Prophecies and Covenants

In my last post, I mentioned some of the unique concepts of Christianity that I felt. Further to the post, I would like to elaborate on the significance of covenants and prophecies.

As everyone knows, when Adam and Eve committed the original sin, before cursing Adam and Eve, God cursed the serpent (satan) and pronounced the judgement as a prophecy. The LORD GOD said, And "I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise Him on the heel." Gen 3:15 Many of us understand the first part of the prophecy right that Jesus Christ, the seed of woman (Mary), bruised the devil in cross. But, the second part is important as well that the serpent will bruise Jesus's heel. Many scholars and authors says that Jesus just died on cross and resurrected which is equivalent to "bruise Him on the heel". But, as per divine revelation which I got, this is the part because of which the world is going on still and the second part is not fulfilled yet.

The serpent bruising Jesus' heel means this is something opposite of what Jesus did. Satan will take the form of antichrist (also called the beast in Revelation) takes a human form and crushes the feet of Jesus which means, He will destroy the last generation of believers. Remember, in Nebuchadnezzar's vision, He saw the statue and from head to feet, it represented generations from Babylonian to Roman empire and during Roman empire, Jesus was born and in same way, Jesus' heel is the very last generation of Christianity. I got this interpretation matching with Daniel 12:7 that quotes "when it is accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these  things shall be finished." Just for this, the world is running still. All the scientific revolution, technology development, globalization through internet (WWW - a form of 666), everything is specifically designed and allowed so that the devil can set up an end time kingdom and the promise be fulfilled. This is something allowed by God.

To fulfill the first part of prophecy, which is Jesus crushing of satan's head, Abrahamic covenant is created by God with Abraham and God said to Abraham, through your seed, all the generations of earth will be blessed (Gen 12:3) , keeping Jesus in mind and Jesus made a new covenant with His disciples and followers via His flesh and blood which we are remembering through communion. Another covenant is made with David (called Davidic covenant) and Lord said to David, that there will be a son for you to rule over earth and this will again be fulfilled once Jesus returns back to set His kingdom up in 1000 year millennium reign. God is truthful to His promises. Isaiah said prophetically, Behold a virgin will be conceived and begot a son and He will be named Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).  Isaiah also told, There will be a son given to us who will reign, His name is miraculous, counseling Lord, mighty God, everlasting Father and Prince of peace at Isaiah 9:6. Roughly seven hundred years later, these prophecies got fulfilled at the appointed time. Same way, there were many prophecies mentioned in Old Testament which were fulfilled. Also, there are many prophecies concerning the second coming of Jesus at many places will happen at its appointed time sooner. In Isaiah 40:10, he said "Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him." Towards the end of Psalms 96 and 98, David says Lord is coming back to earth for judgement. It is impossible for one thing to be fulfilled and other to go in vein. Jesus Himself said, heavens and earth will pass away but word of God will be fulfilled for sure.

As we end the year 2015, lets thank the God with bottom of our heart for what He has done throughout this year. Lets thank for His blessings, His protection, His guidance and leading, His matchless peace which is the greatest blessing of all. We thank you Jesus, we praise you Father and we glorify you Holy Spirit for leading us throughout this year and blessed us with your countless blessings. As we enter the New year, bless us as per Numbers 6:24-26 throughout 2016.

May all Honor, Glory and Praises be to our God, the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Uniqueness of Christianity

Christianity is special that it stands on Lord Jesus who is God Himself. Apart from that, God designed many facts around Christianity which are unique. Let's see few important concepts that are unique to Christianity.

I could think of the following as unique to Christianity,
1. Salvation by the death of LORD Himself - Manifestation of Grace.
2. Resurrection and Transfiguration.
3. Covenants through which God works.
4. Prophecies and their fulfillment.

