Jubilee Land Laws

The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me. (Leviticus 25:23 NASB)

Rural land in Israel in the time of Moses cannot be sold permanently. They have a fifty year lease hold.

When a person sells a home in a walled city, it may be bought back until a year after its sale. The period for buying it back will be one year. If it is not bought back before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city will belong to the buyer permanently and their descendants forever. It will not be released at the Jubilee. But houses in settlements that are unwalled will be considered as if they were country fields. They can be bought back, and they must be released at the Jubilee.
Levites will always have the right to buy back homes in the levitical cities that are part of their family property. Levite property that can be bought back—houses sold in a city that is their family property—must be released at the Jubilee, because homes in levitical cities are the Levites' family property among the Israelites. But the pastureland around their cities cannot be sold, because that is their permanent family property. (Leviticus 25:29-34 CEB)

For land in walled cities, it is treated differently.

Men, A Breath, A Vapour

Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath. (Psalm 62:9 ESV)

Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils; For why should he be esteemed? (Isaiah 2:22 NASB)

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. (James 4:14 NASB)

Psalm 90 (KJV)

1. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
2. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
3. Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
4. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
5. Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
6. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.
7. For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.
9. For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
13. Return, O Lord, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.
14. O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15. Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.
16. Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.
17. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

Jesus Is Judge

"Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:30-31 NASB)

Resurrection proved that Jesus is Judge.

I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14 NASB)

Believing Eternal Life Needs Faith

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9 KJV)
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8-9 ESV)

I will have eternal life. This is what Jesus promised. But how would eternal life be like? I really have very little idea. I need faith to believe that this eternal life will be better than the temporal life I am living.

I know what is time. I am living in it. What is eternity? I have no idea.

I know what is satisfaction. I also know that temporal satisfaction do not last. I have the experience. What does it mean to be truly satisfied in eternity?

This is a fallen world, yet it has great beauty. The wonders on our planet, the wonderful creation of God where we can see and admire, is in a fallen world. How wonderful would the wonders of the perfect new earth be?

My Baby Wants Independence

I have got a problem. My baby wants to be independent. Does not my baby knows that it is better to be dependant on God than to be dependant on self? It is written:
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV)

Do people boast of knowing simple things like ABC? Most people strive for difficult things, like PHD. Independence is easy. Depending on God is difficult. Few succeed in fully trusting God. Most people trust God as a last resort, which is stupid because God curse those depend on self.
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:5 KJV)

God consider them as fools.
The one who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe. (Proverbs 28:26 HCSB)

Conclusion:
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. (Psalm 118:8 KJV)

Muslim Objections to the Biblical Doctrine of Propitiation

Muslims object to the great and central Biblical doctrine of propitiation because they feel that it is unjust. This article "Three Big Problems With The Atonement" found in The Muslim Debate Initiative Blog gave three objections:

1. It is unjust;
2. It invalidates the true concept of forgiveness;
3. It causes problems for the doctrine of Trinity.

Below are some extracts from the article:

QUOTE
Argument no. 1: It is Unjust, Hence Compromising God’s Holy Attribute of Justice
...
Those worthy and deserving of punishment must be treated accordingly and those not worthy and deserving of punishment must be treated accordingly. You cannot have the penal consequences of sins if you are not guilty of those sins. Also, if Jesus wasn't TRULY guilty of the sins he was "punished" for, then that means that the guilt of the sinners weren't TRULY transferred to him and hence we still have guilty people not being judged the way justice demands that they should. And if Jesus is TRULY guilty of the sins that he was "punished" for, then you have a sinful savior and God resulting in the destruction of his holiness.

One may say "Bassam, don't confuse laws that are binding upon us human beings with laws that are binding upon God, for there are no laws binding upon God" I have two responses to that. First, the idea of holding a specific person accountable and guilty for his sins and not transferring the guilt to someone innocent is in and of itself a Biblical motif. Ezekiel 18:19-20 states:

19 "Yet you say, 'Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?' When the son has done what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live. 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

Secondly, it is true that God is not judged by laws but that doesn't mean that He isn't necessarily good by nature. If he wasn't then God would be able to turn all good into evil and if He could go that far then why not simply forgive all sin and hold no one accountable? Punishing the guilty and sparing the innocent is more than just a law, it's a moral principle.

It is also fruitless to explain the problem away by saying that some good has come out of Jesus' alleged sacrificial death, for just because something good might come about from an unjust act that does not make the act itself just.

