Unbroken Bones-The Power Behind The Suffer

                                     

Hello readers! I'm delighted and feel blessed to write about Our Dad again. I thank Him for this wonderful grace He has given to me. Thanks to UTAR computer lab as well. Hahahaha! 

As usual I was inspired to write about one of the most prominent yet amazing prophecy that Jesus fulfilled on the cross. I call it"Unbroken Bones". It wasn't so appealing to me in the past years but recently after a Sunday sermon I had the urge to research and write about His unbroken bones.

We all know that Jesus had to die and rise again to deliver us eternally from the power of Hades. But what we often don't take initiative to know is that there were numerous prophecies that were put to rest alongside with His crucifixion because all happened in the most perfect order. I can't get the numbers right of how many prophecies were there but what was very visible to me was these unbroken bones.

What is it so special about unbroken bones? He was completely dead and rose again, breaking the bones was nothing significant? Why is it so important for the prophets to prophesy this event and why this has to come to pass? All these were my questions and I saw how God answered me one by one when I was sitting down among the crowd listening to the sermon.

Ok let's do some study and get to the topic step by step to ensure that we absorb every drop of knowledge God reveals here. Let me list it down to ease you:

a) What do bones symbolize biblically?

b) Where in The Holy Bible these prophecies and fulfillment were written?

c) Why were they so important?

What do bones symbolize biblically?

I would like you to have a Bible with you so that you can relate the connections with me. The references used for this section would be 2 Kings 23:16-18.

Bones are important parts of the skeletal system of the body. They provide structural support and enable voluntary and involuntary muscle movements. Their roles are significant in most systems in our body. They protect the important organs in our body as well. In short, without bones we are mere nothing. We might probably live like snails or caterpillars. When we understand the basics of the bone in us, we will be able to relate it with The Bible. 

In 2 Kings context, it is written that King Josiah burnt the bones of rebellious and evil workers' at once. But he left the bones of the prophets of God as it is in the tomb. The evil doers were dead, why Josiah had to burn the bones? When you read the whole book we know that most Kings during that period rebelled against God adding curse to the nation. But Josiah wanted to get his nation out of it knowing the Commandments of God. He then destroyed every pinch of evil in that nation including the bones of evil workers. Now it symbolizes that he destroyed the ultimate "support system" of evil in his nation to keep it out from curse and destruction. 

So we see here that bones symbolize some "support system" in The Bible. 

Where in The Holy Bible these prophecies and fulfillment were written?

We see that olden days prophets did not only prophesy for contemporary situations but God hid futuristic messages in their prophecies. Like in Psalms 34:20, it is said He keeps all His bones and none were broken. It means the said Messiah should not have his bones broken during his death. It was significant because crucifixion was common in those days and whoever was crucified not necessarily The Messiah. And so to clearly distinct this scenario God hid the prophecy of "Unbroken Bones" in this psalm.

We also see the fulfillment of this prophecy when John quotes it in a very beautiful manner in John 19:33-36 saying none of Jesus' bones were broken. The soldiers couldn't do it, the priests couldn't do it and no one had the power to break them because Jesus kept them.

Why were they so important?

This is the main part of the post. Why are these hyped "Unbroken Bones" so significant that God wanted to highlight it as a very important prophecy?

We know that though Jesus was the Ultimate and Highest form of Power, and He could easily make anything or destroy anything, heal anyone etc, He chose not to do that on Himself. He rise up to conquer the power of death and to redeem us. No one has the authority to kill God. He chose to die for us. But He didn't want his wounds healed though He could've made it happen because He wanted to heal us with His stripes and wounds. He regards them as a honorable award for saving His children. Every single stripe and wound the soldiers gave Him are still fresh on His body. So if His bones were allowed to be broken, probably it will be retained so. But His bones should not be broken.

He said He will destroy the temple and build it in 3 days. As He told, He rose up from death to build an eternal temple over His body as the foundation. The reference verses are Ephesians 5:23 and  Colossians 1:24. The church is His body and we see that Paul said it very beautifully in Romans 12:4-7. Now being a part of His body, the church has to be super stable to grow and multiply. His bones supply the necessary support and strength for the church to grow and propagate. Like in us, we grow only when our bones are strong. But in Jesus, His bones are and can never be broken. So, His church, our relationships with His children and with Him shall never and can never be broken. Wounds and stripes are expected as He said we will face tribulations, but eternally we know that Jesus The Rock of Salvation is our foundation and nothing can move it.

As bones in every part of the body has different functions, say in abdomen area it helps movements of hands and protects the heart and lungs etc, we are part of His body but different church has different visions or responsibilities to accomplish. We will be continuously protected by Dad. But as a whole, we all work together as one to Grow and Multiply similar to our body.

