Did Jesus was In The Tomb For Three Days And Three Nights Or Rose On The Third Day?

Does Jesus And Paul Contradict Each Other Regarding His Death And Resurrection?

Question: Jesus' said that he will die and be kept three days and three nights in the belly of the earth just like Jonah who was in the belly of the whale for the same amount of time, which will be the only sign given to the Jews to repent and receive the Kingdom of God (Matt 12:40). How do we fit it with Paul's third day Jesus rose again, which he said in 1 Cor 15:3-5, which also have been told beforehand by Jesus Himself and his disciples?

Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!

The confusion usually comes because we use Gregorian calendar which is the calendar used in most of the world, and with this mindset we see in to the Jewish Scripture which is based on Hebrew calendar. The Jewish day is of no fixed length. The Jewish day is modeled on the reference to "...there was evening and there was morning..." in the creation account in the first chapter of Genesis (Gen 1:5). Based on the classic rabbinic interpretation of this text, a day in the rabbinic Hebrew calendar runs from sunset (start of "the evening") to the next sunset.

In Esther 4:16, we find Esther saying to Mordecai to tell the Jews to fast saying, “Neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day” (NKJV). This was clearly in preparation for her highly risky attempt to see the king. Yet just two verses later, in Esther 5:1, we read: “Now it happened on the third day that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace.”

If three days and nights were counted in the same way as we count them today with Gregorian calendar, then Esther could not have seen the king until the fourth day because we count each 24 hour to be a day, only when it is completed we even call it a day. Anything before that day is counted as half a day or quarter a day or three fourth of a day.

Here are the Scriptures regarding the scenario we have discussed:

"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." (Matthew 12:40; NKJV).

"Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb." (Matthew 28:1; NKJV).

"3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." (1 Cor 15:3-4).

"Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again’” (Luke 24:5–7; NKJV).

In the same way if we are to count, three days and three nights based on Gregorian calendar and not Hebrew way of calculating a day, Jesus would have to rise on the fourth day and not the third day according to the Scriptures. By comparing these above passages, we can see that in the minds of people in Bible times the phrase, “the third day” is equivalent to “after three days" in our times and generation.

Thus we know that whether the third day has started or is running or it is going to be over, the Bible writers still wrote it as the third day. We can see in the below table how the Jonah miracle of Jesus life was considered as three days and three nights, and also how Jesus could rise up on the third day after his death when in fact according to our 24 hour a day calculation, we can only say that he died on Friday evening and up to Saturday evening it is one day, and then the next day early morning is another 12 hours added to the existing 24 hours which will hardly be one and half days only.

So when Friday evening Jesus died, already in total, day one is included with that day and the previous night as counted as one day of death in the grave, even though Jesus died around 3 O clock in the evening and buried before darkness could totally set in, after which began the next day in the Hebrew calendar. So, although only part of Friday was left, that was the first day and night to be counted as one day which is day one. Saturday was day two with evening and morning, in which Jesus was completely in the grave. Even though Jesus rose in the early morning of the Sunday, we count the third day as evening and morning as we have already seen, that is, even to the afternoon until the evening sun down this day is counted as the 3rd day. This was day three according to the Hebrew calendar of Bible times. So according to Biblical mindset of those people in the first century and the Scriptural count of the Jonah miracle in Jesus death and resurrection, nothing is contradictory, but rather thus we have three days and nights scripturally according to the culture which is true, yet Jesus rose on the third day which is also obviously true according to the same cultural interpretation. We should never be surprised that a different time and different culture used different method of counting a day to determine what it is, than how we do in our culture in our times. As soon as we use the right context of the Scripture and its calendar to determine all the supposed biblical problems with counting, all confusion for the days count disappear. And a clear picture of how the Bible is authentic to all generations emerges to us. Praise the Lord!

Much Blessings....

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Explain The Last Seven Word Of Jesus Christ?

The 7 Last Words Of Jesus In A Gist?

Question: Can you explain to me the often used 7 last words of Jesus practically applied to our lives in a gist?

Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!

As you said it is often used during Good Friday services, where each words of Jesus is separately expounded in details to bring the essence of the great messages hidden in it. Here we go:


1) FORGIVING EVERYONE IS THE MASTER KEY TO RECEIVE GOD'S BLESSING AND PROMOTION: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34).

I see this above verse as the foundation verse for all spirituality. That is, we should forgive those who do evil against us knowingly or unknowingly. Even if they repeatedly offend us and then come to us saying sorry, without putting limit we should freely forgive them all (Matt 18:22). If we do not forgive the trespass of others who sin against us, likewise the Father in heaven will not forgive us to keep us in the fellowship of His Presence until we repent (Matt 6:14-15). When Jesus chose to forgive those who did evil against him to kill him, and also further he prayed for them to be forgiven by the Father, he became the Lord of of the whole universe after that (Rom 10:9-10, 13; Job 42:10).


2) BELIEVING GOD BRINGS SALVATION: "This day you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43). 

