Was Jonah a False Prophet?

We have heard the story of Jonah and the whale since we were children.  Jonah was to go to the city of Nineveh and proclaim that in forty days Nineveh would be overthrown ( Jonah 3 ).  After running as far as he could, and an encounter with a large fish, Jonah finally gave God's message to the Ninevites.

So after 40 days what happened to Nineveh?  Was the king overthrown?  Were the people destroyed? No! Doesn't that make Jonah a false prophet?  Was God wrong to say that Nineveh would be overthrown?

God is a God of mercy and love.  People point to this event to say "See, God was wrong!" instead of pointing to the fact that out of God's mercy 120,000 people had repented and were saved.  Those men, women and children would live because they had turned from the wickedness they had committed.

Was God still wrong to say that Nineveh would be overthrown when after 40 days the city still stood? The Hebrew word for overthrown is hafak.  Hafak means overthrown, but it also means overturned, changed and converted.  The wickedness of the city was overthrown by the Spirit of God.  The people changed their lives and were converted to follow God instead of the evil that had been in their hearts.

God desires to be merciful more than He desires judgement.  He is willing to appear wrong if it means the salvation of a person. When you have a choice to believe God or believe man's logic, always choose God.

Photo Credit: the Story of Nineveh by Joe More

The Smallness of the Universe

The Hebrew word olam is the universe, this world and all that you see.  When we look at our world it seems so great and powerful in our lives.  We see the stars above and wonder at how vast the universe is.  The olam dwarfs us in so many ways.  Hurricane Harvey is an example of just how powerful a small bit of the olam is and how great it can affect our lives.  Could there be anything in all of existence greater than the olam?  Can anything have more impact to our lives than the olam?

Before the olam came into existence there was nothing.  No, not even space or time.  The olam came into being when God spoke.  Such a small thing as a word from God created all of olam.  The Earth, the solar system and all of the universe came into existence because of the word of God.  The Hebrew word for word is Davar.  Davar gave olam the power, the vastness, and the beauty we see today.

Which than is more powerful, the olam or the davar?  Which can have more of an impact on your life. the olam or the davar?  Which one should you be led by, the olam or the davar?

The word came first and was spoken.  The world followed and obeyed the word.  The world and all of the universe is nothing compared to the word.  We must never follow the world or our circumstances.  The word of God is where the true power is.  Even if all that is occurring in the world and in our lives seems overpowering, we must still follow the word.  It can be tough at times, but trusting God and following His word is the surest place to stand when the world comes against us.

You will find the davar filling the Bible.  The Bible is the most powerful force in the Universe.  It is the Word of God.

Photo by Wil Stewart on Unsplash

What Road of Life do you Travel?

Looking at your life, what road are you traveling?  I am sure that many people had planned to be on the Road of Success.  Perhaps you made it, but perhaps you ended up on the Road of
Failure or the Road of Mediocrity.  Everyone wants to be on the Road of Happiness and I hope you are.  Sadly many people find themselves on the Road of Misery and Sadness.

There are many roads in life that we want to be on and many roads we never planned to be on but find ourselves traveling down or perhaps we have even broken down on.  The roads we travel on are ones where we look at what the situation is like now and determine if it is a good road or a bad one. Is it a rocky road, or a smooth road?  Is this road a pleasant drive or one through a desolate desert?

In The Holy Land it is different.  Roads are named for their destination.  They have names such as, the Road to Bethlehem, the Damascus Road, or the Emmaus Road.  The roads were not name for the terrain or how difficult they might be, but for where the road would take you.

We must never judge a road by where we are now, but by where that road takes us.  Perhaps you are on a pleasant road today, but if it ends up at a cliff it is not the road you really wanted to take.  If the road is rocky but delivers you to a happy and fulfilling destination, you will forget about the rocky road and rejoice at where it brought you.

What is the destination you desire to travel to?  If it is a destination of this world such as riches, job success, power, possession or any other short term desire, then you are aiming too low.  The only destinations worth striving for are those that are eternal.  Everything else is worthless in the end.
Short term goals are important, but remember where your life's road ends up is much more important.

