The Great King Hezekiah
2 Chronicles 29 – 32, 2 Kings 18 – 20
Regarding to king Hezekiah, 2 Kings 18:5 says
5 Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. 6 He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses.
Similar comments were given to king Josiah in 2 Kings 23:25.
25 Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.
Today let us study about King Hezekiah.
I. Faithfulness of King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29-31)
He lead people to purify the temple of God (2 Chronicles 29), celebrate the festival of Passover in large scale (2 Chronicles 30), destroy idols (objects of foreign gods) (2 Chronicles 31:1), and organize people and materials for on-going worship to God (2 Chronicles 31:2-21).
II. God’s Supernatural Protection (2 Chronicles 32:1-23)
After all the Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria threatened Jerusalem and blasphemed God based on the fact that any god of each nation invaded by Assyria could not save them from Assyria.
After King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah cried out in prayer to heaven about this, God sent an angel to put to death 185,000 in the Assyrian camp overnight (2 Chronicles 32:21, 2 Kings 19:35). We can see that God protects those faithful to Him.
III. Healing & Miraculous Sign (2 Chronicles 32:24, 2 Kings 20:1-11)
When Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death, the prophet Isaiah came and told him that he would die. After Hezekiah prayed to God in 2 Kings 20:3.
3 ‘Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of God came to him in 2 Kings 20:5.
5 ‘Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people, “This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the Lord. 6 I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.” ’
God added 15 years to his life.
Hezekiah asked Isaiah the sign to confirm the above promise, and God made the sun move backward as the sign (2 Kings 20:8-11).
IV. Showing all to a future invader (2 Chronicles 32:27, 31, 2 Kings 20:12-21)
Hezekiah had very great wealth and honour (2 Chronicles 32:27).
Envoys together with letters and a gift were sent by the rulers of Babylon because they had heard of Hezekiah’s illness and wanted to ask him about the miraculous sign (the sun moving backward) (2 Kings 20:12, 2 Chronicles 32:31). When Hezekiah experienced the miracle from God, a remote country, Babylon heard the news! When Peter obeyed the word of Jesus and miraculously caught abundant fish, he and his companions were astonished (Luke 5:9). When one person obeys and experiences God, others are also influenced.
Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses (2 Kings 20:13).
Showing all to envoys from a foreign country looks unsound. Showing off is unsound in general. He should have focused on revealing God rather than his wealth or achievement.
Isaiah, the prophet asked King Hezekiah, ‘What did they see in your palace?’ (2 Kings 20:15)
Isaiah foretold that everything would be carried off to Babylon and nothing will be left (2 Kings 20:17) and some of his descendants will be taken away to become eunuchs in the palace of king of Babylon (2 Kings 20:18).
Only God can show true reality of things. So, we should always ask God first even when everything looks OK.
Hezekiah was confident on God’s grace that such things would not happen during his lifetime (2 Kings 20:19). Only concerning about the security of one’s own lifetime and disregarding the future generations is out of self-centeredness.
We can have such confidence on God’s grace if we have been got right with God. However, we should always keep humility before God no matter what.
References
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition, 2 Ki 18:5–6). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
God has said to Solomon after he had completed the Temple of God
2 Chronicles 7:14
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
References
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
God or idol?
In this message, the focus is not anyone else but Adam or the reader, who is responsible to put God first even though Adam or we may tend to blame others.
It is surprising that how much the first 3 chapters in the 1st book (Genesis) in the Holy Bible tell us.
I. God pointed out the problem (Genesis 3:17-19)
Today let us just look at what God said ‘Adam’s problem’ was in Genesis 3:17-19.
17 To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat from it,”
‘Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from 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.’
Verse 17 tells us the problem we can see in most men even these days.
Adam disobeyed God to obey the woman!
Why is this the big and fundamental problem? Because it is disobedience to the 1st and 2nd commandments of God.
Exodus 20:3-4
3 ‘You shall have no other gods before me.
4 ‘You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Adam made the woman higher than God. Adam made the woman an idol. Otherwise how Adam could disobey God to obey the woman? But surprisingly again, Adam showed that he did not recognized this fundamental problem of his own!
II. Adam showed he didn’t understand his problem (Genesis 3:12)
See Genesis 3:12. When God chased after his responsibility, he answered,
12 The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’
He blamed the woman. And he blamed God who put her with him. He didn’t blame his problem of disobedience and idolatry, but blamed others! It seemed that he didn’t know he was a sinner!