Salvation cannot be earned by us, but can easily be received as the gift of God if we humbly approach God believing His promises (John 6:28-29, 39-40). A keeper of the prison humbled himself and asked apostle Paul and Silas saying, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They said simply, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." (Acts 16:30-31). God saves us simply through believing! The above verse of Jesus answering to a thief, is a direct evidence of how the worst of sinners can become a saint in a moment of time by the divine miracle of salvation through belief to enter eternity to spend their time with God in heaven for the rest of their eternity. It is so simple, that many stumble. Believe and all things are possible with God. Praise the Lord!


3) FELLOWSHIP AND LOVE BUILDS OUR SPIRITUALITY: "Woman, behold your son." (John 19:26-27). 

Jesus was the most responsible son who ever lived to honor his father and mother by submitting to them humbly until he became thirty years to enter his ministry life, after which he was completely sold out to fulfill the Father's will for his life (Luke 2:51-52; 3:23; John 2:3-11). Even though Jesus was busy in ministry, he made sure that his brothers and sisters to take care of his mother when he was busy in the ministry work (Mark 6:3; Matt 12:46). But once he knew that he will die and go on to be with the Father in heaven, Jesus did not trust his fleshly brothers and sisters to take care of his mother, instead he looked to the divine fellowship and love from his disciple whom the Father appointed as the one who can be trusted to take care of his mother even though he was the youngest of all his disciples. Jesus knew that only the divine love and fellowship of taking care of one another can only build true spirituality of his disciple to take him to great spiritual heights later in his life to make him a great servant of God until his death and therefore John became the apostle of Love before he died. There can be no true spiritual growth without fellowship and love with God and towards saints (1 John 1:3-4).


4) By SUFFERING, OUR SACRIFICE GETS PERFECTED: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46). 

Even though Jesus physically suffered by the brutality of those who tried to kill him, yet he could bear all those suffering but could not bear the suffering of being left alone from the Presence of the Trinity for a moment of time for the first time in eternity (Isa 54:7-8). You see, the faith of Jesus and his actions of giving himself voluntarily in the will of God to suffer physically and soulishly and spiritually worked together to prove by His actions that made his faith complete (Jam 2:22). So when you do good and suffer, if you take patiently and do not threaten in return, it is commendable before God who will always consider you as the one who have overcome the test for receiving spiritual promotion (1 Pet 2:20).


5) THIRSTING FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS GETS YOU FILLED: "I thirst." (John 19:28). 

Because of loss of fluid and severe dehydration in the body of Jesus, he was greatly suffering of thirst. As this was a suffering in the will of God for the souls of humans, God wanted it to be a thirst for souls and not wanted it to become a satisfaction to the flesh in the midst of his suffering. So hearing Jesus say, "I thirst", those around him tried to offer drugged wine so that he might more easily endure his cross, but Jesus refused the wine to go through his suffering with a clear mind which will not in any percentage alleviate it even a little bit (Matt 27:34; Mark 15:23). Jesus did not want the pain to be dulled, that is why in two other places it is told that he received it (John 19:29-30; Luke 23:36), but the other side of the story is, when he tasted it he rejected it because he knew that he was facing death by the grace of God and not at the mercies of humans, thus accepting relief from the agony of Crucifixion would devalue or undercut the experience of crucifixion in the will of God (Heb 2:9). Jesus himself learned obedience through suffering (Heb 5:8), how much more we need to learn obedience in our lives the same way of suffering. God has promised that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled (Matt 5:6). We also need to thirst for the souls of people to get saved just like Jesus did as a motivation to suffer and overcome the flesh, and therefore he said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Luke 10:2). God uses the Kingdom Characteristics of peace and healing to bring it to people through our suffering so that they can face the reality of a higher Kingdom they are invited to enter through us who carry the power and authority of the Kingdom of God. And that healing touches both physical and spiritual dimensions. Let us continue to thirst for souls and be a Kingdom ambassador for the Glory of the Lord Jesus! 


6) FAITH IN THE FINISHED WORK IS THE KEY TO VICTORY: "It is finished." (John 19:30). 

Our fight against sin, sickness, disease, curses, defeat, hopelessness, is over and all we have to do is to believe that Jesus has overcome all of the above through his death on the Cross, now we are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus and with peace we should run the race set before us (Rom 8:37; John 16:33; Heb 12:2). When Jesus said, "It is finished", in Greek it is "TETELESTAI!", which means the sin debt was “PAID IN FULL!" to the Father God. Salvation is complete and nothing more is needed to be added to be saved except believing the Lord Jesus Christ to get saved (Acts 16:30-31; John 6:28-29, 39-40). Hallelujah! Never try to add your works to the finished work of Jesus, because when you do that, it again becomes work of debt before God to achieve righteousness, instead of plainly receiving the already available grace through faith that saves you from all curses and sins (Rom 4:4; Gal 3:10, 13-14). You not only get saved by faith and faith alone, but you are supposed to live in victory by faith and faith alone also. God is pleased only with those who learn to live in all the blessings of God by faith alone without returning back to work of any kind of unbelief that displeases him (Heb 10:38-39), but partake in the those works that He does through you which He has fore-planned for you to fulfill for His Glory after your salvation (Eph 2:10). Don't try to reinvent the wheel of faith through your works when you already have it, so that by wisdom you can have the vehicle of your life fitted with faith to travel miles in the will of God and achieve great things for the Glory of God.


