Wednesday 7 December 2011

THE HANGER ROD

This morning, I was talking to my sis-in-law Lavina, who I was dropping off at her place of work. We were having this interesting conversation about how some of our colleagues think that our ‘works’ will please God and therefore earn us a place in heaven. Many are very careful not to break the holy ‘laws’ laid down in the ten commandments only because they are fearful of God’s wrath!

There was a time when I would never read the Old Testament because it was all about law, law and more law. There were wars, killings, incest, harsh punishment etc. etc. which I could never understand. I would always question why all these things even belonged in the bible!

It is only now that I’m beginning to understand the truths. Man was always created to be the crowning glory of God’s creative genius but disobedience to God’s Word severed the inexhaustible flow of God’s abundance in man’s life. The very nature of God being LOVE, He led Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, where any sin would destroy man forever. ‘God had a plan’ for man, not for his destruction but for a great future’ (remember Jer 29:11?). Therefore God kept changing this plan every time man sinned, to offer man the opportunity to repent. Prophets after prophets were sent down to earth to ‘turn’ man’s heart towards God but to no avail!

The animal sacrifices made by man to God, in an attempt to atone their sins were becoming abhorrence to God. God had to do it once and for all through a ‘mediator’. This person had to be ‘fully man’ yet ‘fully God’ to carry out this mission. Man’s soul having been captivated by satan, the only way to pay the ‘ransom’ to satan and free man was through a human sacrifice of a ‘flawless lamb’. And therefore, Jesus was sent down to earth, avoiding the ‘original’ sin through a divine birth through a blessed woman, Mary.(Mind you that Jesus was ‘promised to man’ thousands of years ahead of His coming, through over 300 prophecies recorded in Holy scripture! There is no other man who has come to earth who has fulfilled those prophecies but Jesus!)

Jesus, the very embodiment of ‘AGAPE LOVE’ taught his apostles and disciples true humility, love and temperance. He preached a ‘heavenly kingdom’ and raised the ‘law’ to another level. Without abolishing the law, he taught us how to uphold the law through love! A new dimension was given to the understanding of the law. A new dimension was given to the understanding of the ‘FEAR OF THE LORD’. This time around, man was to fear God not for His punishment but FOR CAUSING HIM DEEP GRIEF on account of our sin.

A good illustration to understand this would be the ‘hanger rod’ in your cupboard and the ‘hangers’ holding your clothes on it. Let us say that the hanger rod is LOVE and the other hangers are holding the commandments. If the hanger rod collapses, the commandments also collapse! There is no point in ‘keeping the law’ if you are not keeping the law ‘with love’!

Romans 10: 9, St. Paul says,
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved”.

Jesus Himself declared, “I am the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. No one goes to the father except by me” (Jn. 14:6). The Pharisees called Him crazy, because He went against their beliefs but others, even from other religions agree that Jesus was a good man. Jesus cannot be crazy and good at the same time! If He is good than why is it difficult for one to believe what He himself has said? Many discard the bible as being written and rewritten so many times that the original meanings have been changed. But praise God, even today’s translation is RICH IN LOVE and leads many who believe to the understanding of Christ’s love and to the saving grace by HIS BLOOD that he shed in atonement for our sins!
Ultimately, I cannot end any other way but this!

If you choose to believe, NO PROOF IS NECESSARY
But, if you choose not to, ANY AMOUNT OF PROOF WILL BE INADEQUATE!

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