The Fullness of Time

One of the questions that I used to have at the back of my mind was why did Jesus come to earth at the time that He did. I mean, as early as in the garden of Eden, God had already prophesied that one fine day, the woman's seed will crush the serpent's head. Of all the days in the history of mankind, couldn't God have chosen to send His Son during the time of Noah (when the world was corrupted except for Noah and his family)? Or during the time when the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt?  Or during the time when Israel were exiled to Assyria and Babylon?  In fact, there were even 400 "silent years" between the time of Malachi the prophet and the account of Elizabeth being pregnant with John the Baptist.

Well, thanks to a sister-in-Christ, who posted this link on Facebook, I got the answer to my question :-)

Star of Bethlehem 

This website contains a fascinating scientific account of when Jesus Christ was born (and also when He died).  The magi from the east, who had been observing the sky for years, must have seen something phenomenal enough to compel them to travel all the way to Bethlehem to worship Jesus and bring him gifts of frankincence, gold and myrrh.  I, for one, have learnt astronomical terms such as "conjunction" and "retrograde" :-)

You can also watch this on YouTube at the following link:




The contents of "The Star of Bethlehem" DVD can be seen at the following links:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwHP5vPKXTg
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKCh1bP80cc
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkU0GtjX-Ds
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFitxMhTPko
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZOY6E2U_4k
Part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3v5BQPUwQI
Part 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePm5aQvkdPI
Part 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ley_Cs9PrkY

Paul says in Gal 4:4-5 that Jesus was born "when the fullness of the time was come", viz

 ⁴But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
 ⁵To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

What exactly does "the fullness of time" mean?  Why could it not be a decade earlier or decade later?  Or even a year earlier or a year later?  This is because God is a God of order.  Even from the beginning of time, God had already known that Adam would partake of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, that the Israelites would not be able to keep all His commands under the Old Covenant, and that His Son would have to come to earth to be born as a man and to die on behalf of mankind, , and through His blood establish the New Covenant of grace.
 
And God, being the one who created the heavens and the earth, would choose the perfect time for that to happen.  God, being the scriptwriter, producer and director, as it were, of this monumental event in the history of mankind, would have the prerogative to orchestrate the perfect time for this.  A time like no other.  A time when the stars in the universe would bear witness to.  Hallelujah!

Twelve Days of Christmas

This post was first published on ROOTSS on Wednesday, 26th December 2007

Here in Singapore, there is only one Christmas public holiday - 25 December itself.

In England, 26 December is also a holiday -- Boxing Day.

Yet there was a time when Christmastide lasts 12 days.

I did a Wikipedia search about the "Twelve Days of Christmas", and this is what was returned...

The Twelve Days of Christmas and the associated evenings of those twelve days (Twelve-tide), are the festive days beginning the evening of Christmas Day (December 25) through the morning of Epiphany (January 6). The associated evenings of the twelve days begin on the evening before the specified day. Thus, the first night of Christmas is December 25–26, and Twelfth Night is January 5–6. This period is also known as Christmastide.

There is a song entitled "The Twelve Days of Christmas" where the singer sings about gifts that his "true love" gave to him on each of the twelve days. On the surface, it may seem like a fun and meaningless song. But do you know there are hidden meanings behind the lyrics?

There was a period in the history of the church where Christians could not openly profess their faith because of persecution.

This song was composed during that period, and the gifts and their hidden meanings are shown on the right.

Anyway, check out this version by Christian rock band Relient K that I found on YouTube:

The Source of Good Works

This post was first published on ROOTSS on Saturday, 23rd May 2009

Most religions, if not all, teach us to do good to our fellow men.

As Methodists, there is a very strong emphasis on "good works". Hence, there are outreach programs, funds set up for the poor and needy, evangelistic events during Easter and Christmas, and so on.
But how do we distinguish between what is "good works" which is pleasing to God, and what is "dead works" which is nothing more than filthy rags in His sight?

I like the illustration that Ps Prince gave in a sermon he preached two weeks ago entitled "Put the "Amazing" Back into Grace" in which he spoke about the River Nile.

Most people would associate the river Nile with Egypt. This is because it spans the entire nation from the south to the north and provides its people with the irrigation required for its crops. In fact, the ancient Egyptians went to the extent of worshipping the Nile and that is why God turned it into blood, to show Pharaoh that He was the true God.

However, if one were to trace the Nile southwards towards its true source, one would be surprised that it goes all the way past Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda to the mountains in Burundi, which is in Central Africa! This is not obvious to most people. What is obvious is where it ends, ie. in the Mediterranean Sea just above where Egypt is.

And so likewise it is with good works, which is what is visible to others. The source of good works is not immediately obvious to most people too, even fellow Christians.

Paul tells us in Eph 2:10 that we are God's masterpieces, created in Christ Jesus to do "good works".