7) SURRENDER THE PATHWAY TO RESURRECTION: "Into your hands I commit my spirit." (Luke 23:46). 

When Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies through his life and paid fully the price for the salvation of all humans to get saved for eternity ahead, there was nothing left on this earth to do anymore except surrender his spirit in to the hands of the Father God. The Al-mightiness of God will always be fully seen only through our life of surrender. The resurrection power of God works the best when we are in full surrender to the Father God to do His will. When we have abandoned ourselves at the feet of God, we can die in hope but come alive in reality through resurrection when the Father God in heaven starts to raise the dead things in our lives to fulfill His eternal will through our lives. We are never defeated when we have suffered and suffered, till we in perfect obedience give our lives in to the hands of our Father in heaven. Once it is in the safe hands of our Father God, we can rest assured that none on earth or in hell can stop the will of God from getting fulfilled through our lives to make us a blessing to the whole humanity around us. Are we willing to surrender our lives fully to the Almighty Father in heaven who loves us so much, that he will not give us anything less than the best when we choose to surrender our lives to the Lord's will? Are we afraid of losing or dying? Unless we fall in to the ground to die, we remain alone without the power of God operating through us; but if we die to our self will, our life bears much fruit for the Glory of God (John 12:24). Die to your self by surrendering to the Lord all that you have and all that you are, God will make you become fruitful to bless the whole world by resurrecting you in His time just like He did to Jesus! Praise the Lord!

Much Blessings....

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Why Does Socialism, Globalism And Fascism Are Not Supported By Many Christians?

Does God Really Want Peaceful Global World Or A Peaceless Divided One?

Question: Why does Socialism, Globalism and Fascism are not supported by many Christians, even though they know how much benefits all humans can have personally, and also collectively have global peace among all people? Is it not the best alternative to this materialistic life which gets promoted by capitalism? Should we have a border-less world or bordered nations with complexities and hate and jealously over one another? What is your take on Biblical support for Global peace? Does God really want a globally peaceful world or a peace-less divided one?

Answer: Greetings to you in Jesus name!

Let us first get the meanings right, Socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole. Globalism is the idea that events in one country cannot be separated from those in another and that economic and foreign policy should be planned in an international way. Fascism is a political system based on a very powerful leader, state control, and being extremely proud of country and race, and in which political opposition is not allowed.

As we looked a little deep in to meaning of Socialism, Globalism And Fascism, in it lies a most dangerous things that are happening in the world around us. We know that democracy is the flair of God's appointment for the end time generation that will become weaker and weaker towards the Lord's coming after which He will rule the earth for a thousand years in theocracy (1 Thess 5:2; 2 Pet 3:8, 10; Rev 20:6), because the rule of iron which happens through empire and dynasty cannot mix with the rule of ceramic clay which is the seed of men or common people according to God (Dan 2:43). So what happens, a good leader comes and goes, but then people become dissatisfied with the one who has failed them by succession in all fronts. Then they hope for another and then another and another, which is leading the world in frustration to look for a global leader who could solve the same type of crisis in all nations which are all working towards peace and security to all human being (1 Thess 5:3).

In socialism under the guise of nationalism mostly we give the rights for a fascist leader not only to unlawfully confiscate all our property, human, economic, social, religious, political rights to exist lawfully under a constitution, but also we give them space to collaborate internationally and take on the might of the people and their voices to become less effective by their predetermined new-world order with which they want to make the world a place of lawlessness against God and fellow humans. The world leaders and politicians openly speak nowadays of promises that they know that they cannot fulfill, they want to promote lawlessness by calling good as evil and evil as good so that people will learn to enjoy lawlessness and become ineffective in exercising their rights due to becoming enslaved to lifestyle of lawlessness (Isa 5:20), they want to hold on to power by creating hate in the heart of people to hate one another, so that these can divide and rule where minority community especially like Christians all around the world are nearly razed out of human existence of civilization completely in many areas of the world (Matt 24:9-10).

Why does Socialism, Globalism and Fascism are not supported by many Christians, even though they know how much benefits all humans can have personally, and also collectively have global peace among all people?

Christians are the only ones who openly value their faith and stand for it unilaterally to worship their God and propagate a exclusive faith that cannot coexist with other religious faiths which can be inclusive when they are provided with good governance and provision (Acts 4:18-20; Dan 3:16-18). As day by day many Antichrist leaders are politically arising and religiously mingling with one another, we know that the time has come for the lone leader the Antichrist to come in to this world to establish a one world government because the last hour has ticked away to have come to the last minutes before the end, where people look forward to a one world religion and one world economy and one world leader (1 John 2:18).

So true Christians are not those who hope just in this life but hope for the life to come which is their focus and for which they are ready to exchange the comfort and riches now to gain it in eternity with God (1 Cor 15:19).

