a flaming sword and angel so that man could not access the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). Man could not have access to the garden where God came down in the cool of the evening to be with his creation. Now with the final and finishing act of God’s redemptive work, demonstrated by Jesus being crucified in the stead of man, we see that the perimeter wall that precluded man from reaching God (and access to THE TREE OF LIFE i.e., Jesus) in the garden is now removed and the garden (paradise) is accessible to man as expressed by Jesus when he said, Verily, I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise. The garden that was shut is now open. Furthermore, irrespective of where paradise is physically, I believe that when Jesus is WITH me and you, anyplace is Paradise.

VERILY – indicates that this saying was a PROMISE
I SAY UNTO YOU – indicates that the address was PERSONAL
TODAY – indicates that the element of time was the PRESENT
SHALT THOU BE WITH ME – indicates Man’s PRESENCE with GOD
IN PARADISE – indicates the destination is PARADISE

Father forgive them for they know not what they do

By Mano Paul

On March 25, 2010

In Christian, Seven Sayings

The first saying of Jesus as He hung on the Cross, living up to His Name, which was to save His people from their sins was “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO” (Luke 23:34). These are wonderful, wonderful words of Love.

Let’s break this saying down into its individual components as we try to understand the depth of what Jesus meant.

FATHER
The address was a direct and personal address to God as His Father. This was establishing the fact that He was the Son of God in whom God was well pleased. Jesus said He and the Father are one, in other words. If the Father was God, so was He. This is GOD asking GOD to forgive.

FORGIVE THEM
Whom was Jesus asking to forgive?

The men and women who shouted “Crucify Him”.
The religious leaders and their followers.
The indifferent Pilate, the inebriated Herod
In essence, transcending all barriers of time, all sinners, including You and Me

FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO
I wish that Jesus had spelled out what the people did not know, for which they had to be forgiven.

WHAT was it that the people DID NOT KNOW?
The people did not know

THE WILL OF GOD
In the Garden of Gethsemane we see Jesus, in agony praying and submitting to the will of God as he prayed “Not my Will, but thy (God’s) Will be done”. What was this will of God? Isaiah 53:10 states “Yet, It was the Lord’s will to crush Him (Jesus) and cause Him (Jesus) to suffer”. It was the Lord’s will that Jesus had to suffer and die and bring salvation to all. Luke 23:24, records that PILATE handed over Jesus to the People’s Will, but the people and Pilate were mere ACTORS in the grand design of God’s Will. There were merely doing without knowing what God wanted them to be doing.
THE TRUTH (VERITAS) about the CROSS
that it was indeed a fight of the ages, a battle that began in Genesis in the garden and now was being finished (Tetelastai) on the Cross, and its outcome.

In John 8:32 we read “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free”
WHAT WAS THIS TRUTH?
To know THE Truth, we need to go back to the very beginning; to Genesis. To the time of
ADAM and EVE in the garden. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God (The fall of Man), God prophesied against Satan who had caused Adam and Eve to disobey Him.
The prophesy was “I will put enmity between the seed of the woman (Jesus) and the serpent (Satan), you shall strike His heel and He will crush it’s head.”
So, Satan knew that his doom was foretold and he could do nothing but wait.
CAIN is BORN.
Satan acts, thinking he is the one who has come to deliver (the seed of the woman). Satan gets Cain to kill Abel.
God tells Cain “Sin is crouching at your door, you must master it” (Genesis 4:7)
Adam and Eve proliferate, the earth gets filled. Satan entices people to sin until the time of
NOAH’s FLOOD. God in his wrath almost destroys ALL of mankind by a flood.
From Noah and his Son’s and their wives, the world is repopulated. Satan goes back into slumber until one day when
MOSES IS BORN. Could this be the seed of the woman, the deliverer? Satan entices Pharoah and in the birth of Moses, “BABY BOYS are KILLED”.
Though Moses is miraculously saved, He could not be the one, since he himself sinned. Satan must be now at a little ease. Then came the
TIME OF THE KINGS. Satan continues to live in the LUXURY of DECEIT for a while until one
BETHLEHEM NIGHT when he is AWAKENED from his sleep, as he hears
FOOTSTEPS of the wise men (MAGI) in Herod’s court. He hurries to Herod’s palace and find’s the magi asking, “Where is he who is born the king of the Jews?”
Satan hears the heavenly angelic choir sing and the shepherds talk about this baby boy called Jesus as the one who has come to Save and deliver God’s people.
Knowing that the deliverer was born, he gets back to his ways of trying to kill the seed of the woman; and pulls out from his bag of evil tricks, the same plan as in the time of Moses (the mistaken deliverer) which he puts into action. There is another Slaughter of the INNOCENTS;
ANOTHER BLOODSHED OF BABIES. But by divine intervention, Joseph and Mary escape with Jesus to Nazareth and hence the fulfillment of the prophecy, “He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:23)
30 years pass by and we see Jesus walking along the banks of a river and his harbinger John the Baptist, proclaiming
BEHOLD THE AGNUS DEI, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world and at the
BAPTISM OF JESUS, Satan hears along with everyone else, the very voice of God, saying
“BEHOLD”, THIS IS MY SON, WITH WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.”
Immediately after that proclamation, Satan knew who his target was and so goes to tempt Jesus when Jesus is physically weak (yet spiritually fortified) after 40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS of fasting.
Jesus engages in the the fight of the ages as he fences with Satan using the Word of God to defend himself and deal offensive blows. In all of this Jesus did not sin nor knew no sin, and He could not be touched. This only vexed Satan even more and so he devises an evil plan and entices the religious leaders, poisoning their hearts.“The religious leaders plotted to kill Jesus” (John 11:45-53)
Fearing this was insufficient, he wants to make sure that his plan to kill the seed of the woman wont fail again. So he poison’s a friend and disciple of Jesus, Judas Iscariot who betrays Jesus. After the
BETRAYAL OF A FRIEND, Jesus is handed over to be crucified. THE FIGHT IS ON FULL SWING . JESUS IS CRUCIFIED and Satan thinks – “hah, now it is finished. I have won”.

