A Special Day

Friday, 29th February 2008

Today is a special day called a leap day, which happens once in four years. Those that adopt the solar calendar needs to add this additional day because it takes 365 1/4 days to revolve around the sun.

Well, yesterday was also a special day for me and a couple of other guys who support Aston Villa, because we were invited to appear "live" on a show called Nokia Football Crazy. This program is shown on Thursdays at 8pm simultaneously on both ESPN and StarSports (that's channels 23 and 24 for those in Singapore who subscribe to Starhub's cable TV).

At the end of the show, we got to take a photo with the hosts. Clockwise from left to right, that's PJ Roberts, Jamie Yeo (who attends New Creation Church with her hubby Glen Ong, by the way), Mark Ho, yours truly, Lim Chen Meng, Sheik Haikel and Andy Penders.

At the request of my daughter, I also asked them for their autographs, which they so kindly and politely obliged.

Nothing happens by chance, and I thank the LORD for the privilege of appearing on a show before an audience of 24 million folks all across Asia :-)

Skenoo

Thursday, 28th February 2008

Thanks be to God, I have recently developed a deep hunger and insatiable thirst for His Word.

Yesterday I blogged about the 7 feasts as appointed times ordained by the LORD and how they all point to Jesus.

I also blogged earlier about the difference between Astronomy and Astrology and how the zodiac was God's original idea.

Jesus died on Passover, which is significant, because He became the Passover Lamb that took away our sin. The zodiac during that period of time is that of the constellation of Aries, the Lamb.

Jesus was however not born on 25 December. The reason why 25 December became adopted as His birthday was because there was a pagan festival that took place during the wintry months of December/January called Yuletide. When Christianity started to spread throughout Europe, it was out of convenience that the Roman Catholic Church simply replaced that celebration with the celebrating of Christ's birth.

So when exactly was Jesus born? There is good reason to believe that He was born in September.

Firstly, as mentioned earlier, the zodiac sign during the time that He died was Aries. By the same token, He was born of the virgin Mary, ie. when the zodiac sign was that of the constellation of Virgo, ie. sometime in August/September.

Secondly, Jesus died during the Passover, and became the Passover Lamb that died in our place. Using a similar line of reasoning, He must have been born during the Feast of Tabernacles, which takes place in September/October.

We read in John 1:14 that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us". The Greek word used there is σκηνόω "skenoo" (G4637) which is translated as to abide or to tabernacle with. Similarly, the Hebrew word for Tabernacle סכה "sukkot" (H5521) is also derived from a word that means to dwell among.

While doing research on the Internet, I came across this article that shows very clearly that Jesus was indeed born in September rather than in December. To be precise, He was born on the 1st day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The Feast lasted for 8 days (Lev 23:33-36). It is therefore of no coincidence that Joseph and Mary brought Him to the temple to be consecrated (via circumcision as recorded in Luke 2:21) on the final day of the feast.

But what really fascinates me is how the author uses the Aaronic priestly roster (as recorded in 1 Chron 24) to show when the priest Zacharias and Elizabeth conceived John the Baptist. From there, he derives when Mary conceived Jesus, and ultimately arrive at the day when Jesus was born!

The Holidays of God

Wednesday, 27th February 2008

Last Sunday, as part of the sermon series on the Nicene Creed, Ps Reuben preached a sermon entitled "We Believe in the Coming of God's Realm and Reign to the World", which refers to eschatology or the end-times. The text for his sermon was Lev 23.

I was extremely impressed because Ps Reuben is a relatively-young pastor and Leviticus is not an easy book to preach from. This was also the first time I had heard a Methodist pastor preach on the 7 Jewish feasts of the Lord, namely Passover, Unleaven Bread, Firstfruits, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles.

I found his sermon to be very edifying and ministering because he was rightly dividing the Word -- by explaining how these 7 feasts are types and foreshadows that find fulfillment in the New Testament. In his sermon, he referred to 1 Cor 5:7 where Paul says that Christ is our Passover Lamb.

He also referred to 1 Cor 15:20 where Paul says that Christ by His resurrection, is the firstfruit of all who had died. Sure, Jairus' daughter and Lazarus were raised from the dead, but it was only prolonging their life on earth; they eventually died again. Jesus was the first one who was resurrected from the dead, never to see death again! And we who are Christians will follow suit to inherit eternal life.

So where does eschatology fit into this, one may ask? While the 1st 4 feasts have already been fulfilled by Jesus' first coming, the last 3 feasts will be fulfilled in the end-times by His second coming.

I had been meaning to blog about these 7 feasts in a future post, but since it has been preached upon, it would be more meaningful to listen to that sermon. This (as well as other anointed sermons of his) have been compiled here.

Yesterday, it so happened that my dad showed me a booklet by RBC Ministries entitled "The Holidays of God", which also talks about these 7 "holy" days. These booklets in PDF format can be read online at the following links:

The Holidays of God - The Spring Feasts
The Holidays of God - The Fall Feasts

Thank you Lord for sending Ps Reuben to PLMC! May You continue to bless and prosper his ministry here.

From Shem to Abram

Tuesday, 26th February 2008

In Gen 3:15, God told Satan that one of Eve's seed would crush his head.

In Gen 5, we see the genealogy from Adam to Noah being recorded as follows:

1 Adam
2 Seth
3 Enosh
4 Kenan
5 Mahalalel
6 Jared
7 Enoch
8 Methuselah
9 Lamech
10 Noah

There were 10 generations between Adam and Noah.

In Gen 11, we see Noah's line being traced down to Abraham (or Abram, as he was then known as).

11 Shem
12 Arphaxad
13 Shelah
14 Eber
15 Peleg
16 Reu
17 Serug
18 Nahor
19 Terah
20 Abram

There were also 10 generations from Shem to Abram.

