Why Jesus cried out on the cross, 'Eli Eli lama sabachthani' if He is the Second Person of the Godhead?

In Mat 27.46 we read that Christ cried out in loud voice asking God why He had forsaken Him.  This verse is used by skeptics and cynics to present their case against the Triune God and that Jesus was not one with the Father.  These doubters would argue that if the Father and the Son are one, how could the Father forsake the Son? Is it really possible?  

Let us start with the fact that God forsook Christ on the cross and this forsaking is not exactly the abandonment of the Son but the people whom He had come to save because He replaces us the believers on the cross (1 Pet 3.18).  He bore oursins (1 Pet 2.24, Isa 53.6).  He was made sin for us(2 Cor 5.21).  Isa 53.6 says that our iniquities fell on Him.  1 Pet 2.24, says that He bore our sins in His body on the cross, in order we having died to sins, might live to righteousness by whose bruise we were healed.  1 Pet 3.18 says that ‘…..being put to death in the flesh, but on the other hand made alive in the Spirit.’  In 2 Cor 5.21 says, ‘–Him who did not know sin was made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.'

The above verses clearly indicate that though it was Christ on the cross, we the believers are actually crucified for our sins with Christ.  Now, Imagine if we were crucified for our sins without Christ's redemptive work, then God’s Holy nature will demand Him to abandon us because of our sins.  Unless and until we obtain forgiveness for our sins and sinful nature before our time comes to an end, we would never have an escape from our condemning crosses.  However, the Lord Jesus took our sins and was made sin for us on the cross.  Now, God’s abandonment of His Son was actually His abandonment of the creation that was under sin.  Simply put, the abandonment of the Father which Jesus suffered was in fact our abandonment, but Hallelujah for Christ who suffered on our behalf.  Isn’t this a mighty and a wonderful plan?  What a wisdom!  Hallelujah!  I have no words to praise our wonderful and great God.  

Next, if the Father and the Son were separate, then it would be sadistic for the Father to punish an innocent Person on our behalf.  However, the Father and the Son are one, so the Father suffered along with the Son on the cross.  This only states how infinitely loving our God is.  Hallelujah.  To understand this further, let us read an illustration.  Imagine your child is fast asleep on your shoulder in a church meeting.  Your arms are paining due to the weight of the child, but your love for the little one makes you ignore your paining arm and you will continue to hold your sleeping child carefully because of your love for him or her.  You just forsook your arm just to keep the child comfortable.  Similarly, the Lord Jesus as the arm of God was forsaken to suffer for us, so that we can be drawn back to the Father once and for all.  Hallelujah.  The fact that the Lord Jesus suffered even this abandonment gives credibility to our great God and how meticulous He is to satisfy His righteous requirement by receiving the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God.  Amen

Love is Living

Love is a Living Being

Bible Reading 1 Cor 13:4- 13:7

We see the true definition of Love in the above Bible passage.  Among the greatest of all gifts of the Spirit, Love has the first place.  Instead of looking at Love as one of the characteristics of a good Person, we should understand Love as a living being.  The phrase, 'God is Love and in love He had created everything' is familiar to us which explains love as the Person of God.  We need to be imitators of this love, which means we should become love to love others.  

In the beginning of the verse from the above passage, we read 'Love suffers long.  Love is kind; it is not jealous.  Love does not brag and is not puffed up;.....This makes sense, when we look at Love as a living entity.  Love itself has characteristics of its own.  It makes even greater sense when we replace the word love with our names.  Understand the above portion of the scripture by replacing your names with the word 'Love'.  This is what you should aim to achieve in the Lord in your Christian life.  

Do not love others with your natural love which will sooner or later is destined to fail.  Love others with Jesus Christ, who is the Love of God.  When we love others with the Love of God, it will never fail and we will bring glory to God.  Under such a setup, the demands of the love as mentioned in the verse, will not be a burden to us, but it will be so natural to us that we will not feel even the slightest pain.  Such a love will be flowing from a Christ filled life effortlessly as a natural response.  The bottom line is that we should aim to gain more Christ which will result in a natural flowing of pure love like fountains of cool spring in an arid desert from us.  Hallelujah.

God's residence is the Glorious Church

The Church is the foretaste of the coming Kingdom of God.  It is the most precious living entity on Earth today and we are fortunate to be part of it.  When the church gathers, the Lord is in her midst (Matt 18:20).  This shouldn't be a mere assumption or a vague idea, but rather, the fact that the living God is in our midst like every person gathered in the name of Lord should be our firm belief.  But, most often we search the altar, or ponder over some message to vaguely feel the presence of God and in reality living Christ is in our midst. 