1 Timothy 2:5 states: "There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus".

The task of a mediator is usually to bring two sides together and take charge of the interests of both the offended and the offender. He doesn't take upon himself the guilt of the offender nor the wrath and fury of the offended, for he is to be the one seeking to reconcile between both parties as a third party member. But apparently that isn't the case in light of the atonement.

Argument no. 2: The Atonement Invalidates The True Concept of Forgiveness
...
If someone owes you a thousand dollars and you wanted to "forgive this debt" that would mean that you would have to forgo the thousand dollars and absorb your losses. If Kevin owes you a thousand dollars and then you tell Kevin you don't have to pay it anymore and that John could pay it instead, that doesn't mean that you have truly forgiven Kevin's debt. Kevin's debt is still there even though it's not Kevin paying it anymore. The only way for you to TRULY forgive Kevin's debt is for you to absorb your losses. Similarly, the only way for God to TRULY forgive us our debt is to let go of the debt all together. Now we don't say that God "absorbs His losses" because God is independent of all creatures and has no "losses", but the logic is the same in that God would have to forgo the debt all together in order to TRULY forgive us our debts. However, in Christianity we don't see that because Jesus takes the debt and pays it.
...

Argument no. 3: Jesus’ Vicarious Death Causes Problems For The Trinity (which is supposedly a description of God’s Holy Nature)
...
Now most mainstream Christians are of the view that all the three persons in the Godhead and not only the Father required propitiation (that is they required to be satisfied from the problem of sin) because if it was only the Father then the Son and Holy Spirit wouldn’t be as Holy as the Father, which would be problematic.

Now since all three persons required propitiation and since the wages of sin is spiritual death, how exactly did Jesus propitiate himself? He is supposed to be both the subject and object of propitiation. How does one satisfy his own wrath by punishing himself? Also, if Jesus is God and he must spiritually die and become separated from God, how does he become separated from himself? Despite having two separate natures he is still one person according to orthodox and mainstream Christianity. So how did he separate from himself? It appears that Christians say that he was separated from God the Father and that would count as a spiritual death. I’ll go with that idea for the sake of argument.

John Calvin and other reformed scholars such as Charles Hodge, John MacArthur, RC Sproul, John Piper and others insist that mere corporeal death wouldn’t have been sufficient, but that Jesus during his hours on the cross must have truly been separate from God the Father and that his soul endured such trauma.

But if Jesus were truly separate from God the Father for those few hours then doesn’t that mean that there was a temporary break and disconnect in the Trinity? Didn’t that intercommunion in the Godhead temporarily stop? Isn’t that a change in God, which Malachi 3:6 says cannot happen since God does not change?

Also, doesn’t Jesus dying and suffering for us mean that he is more worthy of honor and praise than the Father who only sent him? Does the commander who sends his soldier to die in a mission that saved the lives of millions deserve and get the same level of honor as the soldier sent to die? Surely not! The one who does the dirty work is at a much higher level in terms of praise and honour than the one who sent him to do the dirty work. Surely the Son feels a bit closer to us than the Father while the Father feels a bit more transcendent than the Son? So COULD (not should, but COULD) we honestly we love the Father AS MUCH as the son? Doesn’t the atonement raise problematic concerns for God’s supposedly Holy Triune nature?
...
UNQUOTE

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4 ESV)

And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 YLT)

In The Likeness Of Sinful Flesh

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 NASB)

My God came in the flesh to save me, born of a virgin and without sin.

For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4 NASB)

But the Bible tells me that He came in the likeness (ὁμοιώματι homoiōmati) of sinful flesh. That explains why He could become tired and needed rest. His flesh is not like that of Adam before the fall. Sinless, but in the likeness of sinful flesh.

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. (1 John 4:2-3 NASB)

And if any spirit were to appear to you in a vision, you will know if it is from God by asking it to confess that Christ came in the flesh. Every spirit that does not confess that Jesus came in the flesh is not from God.

The Deity Of Christ

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:35-41 ESV)

Today, Deacon Ong Sim Ho preached on the above passage at JSM KL. This a summary of what he preached as I see it:

The disciples had two fears. When the storm arose, they were terrified but they knew Jesus can overcome and they cried out to him. When the wind ceased, they were filled with great fear. They knew that Jesus is God.

Faith in God is not knowing what God can do, but knowing who God is.

How do we response to the storms of our lives?
We can pray for God to remove the storm, or for power to overcome the storm, or succumb to the storm. There are so many possibilities. But we should pray, "Lord, I will submit to your will. Give me grace to overcome."

It is important to know not only what Jesus can do, but who Jesus is.

