Old covenant vs New covenant - Part 1

I am very glad to present my 30th article in this blog. I thank God for giving me this opportunity to write what he reveals to me. I still remember when God gave this interest, I created this blog some 4 years back but just put a title of my first topic "Word of God" and the John 1:1 verse alone and it has been 2 years post when the Holy Spirit empowered me and by His grace and strength I write the 30th article today. Please pray for me that God may give more articles and reveal more secrets from the scriptures so that I can present them in the form of articles and through sermons and the Lord may give me more time to write. All praise and glory to God and let the Lord alone be magnified.

In this post, we will see in detail about the old covenant and new covenant. I have written a lot about the covenants in my earlier chapter but hadn't dealt with them directly. In this post, let us examine both the covenants and compare them. Understanding the new covenant is essential to inherit the promises and blessings that had been made to Abraham. As a church, we are not Israelites (unless the reader is a Jew or Israelite by birth) but as a gentile church, we are also sons and daughters of Abraham through our faith in Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

To start with, the Bible is divided in two parts, Old testament and New testament. The old testament stands for old covenant and the new testament for new covenant. The old testament deals with the account of the nation of Israel, the descendants of Jacob (Israel), the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. The new testament deals with the account of son of man, Jesus Christ who is God Himself. If you ever read and understood the book of Galatians, this post will make more sense as the crux of Galatians is with new covenant.

To understand this completely, we need to examine the jewish principles. In old testament, God called Abraham and told that He will make Him a great nation and as He promised, He created the nation of Israel through Jacob and His 12 sons and their generations. The nation of Israelites, as the children of Abraham, are the direct heirs of all the possessions and blessings of God. The Lord called them as His own. God told in Deuteronomy 7:6 as "For thou  art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that  are upon the face of the earth." Even Paul the Apostle, in his letter to Romans stress this point out. "Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;" Romans 9:4. The jews today have a great zeal for God, no doubt about that. Even Paul says that in Romans 10:2, but at the same time he decrees it as not according to knowledge. "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."
So, in short, any orthodox jew cannot accept a gentile being accepted by God as His own because they consider it as a birthright of Israelite or Jew. That was an abomination to them.

Jews couldn't simply accept the idea but that's where they all mistaken. They didn't understand the God's purpose and plans He had for mankind. God is so huge that if He is just a God for a nation and a group, it doesn't make justice to Him. So, God decided to save the entire world but for that He Himself has to come as a man to set things straight and that's why God took the form of flesh in the name of Jesus and born in this world through Mary. When He took the human form, He took a lower form of human, a form of suffering servant, and hence called as son of man as well as son of God instead of directly called as God. Again a fulfilment of Psalm 8:4 explained in Heb 2:6-10. What Jews missed in prophecies is the part of Isaiah where God specifically called it is not a big thing for Him to save just Israelites or Jews alone through the servant but to make Him a light to the nations unto the ends of the world. This verse stands as a testimony against those who claim that the God is only for jews. "And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." Isaiah 49:6. So, those who read just think about this. On the other hand, whoever believe in the name of Jesus and have faith in Him as their own Lord and Savior are considered as direct heirs and children of living God. John 1:12. Romans chapters 9 to 11 clearly explains why jews were rejected by God and how gentiles are accepted by the sacrifice of Jesus. A must read.

Remember God made a blood covenant with Abraham and His descendants through circumcision and everyone in Abraham's household was circumcised. Genesis 17:10-27. Later when God gave the Law and commandments at Mt. Sinai through Moses, God confirms this covenant with them and what that means is whomsoever a descendant of Abraham through bloodline is supposed to undergo circumcision and whoever undergoing circumcision is under the law and he is supposed to fulfill all the commandments given under the law. But, what happened later is important. Generation after generation, the Israelites gradually withdrawn themselves from the Lord and started to worship other idols and ignored the law altogether. Then, God told through prophets that He abolishes the covenant that He made with Israelites because they didn't stand in that. At the outset, it looks like Israelites were not able to fulfill the law and got what they deserved. But, if you think more and meditate more, you will realize something. The divine plan of God. Yes, it is the divine design of God to show His grace towards mankind. God gave the commandments to Israelites at Mt. Sinai but didn't give them a heart and mind to obey those commandments. That's why most of them were not able to follow that and they often failed that. Later when they transgressed more and more, God announced through prophets that He abolished the old covenant that He made with Israelites. We can read this in Jeremiah and Ezekiel that God says He will establish new covenant with Israelites. Jer 31:31,32, Ezekiel 16:59,60. Under this, God promises to give them a new heart and a spirit through which He makes us follow His laws and commandments. Jer 31:33, Ezekiel 36:26,27. This is again quoted in Hebrews 8:6-12. The author of Hebrews finishes with an emphatic statement, that by calling it a New covenant, God made the law given to Moses at Mt. Sinai an old one and the old should vanish away.

But, How God can abolish the old covenant He made with Abraham? To replace the old covenant, there needs to be something superior has to be sacrificed in place of old circumcision based covenant. The superior thing is the most supreme thing one could ever think of. That is, sacrifice of God Himself on the cross and that could only happen if our Lord takes human form and that's the exact plan of God and divine design. To make His grace available to all the people, to fulfill the promise He made via Isaiah 49:6, the word of God took the form of flesh and offered the perfect sacrifice. Jesus came among Israelites, in the bloodline of Judah, in the generation of David and He is a jew by birth. He did many miracles to the jews, priests and pharisees. Did good to all the people. But, they rejected Him to be their Savior (Messiah) because they were expecting the Messiah to give them deliverance from the then Roman government and they were expecting a King and He didn't fit in to their expectations and they crucified Him finally. But, they didn't understand how the prophecies of old testament will fulfill and they didn't understand the mind of God. Even, until today and that's why they refuse Christ. In turn God rejected them fulfilling His prophecies, by accepting the gentiles. Praise and glory be to God, He made salvation available to everyone freely through the faith in Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul explained this in Romans 9 - 11 and finally wonders about the God's wisdom at the end of the chapter of Romans 11. Finally, what would happen is until a completion comes in the Church of Jesus Christ, there will be a portion of remnants in Israel and Jews who won't accept Jesus Romans 11:25 and at the end through the disobedience of gentiles, the last portion of Israelites would be accepted. Romans 11:29-31. At the end, Paul exhorts,  "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all." Romans 11:32. So, this is all a divine plan of God and we need to accept that as such. Paul wonders finally by quoting Isaiah 40:13,14 - "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable  are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!, For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom  be glory for ever. Amen." Romans 11:33-36.