But let us trace that back to the earlier two verses to see what the source of good works is...

8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Verse 8 tells us that God's grace is the source of our good works!

Yes, dear brothers and sisters, without His grace being the source and motivation for us, anything and everything we do, however noble, will all be in vain. That is what is so amazing about grace. Amen?

Speaking of which, many Christians like to quote James 2:20 that "faith without works is dead".  I wonder how many of them are aware of what James cited as examples of "good works" in the 5 verses that follow that, ie verses 21 through 25

²¹ Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. ²³ And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
 ²⁵ In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?

Prima facie, murdering one's own son or betraying one's own country would hardly be considered "good works".  It would have been safer for James to quote the example of say, Barnabas selling his field and giving the money to church (as recorded in Acts 4:36-37).  Unless...

... those works themselves came about because of the great faith and belief that Abraham and Rahab had in God. The former because God Himself had spoken to him time and again about how he would be the heir of the world through his seed.  The latter had heard stories of how God had delivered His people from the Egyptians by parting the Red Sea, taken care of them whilst in the desert and were now just outside the land promised to them.

When was Jesus Born?

This post was first published on ROOTSS on Thursday, 28th February 2008 under the title Skenoo

Thanks be to God, I have recently developed a deep hunger and insatiable thirst for His Word.

Some time back, I blogged about the 7 feasts as appointed times ordained by the LORD and how they all point to Jesus.

Jesus died on Passover, which is significant, because He became the Passover Lamb that took away our sin. The zodiac during that period of time is that of the constellation of Aries, the Lamb.

Jesus was however not born on 25 December. The reason why 25 December became adopted as His birthday was because there was a pagan festival that took place during the wintry months of December/January called Yuletide. When Christianity started to spread throughout Europe, it was out of convenience that the Roman Catholic Church simply replaced that celebration with the celebrating of Christ's birth.

So when exactly was Jesus born? There is good reason to believe that He was born in September.

Firstly, as mentioned earlier, the zodiac sign during the time that He died was Aries. By the same token, He was born of the virgin Mary, ie. when the zodiac sign was that of the constellation of Virgo, ie. sometime in August/September.

Secondly, Jesus died during the Passover, and became the Passover Lamb that died in our place. Using a similar line of reasoning, He must have been born during the Feast of Tabernacles, which takes place in September/October.

We read in John 1:14 that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us". The Greek word used there is σκηνόω "skenoo" (G4637) which is translated as to abide or to tabernacle with. Similarly, the Hebrew word for Tabernacle סכה "sukkot" (H5521) is also derived from a word that means to dwell among.

While doing research on the Internet, I came across this article that shows very clearly that Jesus was indeed born in September rather than in December. To be precise, He was born on the 1st day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast lasted for 8 days (Lev 23:33-36). It is therefore of no coincidence that Joseph and Mary brought Him to the temple to be consecrated (via circumcision as recorded in Luke 2:21) on the final day of the feast.

But what really fascinates me is how the author uses the Aaronic priestly roster (as recorded in 1 Chron 24) to show when the priest Zacharias and Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist. From there, he derives when Mary conceived Jesus, and ultimately arrive at the day when Jesus was born.

By the way, there are theories being circulated that Jesus was born on Sep 11, 3BC -- that is why Satan chose that day to attack the Twin Towers -- so that people will remember that day for the wrong reason...

http://www.bytheword.com/birth

Jesus our Father?

This post was first published on ROOTSS on Monday, 8th December 2008

When I was much much younger, I was under the impression that since God was one God, the names Jehovah, Jesus, El Shaddai, Holy Spirit, etc all referred to Him.

Sometime in the mid-eighties, I remember my then Senior Pastor, Rev Dr Kang Ho Soon preaching about the Trinity, and that kind of confused me at first because God is one, yet God is also three persons. Gradually, I began to understand the mystery about the Triune God, ie God the Father, Jesus the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

They are distinct Persons with distinct ministries. God the Father is the One who is mentioned throughout the Old Testament, and the One whom we now address as Daddy God because of what the cross has accomplished. God the Son is the One who made that all possible by becoming a man to redeem mankind. God the Holy Spirit is the One who now dwells inside of us and guides us into all truth in our everyday life.

Just when I thought I had it all figured out, I came across the following song in 1988 when I was in the church choir and had to sing it during Christmas...

For unto us a child is born
Unto us a Son is given
And the government will be upon His shoulders
And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God
the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace is He.


This song is based on Isa 9:6 and it was a prophesy about the Incarnation. Knowing that it referred to Jesus, the 2nd Person of the Godhead, now another thing began to confuse me as it seemed to be inconsistent with the Trinity.

I mean, why was Jesus being referred to as the Everlasting Father? I thought He was supposed to be the Son? I struggled with this for some time but decided to dismiss it off as "one of those things in the Bible that doesn't make sense, but just accept it by faith, lor".

