As we look back and see that we have travelled in the wrong direction, we have the choice to turn around. 

Looking back & learn, and have the grace of letting go where needed; will enable us to move forward with the power of moving on in the right direction.

The past is still worth looking at especially when it brings us to the truth and helps us to take the necessary corrective action.The past is to help us see things in perspective, don’t let it hold us back, Look back to move forward.

Our life must be lived today and let’s step forward, keep moving in the right path. Make it an exciting journey henceforth with God’s help.

Today it is 3 April,  2015 AD (Anno Domini – in the year of the Lord, not ‘after death’) – this date and every day, testifies to all of us that Jesus once walked on planet earth more than 2 thousand years ago.

Good Friday commemorates the death by crucifixion of Jesus Christ at Calvary, before His resurrection three days later on Easter Sunday.

WHY must Jesus die for us?

The gospel reveals that God acts righteously in forgiving us; He does not ignore our sins, but takes care of them in Jesus Christ.  Representationally, God presented Jesus as a sacrifice for our forgiveness. Sin has consequences, and Jesus volunteered to suffer the consequences on our behalf. The cross demonstrates God’s love as well as His justice.

• “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

• “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

• Jesus said in Luke 24:46 “Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,”

• ‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”) ” Galatians 3:13

• “ And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” 1 John 2:2

• “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus became a curse on our behalf so we could escape the curse of the law, which is death. He became something He was not, so that we could become something we were not. He became sin for us, so that we might be declared righteous through Him. Because He suffered what we deserved, He redeemed us from the curse of the law. “The punishment that brought us peace was upon him.” Because He suffered death, we can enjoy peace with God.

• “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. Victory was won on the cross. By His death, “Jesus was able to “destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14-15). “

• “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:25-26
•  ^“and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”Acts 13:39
• For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” Romans 1:17

 

Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” John 8:58

“Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” John‬ ‭8‬:‭59‬

[ Moses asked God about His name…

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say.. ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” Exodus‬ ‭3‬:‭13-14‬ ]

The Jews understood Jesus claimed to be God when Jesus said before Abraham was, “I AM” – Jesus used the very name of God! This provoked the Jews to want to kill him.
Since God is eternal there is to Him no ‘was’ or ‘will be’. He always ‘is’. What Jesus really says here is: ‘Before Abraham was, I am eternally alive!’

‘The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. ‘ Psalms 34:16

All men sin, but the reference here is to those who will not repent and who have no intention of turning away from their evil deeds. God is not against everyone that sins, (for the righteous are not without sin as they have sin in them); but against them that live in sin, whose course of life is a series of willful iniquity, wickedness & evildoing – they are workers of darkness; and have no sense of sin, nor sorrow for it, go on in it without shame, regret or fear – against these, the face of the Lord is, and stirs up His righteous wrath.

People assume that God is ONLY merciful & loving, conveniently forgetting that God is ALSO righteous and holy and will exercise judgment. Will not the JUDGE of the Universe do right?

Woe to the wicked for God is not indifferent to their deeds, it shall be ill with them, notwithstanding they may bless themselves in their own way. The face of the Lord looks out against them, their honour shall be turned into shame, their names disregarded or accursed so that they shall be no more thought of, nor uttered of, but with reprehension, scorn & reproach – a perpetual mark of opprobrium & infamy being upon their names. He will rain shame upon their achievements which they rejoice and jubilate in and for which they thought they should be remembered. The anger of God not only destroys the wicked, but also abolishes their name forever – it is certain that there is no lasting honour and when they are dead, they will face the judgment of God.

The wicked people may have fewer troubles, fewer evils befall them, perhaps but one, and yet that one may prove their utter ruin. Death, to them, is the king of terrors; to them it is evil, only evil. Tragic is the case of that man who by his sin has made his Maker his enemy, his destroyer. The wicked, whose common course is to do evil; are assured, that God sees them from heaven with a terrible countenance and that He is righteously and grievously angry with them. Desolation will be their everlasting portion. Those that are wicked themselves (usually hate the righteous, and have an implacable enmity to them and their righteousness) laid waste for ever, shall be for ever forsaken and abandoned of God. He observes them, to bring judgment upon them that do evil through the gathering gloom of death – absolute destruction shall be the lot of all the ungodly. Most certainly God is able to out-faced the most proud and daring sinners and those who fought against Him. Ruin is before them, for He is able both to kill and to cast into hell. Their end is the lake of eternal fire – hell.

For God to be against a man is dreadful; a fearful thing it is to fall into the hand of the Living God and to have the face of God against a man – is unendurable.

Jesus said in:

Matthew 25:46 …“And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 13:50 …and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 10:28… “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” and

Matthew 25:41 …“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

among other passages, about the reality of hell on judgement day.

 

 

WORDS AND PHRASES FROM THE BIBLE.

