Really really glad that we had the discussion yesterday. Frankly, even as I prepared for the week's discussion, I wasn't really sure how yesterday's discussion will turn out. I committed it to the Lord and am glad that it was a time of reflecting and sharing. I myself has been blessed in the process and I hope you too :)
Old Testament Prophecies Point to Christ
I was pondering through the week, what distinguishes our faith from other faith and the answer lies with Christ. We believe that God so loved us that He sent His son, Jesus Christ, down as a suffering messiah to die on the cross for our sins:
Romans 6:23 (NIV):
23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 3:16 (NIV):
16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Honestly, before I came back to Christ, I thought of Christianity as a "western religion" but little did I expect that it has it roots with Judaism and Islam and that it is all about the same God but how different faith developed from the same "story". As I continue my Christian walk, OTC and also preparing for cell, I began to learn more and more about God and His people.
When I attended Peter Tsukahira's seminar about two months ago, there was a sharing by a Christian Jew and as he shared, he kept mentioning that he began to see how the Old Testament was pointing to Christ and how the Jews missed their Messiah. I couldn't understand it until I continue to study the bible and did a bit of research on it. According to one, the Old Testament has many "pictures" about the Messiah. But I learnt how the Jews have missed their Messiah, and in fact even put Him to death on the cross, but all that, to fulfill the prophecy about the suffering Messiah who has come to die on the cross for our transgressions. It was explained that the Jews had expected a political and/or a military Messiah but who would have known that God would send a suffering Messiah.
If you are interested to hear from a Jew who eventually followed Christ, you hear watch his testimony on RBC's website:
In fact, in Luke 24:13-35, Jesus appeared to two persons making their way to another village right after Jesus was crucified. At this point, they had not known that it is the resurrected Jesus walking alongside them. Apparently, the two were disappointed; they had hopes about Jesus being to Messiah to come deliver them but then now He is dead. In Luke 24: 25-27 (NIV), Jesus responded:
25. He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26. Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" 27. And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
He might have brought them through all in the Old Testament which had pointed to a suffering Messiah. If you were to do a google search or read the Life Application bible, you can find people mentioning about prophecies about Christ in the Old Testament, that there is a link between the Old and New Testament, that God has a salvation plan right from the start. Here are a few:
- Isaiah 53 - Perhaps one of the more commonly cited verse about Christ as the suffering messiah, it was mentioned about how He will be despised and rejected (v3), how He took up our infirmities, was pierced for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities (v4-6), how it was the Lord's will and how He chose to go through the suffering as a lamb led to be slaughtered (v7-12). It ended with the verse "... he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors."
- Zechariah 12:10 tells us how God will provide from the house of David (the lineage of Jesus) and from Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication and how they will mourn for the one their pierced
- Isaiah 7:14 says that the sign would be a virgin who will give birth to Immanuel (God with us) and we all know how Christ was born from Virgin Mary.
- Isaiah 9:6-7 tells us of a son is given who will be "Mighty God" i.e. Immanuel (God with us)
- Psalm 22 where the words "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (v1, cf Mark 15:34, Matthew 27:46) spoken by Jesus also came from and also spoke of hands and feet being pierced (v16), about how the people will divide His garments and cast lots for them (v18, cf Mark 15:24, Luke 23:34, Matthew 27:35)
- Isaiah 11 speaks of a redeemer and of hope coming from the household of Jesse (lineage of Christ)
- Genesis 3:15 speaks about how God declared war on Satan from the moment man sinned, used to speak of how God started unfolding His redemption plan from day one.
There are many other prophecies but then I will leave it to you to find. In the same way, although we know of Christ and all that He has done, do we sometimes also miss Him? Do we try to shape Him into what we expect of the Messiah and miss Him? As time goes by, do we grow cold towards what He done for us?
I recently read an article called "Forgiveness at the cross" and it mentioned that the first recorded words from Jesus on the cross is "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34), that while in excruciating pain, Jesus asked God for forgiveness for his tormentors and his pain as only just began! Under such circumstances, we would say that the people on the receiving end certainly did not deserve it and they didn't even ask for it. What amazing love and grace! To further appreciate what Christ has done for us, you may wish to read the article, I am the Cross, again.