As we see in the previous chapter, Salvation is a unique process and one of the fundamental truth why one has to be saved by Jesus Christ to enter eternal life. While every other religion has a concept of Judgement and eternal life, Christianity clearly teaches the way for eternal life. The special thing about Salvation in Christianity is God Himself came down as human to taste the death by shedding His Holy Blood to create Salvation for us. While every religion teaches about saving good people and rewards them with heaven and destroy wicked people and condemns them to hell, Christianity establishes a chance to all wicked and evil doers to turn to good and for this to happen a chance to be given first to everyone. That chance is created by the blood shed of God Himself, dying in cross and taking away all the curse. While every other God destroys the wicked and saves good people, Christianity teaches that Lord Himself faced death and destruction to save both the good and bad and gives chance for wicked until final moment of judgement. Hence, the Bible declares every one is a sinner and salvation will come through faith in Lord Jesus Christ. This demonstrates God's grace towards mankind. This is unique and a foundational aspect of Christianity.

Resurrection/Transfiguration is another unique truth about Christian faith. While every other religion has the concept of incarnation, Christianity not only has the concept of incarnation in Jesus Christ's virgin birth but it teaches another fact of resurrection from death of all those who were saved by Him. Transfiguration is another important concept of those who were alive and who were resurrected receiving their glorious bodies which in turn similar to that of Jesus Christ during His secret coming back. Jesus Himself demonstrated both transfiguration and resurrection. Jesus' transfiguration occurred in Mount Tabor where He displayed His majesty to His selected disciples Peter, John and James and during the incident Moses and Elijah appeared together. This has greater significance where as Jesus represented Holy Father, Moses represented Son (as Moses was dead but entered heaven spiritually) and Elijah represented Holy Spirit (as Elijah never died and ascended to heaven to represent Holy Spirit never dies). During this moment, Jesus' face shined like sun, His clothes turned like light and this would happen to every one of His followers when He returns to rapture the church and they will receive their glorious bodies. This glorious body is immortal, will not age, will not be prone to decay or destruction and will be equivalent to that of God Himself. Same happens to who were dead but were saved by the Lord Jesus and they will be resurrected with their glorious bodies during his secret return.

The third one is covenants. Our God is a covenanting God who likes to establish covenants with humans. He made covenant with Noah that He will not destroy mankind with water after the great floods. He kept rainbow (His bow) on clouds as a sign for this covenant. Later, the Lord made covenant with Abraham and blessed Him saying that through His generation, all the nations of the earth will be blessed and God is truthful to fulfill his covenant when He gave His son Jesus Christ on the cross and through Him all the people, both Jews and Israelites as well as gentiles are blessed. He made a covenant with David that there will be a son to rule in your throne and this will be fulfilled during 1000 year millennium reign of Jesus when He comes and establishes Kingdom in earth again. Jesus Christ Himself abolished the Law of Old testament and made a New covenant which is established by His flesh and blood that He gave on cross that whoever having true faith on Him and partake in Holy Communion will have eternal life.

Prophecy is a unique concept. God, being omniscient knows the end of the world before its creation. He designed everything to happen on its own time. God is diligent to reveal things at the appointed time to His selected people of things which are going to happen in far future. This is the significance of prophecy and the fulfillment of prophecies are unique. For example, Jesus birth was foretold by a prophet named Isaiah about 700 years before he born. Same prophet foretold his gory death and many other prophets prophesied the exact events that happen with Jesus. Same prophets foretold about His second coming, millennial rule and eternal life and judgement. Apart from prophecies, the entire old testament was set as an en sample for what would happen now. It was foretold by a prophet named Daniel that during end times, the human race will face greatest tribulation and the knowledge and wisdom of humans will be increased to greatest extent which is exactly happening now. Jesus Himself foretold many prophecies during end times and the last book of the Bible is Revelation which is full of prophecies.

There are many other unique facts and principles about Christianity but the above truths set it apart. Any true Christian who reads the Bible and prays to God will realize that these are truly end times and should make his ways straight as per the scriptures. Daniel 12:10 says, "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.", Lets purify ourselves according to Ephesians 4:22 - 24, "That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

Let's say this prayer, "Our most Holy God, Lord and Savior Jesus, Please cleanse me with your precious blood, forgive all my sins and help me to overcome my sinful nature using the Holy Spirit and your , for it is said that we will live if we destroy our fleshly things using Holy Spirit. Help me to do your will in this world and please you in my ways. Teach me your paths and bless me with your peace. Amen."

