Holy Communion (CW113)

 World War 3 is at Hand

While we wait for Iran's  annihilation and its regime change to start World War 3, let's check our own Christian faith, doctrine and knowledge of Him and His words.

 

Partaking the Bread

John 6:50-51   "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."

   When our Lord told His disciples that they must eat His flesh, which was the bread from heaven, many left Him.

   Our Lord had told them earlier that He was the Word made flesh (John 1:14), but they were so carnal and blind they could understand that Jesus, the bread of life, was in fact the Word (words of Jesus).

   During the Holy Communion, when we partake of the bread, we must remember that Jesus was the Word (God) made flesh. His body was broken (wounded) for the benefit of man.

Mat 26:26  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."

Worship in Spirit and Truth

John 4:23  But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."

   A Christian worships the Father -

1. in spirit - when he believes the bread was the Word (God) made flesh. When he partakes of the bread, he must walk out his faith by keeping or abiding in Jesus words.

Luke 22:19  And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, " This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

2. in truth - when he celebrates the birth of Jesus at Christmas when the Word was made flesh, and to evangelize during the Christmas-tide by bringing the good tidings (gospel) to all men.

 Luke 2:10-11  Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

Partaking the Cup

Mat 26:27-28  Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

     Our Lord Jesus, the Almighty God and Creator of the heavens and the earth was born in an animal stable like a lamb or calf. He was wrapped in the swaddling cloths as the sacrificial Lamb.

   Blood that came out from every wound on His body is for men's benefits. He was finally crucified for the remission of men's sins

Isaiah 53:4-5  Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

Worship in Spirit and Truth

   A Christian worships the Father -

1. in spirit - when he partakes of the cup, which represents the blood poured out from the body of Jesus the Almighty God, he believes the precious blood of Jesus had cleansed him of all his sins.

   He is now a child of God and God has become his Father, who is constantly providing him with His love, peace, protection and empowerment.

I Cor 11:25  In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

2. in truth when he believes, adores or celebrates Jesus' death (Good Friday) for the remission of his sins and resurrection (Easter) for his empowerment in Christ Jesus.

John 6:53  Then Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.

   Christians must partake the Holy Communion as often as possible and celebrate Christmas, Good Friday and Easter.

The Message of the Cross (CW112)

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Gospel of Christ

Luke 24:46-47  Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

   Before our Lord Jesus was crucified, He was a Jew in human flesh. To stay sinless, He must not break any of the Law and Prophet. He followed John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Covenant, and preached the message 'Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand'.

   After His death, which made the Old Covenant obsolete, our resurrected Lord commissioned His disciples to preach His gospel of grace that Jesus, the Son of God was made flesh, suffered, died and on the third day He rose from the dead.

   Whoever repents of his sins and believes the gospel of grace will be saved and the blood of Jesus cleanses all his sins. Our Lord will then give him the Holy Spirit as the seal of redemption thereby making him become a born again Christian.

   Our Lord Jesus taught Paul the same gospel of grace

I Cor 15:3-5  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.

 

New Covenant of His Blood

I Cor 11:25  In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

   When we partake of the cup (His blood), we are reminded to remember the blood of Jesus shed on the cross, where out of His great love for men, He became the propitiation of our sins.

    When we celebrate or fast during the period of Easter, we adore, appreciate, celebrate and most of all believe Jesus' love for us in His sufferings and death on the cross (Good Friday) and His resurrection from the dead (Easter Sunday).

John 19:33-34  But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

First Born Again Christians

John 20:21-22  So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

    After His disciples had believed His sufferings and death on the cross for the remission of their sins, and that He had risen from the dead on the third day, only then our Lord gave each of them the Holy Spirit, making them born again Christians.

Teachings of Risen Christ

Luke 24:44-45  Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

    Our Risen Lord was with His disciples for 40 days before he went back to heaven and He taught them how He had fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Covenant.

   He then opened up their understanding of the gospel, teachings, words, commands and parables in the New Covenant of His blood, which have replaced the obsolete Law and Prophets of the Old Covenant.

Easter and Good Friday

The Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D with 384 bishops and presided by Bishop Hosius of Cordova besides formulating the Nicene Creed, also established a unified date for Easter, which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. This separated Easter from the obsolete Jewish feasts which Christians are forbidden to observe.

  When we celebrate or fast during Good Friday, we believe Jesus suffered and died for the remission of our sins.

   When we celebrate Easter, we believe Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.

Angels Celebrated Jesus' Birth (CW111)

  World War 3 is at Hand

The Bread - Word made flesh

Luke 22:19  And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, " This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

   When a Christian partakes of the bread (His body or the Word) in the Holy Communion, he must always remember that the body of Jesus was the Word made flesh.

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

Who is the Word?

