Biblical Thoughts

    Do not murder – was one of the sacred commandments of the Old Testament. Life is God-breathed. No man has the authority to curtail it. Yet we find a number of murders in the Old Testament either before or after the law was given through Moses. First let’s consider the period prior to the law. Fallen Adam’s first child Cain murdered his brother Abel. Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi killed Hamor and Shechem (Gen 34:26) to secure their sister Dinah and killed all the males in the city. Moses killed an Egyptian (Ex 3:12) when he saw him beating a fellow Hebrew. After the law was given, we rather see an increase of it. At the fall of Jericho, Joshua and team destroyed the city and put to death its men and women (Josh 6:21). They had to kill many to capture Canaan.  Through the times of Judges, we see more of it. Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands (1 Sam 18:7) the people sang as they danced. The list of murders goes on and on through the times...

When God placed Adam in the garden of Eden, he was designed to live in absolute victory. Why would God who is full of love create an earth and allow his children to live in defeat? He authorized him to subdue and reign. He ate from the bounties of Eden, played with the animals, swam in the streams, and enjoyed the companionship of Eve and an unceasing communion with the Father. He lived in utmost freedom and utmost victory. Slavery and defeat were unknown to him. He lost his authority the moment he submitted to satan and was driven out of the garden. Instead of living by God’s Word in God’s world, he had to live by his own sweat (Gen 3:19). Instead of relishing the golden bounties of Eden, he had to till the land for his living. Toil took a toll of his life.  Fatigue, and stress came into his life. Poverty and lack followed as his sweat could not suffice. He lost his mastery over life, lost his divine health and sickness stole into his flesh. Pain became his partner. For Adam and...

    Psalms 91: 4 says His truth shall be a shield and a buckler. How can truth become a shield? Natural mind can see a piece of metal becoming a shield, not a piece of truth. First let’s look at how we turn a piece of metal into a shield? We shape them into a shield, hook them onto our hand and then use them against the fiery arrows. A piece of metal becomes a mighty weapon in the hands of one who decides to use it. A piece of truth can play a similar role. The best example is found in the life of Jesus. When satan came to tempt him saying, Turn the stone into bread (Math 4:3), he refuted him by quoting the Truth from Deuteronomy, that Man shall not live by the bread alone but my every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Deut 8:3). He kept quoting from scripture till satan fled. Here Jesus used an Old Testament Truth against satan. Adam faced a similar situation in the Eden Garden. In both the cases the temptation was about eating the forbidden food. But Adam...

  Jesus was both divine and human. He is one among the trinity who took the human form. He was on the earth, in flesh facing life. He descended into a fallen world from heaven where pain, sorrow, appetite, and hardships are not. How did he cope with this transition? How could he be divine while being human? How did he remain divine through the earthly ordeals? He lived an extremely short but disciplined life of Godly habits. Those are radically different from what the world teaches. What shall we learn from those habits of Jesus? ·          He stayed on God’s will Jesus’ parents took him to Jerusalem when he was twelve years old for the Passover feast. On the way back they found him missing in their company. They returned to Jerusalem in search of him. When they found him, he said to them, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business? (Luke 2:49). Jesus was focused on being in his Father’s wi...

  Who was Pontius Pilate? Since AD 6, Romans have been appointing their own governors or perfects to rule over the tumultuous terrain of Judea once it became a Roman province after the deposition of Archelaus, one of the sons of Herod the Great. Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor appointed by Emperor Tiberius from AD 26 who grabbed a permanent place in the crowded pages of human history as a person who approved the crucifixion of Jesus.      Pilate’s long tenure of ten years as a governor suggests that he did what fairly pleased the Roman empire. The office of Pilate exercised military, political, social, judicial, and economic power. He ratified capital punishments, even appointed the Jewish high priest, and collected taxes & tributes for Rome. Pilate was based in Caesarea a city 90 km away from Jerusalem. When he visited Jerusalem, he stayed in Herod’s palace built by Herod the Great which served as...

  Paul’s second missionary journey was unique in many ways. Paul began his journey from Antioch along with Silas. He went through Derbe and Timothy joined him at Lystra. They together journeyed through Phrygia and Galatia. The Holy Spirit forbid them to speak a word in Asia. They came to Mysia and attempted to go to Bithynia but the Spirit would not let them be. So they reached Troas and camped there. In the night Paul had a vision. A man of Macedonia was standing there urging him to come to Macedonia and help.   Vision was a confirmation for Paul. From Troas, Paul and team set sail to Samothrace, Neapolis and finally to Philippi, a Macedonian city named after the father of Alexander the great. How an arduous journey from Antioch to Macedonia it would have been? Why did the Holy Spirit insist them to go to Macedonia? A great agenda did not greet them in Macedonia. On the Sabbath day they went to the riverside to a place of prayer where they met Lydia who was a seller of pu...