TTT

As mentioned at the end of my last article, we take part in the sufferings of Jesus Christ as well. In general, the sufferings are classified into three types. I call them TTT and the term stands for Tests, Trials and Temptations. I would like to deal with different types of troubles and problems we face in our life both physical and spiritual but the stress is on spiritual side of it. First, we should understand the basic difference of the three so that whenever we are in a situation we can assess the situation and found what we are in exactly. If we understand the type, we can better respond to the situation.

Test is the first type where God tests a particular person to certify him, to approve him. The best example I could take from the entire scripture is God's calling of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on altar. So difficult, isn't it? It is a biggest test of the faith in Abraham. "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Gen 22:1,2. The phrase says "that God did tempt Abraham" but I believe the right way of telling that would be "God did test Abraham" because God is never a tempter as we see later. This is the greatest shadow of the God, the Father is going to give His only begotten son, Jesus Christ on cross as burnt offering. As I wrote already, here God needed the approval of Abraham to give His son Isaac as a sacrifice so that He can give Jesus as sacrifice on cross. But you may ask, why that is required? Simply because of the fact Jesus Christ is going to be Abrham's son as well in future and only if Abraham who represents God the Father of GodHead (as he the Father of Israelites) willing to sacrifice His son Isaac who represents Jesus Christ, the son of the GodHead, then only in future, the Father can give Jesus on cross. When Isaac was thought of as human son of Abraham, the ram (Jesus Christ) which was caught in thorns by its horns is the substitute of Isaac (who represents all the believers) and it was eventually sacrificed in place of Isaac. What a figurative representation? 

Abraham succeeded in this greatest test of faith by strongly holding on his faith on Lord. This is beautifully explained in Hebrews as "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." Gen 11:17-19. No more explanation required. These kinds of tests would come and essentially they test our faith and if we stand strong, we will receive greater blessing. When Abraham offered the ram in place of Isaac, the angel of the Lord called from heaven for the second time and assured His promise and blessed Abraham greatly. Because, Abraham just fulfilled God's divine plan of salvation in shadow. Praise God, to Him be the glory now and forever. "And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which  is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies". Gen 22:15-17. Peter says about this type of test as, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perish, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see  him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of  your souls." I Pet 1:6-9. 

The second 'T' stands for trials. We can also call this as tribulations. I would like to classify this as the distresses from having a small difficulties like suffering from a minor disease to deep sorrows and distresses like losing our loved ones and losing our life itself for the glory of Lord's name. That's why this is also called tribulation. The best example I can quote from Bible is none other than Job. None of us could ever imagine a Job like situation happening to us. Here the devil, one who accuses the brethren all the time (Rev 12:10), put a blame on Job in the presence of God and we all know what happened later. God gave everything that Job had in hands of satan. Job lost all His possessions, all His sons/daughters all of a sudden in one day. Not only that, the devil made Job to suffer with sore boils. His pain was too great that even his wife encouraged him to curse the Lord and commit suicide. Even his friends who came to console him, couldn't recognize him and cried for seven days and seven nights. Job chapters 1 and 2. Unimaginable situation. More difficult than losing our lives for the Lord. If we are killed, the pain is for a matter of few minutes and then we will be with the Lord for ever. But, living like that for few months is horrible, cannot be expressed. The rest of the book of Job is a lamentation book with the friends trying to accuse him and Job trying to justify himself and we all knew that. This stands for tribulation.

But, when God put a challenge on a person, He will give him enough strength such that the person overcomes the tribulation. That's what happened in Job's situation as well. Finally, Job as he himself said, came out like gold purified in the furnace. The Word of God states that "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly". Job 1:22 and finally God testifies Job that he spoke upright. "in that ye have not spoken of me  the thing which is right, like my servant Job." Job 42:8. God blessed Job twice than his earlier state. None of us need to go through such a trial. Because, Job's situation is completely different than ours because during Job's time there is no mediator between God and man during that time and the Holy Spirit, who is the comforter and counselor was not indwelling in humans that time. Even Job states the need for a mediator "O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour" Job 16:21. This mediator who pleads for us is Jesus Christ. Regarding this types of trials, which we call as tribulations, Paul writes in his epistle to Corinthians that "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." I Corinthians 10:13. Here, I believe we can replace the word trial for temptation. It makes more sense. 

