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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Born to die

Everyone is born to live but Jesus was born to die in this world. To die for whom? FOR YOU AND FOR ME. The following is "Lyrics to How Many Kings" : Follow the star to a place unexpected Would you believe, after all we've projected, A child in a manger? Lowly and small, the weakest of all Unlikeliest hero, wrapped in his mother's shawl - Just a child - Is this who we've waited for? 'cause... How many kings step down from their thrones? How many lords have abandoned their homes? How many greats have become the least for me? And how many gods have poured out their hearts To romance a world that is torn all apart How many fathers gave up their sons for me? Bringing our gifts for the newborn Savior All that we have, whether costly or meek Because we believe. Gold for his honor, and frankincense for his pleasure And myrrh for the cross he will suffer Do you believe? Is this who we've waited for? All for me... All for you... Follow the star to a place unexpected Would you believe, after all we've projected, A child in a manger? Lowly and small, the weakest of all Unlikeliest hero, wrapped in his mother's shawl - Just a child - Is this who we've waited for? 'cause... How many kings step down from their thrones? How many lords have abandoned their homes? How many greats have become the least for me? And how many gods have poured out their hearts To romance a world that is torn all apart How many fathers gave up their sons for me? Bringing our gifts for the newborn Savior All that we have, whether costly or meek Because we believe. Gold for his honor, and frankincense for his pleasure And myrrh for the cross he will suffer Do you believe? Is this who we've waited for? All for me... All for you... Lois, Daniel and Rachel sang this song for Moses & Anna's wedding ceremony in November 2009.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Amen Come, Lord Jesus!

When will the Lord Jesus come? Nobody knows except the Father in heaven, Christ Himself said. Jesus Christ, the Son of God is the second Person of Triune God. If He does not know when He will come, who can know about it? Therefore, if anyone claims that Christ will come on a certain date, month and year, then they are false prophets. Many have gone astray in this regard and led many misled peole into a spiritual destruction. We never know the date of His return. Then why are we worried about the projected time of Lord's return? Whenever He returns, it's the time when He will return as He said to us, " I will come quickly." How quick? I don't know. Many people got exceedingly impatient with His seemingly long delayed return and went sour on His promise by saying, "Where is this promised presence of His? Why. from the day our forefathers fell asleep in death, all things are continuing exactly as from creation's beginning"(II Peter 3:4). Do you know the real reason why the Lord Jesus didn't tell us when He will return and nearly 2,000 years have passed since He promised He would return quickly? The answer is also found in the same chapter, " One day is with God as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. God is not slow respecting His promise, but He is patient with you because He desires all to attain to repentance"(II Peter 3:8,9). Futher the Bible says, "Yet God's day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a hissing noise, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved and earth and the works in it will be discovered. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in holy acts of conduct and deeds of godly devotion, awaiting and keeping close in mind the presence of the Day of the Lord, through which the heavens being on fire will be dissolved and the elements being intensely hot will melt! BUT THERE ARE NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH THAT WE ARE AWAITING ACCORDING TO HIS PROMISE, AND IN THESE RIGHTEOUSNESS IS TO DWELL"(II Peter 3:10-13). What an awestruck warning for us who live in this last generation of the world! Never think that the wheels of current world will roll forever. There is an end to everything in this material world. Didn't God say to us earlier in Isaiah 65:17,"FOR HERE I AM CREATING NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH, AND THE FORMER THINGS WILL NOT BE CALLED TO MIND, NEITHER WILL THEY COME UP INTO THE HEART"? Yes Jesus is ceating a new dwelling place for you and me and promised to take us there to be with Him in John 14, "DO NOT LET YOUR HEARTS BE TROUBLED. EXERCISE FAITH IN GOD, EXERCISE FAITH ALSO IN ME. IN THE HOUSE OF MY FATHER THERE ARE MANY ABODES. OTHERWISE, I WOULD HAVE TOLD YOU, BECAUSE I AM GOING MY WAY OT PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU. ALSO, IF I GO MY WAY AND PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, I AM COMING AGAIN AND WILL RECEIVE YOU HOME TO MYSELF, THAT WHERE I AM YOU ALSO MAY BE. AND WHERE I AM GOING YOU KNOW THE WAY"(vs. 1-4). Some will say, "what shall I do with my hard-earned money, fame, career, education, wealth if He returns tonight?". Don't worry. The Lord will give you a transformed body like Him instead and you will live forever like Him, seeing Him face to face and enjoying all blessings that you could not even expect. Isn't that more valuable and perpetual blessings compared to having everything in this temporal and transient world, staying only 70 or 80 years if you are healthy? Take this word above seriously, my children and friends! N.B. The word, 'elements'(stoikeia in Greek) in II Peter 3 was a chemistry term used by the alchemists of the ancient Greece(now chemicists). I don't think that apostle Peter, an uneducated fisherman of Palestine knew about the chemical science of that day, yet he chose this specific word by the influence of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate writer of the Bible.