Church is the right setup to experience the presence of God where saints gather to glorify God and help others to glorify God effectively.  There is no other place on earth where one can experience Him richly.  When I attend the church, my focus is not on the material, physical stuff, but the invisible but definite presence of God.  The physical and material things are nothing but expressions to worship God in the spirit.  He is not even at a distance from me as far as the altar, but He is near me and He is in my spirit.  These words should not be a mere soothsaying, or an objective wish, but rather, a real experience because it is the truth.  

When we see the church as an Entity which is already in the Heaven (Eph 2:6), we will start appreciating it because the Lord is in her midst.  We know that God resides in an inexpressible glory, in the middle of an unapproachable light (1 Tim 6:16).  When God is among the people who have gathered in his name, He is in such a glorious state.  If only we have a vision of the glory that we are participating, we will lead our church life with a joyous trembling as we are experiencing something that is more real and meaningful than our own lives.  When we fail to see the true vision of the church, we would engage with the fellow believers in a careless, evil and in a futile worldly way.  Our conduct in the church is not a matter of being an exemplary, rather respecting the presence of God in a real way.  May God grant us the vision of the church life and how much He has blessed us to become part of His holy Church.  Hallelujah for the church life.   

Our Living is Our Building

Bible reading:  I Corinthians 3:11-15

11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

The above portion of the scripture clearly indicates that we are buildings of God under construction, which summarizes our whole lives in a nut shell.  To begin with, we have been given the same foundation, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, and apart from Him, there is nothing.  This foundation is the basic gift given to all of us by God who has predestined us to be His chosen ones.  Now, believe it or not, we are building on this foundation daily no matter what our spiritual conditions are at present.  Some are faithful; some are worldly; some are outwardly while a few others are deep and genuine in their relationships with God.  Therefore, no matter what our descriptions as believers in the Lord are, we are building our lives daily.  While the faithful and spiritual ones are building with Gold, silver and precious stones, the worldly and outward Christians are building with wood, hay and straw.  This will continue until the DAY of the Lord will dawn upon the world suddenly.  This Day will be dreadful, as it will be revealed by the testing fire which will put to test our buildings, which we had built throughout our lives.  The works that endure this testing will receive rewards and the ones with works of wood, hay and straw will be destroyed by the testing fire and they will suffer loss.  Don't consider this loss as a small one.  In fact, when the Holy word of God mentions it as a loss, then it will be hurtful indeed.  Imagine when we lose something precious, how bad we feel about it and as time passes by, say a few months or years later, we may find the pain had eased out.  However, the loss that is mentioned in the verse is a devastating one and we are spared narrowly by this fire.  We may think about the people who had survived severe burns in fire accidents and how sorrowful their tales are.  

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, dread the Day of the Lord which will bring with it a testing fire.  However, I am going to give you some good news.  You have an opportunity here, to alter your lives, to build it properly now, since there is a little time left.  Make sure that we get up every day and be mindful of our foundation, Jesus Christ, and the manner in which we need to built upon.  Hallelujah.   

Walking by the Spirit

Walking by the Spirit, not by the flesh

Scripture readings: Rom 8, Gal 5:16-26

The Bible is crystal clear about how our lives should be before God in the above chapters.  We find nothing that condones or rationalizes any sort of wrongdoings, habits or sins, in the name of grace.  Hence, we should be very careful lest anyone deceive us by wrong teachings that might tend to dilute or overlook our indulgences or encourage our careless living as Christians instead of condemning our sinful acts and guide us towards the real path.  This needs to be clear in our hearts because God has given us the Holy Scriptures to understand His good Will and what He expects of us.

  

'Walk by the Spirit and do not fulfill the lust of the flesh.'  

To understand the above sentence, we need to know who the Spirit is and what is flesh? 

Spirit here is the Holy Spirit who is everywhere and also He is living in us.  To walk by the Spirit is to have our living in accordance to the indwelling Holy Spirit.

The works of the flesh are fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, sects, envying, bouts of drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.  The list is elaborate, however, we know that these sinful things arises from the Sin that is in us all (Rom 7:21).  This Sin needs to be dealt with at the cross by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Our belief in the Lord's death and resurrection opens us the way of life.  To lead a victorious life in Christ, we need to look away unto Christ.  Our back sliding and leading a carnal life is wasting the precious grace.  Rom 8:8 says that those who are in the flesh cannot PLEASE God.  And what is more important to us in this life than pleasing God?