1 John 5:7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one  (KJV).

   God reveals Himself to man as the Triune Godhead or Trinity - the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit. The Word gave up His heavenly glory as the Lord God Almighty. He came down to earth and was made flesh to become the Son of God.

Mat 28:19  "Go therefore  and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,"

Word made flesh in Humility

Luke 2:7   And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

   Not only was the Word (in great humility) made flesh to become a bondservant, but was born in great humility in an animal stable as a sacrificial Lamb wrapped in swaddling cloths. His bed was a wooden manger meant for holding the feed of animals.

Phi 2:5-7  Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.

What to Remember?

    During the Holy Communion when we partake in the bread (His body), our Lord Jesus reminded us to remember that He was the Almighty God, who created the heavens and the earth. The wickedness of man on earth has always been great especially in the last days.

   Out of His great love for man, He gave up His heavenly Kingdom and Glory to save man from damnation. He was fashioned into a bondservant in the form of a Man.

   He was born in great humility in an animal stable and wrapped in swaddling clothes. His bed was only a wooden manger.

  He became the sacrificial Lamb for the propitiation of man's sins.

Good Shepherds Received Good Tidings

Luke 2:8, 10-11  Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night... Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

   Bethlehem enjoys the Mediterranean climate of the hot and dry summers and the mild and wet winters. Snow is a rarity. Winter enjoys an average temperature of 5°C - 12°C (just like springtime in Europe).  

   In winter, caring and good shepherds will take their flocks out in the night to feed on the nutritious, dewy and fresh grass. This was the time when suddenly an angel announced the good tidings of the birth of our Saviour Jesus.

   Similarly, caring and faithful Christians will be blessed with the knowledge of God, the understanding of Scriptures and End-time signa, revelation and truth of His words and the empowering of the Holy Spirit.

Good Shepherds Celebrated 1st Christmas with Angels

Luke 2:13-14  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!".

   The good shepherds were blessed for celebrating the first Christmas with the multitudes of angels.

   Brethren, whenever we joyfully celebrate Christmas, I believe angelic hosts in heaven may join us celebrating His birth.

How wonderful and joyful if only we can hear those angelic voices singing and praising God alongside ours.

Jews Rejected their Messiah (CW110)

  World War 3 is at Hand

While we wait for Iran's  annihilation and its regime change to start World War 3, let's check our own Christian faith, doctrine and knowledge of Him and His words.

Jesus, the Messiah

John 11:47-48, 53  Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.

If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation... Then, from that day on, they plotted to put Him to death._

   The Jews were expecting their Messiah to establish the Israeli Kingdom again.

   However, the faithless Jewish leadership could not trust their Messiah to defeat the almost invincible Roman army, so they planned to kill Him to prevent the Romans incriminating them of rebellion.

    At the death of Jesus on the cross, God left the temple thereby ending the Old Covenant and replacing it with the New Covenant of Jesus' blood.

Heb 8:13  In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Winter in Bethlehem

Luke 2:10-11  Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

   Bethlehem enjoys the Mediterranean climate of the hot and dry summers and the mild and wet winters. Snow is a rarity. Winter enjoys an average temperature of 5°C - 12°C (just like springtime in Europe).  

   In winter, good and caring shepherds will take their flocks out in the night to feed on the dewy fresh grass, this was the time when suddenly the angels announced the birth of the Saviour Jesus.

    Since the Jewish Priesthood rejected the birth of their Messiah and Christianity was illegal, there was no public celebration of Christmas for almost 300 years until the reign of Constantine, the first Christian emperor.

Celebration of Jesus' Birth

Luke 2:13-14  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

   The good and caring shepherds were blessed to be able to celebrate the first Christmas with the multitudes of angels hosts.

JOY to the World the Lord has Come

Word Made Flesh

Luke 22:19  And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, " This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

    When Christians partake of the bread (His body or Word) during the Holy Communion,  our Lord Jesus reminded us to remember that He was the Word made flesh at His birth (Christmas).

    Thank God that not only Christians but the whole world accepts Christmas as the Christian festival in remembrance of the birth of Jesus.

   But unfortunately, unlearned and misled Christians think that winters in Bethlehem are very cold and blanketed with snow (shown on Christmas cards).

   Just like the faithless and fearful Jewish leadership who denied their Messiah (Jesus) had come as the Word made flesh, Christians who refuse to celebrate Christmas also deny Jesus was the Word made flesh. This may lead them to lose their salvation.

  Thank God that He has provided the whole month of December (Christmas-tide) as opportunities for blessed Christians to celebrate and evangelise non Christians.

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Why was Christmas held on December 25?

    The Councils of bishops, who were imprisoned and tortured for their faith in Jesus, formulated the Nicene (Apostles) Creed in 325AD and later canonised the 27 New Testament books of the Holy bible.

     At their advice, Emperor Constantine adopted December 25 as the day of birth of Jesus for Christians to celebrate Christmas in unity and in harmony.