Well, the long-awaited answer to the above question arrived yesterday, some 20 years later :-D

Ps Reuben preached on that very verse in Isaiah!!! (which is part of a current sermon series leading up to Christmas about the prophecies regarding the Messiah).
Ps Reuben explained that Jesus was called "Father" not in the context of His relationship with the other 2 in the Godhead. Rather, he is "father" in the sense that He (as the second and last Adam), is considered the ancestor to all of us in the New Covenant, just like how the first Adam is the father of all humankind! What a revelation!

But what brought tears to my eyes and a stirring within my spirit man was when Ps Reuben said that because Jesus is the "Everlasting" Father, what this implies to us in the New Covenant is that He cannot be "un-fathered" nor can we be "un-childed". I know it is bad English, but it drives home the point about the blessed assurance that we have about our salvation and position in Christ. Hallelujah!

Speaking of which, you can listen to that sermon entitled "And His Name shall be called..." at the following link:

http://www.box.net/shared/f8tkax65so

His other anointed sermons can be downloaded at the following link:

Anointed Sermons

True Repentence

This post was first published on ROOTSS on Saturday, 2nd June 2007

Mt Sinai teachings are those that make a person come under the Law, whereas Mt Zion teachings are those that reinforces the gospel of grace.

Today, I will blog about another pet Mt Sinai teaching -- that of repentence.

Under the Law (ie. Mt Sinai's teachings), repentence would refer to the action of a person beating his breast, or putting on sackcloth. Even to this very day, there are Orthodox Jews who stand next to the ruins of the walls of the temple in Jerusalem and wail (that's why it is called the Wailing Wall).

How about under Grace (ie. Mt Zion's teachings)?

The Greek word for repentence is metanoeo (Strong's G3340) which is derived from the words meta (Strong's G3326) which means "to change" and noeo (Strong's G3539) which means "the mind".

Let's say that we used to have this notion that our sicknesses or illnesses is from God in order to "keep us humble" or "to punish us because of our sin".

Then we discover that it is actually the devil who "kills, steals and destroys" our health (Jn 10:10a) and all punishment for our sin has already been meted on the body of our Lord, and by His stripes, we have been healed.

As a result of this revelation, our mental picture of God changes from one that is "out to get us" to one that is "for us and not against us".

This process of renewing of our mind to be in line with God's Word is effectively changing our mind or metanoeo. In other words, repentence!

As we progress along on our spiritual journey and learn more and more about our God, our opinion of Him changes for the better. We are undergoing repentence whenever that happens.

So am I an advocate of repentence? Most definitely! There are still parts of the old man that needs to replaced with the new man, and there are new truths about Him that remain to be undercovered each day.

The Secret to Getting the Double Anointing

This post was first published on ROOTSS on Friday, 2nd January 2009

How many of you are familiar with the passage of scripture about how Elisha asked Elijah for a double anointing?  It is a nice story in the history of Israel about how Elijah brought Elisha to various cities such as Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho and Jordan. Yet, if Jesus is not being unveiled, the mystery of the double anointing will remain just that -- a mystery.

Thanks be to God that the secret was revealed in a sermon He led me to hear when I was in one of the overflow rooms in Suntec Tower Four a month ago (Terence, the sermon title eludes me now, do you remember which one it was?).

Let's look at 2 Kgs 2:9-12

9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?"
"Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit," Elisha replied.
10 "You have asked a difficult thing," Elijah said, "yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise not."
11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
12 Elisha saw this and cried out, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!" And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.


We see in verse 9 that Elisha asked Elisha for a double portion of his spirit. The double portion anointing had to do with his spirit


Drop down to verse 12 and note that Elisha cried out to Elijah "My father! My father!" (which in the original Hebrew is the word Abba!, Abba!)

Now we know for a fact that Elisha was not Elijah's biological or legal son. So why did Elisha refer to Elijah as his father?  Therein lies the secret of the double anointing! God was giving us New Covenant believers a glimpse of what was to come as a result of Jesus' finished work.

Scripture has to interpret Scripture, and we find in the New Testament a reference to both the words "Abba" and "spirit" in the epistles of Paul to the church in Rome and to the churches in Galatia, viz

Rom 8:15
For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

Gal 4:6
Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."

Because of what Christ has done on the cross, God now considers us His sons and daughters. Every single one of us has the spirit of sonship (which only Elisha had the privilege of having under the Old Covenant).

In fact, if we understand our position in Christ, we will be able to achieve even much more than what Elisha accomplished during his lifetime, because His was only the shadow, being on that side of the cross. We have the substance, being on this side of the cross. Hallelujah!

Hidden Message in Genesis 5

This post was first published on ROOTSS on Monday, 7th May 2007 under the title The First Murder

Today, I resume the series of meditations of "Jesus Christ in the Old Testament".