There are only two roads of eternity.  The Road to Heaven with eternal blessings and the Road to Hell with eternal damnation.  If your eyes are not set on Heaven you will walk the Road to Hell.  What type of road your life is on does not matter as much as where that road is headed.  We must look up the road and keep our eyes on the destination.  Never let the the terrain stop you, but press on. Never give up.  Keep your eyes fixed on the prize.

Photo by Tegan Mierle on Unsplash  

The Feast of First Fruits Mystery

The Jewish feast and holidays were placed by God on certain days as a sign of His work. The Feast of First Fruits took place the first day after the Passover Sabbath.  This was the beginning of the spring harvest.   The farmer would take the first sheaves of his crop and consecrate it to the LORD.  The first grain from his fields represented all the grain that was to follow.  By consecrating the first fruit of his crop to God, the whole harvest therefore was consecrated to God.

This grain sacrifice was a new day showing that winter and its hardships were past.  The death which winter brings was now turning to life.  Spring had arrived.  Rebirth and life would now rule the day. This feast was the beginning of a new and bright season where God blessed His people and gave hope.

Jesus Christ was crucified on Passover and the day after the Passover Sabbath was the day he arose from the dead.  He was resurrected on the Day of the Feast of First Fruits.  Jesus Christ was our first fruits.  He was the first fruit which was lifted up to the LORD as a representative of the all mankind. He is the one who turns our winters into spring.  Our lives can now be reborn into a new and bright hope, because of Jesus.  He died and rose again as our representative.

Because Christ overcame death and this world, so can we.

"But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him." 1 Corinthians 15: 20-23

Photo by Jordan McQueen on Unsplash

Where is the Mantle of Christ?

A mantle is a cloak worn over indoor clothing.  In the Scriptures it represents God's calling to a ministry.  It shows the anointing of God upon the person.  As Elijah ascended up into Heaven, his mantle fell to Elisha for him to carry on Elijah's prophetic ministry. When Elisha picked it up the spirit of Elijah fell upon him.

Moses laid the mantle of leadership upon Joshua.  He laid his hands upon Joshua who had been his disciple during the wanderings and God's Spirit fell upon him.  The authority of Moses now belonged to Joshua.

When Jesus walked upon this earth with his disciples, he commanded great authority and a very heavy mantle upon his shoulders.  When he ascended into Heaven, who took that mantle which he had carried?

The Mantle of Christ was too heavy to fall on just one person or even upon twelve.  On the day of Pentecost the Mantle of Christ came down from heaven and fell upon all who believed in Jesus as the Messiah.  The Spirit of God is given to everyone who comes to Christ for salvation.  His ministry is carried on not by one person, but by the Christian Body of Christ.

If you follow Christ, than part of His mantle has fallen on you.  You are called to continue the ministry of Christ.  You are called to to walk as Jesus walked, in His Spirit.   God has anointed you to step into the footprints of Christ and fulfill your calling.

Photo Credit: Behind the cloak is the transformation by Mount Saint Mary's Abbey

Why God Created Marriage

Marriage is not something that man came up with.  God designed and instituted marriage in such a way that it would enhance life.  Because of marriage a couple can feel loved and secure in their relationship.  It also represents the relationship between God and man.

In Genesis 1:28 God commands Adam and Eve to go out into the world, be fruitful and multiply. Have children, fill the world with human life.  The fruit of the womb was blessed by God and He wanted them to fill the whole world with children.

A marriage is designed for having children.  Children are designed to be raised by a father and a mother.  Children living in a healthy home with a mother and father are far more likely to attain a happy and fulfilling life.

Marriage was also created as a model of our relationship with God.  A man and a woman are different.  They have different ways of thinking.  Their bodies are designed for different purposes. It is mystery how two so different individuals can not just tolerate each other but flourish with love for each other.  Together they find the part of themselves which was missing before they were married.

Man and God are also different.  It amazes me to think that God could love someone like me, and yet He does.  God created mankind so He could have intimate fellowship with us.  His desire is to bless us completely.  He is there to lead, guide, protect and defend us. Together, God and man, we fulfill a spiritual oneness that nothing else can answer.