We can say this also means as chastisement where a Father chastises His son so that he can learn some good thing. Hebrews chapter 12 quotes the verses from Proverbs to explain this. "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" Hebrews 12:5-7 and the fifth verse is taken from Proverbs 3:11,12. When God brings you through such situations, He will either make you more pure and righteous or he will teach you how to respond to certain situations. Anyway, it will be beneficial to you on a long run. Remember, our Lord is good all the times. "but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness" Hebrews 12:10.

Let's see the third type which is Temptation. This is the dangerous one of all the three. Though the other 2 gives us suffering and difficulties, this is the one that impacts our eternal glory. Temptation comes from the word tempt and this refers to the situations that lead us to sin, thereby making us sliding down from our spiritual standards, make our conscience guilty thereby separating us from our Lord. More important point to note here this doesn't come from God but from devil. You may ask me Job's sufferings too didn't come from God but came from devil. True, but there is a catch. Devil has to take permission from the Lord to touch Job and his possessions there by making Lord indirectly responsible. That's why it was written in the last chapter of Job, it was written "and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him" Job 42:11. So, it was Lord who permitted devil so this was attributed to Lord indirectly. But, it turned out in a greatest testimony to Job and his righteousness and it meant to give way for the book of Job that shows how much a man suffered but yet lived sincere for the Lord and it was set as an example. On the other hand, the temptation is the direct weapon of the devil and he absolutely doesn't need to take permission from the Lord before tempting a person. Remember, the devil didn't take permission from God to tempt Eve on garden of Eden. It is permitted for him. But, devil was only given permission to tempt us but he cannot force us into committing sin. This is one of the biggest subjects for study and I am postponing that to the next chapter where we see the temptation cycle from the book of James, Eve's temptation and the three tempting attempts on Jesus.

Hope this article is useful for your spiritual life. Taste and see that the Lord is good. All glory, honor and praise to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May He be exalted now and forever, Amen.

Old covenant vs New covenant - Part 3

In this chapter, we will close this series. We have written a lot about old covenant so if you have read the previous parts, you can clearly say what old covenant is all about, why it was given and what is the perception of Jews and Israelites about the law. Let's see more about the new covenant. But, before getting into the new covenant, let's see what is the purpose of law. As per Galatians, law is equivalent to the school master to govern things until the new covenant comes in. Law consists of list of commandments that the Israelites have to obey and if they didn't it was a sin. We have also seen  the goal of the commandment is love. The purpose is to have the love of God (Agape) in the heart and mind of humans as well. That is the crux of the ten commandments, to love the God with full heart, mind and strength and to love others as one love himself. But, the law was all about rules and it cannot bring that Agape love in the hearts of people because sin was at rule inside the individual. So, we saw they literally fulfilled the commandments to some extent but didn't follow them with their full heart. So, they often failed.

We can illustrate this by simple example of following traffic rules. If we are just afraid of being fined, then we will always check if there is a traffic cop standing nearby and if we find one, we will tend to follow the rules (like don't over speed, follow signal). But, if we don't find one, then we will violate the traffic rules. But, if you decide, no matter what, you want to follow all the rules and regulations, then irrespective of whether there is a police man or not, you will follow all the rules. Law was exactly like the first way of following commandments because Israelites were afraid of getting punished. But, God wanted a second way of doing it, that is by Agape love which is not possible for humans because of sins. God says this in Genesis 8:21, "for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth".