After analyzing all this and seeing God's mind and will, knowing God knows the end before the beginning, we can say that God gave the old covenant in order to establish the New covenant through Jesus Christ in appointed time. So, until that time, old covenant ruled and law was mentioned as school master in Galatians 3:24,25. Ever thought why it was called school master? Because, a student will obey and afraid for school master only till the time he is in school. Once he is out of school, he no longer needs to fear about the school master. He is matured now and older enough to do things that he got from his school. That's what exactly it means. Law was only allowed to rule until the greater thing which is called faith comes. To understand more, read and meditate Galatians chapters 2 through 4. Let's close this portion with this understanding of Old covenant and New covenant, and let's examine about fulfilling the commandments which was the basis of old covenant against living in spirit which is the crux of the new covenant in next part and conclude the comparison of old covenant and new covenant. All praise, honor and glory to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May God be glorified forever and ever. Amen.

PPP

Writing my next article after quiet some time. I was on vacation during the month of May and couldn't find time for the next article. As I am getting busier in my works as well, I want to set aside a time to write more articles as the Lord gives me more content. Today, June 11th, we celebrate the last church festival of this year, which is festival of Trinity. So, to bring glory to the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, this article has a three repeating letters PPP.

Last month when I was driving to work, I was thinking about patience and when I thought more about it I remembered about the concept of 3P (PPP) which I read long back in management principle. The 3P in business stands for People, Process and the Product. When I was thinking about that, the Holy Spirit told me there is PPP (3P) with respect to spiritual things as well and then the Lord revealed me that the 3Ps stand for Patience, Perseverance and Persistence.

I wondered a long time about the late Dr. DGS Dhinakaran who was a powerful man of God. He had preached to millions about the love of Jesus and demonstrated the power of God in a mighty way. God healed plenty of people through His ministries and did miracles for millions of people. He did a powerful ministry of God and the grace of God is still with the Jesus Calls ministry which He found. I wondered many times what is the secret behind His successful ministry. But, the Holy Spirit answered me the secret behind the power and anointing in his ministry is because of PPP - Patience, Perseverance and Persistence.

Dhinakaran faced lot of struggles in his early life due to failures in studies, unemployment, poverty and was depressed. He decided to commit suicide by falling before train and he started walking towards nearby train track. But, on the way, he met his uncle who told him about Jesus and he decided to pray to the Lord. When he prayed, the Lord showed him his past sins and he repented of them immediately. He got an inner piece afterwards and then from that day, his life changed. He started tasting success in education and got a job. But, the real difference in Dhinakaran's life is he started seeking the Lord continuously through prayer and Bible reading everyday. He was so consistent and faithful in his ways in front of the Lord. At the end of 7 years, when he earnestly prayed for the anointing of Holy Spirit, He received a visitation from Lord Jesus and then the Holy Spirit started His work in him. And still he continued earnestly with his call and at a later point of his life, he received all the gifts of the Holy Spirit and started to minister for Lord in a powerful manner. The secret behind his anointing is the patience, perseverance and persistence that he had towards the Lord. Brother Dhinakaran's life itself is greatest testimony for our living God because a man who was about to end his life came back and preached and brought the love of Christ to millions of people. This can only possible with Lord Jesus Christ.

Many young people get saved, they immediately start to do some ministry and later they grow weary and then deceived by the devil and changed their tracks. But, those powerful anointed ministers, who shine for Lord Jesus today, if we go and search their past, they would have certified truthful and sincere in all their troubles and temptations. Throughout their difficulties and challenges, they would have had PPP. Anyone, who wanted to do the will of God, should have these three Ps and should be ready to wait even for years to know the will of God before jumping into the ministry.

The Holy Spirit instructed me about each of this 'P' in the life of patriarchs. I never thought that one before though I know the scriptures but when Holy Spirit told me, it was clear. The first P stands for Patience. The first patriarch is Abraham from whom Judaism, Islam and Christianity derived. I believe the entire world population may be the descendants of Abraham now though not all of them are spiritual. Why Abraham is so special? We can easily answer because he is the father of faith. Yes, it is absolutely true that Abraham was called friend of God because of his faith. But, Hebrews says it was not only his faith but it was also his patience that he waited on the Lord to give the first promised legal heir, Isaac. "And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise." Heb 6:15. Even, we need patience along with faith to receive the promises of God as our God never acted out in hurry. He will have plans for our entire life span and if we expect quick fixes, it is not going to work. The same chapter advice us to follow the footsteps of Abraham as his children. "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Heb 6:12. Is God's promises yet to be fulfilled in your life? Never let your patience worn out. Abide in the scriptures and prayers and God will fulfill His promises in His time.

The second 'P' stands for perseverance. It is not sufficient to have patience alone but we need to follow up along with patience. Perseverance is unrelenting effort on something unless it is achieved. Let's see the second patriarch, Isaac. When he was living in the land of philistines, there was a famine in the land. But, Isaac went and sowed and God blessed him hundred fold and he became great. Gen 26:1, 12-14. Remember, Isaac was already rich because Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac apart from what he shared to the sons of Keturah. Gen 25:5,6. But, Isaac just didn't depend on the cattle stock for his living but he chose to sow the fields and God gave him a big fold reward for his efforts. Then, Philistines envied him and argued with him regarding his wells three times. But, Isaac didn't just leave it as such. He continued to dig wells unless the philistines stops their fight. This shows his perseverance amidst the opposition. We may do small works for the Lord as sowing directly represents sharing the word of God and when it looks like we are getting water, the devil (philistines) may come and try to spoil our work and even the evil forces may get success. But, if we persevere, we will reap the rewards for our efforts and perseverance from the Lord.

The third 'P' stands for persistence. We see it in the life of the third patriarch Jacob. We may see the character of Jacob from his early childhood. Whatever he does, his eyes will always be on one thing, that is blessing. He took the firstborn right from Esau and the type of Esau represents people who just want to satisfy their momentary worldly pleasures. Later the price they pay is so great that is they lose their eternal life for this momentary pleasures. More specifically, Esau was compared to those who commit fornication and adultery in Hebrews. "Lest there  be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." Hebrews 12:16.17. How true? Hope that doesn't need much more explanation as the verses explains. Immoral sexual activities may give momentary pleasure and satisfaction, but it takes out the eternal life of the soul. On the other hand, Jacob was focused on the blessings. The second time, he deceived his father, not by himself but through the advice of his mother. God too wishes to bless people like Jacob who wants to seek blessing. At a later point of time, psalmist too writes, "As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him." Psalm 109:17.

We need to love the blessings that come from the Lord. There are people who teach that we should not look for blessing, we should not seek blessing, we should only live holy and righteous life for the Lord. Actually, we need to rightly divide the word of God. Blessing doesn't just apply to material possessions and money alone. There are spiritual blessings (for soul and spirit), good health (for body) and material possessions for a good living. We should seek the blessings of the Lord not the blessings of this world alone. But, this kind of people try to outsmart God with their holiness and righteousness, but at the end they will realize they are foolish. I will try to explain this on a dedicated chapter. For now, just want to say in short that we should live a holy life, righteous life but at the same time a blessed life as per 3 John 2.

Coming back to Jacob, his persistence with blessing is revealed when he wrestled with the Lord for blessing. The interesting point here is, Jacob was already blessed with two bands of cattle stock. He said that he crossed the river Jordan with empty hand and a staff but he had been blessed with two bands of animal stock, wealth and family members and He confess he was not worthy to receive them all. Gen 32:10. This shows the humbleness of the man and as we read in our last chapter, God favors the humble. This time he is praying for a protection from his brother Esau. verse 11. But, at that point the Lord himself came down but Jacob catch hold of him for the entire night and asks for His blessing. Because, he knows when he gets this particular blessing of the Lord, he will be protected and he can guard his other material blessings. He wrestled with the Lord for entire night and Lord Himself gave a certificate that He will be called Israel which means a prince who prevailed with God and Men. That made the name of Jacob and Israel special. That night made the difference. Every other book of the Bible speaks about the name of Israel or Jacob continuously. We should be persistence in going after God's blessings, we shouldn't stop when we didn't get. Anyone who asks will receive. Remember the code - ASK (Ask, Seek and Knock) Ask and it will be given, Seek, you will find and Knock, it will be open to you. Matthew 7:7. When you pray with code ASK, look for greater things such as the power to change the world, your surroundings, greater things, inheritance of the land. Ask for great measure of Holy Spirit, fruits of the Holy spirit and all the gifts. You need a thirsty towards all these great things and spiritual blessings. But, you should have PPP after ASK to receive what you have asked. If you endure, you will receive for sure. If you ask like a grown up man, you will receive. If you are like childish just asking a for a meager increase in salary or promotion or for material or for money, you will receive little.

Pray for the perishing souls with patience, perseverance and persistence. Finally, I close this with Paul's advice to Galatians, "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." Gal 6:9. All glory, honor and praise to God, the Father, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

5 - Number of Grace

I wish every reader love, peace and joy in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I gave a brief gap after a series of continuous articles during the holy week about the sufferings and crucifixion of our Lord Jesus. In this article, I would like to write about how the number 5 signifies grace. The first place we see number 5 is in the fifth day on which God created the form of life. We read as "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life" Genesis 1:20. Although God has created seeds of plants, they were not came into existence until God sent the rain and we could read that in Gen 2:5,6. So, the very first form of life in Earth is created on the fifth day and one more notable point is the  were not destroyed along with land animals and humans during great floods as they live in waters.

The number 5 is often associated with sacrifice and because God accepts the sacrifice and makes covenants with the people who offer sacrifices. The first instance of this is when Abraham wanted to know how he would inherit this nation, God instructs very specifically to bring 5 different types of animals for sacrifice. We see that in Genesis 15:9, "Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon". We see there are five types of animals and so the number 5 represents grace. Why three years old heifer, she-goat and ram. That represents Jesus would be crucified after 3 years of His Baptism and successful completion of ministry. Even we could read, while Abraham was called to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah, they reached the spot on the third day. Gen 22:4. The three here also indicates that on the third day (after 2 days which marks two thousand years), post 2000 years Jesus will redeem back the mankind.

