Monthly Archives: July 2019

JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD! Part-1

Our blessed Lord is pictured as the Word, the Word of Life and the Word of God. These three fold titles are recorded by John in his gospel, in his epistle and in Revelation. It unfolds the pre existence, the incorruptible humanity  and  finally we see Him as the Sovereign. It is interesting to look at these precious truths grammatically. The One Who was in the gospel and the One Who is in the epistle and the One Who will be the coming One in Revelation. In imperfect tense we see Him as the One Who was always in existence, in present participle we have Him as the One who always is in present time and in participle, the One who always is the coming One. So, we read of Him in Rev: “Which is, Which was and Which is to come, the Almighty. We read again in Micah “ Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And again Psalmist says, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. So, these three fold tense presents His existence from Eternity to Eternity. When John was in the isle of Patmos on the Lord’s day, the moment he became in Spirit, he could behold the unveiling glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and he could hear Him saying that I am the first and the last….” I AM”! An expression, which is peculiar to the gospel of John. For example, He said to Jews..” Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM. It takes us back to the book of Exodus, where we find Moses asking Jehovah, What shall I say the name of God to Pharaoh. He said once that I AM and again He said that “I AM that I AM”! The definition goes like this..” I continue to be and will be what I continue to be and will be, I that ever will be. The ever existing One. He that is to come. This great title “ I AM’’ exhibits the Eternal Deity. It shines out undiminished and undivided from eternity to eternity.  Before Abraham… here we have His pre existence….. Was IAM.. here we have His deity. The word was made flesh…GOD in flesh…manifested in flesh, here we have His humanity. It took 24 chapters for Luke to describe His incorruptible humanity, but for John, it took only five words. The One whose garment is space, whose house is universe, whose chariots are the clouds and whose diadems are the stars, was found wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. He who holds the whole universe together by the almighty power of His word is held in the arms of a frail woman. He who was rich now became poor. Adam had been made in the likeness of God; now God was made in the likeness of men. Being in the form of God….He took upon Him the form of a servant. Simon held the Babe in his arms, he blessed God and gratefully acknowledged that he was looking into the face of the One who was the salvation of the Lord for all mankind. After the resurrection at the manifestation Thomas said.. My Lord and my God. The everlasting word, the Father’s only Son, God manifestly seen and head and the heaven’s well beloved One, the brightness of glory, the exact expression of His person, of the full deity possessed is eternally divine, the brightness of the uncreated light, throughout the universe of bliss and the eternal theme of praise, none other but Jesus Christ our Lord, the object and the subject of our worship. So, we read “He is thy Lord worship thou Him. The indispensable and unchangeable doxology is…unto Him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us  faultless before the presence of His excellent glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Have a blessed weekend.

When we gather together on the Lord’s day we must occupy with our blessed Lord and remember Him in the appointed way. Psalmist says that…My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.  For who in heaven can be compared unto the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD? Whom have I in heaven, but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. One pearl of great price. The prince of the kings of the earth. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. The head over all things.  He is the head of the body, the church. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers. He could not be hid. His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. More to be desired are they than gold, yea,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. Thy words were found and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: For I am called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts…. fed them with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee. His lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. Never man spake like this man. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. LORD, lift thou up the light thy countenance upon us. His countenance is like unto the sun shineth in His strength. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last: I am He that liveth and became dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. Saviour who was slain is risen and exalted far above all, majestic sweetness sits enthroned. His head with radiant glorious crowned. No mortal can compare among the sons of men. Fairer is He than all the fair that fills the heavenly train. Gathered together in obedience to His voice, meek humility, this would I do, O Christ my Lord I would remember Thee, losing sight of all but Thee, O what joy Thy presence gives us, calling up our hearts to Thee. We gaze on Thee in glory, while our hearts in worship bow and we bring to thee as an assembly, words from our mouth and may the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.

Have a Christo-centric worship with every blessing from above.

Family is a gift of God

Part -5.

Our text: Deut.5:29.O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!

13. Obedience. “Keep my commandments always”. Obedience in personal life is evident in family life and in our assembly life as well. The key word of the book of Deuteronomy is keep, obey or observe. We have two fold blessings. They are positional and conditional. Nothing is expected from our side for the positional blessing since it is the outcome of the glorious work finished at the cross in and thro’ His well beloved Son, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, conditional. It demands our obedience. When we look at Deut.28, we find the blessings for obedience and curse for disobedience. It is further illustrated with two mountains,” Gerizim  is known as the mountain of blessing and Ebal is the mountain of curse. Deut:11:26,29, 27:12,13. And again it is pictured in Psalm 1- of blessed man. We see in the first part 1 – 3 the blessing of prospering and the second from verse 4 to 6 the curse of perishing. We read in 1 Pet. 1: 14 “The children of obedience”… Is how we are known in the sight of God? There must be the application of God’s word daily in our lives. When the Lord Jesus commissioned the disciples, he said… teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you”. The apostle did it in Acts and the immediate response of early Christian was that they continued steadfastly… When we are taught in scripture, God expects our response of obedience. Hymn writer says, Trust and obey…… Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet, or we will walk by His side in the way; What He says we will do, where He sends we will go, never fear, only trust and obey. Mary sat at His feet and listened His words and the Lord commended that essential “one thing” which has eternal blessing. She said once “be it unto me according to thy word.” We read about the young man of Psalm, Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed there unto  according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live, and keep thy word. The godly couple of Luke Ch.1 unlike us who always talk, walked in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord. Their married life had its foundation in the word of God and they both were righteous before God and blameless before the world. None could point their finger at them and they both experienced the blessing of the Lord. They were a God fearing couple, who lived in reverential awe of Him and walked in godly fear, in OBEDIENCE to the voice of God. We find in these days no place for God’s word among the people of God with compromises. The result is the breakdown of separation like unto the Church at Pergamos and the mixture of everything, while in contrast we are exhorted to hold fast the word of truth. We see in 1 Samuel 15 what Saul said, I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord… because I feared the people and obeyed their voice, so is some of our leaders today. Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, He hath also rejected thee from being king. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Disobedience to the word of God is the act of sin. We have a solemn verse ”if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers. Any doubt about it? Unlike brethren justify today Naomi testifies like this..” the hand of the Lord is gone out against me”. In the days of Nehemiah the cry was “ bring the book” and when God’s people are brought in touch with the book, they cried, because the entrance of God’s word giveth light and their conscience pricked unlike Laodiceans. We read in Neh. about their hunger for God’s word and when it was expounded, we find their reverence. They were attentive, responsive, sensitive and finally obedient. We read of our blessed Lord saying, I do always those things which pleases the Father. And  Father said, this is my well beloved son, in whom is my delight. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Be ye doers of the word, and this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Have a blessed weekend.