Earlier this year I went to watch my daughter play in the zonal table tennis tournament. One of the most commonly-adopted strategies that a coach would embark upon is to field his/her best player as the 2nd singles rather than the 1st singles. The other coach sometimes may get wind of this, so he would likewise play his/her best player as 2nd singles as well. This would nullify the effect of the other coach, because the best player from each team would still end up playing against each other (albeit as 2nd singles).

Now apply this same scenario to the greatest battle of all time -- between the Lord God and the evil one.

When Adam and Eve sinned by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God already had in mind His redemption plan for mankind, and thus told the devil in Gen 3:15 that an offspring of Eve will be raised to "crush his head".

The devil went to work straightaway to try to prevent this from happening.

We read in the very next chapter that Adam and Eve had 2 sons - Cain and Abel. The devil (knowing that an offspring of Eve would cause his downfall, but not knowing exactly which one it would be), tried to prevent this by inspiring Cain to murder his brother Abel.


Thankfully, the devil is not omniscient (all-knowing), and God outsmarted him because the lineage came through Adam and Eve's thirdborn - Seth.

This is recorded in Luke 3:36-37, as well as in Gen 5, which traces the genealogy from Adam to Noah.

I leave you with this -- the truth about Jesus that is embedded in Gen 5.

Who Did Cain or Seth Marry?

This post was first published on ROOTSS Wednesday, 20th February 2008 under the title The Line Continues

In Gen 4, we read the famous story about the very first murder -- where Cain killed his brother Abel.

If this act is seen in the light of the first prophesy where the devil was told that Eve's seed would crush his head, then we can see why the devil inspired Cain to do so -- he had thought Abel was the promised one, since God accepted his sacrifice, but rejected Cain's. This view is supported in the New Testament, where John, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recorded in 1 Jn 3:12 " Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother..."

Thankfully, God was always at least one step ahead of the devil, because Adam and Eve produced another son, Seth (Gen 4:25), and it was through this son that the line continued.

Which brings me to a related subject that some may have questions about but have been afraid to ask (I know I did) -- and that is, who did Cain and Seth marry?

If the entire human race originated from Adam and Eve, then the only logical answer is that Cain and Seth married their own sister or niece.

We read in Gen 5:4, "After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters", and Adam's sons and daughters would have had to marry one another in order to have children.

Before one gets nauseated, do remember that God had commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Back then, it was perfectly acceptable for a person to marry his own sister or cousin, because the effect of the fall would take time to manifest in terms of genetic abnormalities.

Hence, we find that Abraham married his half-sister Sarah, while Jacob married his cousins Leah and Rachel.

For that matter, after the flood, Noah's grandsons had to marry his granddaughters since everyone else besides his family had perished.

It was only 2,500 years later during the time of Moses that God said specifically that one could not have sexual relations with his sister (Lev 18:9). By then, the effect of the fall would have been of significance, and marrying a close relative would increase the chances of duplicating a particular gene mutation (which is the medical grounds upon which secular societies forbid incestuous relationships).

Oh by the way, the earth as we know it is about 6,000 years old, and not millions of years as some scientists would like us to believe. Creation took place in 4004 B.C. and the flood took place in 2348 B.C. These and other events in the Old Testament are shown in this Old Testament timeline.

Mt Sinai Resources

This post was first published on ROOTSS on Sunday, 29th June 2008


Just the other day, I happened to come across a bookshop located near my office called Mt Zion Book and Gifts Centre.


With apologies to them, I was wondering whether those who embrace legalism should set up a bookshop and call it Mt Sinai Bookstore.

Such a store can then carry bestselling titles like the ones you see on the right :-)

1. Get Right or Get Left
You better get your life right with God or else He will leave you behind when the rapture happens.

2. Beware - Your Sins will Find You Out
Be not deceived; God is not mocked. Whatever sin one sows, he will surely reap destruction, even to the third and fourth generations.

3. Unfinished Business
The work of the cross is not quite finished because you still have to work out your salvation with fear and trembling...

4. The Wrath of a Righteous God
There are just too many Christians who do not take God seriously. Yes, God is love but don't forget that He is also a holy, righteous and jealous God. Take Him lightly and be prepared to be consumed by His wrath, like what happened to the Israelites.

5. Salvation is NOT guaranteed
Jesus said that not everyone who called Him Lord would enter the kingdom of heaven. That goes to show that you cannot be too presumptuous and can lose your salvation if you are not careful.

6. Greater Expectations
Those who say that the Law no longer applies must have conveniently ignored what Jesus said about our righteousness having to exceed that of the pharisees and the scribes.

Who wants to sign up as a member? The first 6 to do so will get a 6% discount on these 6 books...

A PDF version on the review can be downloaded at the following link:

http://www.box.net/shared/fp422l1xt5