Why & How do we Love?

Something really simple but profound...

1John 4:19-21
21 We love Him because He first loved us.
20 If anyone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar. For if he does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21 And we have this commandment from Him, that he who loves God should love his brother also.

Is the love we receive from God conditional on our good works/deeds/prayers?
NO. He FIRST loved us. Even before we've done anything for Him, He first loved us. Can we then mete out the same measure of love, as we have been given by God by His abundance of Grace, to our fellow man? Be it friend or foe.

I hope we can all dwell & chew/meditate on this thought for the rest of the week. : )

Shalom Shalom,
Emmanuel

I am Blessed!

Hi All!

I've been asked several times at work today, the usual, "How's your day?" or "How are you doing?" kind of question.

What would the usual response be usually? "Oh ok." or "Not too bad." or something to that effect. But today i decided to catch myself before i said these things and quickly shouted out, "I'm good! Great! Hallelujah!"

I've decided that whatever that the day has in store for me, nothing can beat how God has given His very best to me. His beloved One, Jesus Christ! How terribly bad can my day be when God has given me His best already?

Christ consciousness. The consciousness of how much God loves me. That's what brings me through the whole day. And with that, i can really count my blessings. From the simple breakfast that i have at home, till the time i reach home and greeted by my wonderful family.

I hope we all can meditate and dwell on this consciousness that it doesn't really matter what happens to us, we have all already been blessed in advance!

Shalom & be Blessed,
Emmanuel

"Missing the Bull's Eye... Originally." A reply to Brother Hamzah's comment on 31st May 2009.

Shalom Bro Hamzah,

Welcome to my blog. I hope it has blessed you in some way. I'm glad this blog has reached out further and further into cyberspace.

Let's get started... : )

To answer your question about the doctrine of "original sin", we must first understand who this doctrine is for and by whom. The doctrine of "original sin" is NOT biblical and it is part of the Augustinian theology created by Augustine of Hippo or widely known in the Catholic church as St. Augustine. You can find a pretty concise study on this matter here: http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/augh_os.html

Now, let's use the bible to intepret bible.
Deuteronomy 24:16 says,
"Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for their fathers; each is to die for his own sin."

Now, God is a just God, He will not go back on His words. Therefore this verse immediately nullify's Augustine's theology.

Another verse for reference would be, Ezekiel 18:20
"The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him."

The primary argument for the doctrine of "original sin" comes from Romans 5:12-19. A nice article to read would be found here: http://www.tektonics.org/lp/origsin.html
Probably the last 3 paragraphs sums it up.

Paul was simply saying that by one man's(Adam) "missing the mark" - [the definition in Thayer's for "Hamartia" - which is the original Greek word for sin], caused death to reign in the lives of mankind. The word "Hamartia" is a noun and amoral in nature. Meaning there is no connotations of emotions or moral values attached to it till the person does something, for example, cursing.
Adam missed the mark when he believed Satan about eating the fruit and becoming like God. Adam was deceived. Adam was already like God! Because he was made in the image of God! That's the devil's ploy in our lives. To make us unsure and uncertain of our position with God and in God. The devil made Adam self conscious. Therefore being conscious of his position of missing the mark. When we are conscious of our shortcomings we are actually sin-concious, therefore being sin concious brings about death.
Interestingly, through biblical accounts, we can see that before the flood and the Law giving, we can see that Adam's descendants up to Noah lived really long lives! Adam himself lived till 930 years! Why? Though death was the effect of missing the mark but Adam has not seen death around him. The consciousness of death was not a reality for Adam for a really long time. Even missing the mark will not cause death to come immediately if you're not conscious of it(death)!

But what i'm trying to drive at is this, Adam's missing the mark has brought about death in humanity because the federal head of humanity has chosen out of free will to be out of God's glory and protection. Adam being representative of mankind gave up the authority of man's divine position on earth and handed it over to satan. Therefore his progenitors will be born in a world that has already fallen out of God's glory. Thereby being born into the realm of death and not of eternal life.
And as Paul mentioned in Romans 5:13-14 "13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression,..."

Sin is in the world. But missing the mark is only taken into account for (the word used is IMPUTED) after the law giving (Mosaic Covenant). And as Paul mentions, nevertheless, irregardless of missing the mark NOT being taken into account for, death still reigned. And death here is both physical and spiritual. Therefore physical death would seem now, to be a natural cause of being born into this world. Not so much whether we missed the mark or not but because of the decision of our federal head Adam to live outside the glory of God, therefore we, the progenitors of Adam are born outside the glory of God too. But the imputing of judgement for missing the mark only came later after the Mosaic covenant was given.

But praise be to God, He saw all this coming. He prepared a solution and key for us to enjoy everlasting life and be back in His fellowship. And that is through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. As mentioned here in Romans 5:18 "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."

We are all now justified unto life! So Bro, enjoy this life! You are now no longer condemned but made righteous before God not by your works but by the finished work of One Perfect Man!

Amen!