May God bless you and provide all your needs. All Glory, Honor and Praise be to our God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

SALVATION

Salvation belongeth to the LORD - Psalms 3:8

To understand Salvation, one has to understand what is a Sin? What is human fall?

Romans says Because of one man's (Adam) transgression, sin entered the World. Romans 5:12
This means every human being is a sinner by birth not because of his own fault but because of Adam's fault. So, God really want to save the World instead of judging the world immediately. If God immediately punished the world, he would have wiped off the life immediately from earth when Adam sinned. But, he put a plan of Salvation and Redemption for mankind by His own. But, whenever sin crosses adherence limits of God, it is the duty of the Lord to judge and punish the wicked. So, He preserved Noah and His family and a pair of each animal race before wiping out the rest of the Life in earth by Great Floods.

The promise of Salvation was announced in Garden of Eden when God said that He will crush the head of satan. As everyone knows, 'He' represents the second person in trinity, the Son, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To bring Jesus to this world, God preserved the family of Noah but it is the big plan for the world.

What is a sin? Bible says, any human is sinful and any thought of human is sinful in nature from his childhood. Genesis 8:21 says for the imagination of man's heart  is evil from his youth.
In other words, any human being cannot be pure on His own before God Almighty. A sin is something that breaks the bond, the connection between humans and the God. Whatever it may be, if you are not able to spend time with God, then there is sin in between. Whatever took your quality time away from God, whether it is money/entertainment/movies/technology/overwork/addictions/friendship/illegal affairs/pride or anything else is sin. Whatever that affects your clean conscience is a sin. So, for God everyone has fallen short of Glory and considered a sinner.

But, Romans also says because of one man's (first Adam's) disobedience, how sin entered the world, by another man who is Jesus Christ (Second Adam's) and by His complete obedience, Salvation entered the world. Romans 5:19 To get this intimate relationship with God, to get back to the God who created the heavens and earth, who positioned the stars above, who architected the universe, we simply need to accept His Son (Lord Jesus) by faith because the Salvation is inside Him and via Salvation we get Life through Him. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and life. He is the true Light and if we are in Light, we have His Life. This can be achieved only by Jesus Christ because He is the one not of a man's seed but of woman's seed. (Virgin birth by Holy Spirit through Mary) as mentioned in Gen 3:15, otherwise He too would fall under normal human being and would be a sinner by birth and would not qualify to create Salvation. Thats why David, the psalmist cries, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalms 51:5, Jesus was beyond this as He was concieved by Holy Spirit.

so, What is Salvation? Salvation is the starting process of eternal life of a soul in this world itself and it has to carry the soul to the end of the process which is Redemption. So, eternal life starts at Salvation and fulfills at Redemption (We will see about Redemption in another article).

How to get this Salvation? Bible clearly teaches, if one accepts Lord and Saviour Jesus in His heart and openly confesses by His mouth that He died for His sins, shed His blood for him, then He is saved or Salvation entered His life - Romans 10:9, This means God promises eternal life to a person who accepts Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and this is the definition of Salvation. But, this process of Salvation starts at that point and it will grow inside Him and Lord takes control over His life and enriches His soul and life everyday with His Words and Spirit. This will make Him move from Glory to Glory and enters the Glorious eternal life. If one is saved or entered His salvation process, then God will see Him as righteous as Jesus and considered the soul as brethren of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Jesus is given to the soul that accepts Him.

Salvation belongs to the Lord but He created Salvation in Cross when He died shedding blood for everyone's sin. This is the best thing that God can do for a human being and He did it. But, accepting the Salvation can only be done by faith which should come from individual. That's why it is written, We are saved by His grace through faith and no one can boast as it was ordained by God. So, this fulfills the verse from where we started - Salvation belongs to the Lord - Psalms 3:8

I can keep quoting more and more but I believe the message is clear and the entire New Testament and New Covenant is about this.