Hence, Walking in the Spirit is living in accordance to the indwelling Spirit, having a strong and real belief that our God is a living God and He is near us, seeing everything. While living such a spiritual living, we must put to death the practices of the flesh by walking according to the Spirit, so that we may live a Holy life (Rom 8:13). Amen

A Simple morning Prayer

O Lord Jesus, I love You because You loved me first with an uttermost and perfect love.  You have conquered everything and now is seated at the right of God.  I surrender everything unto You, O Almighty.  You are my Rock and salvation.  You are my fortress where I can now remain in safety.  You are the life giving Spirit in me and everything to me.  Thank you for this morning and the peace I am enjoying.  I give all my activities of the day into your hands.  Give me grace, wisdom, and strength to keep You continually before my face. I praise You and thank You for everything.  Hallelujah.  In Jesus name I pray. Amen

Three Realms Conquered

The Lord Jesus forfeited His throne in Heaven and was made lower than angels that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man on earth (Hebrew 2:9).  After His death and before His resurrection, He visited Hades (Acts 2:24,27).  This is a region of death and of Satan’s power of darkness, which is the lower parts of the Earth (Rom 10:7, Eph 4:9). Until that point, the Lord Jesus endured increasing sufferings and shame.  In the Hades, death had no way to hold Him, in other words, death was defeated, because the Lord Jesus is both God and resurrection (John 1:1, 11:25).  He possessed an indestructible life (Hebrew 7:16). He rose from the abyss, conquering it in His resurrection.  After this, there was the Lord's ascension, during which  He led captives to the Father.  Also, in His ascension, He obtained a position far above the Heavens that He might fill all things (Eph 4:10). Here we see that in His ascension, He has conquered Hades, Earth and Heavens.  The Word of God clearly states that the Lord Jesus is the true conqueror and His glory extends beyond the universe.  Hallelujah, glory to God.  Praise You Lord Jesus.  Amen. 

Experiencing the Presence of God

>> Blessed Christian Life 

Over the last few days, I learned a significant life lesson from the Holy Spirit.  During the period, I experienced the Lord's protection throughout, without which I would have broken under stress because the topic I was pondering was one of the high peak truths of Christianity.

Bible reading: 2 Cor 3:17-18
And the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

Experiencing the Presence of God

1.  Being in the Spirit

In my previous posts, I have explained to you about the meaning of 'being in the Spirit'.  We know that God is a Spirit and those who worship Him should do it in spirit and in truthfulness.  More than a theoretical knowledge, the Holy Spirit taught me how to be in the spirit subjectively over a period of several years.  Being in the spirit is not about shouting and jumping and at the same time, it is not about being silent and still.  In fact, it has nothing to do with the outward expressions which are but the reactions of our souls to the presence of the God.  When we are filled with the Spirit, we may jump, shout or we may sit quietly as led by the Lord to respond to His presence.  Hence, the endeavor here is not to perform certain activities or physical actions, rather, be in the presence of God and enjoy Him.  

2.  Aware of the deception

Being in the spirit is being in the reality of the Triune God.  When we truly feel the presence of the Lord we are in the spirit.  Earlier, I used to think that it was difficult, but that was a deception of the devil due to my inferior knowledge about God.  In fact, recently I understood that this deception work might be Satan's greatest work on Earth right now.  To sum it up - feeling the presence of God is both easy and difficult at the same time.  Easy because He is present everywhere truly and difficult because we are distracted easily and lose our focus at the drop of a hat.

3.  God is omnipresent 

Since we believe in God we know that there is no place where God cannot be in His whole creation.  He is not a person who is limited to the churches, but He is present everywhere. Even in the places where we think we can escape from Him with our petty sins and indulgences, God is present.  I would say that losing this consciousness of the presence of the Almighty God is the curse upon mankind because of the Sin.  When Adam sinned, he was cast out to a miserable and insensitive state, losing the ability to experience the presence of God continually.   However, on God's part, He didn't forsake us, but throughout the centuries, He toiled to earn a set of people for Himself, who could work their way back to regain what Adam lost in the Garden of Eden. This He made possible because of what the Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished for us.