Let's see how new covenant accomplishes God's expectations whereas man's shortcoming of abiding with God's expectations. First, let's see what is new covenant. In last chapter, we saw the old covenant is about being the children of God and inheriting God's possessions through circumcision that was handed to Abraham and applicable to only Abraham's bloodline (can say Jacob's lineage). But, the new covenant says "But as many as received him (Lord Jesus Christ), to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12,13. So, anyone who believes and accepts Jesus Christ to be his Lord and Savior become the son/daughter of almighty God. This is what new covenant is all about. We need to have faith in Jesus to accept Him and by believing Jesus we are automatically becoming the children of Abraham. Bible calls Jesus as the mediator of the new covenant. "And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant" Hebrews 12:24. Because, He is God in human form, He abolished the old covenant through His death on cross and established the new covenant through His pierced body and spilled blood. Jesus created this during His last supper with His disciples "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed  it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave  it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Matt 26:26-28. This is mentioned in other gospels as well. Let's realize the importance of communion, every time when we observe it we remind ourselves of the new covenant that our Lord made for us. Let's remember the extent of suffering He had gone through to save us, to be with us. Praises to Him and thank Him for all His mercies. Please take a moment and show Him your love and gratitude. Humble yourself before Him and say "Thank you Jesus".

We understood the new covenant and we are also children along with Israelites. But, don't we need to obey the commandments? Do we satisfy God's expectation automatically? To answer this questions, we need to understand the third person of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. By accepting Jesus, we are born again through Holy Spirit. I wrote a lot about this in my New Creation series. God promised the Holy Spirit to those who obey Him and accepts Jesus Christ. When Holy Spirit comes to you, He started living the holy and fruitful life in you and starts fulfilling every requirement of God in your day to day life. Let's see what Paul says about satisfying the God's requirement of Agape love. "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Romans 5:5. With Holy Spirit, we not only fulfill the commandments of God but started to live a life pleasing Lord altogether.

We saw in last post about Jesus' sermon on the mount and his teachings about lust and murder. With Holy Spirit living inside you, our master who taught that commandment, Jesus Himself lives inside you. So, you can follow those impossible commandments with ease. That is the power of Holy Spirit. That's why Jesus said, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,  that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." John 16:13. So, we don't falter like the Jews and Israelites. As the Holy Spirit gives the power to overcome sins, we can continue to walk in the light. I had written a lot about Holy Spirit in my New creation series and will resume to write further in that series.

Remember, we are obliged to fulfill the commandments in old covenants. Because, the law and ten commandments say, "You shall do" and "You shall not do this". But, under new covenant, God is obliged to do things on our behalf. Under new covenant, God says, "I will give you new heart" and "I will make you walk in my ways". Hope this is clear. Let us ask the question ourselves, are we living under old covenant or new covenant? How do we see the salvation? Do we think that we get salvation through our works or by faith? Do you want to satisfy Lord through your good things? Now, if you read the book of Galatians, you will understand it fully. Paul says "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed  is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." Gal 3:10-14. Very plain, isn't it?  This is stressed in Romans 8:13,14 as well. "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Same chapter verse 9 says "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Jesus said the same in John 3 to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." v3 and "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." v6.

Hope I covered most of the points with respect to old covenant and new covenant. Having said that, I will touch and revisit whenever there is a need in future chapters. As the children of new covenant, we enjoy every spiritual blessing, blessings of the old covenant as well, promises of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we are the children of most holy high God. We are the church of God and the bride of Christ, we have the fullness of Holy Spirit, we own everything. We are more and more special than orthodox Jews or Israelites by our faith in Lord Jesus Christ. He made us kings and priests before His Father through His blood. But, having said that, in this earthly life, we take part in His sufferings and tribulations too. Let's see to that in our next chapter Tests, Trials and Temptations. As the Holy Spirit instructs, I have to finish just two more chapters and then resume back the New creation series which I paused during the holy week this year. Understanding the epistles of Romans, Galatians and Hebrews is very important to lead a successful Christian life. We have to read, re-read and meditate to imbibe those spiritual truths. May the Holy Spirit give you the light when you read and meditate the Word of God. I pronounce the blessings on you in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Love you all brethren. All glory, honor and praise to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Old covenant vs New covenant - Part 2

Let's see the continuation of previous post here. Just to summarize, we have seen how God gave the old covenant to Abraham in order to bring the new covenant through Jesus Christ at the appointed time. We have seen how great are mercies and wisdom of God in the way He treated Jews and gentiles and brought them together through our Lord and Savior. In this post, we will see the essence of both the covenants and what it mean for us.