Cainan/Kenan

Some early manuscripts of Luke's account includes someone by the name of Cainan in Luke 3:36 in between the names of Arphaxad (12) and Shelah (13). One possible explanation was that this was a copyist's error in copying this name twice, Cainan being a variant of the name Kenan (4).

Furthermore, Ezra the Chronicler recorded in 1 Chron 1:18 "Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber." There was no mention of Cainan there.

We will read later on in Genesis 15 how God told Abraham that the promised seed will come via him.

I've been reading up on the genealogy of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 1 and Luke 3, and will be penning down my thoughts in a future post.

Babbling at Babel

Monday, 25th February 2008

The first part of Gen 11 records for us another well-known story in the Bible, and that is of the Tower of Babel, which was when the different languages were formed.

In fact, there is a website known as BabelFish, which provides translation of text from one language to another.

When I first read the story as a young boy, truth be told was I did not feel too good about it. Firstly, I had the wrong impression that mankind had wanted to be united, yet here was God confusing and scattering them all over the earth. Secondly, I thought God stopped them from building the tower because He did not want them to step into heaven where He resides.

Of course, I now realise that even the most gigantic of skyscapers cannot be built billions of light years tall enough to reach into heaven. Rather, what was happening was a plot by the evil one to pervert the gospel story via Nimrod.

After the flood, God had told Noah and his sons in Gen 9:1 to populate and fill the earth. Yet, here was mankind again being disobedient to Him. Instead of filling the earth, they decided to gather together in Babylon.

God had also told Satan that He would raise a seed of Eve to crush his head. Being a counterfeiter rather than a creator, he perverted God's plan to raise a champion by having his own version via Nimrod (which means "rebel"). Nimrod is mentioned in Gen 10:8 as a tyrannical hunter in opposition to the LORD (which is a more accurate translation than "mighty hunter before the LORD").

Nimrod was the one who spearheaded the building of the tower which "top would will reach into heaven" (Gen 11:4). This tower had a temple at the top where the sun, moon and stars were to be worshipped instead of the true and living God.

You can read more about Nimrod in this article.

Thankfully, God was once again one step ahead of the devil. Previously, He had sent the flood to destroy Satan's work in corrupting the stock of mankind. This time around, He made men speak different languages so that they could no longer understand one another. What resulted was not only the abandonment of that evil tower project, but the scattering of men across the earth. Hallelujah!

The Author and Finisher

Sunday, 25th February 2008

Yesterday, I blogged about the authors of the Old Testament books. Today, I shall blog about the New Testament authors.

I just discovered from GotQuestions that Moses also wrote the book of Job, and that Jeremiah also wrote 1 Kings and 2 Kings.

The New Testament's authorship is more intuitive. The gospels were written by the apostle Matthew, John Mark (who was a good friend of the apostle Peter), Luke (who was a historian/doctor who followed the apostles and also wrote the book of Acts) and the apostle John.

Peter and John also wrote the books of Peter and John respectively, with John also writting the last book, Revelation. James and Jude also wrote the books named after them.

The rest of the New Testament (about 2/3 of it) was written by the apostle Paul.

The only book whose authorship is not certain is that of the book of Hebrews. Some accredit it also to Paul, but unlike the other epistles that he wrote, he does not identify himself in this particular letter. That is why some think that the author could be one of the other disciples, such as Luke, Barnabas or Apollos.

Be that as it may, the book of Hebrews is a fascinating book because it was written to the Jews and helps explain how Jesus more than fulfilled many of the customs and practices that are recorded in the Old Testament. Such as Jesus being our High Priest, Jesus being our perfect once-for-all sacrifice, Jesus being superior to the angels and to Moses, Jesus being a priest of in the order of Melchizedek on the basis of the power of an indestructible life, etc.

And of course, he records for us the names of the partriachs in the hall of faith in chapter 11. And chapter 12:2 also says that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.

Got Questions? Here are the Answers...

Saturday, 23rd February 2008

I mentioned yesterday that I came to realise that Samuel did not write the entire book of 1 Samuel, nor was he the author of 2 Samuel because his death was recorded in 1 Sam 25.

I did some research on the Internet and stumbled across Got Questions, which gives answers to more than 140,000 questions.

For example, here is what it says about the authorship of Genesis:

Genesis

Author:
The Book of Genesis does not specifically name its author. Traditionally, the author has always assumed to have been Moses. There is no conclusive reason to deny the Mosaic authorship of Genesis.

Date of Writing:
The Book of Genesis does not state when it was written. The date of authorship is likely between 1440 and 1400 B.C. after Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.

Purpose of Writing:
The Book of Genesis has sometimes been called the "seed-plot" of the entire Bible. Most of the major doctrines in the Bible are introduced in "seed" form in the Book of Genesis. Along with the fall of man, God's promise of salvation or redemption is recorded (Genesis 3:15). The doctrines of creation, imputation of sin, justification, atonement, depravity, wrath, grace, sovereignty, responsibility, and many more are all addressed in this "seed" Book called Genesis.

I am glad to see them refer to Gen 3:15 because I personally also consider that verse to be the most important verse, not only in the book fo Genesis, but of the entire Old Testament as well.

According to that website, the books of the Old Testament and their authors are shown in the table on the right.

So, it was Nathan and Gad who continued where Samuel left off to complete the books that were named after him.

Of course, technically speaking, the true author is the Holy Spirit who inspired these men to write what they did.

As Paul said in 2 Tim 3:16-17, "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

Berean Wannabe

Friday, 22nd February 2008

I have been reading the Bible as part of my NY Reso, and am currently reading the book of 2 Samuel.

I have been a Christian for the past 30 years or so, and have always had the impression that the books of Samuel were written by the prophet Samuel.

So it came as a great shock to me when I read 1 Sam 25:1 "Now Samuel died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him; and they buried him at his home in Ramah." That means to say that not only was 2 Samuel not written by him, even the last 7 chapters of 1 Samuel (ie. chapters 25 through 31) was authored by someone else.

It goes to show that there are a lot of things about God's Word that I am still ignorant about, and I am learning more and more each day. I really want to be like the Bereans, who examined the Scriptures daily to see what is really in it. So help me God :-)

Of Catastrophic Proportions

Thursday, 21st February 2008

Continuing with the reflections on Genesis, in chapter 5 we see the genealogy of Noah being recorded.

At first glance, it appears to be a rather "boring" list of names and how long each of them lived. But what I have learnt is that there are no insignificant details in the Bible. The Holy Spirit saw fit to inspire Moses to record them down.

The Old is in the New revealed, and the New is in the Old concealed. In other words, the Old Testament contains truths that are uncovered when we filter them through the cross. By the same token, the New Testament uncovers truths that are hidden in the Old.

Hidden in the genealogy of Noah is a message about the coming Christ, which I have blogged about here already, so I will not go into details about that.

In Gen 6:1-3, we read about how the devil tried to corrupt mankind by getting his fallen angels to cohabit with the daughters of Eve. The extent of this perversion was so great that Noah was the only one who was of pure human stock. In Gen 6:9, Noah was being described as "perfect". The Hebrew word there is tamiym, which is the same word used to describe the unblemished state of the animals that were to be used in the Levitical offerings. Noah was not "perfect" in the sense of being righteous or sinless, but he was not tainted by the demonic outbreak. You can read more about that here.

The flood was of catastrophic proportions. We read in Gen 7:11 that not only did the "floodgates of the sky" open, the "fountains of the great deep" burst open. Torrential rain was not only falling from above, there were also major eruptions taking place from below.

As a result of this, mountains and canyons were formed. Animals were fosillized.

I remember attending a talk on creation, and the speaker gave us the following illustration which I thought made a lot of common sense.

Suppose you have a pet goldfish, and it died. If you threw it into the ocean, it will first float, and birds will start to feed on it. It will then start to sink to the bottom, but along its way down, scavengers like prawns and lobsters will pick on it and finally maybe a bone or so will end up on the ocean bed. You will not get a nice fossil.

Let's say you took that same goldfish, and covered it with cement, which then hardens around it. When you take that cement apart, you will then see a beautiful fossil of it.

And that's what exactly happened that caused those fossil records to be formed. Because of that great catastrophe, an instant snapshot was taken.

For example, this reptile was in the midst of giving birth. If it took "millions of years" for fossils to form, then she must have gone into an extremely-extended labour.

One main reason why people doubt the creation story and the flood is because they picture the Ark being the size of a bathtub, with giraffes' heads sticking out. They cannot imagine how creatures such as the dinosaur could fit into the Ark.

Well, the Ark was the size of 60 basketball courts. Futhermore, it was not necessary to bring in fully-grown adult dinosaurs when a pair of young ones would have sufficed. I have blogged about that here.

By the way, these and other insights can be found on the website Creation Ministries International.

The Line Continues

Wednesday, 20th February 2008

In Gen 4, we read the famous story about the very first murder -- where Cain killed his brother Abel.

If this act is seen in the light of the first prophesy where the devil was told that Eve's seed would crush his head, then we can see why the devil inspired Cain to do so -- he had thought Abel was the promised one, since God accepted his sacrifice, but rejected Cain's. This view is supported in the New Testament, where John, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, recorded in 1 Jn 3:12 " Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother..."

Thankfully, God was always at least one step ahead of the devil, because Adam and Eve produced another son, Seth (Gen 4:25), and it was through this son that the line continued.

Which brings me to a related subject that some may have questions about but have been afraid to ask (I know I did) -- and that is, who did Cain and Seth marry?

If the entire human race originated from Adam and Eve, then the only logical answer is that Cain and Seth married their own sister or niece.

We read in Gen 5:4, "After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters", and Adam's sons and daughters would have had to marry one another in order to have children.

Before one gets nauseated, do remember that God had commanded Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. Back then, it was perfectly acceptable for a person to marry his own sister or cousin, because the effect of the fall would take time to manifest in terms of genetic abnormalities.

Hence, we find that Abraham married his half-sister Sarah, while Jacob married his cousins Leah and Rachel.

For that matter, after the flood, Noah's grandsons had to marry his granddaughters since everyone else besides his family had perished.

It was only 2,500 years later during the time of Moses that God said specifically that one could not have sexual relations with his sister (Lev 18:9). By then, the effect of the fall would have been of significance, and marrying a close relative would increase the chances of duplicating a particular gene mutation (which is the medical grounds upon which secular societies forbid incestuous relationships).

Oh by the way, the earth as we know it is about 6,000 years old, and not millions of years as some scientists would like us to believe. Creation took place in 4004 B.C. and the flood took place in 2348 B.C. These and other events in the Old Testament are shown in this Old Testament timeline.

East of Eden

Tuesday, 19th February 2008

The title of today's post is actually the title of a song made popular by my favourite secular artiste of the 1980s from Scotland called Big Country.

This was also where God banished Adam and Eve to after they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

We read in Gen 3:24 "After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life."

Having eaten from the wrong tree, Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat from the other tree as well. And God placed 2 of His angels as well as a laser to guard it.

The next time cherubim were mentioned in the Scriptures is in Exodus 25, where God told Moses to "make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover". The covering of the Ark of the Covenant was called the Mercy Seat. Under the Old Covenant, God's holy presence was represented by the Ark, which was the only furniture that was placed in the Holy of Holies. We read further that subsequently when the Temple was built, the Ark was placed "beneath the wings of the cherubim" (2 Chron 5:7).

There was also a curtain that was placed between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, and the Chief Priest could only enter into the presence of God once a year, on the Day of Atonement.

When Jesus died on the cross, this curtain was ripped from top to bottom and this was recorded in all 3 synoptic gospels (Matt 27:51, Mk 15:38, Lk 23:45).

This symbolically paves the way for us, the New Covenant believer, to have direct access to God Almighty. I remember singing the following song as a youth entitled "Within the Veil"

Within the veil
I now would come
Into the Holy Place to look upon Thy face
I see such beauty there, no other can compare
I worship Thee, my Lord, within the veil

Besides there being the cherubim, the path to the tree of life was also protected by a flaming sword.

We read in Zech 13:7 "Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!" declares the LORD Almighty. "Strike the shepherd..."

The sword arose from its location of blocking the way to the tree of life to strike our Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd.

Which means to say that what were preventing mankind from eating of the tree of life no longer do so, because of Jesus' finished work. Hallelujah!

We therefore need not remain in the "east of Eden" as it were, but can now freely enter Eden to partake of the tree of life! Amen?

Bible Track

Monday, 18th February 2008

By the grace of God, I have been reading the Bible each day and am currently on the book of 1 Samuel.

Last week, when reading about the census that Moses carried out in the book of Numbers, I did a Google search about how the tribes were assembled in the wilderness and came across an online commentary entitled BibleTrack.

This commentary makes fascinating reading and can be used to supplement one's own reading of the scriptures. Of course, one need not subscribe to everything that the author says; the need to be noble like the Bereans still stands.

But the author has done considerable research, and includes illustrations about where Eden was located, Abraham's nomadic journey, etc and these pictures are definitely worth a thousand words each.

He also includes side commentaries and cross-references them to other parts of Scripture (eg. Melchizedek, Abrahamic Covenant, etc), thus facilitating the view of things in the context of the entire bible.

Shape of Things to Come

Sunday, 17th February 2008

I'm still in the midst of the revelations from Genesis, and I'm getting slightly ahead of myself here, but this is something really exciting that I just got to share.

The book of Numbers is called so, because Moses was asked by the Lord to count the number of men according to their tribe.

We find the census being recorded in Numbers 2, as well as how they were to encamp in the wilderness en route to the Promised Land. The tabernacle was located right in the centre (with the Levites), while the 12 tribes were located around it.


Toward the east of the tabernacle were encamped the tribes of Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. They totalled 186,400.

Toward the south were encamped the tribes of Reuben, Simeon and Gad, numbering 151,450.

Toward the west were encamped the tribes of Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh. They totalled 108,100.

Finally, toward the north were encamped Dan, Asher and Naphtali totalling 157,600.

These were just the men, so if we include the women and children, the numbers would be multiplied by 3 to 4 times.

But the proportion would be more or less maintained.

But what is of significance is to have a look at what resulted from the way the Israelites were encamped.

The tribes located in the east were larger, while the tribes located in the west were smaller. Those in the north and south were about of equal number.

If you look at the layout, you would notice that it formed a particular shape -- the shape of things to come :-)

Yup, it formed a cross! So we see Jesus not only in the book of Genesis, but throughout the entire Old Testament as well.

Fig Leaves vs Garments of Skin

Saturday, 16th February 2008

Let's continue the series of revelations from Genesis.

We read in Gen 3:7 that Adam and Eve discovered that they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

We read in Gen 3:21 that God however made garments of skin to cloth them.

Therein we already see 2 principles being established.

1. Self-Effort vs God's Provision

The fig leaves represent man's self-efforts to be presentable and acceptable before God. The garments of skin represents God's provision to man. Man's efforts are futile and fruitless. This is typified in Matt 21 where Jesus came across a fig tree that had only leaves but no fruit at all.

All our efforts at being righteous is like filthy rags before the Lord (Isa 64:6), and the only way to be pleasing and acceptable to God is to be in Christ, who gives us His robes of righteousness (Isa 61:10).

2. Innocent for the Guilty

Previously, I was under the impression that Adam and Eve were clothed with wool, but we read in GEn 3:21 that they were clothed in garments of skin. What this means is that God killed an animal and used its skin to provide clothing for Adam and Eve.

And thus, a pattern was established right there in the garden where an innocent had to pay the price for the guilty. We read of Abel and Noah making animal sacifices in Gen 4:4 and Gen 8:20. We read of the Levitical priesthood offering sacrifices on behalf of the Israelites under the Mosaic Covenant. All these were shadows pointing towards the ultimate sacrifice of an innocent for the guilty -- that of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ for the sin of the whole world.

Double-Oh

Friday, 15th February 2008

I just checked Facebook and noted that the number of friends have just hit the big double-oh.

Among recent friends are several youths from my church, who have also caught the grace message.

It is very encouraging to see how God is moving mightily even among those from the next generation.

Each and every individual one of them is indeed a masterpiece that God has created. May the prayer in Eph 1:17-21 be fulfilled in all of them.

The Greatest Love of All

Thursday, 14th February 2008

Today is Valentine's Day, which is a celebration of romantic love.

Legend has it that there were a couple of bishops named Valentine who were martyred, and this day was named in honour of them.

As to how these bishops became linked to romantic love is anyone's guess.

Back in the 1980s, there was a song made popular by Whitney Houston entitled "The Greatest Love of All". In that song, she declared that learning to love oneself is the greatest love of all.

I beg to differ.

The greatest love of all is love that is self-sacrificing. It is love that considers the well-being of others above oneself. It is love that is unconditional. It is the love that was demonstrated in dying for us while we were yet sinners (Rom 5:8).

