Another Doomsday Passed

And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. ... And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:4,14 KJV)

Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way. For that day will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in God’s sanctuary, publicizing that he himself is God. (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 HCSB)

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. (Revelation 20:1-3 ESV)

Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4-6 ESV)

And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:7-10 ESV)

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1 KJV)

The Worst Is Yet To Be

On Friday 14th December 201, 22 children were slashed by knife-wielding man at Chenpeng Village Primary School in Henan province, 20 children and 6 adults were shot dead by a gunman who opened fire at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

Then came the question: "Where is God when all these things happened?" Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee answered, "We have systematically removed God from our schools." Of course God was not found in China. Mao Zedong removed Him.

When we look at a cup with with water at 50% of its capacity, we called it half-full or half-empty, depending on our optimism (or pessimism). We can say that the gun violence in America is bad because God does not exist, or gun violence could be worse, but God's restraint prevent it from being worse.

Despite its liberal gun laws, America's crime scene is no way like Mexico's, there is few religious inspired violence, unlike Pakistan and Iraq and there is no armed separatist movement. America is stilled governed by the rule of law. A lot of countries in the world would be rendered ungovernable if their gun laws were like America's. Where is God when all these things happened? We see God's preserving hand in America, preventing things from being worse.

But one day He will remove His restraint.

For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but the one now restraining will do so until he is out of the way, and then the lawless one will be revealed. (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 HCSB)

For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. (Matthew 24:21 NASB)

The worst is yet to be.

The End Is Nigh

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14 KJV)

Has the gospel of the kingdom been preached to all nations? Yes. In this age of internet, the gospel has indeed been preached to all nations. Then shall the end come. But what is this "end" that is coming? Is it like what people who believed in the so-called Mayan prophecy, that the world will end tomorrow, on 21st December 2012? No. This "end" refers to the end of the world as we knew it, and the beginning of a new era, ushered in by the second coming of Christ. Christ will rule the world for a thousand years, and the whole creation will be destroyed.

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20 :4 KJV)

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1 KJV)

I write this now, before 21st December 2012, so that you know that I never believed in the Mayan prophecy. I expect to read this blog after 21st December 2012.

The end will come, one thousand years after the end.

Free, But Not Everyone Is Rushing For It

Everyone loves gifts, especially if we are the recipient. But there is a gift, waiting to be given, and yet not many would like to accept. This is the gift of eternal life from God.

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23 KJV)

Why is it that such a wonderful gift is not accepted? There are two reasons.

The Conditions of the Gift
When a gift is accepted, an acceptance of the conditions of the gift is implied. Anyone who accepts the gift of eternal life from God have to accept the following as true:

• You die, not because it is natural, but because you are a sinner.
• God exists. Jesus Christ is God.
• The Bible is true.
• Jesus is the only way: Jesus told him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6 HCSB)

The Gift is not Immediate

Everyone who become a Christian still dies. If it were not so, all the apostles and other Christians will still be alive, walking the earth. Even Jesus went back to Heaven after forty days. He did not stick around.

The eternal life is a future event of resurrection after death. In this respect, every religion is the same. All ends with death, and whatever is promised will be realized only after death. The only difference is, in Christianity, eternal life is a gift to be accepted by faith. For other religions, whatever is promised has to be believed by faith but earned by works.

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift - not from works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 HCSB)

And it pleases God to design the salvation of men in this manner to His own glory, so that no man can claim credit for his own salvation.

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6 HCSB)

 

Absolute Faith In God Is Difficult

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 ESV)

God is absolute and He demands absolute faith in Him. Herein lies our difficulty. We find it impossible to have absolute faith in anything. I can think of there are three possible reasons for this:

Our Daily Experience
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)
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for languages, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. (1 Corinthians 13:8 HCSB)

We never have absolute faith in anything because all things around us are imperfect. They will fail. My car has a GPS, which will give me information one step at a time. I find this very frustrating, because I would like to know in advance the route it is going to take and decide if it is the best route. This GPS usually gives the shortest route. Sometimes, the shortest route goes through the city and because of jam and traffic lights, it is better to go by the expressway. So I cannot place all my faith in the GPS. This is just one of the many examples why we never have absolute faith in anything.

Our Flesh, The Old Man
So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. (Romans 7:21-23 NIV)

We have differently fleshly desires from the spiritual God. Our body has its own desire which it expect us to fulfil. We also have different goals and ambitions from God. This put us into conflict with God's will and if our desire is strong, we cannot discern God's will.

Satan
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: (1 Peter 5:8 KJV)
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (Ephesians 6:16 KJV)

Satan is ever present, putting temptations and evil thoughts into our mind. Satan will always help our flesh to gain its way.

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48 NIV, HCSB)

The Three Hints In Pentateuch

The concept of salvation by substitutionary death (redemption) is not something new invented by Christianity. It was the plan of God from the beginning, even in the Pentateuch, right in the first two books of the Bible - Genesis and Exodus.

The Seed of a Woman
Salvation will come from the seed of a woman. The first prophecy in the Bible is spoken to the serpent. God promised the serpent that the Seed of the woman will bruise his head (Genesis 3:15). Jesus was born of a virgin and fulfilled the obligations of the law and became our substitute to redeem us (Galatians 4:4-5).

The Lord Will Provide
God redeemed Isaac also by a ram caught in a thicket by his horns (Genesis 22:13). Likewise, the Lord will provide for our salvation. We ought to be killed, like Isaac, but a lamb provided by God (John 1:29) became our substitute.

The Passover Lamb
During the Exodus from Egypt, God spare the lives of the first-born when He saw the blood on the doorpost (Exodus 12:13). In the same manner, God will spare our lives when He saw the blood of His Son on us (Hebrews 9:22,1 Peter 1:18-19).

God's Address

Kids like to send letters to Santa Claus. These letters are usually addressed to North Pole. But Santa Claus is a fictitious character who will not reply. If we need to write any letter, we should address it to the true and living God. So where does God stay?

For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite. (Isaiah 57:15 NASB)

God dwells with the humble.