First, the old covenant deals with keeping God's commandments. God certified Abraham, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment" Gen 18:19. This particular statement is about following commandments and doing justice and judgment which Abraham was sincere and truthful before God because he knew the Lord through his complete faith. To follow those commandments, he received a sign from God in the form of circumcision. "This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised." Gen 17:10. So, doing circumcision is just a sign and by taking that sign Jews/Muslims decree that they will follow the commandments like Abraham but unless and until they fulfill all the commandments, the covenant is not completed. Romans 4:11 says circumcision is a sign that Abraham received and Galatians 5:3 says "For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law."

Lord confirmed this to Israelites by the old covenant through the Moses. Now, the old covenant says whoever does the law will live by it. "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them." Romans 10:5, again Paul states "The man that doeth them shall live in them." Gal 3:12. So, the people of Israel tried to follow the commandments and we must say some of them fulfilled it to some extent for some time but nobody could fulfill it completely. But, why?

Here is where the divine wisdom of God shows again. To understand this, we need why God gave them the law. Again, Paul says in Timothy, that end of the commandment is love. I Tim 1:5, and Jesus shrunk the commandments to two, 1. To love God with full heart, strength and mind and 2. To love others as we love ourselves. But, what Israelites tried to do is they tried to follow it literally without having the love of God in their heart and pure love couldn't stay in the hearts of people because sin was still at work and sin was at work because Holy Spirit couldn't live inside humans and Holy Spirit couldn't enter humans because Jesus was not crucified yet. This is the core understanding from the scriptures. But, the jews and israelites without understanding this just tried to follow them, failed and offered sacrifices. If humans can completely fulfil the law, there is absolutely no requirement for burnt offerings and altar sacrifices for those who follow them. But, God told everyone to bring their offerings and sacrifices because no one could follow it completely. Wait, is there any proof from scriptures that Israelites couldn't follow the commandments fully? Not only Israelites, but none of us could follow the commandments by ourselves.

We can explain that from the scriptures. For example, let's take the ten commandments. The problem with the law is, if we fulfill 9 commandments and fail with at least 1, we are still condemned as sinner. That is the basic requirement of the law. James explains this in his letter, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one  point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." James 2:10,11. So, even if a person follows the first 9 commandments, the 10th commandment "Do Not Lust" can never be fulfilled by anyone. Because, it is not about what we did but whether we have a lustful thought or desired anything in mind that belongs to other person. No one could escape it. This is explained in Romans 7 and I am not explaining it just not to make this very long. Romans 7 is key to understand Bible's most important chapter Romans 8. So, please read and meditate. What is still worse is, Jesus made the condition more difficult by placing God's standards in His sermon on the mount. Jesus said "You need not commit murder but if you were anger with your brother you are in danger of judgement and call him a fool, you are in danger of hell fire" Matt 5:22 and "You need not commit adultery but a lustful look at a woman is enough to commit adultery in heart" Matt 5:28. If we say it is "very very difficult", it is not appropriate. The right way to call that is "impossible". Then Jesus said pluck right eye if that causes you to go to hell and severe right hand if that causes you to go to hell. So, to fulfill the commandment to the core, we need to be half blind and with only one hand. Does that make sense? Not at all. Then, why Jesus said that. Jesus wanted to show how God's standards are and how holy and just God he is. But, the main purpose is no one could come to God and say I have fulfilled all the commandments by myself. Because, God's standards are unimaginable.