And to answer about my statement saying that i'm already forgiven even before i was born. I was making a chronological reference to Jesus' crucifixion 2000+ years ago versus me being born in 1977. I was born in the year 1977, therefore simply put, 1977 years after Jesus' crucifixion. His finished work then 1977 years ago has wiped out ALL sin for everyone on this earth forever! Past, meaning the prophets of old who saw YHVH as their redeemer and Savior, present, meaning the disciples that walked the earth with Jesus during His ministry and those that saw His Truth & Saving Grace, and future, meaning me born 1977 years future to the event of the crucifixion. Therefore, technically, my sins have been forgiven already, way before I was born! : )

I hope this helps... Thanks for reading Bro...

God bless you richly Brother Hamzah. : )

Shalom,
Emmanuel

Put the Amazing back into Grace!

Hi Beloveds!

Wow... It has been a while. Been busy. A calculated shift in work again. But Praise the Lord that His hand is always there to guide me and lead to green pastures & still waters.

I probably would like to provoke all our brothers & sisters in Christ out there to start thinking about Paul. Yes, the super apostle, Paul formerly known as "Sha-ul" in Hebrew.

Amongst all the apostles, Paul would probably be the one who was persecuted the most. Why so? Read his letters. Paul preached the Grace of God till it seeped from the pores of his skin. Grace has been an absolutely touchy subject amongst believers. But I believe Paul was on the right track somewhere since 3/4 of the New Testament was written by him. Detractors might say that the Christianity that we practice is called Pauline Christianity. I beg to differ. Paul saw Jesus for who He really was. Paul had a wonderful & powerful revelation of who the person of Jesus Christ is. And that GRACE is all wrapped up in Jesus! John 1:17 says this:

"For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

See the difference in the words used with regards to the law and about Jesus. The 10 commandments was written on stone and given to Moses by God. The law was written on a dead surface of rock. But Truth & Grace came through someone ALIVE! Who is this someone? Jesus Himself!

All that we look for is wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ. And all the we deserve as punishment for our sin has already been fully judged and punished on the body of Jesus on the cross. In fact, what He did was an overpayment! Yet we who deserve nothing, receives everything! (Ephesians 1:3-14)

So brothers and sisters, let us love one another. Let us love our brethren who are still out there on their spiritual journey. Let us be there to comfort them , to be a friend, a brother, a sister, even, a father or a mother. Just as Jesus displayed His love and Grace even in the final moments of His earthly life, He sees His mother grieving, He still has a heart to love and to fill that gap for her... John 19:26-27:

²⁶ When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” ²⁷ Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.

Let us have a revelation of God's love in our lives. He wishes to stand and be in that gap for you. In whatever area that it is right now. His super abounding Grace will eat up and overwhelm that dark spot in your lives right now! He is truly Amazing! He is our Father. I call Him Abba. Daddy. And Daddy gave me Jesus to remind me that in Him and with Him in me, I AM living a victorious life! Amen.

God bless & Shalom to one & all,
Emmanuel

The One Love.

Hi Dearly Beloveds,

As we look to this world that seems bleak, full of hate, anguish and violence. There can only be One solution. It is not to have a one world economy, it is not to have a one world legal system that determines our every way of life, it is to look to the One that has given His all for the world.

Why do we look to ourselves for the solution? Look to the One that says, "It is finished!"

HE has completed the work. Rid the world of Sin, but it is upon us to share this Good News. Share the NEWS that we no longer carry the burden of Sin in our Spirit but has been borne on the One that's without Sin.

How about a news flash tomorrow at prime time, "The Sins of this world, eradicated by rebel rabbi sent by GOD Himself." Wouldn't that be awesome?

Splashed across the front page of all major newspapers:

"Liberty, Liberty! Sin washed away by the Tsunami of Grace!"

written by Chris T.,

"The Man, the Rebel, the Light, the Shepherd, the SON. How you want to call Him, what you want to call Him, can't change the fact that He has done it! Done what? SIN eradicated. Removed. Expunged. Nuked. No more in you and me. He the One, said, "I did not come to judge and condemn the world, but I've come to save it." Mad man, many said. Blasphemy some said. Demon possessed even!

But the fruits of His ministry, however, did just show otherwise.

HIS mission was always in love, charity and liberation. He healed the sick, delivered people from demons, opened the ears of the deaf so they could hear, opened the eyes of the blind so they could see, restore death unto life just like raising Lazarus because his family grieved him so, fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves & 2 fish and much much more.

With such Love though, the people still wanted Him dead. "Death by crucifixion!" Shouted the Holy ones. "Release the murderer!"

A Man who Loved the poor, the sick, the dejected, the outcast, sent to the most brutal punishment ever, while a murderer walks free. This is the justice of the world. The guilty for the innocent. The blemished for the spotless One.

But this Rebel, did not utter a single word of contempt. He opened not His mouth, dumb as a lamb to the slaughter.

In His suffering, He can only think of one thing. You. How joyous is He in His heart knowing that what He will accomplish will forever set you free. Oh how He longs to be with you. But He knows, this mission, this journey, this passion for you, is an utterly, excrutiatingly, painful one. He holds His strength, whatever that He can muster to stay alive during the beating, the whipping, the scourging, the heavy crucifix which He can barely carry, limping because of His severed sciatic nerve. He must be mad. Oh so mad. Crazy, out of His mind. Why go through all that for a lot of people cursing at Him, spitting as His face, shouting obscenities at Him. WHY?