III. Neither do Adam’s descendants of this generation understand their problem
This problem is what can be seen even until this generation. People are idolaters and have hard time to understand why they are sinners. Yes, you are sinners of idolatry. Even if you didn’t make or worship an image of idols, you are idolaters if you are greedy. Greed is idolatry based on Colossians 3:5–6.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
People forgot God and their heart are filled with their greed, instead of God. Greed is their God. Therefore they are idolaters, disobeying the first two commandments of God. God pointed this out in Genesis 3:17.
But Adam expressed his ignorance in Genesis 3:12. So do people in this generation.
So amazing that it has already been written in the very beginning in the Holy Bible!!
IV. Basic principle to follow
Again, the books of 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible show the history of
- God’s supernatural help and prosperity when they got right with God
- troubles and failures when they worshiped idols (and inevitably did evils thereafter)
From them, we can learn basic principle to follow. Again, let us ask ourselves: God or idol?
REFERENCES
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
God’s power of resurrection
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Welcome! Happy Easter!
Since Adam’s fall, death came to humanity. Over the thousands of years, we have been accepting death as common fate. Recent coronavirus worsened our situation under the power of death. We need faith in God and His Son Jesus more than ever.
Today, let us study Ezekiel 37:1-14, and find out God’s power of resurrection.
I. Son of man, can these bones live? (1 – 3)
Ezekiel was standing in front of a great many bones on the floor of the valley. Bones were very dry (2).
God asked Prophet Ezekiel in v3.
‘Son of man, can these bones live?’
Indeed, we are looking at what are totally impossible to live, decades-old dry bones… But this question helps us expect God’s awesome miracle!
Jesus also asked a man invalid for 38 years in John 5:6,
“Do you want to get well?”
The man might have lost any hope after such a long period time. But, through this question, Jesus gave him hope that he could get well. And then, Jesus healed him (John 5:8-9).
We don’t hope someone to live again once has died… But, when God asks, “Can these bones live?”, he is giving us such hope in the midst of worst-case scenario.
II. They came to life and stood up on their feet (4 – 10)
See verse 4-6.
God asked Ezekiel to prophesy to these bones and say to them,
“Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” (4-6)
And as Ezekiel was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone (7). Behold! Tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them (8).
God said to Ezekiel,
‘Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it,
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.” ’ (9)
So, Ezekiel prophesied as God commanded him, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army (10).
Hallelujah! God raised whole lot of dead people of bare dry bones back to life! God demonstrated that He is almighty God who raises the dead!
Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’ (John 11:25), and He raised dead Lazarus (John 11:43-44).
According to Apostle Paul, the resurrection of Jesus entails resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:12-20). In 1 Corinthians 15:36b, Paul teaches the resurrection is shown in the nature.
What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
The resurrection we will experience in future is even more amazing than what we have just read in Ezekiel. Our new body will be imperishable and immortal, suitable for eternal life in Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50-56).
III. God’s power of resurrection (11 – 14)
Let’s continue to read Ezekiel. See verse 11.
Then God said to Ezekiel,
‘Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel.
They say,
“Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.”
At this particular time, God showed Ezekiel this awesome miracle regarding to the people of Israel. They have been absolutely hopeless and devastated.
In verse 12-14, God said “my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them … when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live …”.
At the moment Jesus gave up his spirit on the cross, the dead were raised. See Matthew 27:51-53.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
In the book of Ezekiel and Matthew, we saw the glimpse of God’s power of resurrection. The resurrection in future will be global and glorious for the believers (1 Corinthians 15:52).
In worst and hopeless situations, we may say as the bones say,
“Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.” (11)
But nothing is impossible to God. God raised them to life. If God can raise decades-old dry bones back to life, we can certainly believe that He can help us in any hopeless situation we may have. No problem is too serious or too late for Him.
Situation can be changed up and down. You may be in the midst of a situation getting worse. But remember the word of God we studied today. We can trust God – His faithfulness and His power. Pray to God. Ask God’s will and direction. Wait for God. We can just do the right things regardless of situations. God will do the rest. What are the right things that we can do?
Let us read what Paul concluded after he had finished explaining about the resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead:
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Amen.
While some people may be already equipped with biblical knowledge and discipleship training, some may be new, who may need time for learning & training (but the learning should never end). Regardless, ‘your labour in the Lord is not in vain’. Amen.
As a student, your study is your responsibility (your cross for you to take up). Ask God ‘wisdom’ to manage your time wisely while studying diligently and serving the LORD faithfully.