This spiritual oneness produces spiritual fruit. There are few things, if any, that God has ever done in this world, since creation, without man's participation. To be spiritually fruitful man requires God. A man and a man, or a woman and a woman, can not be fruitful and have children. Since creation, God has not produced a human life without the aid of a human. It takes both different elements to produce life.

Marriage is for two people to love each other completely and fully, just as God and man are designed to love each other completely and fully.  Both are designed to bear fruit and to fill the world with life both physical and spiritual.

Photo by Ilya Yakover on Unsplash

The Eternal Nation

If God were to place a human, historical witness to His existence, who would that witness be like? To be a historical witness of an eternal God in history, that witness would have to be eternal in some way as well. This witness would also have to stand out in some special way so that people noticed.

That witness is not a person, but a nation.  The Jewish nation is the witness of God's existence.  No other people have survived over 4 millennium and still retain the same religion, the same language, the same monetary unit and live in the same land as they did thousands of years before.  When they disobeyed God, they suffered even to the point of losing their lands, but God is faithful and He brought them back. They are His witness forever.

2 Samuel 7:24 "You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, LORD, have become their God."

You want proof of God?  Look to the Jew.  Winston Churchill wrote "Some people like the Jews, and some do not.  But no thoughtful man can deny the fact that they are, beyond all question, the most formidable and the most remarkable race which has ever appeared in the world."

The next time you meet someone Jewish, thank them for showing you that God does exist.  That person has the thumbprint of God on their life.

Photo Credit: fingerprint by Jose Luis Agapito

The Mysterious Portal

There is a portal to a different realm which people can pass through and enter into a new existence.  A place to live a new life in a new reality.  Perhaps it is a trans-dimensional portal or simply a doorway into a new Universe.  I don't know how it works, but I do know that it exists.

God set up a foreshadowing of this portal back at the first Passover.  The Children of Abraham killed a lamb and marked the door way to their house with the lamb's blood.  Blood was placed to the right and left sides of the doorway, and then some was wiped upon the top of the door frame.  When the Angel of Death saw the blood dripping from the doorway, he passed over that house and didn't kill the first born.

If people were outside of that house they were in danger of death, but if they entered that doorway of blood, they would be safe inside.  The next time they left through that blood soaked doorway, it was to freedom. Moses took all the people on to a promised land which they had never seen before.  It was a land of milk and honey.

The true portal, which the Passover foreshadowed, was built around 30 AD.  It too was soaked with the blood of the sacrificial lamb.  Everyone who entered this portal would be safe from eternal death. This portal also was the doorway to a new realm, a new kingdom flowing with the milk and honey of God's blessings.

That portal is in the shape of a cross.  It doesn't look like a doorway to walk through, but in reality it is.  This is a doorway that you must walk through spiritually.  You must pass through the blood in order to walk into the safety of God and on to the Promised Land of Heaven.

Photo Credit: door by Michal

Where is the Holiest Place on Earth?

Where was the holiest place on Earth? Jerusalem is the Holy City and in Jerusalem stood the temple where God's presence could be found.  In that temple was a room called the Kodesh Hakodashim which means Holy of Holies.  That one small room was the holiest place on earth.

Once a year, at Yom Kippur, one man would enter that most holiest of places to sprinkle the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the Mercy Seat.  When he was in this room, no one witnessed anything that was done or said. This was a secret room where only one man came into the presence of God.

The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, so where is that secret place now?  What is the holiest place on Earth since the Holy of Holies no longer exist?  It can be found where ever you put it.

God desires to meet with you one on one.  Just one person meeting in secret with God.  The best part is that He no longer wants this as a once a year event, but everyday.  What room do you have where you meet with God totally separated from the world?  Where is that secret place where only you and God meet together to commune and share each others hearts.  A place of intimacy and safety to share all secrets with each other.  This is where God will share His thoughts with you.  This one secret place is where you will hear His voice and see His glory.  This is where God reveals Himself to you and where you will find only love as you reveal yourself to Him. 

Where you meet with God, that room is the holiest place on earth.
 
Photo Credit: Temple Mount (Jerusalem model)_1357 by James Emery

My Pet Peeve: "It's an Act of God"

We all have our own particular pet peeves.  One that makes me cringe is when I hear someone call a tragedy an "Act of God".  To them an act of God is when a hurricane or tornado destroys cities, homes and takes lives.  When a tree falls on a house, it is an act of God.  If lightning strikes a person, it is an act of God.  It seems that whenever anything terrible happens, and we can not point a finger at some person, it is an act of God.

If I was a man who swore, this is where I would give you my boldest, loudest, most damning expletive. NO! NO! NO!  Every death, sickness, and tragedy is a result of man.  Yes, even the weather such as hurricanes is a result of man.

When God created this world for us, it was a perfect paradise.  There was no sickness.  There were no storms, earthquakes or tornadoes.  In fact there wasn't even any decay or death.  Man lived a perfect, peaceful life until he rebelled against God.  That rebellion caused death, sickness and pain to come into this world.  Man lost a part of himself which was pure and perfect and he could no long pass that down to his children.  And so mankind was cursed to live the sin burdened lives we have now in this world.

After Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, their descendants grew in number and also in rebellion against God.  The people became so corrupt that God had to save Noah and his family before even they were corrupted into a life full of sin.  So God destroyed all flesh and in doing so He changed the weather and the lands to where they are now unstable.  Earthquakes and storms are now found all around the world as a result of man's rebellion.

You want to know what an act of God really is?  Cancer is a result of man's sin, but there are people walking around today that God has healed.  People who were to die in weeks or months are alive and well after many years because of God.

God has brought marriages back together.  He has comforted those who have experienced loss.  If someone dies we say, "God took him."  No.  Sin took that person from us but, if they knew Jesus as Savior, God carried them home to Him.

Acts of God are acts of love, not tragedy.

Why Would a Loving God Kill a Whole Nation?

Most people can not understand why God, who the Bible says is love, would command a nation of people to be killed.  Not just the soldiers, but every man, woman and child was to be put to death.  It seems counter to what any caring and loving person would do.

In 1 Samuel 15 God orders Saul to kill all the Amalekites.  Every man, woman, child and baby was to die. Even the animals were to be put to death.  Saul disobeyed God. You might think that Saul was more loving than God was, but that is not true.  God had ordered the death of the Amalekites because of His love for Israel.

God did love the Amalekites, but He also knew their hearts and what the future held if they were to live.  God looks not only at what is happening now, but also what the results of today's actions will bring tomorrow.

Because of Saul's disobedience to kill every Amalekite, the people of Israel suffered.  A wicked man named Haman devised a plot to kill all the Jews in the Persian Empire.  Haman was an Amalekite. He didn't succeed because God used Queen Esther and her uncle Mordecai to stop Haman's plot.

God is the Great Physician not only of our bodies but of our lives.  When a Doctor finds a cancer it must be removed before it affects the rest of the body.  The Amalekites had a heart that was godless and dark.  Israel tried to befriend them, but their hatred for Israel brought them to war against Israel. God knew that this Amalekite cancer would only get worse.  Just as a Doctor would never want to remove an arm from a patient, God did not want to kill all the Amalekites.  But just as a Doctor does remove a cancerous arm before the cancer spreads and kills the patient; God ordered the Amalekites removed.

God never wants to cause pain in the world or in our lives, but because He knows what the future holds in this world, He does bring pain in order to save us.  We can not judge what God does because we can not see what He sees.  We can only trust Him and His love for us that it will all works out for good. 

What Does Amen Mean?

The Hebrew word for faith is Emunah.  The root of this word is Emun which means truth, solid, sure, support.  Faith is a surety of what is not seen being true and solid.  Emunah also means steadfast, established, and stable.  The more faith you have, the more established and stable the object of your faith becomes in your life.   When you have faith in God, He becomes stronger and more established in your life.

Another word that comes from the same root word is amen.  It sounds like emun or emunah.  To say amen is to say "That is true."  "Yes, I have faith in that."  Faith is to say amen to God. It is to say amen to God's salvation. Amen to His love. Amen to the reality of God.