It is God's kind of love for us.

The Greek has several words for love.

The first is known as storge, which is family affection.
The second is known as phileo, which is friendship love.
The third is known as eros, which is romantic love.
The fourth is known as agape, which is unconditional love.

While we celebrate Valentine's Day with our love ones, let us not forget the greatest love of all, which is God's unconditional love for us. Amen?

Oh by the way, my wife and I (together with members from my previous cell group 3L7) had a triple-date Valentine's dinnner at Tao's (the place that we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary).

Each lady was given a rose. Each couple also had their photo taken with a Polaroid, which was then slotted into the front of the menu, which we could then take home as a souvenir. How sweet and novel of them, hor?

The First Curses

Wednesday, 13th February 2008

Due to man’s disobedience by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God pronounced a curse on both Adam and Eve.

We read in Gen 3:16-19

16 To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."

In Gal 3:13, Paul tells us that Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the Law. Interpreting this strictly, it would mean the laws that were laid down from Ex 20 onwards. However, the Law can also refer to the Pentateuch, ie. the 5 Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Using a broader interpretation, this would means that any curses pronounced in the book of Genesis would also no longer apply.

There are 2 things that need to be established.

Firstly, childbearing is not a curse. After all, God had told Adam and Eve in Gen 1:28 to be fruitful and multiply, and to fill the earth.

Rather, it is the pangs that accompany childbirth that is a curse. I have read several testimonies where ladies who believe that Christ has redeemed them from the pains of childbirth encountering painless delivery of their babies.

Secondly, work is not a curse. In fact, we read in Gen 2:15 that "the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it."

Rather, it is work-related stress that is a curse. Previously, the ground produced plants bountifully. However, the ground started to produce thorns and thistles, and Adam had to toil and sweat in order to eat bread.

I have likewise also read and heard testimonies where folks believe Jesus has redeemed them from stress, and they end up enjoying the work that God has ordained them to carry out.

The Battle Begins

Tuesday, 12th February 2008

Continuing the series on revelations from Genesis, we find that even though man disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, God was always one step ahead of Satan and already had a plan to redeem mankind unto Himself.

We see the very first prophesy right there in the Garden of Eden, where He said that Eve's seed would crush his head.

I discovered that I have already blogged about this in May last year, so you may want to refer to that post here.

So started the great spiritual battle between God and the evil one, down through the centuries. The devil knew that one of Eve's descendents would cause his downfall, but he did not know whom exactly. Hence, he did all he could to prevent the champion from coming.

This included him doing the following:

• inspiring Cain to kill Abel (Abel's sacifice was pleasing to God, so he thought Abel was the promised seed)
  
• getting his fallen angels to corrupt mankind by cohabiting with the daughters of Eve (so much so that Noah and his family were the only ones on the face of the earth to be pure humans, the rest were giants and freaks).
  
• getting men to be attracted to other men in Sodom and Gomorrah (because no seed would come forth homosexual relationships)
  
• getting Onan to spill his seed
  

When we see things that happen in the context of the great spiritual battle, we will then realise why in some cases, God spared and yet in others, God judged.

The Blame Game

Monday, 11th February 2008

OK, now that the hols are over, let’s resume the series on revelations from the book of Genesis.

As a kid growing up in Sunday School, I remember being told the story of the “original sin”, ie. Adam and Eve disobeying God by eating the forbidden fruit.

I don't recall being told that they ate from the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. Maybe that phrase itself was quite a mouthful. The fruit was instead being often referred to as an “apple”.

I suppose that's how the term "Adam’s apple" came about. Legend had it that God called out to him just as he was about to partake of the fruit, so he quickly swallowed it whole, and it got stuck bulging in his throat.

But let's examine what actually happened that fateful day? The devil had taken the guise of a serpent to enter the garden of Eden. He had no legal right to be on earth at that point in time because God had put man in charge. It was only after man disobeyed God that Adam forfeited his God-given authority and handed it over the devil.

Some people say that it was Eve’s fault because she was the one who succumbed to temptation. However, we read in Gen 3:6, “… her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too.” Adam was there all the time when Eve and the devil were having the conversation, yet he chose not to say or do anything. Adam became "ah-dumb". What he should have done was to exercise his God-given authority over the animals, rebuke the serpent and banish it from the garden.

While he chose to remain silent when he was supposed to speak up, he suddenly found his voice a few verses later. When God asked him if he had eaten the forbidden fruit, he was quick to reply, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate (Gen 3:12).

In Gen 2:23, Adam was so appreciative of Eve that he exclaimed, “bones of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” Yet, here we find him turning against her. Instead of standing by his "flesh and bones" and taking responsibility for not protecting her from the evil one, he tried to push the blame to *both* Eve and God: to Eve for being the one who offered him the fruit, and to God for giving Eve to him!

Notice that Eve was a fast learner and quick to shift blame too. In Gen 3:13, she said to God, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

However much Adam tried to play the blame game, God still held him responsible. We read in Rom 5:12-19 the following passage that Paul wrote about how the sin of one man (ie. Adam) caused the downfall of mankind...

Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ
12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— 13for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. 14Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.
15But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. 18Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. 19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Which brings me to a current-day application. We as husbands are given the authority as head of our wife, just like Christ is head of the church. Let us take responsibility for the spiritual well-being of our family unit.

I am now reading the book of Numbers (as part of the daily bible reading plan) and there is a very interesting topic relating to the authority that the husband has over the words spoken by his wife (and as a father to his unmarried daughter). If a wife says or confesses something negative, the husband has the authority to annul what she says by speaking against it. Even though this is one of the laws of Moses, I believe the principle behind it still applies in the New Covenant.

Let us learn from the example of Adam and not remain quiet when our wives are under enemy attack. Let us instead rise up in godly leadership and speak out against the enemy with the authority that God has given to us as head of our households. Amen?

Profile Pictures

Sunday, 10th February 2008

Since it's still the holidays, thought I 'd only resume the series on revelations from Genesis tomorrow.

Those of you who are on Facebook would realise that I have changed my profile picture practically every week :-)

The latest one has me holding up a copy of Destined to Reign.

Previously, it's been me in a Jesus Freak tshirt, as a Botug, with an earring, in a Mr Happy tshirt, showing the warning label, showing a picture of an ACS bear, in an ACS shirt looking fierce, showing the rear of my car during the National Day celebrations and in a Villa jersey looking fierce.

A couple of my friends have asked why I change my profile picture so frequently. I suppose it reflects the many facets of the super-abundant life that I currently enjoy :-)

In fact, there is one other person who changes his profile picture even more often than I do -- and that is none other than Cyberanger. I think he's changed it at least 20 times already in the past 2 months...

Doodle Friends

Saturday, 9th February 2008

Since festivities are still ongoing, I thought I should continue with the fun posts rather than resume the series on the revelations from Genesis at this point in time.

I'm now on Facebook practically everyday. Through this application, God has gotten me connected with a couple of guys from The Next Generation (what my church calls its youth service).

They happen to also be fervent embracers of the grace gospel, so let's see how the Lord wants to lead me in that area...

Anyhow, Facebook has this add-on application called Doodle Friends, and I have been busy "label-doodling" my friends :-)

By the way, "Doodle Friends" is developed by a couple of Chinese folks, Angeline Low and David Mok.

Hence, the availabiliy of labels such as Cheenah Lian and Hokkien Beng.

Astronomy vs Astrology

Friday, 8th February 2008

Today is the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year.

It is called "lunar" because the calendar used by the Chinese is based on the moon (whereas the calendar used by most Western countries is based on the sun, and the earth's relative location to it).

This year is considered the Year of the Rat. There are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac starting with the rat and ending with the pig. This is part of Chinese astrology.

Western countries also have its own zodiac based on the stars. There are 12 stars -- starting with Capricorn and ending with Sagittarius.

But do you know that these 12 stars actually originated from God? His purpose was to tell the gospel story via the stars. However, like other wonderful things created by God such as sex and music, the devil has perverted this, and now caused the world to believe in horoscopes -- that their future is determined by the stars, or the signs under which they are born.

Which bring me back to the subject of today's post. There is a difference between Astrology and Astronomy.

Astrology is the study of the influence that the cosmos has on life on earth. On the other hand, astronomy is the scientific study of celestial objects.

While astrology is of the devil, astronomy is not. We read in Matt 2 that Magi from the east had studied the stars. In verse 2, they said, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship Him."

The gospel story is supposed to start with Virgo (the virgin birth) and end with Leo (the lion of Judah). We read in Isa 19:19 that "In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border."

What monument can we find in Egypt? The sphinx, which is a head of a woman and the body of a lion.

A coincidence?

Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles. The word "tabernacle" means dwelling. In Jn 1:14, we read that Jesus became flesh and made His dwelling among men. The sign during the Feast of Tabernacles is Virgo, the virgin.

Another coincidence?

Jesus was crucified during the Feast of Passover. Passover happens in March/April. The sign during the Feast of Passover is that of Aries, the lamb.

Yet another coincidence?

I will expound further on this when I blog about Gen 15.

Belongs to Us

Thursday, 7th February 2008

Since today is the 1st day of Chinese New Year, let's take a break from the series of revelations from Genesis.

Last night, I composed and sent out this MMS greeting entitled "鼠"于 我们！ (ie. "Belongs to Us"), which is reproduced on the right.

For those who do not understand Chinese, here is the English translation:

Jesus said on the cross "It is finished!" As a result, prosperity belongs to us! Health belongs to us! Wishing everyone a new year filled with God's superabundant grace!

Oh by the way, the word "belongs" is actually 属于 (shu3 yu2), but has deliberately been written as "鼠"于 (same pronunciation), because 鼠 is the character for rat or mouse, and this is the Year of the Rat.

Leaving and Cleaving

Wednesday, 6th February 2008

In Genesis 2, we read about how God created Adam and Eve. Specifically in verse 24, Moses recorded "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh."

In fact, this verse is of significance because Jesus Himself referred to it in both Matt 19:5 and Mark 10:8.

Marriage is an institution designed by God, and His original intention was for one man to have one wife. We read that this was violated along the way by patriachs such as Jacob, David and Solomon, and with it came undesirable consequences.

Paul even compares the marital relationship between husband and wife to that of Jesus Christ and the church in Eph 5:23.

What is interesting about marriage is that there are 2 parts to it: leaving and cleaving.

Leaving

In verse 24, note that Moses said that a man "will leave his father and mother". Once a man gets married, his family unit changes. While still unmarried, his dad was the head of the household. Upon marriage, he now assumes headship in the newly-formed family unit. This "leaving" of parents may not need to a physical one, but it has to be an emotional and spiritual one.

I have been watching a Chinese drama serial called Kinship II (手足 2) and there is a particular character who is caught between his mom and his wife, and both happen to stay under the same roof. In any given situation, a man HAS to choose his wife over his mom, because God's design is for him to leave and cleave. Sure, he may initially be misunderstood as being unfilial, but as he honours God by esteeming his wife, God will honour him in return by causing circumstances to happen such that his relationship with his mom will not be compromised.