Nephilim - " Fallen Ones"






Bible has many places that contain the difficult verses for interpretation and understanding. One of them is recorded in Genesis 6, where the account of how the "nephilim" came into the ancient world and why God caused the great Flood to wipe them off the surface of the ground including all creatures that He had made. Etemologically to say, the word "nephilim" came from Hebrew verb 'napal' which means 'to fall', so 'nephilim' can be rendered as 'fallen ones'. This could mean 'fallen ones' from the moral or ontological standpoint.

They were physically mighty ones and men of fame in pre-Deluge generation. They were all believed to have been perished in the Noah's Flood and no further record for them is found in the Old Testament. Only the history of Noah's sons and their children is recorded thereafter. Who were 'nephilim'? Genesis 6 tells that they were born between 'the sons of God' and 'the daughters of men'. It's not that difficult to know who were 'the daughters of men' but not 'sons of God'. There have been many interpretatons on this verse throughout the Christian history. The most acceptable understanding is that they are 'the children of Seth', who called the name of Jehovah for the first time(Gen. 5:26).

This interpretation seems to fit well to the entire Biblical idea, yet leaves a further discussion about why they turn out to be fallen ones who deserved the God's judgment? And what is more,if the blood lines of Seth were mixed with that of daughters of men, why should this be the ground upon which God's judgment must have fallen?

Genesis 6 testifies that God felt hurt at His heart and felt regrets that He had made them(man and other animals)and so He decided to wipe them off the surface of the ground. Then who were they - nephilim?

I must say this very carefully after many years of investigation and meditation on the Word of God. In my understanding, they were the children born between the sons of God(angelic beings) and the daughters of men(human female). So to speak, a hybrid kind of human species whose inclination of the thoughts of heart is evil all the time(Gen. 6:5).

This position has not been accepted by many because the Bible says that angels do not marry and they have no physical ability to multiply. It's very true. But when the Lord Jesus said, 'angels do not marry' He meant by this that in heaven there is no institution of marriage established to multiply. Genesis 6 account tells us that there must have been an unusual copulation between the sons of God(angelic beings) and the daughters of men(human female) by way of unknown method to us.

Jude 6 tells us that the angels who did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place God has reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the Judgment of the Great Day. They were believed to be these angels who came to earth and took the daughters of men as wives for themselves, namely all whom they chose. God never told Adam to take as many wives as he choose. But the fallen angels did against God's will and they will be punished accordingly.

 I can not go further because I do not know more than this on this specific topic. If I have more understanding, I can write more on this. 

Have a nice day, you folks!

Monday, March 26, 2012

The Creation of man

Where does the man come from, I mean, all humanity whether male or female persons? Are we all the children of "Lucy" a legendary ape-like woman whom the evolutionists believe to be a proto-type human lived many millions ago somewhere in Africa? The final authority over this controversy is the Word of Creator God. Genesis 1:26 says that God created man in His own image and likeness. We all believe that God is Spirit and has no physical body, that's ture to the Bible. But it doesn't exclude the belief that God has a form, image and likeness. God is not only ethereal being but also real person who has an essence of existence which can be described in form, image and likeness, but nothing like that of the created beings. Who has borne the image of the invisible God after which we were all ceated? The Bible tells that Christ is the "IMAGE OF GOD'. Just as we have borne the image of Adam, a living soul, we shall bear the image of the Heavenly one, Jesus Christ, the life-giving Spirit when He returns. This kind of belief makes me hold the utmost high view of myself and fellow human beings. Also we can find the ultimate reason for our existence as human being. It's only found in the Image of God, Jesus Christ our Lord. I am so special and unique because I was made in the image of Adam(= my Korean mom and dad) when I was born 60 years ago, and I was born again in the image of Christ 40 years ago. There is no other me on earth! There is no other Ock, Lois, Moses-Anna, Daniel, Rachel and my sisters and brothers because they are born in the Image of Christ, the Image of God. That's all I can say today, my family and friends!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Children like many stars in the sky

Messier 9 (M9) has been known to modern astronomers as a globular cluster of over 300,000 stars within a diameter of about 90 light-years. It lies some 25,000 light-years distant, near the central bulge of our Milky Way galaxy. I like star gazing because it makes me humble before the Creator God when I see the uncountable stars in a night sky. Genesis tells us that God created the heavens and the earth including all the celestial bodies in it. No one can count the exact numbers at all but estimate. God promised Abraham that He would multiply Abraham's seed like many stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore(Genesis 22:17). Who are the seed of Abraham? It's obvious that they are not meant to be the physical Israelites only. They are countable and they are living in Palestine and scattered all over the world. Rather, they are the "multitudes in white robes who were washed in the Blood of Christ" throughout the ages as described in the Book of Revelation. Tonight if permitted, I will gaze at the night sky with my a small "2.5 telescope, by which I can barely see the planets like Jupiter with its 4 moons, Venus and constellations like Orion Belts, the Pleiades in the eastern sky after sunset while remembering the promise of God made to Abraham making his children as many as stars, which was fulfilled in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, the Seed of Abraham and the Root of Jesse because Bible says, "If anyone has faith in Jesus Chist, they are the children of Abraham, the father of faith in God." Have a nice weekend, my friends!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

GOD'S ONLY BEGOTTEN SON IS JESUS CHRIST












In Genesis 6:2 we see the expression of "sons of GOD"('bene-elohim' in Hebrew) and also in Job 2:1. There have been many different interpretations on the exact meaning of this word throughout Christian history. 

One of the most Biblical explanation of it will be "angelic beings before JEHOVAH GOD in Heaven" based on the Book of Job, where both satan and angels were present before GOD to talk about Job's integrity and calamities that came upon him. 

But I am talking about  "The SON of GOD". The Gospels tell us JESUS Was both "SON of man" and "SON of GOD" at the same time. HE Is Not one of the "sons of GOD," HE Is The "Only Begotten SON of GOD"('monogenes' in Greek). 

JESUS CHRIST Is The Only and Unique SON of GOD and there is no other 'SON of GOD' other than JESUS HIMSELF. 

HE Became our Big Brother Who Leads us to HIS FATHER WHOM we call "our FATHER in Heaven". 

Genesis 22 records the account of Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac to JEHOVAH on the Mount Moriah 4,000 years ago (Moriah is the same place with 'Golgotha' in Aramaic, 'Calvary' in Latin). 

GOD Ordered Abraham to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering on the Mount Moriah and Abraham kept HIS Command on the brink of killing Isaac. 

The Bible tells us that Isaac was not an "only son" to Abraham because he had another son named Ismael from Hagar, an Egyptian woman whom Sarah gave him as concubine to bear his son. 

Interestingly enough, GOD Called Isaac as Abraham's "only son" when HE Said, 

"Take your only son Isaac and go to the Mount Moriah...". 

Even though GOD Had many "sons" in Heaven, HE Called JESUS as "MY Beloved SON" and Apostle John called JESUS as "Only Begotten SON of GOD" in the Gospel John, Chapter 1.
Then, why do you think that GOD Told Abraham to offer Isaac as a "burnt offering" to HIM? Can you guess it? 

It's because GOD Will some day Give HIS Only SON, JESUS as Sin Offering to Take Away the sins of the world. 

That's the context when John the Baptist boldly pronounced, "Behold, The Lamb of GOD WHO Takes Away the sins of the world." 

That story is exactly like this; "Just as Abraham proved himself to love GOD by offering Isaac as burnt offering on the Mount of Moriah, GOD The FATHER Will Sacrifice HIS Only SON, JESUS CHRIST to Take Away the sins of the world." 

GOD Confirmed HIS Love toward us by Giving HIS Only Begotten SON, JESUS on the Mount of Golgotha where Isaac was almost killed 2,000 years ago. 

Therefore, the most famous verse in the Bible, 

John 3:16 says, 

"GOD So Loved the world(you and me) and Gave HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON(JESUS) whosoever believes in HIM should not perish bur have an eternal life"


Amen.







Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Mystery of Christ

Great is the Mystery of Christ! We know that Adam, the first man ate the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden because Eve("chavah" - mother of all life)gave him the fruit and Adam ate with no resistance(He told Eve they should not eat it because God said so). And many believe that if Adam had not eaten the fruit of the tree, humanity would not have fallen into sinning against God. It may be true! The result of this one-time act of eating the fruit brought us condemnation and judgment of God upon all humanity -Death for all! Why do you think Adam ate it from the hand of Eve? It's because Adam wanted to die together with Eve rather than avoiding God's judgment alone by not eating of it. He wanted to go to Hell with Eve rather surviving alone without Eve. For Adam, Eve was everything. She was a "bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh" (Genesis 2:23). He loved Eve more than he loved himself. Rather than living alone in the Garden of Eden, Adam chose to die with her. Can we call him a man of stupidity? No we can not. Here is the great mystery of this incident, by which the Apostle Paul wanted to juxtapose for comparison with the sacrificial, voluntary, vicarious death of Christ on the cross to die for His Bride, the Church which came into being from His wounded side as if Eve came out of Adam's side while sleeping. Christ was the second Adam who chose to die for the sinners and He descended to the lowest grave. He has taken the captives bound by the power of death free there and ascended with them to the utmost highest place in Heaven! The apostle Paul told us, "Husband, love your wife as Christ loved us and gave Himself for His Church (the Bride of the Lamb of God)" in Ephesians 5, I think. Do you love and sacrifice yourself for your wife, husbands? It's God's command, you folks.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Law of Moses and the Grace in Jesus Christ

Now I am listening to Deuteronomy chapter 28 and on. I feel spiritually that God is saying the same Word He spoke to the Israelites 3,000 years ago. First thought I had in mind was that I can not escape from His strict decrees. That is to say, I must have died already by the condemnation of His Holy Word. I actually have died while I was listening God's Word. The power of the Law, condemned me and has taken me as captive because of my wrongdoings and weaknesses that I had before. Now there is no hope left for me to be delivered from this predicament. HOWEVER, I found the way for my salvation from the Word of the Lord Jesus, our Great Deliverer, " I came to fulfill the Law( that no one was able to do)". The proclamation made by the aposle Paul in Romans(I think it's in Chapter 8), "If anyone who is in Christ, there is no condemnation because the Law of the Holy Spirit liberated us from the law of sin and death." HALLELUYAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I am free, I am freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee NOW. I am alive and judgment-free from the condemnation of any kind. I can live for Jesus from now on and forever. Than you Lord Jesus, my Savior and Deliverer! I will awake and live for You only, not for anything else that I have coveted so far. Thank You our Heavenly Father for giving Your Holy Son Jesus! Thank you God, the Holy Spirit for guiding me to the Truth, the Way and the Life. Amen

Job 19:25

I know that my Redeemer lives. And in the end, He will stand upon the earth. After my skin has been destroyed yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see Him with my own eyes... Amen, Come quickly Lord Jesus. All my joy is in You, my King.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Word of God is alive

I am listening to the Word of God in the Pentateuch(The books of Moses - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) narrated by Max McLean(http://www.biblegateway.com/). It awakes and uplifts me when I hear it because the Word of God is alive and powerful enough to search our heart.

O Lord, your word is sweeter than honey to my soul. Amen!