Love. He says, "As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; continue in My love."

Must be some kind of crazy love. A love so precious that the Father sacrificed His most precious One. For you.

Even to the very end, as He was pinned to the crucifix, naked, bloody, battered beyond recognition that there was no beauty in Him whatsoever, He had a heart for them. For those who abused Him. For those who gambled for His clothes. He interceded for them, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

Scorched under the sun from 9am till noon, then darkness fell. A strange eclipse swept the entire earth at that time. For 3 whole hours. The world was in absolute, desolate darkness. As if it was truly the end. But at 3pm, He shouted, "It is finished!" The end. His mission was over. And He gave His last breath. The horns blared across from the Holy sanctuary. The perfect sacrifice has been slain.

No news came. Not one of His closest disciples turned up to claim His body. On Joseph. From Arithmathea. He had a beautiful garden, fit for the One to be laid in. And there the body of the Rebel was laid to rest.

1 day passed, 2 days passed, the disciples were all scattered. Losing hope. 3rd day came.

It wasn't the men who witnessed Him being alive again. It was the woman. The woman restored by He Himself. Speaking to a gardener, estranged, crying, that the body of the One she thought was lost, without realising it is HE!

Yes, as He conquered death, He crushed the evil one's head with His heel! Death is underfoot. Sin no longer has a stranglehold on His beloved people.

Righteousness, Victory, Blessings & Honour. ALL through the eternal removal of Sin, forgiven for eternity via the perfect work that the One has done on His mission to the hill known as, "The place of the Skull." Truly the skull is underfoot, the Cross of Salvation crushed it!

To the One be ALL Glory & Honour.

His name is Jesus."

Wouldn't that be an awesome article to read in tommorow's papers?

Hallelujah! Praise you Lord. You are indeed magnificient, glorious and worthy of all honour & praise.

God bless all of you! : )

Shalom Shalom,

Emmanuel

Jesus our Good Shepherd.

Hi dearly beloveds,

I realized that though this blog is about Jesus as our Shepherd, i've not had any post on Jesus as our Shepherd! Haha... Well ok, here it is.

I was thinking to myself, we've always known Jesus as our Good Shepherd. But what does Shepherd actually mean in its original Hebrew word?

Whipped out the E-Sword software and found out that "Shepherd" in Hebrew is "Ra'ah".


Oh yes, some background info. For every alphabet in the Hebrew language, there is a deeper meaning, a pictograph, just like the Chinese characters in the Chinese language. So the above pictographs of the individual alphabets of the word "Ra'ah", Resh-Ayin-Heh (read from right to left), has been illustrated above as Head-Eye-Grace (read from right to left).

To me, I see the intepretation as: "The Head(God/Jesus) sees you in Grace!" Hallelujah!

It's so wonderful to see how God has placed special importance in certain words for us to discover these gems. All these speak about His love for us and how much of His Grace He has extended to us via the finished work of Jesus Christ. His Grace is Eternal! We will never run out of it. But it is a daily drawing from Him. Manna is good for today only. We cannot store up yesterday's manna because it's not for today. (Exodus 16:20)

Oh yes, back to Jesus as our Good Shepherd...

Next was to look for the meaning of the word "Good" in the Greek New Testament. I find the Greek language is very expressive and has a certain depth that the English language cannot put across. So, the word "Good" in Greek is actually, "Kalos".


According to Thayer’s Definition "Kalos" means:

beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, choice, surpassing, precious.

So I see Jesus as ALL of "Kalos"! HE is beautiful, handsome, excellent, eminent, the Man of choice, surpassing all others and oh so precious to me.

Why then is Jesus so good? Let's look to the Gospels.

Luke 15:4-7
4 What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until he finds it?
5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.
7 I say to you that likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

In verse 4, Jesus was actually asking a rhetorical question which points to Himself. I doubt that any normal shepherd would bother and risk leaving the 99 just to look for that 1 lost sheep; which probably by a certain time would have been dead in the wilderness devoured by some wild beast.

All Jesus was saying was, "I AM that good. I will look for you even though you are that 1 lost sheep amongst the many in my fold."

The first reaction that Jesus has when He's found you is to carry you on His magnificient shoulders, after all that lost walking you did for many days or years, He wants you to REST! He'll do the walking for you. While lifting you up on His shoulders, He's rejoicing! He's super duper HAPPY, elated, ecstatically overjoyed! How awesome is that? Then in verse 6, the moment He reaches home/Heaven, He calls for a party man! To celebrate your homecoming!

Heaven is overjoyed to have one lost sheep return home as compared to 99 self-righteous persons who don't need His saving Grace.

He who is our Good Shepherd ends up as the Perfect Sacrificial Lamb on the Cross of Calvary.

The Perfect One. Sinless, Blameless, put through the punishment for us all. His shed blood has redeemed us ALL for eternity.

