Joseph, The Shadow

There are many foreshadows of the Messiah found in Scriptures.  Shadows that came before him and revealed who the Messiah was.  Joseph was one of those shadows.

Joseph was the beloved son of his father.
Jesus was the beloved son of his father, God.

Joseph was sent on a mission to his brothers
Jesus was sent on a mission to his brothers, the nation of Israel.

Joseph was despised, rejected and plotted against.
Jesus was despised, rejected and plotted against to have him killed.

Joseph was falsely accused and though innocent, was arrested, thrown into prison and suffered because of the sins of others.
Jesus was falsely accused and though innocent, was arrested and suffered punishment for the sins of the world.

Joseph was raised up from the prison and seated in glory on the throne of the Egyptian Kingdom.
Jesus was raised up from the dead and seated upon the throne of glory.

Joseph was the redeemer of Egypt and responsible for saving the entire nation from death.
Jesus is the Redeemer of all people and is the savior of the world from eternal death.

From Genisis to Revelation, Jesus Christ is found.

Photo Credit: Cross shadow by Marjorie Turner

The Blessing and Cursing of Israel

There is a law in this world that is as sure as the Law of Gravity.  Those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed.  This law has held true throughout history because it is a promise of God.

Four thousand years ago God spoke to Abraham, a man of faith who left his family and country behind so that he could follow the leading of God.  God promised Abraham, "I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse...." Genesis 12:3a

Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Rome where the greatest kingdoms on earth, but they could not escape the promise God gave to Abraham.  Egypt at one time was the worlds greatest empire, but they oppressed the children of Abraham.  The Hebrews were slaves to the Egyptians until they were led out of Egypt by Moses.  It was at this time that Egypt, the most powerful nation of its time, collapsed to never rise again to be a world power.

Great Britain had become a refuge for the Jews of the world.  They were not persecuted as they were in many other countries of Europe.  They were able to prosper, while in other countries they were limited in what occupations they could have and their property could be legally stolen.  Great Britain had colonies all over the world.  It was the most expansive empire in all of world history.  Then the British reversed their position on the Jews people. They turned their backs on the Jews who were fleeing the Holocaust.  Suddenly this great empire collapsed to virtually nothing.

The country that came to the aid of the Jews was The United States of America.  They welcomed the Jews and became their greatest refuge and protector.  Because of them blessing the Children of Abraham, The United States became the greatest world power of its time.

When God speaks, it is surer than any laws or facts that we can know.   Take any promise found in His Word and believe it with all of your heart. You can trust it with your life.

Photo Credit: Nordhausen 5 by Louise Palanker

The Cornerstone of Life

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus and the twelve disciples sat down for the Passover Seder.  They ate together and talked about what would happen soon.  Following tradition, at the end of the meal, they would end by singing songs. 

The songs they would sing were from the Psalms and the last of these which were sung was Psalm 118.  In the psalm is found these words, "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;" Psalm 118:22

Jesus was that cornerstone.  He was despised and rejected.  His own people abhorred him so much that they had him executed on the cross.  That one man was so hated that they ended his life in the most painful and humiliating way they knew.  He hung naked for hours nailed to a cross for every to see.  They spat on him, mocked him and laughed at his shame. 

Today people still reject him.  People make jokes about him and laugh at the thought of Jesus being God.  Images of him are spat upon, urinated on, destroyed and burned in effigy.  The hate for Jesus has not diminished but has spread.  We are no different today than the Jews of Jesus' time.

Yet he is the cornerstone of all the world.  A cornerstone is the foundational block around which a building is built. It is used as a guide to make a building square and true.  The cornerstone was essential to making a strong building that would last.

If we are to have a strong life full of what is true, we need to have Jesus as the cornerstone of our lives.  Kings and queens recognized him as the cornerstone and have bowed down to him as lord of their lives.  Men and women throughout history have recognized how essential Christ is and have followed him.  Those who rejected Jesus and ignored the love he holds out to everyone will spend eternity in the fires of Hell.

Jesus must become our cornerstone.  All we do, say and see today must be built upon the foundational cornerstone of Jesus Christ.

Photo Credit: Beth Israel Menorah Institute Euterpe Cornerstone by Infrogmation of New Orleans

When Darkness Falls

In Scripture, darkness is a symbol of evil and the light is a symbol of goodness and of God.  When the evil in the world occurs, darkness is prevailing and bringing hate, destruction, and death.

Darkness can not drive out the light.  If you have a sunny day outside, you can not take a flashlight-like device which shines darkness and shine it to make things disappear into a patch of night.  Darkness is not something you can create by adding anything.  You can only make darkness by taking away the light.

The heart of man is the same.  Everyone's heart has darkness in it.  We have all sinned.  We all have done evil. We all have deceitful hearts which want their own way.  Some are darker than others but we all possess that darkness to some degree.

There is only one cure for the darkness in our hearts and that is the light of God.  Everywhere there is evil, the only permanent cure is found in Jesus Christ who said in John 8:12 "...I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Every dark act of every individual in the world starts with the heart.  Lust dwells in the heart of man. Hate dwells in the heart of man.  Every kind of evil dwells in the heart of man.  "For out of the heart come evil thoughts--murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." Matthew 15:19

You can take away guns, take people to court and even put them behind bars but the darkness will still abide in their hearts.  The only way to cure the evil actions of people is to cure their heart by driving out the darkness of evil.  Only Jesus Christ can change a heart.  Only Jesus is the cure because only he is the light of the world.

