Monday, April 6, 2009

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








Wednesday, April 1, 2009

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