Next, there are five main types of sacrifices, or offerings given in Leviticus. The burnt offering (Leviticus 1; 6:8–13; 8:18-21; 16:24), the grain offering (Leviticus 2; 6:14–23), the peace offering (Leviticus 3; 7:11–34), the sin offering (Leviticus 4; 5:1–13; 6:24–30; 8:14–17; 16:3–22), and the trespass offering (Leviticus 5:14–19; 6:1–7; 7:1–6). This can be directly attributed to five holy wounds of Jesus Christ on cross (2 hands + 2 legs + 1 rib). These 5 wounds directly points to the prophecy of Isaiah 53, specifically the verse 5 says "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." The verse 5 again represents that grace is given to us through the wounds and there are 5 holy wounds and hence 5 represents the grace. God cannot pardon our sins just like that without any sacrifice and that's why He ordained the above offerings in Leviticus. Because, God is righteous and He is a blood avenger (Gen 9:5), a blood has to be shed for and without bled shedding there is no remission of sins as it is written that the life is in blood. Leviticus 17:11, Hebrews 9:22. So, at the end of great floods, we see Noah providing a sacrifice for the entire life that was wiped off on earth and God had accepted it as a sin offering and made covenant with Noah that He won't destroy life on earth for man's sake through water. Gen 8:21, 9:11. So, we see a sacrifice is required for grace to be provided and Jesus Christ is our perfect sacrifice on cross and He is God Himself so we get abundance of grace and mercy. John 1:17.

What is grace? As I have already explained in my earlier chapters, Grace is the unmerited favor. If you are reading this article, it means you have the unmerited favor of God (Grace). Grace is something which we don't deserve where as if we deserve it, it cannot be called as grace. Mercy means cancelling our righteous judgement and punishment for our sins and transgressions. But, grace is something more, apart from cancelling the punishments, it is extending the blessings of God to us which we are unworthy to receive. If we have God's grace, then we would succeed in everything we do. We will receive favor in men's eyes as well and whatever we do will flourish. I will list out few ways of receiving God's grace at the end of this article.

Now, we will see a list of places in scriptures where we find the number 5.
1. The first five books of law, Genesis to Deuteronomy are called Pentateuch which form the portion of Torah, that the Jews still use the Holy Word of God. All these five books were written by Moses.
2. The five types of offerings that we saw in Leviticus.
3. The five pebble stones that David took before he faced Goliath. 1 Samuel 17:40
4. The five divisions of Psalms. Psalm 1 - 41, 42 - 72, 73 - 89, 90 - 106 and 107 - 150.
5. The five names of the Son of God in Isaiah 9:6. Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
6. The five types of ministries also called as ministries of grace specified in Ephesians 4:13 - Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers.
7. The five types of crowns in New testament.
- Incorruptible crown - I Cor 9:25
- Crown of Rejoicing or Joy - I Thessalonians 2:19, Phil 4:1
- Crown of Righteousness - II Timothy 4:8
- Crown of unchanging glory - I Peter 5:4
- Crown of Life - James 1:12, Rev 2:10

Now, let's see some ways of receiving grace. The Word of God says "By his abundance, we receive grace upon grace" in John 1:16. So, the default way to receive grace is to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior but we see specific ways. In old testament, God was gracious to selective people as written in Exodus 33:19 "and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." But, after Jesus paying the perfect sacrifice for us, it is written in Titus that God is gracious on all humanity. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men" Titus 2:11. So, those whoever accepts Lord Jesus Christ gets grace by default but to get more and more grace, we have the following 5 specific ways in my opinion.

1. The first and foremost way to get grace is having the character of humility. Bible clearly says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble ones. James 4:6 says "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." This verse is repeated by Peter as well in I Peter 5:5. Jesus also said in the parable of people identifying prominent places in the marriage feast as "For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." Luke 14:11 and we know the parable of prayers of pharisee and publican and who has been made righteous at the end. Jesus repeats this verse here too. Luke 18:14. Few more verses from old testament. Psalm 138 verse 6 says Though the LORD  be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off. Proverbs 3:34, 15:33 and 18:12 speaks about the importance of humility and humbleness.

If there is one particular sin, God vehemently opposes, it is the character of pride. Because, the first sin in universe could be the proudness of lucifer, that made him fallen as satan. That's why God attacks the proud and he cuts all the proud tongues. So, we should be very careful not to be proud. The world teaches us to be proud in our achievements and every worldly stuff wants its own to be exalted among others. But, the word of God teaches opposite to exalt God in every thing and humble ourselves. The best example of a proud person who had fallen from his position was Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. At the same time we see the humble saints of the Bible who had been lifted up by God.

By the way, God even blesses those who don't accept His son Jesus Christ and those who may be part of other religions but if they are humble enough, it will bring them worldly blessings. I could quote many personalities in the world arena who are humble and exalted. But, we as the Christians, if we are humble to God at all the times of our lives, He will exalteth us to the height that we could never have imagined. Because, His word is true.

2. The second way to receive grace is to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom but it also brings grace to us. One of my favorite verses says, "But the mercy of the LORD  is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;" Psalm 103:17, Here we can consider the mercy as grace as the difference in both is minor as explained earlier.

3. The third way to receive grace is to love God and follow His commandments. Exodus 20:6 says "And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." If we truly and sincerely love God, we will spend time in reading the scriptures, prayers and worship. If we do that, we will abide with Holy Spirit and we will automatically follow His commandments and we will get more and more grace.

4. The fourth way to receive grace is to praise Him. 2 Cor 4:15 clearly says "that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God." So, with thanksgiving, praise and worship, we will get abundance of grace.

5. The fifth way of receiving grace is to give testimony for Jesus Christ and His resurrection. We have to says our Jesus is a living God. If we do that, we will get perfect grace. The scripture reference is Acts 4:33, "And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all."

Finally, I want to close this with some of my general observations. It is interesting to notice that the word GRACE itself contains 5 letters. The Roman letter representation of 5 is V. The letter 'V' is significant as it stands for Victory. When we raise our hands in worship, the two hands and head forms this letter V and it further means if we have grace we will be victors and overcomers and enable us to receive the crowns while our Lord returns. Having abundant grace never promises that we will have problem free life or trouble free life, but if we have grace we will overcome every problem that comes on our way and will stand above all. Best example, David overcoming Goliath and impossible scenario in world's perspective. But, David was anointed and is full of grace, he got that courage to defeat and kill Goliath.

I wish and proclaim fullness of grace to you. May the Lord's name be glorified. All honor, glory and praise to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen.

Counteractions on Cross

God gave me grace to write 4 articles in a span of one week. It has been a marathon effort and you may expect a delay before my next article. In this article, we will see a list of stuff that God achieved by the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In fact, we cannot cover all the things. But, let's see some of them as I read, heard and understood. There are many problems in this world right now. As in one of my older posts "Is the end times near?", I wrote about the list of issues the world is facing now. There is no peace, people are turning more and more money minded and love is getting lesser and lesser. Famine, Earthquakes and Pestilences everywhere. Nations raising against nations, People against people. But, there is one root cause from the beginning for all these problems and that is SIN. How one root problem of sin becomes source of all the problems, there is one solution, that is the LORD JESUS CHRIST and by His shedding of blood on cross, we have remission of sins. We are awaiting His return so that all these problems are abolished including sin and death and then a new life will be set up on new heaven and new earth. As there are many problems because of one issue sin, let's see what and all Jesus has done on cross to neutralize the circumstances on which the original sin was committed.

I named this post as Counter actions on Cross because Isaac Newton's third law of motion says, Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. I would like to reiterate what and all God given as counters for what has happened in Garden of Eden.

1. The Original sin happened in a garden named Eden. The original solution too started in a garden named Gethsamane.
2. A tree named knowledge of good and evil became the source of the sin. Jesus was crucified on a tree to negate that.
3. God cursed humans that the land would produce thorns and thistles. Jesus wore a crown of thorns to take out that curse.
4. The sin originated in the mind and even now it is the place where satan tempts and makes people to sin. So, the first major injury Jesus had was on his head through the crown of thorns.
5. Adam sinned because of his wife Eve who was taken out of his rib. The final injury of Jesus was on his rib where blood and water came out and from that the bride of Christ, the Church was formed.
6. The eyes of Adam and Eve were opened and they realized they were naked. Jesus hung mostly naked on cross.
7. The curse involved sweat. We read Jesus sweating out His blood in garden of Gethsamane when he prayed.
8. There were three temptations behind original sin. Eve saw that the tree was good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make  one wise. Gen 3:6. There are three temptations mentioned in 1 John 2:16, lusts of eye, lusts of flesh and pride of life directly corresponds to Eve's temptations. Jesus in humanity, prayed three times to Father to ask for pardon from cross but then he made up His mind to fulfill His will. He took three nails on cross.
9. An animal was killed by God in garden of Eden to make clothes from its skin for Adam and Eve. Fig tree leaves are not sufficient to cover the nakedness. That directly represents the blood is required to atone for the sins and the good works that we perform is not enough to cover our sins. Jesus became the sacrificial lamb and through His blood covers our sins.
10. Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac on Mt. Moriah, but there was a lamb that was available in place of Isaac so that he could be redeemed. That lamb marks Jesus Christ, the lamb which was crucified before the foundations of the earth by the Father for the redemption of mankind.
11. By the blood of the passover lamb, Israelites got their freedom from Egypt. Same way, by the blood of Jesus Christ, we have deliverance from the sin (Egypt).
12. The brass serpent was raised by Moses on wilderness so that who ever looks on it survived after the snake bite. Numbers 21:5-9 The brass (bronze) represents judgement of sin and satan. Jesus compared himself to that incident in John 3:14.15. He Himself became sin (not a sinner by committing sin but the sins were laid upon Him so He became that sin itself) and His death brought judgement to sin, death and satan.
13. He crushed satan's head, his power, authorities by His death and fulfilled the first prophecy given in the Bible in Gen 3:15. "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Jesus became the seed of the woman.
14. By one man's (Adam) disobedience, sin and death entered the world. By one man's (Jesus) obedience, sin and death will be abolished. I used future tense because the redemption is not yet complete and it will be complete on His second coming.
15. Jesus has made both Jews and gentile equivalent by His death on cross and God is Father for all those who believe in Jesus Christ.
16. Jesus has accomplished what a normal human cannot do. No man can provide remission for sins because every one is a sinner. So, God became a man and accomplished the remission by Himself so that He can become savior, redeemer and Lord for those who believe in Him.
17. The old covenant with Abraham through circumcision was nullified as Jesus created new commandment through His flesh and blood and we partake in it through communion.
18. Jesus was raised from earth so He was hung in between heaven and earth (not touching heaven, not touching earth) making Him a mediator between God and human beings.
19. The stretched out hands symbolize that He abolished old system of Jewish and Israelite tradition as well as fulfilled the law and He created a New creation through Himself so that gentiles and Israelites, man and woman, every one can come to God the Father through Him. The stretched out hands also mean that He removed the sins from us as far the east is from the west.
20. Jesus suffered 5 holy wounds (Two hands, Two legs and Rib) thereby giving us grace. The number 5 symbolizes grace. If God willing, shall write a separate post on this.
21. He fulfilled all the old testament prophecies which were foretold, Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Daniel 9, Zeccharia and all the entire OT shadows.
22. Through His resurrection on the third day, He set forth a pattern so that whomsoever believe in Him will resurrect during His appearance if they are dead and those who are alive will get transformed into His likeness.
23. The temple veil got torn into two when Jesus gave up His spirit and that means the barrier between God and Man is broken.
24. As the barrier is broken, now God left the most holy place and started to live inside man through Holy Spirit and through whom we can bear fruits for the glory of His name and through the gifts we can be a powerful testimonies and ministers for the Lord. Psalms 68:18, Ephesians 4:8

I could keep write more and more from New testament versus but I think I mentioned most of the prime points. I didn't give biblical verse references for all of them and encourage the reader to do research to find them. Finally, there are 3 questions which I would like to answer before I complete this chapter.