What Satan failed to have realized is that in all his calculations, he had not considered a critical fact into his equation. He was suddenly GUILTY OF MURDER.
God had said. “The soul that sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18) and that “ the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23)
But Jesus had never sinned. Satan had no right whatsoever to kill Jesus.

THIS TICKED GOD BEYOND BELIEF and his emotions and actions is recorded in Habakkuk 3: 11-14
Vs. 11: Sun and the Moon stood still in the heavens, At the glint of your flying arrows, At the lightning of your flashing spear. When Jesus died, darkness came over the land.
Vs 12: In wrath, You strode the earth, And in your anger, you threshed the nations.
Vs. 13: You went out to deliver your people (Jesus’ birth) To save your anointed One (Jesus on the Cross) You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness (Satan crushed) You stripped him from head to toe.
Vs. 14: With his own weapon, you pierced his head. The cross, looks like an inverted sword, wielded into a head (skull). Interesting, isn’t it that the hill on which Jesus was crucified was shaped as a head, a skull and hence called Golgotha.
From verse 13 of this scripture, we see that God was INFURIATED, STRIDING THE EARTH in his WRATH and ANGER and as in the time of Noah, He could have destroyed it all, if Jesus had not stepped in and INTERCEDED, saying “Father, Forgive them for they know not what they do.”

This is the truth that Satan does not want you to know, that at the end of the faded storm, as the mist cleared, there was one hero, one champion, one victor standing , and that was the Lord Jesus Christ.

NOW YOU KNOW THE TRUTH – There is no excuse “Captivity has been set, Salvation bought for you and me. Cause Satan is defeated and Jesus is the Champion” and this TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU AND ME FREE.

“FATHER, FORGIVE US FOR WE DID NOT KNOW”, but now we do.

Samson – In life and death

By Mano Paul

On March 24, 2010

In Character-(istics), Christian

The story of Samson as recorded in the book of Judges is the story of a man who was granted Herculean strength by God to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats unachievable by ordinary human. He wrestled a lion, slew an entire army with just a donkey’s jawbone, and destroyed a whole temple of a pagan god, Dagon. His disobedience to God and lust for women led to him being blinded, taken captive and eventually death.

There is a lot we can learn from Samson, from his life and his death. He judged twenty years, and it is recorded that he publicly prayed two times; one time was to live (Judges 15:18) and the second time it was to die (Judges 16:30). When he could see, He did not see God but when he was blind, he did. In death he did more to the glory of God than in his life (Judges 16:30).

Samson, I like to call – THE STRONGEST FOOL. Brother Zack Cherian once eloquently put it that Samson was able to kill a lion on the outside but could not control the lion of lust within. But before we pass judgment on Samson, let us take stock of our own lives and recognize that many times, our own lives are driven by the lust of our eyes.

Let us divert our focus from the beautiful things of the world (which is an enemy of God) and focus our attention on Jesus, looking unto Him, the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). Let our prayer be that we work diligently, seeking to see God and are filled by the Power of His Holy Spirit, bringing glory to God – in life and in death, not just in one, as was Samson.

Judges 16:30 (KJV)
³⁰And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

The Bible is alive

By Mano Paul

On March 23, 2010

In Become a Child, Christian, Reuben, Videos

When our beloved son, Reuben was about two years old, one of the first portions of the scripture that he had committed to memory, besides the Lord’s prayer and the Fruit of the Spirit was the Armor of God from Ephesians 6. But we taught him and he learned to end it always by saying … and the sword of the Spirit, is the word of God, “The Bible”. Little did I realize then that the addition of the words, ‘the Bible’ not only affirms that the Bible is the sword of the Spirit, but that it is the ‘Only’ word of God.