So, what's the point? The point is though none of us qualify if God took the holy and righteous standards, all of us can qualify before God through His grace and mercies. Because, they are endless. As holy as he is, as much gracious He is. As righteous he is, as great are His mercies. Grace and Mercy has another name and the name is JESUS CHRIST. Hope you understood the point. The point is everyone of us can qualify by accepting the sacrifice that God provided for us on the cross of Calvary. Without understanding this point, Jews wanted to please God just externally (still to this day) but the Lord was not pleased. God told this through Isaiah as "Wherefore the Lord said, For as much as this people draw near  me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:" Isaiah 29:13 and in Hosea He said, "For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6. That's why Jesus condemned the Pharisees and Saducees in Matthew 23 as they were doing things for men and not for God.

I believe this gives a very good explanation about the old covenant. In short, old covenant was actually made with Abraham and to his descendants, the sign was circumcision and the meaning of it is to fulfill the law. But, no one cannot fulfill completely and they can fulfill it literally to some extent but still fall short in a way such that they can please the Lord. Now, let's see what is wonderful in new covenant. We spoke about living by doing the law. But, there is a second way too. Yes, it is also written by prophet Habakkuk as "but the just shall live by his faith" Habakkuk 2:4 and this is what new covenant is all about. Hallelujah. (I felt an overwhelming presence of Holy Spirit when I write this.) "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" Ephesians 2:8.

Let's again see this in the life of Abraham. He got the promises through faith much before he received the covenant and sign. We see the covenant and circumcision in Genesis chapter 17. But, much before that in chapter 12 itself when God called Abraham out of Haran, he showed his faith by simply obeying. He was 75 at that time. Gen 12:4. God certified His faith in chapter 15 as "And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Gen 15:6. Abraham should have been around 85 at that point of time and he didn't have any child as he says in verse 2 that Eleazer's son is the heir for him. In next chapter, we see Abraham was 86 when Hagar begat Ismael for him. Gen 16:16. He was faithful for 10 years from the time God called and him and patiently waited. But, the next visit from God was during his 99 years of age and at that point of time, he was asking for blessings to Ismael and by saying that he wanted to have Ismael as his heir (way better than Eleazer's son, isn't it). But, God still refused and told the heir will be Isaac, because when it is considered impossible, God made Sarah to conceive and gave Isaac to Abraham as He promised. That's how God glorifies by doing things what the world says impossible, what it is considered impossible is nothing before God, what is considered wisdom for man is foolish to God. Praise Him. By the way, I am off the topic by long way. But, still flowing through the spirit of God. All these incidents has important connotations as we read in Galatians.

So, what came first? Faith came first and circumcision came later. He got circumcision as a sign for his faith as well as covenant. So, only faith matters. Same way, first came Ismael which is an example for law and old covenant whereas Isaac is the example for faith and God glorified not by conception of Sarah because it was from flesh. But, instead God was glorified by conception of Sarah where it was considered as spiritual because it was impossible for Sarah to conceive. So, Ismael is sign for following works to please God, in other words, just following old covenant whereas Isaac is a sign for being made righteous by faith. This is what explained in Galatians 4:22-31. Hagar is equivalent to Sinai, Sarah is for Jerusalem, what God told about Hagar and Ismael, cast out the bondwoman and her son which means cast out the old covenant and its principles. What a stunning revelation? This concurs with Hebrews 8:13, When God said New covenant, He made the existing one as old and then it has to be vanished. See the consistency of the Word of God.

Another one point I want to mention before closure is, with God the best is always yet to come. Ismael came first but God gave Isaac later. With Jesus, the better vine comes later. Jacob saw the new covenant in his spirit when he blessed the sons of Joseph. So, he made the second one Ephraim the primary one and placed Ephraim above the legal first one Manasseh. Same way the new covenant came after the old covenant. First came the old weak body. Adam came first and Jesus the second Adam came later. The best heaven and earth are yet to come. We are yet to receive our glorious bodies. Praise God. The best is yet to come for those who believe. That's why it is written in Proverbs that "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18

So what now? What is new covenant exactly? Shouldn't we follow the commandments as Jesus Himself told to follow the commands? If we can follow God through faith, is it only enough to believe? No need for works? I will answer these in my next chapter as this one became already a huge topic. I originally wanted to cover that too here. But, still it will take some more space so better to make it a separate one. May God bless you all. All glory, honor and praise to our God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.