God preserves His people and all things through His providence. The continuous activity of God in His creation by which He preserves, govern, controls: the universe; the physical world; the affairs of nations; human being's and animal's birth and their destiny. As a result, without God's continual care and activity the world and all things in it, would not exist.

God is the source of salvation, Who rescues others from evil, danger, and destruction. Thus, God is the 'Savior', or as the 'Savior.'

There is no other god beside Me,
a God of integrity and a Savior;
there is none apart from Me.
Turn to Me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth,
for I am God unrivalled. - Is. 45:22-23 -

In the Old Testament, and because God is the source of salvation and the Saviour. God sent human deliverers to rescue His people, Israel/Jacob. This word was also used to describe the judges of Israel, those 'savior' or 'deliverers' who rescued God's people from oppression by their enemies.

The Israelites cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up for the Israelites a deliverer who rescued them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. - Judg. 3:9 -

Then the Israelites cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised up a deliverer for them, Ehud the son of Gera the Benjaminite; he was left-handed. - Judg. 3:15 -

They forgot the God who had saved them
by performing such feats in Egypt. - Ps. 106:21 -

How often they defied Him in the wilderness,
how often they outraged Him in the desert,
repeatedly challenging God,
provoking the Holy One of Israel -
entirely oblivious of His hand
and of the time He saved them from the oppressor. - Ps. 78:40-42 -

For I am Yahweh, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. - Is. 43:3 -

I, I am Yahweh,
there is no other savior but Me.
It is I, Who have spoken, have saved, have made the proclamation,
not any strangers among you.

You are my witnesses - it is Yahweh who speaks -
and I, I am your God, I am He from eternity.
No one can deliver from My hand,
I act and no one can reverse it. - Is. 43:11-13 -

In the New Testament the word for "Saviour" describes both God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. The Lord Jesus Christ was the "Savior" of Gentiles as well as Jews. The apostles rejoiced that in Christ Jesus, God had become the "Savior of all men/women."

In the Old Testament, the 'Temple' consisted of a series of courts. As one entered the Temple, (which are only for the Jews/Israelites) precincts and proceeded toward the interior, each court was higher than the previous one. Thus, 'Non-Jews/Israelites' or 'Gentiles' were prohibited from going farther, but Non-Jews/Israelites/Gentiles could enter the 'Court of the Gentiles' that is, the outermost court of (Herod's)Temple in Jerusalem.

Apparently, the New Testament uses two words for Temple. One of these words refers to the collection of buildings that made up the Temple in Jerusalem, while the other usually refers to the Sanctuary of the Temple.

The Lord Jesus Christ related to the Temple in four distinct ways.

1 - As a pious Jew/Israelite who was zealous for the Lord, Jesus showed respect for the Temple. The Lord Jesus Christ referred to it as "the house of God" and 'My Father's house." Jesus taught that everything in it was holy because of the sanctifying presence of God.

2 - Jesus' zeal led Him to purge the Temple of the money-changers and to weep over it as He reflected on its coming destruction. In fact, Prophet Malachi, - Malachi chapter 3:1 - prophesied the cleansing of the Temple as something the Lord and His Messenger would do, Jesus' act implied His deity and messiah-ship. Consequently, the hard hearted Pharisees, scribes and chief priests 'sought how to destroy Jesus.'

3 - Christ Jesus was the Son of the living God, Jesus taught that He was greater than the Temple. Jesus' teaching that if the temple of His body was destroyed in three days He would raise it up, likewise affirms His superiority to the Temple building. That saying of Christ Jesus may have provided the basis for the claim of the two false witnesses at His trail who stated that the Lord Jesus Christ said: I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.

4 - The Lord Jesus Christ taught that "The Church" is the new eschatological temple.

At Jesus' death, the veil that separated the inner court from the outer court was split, and was torn from the top to bottom, showing or indicating that all people had equal access to God, the Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, the great Mediator and Redeemer.

By His death, the Lord Jesus Christ opened a new way into the presence of God, A new order replaced the old. No longer was the Temple in Jerusalem to be the place where peoples worshipped God. From now on they worship Him "in Spirit and Truth."

From the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, my God, why have You deserted me?' When some of those who stood there heard this, they said, 'The man is calling Elijah,' and one of them quickly ran to get a sponge which he dipped in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it to Him to drink. 'Wait!' said the rest of them 'and see if Elijah will come to save Him.' But, Jesus, again crying out in a loud voice, yielded up His spirit.

At that, the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom; the earth quaked; the rocks were split; the tombs opened and the bodies of many holy men/women rose from the dead, and these, after His resurrection, came out of the tombs, entered the Holy City and appeared to a number of people.

Meanwhile the centurion, together with the others guarding Jesus, had seen the earthquake and all that was taking place, and they were terrified and said, "In truth this was a Son of God."

And many women were there, watching from a distance, the same women who had followed Jesus from Galilee and looked after Him. Among them were Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of Zebedee's sons. - Matt. 27:45-56 -

Do not forget, then, that there was a time when you who were pagans physically, termed the Uncircumcised by those who speak of themselves as the Circumcision by reason of a physical operation, do not forget, I say, that you had no Christ Jesus and were excluded from membership of Israel, aliens with no part in the covenants with their Promise; you were immersed in this world, without hope and without God.

But now in Christ Jesus, you that used to be so far apart from us have been brought very close, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. For He is the peace between us, and has made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in His, own person the hostility caused by the rulers and decrees of the Law.

This was to create one single "New Man" in Himself out of the two of them and by restoring peace through the cross, to unite them both in a single "Body" and reconcile them with God. In His own person He killed the hostility. Later He came to bring the Good News of peace, peace, peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near at hand. Through Him, both of us have in the one Spirit our way to come to the Father.

So you are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizen like all the saints, and part of God's household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on Him, all grow into One Holy Temple into the Lord Jesus Christ; and you too, in Him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit. - Eph. 2:11-22 - Matt. 12:4-6, 16:18, 18:19-20, 23:17,21, 26:60-61,  27:40; Mark 11:15-18, 13:1, 14:57-58, 15:29,38; Luke 19:41-44, 47, 23:45; John 2:16-19, 14:23, 4:21-24 -
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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless. 

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -