Hidden (Krypto) Treasures

To get pearls, one must dive deep!

Tag: Faithful and True

Professional Speaking :: Jesus The Captain of the armies of the LORD

By

On July 31, 2012

In Christian, Professional Speaking

Joshua 5 records the encounter that Joshua the Israelite leader has with a man with a drawn sword. When Joshua lifted up his eyes and saw this man, he went to this man and asked, “Are you for us or are you against us (on the side of our adversaries)?” The response he received was “Nay, but as the captain of the host (army) of the LORD have I come”. Joshua spiritually recognizes that this was Jesus he had seen and falls down to the ground and worships him. Can we be sure that this was Jesus? Other parts of the Bible can help us come to that conclusion. When man tried to worship an angelic being, sent by God, the angelic being immediately stopped that person from worshipping anyone other than God and cautioned that man worships no one else, other than God (Revelation 19:10). This helps us recognize that the man that Joshua envisioned was not just an angel sent by God. 1 Timothy 2:5 refers to Jesus the one mediator between God and men as “the man Christ Jesus” and whom Joshua saw was “the man” Christ Jesus. Furthermore, just as Joshua saw the man with a drawn sword, Revelation 19:11-15 portrays, Jesus as the rider on a white horse, from whose mouth a sharp sword proceeds (Revelation 19:15), whom the armies of heaven followed (Revelation 19:14).

Points to ponder:
Shaitan/Shaytan from which we get the word, “satan” means the “opposer” or “adversary”. He has been at war with God since the time of is rebellion (Ezekiel 28) and the fall of man (Genesis 3:15). Jesus is the commander and chief of the armies of the LORD. He is The Captain. Are you part of his army or are you on the adversary’s side? And if we are part of Jesus’ army, is our response as that of Joshua, “What saith my Lord unto his servant?” (Joshua 5:14).

Joshua 5:13-15 (KJV)
13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?
15 And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

Revelation 19:11-16 (KJV)
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.

Lesser known characters :: Ethan

By

On August 26, 2011

In Character-(istics), Christian, Lesser known characters

If I was to ask you, do you know, who penned the famous words, that we sometimes sing, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, I will sing, I will sing; I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord. With my mouth will I make thy faithfulness, thy faithfulness to all generations”, it is less than likely that one would realize that it was written by Ethan the Ezrahite and secondly that it is the first verse of Psalm 89. Psalm 89 was authored by Ethan, It starts with Ethan expressing that he would sing of God’s mercy forever and make known the faithfulness of God to all generations with his mouth. He ends his Psalm, by saying “Blessed be the Lord forever, Amen and Amen”.

Who is this Ethan? Ethan was the son of Mahol, who was known for his wisdom. His wisdom was only surpassed by king Solomon (1 Kings 4:30-31). In fact, the very first name that is mentioned in relation to comparing the wisdom of Solomon is Ethan the Ezrahite (1 Kings 4:31). From the scripture, we can be assured that Ethan was wise. How can we be so sure. Proverbs 11:30 states that a soul winner is wise and in order to win souls, one must understand that they must sing of God’s mercy and tell of God’s faithfulness, which is exactly what Ethan writes in the beginning of his Psalm (Psalm 89:1).

What can we learn from Ethan?
To be wise as he was we must be soul winners, which means, we must be singing of God’s mercies forever and telling of his faithfulness which was to redeem us from the penalty and power of sin and death, by sending us His Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the FAITHFUL and TRUE (Revelation 19:11) one. Everyone who believes in Jesus will not perish but will be saved i.e., their souls will be won for God’s kingdom from the grips of the devil.Let us be more like Ethan the Ezrahite. Blessed be the LORD forever, Amen and Amen.

1 Kings 4:30-31 (KJV)
30 And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
31 For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.

Psalm 89:1, 52 (KJV)
1 I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.
52 Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

Proverbs 11:30 (KJV)
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.