Even though Socialism, Globalism and Fascism can provide a substitute for a temporary period of time, the Christians look forward to eternal solution of rulership with Jesus Christ as their King of kings to reign and rule on this earth for a thousand years time, and for eternity in the new heaven and new earth. Mostly Socialism, Globalism and Fascism, have no place for God because it depends of human genius ability to solve their own problems, not knowing that the problem for all chaos in this world comes due to the sin nature within the heart of humans which needs to repent towards God and thus receive the free gift of salvation personally to make way for God to rule them completely and through them the whole world (Jer 17:5; 1 Sam 8:7).

Hear, How It All Happened?

God's will for all humans was to make them live in love between one another, but He wanted them to spread themselves to fill in all the earth to rule and subdue the earth under the authority of God even at the time of creation (Gen 1:26-31). This was God's original intention, but because humans fell in to sin and rebelled against God, God had to intervene through his sacrificial system to create a people of faith and separate the unsaved people without faith who rebelled against God.

So it all started with Cain who acted in the flesh and Abel who acted in the spirit and was guided by the Spirit which caused both the Brothers to stand at the opposite end regarding obedience to the Word of God. One obeyed God and the other one rebelled against God (Gen 4:4-7). Then we know God appointed Seth instead of Abel after his murder by Cain to carry on the great faith of the sacrifice to Jehovah God and separated those who rebelled against God through Cain separately (Gen 4:16-26). As humans began to multiply, the seed of Seth line who humbly worshiped the true Jehovah God through the blood sacrifice of faith (Isa 1:11; Heb 9:13-28; 10:4-10), somewhere they gave in to the lust of the flesh through which Satan was able to make the sons of God take notice of the external beauty of the daughters of men who had rebelled against God and his way of faith which their forefather Cain rejected (Gen 6:1-5). Soon inter marriage between those with faith and those without it became the norm of those days which made the wickedness of man to become great and every intent of the thoughts of their heart was thinking only evil all the time (Gen 6:5), that it even made God sorry to think why he had created the human race (Gen 6:7).

But thank God that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Gen 6:8). All the rebel and the unbelievers were purged because of their evil thoughts and deeds done continually against God and fellow people through the judgment of the great flood upon the whole wide world which became like hell full of sin and wickedness (Gen 6:9-13). Then we know that Noah built a new world and they all gathered together again in one place to speak one language.

This is where the idea of the first one world economy, religion and one world leader named Nimrod came in to existence. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord, which means he began to hunt the souls of people by destroying their faith in God through his godless violent life of survival of the fittest theory and propagation which ended in more violence and idolatry. He began to spread his kingdom of confusion against the true faith of Jehovah God, it became bigger and bigger and his deceit prospered until God saw how they wanted a godless world of peace and safety to boast about it before God.

In fact they started to build a city, a tower which was directly controlled from the top of the second heavens where demons resided and wanted to make a name for the leader of the pack who is Satan in this temple, to bow before him and worship him in all the world by having control over it completely (Gen 11:1-6).

God created the whole wide world of humans to live for the purpose of revealing His glory from heaven and to be one with Him to worship Him and adore Him all the days of their life (Isa 45:18; Isa 6:3). When Satan was taking the world in the opposite direction to the purpose of God, God was concerned that the humans should not enter in to a self-destruct mode again through violence to make the earth become hell again to bring down the wrath of God (Rom 1:18). So God came down and as a result of it confused their language which brought forth the birth of many languages and cultures which developed later over a period of time so that he could finally redeem out of every tribe, tongue, people and nation a people for Himself by their faith (Acts 17:26-27, 28; Rev 7:9; 5:9; Gen 11:9). The scattering of humans with different language were marked with a boundary by water and thus God limited human outreach to a certain basic level with confusion of language and darkness further up in the demonic realm of understanding between them (Jam 3:13-16; Deut 32:8; Job 38:8-11; Gen 10:25, 32; 11:9), so that they will continue to seek the true God of heaven who rules the earth and be saved for eternity to fulfill the purpose of God for their lives (Psa 53:2; 33:13; 14:2; Acts 28:25-28). God chose the nation of Israel and wanted to spread the light of heaven through it to the whole world, but because of their rejection of their Messiah Jesus Christ, He became the Messiah of the whole non-Jewish world which believed and had faith in Him to be saved to become the one New Man of the Church which is Christ's body (Matt 23:15, 38-39; 21:43; Eph 2:11-18). O what a wonder! His great mercies endures forever!