Original Bible Language - Greek (CW109)

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The Hebrew Language

  Daniel was a youth when he was taken into slavery after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. He had to learn Aramaic, the language of his new masters. After the fall of the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC to the Persians, Aramaic continued to be commonly used in the Persian Empire.

  Daniel initially wrote the book of Daniel in Hebrew. In his later years, he used Aramaic to continue his book possibly because most of the younger generation of Jews were not able to comprehend Hebrew.

  Within half a century or so, many Jews had replaced their mother tongue with Aramaic.

Note many parts of the writings of Ezra were also in Aramaic.

   Except for the religious Jews, who memorised the Torah written in Hebrew when young, the rest of the Jews were not able to understand Hebrew.

Translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek

    After the Greek in 330 BC conquered the Persian Empire, the Jews once again had to learn and speak Greek, the language of their new masters.

  In the Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates, "the laws of the Jews" at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BCE) were translated into the Greek Septuagint (meaning seventy) by seventy-two Hebrew translators—six from each of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

   For the sake of the Jews who could not understand Hebrew, the complete 20 canonical books of the Hebrew Bible were finally translated into 39 books of the Greek Old Testament called 'The Septuagint'.

   The Hebrew Bible was mainly reserved for Jewish religious rites.

De facto Language in 1st century A.D

   The New Testament was written in Koine Greek - the common language of the Eastern Mediterranean then.

   This suggests that our Lord Jesus and Jews all spoke Koine Greek which was the de facto language. Our Lord Jesus must have memorised the Torah from childhood for at the age of twelve He was able to discuss scriptures intelligently with the religious teachers.

Luke 2:46-47  Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.

Hebrew Spoken on the Cross

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

   When our Lord Jesus cried out in Hebrew at His death, the Jews, who no longer speak Hebrew, mistook Him calling the prophet Elijah to help Him.

Mat 27:47, 49  Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!"... The rest said, "Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him."

Canonical Books of the NT

   The Council of Rome in 382 A.D canonised the present 27 New Testament books (written in Greek) from amongst 50 false Gospels, hundreds of heretic and demonic records, and also epistles with erred and missing texts. All these rejects were supposed to be burnt, destroyed and banned (e.g Dead Sea Scrolls).

Protestant Bible

   Martin Luther ensured that the Protestant Bible comprises only canonical books and their initial translations. This original basic Bible consists of the 39 books of Greek Old Testament called The Septuagint (translated from the Hebrew Bible) and the 27 canonical books of the Greek New Testament.

   Translations taken directly from this original basic Bible are the most accurate (e.g King James Bible).

Translation into Latin Vulgare

   Jerome translated the basic Bible into the Latin Vulgate between A.D 383 and 404.

Deuterocanonical Books

  The Deuterocanonical books, written in Koine Greek in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, are not canonical books. They are mainly of historic nature and do not affect the teachings of the Law.

   Both the Roman Catholic Bible and the Greek Orthodox Bible have added several of these Deuterocanonical books to the original basic Bible (Protestant Bible).

Original Bible Language - Hebrew (CW108)

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The Old Testaments

The first five books of the Bible (Old Testament) or Torah were written in Hebrew. Torah is commonly referred to as the Law (or the Pentateuch, in Christianity). These 5 books are traditionally ascribed to Moses (1391–1271 BC), the recipient of the original revelation from God on Mount Sinai.

  Almost the entire Old Testament was written in Hebrew. But a few chapters in the prophecies of Ezra and Daniel and one verse in Jeremiah were written in a language called Aramaic. This language became very popular in the ancient world and actually displaced many other languages.

Why use Aramaic ?

   After the fall of Jerusalem and Judah in 586 BC, the majority of the remnant Jews were taken as slaves to Babylon where they had to learn and speak Aramaic the language of their masters.

   It did not take long before the majority of the Jews lost their use of the Hebrew language. Daniel had to write the latter part of his book in Aramaic so that the Jews could understand. Similarly, the majority of Ezra's writings were in Aramaic.

Falsehood of Scribes

Jer 8:8   "How can you say, 'We are wise, And the law of the Lord is with us'? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood."

    The Devil used false scribes to corrupt the Torah and Prophets also sent the false prophets to confuse them with false writings resulting in the priests becoming lawless.

Jer 5:30-31  "An astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own power; and My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?"

   

Prophets sent by God

Jer 7:25  Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.

    God sent His true prophets to admonish, judge and rectify these corruptions. So the many rejects (false and erred scriptures) were to be burned, destroyed or banned.  

   These are some of the rejected false and demonic Old Testament books.

  Book of Enoch

  The Secrets of Enoch

  The Psalms of Solomon

  The Odes of Solomon

  The Letter of Aristeas

  The Story of Ahikar

Canon Books of the Old Testament

   It seems that as far back as Erza and Nehemiah, the 39 books of the OT were being canonised until the 3rd Century BC.

   The 24 books of the Hebrew Bible are the same as the 39 books of the Protestant Old Testament, only divided and ordered differently: the books of the Minor Prophets are in Christian Bibles twelve different books, and in Hebrew Bibles, one book called "The Twelve". Likewise, Christian Bibles divide the Books of Kingdoms into four books, either 1–2 Samuel and 1–2 Kings or 1–4 Kings: Jewish Bibles divide these into two books. The Jews likewise keep 1–2 Chronicles/Paralipomenon as one book. Ezra and Nehemiah are likewise combined in the Jewish Bible, instead of divided into two books, as per the Catholic and Protestant tradition.

Translation into Greek

  By the third century BC, the Jewish community had largely lost the ability to speak Hebrew, so they translated the books of the Hebrew Bible into their then-native (Koine) Greek.

   Gradually this Greek translation of the Old Testament, called the Septuagint, was widely accepted and was even used in many synagogues.

Dead Sea Scrolls are Erred Texts

    The famous Dead Sea Scrolls including the Hebrew Old Testament discovered in 1947 actually date back to the first century BC but they are not the originals.  

  These scrolls were rejects because they have erred and flawed texts. They should have been burnt or destroyed. All bible translations taken from these rejected scrolls will have missing or erred texts.

  The originals, which were translated into the Greek Septuagint in the third century BC, have all been lost or destroyed. For accuracy, all bible translations of the Old Testaments should be taken directly from the Septuagint.

Christianisation of the Roman Empire (CW107)

  World War 3 is at Hand

Vision of Constantine

    The Christian historian Eusebius Pamphilus, who later became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima, described what happened to Constantine: "He saw with his own eyes in the heavens the Cross arising from the light of the sun, carrying the message 'In Hoc Signo Vincesa' in Latin, meaning 'In This Sign Conquer'. Then in a dream Christ visits Constantine and gives him a battle strategy that helped him win."

   Constantine saw the vision of the Cross arising from the light of the sun and he was to conquer the whole Roman Empire to Christianity with the Gospel of Christ.

    For God to hand the enemies over to Constantine was easy, but to win the Roman Empire to Christ, he must trust Jesus, the Sun of righteousness and the Light of the World.

   To be the light of the world, Christ must have taught him to walk in humility and love in order to win over the trust of the equally powerful Pagan Emperor Licinius of the Eastern Roman Empire and the hearts of the powerful Pagan Roman Senate.

Mat 5:16  "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

Then in a dream Christ visits Constantine and gives him a battle strategy that helped him win.

  In his dream, Jesus must have taught him to set up the council of bishops similar to the council of Apostles and elders of Jerusalem in order to re-establish the Christian's doctrine to reunite the divided churches.

Christianity Legalized

  In 312 A.D, Constantine attributed the victory over his rival Maxentius to the God of the Christians in front of the powerful Pagan Roman Senate.

  On February, 313 AD Constantine in humility with the Pagan Eastern Emperor Licinius obtained the Senate's approval to sign the edict of Milan proclaiming religious tolerance in the Roman Empire thereby removing the persecution of Christians and the return of all confiscated properties.

Heresies facing Constantine

   By the 4th Century A.D, there was little agreement about Christianity's beliefs and teachings, the nature of Jesus and God, what writings were sacred, or even how to worship. There was a wide variety of views, many of which were later declared heresies.

Council of Nicaea

   Immediately after legalising Christianity, he invited 1,800 persecuted bishops from around the empire to provide the basis for a unified Church.  

   The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD with 384 bishops and presided by Bishop Hosius of Cordova made several decisions, including:

1. The Nicene Creed

The council created the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that affirmed the divinity of Christ. The creed used the Greek term homoousios, which means "of one substance", to declare that Christ was of the same substance as the Father.

2. The date of Easter

The council established a unified date for Easter, which is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox. This separated Easter from the Jewish calendar and created a distinctly Christian celebration.

3. Banishment of Arius

The council banished Bishop Arius and his followers, who denied the divinity of Christ and declared their teachings heresy.

Following the Council's advice, Constantine set aside December 25 for Christians to celebrate in unity the birth of Jesus (Christmas), and declared Sunday (the Lord's Day in Rev 1:8) for Christian to worship the Almighty God.

   He was a Saint more than a Conqueror.

 

After his death in 337 A.D, his son Theodosius I in 380 A.D declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire.

New Testament Books

    The Council of Rome in 382 A.D canonised the present 27 New Testament books (written in Greek) from amongst 50 false Gospels and hundreds of heretic and demonic records, which were all banned.  

  Unfortunately unlearned, heretics and Satan's agents had used and are still using these demonic false books to discredit and blaspheme our Lord Jesus, His Apostles and also His faithful servant Constantine.