Ephesians 1:7
In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of HIS grace;

You see the word redemption in Greek is "apolutrōsis".
Which by Thayer's definition is:
1) a releasing effected by payment of ransom
1a) redemption, deliverance
1b) liberation procured by the payment of a ransom

The Blood of Jesus has bought us ALL out of Sin! We no longer have Sin in us! Our Spirit no longer carries the burden of Sin, though the flesh may still be affected and influenced by the carnal nature of this earthly realm that we live in.

Through His shed blood, we have the forgiveness of sins, ACCORDING to the riches of HIS grace. Not yours, not mine. And God's Grace is everlasting and eternal! Our Salvation from Sin and all things carnal of this world has been bought at a price. A Heavenly price that cost God His dearest. His only begotten One.

Hebrews 5:9
And being perfected, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all those who obey/listen/hear Him,

You see, we can't lose our salvation. He IS our ETERNAL salvation! Forever! Hallelujah!

The reason I highlighted HEAR Him is that God speaks to us in the quietness of our hearts, in the solace of our loneliness; He is that voice of comfort, love, endearment and peace. He also speaks to us through our beloved friends and loved ones. Are we hearing Him in those moments? Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. But praise be to God, He is ALWAYS there for you and I!

He is always there saying, "Son, I love you. No matter what, I love you. I gave my very own best for you. I'm always here even though sometimes you don't want me. I'm here, right here for you. I love you son."

Hallelujah. Praise the wonderful name of Jesus! He truly is my Good Shepherd. How about you? Do you see and embrace Jesus as your Good Shepherd?

He loves you. He wants to carry you on His shoulders. He knows you're burdened. He wants you to rest. Let Him do the walking while He sings for joy while carrying you.

God Bless all of you richly, abundantly, full of Grace, full of Favour, full of His Love.

Shalom to one & all,
Emmanuel

Can Grace be abused?

Hi Dearly Beloveds,

Just came back from a gathering session. A mildly heated debate came about when the facilitator of the group used the term "abuse Grace". He was mentioning that it is possible for an individual to "abuse Grace". Extreme scenarios were played out, the heavy subject matter of adultery was used as an illustration.

Taken for example a man, having an adulterous relationship, tells his wife that he's in an adulterous relationship because where sin abounds, grace much more abounds. The verse reference would be:
Romans 5:20
But the Law entered so that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,

He then goes on to say to his wife that God will bless him more because he has sinned, grace much more abounds in his life.

First and foremost, I think, such situations are rare and few. But i'm sure it happens.

Few key questions:

1) How should that man's wife react and what should she do?

The couple should agree to go for some kind of counselling first. But if the husband disagrees and still wants to continue in that adulterous relationship. Then...

Divorce the man for goodness sake! She is in a hurtful relationship, it would not benefit her in any way to be with this man.

2) How should we view this man?

He is obviously not well. By taking this verse out of the very context of the gift of righteousness and using it for his personal immoral gain and habit, he probably is suffering from some kind of mental and emotional problems. In another word, he is probably to some degree a sociopath (from dictionary.com, noun: a person, as a psychopathic personality, whose behavior is antisocial and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience).

The context of Romans 5:20 starts from Romans 5:14. It would be the recognition of our righteousness before God is as a gift from God. And this Gift, though is free for all who wish to believe, is NOT cheap to God. God paid dearly for it, for us to receive it for free. Jesus paid the penalty for us on our behalf.

Context is here:

Rom 5:14 But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is the type of Him who was to come;
Rom 5:15 but the free gift shall not be also like the offense. For if by the offense of the one many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift in grace; which is of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.
Rom 5:16 And the free gift shall not be as by one having sinned; (for indeed the judgment was of one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses to justification.
Rom 5:17 For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, much more they who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ.)
Rom 5:18 Therefore as by one offense sentence came on all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came to all men to justification of life.
Rom 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.
Rom 5:20 But the Law entered so that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,
Rom 5:21 so that as sin has reigned to death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

When the believer sees the Gift of Righteousness as an act of unconditional and sacrificial love from our Heavenly Father, we see His Love for us!

Now what can set a person free from sin?

Knowing that God does not condemn us any more, we are then set free from the effects of sin.

John 8:10-11 (the adulterous woman about to be stoned by the Pharisees)

10 And bending back up, and seeing no one but the woman, Jesus said to her, Woman, where are the ones who accused you? Has no one condemned you?

11 And she said, No one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.

So what empowers a person from not sinning? Knowing that though we have sinned and will sin in our earthly lives here, God Himself the Salvation of our lives does not condemn us!

We have now been saved from the judgment which was of condemnation to the free gift of righteousness which brings our offenses, by the blood of Jesus, to our justification! (Romans 5:16)

The knowledge of the Truth sets us free! (John 8:32)

The original Greek word for sin in the NT is "Hamartia" meaning - to miss the mark.

In the context of Romans 5:20, there is no differentiation between what kind of sins are covered under grace which more than abounds. The debate that we had was also whether it is willful sinning, habitual sinning or unconscious sinning.

Sin simply means to miss the mark. In God's eyes sin are all equal, from the smallest to the greatest.

Matthew 5:28
But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Just a thought can be equated to the physical deed itself. This is God's standard.