Now in all the world as before the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith (Rom 1:17), at the same time "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18) which is a present continuous tense in which it is expressed, which shows that God's displeasure is being revealed to all the wicked workers as His righteous judgment gets done. This judgment has been happening through human agencies and spiritual agencies by what is happening in the life of people all over the world now in our day to day experience, and also the wages for wickedness will be repaid for eternity ahead on a day which God has appointed to reveal both His wrath and eternal judgment (Gal 6:7; Acts 17:30-31; Rev 20:11-14; Isa 26:9; Psa 7:11). Even though the judgment may get delayed, but surely judgment of the wicked comes on the exact time of God's appointment and none can deliver the wicked from God's hand on that day (Prov 11:21; Eccl 8:11; Isa 3:11; Psa 91:8). God in His wisdom uses the evil to slay the wicked who practice it, it is like the snake with which they played will bite them mortally at the end to be condemned forever (Psa 34:21; 5:22; 1 Cor 15:56). The righteous will rejoice when he sees God's vengeance because He has always waited for it and did not take it in to their own hands (Psa 58:10). When God judges, the inhabitants of the earth will come to know and learn of His righteousness (Isa 26:9).

Why Not Allow Peace In The World Now?

There is no peace for the wicked the Lord has clearly said (Isa 48:22; 57:21). When man says peace, peace without dealing with sin, it means he is a false prophet sent by God to test and separate the true followers from the name sake followers of Him (Jer 6:14; 23:17). There is no peace for the wicked person until he repents completely and turns to God for salvation and refuge (Ezek 18:23; 33:11). God is the master of the universe, and He is a righteous judge who judges sin and then shows mercy to those who come in faith and hope in His goodness and express their sincere love for Him.

God is not the author of confusion but of peace (1 Cor 14:33), so all confusions that come to humans apart from the intervention of God are all judgment because of human folly of wickedness. When God intervenes to confuse man, it will be judgment to prove that the righteousness of God prevails over all wickedness.

So Babel was a confusion for God to prove His righteousness over wickedness (Gen 11:9). In other words, when humans tried to thrown God and His righteousness out of the picture of human civilization, God comes down and shows Himself to humans to make them understand who is the Boss still (Isa 46:9-10; Gen 11:7).

God will allow peace only in His time and in His will through the prince of peace Jesus Christ whom He has pre-appointed in his sinless righteousness to execute wrath of God upon the sinful and gives peace to those who trust Him for a thousand years time on this earth (Isa 9:6-7). And this same prince who is the Messiah is bringing peace in to heart of people to recruit them to rule in the future time in this present earth for a thousand years time (Isa 48:17-18; 32:17). So peace is not the absence of storm to those who trust Him now, but it is the Presence of God which gives peace within in the midst of storm that the Lord brings to all His soldiers in training. Receive the peace which Jesus gives in to your heart, it is the peace with God and peace of God for eternity ahead which will make us overcomers of all tribulations in this world as we continue to be cheerful in Him because He has already overcome on behalf of us (John 16:33; Rom 5:1; Php 4:6-7; Rom 8:37).

So the bottom line is, God wants all humans to have peace within now, so that in His time He has promised to bring peace without on the outside world. Any human who will try to bring peace and safety before God brings, he will be the Antichrist and his Satanic workers, who will be judged to death by God at the end of it all (1 Thess 5:3; Rev 19:11-21). God has promised to establish a thousand years of peace in Christ Jesus with us and through us in this present earth in the very near future (Rev 20:6). Look forward to it with expectation! Praise the Lord!

Are Socialism, Globalism and Fascism Better Than Capitalist Materialism? 

Jesus and the Scripture never supports socialism or globalism or fascism, instead God has used many tyrants in the past for His ultimate purpose to be fulfilled and he will use again, but always He has spoken again and again against it (Deut 15:11; John 12:8; 2 Thess 3:10; Acts 17:26; Luke 13:32; Gen 10:8).

In a New Testament parable, we see Jesus supporting the wise hard-workers who think in terms of capitalist gain, and in certain places even he appreciated them when they chose to even use their foxy brain to gain for their future security with their present status which means no stagnation of any goods is ever appreciated (Matt 25:20-21, 22-23; Luke 16:1-8).

Materialism is the disease of the soul of humans that comes to think and have the belief that having money and possessions is the most important thing in life, even more than spiritual life or eternal life to come. In other words, money becomes the god of their lives and they serve money without shame (Luke 16:13), but Christ rebuked such a attitude of a rich man to call him as foolish because he never thought about the life to come, which totally depends on how we live now with God in this life and fulfill his will for our lives now (Luke 12:31-21). No man can deny the death and then judgment which is God's appointment for every human born in this earth (Heb 9:27).

Capitalism is good as long as people know they are steward of God's money and it is not their own, but that they have to give account of it to the Lord God at the end of their life to tell him how they have used it to benefit and make it a blessing to humanity. Any capitalist who used money and becomes obsessed with it to make themselves think that it is their own, and that they can do whatever they want to with what they have, soon end up becoming a materialist (Matt 25:24-30). So covetousness of heart is the problem that leads to idolatry which God hates and capitalism in itself is not the problem as long as people act as good steward of God (1 Tim 6:10; Col 3:5).