The Lord be with you.
References
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Christ’s Sacrifice for our Sin & Resurrection foretold
Isaiah 53:1-12
Sacrifice of Christ for our sin was foretold in verses 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, and 12 in Isaiah 53, underlined as below. His resurrection was foretold in v10 and v11 marked in bold.
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because 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.
References
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Solomon
Solomon’s life gives us the lesson that even wisest men can be gone astray by women. How?
1 Kings 11:2 describes this as below:
2 They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.’ Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love.
Even when women were spiritually wrong, Solomon continued to hold fast to them in love…
Adam also took the forbidden fruit from the woman even when she had already been captivated by the snake (Genesis 3:6).
a spring of water welling up to eternal life
See John 4:13-14.
13Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.“
Let us think about what ‘thirsty again’ means.
Our physical body is mortal. Our body has physiological needs. So, we drink physical water and eat physical food. We have to repeat this. We value physical things and do not know they can’t satisfy our soul. This misunderstanding can put us in pursuit or competition for the limited resources. This pursuit or competition can make us tired of the repetition. ‘thirsty again’ expresses this. But if we drink the water Jesus gives will never thirst, giving eternal satisfaction and eternal life. It will become a spring of water welling up forever.
This water satisfies our soul and does not require repetition
People who depend only on physical water will be continuously thirsty. Either ignorant or resentful of their God-implanted need for spiritual water, they will always look in the wrong direction for satisfaction. Jeremiah had proclaimed this truth centuries earlier: “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13). [2]
God Himself is the spring of living water (Jeremiah 2:13). The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross qualified us (His believers) to retain inside us this spring of water welling up to eternal life.
References
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition, Jn 4:13-14). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
[2] Gangel, K. O. (2000). John (Vol. 4, p. 76). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
Being born again
John 3:1-16
1Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
5Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
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.
(Message)
Nicodemus was one of Pharisees. This means he was a religious leader. Also he was a member of the Jewish ruling council. Therefore, he was a political leader. That is, Nicodemus was a very successful man. He was successful enough to be an idol of young generation in the society. Even though he was extremely successful, he was incomplete. So he came to Jesus to get help. He came to Jesus at night to avoid the attention of the crowd because of his high position in the society. He confessed that Jesus is a teach who has come from God, based on his observation on miraculous signs that Jesus performed. What is the reply of Jesus? See v3.
3In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
Nicodemus was not spiritually reborn. As a result, he was in fact spiritually blind. Therefore he can see miracles Jesus performed but he couldn’t see the kingdom of God. What he knows about Jesus was his reasoning from what he hears and sees using his physical ears and eyes, but he was spiritually ignorant.
What was the response of Nicodemus? See v4.
4“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!”
He thought born again means physically being born again. So he couldn’t understand how it could happen. We can see Nicodemus was spiritually ignorant. We can learn academic achievement does not entail spiritual enlightenment. How does Jesus help Nicodemus? See v5-8.
5Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Here being born of water means ‘repentance of sin’. This emphasizes the human action of repentance. Sin includes any attitude or tendency that makes us away from God or church of God or work of God. Repentance means 180 degree turning away from sin and setting the direction of life toward God. Here, the water is originated from Baptist John’s water baptism, which is baptism of repentance. Baptism was performed in the river. By sinking in the water, it is declared that my sinful body is dead and my sinful life has ended. By coming out of the water, it is declared that brand new life in God has started.
Being born of the Spirit means ‘forgiveness of sin’. This emphasizes the help of God’s power to burn off the sin. Holy Spirit can burn our sin away.
Jesus explained the Spirit using example of the wind. We can’t see the wind but we can tell the existence and work of the wind based on movement of leaves. Likewise, we can tell the existence and work of the Spirit based on changes made by the Spirit.
What is response of Nicodemus? See v9.
9“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
Nicodemus was still ignorant. Now, Jesus rebuked Nicodemus.
10“You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? (10-12)
Now Jesus predicts his death on the cross. See v13-15.
13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
The story regarding to v14 is written at Numbers 21:4-9. Israelites were impatient and complained, so God sent venomous snakes and many of them died by the snakes. When people repented and Moses prayed, God let Moses make bronze snake and put up on a pole so that anyone bitten can look it up and live. Here the bronze snake represents Jesus on the cross. This story gives us lessons. First of all, we learn complaint is serous sin. Secondly, we learn how to survive by looking at Jesus when we have deadly problem while we will not survive if we look at our problems and struggle by ourselves.