The Armor David Wore :: Belt of Truth

By

On October 18, 2010

In Christian

The Bible records that David, the shepherd boy chose not to wear the armor of a soldier, that King Saul armed him with, when he averred to fight the giant, Goliath (1 Samuel 17:38-39). But David did wear another kind of armor, an armor that was more effective than the physical armor that he chose not to wear, against an armored foe. It was a spiritual armor that He wore.

When Goliath defiantly disdained David by asking him as to why he came after him with sticks, David responded that He came to this battle in the Name of the Lord. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we learn that the name of the Lord is Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11). Jesus said, “I am the Way, the TRUTH and the Life” (John 14:6). David faced Goliath in the Name of the one that is Faithful and True. David girded Himself with the belt of TRUTH; The Truth that not only set Him free from fear (unlike his fellowmen), but also The Truth that set the Israelites free from being taunted and mocked.

Are we girded with the belt of Truth as was David? Without it, it would be impossible to bring down the giants that taunt, defy and scare us.

The belt of Truth when worn, shall make you free (indeed). The truth when known, shall make you free (John 8:32).

The Name is Faithful

By

On July 13, 2009

In Christian, The Name

Apokalypsis Iesou Christou (The Revelation of Jesus Christ) records one of the names of the rider on the white horse, referring to Jesus, as Faithful (Revelation 19:11).  Come to think of this statement, it is not only a testament to the character of Jesus that He is indeed faithful, but that He is personified as Faithful, epitomizing faithfulness. Great is indeed His faithfulness (Lamentations 3:23). Merriam-Webster’s states that the word ‘faithful’, implies an unswerving adherence to a person or thing or to the oath or promise by which a tie was contracted.

The Sunday before I left for the USA in 1998, the pastor at the Anna Nagar Methodist Church youth meeting was sharing on a passage that has been etched in my mind since . It was the passage from 2 Timothy 2:11-13, which reads as follows – “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.” The phrase that caught my attention then was the last part of this trustworthy saying –  He will remain faithful for he cannot disown himself, even if we are faithless. I must admit that I had solely understood this saying to mean that God (Jesus) will remain faithful even if we are unfaithful. Only while preparing for this article did it dawn on me that there is a clear cut distinction between being ‘faithless’ and being ‘unfaithful’. To be faithless is to not believe. To be unfaithful is believing but not living as if we do. Let me try and explain. To be faithless is to reject the one who wants to marry you, not believing that he/she is the one. To be unfaithful is to be married to one and living promiscuously as if you are not married at all. Furthermore, it dawned on me that God will remain faithful in judging those who do not believe in Him (faithless), just as much as He will remain faithful in saving those who are ‘faithful’ and exacting justice on those ‘unfaithful’.

Member of the OWASP Board of Directors and my good  friend, Tom Brennan, an ex-Marine completes his emails by using the motto of the United States Marine Corp,  Semper Fi, the shortened form of Semper Fidelis, which is Latin for ‘Always Faithful‘. As much as I have my highest respect to all those in service and a special place for the few, the proud, the Marines, I realize that the only ONE that is truly Semper Fi is none other than Jesus, the rider on the white horse whose name is Faithful. Jesus has an unswerving adherence to (love for) you and me and to the oath or promise of restoring us to God by which a new covenant (tie) was contracted because of His faithfulness to endure the suffering of the Cross, the rejection of men, death and because of His resurrection. He is truly Semper Fi, He cannot disown (deny) Himself. The Name is Faithful.

Revelation 19:11 (KJV)
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

Letting God down

By

On April 6, 2009

In Christian

In a Time Magazine interview, Billy Graham once said –  “I wake up every morning with a fear, that I may let my Lord down.”
One thing to realize though, is even if we let God down, God will never let us down, for He is FAITHFUL and TRUE (Rev 19:11)
Let’s try not to let God down, holding fast to the profession of our faith without wavering – for He is FAITHFUL. He will never let you down.

Point(s) to ponder:

  1. What is our prayer when we wake up every morning?
  2. What is the righteous fear we have?

Rev 19:11
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

Hebrews 10:23
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén