JESUS, THE CREATOR OF THE STARS TOO

It was a bright night. The millions of stars that brilliantly shone in the sky added more brightness to that night. The white clouds that resembled wool moved along the sky as the moon chased them. Yuen’s wondering eyes wandered into the sky. She stood motionless gazing at the stars in amazement and wonder as if she was seeing the stars for the first time. The sight of the dazzling stars kept her spell bound. What a beautiful sight! What a wonderful sight! She said.

“Do you know there is a Creator who created all this.” Yuen heard a still small voice speaking from within. Immediately, she bowed her head in adoration and worship of that Creator who created the stars.

Yuen was a young Chinese girl who lived in a small hamlet in Hong Kong. One day she travelled by bus to a nearby town. But her little mind was occupied with the thought of the ‘Creator of the stars.’ During the journey, a young born again Christian girl happened to sit next to her. In the conversation that took place between them, Yuen heard who the ‘Creator of the stars’ was for the first time in her life.

Yuen was awestruck when she heard that “the Lord Jesus Christ is the Eternal Word and that all things were created by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Christ was introduced to her as the God of creation who brought the sun, moon and the stars and the vast expanse of the universe into existence. From the lofty angels in heaven above, to the meanest worms in the earth beneath were created by Him. Nothing was created without the Lord Jesus Christ. And “He is able to number the stars; and calls them by their names.”

From the Holy Bible Yuen learnt that Redemption of sinful mankind is the crowning work of God. Adam was the first man whom God created in His own image. When he was created, he was in a state of moral purity. But when he disobeyed the commandment of God, his moral purity was marred; sin entered into the world and death by sin. Thus death passed on to all men.

But the loving God has made a provision for us all to escape from the jaws of eternal death. As by one man’s disobedience, many were made sinners, by the obedience of One, Jesus Christ, many shall be made righteous. Through His death on the cross for the sin of mankind, Jesus became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him.

Yuen trusted in this wonderful way of Salvation and was saved. She continued to fellowship in a local Church in a village in the outskirts of Hong Kong.
My dear friends, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved, right now wherever you are. Behold now is the time of God’s favour and now is the time of salvation!

- by Kumar N.

 

THE BLOOD, ONLY BLOOD!!

“Give blood, save lives” said an advertisement released by a pharmaceutical company in the city. There is great demand for blood to save lives around the globe. Researchers have been toiling for decades to make an artificial substitute, but found it impossible to make. There is no substitute for blood. Blood alone can save another. As per available reports, every two seconds, someone needs blood for survival. Each pint (500 millilitres) of whole blood donated by one person helps three people to survive.

The blood is the basis of physical life, which is pre-eminently in the blood. This maxim is recognised by the writer to the Hebrews. He said, “without shedding of blood there is no remission. “The life of the flesh is in the blood” (Leviticus 17:11). In the Old Testament times, the life of the sacrifice was taken, and the blood offered to God, as a substitute for the offerer for the cleansing of his sins. Thus, God being merciful made a way to save man from the jaws of eternal death by accepting a vicarious sacrifice.

What is a vicarious sacrifice? It is one offered by the sinner to suffer the punishment in his place. God accepted the sacrificial death of a substitute and delivered the transgressor from the punishment, provided the sacrifice was perfect, spotless, and acceptable and the transgressor repented of his sin.

When Adam’s son Abel offered a perfect lamb as a sacrifice for his sin, his guilt fell upon the sacrificial lamb instead of on himself. God accepted Abel’s sacrifice. It was the blood sacrifice of a perfect lamb which was a picture of the sacrificial death of Christ in future. So, in essence, Abel accepted Christ’s blood for the remission of his sins thousands of years before Jesus came down to the earth and offered Himself on the cross.

God gave us this example thousands of years before Jesus came to earth as ‘the Lamb of God’. The lambs slain on the altar in the Old Testament times was a representation of Christ, slain as a sin offering for you and me. But Cain offered a grain sacrifice and received no forgiveness from God. The Bible makes it very clear that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin” (Heb. 9:22). God accepts nothing but a blood sacrifice for the life is in the blood.

Jesus Christ made a covenant with His blood shed for the forgiveness of the sins of humankind. For all have sinned in His sight; you and I and everyone else on this vast universe. God has in His kindness set forth Jesus Christ as propitiation through faith in His blood, for the forgiveness of sins. If you believe in this, and turn to God in true repentance, you will surely receive the remission of your sins. Have you received forgiveness of your sins?

- by Kumar N.

 

ENDLESS JOY WHILE IN DEATH BED

John Sluiter was a young woman who lived in Rochester, Minnesota. She suffered from a serious disease known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)*. Her arms and hands failed to function properly. Her doctors told her that there was no cure for this disease and that she might live just two to five years.

A couple of years later, she had another shock when a needle biopsy of her breast revealed breast cancer. Her breast was removed. She underwent chemotherapy when cancer was detected in the lymph nodes. While she recovered from the cancer, she continued to live with ‘ALS disease’ which caused gradual physical deterioration.

She went through a great ordeal of pain and frustration. Her body and mind failed. But she enjoyed constant presence of God and experienced the comfort of His Words. God gave her strength to go through the painful experiences. God spoke to her through Psalm 73:26 “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever”.

