Issue 32> 01 July 2002
  This site is updated weekly Sat, 6 July, 2002 9:40 AM

Service From The Heart

It is now one year since I started this weekly email service. The Lord has been really exceedingly bountiful in His blessings.
When I started on 03rd July last year, I had no idea how this will turn out. All I knew was that He had given me the tools to start the writings and all I had to do was to be obedient to Him. My original mailing list consisted of close to 50 of my friends but now, by the grace of God, the list had grown. I am now sending to more than 100 people every week and some of you have forwarded the same mail to your friends. The message is now also on the website ( see the URL below ). It is being read by people in many countries - South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, USA and of course in Singapore.
Some of you have asked me why I am doing this and what I hope to achieve from it. The answer is rather simple. It is something that our Lord Jesus Christ gave me to do some time back in March 2001. At that moment, I did not make much notice out of it. In fact it was only about three months later while I was on my annual vacation and resting at home that I realized that He had already given me the instructions but I was too 'thick in the head' to listen and pay attention. He removed the wool over my eyes and caused me to see that all details had already been worked out and all I need to do was to step out in faith and start sharing.

Click Here to read Full Article

5. and so also were
James and John, the sons
of Zebedee, who were
partners with Simon. And
Jesus said to Simon,
"Do
not be afraid. From now
on you will catch men."

Luke 5:10 NKJV

10" Teach me to do Your
will, For you are my
God; Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of
uprightness."
Psalms 143:10 NKJV

Hard Sayings of the Bible ( IVP Press)

2 Samuel 24:9: What Was Israel's Population?

The problem is this: 2 Samuel 24:9 has 300,000 less fighting men in northern Israel than 1 Chronicles 21:5. And 2 Samuel has 500,000 fighting men from Judah while 1 Chronicles states there were only 470,000. What is the explanation for these statistical inconsistencies?

As if this were not enough to deal with, both Josephus and the Lucianic texts (a recension of the Greek Septuagint) of Samuel record the number as 900,000 for Israel and 400,000 for Judah.

Click here to read Full Article

excerpts from BibleHistory.com

Hinting and Giving Understanding

According to ancient rabbinic tradition there were various modes of interpretation for understanding and teaching the Torah (Old Testament). The most common was "Pardes," meaning "garden of the Torah," which was an acrostic for the four modes of interpreting the Torah. The "R" consonant in Pardes stood for "remez" which means "to hint at something obvious." For example when Jesus referred to Himself as "the Son of Man," the remez understanding would be that He was identifying Himself with the apocalyptic Redeemer of Dan 7:13-14 where the Jewish prophet Daniel spoke of a man called "the son of man" who would be given an everlasting kingdom that would never pass away.

In fact just by saying "Son" or "My Father" Jesus was making blatant statements about Himself to anyone that was familiar with the Torah, since words like "Son" are scattered throughout the entire Hebrew Scriptures in identification with the Messiah.
Throughout the entire ministry of Jesus he was fulfilling prophecy, in every Word He spoke, every place He went, and every thing that He did. There was nothing that Jesus said or did that was not in direct fulfillment to some passage or Scripture in the Hebrew Torah. Even when "He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle" He was literally screaming the message that He was the first born Son of the Father according to rabbinic Judaism.

The Coming One

Many times Jesus would make one statement and be quoting or hinting at four or five different verses in the Old Testament, especially when He was being attacked by the religious leaders, he would answer their questions with another question or statement that would allude to the Scriptures that they were presuming to know so much about and following so closely. There are numerous examples but for now we will examine John's question and Jesus' response.
John sent his disciples to ask Jesus, "are you the coming one?" If we examine the Old Testament we would find a multiplicity of statements about the Messiah being regarded as "the coming One" in Hebrew its "haba" which means "to come." One of the most popular Messianic Scriptures where this word is used is in one of the Psalms:
Ps 118:26 "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!"
Another Scripture in the Psalms that was regarded in Judaism as Messianic is in Psalm 40 where it contains the word "haba" spoken by Christ Himself through David before Jesus was born:
Ps 40:6-8 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, "Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God, And Your law is within my heart."

Another example is found in the last book of our English Bible:
Mal 3:1 "Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming," Says the LORD of hosts.
The knowledge and expectation of the "Coming One" was prevalent during the time of Christ as we can see from a couple of examples:
John 6:14 "Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."

John 11:25-27 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

(to be continued...)

 
All references taken from RBC, Pat Robertson, Ron Rhodes, Kenneth/Gloria Copeland, Charles Slagle, Smith Wigglesworth, Selwyn Hughes, Charles Spurgeon, Manners and Customs of Bible Times, The Complete Bible Handbook, The Spirit Filled Bible(NKJV), The NIV Bible, God's Promises for your every Need, Idiot's Guide to Bible Mysteries, Hard Sayings of The Bible, Articles courtesy of Mr Andrew L W Lee.