“The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.” Psalms 34:16-19

‘because
“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
But the word of the LORD endures forever.”
Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.’
I Peter 1:24, 25

@ckw09: “.I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing..therefore choose life…love the Lord your God..obey His voice..”Deut 30:19-20

God’s Promise Is Not Slack

” knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. ”  2 Peter 3:1-18 

Revelation 1:7-8

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

For forty days after His Resurrection, Jesus appeared to His apostles and various people on a number of occasions. The time had come now for Jesus to leave the earth…….

Jesus and his disciples arrived in Bethany, they gathered at the Mount of Olives. Jesus, in miraculous fashion, physically ascended – was lifted off the ground and began floating upward and this was a visible event, witnessed by His disciples on Mt. Olivet, about 2 miles east of Jerusalem.     

“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,” Acts 1:9-10

“…Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”Acts 1:11

……. until the time of His Second Coming.

Jesus said of His Second Coming to Earth.

“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring;  men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.  Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  Luke 21:25-27

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.” Revelation 22:12,13

“Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” Acts 1:9-11

……………..

“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. ” Jesus said in John 14:19 before His crucifixion and subsequent resurrection.
…………….
The empty tomb proclaimed, “This is the glory of the risen Christ.”
…………….

John 20:19-20

Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

John 20:24-29

Seeing and Believing

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”

So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”

And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him, “Thomas because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The crucifixion of Jesus on Friday two thousand years ago, was and still is the central event of the entire human history. Jesus took upon Him all the sins of the world. Because of that event, history was split into two Era – “Before Christ” and “Anno Domini” – Latin phrase for ‘In the year of the Lord’, the year of Jesus Christ’s birth. Every day of AD you’re using Jesus’ birth as the reference point.

The books of the Old Testament contain many passages about the Messiah,  all prophecies about Jesus Christ were fulfilled. For instance, the crucifixion of Jesus was foretold in Psalm 22:16-18 about 1,000 years before Christ was born on earth, long before this method of execution was even practiced.

“For dogs have surrounded Me;

The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.

They pierced[a] My hands and My feet;

I can count all My bones.

They look and stare at Me.

They divide My garments among them,

And for My clothing they cast lots. “ Psalm 22:16-18

The Sunday before Easter.

Palm Sunday.

Zechariah was a prophet who lived in the 6th century before the birth of Christ. Zechariah’s ministry took place during the reign of Darius the Great (Zechariah 1:1), and was contemporary with Haggai in a post-exilic world after the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6 BC.

In Zechariah 9:9, the prophet speaks of a future king presenting himself to Jerusalem while riding on a humble donkey. This foreshadowed something that happened about 500 years later. As explained in Luke 19:35-37, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and presented himself as the Messiah, the King.

Palm Sunday.

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your King is coming to you;

He is just and having salvation,

Lowly and riding on a donkey,

A colt, the foal of a donkey.  “ Zechariah 9:9

God created the universe out of nothing in an act which also brought time into existence.

When confronted with the marvels of life, the order and beauty of nature and the universe – the impression and inexorable powerful evidence of logic, purpose and design are overwhelming. We must ask why and not just the how, too.

Consider the coconut tree; one can say that whoever created the coconut tree wanted it – to bear coconuts. In other words, by looking at the order in the world, we can infer purpose and from purpose we begin to get some glimpses of the knowledge of the Creator, the Architect of all these. We must acknowledge that there exists an unfathomable power and might with infinite wisdom, foresight, competence and knowledge that started the whole universe going in the first instance.

The more one were to study nature and learn about creation, the more one stand amazed at the works and glory of the Creator. Through the mighty works of God’s hands and from those works imply intentions – from these intentions and comprehending His wisdom, majesty and power, we receive the consciousness of the Almighty.  It makes no logic and sense to assume that the universe and our existence is just a huge accident, that life materialised due to chance physical processes in an environment which merely happened to have the right properties. Moreover, order may never come out of chaos. God is a mathematician, physicist, etc of the highest order and He used high-level and complex (an understatement, to say the least) mathematics, physics, etc, in constructing the universe. Those working in fundamental physics are able to discern a world of deep and beautiful order. Some of these laws are within the grasp of the human mind so that we could share in His thoughts. It’s evident that an acquaintance with the physical and natural laws mean no less than an acquaintance with the mind of God therein expressed. God wanted us to comprehend them by creating us after His own image (read Genesis I: 26-27).

The exquisite order displayed by our scientific understanding of the physical world and the immense mysteries of the universe should only confirm the certainty of its Creator.

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Jesus said in John 8:32

God is Truth (God is love, God is holy, God hates sin because it is contrary to His perfect and holy nature. God is righteous). There is no incompatibility between science and the belief in God. The purpose of science is to build up – without prejudice or presumption of any kind – a knowledge of the facts, the laws and the processes of nature. The observations and experiments of science are so wonderful that the truth that they establish can surely be recognised as another “expression” of God. God shows Himself by enabling man to establish truths. God would encourage by giving mankind the brains for scientific research as modern man’s noble striving to apprehend, respect and admire His handiwork. The universe as discovered through scientific examinations, including the existence of exact mathematical principles among others, are the active and living witnesses that God has indeed been at work. Science is possible because the universe is a divine creation. Science “shows” that an infinitely intelligent Creator is responsible – that God exists.

The universe has been made with the most exacting precision, order and is exceptionally finely tuned; else we could never have come into being. The circumstances indicate without a shadow of doubt that the earth – delicately balanced to provide exactly the conditions required to support life was created for man to live in. They are positive reasons, based on observations, logic and scientific knowledge rather than default assumptions, that God indeed is the designer. Evolutionists and people challenge science to prove the existence of God and say they cannot visualise a Designer. Well, can we see an electron? We can’t see electrons or radio waves either but we know they exist as we see their effects. It is a strange rationale to accept the unseen electron as real while refusing to accept the genuineness of a Designer on the grounds that we cannot see Him. God is the explanation for the miracle of existence, why there is something instead of nothing.

Romans 1:20-21 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”