Greetings Beloved,
In St. John's Gospel chapter 2 verses 13 - 25, we read that during the most important religious event of the Judaic year, how Jesus went up to Jerusalem to celebrate passover and to worship in the temple.
Upon arriving, Jesus found the temple overrun by merchants and money changers. After making a whip of cords He drove them out of the temple saying, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!”
Now the religious leaders had heard rumors that people thought Jesus to be the Messiah that was promised by God, but they didn't believe it and they demanded proof by saying: “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
To the religious leaders this statement seemed ridiculous. It had taken hundreds of people years to build the temple, how could one man rebuild it in three days? But Jesus was talking about His physical body and not the temple built by Herod. Jesus was proclaiming His divinity by prophesying His resurrection that would occur only three days after His death on the cross. Three years later, Christ proved to them what He prophesied when He rose from the dead.
Throughout His lifetime, Jesus made a series of claims about His own divine nature. When the religious leaders of the day challenged Him on it, He told them, "...You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” and “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He..." (John 8:23,24, 28). The Original Greek Texts of the New Testament do not contain the word 'He' in these verses, they actually read; "...if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins" and "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM..." Jesus purposefully used these phrases to point to His deity.
Mohammad is said to have been a prophet. Buddha is described as one who sought enlightenment. Confucius was merely a teacher of worldly wisdom. Only Jesus Christ claimed to be the eternal Son of God. He is God and He proved this when He fulfilled His own prophecy and was raised from the dead after three days. About five hundred people were witness to the fulfillment of That prophetic proof. Do you believe in this and other fulfilled prophecies that prove Jesus is God?
Pray with me... Lord Jesus, You are the rest for our souls. You are the peace for our inner man. You are the bread for our spiritual hunger. You are the healer of our diseases and the Saviour of our souls. You are God of God; Light of Light, Very God of Very God; help us to ever be mindful of this and worship You as the Lord and Master of our lives. In Your matchless name we pray. AMEN!
God's blessings to you all,
Fr. Ernest+
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Thank you so much for that powerful word.
This is what is missing in so much of our witness to the lost, the proof of the propecies Jesus fulfilled.
As Paul called it of 'first importance' in 1 Corinthians 15:3,4: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received. That Christ died for our sins, "ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES, and that He was buried and rose on the third day, ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES." (Emphasis mine)
May we all share God's love in such a Biblical way.
Post a Comment