I myself used to struggle with this. After all, I am the only son, and my mom dotes on me. I remember when I was in the Army, my mom would send me all the way to Changi-end to catch the RPL to Pulau Tekong. My mom was also the one who saw me through my formative teenage years. Yet, there is a divine order that God has put in place, and the moment I got married, my wife has to take priority over every other human being here on earth. She is the one that God has given to me as my helpmeet, and no matter how much I love my mom (or even my daughter now for that matter), my love for my wife is only second to my love for the Lord.

Cleaving

Which brings me to the 2nd part of the marriage institution, and that is of cleaving. About 5 years ago, my wife and I attended this 14-week course entitled Married for Life. The first 2 topics are Covenant and One Flesh. We were taught the difference between contract and covenant. While a contract has "get-out" clauses to end it, a covenant has none because it is meant to be for life. Marriage is a covenant that is made between husband and wife before God.

We were also thought the topic of one flesh, which means to say that both husband and wife are considered to be one single indivisible unit in the eyes of God. Hence, any decisions that need to be made has to be a joint one. Since God considers my wife and I as one, He cannot be telling me one thing and yet telling my wife another. The decision to stay on in PLMC and to join Philip's cell group are recent examples of decisions that we made jointly as one-flesh.

The Married for Life course is conducted jointly by a husband-and-wife team, and this "one-flesh ministry" in action speaks volumes in the midst of marriages that are falling apart and rising divorce rates. As a result of attending the course, the participants' own marriages are strengthened and even restored, as we learn about and put into practice the bibical principles being expounded upon. For example, one of the topics is on Agreement Prayer, and this is something that my wife and I have been doing in the car every morning on the way to work since 2003.

In Six Days

Tuesday, 5th February 2008

If we were to pick up any secular book about ancient civilisation and the origin of species, we would invariably read about our earth being millions or if not billions of years old.

The world tells us that dinosaurs roamed the earth 63 million years ago. We are also taught that the world came into being via a “Big Bang”, that the earliest known living organism had a single cell which evolved into more complex beings after millions and millions of years, and that we descended from apes.

Speaking of which, I remember a joke that the Chairman of our Varsity Christian Fellowship said during one of our weekly meetings in 1988. He said that supposing we did evolve from apes, then a monkey may say to itself when looking at its zookeeper, “Am I my keeper’s brother?”. [This is a spoof of what Cain said to God when God asked him where Abel was, which was “Am I my brother’s keeper?”] Did not get the joke? Oh well, many of us didn’t either :-P

The theory of evolution is fundamentally mankind not wanting to acknowledge the existence of God. Increasingly, more are beginning to accept the creation story as recorded in Genesis rather than what Charles Darwin theorised. After all, it takes much more faith to believe that everything just happened to come together by chance.

However, many of us have difficulty trying to reconcile what is recorded in the Bible with what science seems to have suggested as to the age of our planet earth and that of the dinosaurs. According to the Bible, creaton took place a mere 6,000 years ago. If God indeed created everything in six days, how do we fit the millions of years into that?

Some have used 2 Pet 3:8 where "a thousand of years is like one day to the Lord" to argue that perhaps creation took place over a span of 6,000 years (or by extrapolation 6,000 million years) rather than 6 literal days of 24 hours each.

As if to prevent this ambiguity in interpretation, the Holy Spirit saw fit to get Moses to mention “there was evening and there was morning” at the end of each of the 6 days (see Gen 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31)!

This is further reinforced in Ex 20:8-11 when God gave the Fourth Commandment about keeping the Sabbath. In verse 11, He said, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” The "day" in Gen 1 meant 24 hours.

Having now understood that creation took place in the space of 144 hours (ie. 6 days X 24 hours), how then do we explain the millions of years ago that dinosaurs are said to have existed?

The bible does not specifically mention when dinosaurs were created. Then again, it also does not mention when cats and dogs were created either. In Gen 1:24, we read that on the 6th day, God created “living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”. Dinosaurs would fit into this description.

How then does one explain the fossil records that are supposed to be millions of years old, or even how Mt Everest or the Grand Canyon were formed?

Well, they "appear" to be millions of years old, but the fact is that the earth and its inhabitants are only several thousand years old. The reason for the hugh mountains and deep valleys, and the fossils buried under layers of rock was because a great worldwide catastrophe took place on planet earth as recorded in Gen 7, of which I will blog about in a future post.

The Original Food Chain

Monday, 4th February 2008

I was working as an accounting software consultant from 1997 to 2000, and one of my colleagues back then was a vegetarian.

The surprising thing is that he is not a Buddhist or a Hindu but a Catholic. He decided to become a vegetarian (together with his entire family) because he feels that plants are free from diseases such as BSE, bird flu, etc. He also mentioned to me that God's original design was for humans and animals to feed on plants only.

Well, he was right in that sense. We read in Gen 1: 29-30
29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

In other words, carnivores that we know of today such as the lion, the eagle, the shark, etc -- the original design was for them to eat plants. While plants were meant to be food, animals were meant to be Adam's playmates. He however did not find a suitable helpmeet among them, so God created Eve to be his phyiscal, emotional and spiritual companion.

Alas, because of the fall, the original divine food chain became altered. God had to kill one of Adam's playmates (most probably a sheep) and use its skin to clothe Adam's and Eve's nakedness (Gen 3:21). As a result of man's sin, the entire creation started to decay and groan. The ground became cursed. Animals killed other animals. Man hunted and killed animals.

God's original design was for mankind to be vegetarians, but the question now is whether it is wrong for us to eat animals. Personally, I do not think so. Sure, although carnivorous attributes came about due to the fall of mankind, God always causes good to come out of something meant for evil. We read many examples in the Bible where patriachs ate meat and God did not condemn or punish them for doing so. On the contrary, there are even instances where He even told them specifically to eat meat!