A man can wilfully sin. In this case, this adulterous husband. He has bent the Word of God to use it for his personal immoral gains, to use it to wilfully hurt his wife and his family, but if some time ago he has declared and believed that Jesus is his Lord and Saviour, then we are not here to judge this man.

We pray for his deliverance from this immoral life he is living in. We pray for his wife to be released from this bondage and be healed from the hurt that she has gone through and we also pray that if both parties decide to go through counselling, that their marriage can be restored and be renewed and that it can be a testimony to the goodness of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Even if that man has rejected counselling, we will still pray for him and we are not in a position to judge him.

Paul succintly said it here in Romans 14:8-13:

8 For both if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore both if we live, and if we die, we are the Lord's.

9 For this Christ both died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living.
10 But why do you judge your brother? Or also why do you despise your brother? For all shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God."
12 So then each one of us will give account concerning himself to God.
13 Then let us not judge one another any more, but rather judge this, not to put a stumbling-block or an offense toward his brother.

So, in our speech, conversation, counselling to such a person, it would be much better to speak the Life giving Words of Christ into this brother's life. We don't have to tell him he's got a problem or that he has sinned and done something wrong. His conscience has already convicted him of that.

Let's look to the Word again:

John 8:7-9 (The Pharisees decided not to stone the adulterous woman because of what Jesus said and their conscience convicted them)

7 But as they continued to ask Him, He lifted Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.
8 And again bending down, He wrote on the ground.
9 And hearing, and being convicted by conscience, they went out one by one, beginning at the oldest, until the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

Another example of the conscience bearing witness to the law.

Romans 2:14-15,

14 For when the nations, who do not have the Law, do by nature the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law unto themselves;
15 who show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and the thoughts between one another accusing or even excusing one another,

So coming back to the topic of "Abusing Grace".

We can see it from 2 perspectives.

1. From the spirit of "legalism" and "religiosity".

"Oh! that Brother has abused grace because he used the Word and twisted it to suit his sinful life! Look at him now! Living in sin in that adulterous relationship...! etc."

2. From the spirit of Truth & Grace.

"Yes, we recognise that Brother is now in an adulterous relationship. Let's pray for him and his family that their relationship be healed. Let us leave room for God's Grace to work in his life. For where sin (to miss the mark) abounds, grace much more abounds. I'm sure someone would have recommended them to go for counselling with the church or possibly they would have talked about it."

- Yes, in point 1, that brother has in a way "abused" (wilfully misinterpreted out of context) how that Word of God is applied. But God is bigger than that! In God's everlasting Grace and Mercy, He will surely still pour His Love on this brother's life. To heal him, to renew his mind, to bless him. The response of the individual to God would be like the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-25) returning to his father. Be it returning with good or bad intentions, so long as he returns home, his Father is delighted and overjoyed!

- In point 2, yes we are ALSO abusing God's Grace! Because we believe that God is greater than sin! Where sin is, there is God to deliver you! There is Jesus to save you! His mercy endures forever!

Psalms 118:1

"O give thanks to YHVH; for He is good; because His mercy endures forever."

So if putting such a statement (answers to point 1 & 2) into a mathematical context, we can reduce the common terms and eliminate the less important variables that would not impact the end result (I'm not that good in math so I don't know the exact term for it. Apologies). Which in this case, is the word "abuse".

Grace CANNOT be abused anymore because GRACE has already been abused 2000+ years ago!

Grace is NOT a doctrine, Grace is NOT a teaching, Grace is NOT a message. GRACE is THE Good News/Gospel itself!

Why?

Because GRACE = JESUS !

John 1:17,

For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Grace and Truth CAME as Jesus Christ! So that means, Grace and Truth is the person of Jesus Christ Himself!

To receive Grace is to receive Jesus! So once you're saved, you have already received the Grace of God! Because now you are in Him and He is in you!

How about abusing Grace/Jesus then?

Isaiah 53:5-6,

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

If anyone has watched the movie "The Passion", you would have known what abuse really is. In fact, I believe Jesus suffered more than what was shown in the movie.

The earlier verse in Isaiah 53:2 says,

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

As a plant pulled out of the dry ground, stomped on, crushed and beaten to a pulp. That was what Jesus went through. In the movie, when Jim Caviezel was on the cross as Jesus, you could still see a face, you still could recognise Jim Caviezel's face. But here in Isaiah 53:2 says, He has NO form ("To'ar" in the Hebrew, which means: shape, form, outline, figure, appearance ) nor comeliness ("Hadar" in the Hebrew, which means: splendour, majesty, glory) and no beauty ("Mar'eh" in the Hebrew, which means: sight, appearance, vision) that we should desire Him.

It would mean that by the time Jesus was on the cross, we wouldn't want to look at Him at all. Because He would have looked totally disgusting and we'd probably vomit looking at Him with our tears rolling at the same time.

So, dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we can no longer abuse Grace/Jesus because He has already been abused! All He asks for is for us to USE Him. Use Him, draw on Him, for He is our Salvation in ALL our circumstances in our lives.