See v16.
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.
John 3:16 is the key verse of the entire Bible. This is love story of the creator. All we need is God’s love.
When I was a teenager, I met Jesus, I felt his love, and I was so happy. So I know what I really need is love of God. Then, the Holy Spirit revealed my sinfulness and selfishness. I felt the hurts of others by my selfishness and sinfulness. I cried many days and hated & blamed myself. I totally repented and I was so moved by the love Jesus had on the cross to forgive my sin. And I totally surrendered to the Lord Jesus. I know it is all about love. Jesus is real. I pray that all of you here may repent your sins with tears, open your heart, receive Jesus, and let the Holy Spirit burn your sins away.
I share a great illustration of John 3:16 I found in [2]:
| God | The greatest Lover | so loved | The greatest degree |
| the world | The greatest company | that he gave | The greatest act |
| his one and only Son | The greatest gift | that whoever | The greatest opportunity |
| believes | The greatest simplicity | in him | The greatest attraction |
| shall not perish | The greatest promise | but | The greatest difference |
| have | The greatest certainty | eternal life | The greatest possession |
REFERENCES
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition.). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
[2] Hughes, R. K. (1999). John: that you may believe (p. 86). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books
Creation or Evolution?
How did we come to exist? This is the primary question of philosophy. But philosophy does not give us correct answer but leaves a question mark in the end. The origin is a matter of belief (faith). What you believe does matter. What is your belief on our origin? Let us study about two beliefs in the world and choose a right one today.
There are largely two different beliefs in the world. One is theism and the other is atheism. Theism is a belief that there is God. Atheism is a belief that there is no God.
Theism explains the origin of humans with creation. Atheism explains this with evolution.
Let us start with evolution. First of all, evolution is a hypothesis. And evolutionists are believers on this hypothesis.
Evolutionists believe we were evolved from one cell animal, called Amoeba.
Then we have a question to ask, “how did Amoeba come to exist?” Evolutionists explain that Amoeba was spontaneously formed from chemical reactions between elements like H (Hydrogen), O (Oxygen), and C (Carbon), ignited by the lightnings.
Amoeba has one cell but if we examine the cell, its cell contains three major macromolecules that are essential for all forms of life. They are RNA, DNA, and proteins. As the science learns more things, it realizes RNA is more complicated than any machinery that humans ever developed. So ‘spontaneous formation of life’ became harder to believe. In addition, evolution does not explain where elements like H, O, and C are from.
Even though evolutionists cannot convince spontaneous formation of Amoeba, they insist Amoeba evolved into advanced animals by mutation. Mutation is a permanent change in the DNS sequence of a gene. But during mutation, DNA keeps or loses the existing genetic information but never add new genetic information. Without adding new genetic information into DNA, evolution is not possible. Evolutionists ask us to believe ‘evolution by mutation’ is happening all around us, but this is clearly false. ‘Evolution from Amoebas to humans’ simply cannot work.
Also if evolution were correct, we should have found fossils of intermediate species between two different species to show evolution process. But scientists could not find such fossils, which are called missing links.
So evolution is a theory and the theory in crisis.
Modern science supports creation more than evolution.
Based on evolution and atheism, we cannot understand the preciousness of our life and it cannot explain why we have righteous mind and love and what is the purpose of life.
Instead, it leads us into wrong principles like the money almighty principle, the success almighty principle, communism, hedonism, nihilism, and debauchery.
Then, now, let us discuss about how creation explains this.
We can find the answer from the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible consists of 66 books. These books are written by many people of different backgrounds and times but the theme of each book is one, that is, the Messiah (Saviour), Jesus Christ.
Therefore the author of these 66 books is God who wrote each book through different people (writers), inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Genesis, the first book of the Holy Bible, declares God’s creation of the universe.
This book is called “Gate of the Holy Bible”. It is because we can understand the other books of the Holy Bible through this book. As we can enter a house through the gate, we can enter to the world of the Holy Bible through Genesis.
Genesis is also called the book of beginnings. Genesis lets us know the beginnings of the universe, creatures, marriage, sin, and many other beginnings.
See Genesis 1:1.
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Here, “In the beginning” means the starting point of time and space, beginning point of creation. “God” is Elohim in Hebrew. Elohim is the plural form of Eloah, which means Almighty God. The fact that God was expressed in the plural form is the basis of the Trinity. God is Triune God, existing as three persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) in one being. “created” is ‘bara’ in Hebrew, which means creating something from nothing. “bara” can be used to describe the unique activity of God only. It is distinguished from human activities like ‘design’ or ‘build’. “the heavens” is in the plural form and means the whole universe. “the earth” is in the singular form and means the earth where we are living.