Until we all recognize Jesus as the light of the world, we will always have the darkness of evil in the world.

Photo Credit: When Darkness Falls by Ghetu Daniel

Bind the Word of God to our Minds

An Orthodox Jewish man will wear a black leather box strapped to his forehead during morning prayers.  This box, called a Tefillin or phylacteries, contains scrolls of parchment with the word of God written on them.  This is their way of applying God's command in their lives to 'Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.' Deuteronomy 6:8

They do this as an outward sign, but there is also an inward, spiritual significance to this as well.  This binding is important in changing your life and your mind.  In fact, what it signifies is essential in every Christian's life.

What goes on inside your head is hidden.  No one (but God) knows what your mind is thinking.  Our thoughts are where sin begins.  We think about something we know is forbidden and, instead of switching off those thoughts and dwelling on something wholesome and pure, we dwell on that dark thought.  We cradle that sinful thought in our minds until it takes root and we act upon it.  We always seem to think of sex as the evil thoughts we always have in these type of situations, and while they are part of this, they are not the only evil that is found in our hearts and minds.

We envy the car someone has and think about how great it would be to have that car.  We enjoy the gossip we have heard and can't wait to tell others.  We feel angry at someone for what they did to us and we plot our revenge.  We plan how to get out of being caught for something we did by lies and deceit.

How can we change this pattern of thinking?  This little leather box is telling us that things do not have to be this way.  When God speaks of binding the word to your head, he is revealing that your thoughts can be holy and pure.  The secret to a life of holiness is to bind the Word of God to your mind, your thoughts, your thinking.  Your will can only change when the Word of God is bound to your life.

The word bind in Hebrew is 'kashar'.  Kashar means to knit together.  When we bind God's word to our thoughts, we do not just strap them to our heads, but we knit them together.  Our minds should be intertwined with scripture.  The scriptures are to be so united to our thoughts that it is impossible to separate the two.  When our minds are working, the scriptures are filtering out what is good and what is bad.

If your thoughts are following the words of God, your life will follow as well.  If you allow God to change your way of thinking, your life will change.  You will find joy, peace, patience and a life empty of guilt and shame.

Take your Bible, read it, study it and meditate on it. Let your mind soak up the words and heart of God.

Photo Credit: Meditacion en el Muro de los Lamentos, Jerusalen, Israel by Edgardo W. Olivera
  

Jesus is Our Hupogrammos

In ancient Greece, a teacher would take a shallow wooden box filled with wax and write in it.  The student would then place his stylus into the grooves of the teacher's writing and carefully trace them. In this way, the student would learn the proper way to write by using the teacher's model.

This box of wax was called the Hupogrammos, which means underwriter.  It was used to teach a student to copy the teacher and become perfected in the way the teacher would write.  The better the student was in following the teacher, the more perfect he would become.

In 1 Peter 2:21  it is written,  "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps."  The word 'example' is actually the word "hupogrammos".  Jesus is our underwriter.  He has etched into this world how we are to live our lives. We are to make the actions of our lives match his life.

The thoughts of Jesus are the hupogrammos by which we are to think.  His love for God and for man are the hupogrammos that we are to emulate in our lives.  The very heart of  Christ is our hupogrammos that our hearts should reproduce exactly as his heart.

We are students whose assignment is to learn of Christ.  Our lessons are given to us by the master himself that we might follow in his footsteps and know him intimately.  Every moment in our lives we have Jesus Christ as our hupogrammos to guide us in the way we are to go.  Jesus is our hupogrammos of life.

Photo Credit: Pre-Apple tablet by Jennifer Krauel 

The Captain and the Seaman Recruit

I have the honor to have served in the U.S. Navy on two destroyers during the Viet Nam war.  My ships were stationed in Hawaii.  It was rough living in Hawaii with all those beaches and bikini-clad girls, but I was willing to make that sacrifice.

On a ship, the highest ranking person is normally the captain.  He has the most authority with everyone else below him and every other rank on the ship must obey his orders.

The lowest possible rank on a ship would be a seaman recruit.  There is no one lower in rank. Anyone could give him an order.  He has no authority over any other person on the ship.  This would be the person who would be given the dirtiest jobs.

But there is a time when that seaman recruit has the same authority as the ship's captain.  If the captain gives that seaman recruit an assignment to be carried out, he has the captain' authority.  When a seaman recruit carries out a directive given to him from the captain, he is doing so as if it was the captain himself.  Every other person on that ship must yield to that lowly seaman recruit so that he can fulfill his assignment.

As Christians, we have a captain who we must yield to in our lives.  God is the one who has the authority to give us orders to carry out.  His missions in our lives are to be followed as if we are that seaman recruit taking orders from the captain.   When the captain says jump, you jump.  When God says jump, you jump.

If God gives you a ministry or a command, you are to carry out that order in His name with His authority.  Anyone who lives inside the will of God follows the directives of God.
 
In the great commission, Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus says "... All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

You are commissioned by Jesus Christ, who has all authority, to bring the gospel to those who do not know him and train them up to become mature Christians able to know and obey the teachings of Christ.  You have the authority of Jesus Christ to carry out this command and every other command of his found in scripture.