How do we know if Jesus is the Messiah and really died on the Cross?
I am really glad that this question was brought up and it really challenge us to think about the bible and its claims. I am so tempted to reach back to the bible for verses in an attempt to "defend" the bible e.g. 2 Timothy 16:17 (NIV):
16. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17. so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
But then, to do that is to use something which is being evaluated to substantiate itself. So began an interesting discussion in cell yesterday. We soon found ourselves in a deadlock simply because we do not know. The bible is a chronicle, if I may use the word, of the story of God and His people and it happened so long ago. Who lives that long enough to prove its authenticity? Some of us this start to rely on science and relics and some even organised expeditions to find these relics to prove the consistency between events in the bible and what happened in history. There had been progress made but then every time an "evidence" shows up, they will also be arguments and also "counter-evidences".
Don't believe me? Just do a search on YouTube (not that I recommend it) and you will know what I mean. It is a place which could get you very confused because you can be hearing how some defend Christianity and it make sense, then some will defend Islam and it make sense too and even some will speak from the perspective of an Atheist and sad to say, some may find that it make sense too. The fact is there is no way to verify and sometimes we have to rely on human reasoning. I myself have been confused before (even though it can be embarrassing to note) but then I was once confused by the Da Vinci code, even though I went with the attitude that it is only a fictional story. Then began my research on the internet and the more I researched, the more confused I became. But thank God, my eyes were open again.
OK, so the question is, how do we know? Here's what came up in our cell discussion yesterday:
- Self as testimony -The bible is a chronicle of how God has worked in the past but then God is a God that works yesterday, today and tomorrow. So you yourself are also, in a way, a testimony and chronicle of how God has worked in your life. We are reminded that Christianity is not a RELIGION but a RELATIONSHIP with God. I am sure most of us did not come to Christ because we read the bible but because, we have in a way or another, experienced Him. The question is, are you making the effort to experience Him at work in your lives?
- Let the Bible Speak - We have heard how sermon messages and bible verses spoke in different ways to people and some even transformed lives. The fact is that the bible has the power to speak to people and also change lives. The bible, as some put it, stands for Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, and you can think of it as a book that tells you how to live your life and get things right with God and people. It preaches about how we should live our lives and "love our neighbours" and "love God".
- Faith & Worship - Someone mentioned that "maybe God did not want to leave so many traces" because won't we be worshipping relics instead of God. Faith becomes something cheap because you are believing because of the relics which tells you God is real. God wants to restore our relationship back to Him. Hebrews 11:1 speaks of faith as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see".
- Value of it all - OK, if all that didn't convince you, then I am going to use a very pragmatic mode of talking... think about the people whose lives' have been changed, the testimonies, the things that they do (yes there are undoubtedly Christian who disappoints) e.g. charity and missionary work. I once heard this on a video clip, even if there is a 1 in 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 chance that there is a God and He love you so much to give you salvation freely, wouldn't you want to take it up? God wants to restore His relationship with you.
Christianity as a RELATIONSHIP with God and His People
At cell, we agree that Christianity is not so much a religion or a ritual (which we could sometimes make it to be so) but a RELATIONSHIP with God. We can sometimes get into the rut of doing things and as OTC has revealed in the past few months, God did not demand sacrifices and offering that is worth nothing, as stated in 2 Samuel 24:24 (NIV) that "...I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing". Just as the previous blog entries e.g. Discussion: Developing a Heart for God, we learnt that is it not the practices and rituals or the offering that matters, but the heart for God.
We need to be real with God and His people. We need to also be real with His people because the last thing is that we look hypocritical. We do not need to defend God when we have trials because this points to the very fact that we need God. Many a times, we tend to feel "ashamed" that even as Christians, we face trials and that others will say "doesn't your God help you, why are you in this state?" We do not need to look perfect because we all need God. As someone has mentioned, which I am trying to also remember, God does not guarantee a smooth journey but a safe landing. As Christians, we can be assured that God knows what we are going through and that He is there.
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