John

Easter 2014 Series: Why did Jesus have to die? (Old Testament Scriptures)

/ Henry Jiang / Leave a comment

My fellow brothers and sisters, one of the most important days of our Lord is coming up, Good Friday and Easter. To those who are mature in their faith, we understand that these are the days that God reveals and exhibits his eternal love and compassion for those who dwell on the Earth. For those who are new in faith, some may question why Jesus had to die at all and why we have to celebrate this time in the year.

Since we are approaching the time of Easter, perhaps the mature and the new believer needs a refreshing and a reminder of why our King we serve, the one that deserves all the Glory took up the cross upon Himself. Since we are approaching Good Friday, this post will be discussing about Jesus’ death rather than the resurrection that will be discussed at a later date.

Let us directly dive into the question. Why did Jesus have to die?

1.   Old Testament Scripture Prophecizes it

The Old Testament is a common Scripture shared between Christians, Muslims and Jews. However, there are parts of the Old Testament that prophesy or reveal God’s Will of sending His Son to die for our sins.

Jesus’ death was at the exact time the Jewish feast of the Passover, where lambs would be sacrificed to God (Exodus 12:3). However, during the time of this Passover feast, other than the lambs being slaughtered, the Lamb of God, known as our Lord God Jesus (John 1:29) was sacrificed for our sins. Though Jesus lived a sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21), he died on the cross for our sins (Romans 4:25). Deuteronomy 21:22-23 states that anyone being hung on a tree is under God’s curse, as we can see God is so fair and just that He has to satisfy his wrath. Moreover, the God loves us so much that if we believe in Him, we would not need to go to hell as the price for our sins is paid.

As we follow the Scriptures commanding the Jews about the Passover, it is clearly stated that none of the lamb’s bones were to be broken during that sacrifice (Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12, Psalm 34:20). This was fulfilled in the New Testament (John 19:36).

Now, let’s look back at the Bible verses that are mentioned here (there are many more) that prophesy Jesus’ death. It is clear that Exodus and Numbers is included in the Jewish Torah. This is clear evidence that Torah Scriptures support the existence of Jesus Christ and His death.

For all those who have doubts about the consistency of the Bible between the Old and New Testaments, I challenge you to look into the above Bible verses and see for yourself how our God poured out His everlasting love!

Needless Pain We Bear

/ Henry Jiang / Leave a comment

My beloved brothers and sisters, have you taken a look at yesterday’s post? The post about meditating on the lyrics of the well known hymn: “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. Honestly, though we are told to fear God, we should also treat Jesus as our best friend. However, although we understand that Jesus is our best friend, many times, we forget about this because we don’t physically see Jesus. Moreover, it is important to believe when we haven’t seen Jesus physically (John 20:29). In my personal life, I can witness the Holy Spirit existing at every corner of the world. But due to the human instinct of requiring to see something in order to be reminded, we often forget about asking Jesus in times of high stress and struggles, and this again comes back to the sin of self-reliance. However, Joseph Scriven has left behind a poem (later transforming into a hymn) which we should meditate on especially at times of trouble.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
Oh, what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!

Honestly, if we are not praying to God about all our struggles and burdens, we are forfeiting our peace and feeling needless pain. This is the truth. 1 Corinthians 16:11 is one of the Bible verses that back up this claim but it is actually so simple. Also, in Scriven’s poem, the first verse uses the diction “privilege to carry”, and this is very true. We do not even deserve to talk to God face to face because we are such sinners, and that is why the temple veil was torn when Jesus was crucified: Jesus took away our sins so that we are washed to be sinless and made worthy to even talk to God, only when we repent and confess our sins and believe in Jesus Christ.

Therefore my brothers and sisters, have you been forfeiting this privilege? Are there any problems causing you pain and burden that you haven’t taken to Jesus in prayer? Have you ever thought of Jesus as your friend? I challenge you to ponder about these questions and reflect on how you are using these words of wisdom in your daily lives.

 

Things that are neither Bright nor Beautiful

/ Henry Jiang / Leave a comment

Reflecting from yesterday’s hymn “All Things Bright and Beautiful”, it reminds me of the time I have stumbled upon the thought: What about things that I feel are not bright and beautiful? Are these not creations of God? Is this hymn just blaspheming about things that are Bright and Beautiful and completely ignoring the things that are not?

When we think of this, we have to keep in mind that God is good and fair. Scriptures such as  Matthew 7:11, Matthew 19:17, Romans 5:8, John 3:16 and John 15:12 describe the goodness of God and how He loves us. But why do we have people ranting on about how miserable their lives are? Why does God put these people in those situations.

Last Sunday, I was having lunch at Village by the Grange. There was this elderly black lady sitting in front of me, constantly talking. For a moment, I thought that she was calling someone on her phone but later, I realized she was ranting about living on community housing and how the world is messed up. I was eating my beef Pho when I felt a type of spiritual unrest for her. I felt like she needed God and peace, and I felt the urge to give her one of those ESV Economy Bibles I carry around. I finished my bowl of noodles and confronted her with the Bible, she thanked me and told me she already has one and asked me to give it to someone else on her behalf. Then I asked her if I could pray for her and she agreed.

These days, I often invite the Holy Spirit to lead me in prayer so that I pray for things that the Holy Spirit wants and not what I want in my life. During the prayer, I prayed for this lady to receive more foresight by looking into God to strengthen her soul. I thanked God for giving her these challenges as we understand that we should rejoice at times of trial as the testing of your faith produces perseverance and that perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:2-4). God wants the best of us and providing us with these challenges or things that are not bright and beautiful, He is setting us up to receive His everlasting fruits He will bless us after this short-termed life in this world (And it was actually from the prayer where I came up with the name of this site). After the prayer, the lady stopped ranting and was smiling until she left the area. Praise the Lord!

Now my lovely brothers and sisters, ask yourselves, “What is your attitude when you are faced with trials and temptations? Are you allowing God to make you perfect by developing your perseverance? Is your foresight perhaps blinded by the current situations that arise and in your mind act as a barrier between God and you?”