So, the Holy Bible declares that
- There is God.
- God is almighty.
- God created the whole universe in the beginning (indicating that God has ownership & control, and everything in the universe has its purpose in God).
Genesis 1:3 reads
“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”
Here, we can learn God’s word has the power of creation. God’s invisible word created the visible world. Shortly, the word created the world. The invisible created the visible.
Hebrews 11:3b says,
What is seen was NOT made out of what was visible.
Then, what made this visible universe? Hebrews 11:3a says,
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command.
Here ‘faith’ is defined in Hebrews 11:1.
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Genesis was written by God through Moses nearly 5,500 years ago. There was no science or evolution theory. But Genesis chapter 1 tell the truth of creation against evolution by repeatedly saying “(God created…) according to their kinds” 9 times in Genesis 1:11, 12, 21, 24, 25. So we can understand the diversity of each species is not by accident but by the plan, purpose, and design of God.
Genesis 1:27 Says
“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
So, we can understand why we have the image of God that makes us righteousness and love oriented.
Q & A
Q: Where does ‘faith’ come from?
A: See Romans 10:17
17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
Q: Where can we read the word of Christ?
A: All Scripture is God-breathed as written in 2 Timothy 3:15-17.
15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
You are welcome! But how to receive a rich welcome?
Key verses: 2 Peter 1:10-11
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Scripture: 2 Peter 1:1-11
1 Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:
2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
Confirming one’s calling and election
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is short-sighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
(Message)
See v10.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble,
Calling and election is yet another example of Peter’s use of a pair of words of very similar meaning. If a distinction is to be made between them, we can say that election is a prior decision to select someone from a group (as, for example, God selecting Israel out of the nations to be his people), while calling is the actual process of inviting the elected ones to share in the privileges and responsibilities of their election. The one who does the calling and choosing is God. These two terms stress the fact that it is through God’s initiative that people experience a new relationship with God. [2]
But how do people confirm their call and election? We should of course avoid translating this in such a way as to make the calling and election dependent on human action rather than on divine initiative. God is the one who calls, but those who are called must show by their action that their call is real and that their election is absolutely certain. In this way they themselves, as well as people from outside the church, won’t have any doubt regarding the genuineness of God’s call. [2]
This emphasis on the importance of the human role in the Christian life serves to remind the readers that there are teachers who would like to lead them into a morally lax existence. In such cases it is possible to restructure the ordering of these clauses completely and say, for example, “My brothers, God has called you to follow him and has chosen you to be his people. So, if you want to insure that this experience lasts permanently, you must try even harder than you have up to now” or “… Therefore try even harder to act in a way that will prove to yourselves and others that God has really called you to follow him and has chosen you to be his people.” [2]
If you do these things can refer to what comes immediately before, that is, making sure of your calling and election, or else to the virtues in verses 5–7, since literally this reads “if you do these things.” “Stumble,” in this context can refer to committing error or sinning, or falling away from the faith and becoming unfaithful to Christ. Some commentators take this in a future sense, taking “stumble” as referring to the inability of reaching final salvation. The Greek negative (never) here is emphatic, with the sense of “never, never,” or “never at any time.” [2]
- If the translator understands the phrase if you do these things to refer to the virtues listed in verses 5–7, and stumble to refer to “becoming unfaithful to Christ,” an alternative translation model is the following; “If you follow these qualities you will never stop trusting in Christ.” However, if stumble is understood as committing error or sinning, then one can translate “if you follow these qualities you will never fall into sin.” [2]
- However, if translators understand if you do these things to refer to what comes immediately before this text, an alternative translation model is the following: “if you insure that God has called you and chosen you, you will never stop trusting in Christ (or, never fall into sin).” [2]
See v11.
11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
This verse continues the thought of verse 10 and mentions in a positive way the reward that comes to believers as they make sure of their call and election. It begins with the word ‘and’, again referring back to the virtues mentioned earlier. In many languages this can be rendered as “By doing all these things …” [2]
Reference
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011). (2011). (Revised and updated edition, 2 Pe 1:10–11). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
[2] Arichea, D. C., & Hatton, H. (1993). A handbook on the letter from Jude and the second letter from Peter (pp. 83–85). New York: United Bible Societies.