4.  An illustration

Let me give an illustration to understand being in the spirit.  When I am with a person in a room, I will behave in a way acknowledging the presence of that person.  The more I know about the person, the more I would try to alter my behavior that suits him.  If the person left, then I would relax, stretch myself and get comfortable.  But if I knew that he was watching me through a CCTV camera from another room, then I will be still on my guard.  There is yet another scenario that could be very apt to our today's world regarding God and our faith in Him, i.e., I am in a room, but I can't find any CCTV camera and nor there is any person.  I have been told by the previous occupants that someone will be watching me while I am in the room.  Now, though there is no person or cameras, I will behave in a particular manner according to our belief.  I hope you are getting what I am trying to illustrate.  So, being in the spirit is exercising our faith to believe in the presence of God.

Lately, when I began seeking and practicing the presence of God, I suffered a number of petty attacks from the devil.  I knew that I could be doing something right here considering the increased disturbances and I continued to seek the Lord's presence.  Later I came across a book, 'The practice of the presence of God', which was a compilation of the letters written by Brother Lawrence in the 17 century.  Once I started reading it, I was overjoyed at the thought that a person centuries before had experienced what I had begun to understand today.  Brother Lawrence constantly endeavored to live in the presence of God, and when his mind wandered, he would bring it back to focus God by leaving things that had nothing to do with God.  This he had done for decades to experience a continual presence of God.  Brother found real freedom and courage, which the Lord Jesus Christ had purchased for us, and he was like reliving the Garden of Eden life before the fall.

While I was learning this valuable truth, the petty devilish attacks continued but feeling the presence of God made all the difference to me.  I am not alone and I don't have to be alone anywhere-anytime.  An ever-present and an all-powerful God is my Father.  I can depend on Him continually because He loved me to the uttermost.  He is with me when I am writing this message and He is there with you when you are reading it. Amen.

To summarize, practicing the presence of God is not some kind of a mental exercise, rather it is surrendering to God wholly, trusting Him completely and making Him our goal.

Read the book 'The practice of the presence of God'  for more clarity and understanding. 

Grace - meaning & its application in life

>> What is Grace?  Is it a license to Sin?

Rom 6:1-10, Gal 2:20, Col 2:12

There is quite a lot of buzz about this word, ‘Grace’ in the Christian world.  The word ‘Grace’ means experiencing God in Jesus Christ in our lives.  Grace is Jesus Christ dying in our stead, thus we are at peace with the Almighty.  It is something that we received freely.  It is not a license to sin, but rather a provision to lead a holy life.  When I was explaining the meaning of grace years ago to a brother, he was offended thinking that I am proposing some kind of restrictions akin to law.  That was a shallow understanding.  Law has been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus and now we are not in the Law which is the oldness of letter (Rom 7:6), but rather we have been discharged from Law and now we need to serve the Lord in newness of spirit (Rom 7:6). 

We are born in the old man which is the realm of the first Adam.  Then one day we believed in the Lord and proceeded to receive baptism.  This baptism into Christ is, in reality, a baptism into Christ’s death.  We have been buried with Him through the baptism because in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in the newness of life.  If somebody says to you, ‘brother, you took baptism in the Lord, so you ought to walk in the newness of life’, then do not be offended because it is not law.  When we have grown with Him in the likeness of His death, indeed we will also be in the likeness of His resurrection.  So walking in the newness of life is grace.  I request all the brothers and sisters to understand this deeply, - 'Grace is experiencing God in Christ and this is possible when we walk in the newness of life.’  Gal 2:20 says, ‘I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.’  Is it Law?  Absolutely not, this is the newness.  Grace does not mean that you can keep sinning because Christ has paid the price for your sins that have been committed and will be committed in the future.  Yes, it is paid in full and then some.  It is the perfect sacrifice to the satisfaction of God.  Therefore, Grace is our reaction to this perfect sacrifice on our behalf by the Lord Jesus Christ. 

How can we walk in the newness of life?

Knowing that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we should no longer serve sin as slaves (Rom 6:6).  Have you come across anywhere written in the Bible that you are free to go around and sin without inhibitions, as the Lord Jesus Christ had died in your stead?  No!  We need to believe that in our baptism, our old man has been crucified with the Lord and we are no longer slaves of sin.  We are free in the Lord and we have newness in life and a responsibility to walk in it.  Further, since we believe that we have been crucified with the Lord, we also believe that we will live with Him.  For the death that the Lord died to sin was once and for all; but the life which He lives, He lives to God.  Hence, we who are in the resurrection of the Lord, live our lives to God.  This is Grace.  Amen.