1. Why Jesus has to shed His blood on cross? If it is just for forgiving sins, then even before sacrificing Himself on cross, He forgave sins of the sick of palsy man in Mark 2:4 and the woman who washed His feet in Luke 7:48. The Son of God has authority to forgive sins without shedding His blood. But, He shed his blood on cross to atone for sins and because of the atonement He can purify us with the blood such that not only forgiving our sins but to give us power over the sins as mentioned in 1 John 1:7 and we are made perfect and complete in purification through His blood. Hebrews 10:14. The entire book of Hebrews is dedicated to explain this.

2. Why Jesus had to die on cross? Is it not sufficient to shed his blood by getting injured? No, it is not sufficient to shed blood alone. To overcome the humanity's greatest enemy, the death, God Himself has to undergo through death such that by resurrection He can overcome that. Without death, He couldn't resurrect and He couldn't overcome it. Not only that, Jesus destroyed the power of the devil by His death and seized all His powers and rendered Him powerless. Heb 2:14,15. In Rev 1:18, Jesus said "I have the keys of Hades and death." But, the keys were held by devil prior to the death of Jesus. But, Jesus took all of them captive when He entered the Hades. He couldn't have entered the bottomless pit without undergoing death. So, to overcome the world and Hades, Jesus had to taste death and not only that whoever believe in Him will also raise from dead.

3. Why Jesus had to ascend to heaven after resurrection? Why not He stayed with us so that everyone could have believed Him? Jesus had to accomplish all the prophecies. Isaiah 52:13 says about Jesus, "Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high." So, now Jesus is exalted and seated on the right hand side of the God, the Father. If He stayed as a person, He could stay at only one place at a time. But, He ascended to heaven so that He could send the Holy Spirit and can indwell among believers as per Psalm 68:18 until all the works are finished and as per all the prophecies are fulfilled. Acts 3:21. It is also said that He is waiting until all His enemies are made as His footstool. It is a prophecy given in Psalm 110:1 and referred at Hebrew 10:12,13 as "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool."

I wish all those who read this a very happy Easter. I pronounce blessings to every true follower of our Lord. His coming is near as we are nearing 2000 year mark from His crucifixion and we await Him eagerly. May God bless you, protect you and keep you in His peace. All glory, honor and praise to God, the Holy Spirit through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Three days, Three nights

I wish everyone a happy good Friday. You may think me how I can wish a happy good Friday. If it is not wrong on calling this a "Good" Friday, there is nothing wrong in rejoicing in a good day. Indeed this is the day to rejoice and to praise God more than any day else and rejoicing on this day shows the maturity of a Christian. In fact, Bible says so and you may wonder where. Psalm 118 v 24 says "This  is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." You may wonder how this verse corresponds to the day of crucifixion. Yes, it is true we need to consider every day is made by God and we should rejoice in every day. But, God had a specific day in mind too and the clue that it points to the day of crucifixion is the previous two verses, "The stone which the builders refused is become the head  stone of the corner. This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." Psalm 118:22,23. and this is one of the greatest prophecies which Jesus too referred to Jews when they refused to accept Him as Messiah and it is true He became the cornerstone.

Praise God, He made Jesus cornerstone, He made Jews to reject Him so that He can be the Savior of the World and God can be God of all those who believe in His only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let's come to today's topic about three days and three nights prophecy and see when Jesus exactly got crucified. What is three days and nights prophecy? When the scribes and pharisees asked a sign from Jesus, He didn't give them an explicit miracle, but He gave them prophecy of Jonas. Let's see the verse. "But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:39,40. This is also mentioned in Luke 11:29,30 but here three days and nights are not explicitly quoted but Jesus told He himself would be a sign to that generation. "For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation." Luke 11:30.

I had a question from my childhood on the third day. How it would make third day if Jesus would've crucified on Friday? For that, my grandfather answered that we have to count the crucifixion day of Friday as the first day and then Sunday marks the third day. I was satisfied with the answer until few years back this question came to me again after I was reminded the sign of Jonas. How it could be three days and three nights Jesus would have been in the heart of the earth and I never got the answer for a long time. There were many theories based on the gospels that said Jesus was crucified on Wednesday and few others said on Thursday but I was not convinced. But, last year the Holy Spirit prompted me and told me to look into the Passover night to get the answer. Hence, I studied the Passover and found the amazing truth of how God provided information throughout the Bible to answer many questions like this. The information is scattered throughout the Bible and you need the Holy Spirit and spend time in the Word so that He will assist to connect the dots as per Isaiah 34:16,17. "Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein."

Let's see the actual Passover incident in Egypt. The clue is the day when the lamb is to be selected and the day on which lamb has to be killed. God told Israelites in Exodus 12:2,3, "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months and In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb". The Holy Spirit told me the selection day is the day when the lamb has to be examined and to be chosen. In direct reference to crucifixion of Jesus, this connects to the Palm Sunday where Jesus shown Himself as a King (Read I Kings 1:33 where Solomon who was David's son too and rode over donkey before being anointed as king of Israel. Jesus too son of David rode on Donkey in streets of Jerusalem) as well as Passover lamb. Then, the lamb has to be killed on 14th day evening. Its a well known fact that the actual weekly Sabbath day was observed on Saturdays during old testament and during the time of Jesus and Sunday is the first day of the week.  So, the 10th day is the Palm Sunday which is the first day of the week. So, if we count 4 days, we reach Thursday and that is the actual crucifixion day because by Sun down on that day Jesus was buried which exactly concurs the killing of the lamb on 14th day evening.