Saying Amen is to say, "My whole being, my heart and my soul stand steadfast in the knowledge that what God says is true.  I stand on His word which is a solid rock that shall never fail me.  Here I stand, I can not do otherwise." 

The Cursed Crown of Christ

A crown is placed on the head of the person who is to rule.  It symbolizes how the weight of the kingdom now rests upon his head.  He is the one who now has the authority over those who the crown represents.

Jesus was crowned with a crown of thorns.  Thorns are the result of the sin committed in the Garden of Eden.  The thorns represent the curse of sin.  No man in all of history has had authority over sin. Sin has wrecked havoc over the entire human race, until Jesus came.  Jesus wore the crown of thorns which was placed on his head to mock him, but instead Jesus wore that crown of suffering and death as a true king.

Jesus does have authority over the curse of sin.  He is the King over injustice. He is the King over suffering and death.  Jesus Christ is the King over all sin.

The Cursed Crown of Christ has become the Blessed Crown of Life.

Photo Credit: Crown of Thorns by Doug1021

OMG!?

You hear the phrase "OMG!" or "Oh my God!" all the time.  Even many Christians use it and perhaps you use it as well.  I am not trying to lay a guilt trip on you, but I don't think people who use that phrase really think about what they are saying.

Exodus 20:7 says "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

The key to understanding this verse is found in the word "vain."  The Hebrew word for vain is shawv. Shawv meant destructive evil, to ruin morally, vain, lying, false and uselessness.  It is an interesting word.  Cursing someone such as "God damn you!" would definitely be classified as evil and destructive.  It is also very vain to think that you can command God to cast someone into eternal torment. Using God's name to swear falsely or to lie something like "I swear to God!" is assuming that you have the right to swear on God, or have Him as your witness.

OMG falls under the heading of uselessness.  Saying "Jesus!" or "Jesus Christ!" also is using the name of God uselessly.  God's name is more than just some words.  Have you noticed that names have a meaning?  A person's name represents not just the person, but the essence of that person.  My name is David which means beloved. Most people don't think of the meaning of my name, but to me it says that I am God's beloved.  It has helped to remind me of my place with God and I have striven to please the one who loves me so.  It has helped to make me who I am today.

There are rules on how to honor the American flag.  You do not let the flag touch the ground, or the floor. You stand up and take off your hat when it passes by.  You honor the flag because it represents the United States of America.  We are to honor the name of God just like that.  Just as you would never use the American flag as a rug to walk on, you don't walk all over the name of God with useless or vile words.

Would you dishonor your loved one's name? This blog is about mysteries and the mystery here is: "Why do we dishonor the name of our God?"

Photo Credit: no cartoon swearing by AdsitAdventures

You are a Poem of God

I am terrible at writing poetry.  A poem flows smoothly, with rhythm and structure. It can bring laughter or tears.  A poem can make you think deeply or help you to just enjoy life.   It expresses emotions from the heart and can be a beautiful masterpiece of the spirit.

Do you know about the Poem of God?  In Ephesians 2:10 the word workmanship is the Greek word Poihma.  Poihma is where we get the word Poem.  So Ephesians 2:10 then would read. "So we are His poem,..."

You are a poem of God.  He is the author of your life.  He is creating you as a poem filled with love, peace, goodness, and His Spirit. As you let God write your poem, it enhances the flow with His Spirit in all that you are. Your heart will then beat with His heart.  You are the Poem of God. You are a masterpiece of God. 

The Latter Rain Mystery

In Israel they have two rainy seasons.  The former rains which comes just after summer, and the latter rains which occur just before spring planting.  These rains are essential to life in Israel.  Without the rains the land of Israel would be a dry desert where nothing could live.

In the book of Joel, God promises to send both the former rain and the latter rain, but He also promises to send His Spirit to His people and on those who serve Him.  There was a spiritual rain which was poured out in Acts 2 at Pentecost.  Jewish believers and people from all over the known world were blessed by this former rain of the spirit, which brought life and strength to those who followed Christ.