God so loved the world, that he gave His only son Jesus Christ, that whoever believes Him will not perish but will get eternal life through Jesus - Salvation John 3:14

May all Glory, Honour and Praises be to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

TRINITY

1 John 5:7 - For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

This verse represents the trinatarian nature of One true God. We see the trinity in many forms of nature as well as the creator is represented by trinity. Let's see some obvious examples,

The physical world that we live is three dimensional where every living thing and non living object has three dimensions (length, breadth and height). The earth is composed of three spheres which are Lithosphere (land), Hydrosphere (water) and Atmosphere (Air) without including Biosphere that represents life. There are three well accepted states of matter and they are Solid (Ice), Liquid (Water) and Vapour (Gas). (Here also I am ignoring Plasma which is identified much later and it is some advanced form of Vapour). For humans, the three components are  Body, Soul and Spirit.

All the three of the above examples constitute together to form a purpose. In case of dimensions it is used for measure, in case of spheres they constitute the earth and in case of states, they represent the matter. In case of humans, the three things together constitute life. Though all the above are in different forms or understoon in a different idea, they represent the same entity overall.

It is exactly the same analogy that the triune God (one true God) is represented as Holy Father, The Son (Word of God) and the Holy Spirit. The purpose, the identity and the representation remain the same though the attributes and functions of each one differ. But, all three of Them are one and each one representation never ever contradicts the other one and each one glorifies the other one. Never ever differs in thought or power or love or righteousness or mercy and so on.

To explain via a specific example, if we take a pen and break it into three different pieces with different lengths, still they are going to be individual pencils with different in length but has the same purpose. We can quote many such examples for Triune God.

Lets see more examples from scriptures about trinitarian representation.

As already mentioned in the previous article about Word of God, we could see the representation of trinity in Genesis 1:1-3 and John 1:1.

We have Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) exactly to represent Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In their lives, Abraham came forward to sacrifice Isaac on alter (but there itself God mentioned there is another Lamb that is to be sacrificed on behalf of Isaac who is Jesus Christ) and Rebecca sent out Jacob to find wife for her with their brethren family like Jesus sent out His disciples to other places to preach gospel, the Name change of Jacob to Israel represent transfiguration of our lives by Holy Spirit and Jacob had 12 sons which is equivalent to Holy Spirit anointing of 12 Apostles.

We can also find Holy trinity in the tabernacle. In Tabernacle, there are three areas, one is court fence where every one can stand, then Holy place where the High priest will provide his offerings every day and then Most Holy place where the High Priest can enter only once in a year in the day of atonement. Again the ordering of the tabernacle is when we enter the court fence of tabernacle, the first one we see is Brazen Altar where High Priest provide offering (equivalent to Jesus Crucifixion), then the Pool where one washes (which is equivalent to Holy Spirit's cleansing us) and then Temple (Father).

In Aaronic Benediction, we have three blessings as follows,  Numbers 6: 24, 25 and 26.
The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:
The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

and in same way for Apostolic Benediction, we have mention about Father, Son and Holy Spirit as follows,
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost,  be with you all. Amen. 2 Cor 13:14

Following are the works of Trinity - The Father came as Son as mentioned in I Timothy 3:16 that says "God was manifested in flesh" as Son and then the Son came back as Holy Spirit as mentioned in Psalms 68:18 as "thou hast received gifts for men; yea,  for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell  among them." - Based on the above versus - To express the triune God is unique, we can say based on the following versus, first the Father Himself came as Son or in other words, Son is the manifestation of Holy Father in flesh and then the Son himself comes back as Holy Spirit to in dwell inside His people. So, they are all but one.

There are three corresponding things that witness in World - Water, Blood and Flesh which constitute the Components of human physical body. In other words we can think that as Flesh, Soul and Spirit. I John 5:8 says And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

There were three Examples given in Ezekiel - Noah, Job and Daniel, Noah's generation again populated the world after the great floods so Noah Symbolize Father, Job suffered and then Lord God removed His sufferings after marked time and symbolizes Son and Daniel has the divine Wisdom of revelations considered to be specified for Holy Spirit.