Let's see how this connection matches sign of Jonas. To understand this we need to know, how a day is calculated by Israelite on those days. Every day ends at 5:59 PM and the new day starts at 6 PM in the evening. This is the tradition because in Genesis 1, we could see "And evening and morning became first day, second day.. etc". So, God placed evening before morning so in Jewish tradition the new day starts with the night. In the time of Jesus, the zeroth hour is equivalent to 6 AM, first hour is 7, third is 9, sixth is 12, ninth is 3 PM, 11th is 5 PM and 12th is 6 PM which is again the next day start. This one you could understand from the parable of vineyard and laborers in Matthew 20:1-16. Please go through and see the times given there if you want to understand further. So, the time Jesus was crucified was 9 AM because Mark says "And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him." Mark 15:25 and again from verse 33 of same chapter, we see from sixth to ninth hour there was darkness over the whole land. So, between 12 PM and 3 PM, it was dark and Jesus gave up His spirit around 3 PM which is around 9th hour. Understood from Matthew 27:46,50. So, Jesus was hanging on the cross for 6 hours.

So, my opinion was the timeline of night started at 3 PM itself when Jesus gave His spirit and the calculation should be from 3 PM. So, if we calculate from 3 PM, then 3 PM Thursday to 3 AM Friday becomes the night 1 and then 3 AM Friday to 3 PM Friday marks day 1. Same way, Friday 3 PM to Saturday 3 AM becomes 2nd night and Saturday 3 AM to 3 PM becomes 2nd night and Saturday 3 PM to Sunday morning becomes 3rd night and I believe Jesus would have resurrected on the early hours of Sunday morning around 3:30 AM to 5:00 AM which we doesn't know exactly because John 20:1 says when Mary Magdalene went to sepulcher, Jesus was not there. So, we still miss 1 day but we have very good reasoning for that. If it is 3 days and 3 nights, then Jesus should have resurrected on the 4th day. But, it was not the fact. The resurrection indeed happened on the third day which followed the third night.

Let's see why. The third day has an important connotation from the Old testament. Paul says, "And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." I Cor 15:4. Where this is mentioned? A prophecy from Hosea says, "After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Hosea 6:2. So, it was important for Jesus to rose up on the third day. But, at the same time, the three nights and three days of Jonas's sign should also be fulfilled. The understanding here is if it crosses the three nights and even if a small time is spent on third day it is considered as three days full. This is my theory. But, we see couple of OT shadows for this. First, Joseph kept his brothers on prison for three days but on the third day he spoke to them. Gen 42:17,18. Same way Esther asked the people of Judah to fast for three days and three nights, Esther 4:16 but she didn't wait for the 4th day but she went to the King on the third day itself Esther 5:1. So, we could see how the Jonas prophecy could have been fulfilled. Jesus would have rose up some time after 3 AM on Easter Sunday to fulfill all the prophecies and it is considered as the third day as well as three days and three nights.

Hope this makes sense. The last few paragraphs of this article might be assumptions but what was true was that Jesus was crucified on 14th of that month which should have been 4 days after the Palm Sunday where he shown himself as the King of Peace. But, as everyone celebrates this on Friday, its fine to go with that but it is good to know the Biblical truths. Once again, this year is very much significant because the Good Friday as such falls on 14th of the month. Be watchful and keep yourself up in prayers. Rejoice our Lord is near. I wanted to make this one shorter but it has grown very large as I had to cover lot of content.

All glory, honor and praise to the Lord God who created heavens and earth but humbly took a human form in the name of Jesus and bore all our sins and death and won over everything. He is Victorious everywhere in heavens, earth and in Hades. We too will be victorious through Him in ever thing. Amen.

Betrayals of Jesus and David

As mentioned previously, I am writing about the revelations regarding the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. In this article, I wanted to write about the betrayal of Jesus as well as that of David and see the connection. This day, 12th of April 2017 being the 4th day of holy week, this is the day when Jesus was betrayed by Judas. We will see when Jesus got crucified and when he resurrected in the next post. I will clarify all the doubts around that area in that article.

If you would have read my recent article, new creation - baptism by holy spirit, you would've understood the significance of David. David is so special among old testament saints and we saw why. He was the one who loved God more than any other person in the old testament. The name David means "Beloved". He loved God more than anything else and God loved him back with His full heart and He gave testimony that David is after His own heart. No wonder Jesus prefer Himself to be called as son of David when He was doing ministry.

So, God designed a picture of betrayal in David's life so that it will reflect in the life of Jesus 1000 years later. David was a fore shadow of Jesus. Now, we all know about the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. But, let's see how David was betrayed. Who betrayed David? There might be many but in this context there is only one who is relevant. There were only two persons in the entire book of Bible who committed suicide by hanging. One is well known Judas and the second one is, well, his name is Ahithopel and he is, not surprisingly the betrayer of David. Bible scholars say that David wrote Psalm 41 keeping Ahithopel in mind and there he quote the popular prophetical verse about Judas, "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up  his heel against me." Psalm 41:9.

Let's look at the story of Ahithopel and David. When Absalom raised against David to take over the Kingdom from his father, he took the help of Ahithopel. Ahithopel was a close aid of David. In 2 Sam 15:12, it was quoted "Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David's counselor". Later, we see how good Ahithopel's ideas were for David. 2 Sam 16:23. We see the footprints of Jesus going to Mount olives the night when he captured in David's escape of Absalom. David crossed the brook of Kidron along with his people and friends 2 Sam 15:23 and went up to Mount Olives crying, barefooted and covering his face in shame. 2 Sam 15:30. Jesus too crossed the brook of Cedron, the same brook with his disciples John 18:1 and went up to Mount olives and entered the garden of Gethsamane. Again, see how much God is specific in designing the pictures in old testament to match up the future events.