For example, we read in Gen 25:28 that Isaac had a taste for wild game, and also in Gen 27:3-4 that he instructed Esau to get his quiver and bow and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for him to eat so that he may give Esau this blessing before he died. We also read in Ex 12 how the Israelites ate the Passover Lamb. We read in Ex 16 that God sent quail in the wilderness for the Israelites to complement their diet of manna. We read in Lev 7 that any male in a priests' family may eat guilt offerings.

So my personal stand is that it is OK for us to consume meat for food. However, let us respect the convictions of those that are vegetarians among us. A fellow brother or sister who is a vegetarian for whatever health reasons will not forfeit his mansion in heaven as a result of this. Let's not major on the minors. Amen?

In God's Image

Sunday, 3rd February 2008

When I was an undergraduate, I joined the Music Ministry of the Varsity Christian Fellowship. One of the songs I remember singing was a very moving song called "In the Image of God"

In the Image of God

In the image of God, we were made long ago,
with the purpose divine, here his glory to show;
But we failed Him one day, and like sheep went astray,
thinking not of the cost, we His likeness had lost.

But from eternity, God had in mind,
the work of Calvary, the lost to find;
From His heaven so broad, Christ came down earth to trod,
so that men might live again in the image of God.

Now that I have believed, and the Saviour received,
now that I from the cry, of my guilt am relieved,
I will live for my Lord, not for gain or reward,
but for love thinking of, what His grace has restored!

I'll never comprehend, redemption's plan,
how Christ could condesend, to die for man;
Such a Saviour I'll praise, to the end of my days,
as I upward, onward trod in the image of God.

In Gen 1:26-27, we read that man was the only creature that God created in His image. Not only that, man was the pinnacle of God's creation. When God's created the heavens, the earth, the stars, the seasons, the plants and the animals, He saw what He had made was "good" (Gen 1:10,12,18,21,25). After creating man on the 6th day, what He made now became "very good" (Gen 1:31).

But what exactly does it mean to be created in God's image?

1. Man is a spirit being

Firstly, man is a spirit being, just like God (and the angels) is. While all the others created on those 6 days were via God saying them into existence, we read in Gen 2:7 that man was created by God breathing into his nostrils the breath of life. So while other living creatures like plants and animals perish and are no more, man continues to exist indefinitely like other spirit beings. They will either spend eternity in fellowship with God in heaven, or eternally separated from God in hell.

2. Man's words contain power

This was something I learnt as a result of being exposed to the Word of Faith movement. I remember TRAC President's wife Catherine (whose birthday happens to be today, happy birthday Cat!) sharing verses like "calling for things that are not as though they are" (Rom 4:17), "eating the fruit of one's lips" (Prov 13:2) and that "life and death is in the power of the tongue" (Prov 18:21).

God spoke "light be" and light came forth. Likewise, we as humans created in God's image, can speak into our physical situation or circumstance and cause it to change, for better or for worse. Unlike a dog's bark, a cat's mew or lion's roar, human words contain power. Jesus said in Matt 12:21 that if we say to a mountain "be cast into the sea" and not doubt in his heart, it will come to pass.

Let us therefore use our tongue wisely. When we speak, especially in alignment with God's Word, things start to happen in the spiritual realm that ultimately becomes manifested in the physical realm.

Let us therefore be quick to praise and speak blessings upon our children, so that they grow up well-established and assured. Let us proclaim daily that we are healthy and wealthy, and sicknesses and poverty cannot come near us. Amen?

Light before Sunlight

Saturday, 2nd February 2008

Most of us can recall the creation story where God said on Day 1 " let there be light" and there was light.

However, do you know that the sun, moon and stars were only created on Day 4?

Which means to say that the source of light on Days 1 to 3 was *not* from the sun!

In fact, God even chose to create vegetation on Day 3, which means to say that these vegetation did not rely upon the sun's light to make food until the sun was created on Day 4.

There is a reason as to why God did not create the sun on Day 1. Many other religions exalt the sun as the source of power, energy and life.

For example, the Egyptians worship the sun god Re, and one of the 10 plagues that came upon them was darkness encampassing the entire land for 3 days as recorded in Ex 10:21-29. (To be more precise, the whole of Egypt was in darkness except for the region of Goshen where the Israelites had settled, but that is another topic for another day). Through this plague, God was telling the Egyptians that He was the true God whereas Re was a false one.

The source of power, energy and life is not the sun, but the Son.

The Nicene Creed states that "Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God..."

Jesus Himself said in Jn 8:58, "Before Abraham was, I AM".

Which brings me to a related point that I heard someone raise, about God needing to create man because He was "feeling lonely" and needed someone to fellowship with.

This is not accurate because God was never alone or lonely. The Holy Trinity existed long before creation. The Godhead -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit had fellowship with one another before man came into the picture.

Man was created to enjoy fellowship with the Creator. And in God's image, which is what I will blog about tomorrow.

Revelations from Genesis

Friday, 1st February 2008

One of the NY Resos for 2008 that I made was to finish reading the entire bible in one year.

God has been good, and He has empowered me to finish reading Job, Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus already.

This being the start of a new month, I thought I'd start sharing about what the Lord impressed upon me when I read through the book of Genesis.

The first ten "instalments" are as follows:

1. Light before sunlight (Gen 1:3-5, 14-18)
2. In God's image (Gen 1:26-27)
3. The original food chain (Gen 1:29-30)
4. In 6 days (Gen 2:1-2)
5. Leaving and cleaving (Gen 2:24)
6. The blame game (Gen 3:12-13)
7. The battle begins (Gen 3:15)
8. The first curses (Gen 3:16-19)
9. Fig leaves vs garments of skin (Gen 3:7, 21)
10. East of Eden (Gen 3:24)