The latter rain is promised to come at the last days.  The pouring out of the Spirit will bring life and strength to serve God.  It will embolden believers to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, just as it did the first time.  And just as it started in Israel and spread throughout the world, I believe it will do so again.  144,000 Jewish evangelist are prophesied in Revelation to preach Christ and the world will hear from them and others who come to Christ.  Israel is where God does His greatest works.

Does this mean we are to wait for the out pouring of the spirit today?  Heaven forbid! We are to seek out The Spirit every moment of our lives.  We do not need a great revival of thousands in order to have a revival of our own heart.  Stop seeking the movement of God in a great revival and seek the movement of God in your own heart. 

An Oily Name

The Song of Solomon is about a bride and a groom, but it is also about God and us.  Jesus is the groom and his church is the bride.  In the Song of Solomon the bride says "You name is oil poured forth."

Oil had multiple uses including healing, cooking, cosmetics and many other things.  It was beautiful, soothing and had a sweet fragrance.  Oil was an essential part of everyday living.

When the bride says his name is oil, she is saying that she loves him so much that even his name is beautiful.  His name brings joy and healing to her heart.  His name soothes and comforts her.  His very name is a sweet fragrance to her ears.

There is one whose name is linked to oil.  The title Christ comes from the Greek translation of the word Mashiach or Messiah. The title Messiah comes from the word Mashiach which means the Anointed One.  When someone was chosen by God for a holy task such as a priest or king, they would be anointed with oil.   The name we call Jesus is Jesus the anointed one.

Jesus is our beloved.  His name is oil poured forth. We are to love him so completely that even his name is a beautiful fragrance which lingers in our hearts.  The name of Jesus soothes and comforts us. His name should be a essential part of our everyday living.

Our Footstool World

Isaiah 66:1 says that God's throne is in Heaven and the Earth is His Footstool.  Why would the Earth be God's footstool?  It seems like a strange thing to say.  One thing we can be sure is that God never says something nonsensical.

The throne is where the weight of God resides.  The word for weight in the Hebrew is Kavode. Kovode also means glory. So Heaven is where the weight and glory of God is found.  The earth could not contain the glory of God. The Earth is where you will find the footprints of God.

We live in a footstool world where only the imprint of God and His work is found.  Christians also are imprints of the work of God. and His glory is not found completely in the life of a saved person. The weight and glory of God can only be found complete and full in Heaven.  That is where a true believer will be complete.

Until that day we are to lightly rest our feet on our footstool world.  We can not sit here relying on the world to hold us.  We must follow the example of God and rest fully in the heavenlies and not in this world.

Photo Credit: More evidence of the carnage but look! Footstool! Yah! by Nikki Hunt 

The Mystery of the Wilderness

Has your life ever seemed barren, hard and forbidding as if you were walking through one of life's wilderness experiences?

The Hebrew word for wilderness is called midbar and comes from the root word davar.  Davar means to speak. When you see people in the Bible out in the wilderness many times it is where God calls them so He can speak to them.  Moses was in  the midbar when the burning bush spoke to him. Elijah heard the still small voice while out in the midbar.  The children of Israel where out in the midbar when they received God's law.

There are few distractions in the wilderness; rock, sand, a few shrubs and you. This is where God brings us so that we might hear His voice.  This is not a time to despise and find distractions to fill your life with, but a time to listen to God's voice.  Draw near to God.  Open your heart to hear what He has to tell you.  Seek to hear what He has to say and God will speak to you.

This is where you will find the Holy Ground of God's presence.  This is where God will call out your name and tell you what is on His heart.  The midbar of life is where God draws you away to so that you can experience the heart of God for your life.

Photo Credit: Sunrise over the Negev desert in Eruz, Israel by JSW186

God Fulfills His Promises at Exactly the Right Time

From ancient times the Jewish synagogues would read a scheduled portion of the prophets every Sabbath. This is called the Haftorah and every synagogue reads the same scripture as all the others. Do you think God might have a hand in what scripture is read on what days?  Of course He does.

May 15,1948, when Israel was resurrected into a nation, was a Sabbath and the Haftorah for that day was Amos 9:11-15.