I encourage the readers to go through the chapters of 2 Samuel 14-17. We could see Ahithopel gave a cunning idea to Absalom to kill David in 2 Sam 17:1-3 which would have worked well. But, we can see God's hand stopping that by giving a counter advice from Hushai, the archite from verses 5-14. This is the place where it differed as Jesus has to die on cross, Judas counsel succeeded in new testament but it was not a plan of God to give up David in the hands of Absalom and later we saw Ahithopel committed suicide by hanging when his counsel was not taken by Absalom. 2 Sam 17:23. He would have fore seen David coming back and becoming a king. How wondrous? How much relevance the word of God has and how much it reflects the past, present and future. Jesus too promised that He would die on cross but will come back after resurrection and He did that. David too ran away to mount olives but told if God willing I will come back and see the ark of covenant back in Jerusalem. 2 Sam 15:24-26. Hallelujah, David came back and Jesus too came back resurrected and how it fits into future. The same Lord Jesus Christ who had gone to heavens to sit in the right hand of God from Mount Olives will return to Mount Olives and rule from Jerusalem for 1000 years. Acts 1:11,12 Zeccharia 14:4. Glory to God.

Let's take a moment to meditate on these verses and Praise God for giving His only begotten son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All honor, glory, praise to you Father for holding everything in your control. You are Alpha to Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Amen.

The Centerpiece

This is an article which is an extension to my one of the previous posts, Jesus and Praise at the center. Try to review that post before going through this and you will realize how God made Jesus Christ center of His Word. All of the scriptures point to Him, the blessed redeemer. That was posted on December 2016. As mentioned in my last post, these articles would be smaller and focused on Jesus sufferings and His death on cross and resurrection.

Now, this is not my original revelation but I heard this mentioned in one of the sermons recently. In an earlier post, I mentioned the most popular verse in the entire Bible is John 3:16, which quotes the love of God by sending His only begotten son so that whoever believeth in Him won't perish and have eternal life. But, along with that, I stated, in my opinion, the most important chapter in the entire Bible is Romans 8 and the most important book in the Bible is Isaiah. The name Isaiah means God is my Salvation. The book consists of 66 chapters corresponding to the number of books in the Bible.

Further to that, the 66 chapters can be again divided into first 39 chapters that correspond to history in direct correspondence with Old testament and the next 27 chapters from 40-66, directly point to His promises about salvation, redemption, eternal life and judgement. These 27 chapters correspond to new testament. Now, if we apply the concept of centers to these 27 chapters, what an astonishment?, 13 chapters in front from 40 to 52 and 13 chapters at the rear 54 - 66, the central chapter is 53, which is the 14th (7+7) one. It is a well known fact that Isaiah 53 is the chapter which is precisely focused on the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ as a lamb who took away the sin of the world. It is a divine arrangement. Praise God, it cannot be a mere coincidence.

Not only that, the 27 chapters from 40-66 can be classified into 3 triplets of 9 each. To elaborate, the divisions are Isaiah 40 - 48, 49 - 57 and 58 - 66. Again this is a divine arrangement? How we can assure that? The last verse of chapter 48 and the last verse of chapter 57 are one and same. They say, "There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked." Isaiah 48:22, 57:21. The last verse of 66 which is also the last verse of Isaiah also have a similar phase but mentions the condemnation to the wicked. "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." Isaiah 66:24. Same way, if we look at the middle chapters of 49 to 57, again 53 is the center of centers. Let's look into the verses. Bible scholars say the actual start of Isaiah 53 could be from Isaiah 52:13 as it starts with "Behold, my servant shall deal prudently." and it sets the context for 53. So, from Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12, there are 15 verses that can be divided into 5 sets of 3 each and again the center of these triplets are the verses 4,5 and 6 of chapter 53 that explains the gospel to the core. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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. 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." Isaiah 53:4-6. Shall we just close our eyes for a moment and worship the divine God, thank the Lord Jesus Christ for His love and grace. We praise you Jesus Christ, we praise you Father. Hallelujah. We thank you Holy Spirit for giving us the Bible and made us realize the wonders.

All the above revelations were not originally given to me but it was preached by pastor Sam P Chelladurai (www.revsam.org) recently on his sermon series "The blood of the Lamb". But, the Holy Spirit prompted me to consider the centers in New testament too and I eagerly did. Let's see to that. There are 27 books in the new testament and the middle one is 14th one as there are 13 books before and after. The 14th book is interestingly
2 Thessalonians. The two books of Thessalonians deal with the return of Christ and the 2nd Thessalonians contains 3 chapters. Again, applying the centers to the chapters, the middle chapter is 2 Thessalonians 2 and it's a surprise the second chapter contains the secrets of rapture, antichrist and the second coming. I said WOW. Our God is a God of wonders. He is a Masterpiece, God of Universe, and in every good thing we could see His hand. I would write a separate article about this chapter in future. But, please go through this chapter and meditate this chapter for yourself. I could see God confirming His works, the chapter contains 17 verses and again God is pointing about the importance of 17. [Please go through my earlier chapters on 2017 and 17]. The middle verse which is 9 again speaks about the coming of Antichrist and that will be with signs and false wonders and if we don't know the truth we will be easily deceived. What is worse is God Himself will send the delusion to the people who don't believe in truth so that they will worship antichrist.

That's it for this chapter. I would encourage the reader to do the same analysis on the old testament, on Isaiah 1-39 and get more revelations. Remember the opposition to Christians all over the world is on the raise and two churches in Egypt were bombed on the palm Sunday this year resulting in death of 45 people. Please pray for Christians all over the world and for whoever getting martyred, let them bring glorification to the name of the Lord and finally they all will get back their lives and inheritance in Christ Jesus. We are not afraid of death. For us, to die is to gain. Phil 1:21, Stand tall and fight on your knees. They may take our lives but final victory is going to be ours through our Lord and Savior and He is near, standing at the door. Maranatha, Amen.

All honor, glory, praise to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Holy is the Lord, we bless you Holy Father. I will bless Him all the times, His praise will be in my mouth forever. Psalms 34:1 Amen.