The Bible tells us that All scripture (The Bible) is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16) and we see in the creation of man, God breathed into man’s nostrils, the breath of life (Genesis 2:7). We also read that within the ark of Noah was the breath of life (Genesis 7:15). So if the Bible is God’s breath and the breath of God is the breath of life, the Bible is the breath of life. This establishes the fact that the Bible is alive (life). Jesus affirms this when He said that the words He spoke are life (John 6:63) and rightfully so Peter asks him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have THE WORDS of eternal life” (John 6:68).

Only in the Lord Jesus Christ, the ark of eternal life, is the breath of life (His words of eternal life). The question really is “does the words of Christ Jesus abide in us?” for without it, there is no life. Let our prayer be that we abide in Christ (the source of life), and let His words (life-giving) abide in us! (John 15:7)

John 6:63,68 (KJV)
⁶³ It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
⁶⁸Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

Hebrews 4:!2 (NKJV)
¹² For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Dr. Jesus

By Mano Paul

On March 22, 2010

In Christian

All of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), record the various cases in which Jesus healed someone. Jesus is the kind of physician who would put the pharmacy out of business, because Dr. Jesus operated by the fullness of the power of God that dwelt in Him, being the fullness Himself.

What can we learn from those whom Jesus healed?
Is there an application to take away, in a day, where man’s trust is more in medicine than in the maker of men.

Jesus healed the

paralytic – to show that that invalid can be made valid.
leper – to show that the unclean can be made clean.
man with the shriveled hand – to show that the withered can be made whole and that the whole must be stretched to serve.
blind – to show the darkness is dispelled by light and that no one is deprived of seeing Jesus, the Light of the World.
deaf – to show that the good news can be heard since Faith only comes by hearing (the word of God).
mute – to show that even the dumb and dumber can proclaim the good news.
lame – to show that no one can any longer have a lame excuse to not walk in newness of life.
possessed – to show that those in bondage can be freed and that captivity is set free.
dead – to show that Only In him is life, life abundantly and all those who believe in Him, though they die yet shall they live.

The greatest healing that Dr. Jesus has demonstrated to many of us -Christians (i.e., his followers, who have believed in His Name) is that He has healed us from the leprosy of sin to show us blameless without spot or wrinkle.

Matthew 9:35 (KJV)
³⁵And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.

Luke 9:11 (KJV)
¹¹And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.

Acts 10:38 (KJV)
³⁸ How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

No more Babel

By Mano Paul

On March 19, 2010

In Babel lessons, Christian

In Genesis 11 we see that God confounds the language of the people who seek to make a name for themselves as they attempt to build a tower whose top would reach unto heaven. The tower of Babel hence got its name (Genesis 11:9). The etymology of the word “babble” has to do with Babel. In fact even the word Babylon (a rebellious/sinful city of materialistic and sensual pleasures) has its roots in the confusion of speech. The beginning of the kingdom of Nimrod, a mighty hunter from the line of cursed Ham (one of Noah’s son) was Babel (Genesis 10:10). Nimrod in Hebrew means “we will rebel”. People rebelled and the Lord confused them.

But did you know that the Lord has also promised that there will no more Babel? This is in fact the Promise of Conversion wherein God says that He will turn to the people a pure language (No more Babel). Why? Not because they can make a name for themselves, but because they may all call the name of the LORD and to serve him with one consent/accord (Zephaniah 3:9). Eventually, Babylon will fall (Revelation 14:8, Revelation 18, Revelation 19:1-6) symbolically meaning that there will be no more rebellion against God because he will make his enemies His footstool (Psalm 110:1, Luke 20:43) and those who repent and have believed in Jesus Christ, the one true God (John 17:3), will have one language to call on His Name and serve Him. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess (from every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation) that Jesus Christ is Lord (Revelation 5:9, Philippians 2:10-11). When people repent, the Lord converts them and removes all confusion and doubt.

Point(s) to ponder:

If we rebel, there is Babel (confusion).
If we repent, no more Babel.

And at the Lord’s appointed time, rebellion will be dealt with and fall – and there will be no more Babel.

Genesis 11:4,9 (KJV)⁴And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
⁹ Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Zephaniah 3:9 (KJV)
⁹For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.

Revelation 14:8 (KJV)
⁸And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Treating people – a family issue

By Mano Paul

On March 18, 2010

In Christian

One of the greatest commandments that sums the laws of the prophets is to love our neighbor as ourselves. To love a fellow man or woman is to treat them not just right but as the Bible instructs us to. So what does the Bible tell us about treating people, both old and young; men and women?

1 Timothy 5:1-2 tells us how we are to treat all people. The older men are to be exhorted as fathers; the older women as mothers; the younger men as brothers and younger women as sisters (with all purity).

Did you notice, irrespective of age (old or young) or gender (men or women), we are to treat all people as members of our immediate family (father, mother, brother, and sister). To love our neighbors as ourselves is to treat all as per the counsel of the Scripture and that means it is a family issue.

1 Timothy 5:1-2 (KJV)
¹Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;² The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity.

Month: March 2010 Page 1 of 3

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