Monday, 8th December 2008
Since today is a public holiday, I will be blogging again...
When I was much much younger, I was under the impression that since God was one God, the names Jehovah, Jesus, El Shaddai, Holy Spirit, etc all referred to Him.
Sometime in the mid-eighties, I remember my then Senior Pastor, Rev Dr Kang Ho Soon preaching about the Trinity, and that kind of confused me at first because God is one, yet God is also three persons. Gradually, I began to understand the mystery about the Triune God, ie God the Father, Jesus the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
They are distinct Persons with distinct ministries. God the Father is the One who is mentioned throughout the Old Testament, and the One whom we now address as Daddy God because of what the cross has accomplished. God the Son is the One who made that all possible by becoming a man to redeem mankind. God the Holy Spirit is the One who now dwells inside of us and guides us into all truth in our everyday life.
Just when I thought I had it all figured out, I came across the following song in 1988 when I was in the church choir and had to sing it during Christmas...
For unto us a child is born
Unto us a Son is given
And the government will be upon His shoulders
And His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God
the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace is He.
This song is based on Isa 9:6 and it was a prophesy about the Incarnation. Knowing that it referred to Jesus, the 2nd Person of the Godhead, now another thing began to confuse me as it seemed to be inconsistent with the Trinity.
I mean, why was Jesus being referred to as the Everlasting Father? I thought He was supposed to be the Son? I struggled with this for some time but decided to dismiss it off as "one of those things in the Bible that doesn't make sense, but just accept it by faith, lor".
Well, the long-awaited answer to the above question arrived yesterday, some 20 years later :-D
I have mentioned on my blog that I am now on a sabbatical from my own home church due to the lack of spiritual food, and am attending NewCre on a regular basis. My wife and I will however go back to PLMC whenever Ps Reuben is preaching.
The fact that there were major road closures around Suntec because of the Singapore Marathon confirmed our decision to attend PLMC yesterday, and Ps Reuben preached on that very verse in Isaiah!!! (which is part of a current sermon series leading up to Christmas about the prophecies regarding the Messiah).
Ps Reuben explained that Jesus was called "Father" not in the context of His relationship with the other 2 in the Godhead. Rather, he is "father" in the sense that He (as the second and last Adam), is considered the ancestor to all of us in the New Covenant, just like how the first Adam is the father of all humankind! What a revelation!
But what brought tears to my eyes and a stirring within my spirit man was when Ps Reuben said that because Jesus is the "Everlasting" Father, what this implies to us in the New Covenant is that He cannot be "un-fathered" nor can we be "un-childed". I know it is bad English, but it drives home the point about the blessed assurance that we have about our salvation and position in Christ. Hallelujah!
Speaking of which, you can listen to that sermon entitled "And His Name shall be called..." at the following link:
http://www.box.net/shared/f8tkax65so
His other anointed sermons can be downloaded at the following link:
Anointed Sermons
8 comments:
Malcolm,
I certainly appreciate the sermon by Ps.Reuben.
Agree with him that all the titles about Jesus mentioned in Is. 9:6 means nothing unless we personally make Him ours.
For it is "unto us" a child is born,
it is "unto us" a Son is given!
Blessed Advent Season!
Hi Joo
Ya, I really thank God for sending Ps Reuben to PLMC.
Back in the 1980s, someone coined the term "Why Should the Devil Have all the Good Music?" to promote Christian pop music from the likes of Petra, Audio Adrenaline and WhiteHeart.
In the same vein, I am asking, "Why Should NewCre have all the good preachers?"
If we in PLMC (and any other church for that matter) exalt and magnify the Name of Jesus and the perfection of His finished work, there is no reason why God will not likewise cause His blessings to flow and multiply the flock exponentially. Amen?
Amen! Maybe one day, PLMC will also be vilified for trying to build a $500 million building to accommodate the many thousands that come every Sunday ;-)
There is no contradiction in the Bible. I am glad Ps Reuben cleared that up :-)
Amen Stan.
Heard that I missed an equally great sermon where Ps Prince preached about Philistines?
I was just telling Terence that it is uncanny, because God also placed that term in my heart when Phil accused me of idolising Ps Prince.
It is truly awesome, because that same Holy Spirit that gave me that word, also prompted Ps Prince to preach on it, as though in answer to and to expound on this!!!
Looking forward to receiving the CD sermon in the next couple of days, as well as to Terence's sermon notes on it :-D
Thanks for the posting up the sermon and yes the sermon Pastor Prince preached was really good. A lot of us needed to hear it. I've been busy with my work so haven't been posting up my sermon notes too lol.
I felt Pastor Charles Nieman did a great job the Sunday before last. =)
Must say this is funny the word verification today for my blog comment post is "biblegui"
LOL! Bible is precious? Indeed the Word of God is so precious and wonderful. I thank God for good preachers to help us understand it even better. Praise God!
Hi Geri
Yup, Ps Charles Nieman sermon was awesome. I learnt that "faith = believing + speaking" :-)
That earlier sermon by Rev Dr Peter Youngren was just as anointed. I learnt that "Jesus + anything = 0" and "Jesus + 0 = everything".
Phil is talking nonsense saying that I idolise Ps Prince. If so, I won't even bother listening to sermons by other grace preachers, like those mentioned above. Amen?
AMEN! They choose to believe and speak what they want... after all it is their freedom to do so. But as for us, we will continue to believe and speak and to persevere in the LORD despite the misunderstandings and false accusations - we know we don't idolise Pastor Prince so why bother being ruffled by what they say? =D
At the end of the day, God knows our heart lah and we know that our blessings come from CHRIST'S FINISHED WORK ON THE CROSS and we are firmly established on the Rock of Ages... so what people say, we don't have to really care. What matters is that we know whose we are! =)
WOW WOW ! Awesome revelation!
Jesus is Evelasting Father.We are
His everlasting children !
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