Origins of these expressions…

As you sow so shall you reap.

Your deeds, good or bad, will repay you in kind.

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7

The coat of many colors was a sign of favoritism.

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.” Genesis 37:3

A fly in the ointment –

A small but irritating flaw that spoils the whole

“Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment,
And cause it to give off a foul odor;
So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.”  Ecclesiastes 10:1

A nest of vipers.

A group of iniquitous people, congregating together.

Jesus said in Matthew 23:29-33

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’

“Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

Literal meaning (house meaning household).

“But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” Matthew 12:25

A labour of love.

Work undertaken for the pleasure of it or for the benefit of a loved one.

“remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father,” 1 Thessalonians 1:3

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Turn to peaceful pursuits and away from war.

“He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.” Isaiah 2:4

WORDS AND PHRASES FROM THE BIBLE.
Origins of these expressions…

THE HANDWRITING ON THE WALL – The phrase for something inevitable that we can all see is going to happen.

This originated from Daniel 5.4-6 “They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone. In the same hour the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace; and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king’s countenance changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his hips were loosened and his knees knocked against each other.”

The carnal King Belshazzar, having seen a hand appears and writes a mysterious message, called upon Daniel to interpret it. His kingdom was to disappear that night – and it did!

 

THE APPLE OF MY EYE – Someone, cherished above others.

“For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” Zechariah 2:8

“..which shows how near and dear the Lord’s people are to him. The pupil or apple of the eye is a little aperture or perforation in the middle of the tunic or coat of the eye, called the uvea and iris, about which the iris forms a ring; and through this little opening the rays of light pass to the crystalline humour, to be formed on the retina or net, at the bottom of the eye. It is a very weak and tender part, and easily hurt with the least thing; and fitly describes the feeble state of Christ’s people; and how soon and easily they may be disturbed, distressed, and hurt by their enemies: and as this is a principal part of the eye, and a part of a man’s self, dear and valuable to him; so are the Lord’s people parts, as it were, of himself; they are members of his body, closely united to him; ” – John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible. 

BITE THE DUST – To fall to the ground, wounded or dead

“..And His enemies will lick the dust.” Psalms 72:9 clearly the Bible forerunner to the dust-biting which we’ve been talking about ever since!

 

THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT – Now means doing something we know to be wrong, often of a sensual nature.

This is the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Adam and Eve were instructed not to eat in Genesis 2:17.

“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Genesis 2:16-17.

Both Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and the consequence of that decision – we still have to live with today.

 

*DO NOT THROW PEARLS BEFORE SWINE – Implying that one should not put what is valuable in front of those who will reject the notion that it has value and furthermore that they will seek to diminish or destroy what one offers.

Matthew 7:6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” A warning from Jesus in not to waste the message of salvation on those openly hostile to the Gospel.

 

FIRE AND BRIMSTONE – When talking about judgement or when searching for a vivid phrase meaning punishment.

Was what God used to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, as recorded in Genesis 19:24.

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” Revelation 20:10

“But the cowardly, unbelieving,[a] abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8

 

LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL – Makes the point that lusting after money gets us into trouble

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:10

 

A THORN IN THE SIDE – To describe an ongoing problem

Paul used this in 2 Corinthians 12:7 to describe an ailment he had. God didn’t take it away, in order to keep him humble.

“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.” 2 Corinthians 12:7

 

LIKE A LAMB TO THE SLAUGHTER – Now usually describes an innocent or naive victim losing something in their life.

First used Isaiah 53:7 to describe the promised Messiah’s (Jesus’) willingness to accept His fate.

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He opened not His mouth;

He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

So He opened not His mouth.” Isaiah 53:7

Q. Who is the shrewdest businessman in the Bible?
A. Noah, because he floated his stock while everyone else went into liquidation. 

Q. What US state is mentioned in the bible?
A. Arkansaw. “Noah looked out of the ark and saw…”

Q. Where can you find the first soft drink commercial in the Bible? 
A. In the Book of Hab-a-kkuk….. “Have-a-Coke”

Q. During what season did Eve eat the forbidden fruit?
A. Early in the fall.

Q. What is it that Adam never saw or had, yet left 2 of them for his children? 
A. Parents.

 

When we read about the evils of drinking & we gave up reading; is like knowing that God hates sin & we gave up God. :^) ~ Cheong Kok Weng

The first Easter proved the truth of what Jesus said to  Martha before His death on the Cross… Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26

Ask the right questions to reveal the facts and truths. Inquiries & arguments are meant to reveal the truths and not to create it. The reception of truths requires liberty of thoughts and freedom of the mind and not subject perceived evidence to a preconceived set of interpretations. Sincere inquiries are friends of truths – as the great point of thoughtful queries and probes are to bring out the real facts.