God Is Able But Is He Willing?

God answers prayers accord to His purpose and for His own glory.

My son has developed cataract on his left eye. He is due to go for surgery to remove the cataract and replace his lens with a man-made lens. While I pray for a smooth operation, I also prayed that God would heal his cataract. God is able, but is He willing? Or is it deep, deep inside my heart there lurks some unbelief, that God is not able and I hide it by saying that God is unwilling? God always have our good in His mind and He helped my daughter to find the keys she lost. Still, there may be doubts.

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" And when the men had come to him, they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, 'Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?'" In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. And he answered them, "Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me." (Luke 7:18-23 ESV)

John the Baptist wondered if Jesus was the Messiah because he was in prison and Jesus did not cause him to be released. In this quote from the blog, I Know God is Able, But Is He Willing - Chronicles of a kid Next Door, we see how Jesus convince John by deeds and not words.

QUOTE
Christ did not condemn John the Baptist nor did he compliment him, neither did he assure him in word only, but He demonstrated His power. Through His love and infinite wisdom, Jesus made sure that John the Baptist faith was to be based on the power of God only (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). Christ actions were not haphazard show of power, but a fulfillment of prophecy. In his ministry, John the Baptist proclaimed Isaiah’s prophesy, Jesus demonstrated that prophesy before John’s disciples (Isaiah 61:1-3). Jesus Christ showed that in this gospel His righteousness is revealed from faith to faith.
UNQUOTE

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5 KJV)

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion - to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. (Isaiah 61:1-3 ESV)

I asked because God had promised to answer.

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. (Psalm 81:10 KJV)

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32 ESV)

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:7-11 KJV)

But like the early church, I really do not know if the prayer will be answered. I but will leap for joy if it is. Really, I find it so difficult to believe that God always have our good in His mind.

And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind." But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, "It is his angel!" But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. (Acts 12:13-16 ESV)

Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. (James 4:3 KJV)

Pray Upon God's Promises

And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.
And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not. (1 Kings 18:43-44 KJV)

God's word never fail. If our prayer is based on His promises, it will always be answered.

Reasonable Miracles

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16 KJV)

The miracles is the Bible are different from miracles in other fables. I always know that but somehow could not really put a finger to where the actual difference is. In this article "From Atheism to Christianity: a Personal Journey" by Philip Vander Elst, a former atheist, I found an interesting observation by C. S. Lewis on how the miracles of the Bible differs from those described in other books.

QUOTE
If, responding to this challenge, we look with an open mind at the accounts in the New Testament of the miracles of Jesus, Lewis argues, we are brought face to face with an interesting and significant fact. Instead of finding there the stuff of fairy tales – talking animals or frogs turning into princes – we are confronted with something much more rational and believable. What we see in most of Jesus’ miracles is what God does in the natural world, as its Creator, but localised and speeded up. Thus every year, for example, tiny seedlings of grain created by God grow into vast harvest fields of wheat and thousands of loaves of bread. The same process of multiplication took place in Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand, but localised and speeded up. Similarly, God is always turning water into wine by the action of sunlight and rain on the fruit of the vine, and by the involvement of human beings in all the stages of winemaking. At the wedding feast in Cana (recorded in John’s Gospel), Jesus, as God the Creator Incarnate, also turns water into wine, but here again the conversion process is localised and speeded up. Exactly the same parallels apply to Jesus’ miracles of healing. Human beings created by God are constantly recovering from illnesses and diseases through the medical stimulation of their bodies’ God-given immune systems. So when Jesus healed lepers with a touch of His hand or a word of command, we again see God the Healer at work, but localised and speeded up, as man to man in ancient Palestine. In other words, says Lewis, the purpose of Jesus’ miracles was not just to show God’s love for humanity but to reveal to the people around Him (and to us) the presence among them of their Creator and Saviour.
UNQUOTE

In Christ There Is Forgiveness Of Sin

If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. (Psalm 130:3-4 KJV)

When Dr Tim Berrey was in Cambodia preaching, people would ask him, "What would you give us if we join your church?" Apparently there are churches that would offer new converts a pig, or a bag of rice. But Dr Berrey did not have anything to offer except Christ. Now, there were some who believed and joined his church, despite not having such incentives. At prayer meetings, these new converts would always shared how they were persecuted after they believed Christ. Then Dr Berrey asked them, "If your life is so challenging after becoming a Christian, why don't you go back to your old religion?" And he would never forget the reply they gave, "But in Christ we find the forgiveness of sin."