Capitalism is always the God given method to increase in wealth through hard work (Prov 14:23). Mere talk of ideas, false promises and pride whether it is individual or national through Socialism, Globalism and Fascism will lead only to poverty or loss of wealth collectively (Prov 14:23; 22:29). The righteous who rule by capitalistic ideas will always thrive all over the world, but when the wicked rule through whatever other ideas of wealth distribution instead of creation, the people will groan at the end (Prov 29:2; 28:28). The lesser the control of state over the private affairs of people, the better a country will always do regarding economic wealth creation as a whole for the nation and its people. Still better, when a state is ruled based on Biblical principal which God has given, the greater will be the liberty of people and prosperity of the nation because of the righteous ways that God teaches us all to live. They are sure formulas for success for business, individuals, families and nations. So a capitalist does not necessarily be a materialist too unless he become obsessed with materials things to use people to gain money instead of using money to gain people and their welfare which again brings back loads of money without him seeking after it. When someone who deals with money and mammon is careful enough to work as a steward before God and people, he will stay as a good business person to make profit and prosper in every way.

Should We Have National Borders Or A Border-less World? 

A border-less world is good for free trade, economic resurgence for all nations, friendly people to people contact, etc...but as I have already discussed, God wants humans not just to have comfort now, but wants this life to be used as a race to gets all the comforts of eternal life forever after this life. This is why first of all God divided nations and set borders in all the world, as the Scripture reveals about it saying, "26 He created all the people of the world from one man, Adam, and scattered the nations across the face of the earth. He decided beforehand which should rise and fall, and when. He determined their boundaries. 27 "His purpose in all of this is that they should seek after God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him--though he is not far from any one of us." 28 For in him we live and move and are! As one of your own poets says it, ‘We are the sons of God.’" (Acts 17:26-28, LB).

So the sole purpose of God in dividing the nations of the earth and keeping it intact in each generation is to make humans seek God and find Him (Isa 45:22; Jer 29:13). The more humans are puzzled with confusion and questions, the better it is for him to seek for eternal comfort rather than a temporal one. So in these end of the end times of ours in which we are living, God is allowing humans to go their own way and have let loose the lawlessness which the fallen nature of man promotes when they are left alone under the influence of the dictates of their impulsive heart. As humans are trusting other men who think could save them from turmoil that is coming in all the world, with the technology that has increased combined with the sinful human hearts, the scenario becomes deadly and dangerous to be ready now for Antichrist to open up the borders of nations which God has created in all the world. It is not God's will to open up the borders of the world, to have a one world religion, government and currency on this sin cursed earth now and forever.

As nearly all humans will make a great falling away from the faith (2 Thess 2:3), God will give in to the desire of the whole humanity to open up borders and will allow Antichrist to take control of the whole world for at least three and half years officially (Rev 13:1-10). But the result will be devastating as nearly one third of the whole humanity will be wiped off the earth and more so till it will be hard to find a human being freely on earth because of the Tribulation of those times that will come through Antichrist (Rev 9:15; Isa 13:12). This will at the end prove that God's original idea is the best and human ingenuity and trust in it will only bring curse at the end of it all (Jer 17:5, 9-10). So in short, God's idea will only be again implemented in the thousand years reign of Jesus Christ on earth till the end of this present earth in which a short rebellion to gather the whole world once again together through Satanic leadership against Jesus and His saints living in the city of Jerusalem will bring it all to a eternal ending of the present heaven and earth (Rev 20:7-10). In short, we should have borders and nations as God has originally planned for all humans.

Does God Want A Peaceful World Or A Peaceless Divided World?

Without doubt God wants a peaceful world, but it is not possible to have it outside of His will and nature that can come to humans only through Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16). That is why when Antichrist will take control of the world he will destroy the planet earth, the result of it will be the wrath of God upon Antichrist and his followers who break the law of God and His will for humanity in having a one world government, religion and currency, and because they will instigate rebellion against God who owns the earth as its owner (Rev 16:2, 8-9, 10-11).

The seal of the Antichrist will be a test for the whole humankind whether they will follow God or mammon, they will be proved who they will serve and worship through their allegiance to accept or reject the mark of the beast (Rev 3:10; Luke 16:13). Through the deception of peace and security that the Antichrist will promise and provide in exchange for people selling their conscious devotion and worship towards him in the whole world (1 Thess 5:3; Rev 13:4-5, 16-17), the very devotion towards the Creator God will be put on test and proved for salvation for the Glory of God (Rev 13:8). All those who are not saved will receive the mark of the beast and only the saved will be able to have patience to face death or persevere till Jesus Christ comes to the earth with the Church to rule for a thousand years time (Rev 13:10; 20:6; Matt 25:33-34, 41, 45-46).

We see even in the thousand year rule of Jesus Christ, there will be boundaries again redrawn, and blessing for the people will be based on how the national leaders will respond to Jesus Christ as their Messiah of the world and will visit Jerusalem each year in pilgrimage showing their submission and devotion to him year after year (Zech 14:16-19; Eze 29:8-16; Isa 19:23-25).