Part of that scripture reads:"I will restore David's fallen shelter- I will repair its broken walls and restore its ruins- and will rebuild it as it use to be,...They will rebuild the ruined cites and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,"

Coincidence?  Not with God.  On the day He fulfilled the prophecy in Amos, He had every synagogue in the world reading that very prophecy.

Photo credit: Torah by Lawrie Cate

The Grave of Hope

The grave is a forbidding place full of sorrow and hopelessness.  It is one of the most depressing places on earth where despair and pain are found in abundance.  This is where families are eternally torn apart.  The grave is a site for tears, heartache and helplessness.

But, there is one grave in all of history that is the exact opposite.  It brings hope to the hopeless, joy to the sorrowful, and healing to all who acknowledge it.  This is the one grave where tears are wiped away, heartache becomes joy and helplessness becomes hope.

The grave of Jesus Christ is where you find life instead of death.  The grave of Jesus is not the end, but the beginning.  This is not where life ends, but where eternal life begins.  This is a grave for our old lives of hopelessness to lay buried forever, and where our new lives are born to live with love, hope and the blessings of God every day. 

How to be a Jonah

Jonah was a Jewish prophet called to preach to the people of Nineveh.  What you need to understand is that Nineveh was hated by the Jews because of their cruelty and wickedness.  The Ninevites would carry home from war pieces of their enemies bodies as souvenirs. They would skin people alive and think nothing of it.   Jonah feared the Assyrians and wanted nothing to do with their sadistic empire. He was delighted that God would destroy them in forty short days.

He also knew that God was a God of mercy, and if the people of Nineveh should repent then God would relent and let them live.  He couldn't take the chance of them repenting so Jonah ran.  God had called Jonah and Jonah purposely disobeyed.  A big fish swallowed Jonah, and Jonah suddenly decides he would love to go visit Nineveh.

Jonah told the people in Nineveh that God was going to destroy them and, much to his dismay, they listened and repented.  Jonah got mad because thousands of lives were spared instead of having God destroy them.

It is easy to be a Jonah and many of us do a great job at being a Jonah.  Christians are to show God's love, but we think it is fine to be happy at the death of a murderer, terrorist, pedophile  or anyone who does something we consider evil.  We want those people to die, face God's judgment and go to Hell.

God wants everyone to repent of their wicked ways and follow Him.  Does that mean capital punishment is wrong?  No.  Capital punishment is the result of actions we have done in this life. What God desires is for us to be more concerned about the souls of men than judgment.  We are to look past the evil actions people do and out of love, reach out and bring them to God.  There is no sin so terrible that God is not greater.  His mercy can cover any and all sin.

Is there an enemy in your life that you are hoping meets face to face with God someday and get thrown into eternal damnation?  God's hope is that you will help bring your enemy to live forever in Heaven with God

Photo Credit: Jonah watches Nineveh under the booth by Evans E

Mystery of the Temple Doors

If you have read the story of the crucifixion of Jesus, you know that the curtain dividing the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies  was torn from top to bottom.  This was a very thick, strong curtain and yet at Christ death, it tore on its own.  Of course it was God who tore it to show the separation between  man and God no longer existed, because Jesus had reconciled them.

Did you know that the curtain being wrent in two was not the only miracle.  For the next 40 years, every night, until the destruction of the temple, the temple doors would open on their own.  It is recorded in the Jewish Talmud at Yoma 39. 

There were two barriers to the Holy of Holies, where God sat, and man.  One was the curtain and the other was the two temple doors.  Every night after Jesus was crucified those two doors would swing open as if inviting all people to enter the presence of God.

Why would the Jewish leaders report such a thing happening when they were so hostile towards Jesus and his followers?  By recording such an event in the Talmud they are being a witness for Jesus and the importance of his death.  They do not mention Jesus of course, but the timing is too great to ignore. 

Even the enemies of Christ bear witness of him.  God opens doors with His power that man meant to be closed.  Even the door of hearts firmly shut to the gospel can be opened by his power.

Photo Credit: Gold Door by annie