So in that circumstance in your life or when we are looking at someone elses circumstance in their lives what do we say? More importantly, what would Jesus say? I believe He would say this:

Matthew 16:15-16

15 He said to them, But who do you say I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Lord Jesus, You ARE my GRACE! In ALL areas of my life, YOU are my GRACE!

I will use You, I will draw on You, I will feed on You, I will drink of You!

Hallelujah! God is most well pleased when you see and use Jesus this way.

Matthew 17:5,

While he yet spoke, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. And behold a voice out of the cloud which said, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, hear Him.

Him and Him alone do we hear. Him and Him alone do we magnify and glorify. To Him and Him alone do we give weight to all our circumstances, especially in the moments where we miss the mark.

We give Him Glory, Honour and all praises to Him!

Thank you Jesus, you are our Yeshua, you love us and we love you back.

Amen.

Shalom to one & all,

Emmanuel

Jesus. He's a Funny Guy, Life of the Party!

Thanks Terence!

Enjoy and be blessed everyone...

Shalom,
Emmanuel

A reply to B.Nora's comment... Jesus is Man & God, and God is not a God of confusion.

Hi beloveds,

Here is my reply and right at the end is the original comment by B.Nora.

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Hi B.Nora,

Excellent quotes from the Bible. Well learned!

ALL your verses are well quoted but I'm afraid they are also misquoted and quoted out of context. : )

In order to interpret verses, you have to quote in CONTEXT. You have to understand the preceding verses plus the proceeding verses and then understand the context of the Chapters also.

Numbers 23:19
Was part of an encounter when Balak a king of Moab, hired Balaam (a man endowed with the gift of prophecy) to curse Israel. So Balak kept asking Balaam to curse Israel but Balaam could not do it and Balaam kept blessing Israel.

So the verse in Numbers 23:19,
"God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man that He should repent. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?"

Is in reference to how God works judicially. Why? Because God found no fault with Jacob or Israel.

Numbers 23:20-21,
20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. 21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.

God was speaking through Balaam to Balak saying that He is not like a natural man when it comes to judging.

Hosea 11:9 you also quoted out of context within the verse itself. Here is the full verse.
"I will not carry out the heat of My anger; I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not enter into the city."

Again, here God is talking about His judiciary role as a judge. Though the tribe of Ephraim (2nd son of Joseph, favoured over Manasseh) and also the rest of Israel, angered God because of their idolatry, God is slow to anger and He is always merciful and loves His people. God promises His restoration to His people.

Hosea 14:4-7,
4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
7 They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit found.
9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

The rest of your quotes from the New Testament are also good. But one thing for sure, you also forgot to quote verses that refer to Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus was both Man and God. Let’s discount those verses that refer to Jesus as the Son of God by natural human being characters of the New Testament ok. Let’s look at these few verses here.

Matthew 8:28-29
28 And when He had come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, two demon-possessed ones met Him, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one might pass by that way.
29 And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?

Here even demons recognise Jesus as the Son of God!

How about here?

Mark 3:10-11
10 For He had healed many, so that they pressed on Him in order to touch Him, as many as had plagues.
11 And unclean spirits, when they saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried, saying, You are the Son of God!

How about an angel?

Luke 1:26-27
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary.

Luke 1:34-35
34 Then Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I do not know a man?
35 And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit shall come on you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you. Therefore also that Holy One which will be born of you shall be called Son of God.

The following verses was the encounter that Jesus had with the Sanhedrin (the great council at Jerusalem, consisting of the seventy one members, viz. scribes, elders, prominent members of the high priestly families and the high priest, the president of the assembly. The most important causes were brought before this tribunal, inasmuch as the Roman rulers of Judaea had left to it the power of trying such cases, and also of pronouncing sentence of death, with the limitation that a capital sentence pronounced by the Sanhedrin was not valid unless it was confirmed by the Roman procurator.)

Luke 22:66-71
66 And when day came, the body of elders of the people, and the chief priests and the scribes, came together. And they led Him to the sanhedrin, saying,
67 Are you the Christ? Tell us. And He said to them, If I tell you, you will not believe.
68 Also if I ask you, you will not answer Me nor let Me go.
69 From now on the Son of Man shall sit at the right hand of the power of God.
70 And they all said, Are you then the Son of God? And He said to them, You say it, because I AM!
71 And they said, What need do we have for any witness? For we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth.

Highlight would be verse 70. And confirmation would be verse 71 because the Sanhedrin heard Him!

Jesus recognised the fact that He is both Man and God. That is the reason why He is the perfect sacrifice, the perfect unblemished Lamb of God. Though He was God, He was also Man. He was on earth to know us, to know our frustrations, to know our needs, to know our temptations. Though He was tempted He never fell into sin. He is God because He demonstrated His Godly powers through healing the sick, raising the dead, conquering the elements, casting demons out of people, freeing people from sin and condemnation.

It is good that you quoted Luke 18:19 and Matthew 19:17. But again, what is the context?
What was the preceding verse to Luke 18:19? Let’s look at both verse 18 and 19.

Luke 18:18-19
18 And a certain ruler asked Him, saying, Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
19 And Jesus said to him, Why do you call Me good? None is good except One, God.