The three salutations of God from Revelation - One who was, who is and is to come.  We can see the three salutations at Revelations 1:8 and 4:8

Three powerful Characteristics of God - Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient

The three immense Powers - Creation, Resurrection and Regeneration (Transfiguration)

Satanic trinity and the representations.  Beast (Antichrist), Serpent or Satan and False Prophet ensample as Cain, Balaam and Korah from Jude verse 11

Why we adore Jesus Christ, the Son and follow Him.
Though we have the triune God revealed to us, we Glorify Jesus Christ because He is the God who was manifested in flesh, crucified in cross to wash away our sins with His blood and allow Himself to live in us through Holy Spirit. Without Him, we cannot have Salvation or Hope. If we magnify the Son, it is Glory and Adoration of both the Holy Father and Holy Spirit and they too expect us to adore Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. To follow Him is to take our cross and serve Him as a disciple, To serve Him as a disciple with Holy Spirit is to Worship the Holy Father.

May all Praise, Glory and Honor goes to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

WORD OF GOD

John 1:1 says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

This verse represents the Trinity of God through the three occurrences of the word "Word".

What is this Word all about?
We can see this triune representation of God in the first three versus of the Bible, Genesis 1:1-3.

Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:2 - And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness  was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:3 - And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Here, the first verse speaks about the Almighty God, Holy Father and the second verse mentions the Holy Spirit and the third one represents the Son as it speaks about Light.

In Tamil language, it has been mentioned something like "Light be created" and hence the Holy Spirit gave me the understanding that the first Word uttered by the Holy Father in Genesis is Light. This Light is His Son. We can see this reference of Light in John 1:4 says "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men".

This Light gives Life to the men. The word gives light as said in Psalms 119:105 - Thy word  is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

So, by transitive property (say A=B and B=C, then A=C), when Word is Light and the Light gives Life, the Word gives us the Life which is Eternal.  I John 1:1-2 exactly explains this connection

I John 1:1 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
I John 1:2 - For the life was manifested, and we have seen  it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;


Who is this Word?
The Word which is the Light which in turn is the Life manifested in flesh and He took the human form with the name JESUS CHRIST as per John 1:14 - And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

As the above verse says, His glory is equivalent to the Holy Father and this concurs with the John 1:1 verse that says the Word was God. Now, let's examine the name of the Son further,

JESUS CHRIST

JESUS - The name Jesus means He will be the Saviour who saves His people from Sin as per Matthew 1:21 - thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
CHRIST - The origin of the word Christ is from Christos which means The Anointed One. Messiah also means Christ as per John 1:41, He is anointed for the salvation of humans as per Psalms 45:7
"therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" and this verse again referred in Hebrews 1:9

He was anointed even before the Creation of earth as per Proverbs 8:22,23. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. The proper translation of phrase "set up" is "anointed". He was even before creation as per Rev 3:14 - "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God"

This defines the name of JESUS CHRIST to be the ONE who was anointed even before creation and the purpose of His anointing is to save the mankind from sin and create salvation.

How to have this Word?
To be saved is To Live. To live is to have the eternal Life which is in Jesus Christ who Himself is Life. Jesus says in John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. So, to have the Life is to have JESUS CHRIST Himself in our Life as per 1 John 5:12 - He that hath the Son hath life;  and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. To have the Son is to have Word of God in us through the Holy Spirit.

To Conclude
So, JESUS CHRIST is the WORD, the central figure of not only Christianity but for whole Creation and through HIM everything stands. Through HIM everything is planned, put forth in motion and running. HE is the ONE who was, who is and who is to come as per Rev 1:8 and Rev 4:8. Lets give Glory to the Holy Father through His Holy Son by the Holy Spirit that lies with us because as per Romans 11:36, For of him, and through him, and to him,  are all things: to whom  be glory for ever. Amen.

To our Lord and Savior JESUS CHRIST be all the Glory, Honour, Praise, Might, Wisdom, Strength forever and ever. Amen.