So already as we discussed, bordered nations cannot breed complexities and hate and jealously over one another in the Millennium rule of Jesus Christ because He will rule the world with a rod of iron (Rev 19:15). The ruler-ship with a rod of Iron really means no one who comes in to the Millennial Kingdom can remain unsaved as they will all be sent to hell fire, and only the saved will enter the Millennial Kingdom of Jesus Christ. In it Jesus Christ the King of Kings will judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, so that these people shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Thus no nation on earth shall lift up sword against any other nation, neither shall they learn war anymore because of the rule of the rod of iron that will bring great safety control and peace in all the world (Isa 2:4; Joel 3:12; Mic 4:3). The sinners who will mushroom here and there will live only for a hundred year or less to be called as accursed by people because in those days it will be considered a child age as the lifespan will increase under the blessing of the Messiah's restored earth (Isa 65:20; Php 3:21; Acts 3:21). The restored earth will have a canopy of water that will cover the earth, so that God will be able to increase the light of the sun seven times without affecting the earth with a uninhabitable heat (Gen 1:6-7; Isa 30:26). 

The bottom line is that God wants global peace not at the cost of sin which will work detrimental to His very objective and nature of holiness, God hates sin and sin destroys peace in the world through humans. Sin breeds in the heart of humans (Jer 17:9), so God can only bring peace on earth through the righteousness of Jesus Christ who is only one sinless human worthy to rule the world with a rod of iron, because sin nature will still be present in the newly born humans during the Millennial rule of Jesus Christ which will cause rebellion until they choose to get saved by faith (Rev 5:3-4, 5; Isa 65:20). Only in heaven and in the new heaven and new earth we will see a border-less world without difference standing before the throne of God, because the redeemed saints will no more have sin nature within them to hate others who are different, they will coexist with one another who are entirely from different stock (Rev 7:9; 21:24, 26-27). The foretaste of heaven is the reason God has made a new creation out of the old, and have put the Church on earth to practice such kind of unity in diversity and love in the midst of hate from the world for the Glory of God. Hallelujah!


Much Blessings....

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What Palm Sunday Is All About?

Should We Celebrate Palm Sunday?

Question: What Palm Sunday is all about? Should we celebrate Palm Sunday?

Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!

Generally, Palm Sunday means the Sunday before Easter, on which Christ's entry into Jerusalem is celebrated in many Christian churches by processions in which branches of palms are carried.

The often referred context verse to wish one another regarding Palm Sunday is, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord" (Matt 23:29) which is a prophecy fulfilled and rewritten in the New Testament to indicate the referred Scripture from the Old Testament Book of Psalm 118:26. It is a Messianic psalm which spoke about the future Messiah and His Kingdom on earth. 

Let Us Get The Context Right

Because Palm Sunday is the Sunday before Easter, let us see what is the occasion that created it.

Let us read from the Scripture, "1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” 4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 “ Tell the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” 6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” 11 So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.” 12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” 14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise’?” (Matt 21:1-16).

Jesus always understood the exact timing of God in which God wanted him to fulfill the Scriptures through his life. He also clearly guided the disciples under him for the exact fulfillment of the Scripture to be a part of it because of much prayer for Himself and also for them. Horses were the respectable animal of war and prestige and honor to ride on for a king. But because Jesus was humble in heart, he could easily understand that the beast of burden the donkey was the one which God has chosen to fulfill His Word through his life, and in doing so he was revealing to the people who will welcome him that he had come in peace and not in anger to conquer over anyone or anything as His Kingdom is from above and not beneath (Zech 9:9).

We come to learn that only humility makes us receive the grace of God to make us understand His Word and also fulfill it (Jam 4:5-6). True disciples of Jesus are those who will see the miraculous happen to them and all others around them when they go and do just as Jesus tells them.

While Jesus sat on the donkey and set towards Jerusalem, because the moment the donkey came to Jesus these disciples came forward voluntarily to offer their own clothes to be put on the donkey to make Jesus set on it. For the great King of Heaven and Earth to use the clothes that others used needs great humility to receive it. Those might be the only costly clothes these simple people might have been having, but when they offered it for Jesus to sit, it set a chain reaction where people who saw Jesus immediately "spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road" to welcome Him to the city of the Great King Jesus Christ (Matt 5:35). What can we learn from this? If we are willing to sacrifice what we have with us for Jesus, God will begin to move the hearts of people to make them sacrifice for Jesus and set a chain reaction like a dominoes that keep passing on to touch the life of more and more people around to fulfill the will of God through their lives too. What a privilege to inspire others to obedience through our life.

Then we see a little time later multitudes going before and also followed Christ Jesus. When we stand in the will of God through faith, not only the Scriptures will begin to fulfill through our lives and become a blessing to inspire others, but we also come to a higher place where we can get a Divine revelation of who Jesus is in reality to us. When Divine revelation came to people from God about Jesus, they began to shout, “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!”

We can only shout praise when God in His mercies begin to reveal things to us. Only those who are saved could receive the true Divine revelation of the Father even when they are not learned people (Matt 16:16-17; Luke 10:21-24). Even simple people without education when they are humble, God can easily use their life for His Glory when they make themselves available to Him. God does not need able men to show fort His praise and Glory, but available humble men and women who are ready to obey Jesus and worship Him to honor Him for who He is.