There was a young rich ruler/commander/chief that encountered Jesus and addressed Jesus as “Good” Teacher. Jesus was stressing the fact that He did not want to associate Himself with the spiritual “teachers” of His day. There is none, NO, good teacher, except GOD Himself is good! Jesus did not come to be our teacher but He came to be our SAVIOUR! It’s all in His name! Yeshua(Jesus) means Salvation/Saviour!

I’d like to stress again that Jesus did NOT come to be our teacher. He came to SAVE us. What you will realise that whenever He teaches it is always MAXIMUM God standard. And His life is a fulfilment of ALL of God’s standards. That’s why Jesus is representative of you and me. He completes God’s standards on our behalf so that whenever we fall short, it is His finished work on the cross that saves us.

Matthew 19:17 and Luke 18:19 are of the same account.

In fact, Jesus did not “rebuke” this young ruler. Jesus just spoke to this young ruler. Look to the bible. All it says is: Jesus said to him...

Fact is, the word rebuke is seldom used in the New Testament. Altogether, rebuke and rebuked is mentioned about 32 times but NOT in these verses mentioned.
Jesus did not condemn this young man even though he only took Jesus as a teacher.

Jesus did NOT deny He was God. Jesus took His rightful position as both representative of mankind (you and me) and also representative of God on earth.

It is very interesting that you brought up Ezekiel Chapter 2 with reference to the phrase Son of Man. Though it is generally true in the Hebrew Scriptures that the term son of man is in reference to mankind, meaning also son of Adam, descendants of Adam. But peculiar to Ezekiel, we see Son of Man is in reference to the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ)!

Again, this is an exercise of quoting in context not just from the verse, not just from the chapter but from the entire book!

So, the book of Ezekiel begins with of course chapter 1. Let’s zoom in here:

Ezekiel 1:26-28
26 And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
27 And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.
28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

This likeness of a man in verse 26 as we flow down to verse 28 we see as a man with the glory of the LORD! Then the following chapter, it is immediately followed by an exaltation to prophet Ezekiel by God:

Ezekiel 2:1
And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.

This Son of man here now is no longer the same son of man that has been used earlier in Job and the Psalms. The previous son of man usage was of a different effect, different emphasis. Here
Ezekiel is now chosen to speak God’s Words!

Ezekiel 2:7 And you shall speak My Words to them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are rebellious.

So by this illustration we can see that even the term Son of Man can be a term of exaltation not necessarily relegating humanity to a lowly level. We can see further in Ezekiel 3 that Ezekiel has been given authority by God to do His work.

Ezekiel 3:4 And He said to me, Son of man, go! Go up to the house of Israel and speak to them with My Words.

Now that’s a man with authority!

Ezekiel 3:17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

Only Ezekiel, among all the prophets have been given this special role as the Watchman.
Coming back to where we were. YES, I agree with you. God is NOT a God of confusion. He makes it all very clear IF we read His Word in CONTEXT.

Amen.

Thank you B.Nora for being an active part of this blog.

I pray that you WILL have a blessed journey to the Truth that you seek and you will have fun doing it too!

Numbers 6:24-26
24 The LORD bless you and keep you.
25 The LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
26 The LORD lift up His face to you and give you peace.

Shalom,
Emmanuel

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B.Nora's Comment:

Read about your blog and read your blogs. How should I address you as – “Malay Christian” or “Christian Malay” for that matter? For me let me introduce myself, I am a Malay, I am truly fascinated by the story of Christianity converts like Anonymous that leave the comment on January 6th 2009.

Read many other articles on how the Bible and teaching of Christianity can convince many Muslim Malays to convert, however still till now very confused and not convinced. Enlighten me about :-1. Why was Jesus addressed as “GOD” in Christianity when:-
A. The Bible says:
1. Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man…”
2. Hosea 11:9 “...For I am God, and not man...”
3. Jesus is called a man many times in the Bible:
4. John 8:40 “…a man who has told you the truth…”
5. Acts 2:22 “Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.”
6. Acts 17:31 “He will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom He has appointed”
7. 1. Tim. 2:5 “…the man Christ Jesus.”
8. God is not a man, but Jesus, may the blessing and mercy of God be upon him, was a man, therefore, Jesus was not God.
9. Tim. 2:5 “…the man Christ Jesus.”
10. God is not a man, but Jesus, may the blessing and mercy of God be upon him, was a man, therefore, Jesus was not God.

2. The Bible Says that God Is Not a Son of Man
A) Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man...nor a son of man…”
B) The Bible often calls Jesus “a son of man” or “the son of man.”
C) Matthew 12:40 “…so will the son of man be…”
D) Matthew 16:27 “For the son of man is going to come…”
E) Matthew 28 “…until they see the son of man coming in His kingdom.”
F) Mark 2:10 “But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority…”
G) John 5:27 “…because He is the son of man.”
H) In the Hebrew Scriptures, the “son of man” is also used many times speaking of people (Job 25:6; Psalm 80:17; 144:3; Ezekiel 2:1; 2:3; 2:6; 2:8; 3:1; 3:3; 3:4; 3:10; 3:17; 3:25).I) Since God would not contradict Himself by first saying He is not the son of a man, then becoming a human being who was called “the son of man”, he would not have done so. Remember God is not the author of confusion. Also, human beings, including Jesus, are called “son of man” specifically to distinguish them from God, who is not a “son of man” according to the Bible.