As a result, she had endless joy within, even when she went through such severe pain. Despite her being terminally ill, she testified that she was happy and peaceful. To her curious enquirers who asked, “How could you be happy?” she answered, “The answer is God. I am a child of God, because I belong to Him”.

John Sluiter put her trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, when she was just ten years old. God spoke to her from the book of Isaiah (53:6) “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us have turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”.

Are you a child of God? If not so, receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today. He will give you the strength, He will give you the joy and He will give you the peace.

You can be a child of God by trusting in Him, right now!

“As many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the children of GOD, even to them that believe on His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God”.

Note*Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is sometimes called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease caused by the degeneration of motor neurons.

- by Kumar N.

 

JESUS THE PASSOVER LAMB

After the pale rays of the setting sun vanished from the land of Goshen in Egypt, the Jewish households killed their Passover Lambs in twilight. It was a few centuries ago, on the 14th day of Nisan that year in the Jewish calendar. The selected lambs were one year old male without blemish. The blood of the slaughtered lambs was to be sprinkled on the doorposts of their houses and the meat roasted and eaten without breaking any of its bones (Exodus 12:46). The LORD would pass through the land that night and slay all the first-born of the Egyptian households. When the LORD sees the blood on the door posts of the houses of the children of Israel, He will pass over them and all the inmates of those houses would be spared from death.

And the children of Israel observed the commandment of the Lord and stayed indoors on that dreadful night. The LORD smote all the firstborn in the Egyptian homes including Pharaoh that sat on the throne. And there was a great cry in the land of Egypt that night, for there was not a single house where there was no death. That event marked the redemption of the Hebrews from Egyptian bondage and death. The slain lambs were the prototype of Jesus Christ, who came on this earth about sixteen hundred years later.

Exactly on the 14th day of Nisan, at the age of Thirty Three, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed on the cross (1 Corinthians 5:7). He shed His precious blood for the remission of your sins and my sins – to save you and me from the slavery of sin, Satan and death. John the Baptist introduced this Lamb of God (John 1:29). Apostle Peter, refers the precious blood of Christ, “as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). Apostle John speaks about a Lamb seen in heaven as if it had been slain (Revelation 5:6). The blood of this Lamb is to be applied and appropriated by the sinner - you and I to escape from the soon coming judgement.

When our Lord was on the earth, His life was under intense scrutiny by the Pharisees, Sadducees, the scribes, and the religious leaders, but none could find any sin or blemish in His life (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter 1:18-19, John 19:4). He committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth (1 Peter 2:22). The Father was well pleased in the spotless life of His beloved Son. As prophesied, “a bone of him was not broken” (John 19:36). He thus fulfilled all the criteria of the Passover Lamb, who is ordained of God to deliver you and I from eternal death! You and I rightfully deserve to be cast into the hell fire for our sins. But God in His grace and mercy sent His beloved Son, Lord Jesus Christ into this world in order that we shall receive the remission of our sins by His shed blood on the cross.

Dear reader, if you have not yet received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Passover Lamb and applied and appropriated His precious blood into your heart by faith, you may do so right now; lest you enter eternal death – everlasting torments in the fiery furnace of hail shall pass over from your life and you shall receive life everlasting. Are you washed by the precious blood of the Passover Lamb?

- by Kumar N.

 

THE SHORTEST MAN ON EARTH

Khagendra Thapa Magar, hailing from Nepal has been adjudged by the Guinness World Record as the world’s shortest man in 2010. He is 56 cm (22 inches) tall and weighs just five kgs. He hasn’t grown since he was 11. Imagine an eighteen year old adult with a height of just 22 inches!

No one likes to be like Magar. The Bible speaks about a man named Zacchaeus, who was of little stature. Zacchaeus was a very rich man. He was not only very rich, but was chief among the tax-collectors. But when he wanted to see Jesus, who passed by Jericho one day, he was unable to see Him, because of his small build. Zacchaeus was however determined to see Jesus. An idea struck him. He ran ahead and climbed up on a sycamore tree and waited there to see Jesus, who was to pass by that way.

When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw Zacchaeus on the tree and said to him, “Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today.” Zacchaeus came down quickly and received Jesus joyfully. There, the seeking saviour met the seeking sinner. Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house, while the people murmured saying that He had visited to the home of a sinner.

There something amazing happened. A great transformation was taking place in Zacchaeus’ heart. Zacchaeus realized that he was a sinner. He had made a lot of wealth by unfair means, which he realized was not right in the sight of God. The guilt of his sin was crushing him. He could no longer hide it from the Saviour. He wanted to testify, “He said, ‘Lord, the half of my property I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man fraudulently, I restore fourfold.’ Jesus replied, ‘This day salvation is come to this house.’”

Zacchaeus received Jesus, as his Lord and Saviour, repented for his sins and thus received salvation instantly. You and I are all indeed like Zacchaeus, of little stature spiritually, heading towards eternal death! The only way to escape this doom and disaster is to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour and atone for our sins for if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Dear reader, do you have the assurance of salvation? If not, repent for your sins, trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive the assurance of salvation right now!

- by Kumar N.