When these men and women were shouting forth the praise of Jesus, the world begins to see Jesus in His Glory and then dare to ask, 'Who he is?', but only those who are saved by Jesus could recognize Him as their Messiah and also for the nation of remnant Israel (Gal 6:16), all others when they see the great glory of Jesus, they could only go to the extent of recognizing Jesus as the prophet only and these will be the ones who will kill him a week later by crying out to say 'Kill Jesus and release the criminals' (Luke 11:47; Matt 23:29-33; 27:15-17, 9-26). Woe to those who condemn the sinless Jesus, the curse for His blood shed will be on their head and the head of their children!

Those who commercialize the relationship with God to make it a religious business place to try to make a profit out of it will be driven out by the anger of the Lord out of His temple, these are those who wear the sheep clothing but within they are unsaved ravenous wolves (Matt 7:15). When Jesus steps in to the temple of God to drive out the unsaved people who make a commercial business out of it, they who are making a respectable business will not see their own mistake but will feel indignant to see Jesus glorified because within they have a spirit of Antichrist working strongly that becomes unsettled by the light of Jesus to make them reach like this, and also this anger against Jesus is because they feel threatened to go out of business which they have made the Father's House of prayer to be. God's house becomes a den of thieves when Satan begins to deceive people through religion instead of a personal relationship with God.

Jesus will always rebuke prideful religion and its attitude because it makes people to become deceived to be taken away from the true relationship that the Heavenly Father provides freely to those who are willing to follow Him in humility. All those who will come to Jesus in humility, He is always willing to heal both their sick bodies as well as their sin sick souls. God has chosen to perfect the praises of His name through the mouth of babes and nursing infants who are humble enough to follow Jesus where ever he goes. We cannot but praise God for all His wonders when we see Jesus in all His glory. Praise will infuriate the demons residing in the religious unsaved, because they remain in darkness and they do not have the capacity to comprehend the truth. Those who practice lawlessness remain in darkness and will always hate the light of God and the truth even when God graciously brings it to them. They hate light because they love darkness and want to practice lawlessness to remain in it.

In the Book of Luke we see the same incident where Jesus replies further to these religious unsaved indignant priests and scribes who told him to rebuke his disciples who were calling Him the Messiah of Israel, he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:40). The stones were the Gentile believers who will come to life when the Jews reject Jesus and choose to stay quiet after His death, resurrection and ascension, after which just as told prophetically by Jesus we as the living stones continue to praise Jesus as our Messiah, and this is what has been fulfilled for the past two thousand years nearly (Rom 11:20-25; 1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10). Christ is not Jesus' second name, but rather it means 'The Messiah' who is the anointed One. Thus we the Gentiles who have not seen Him, yet have believed Him to be the Messiah and Lord of our lives through the mercy and grace of God, thus we have become more blessed to be the part of the Church than those who have seen Him and believed who were the Jewish saints from the nation of Israel who were later united in to the one new man of the Body of Christ the Church (John 20:29; Eph 2:14-19; Gal 3:28)! 

Thus Palm Sunday is all about declaring Jesus as our Messiah and the Lord of our lives to worship Him openly and confess Him before even the unbelievers to bring glory, honor and praise to His name. Therefore it can be a great occasion to rejoice and confess our Jesus the Christ among the believers and also before the unsaved world as a testimony of the Divine love of the Father God towards their lives too.

It is good to speak about this wonderful truth on Palm Sunday to remember Jesus our Messiah and say, "Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ Hosanna in the highest!" We celebrate the faithfulness of our Father God in Christ Jesus who has delivered us from sin to receive eternal life of friendship with our Father in heaven. We through our Messiah Jesus we celebrate Palm Sunday and welcome him again and again in to every part of our lives through praising and thanking Him for all He has done for us!

Hallelujah! It was common practice in the ancient world to welcome home a king or war hero by laying out a path of branches for him to ride/walk on - similar to rolling out the red carpet today in English-speaking countries. Romans honored champions of the games and the military with palm branches and also God commanded his people of Israel use the fruit of splendid trees, the fronds of palm trees and the boughs of branchy trees and poplars of the torrent valley to be used as a mark of rejoicing before the Lord during the Festival of the Booths which is also very symbolic to declare the Lord of Israel as their King and the only King (Lev 23:40; Deut 16:13-15). Thus when we rejoice specially remembering our Lord's Kingship on the Palm Sunday over our lives and all other days of the year daily, to further declare by the Holy Spirit that we are in the Kingdom of God and that we are thankful to God for making us a heavenly citizen for eternity ahead for His Glory (Php 3:20-21).

Therefore we can use the above branches of trees to likewise rejoice symbolically before the Lord confessing Him as our Messiah and Lord on the Palm Sunday for the Glory of God! You can always spice up the Church services with a united procession without making it only as a tradition, which when continued without much thoughtfulness makes the Word of God become powerless because of its lack of heart involvement (Mark 7:13). God is very much pleased with us only when the heart is involved in worshiping Him in spirit and truth, the likes of people whom He is always in search of to honor and set them apart for His Glory (Matt 15:8; John 4:23-24).

Much Blessings...

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