3. The Bible Says that Jesus Denied He is God
A) Luke 18:19 Jesus spoke to a man who had called him “good,” asking him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.”
B) Matthew 19:17 And he said to him, “Why are you asking me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”
C) Jesus did not teach people that he was God. If Jesus had been telling people that he was God, he would have complimented the man. Instead, Jesus rebuked him, denying he was good, that is, Jesus denied he was God.
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Good grief! Does God really grieve us?

Hi dearly beloveds,

Below is a comment I gave on a friend's blog with regards to Lamentations 3:32,

"But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies."

and other stuff relating to it.

Enjoy and be blessed!

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Hi there,

You've quoted some really good verses to help someone who is in grief. I did notice you quoted Lamentations.
It is ok to quote verses such as these but we need to know the context of the verses.

Especially Lamentations 3:32:
"Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion according to the greatness of his unfailing love."

This verse can be very misleading for many believers. It seems from the onset that God Himself will bring you grief, then all of a sudden He will show His compassion and love. This verse is not in line with New Testament truth because the context of the entire book of Lamentations is not directed to the New Testament believer.

The grief that the author(tradtionally thought to be Prophet Jeremiah) of this book was talking about was the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians led by King Nebuchadnezzar. (verse ref. Jeremiah 39:1-18)

Jeremiah saw that the idolatry of the people of Israel will cause the nation to fall. This was the main theme of the Book of Jeremiah from Chapter 1 all the way to Chapter 39 when Jerusalem is finally conquered by the King of Babylon.

Because the people of Israel have forsaken their God/YHVH and turned to idolatry, God could not afford His protection for them (therefore in the original Hebrew it is in a permissive tense-allowing something to happen but not coming from the person himself. In this case, God has no grief to give His people because there's no grief in Heaven, so the grief was allowed to come on the people of Israel through an external source, the Babylonians).

We can rephrase Lamentations 3:32 if read in the original Hebrew as:
"Because of that situation(Israel's idolatry), affliction and grief happened(when God could not place His protection because He is righteous). Though that happened, His compassionate love still comes in abundance because of His goodness and faithfulness.

With this in light, we can see that the Babylonians took quite a while before they conquered Jerusalem because the Lord is slow to anger. (Psalms 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and rich in mercy.)

We must also understand that this is still in the Old Covenant where God has to mete out His judgment by allowing calamity to fall on the unjust. God is a just God, He has to judge even His own people, if not, He is an unfair God. But God is ALSO a SAVING God.
Jeremiah 50 talks about God destroying Babylon because Babylon has oppressed His people and He will also forget their sins against Him!

Jeremiah 50:18-20;
18 So the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says this: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria.
19 And I will again bring Israel to his home, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead.
20 In those days, and at that time, says the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and it shall not be found; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

But we're now in the NEW covenant where our Peace is paid in the holy blood of God, Jesus Christ Himself. There WILL no longer be any grief coming from God to the New covenant believer now.

Why? Just as you have quoted, John 14:27,

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

So, in order for us to appreciate ALL His treasures in His Word, be it in the Old Testament or New Testament, we have to put on a very special contact lens.
I call this lens the JESUS LENS. Everything that we read in the bible have to be filtered and seen through the Jesus lens, and the Jesus lens represents the finished work of Christ Jesus on the cross, His Victory over sin, death and of course, satan.

Because God paid the eternal and most precious price by giving Jesus up to be punished in our place, we will NEVER be punished by God ever again. Not even a single dot.

Also, the LORD does not abandon us at all. Never for a single moment, even though in our circumstances we "feel" like He did.

How we feel does not affect the Truth. A good illustration i gave to a friend was this:
When i switch on the light of my room, the room will light up, so will i. But for that moment, I can have a range of emotions. Maybe I was feeling sad because i quarrelled with my wife, or I’m still angry at that stupid driver just now, or I'm depressed from a lousy day at work etc.
But the truth of the matter is that no matter how I’m "feeling" the Light IS still shining on me! That's how it is concerning God's love for you.

So we can be rest assured when Paul quoted in the book of:
Hebrews 13:5
...For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

It is a definite Yes & Amen! Paul was actually quoting what God told Moses in Deuteronomy 31:6 before the Israelites entered Canaan to fight for their land.
Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and of a good courage. Do not fear nor be afraid of them. For the LORD your God is He who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.

God also spoke to Joshua who took over Moses' leadership after his death just prior to entering Canaan, Joshua 1:5;

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.

Be of good cheer! Moses and Joshua were in the Old covenant yet they still received this eternal promise from God. What more us? Born in again in the royal blood of Jesus, Son of the most High!

Hallelujah! Praise the LORD. : )

I hope this comment has blessed you in some way.

You are the righteousness of God in Christ! : )

Shalom shalom.

Your Brother in Christ,
Emmanuel