So dear readers, "Unbroken Bones" are significant enough I guess. His power behind the suffer on the cross is clearly seen in the propagation and growth of churches across the globe today.

Be Inspired and Be Blessed.

Amen.  

Born Once Die Twice; Born Twice Die Once

Hello dear readers. I guess my posts are benefiting you guys is some way. So this time I was thinking about what to write as I was walking to my college and then suddenly I remembered an incident happened months back. I named this incident as "Life Changing". It happened unexpectedly that one of my close brother's (brother in Christ) dad passed away. He passed away due to some unexpected heart problem. As I was there for the funeral and burial, my whole concept of looking at life changed. It is common to people who attend these kind of occasions but it was different in the sense that I see what people actually reflected on the one who died. The goods and bads were made transparent that day. But it wasn't that which made me write this but it was the next day. During the burial, a normal service took place with Pastor giving his warm message to those who lost their loved one. After the ceremony, another Pastor (Pastor Abraham) quoted this statement "Born once, die twice; Born twice, die once". I don't know whether he knew how deep it could mean but it was a deep quote. I decided to write about it today.

     I see that many or almost three quarter of us get the concept of baptism pretty shallow or some even so inaccurate. Before I was saved, I hardly found the logic behind this sacred ceremony. I ridiculed baptism and in fact, I took it just to shut my mom's nag about my conversion. But from that day on I made a point to know what it meant completely to value my salvation. I hear people ask and say:

a) Ok, I believe in Jesus and I will pray and obey to all what He said but I don't want to baptize.

b) I am a born Christian. My parents are Christians and so why do I need baptism?

c) Why do we need to baptize? 

etc.

     It is pretty simple actually. Baptism is not an act of tradition but a symbol of acceptance and repentance. Ok now first let us see the first part of the title "Born once die twice". Every single living being on Earth born once. That is a common thing and we also know what when there is something called birth, there is definitely something called death. And one day we will die; this is certainly accepted by all levels of humanity and creatures. But The Holy Bible says in Revelations 2:11, Revelations 20:6 & 14 and Revelations 21:8 that those who are not born in Christ will suffer Second Death. What is Second Death? We human are made up of Body, Spirit and Soul. Since the fall of due to the disobedience of the First Man Adam, we have lost our spirit and lived like animals. Thats why we hardly see any difference between man and animal in earliest time frames. When the soul departs from the body, technically when we die, body rots to dust and soul goes either to Hell or Heaven depending on the deeds. Since man naturally sin, it is almost impossible for any soul to enter Heaven. And so when we die without being saved, we suffer death on Earth and also in Hell eternally. It is said that in Hell, we have double the senses we have now and so a prick can cause pain as much as a stab. 

     Now going to the second part of the title "Born twice, die once". As told before, it almost impossible for any man to enter Heaven. So God being aware of this, came down as man like us to suffer the world's sin once shot on the cross, dying to defeat the Death and Hades and finally rising to Glory, He opened a chance for us to enter Heaven. To assure that our Body and Soul doesn't adapt with the corrupted nature again, He gave us His Holy Spirit to have governance over the two elements and to drive us close to perfection in order to be worthy of His Kingdom. Now we don't live bodily but we are given Spirit to live spiritually. But though the door to Heaven is now open, there are some rules and methods to enter it. It is very logical for these rules to exist because even in today's world, you can't enter another country just like that. So, the rules are simple. We need to live a renewed life and live as Holy as possible. It can be only done with the help of The Counselor- The Holy Spirit. So why baptism? Baptism is simply an act of imitation and acceptance of what Christ has done for us on the Cross. We go down into the water with all our corrupt nature, lust, greed and sinful characters symbolizing all the agony Christ suffered on the Cross to defeat those sins. And when we rise up again, it symbolized His resurrection after having complete control over Sin and Death. We also rise up as a New Man (A New Birth) accepting the salvation from God through Christ to get away from all our past sins. 

     This act is important because it is like we celebrate birthdays to remember that we were born on that day and we are of some age during that time. Similarly, baptism symbolizes our crucifixion along with our sins like Christ and our resurrection as a new creation as Christ. It is not religious act but it is a spiritual act. After this baptism, your body and soul will be totally controlled by God Himself to be guided in the path of life. But it doesn't end there. We see in The Book of Acts that they were baptized in Holy Spirit. That was what John said about Jesus. He will baptize us in Fire and Spirit. So water baptism washes away our bodily sins and entitles us for the Salvation of Christ. After being completely cleansed, The Holy Spirit falls on and in us to remain with us to help us live in this corrupted world and to guide us to be worthy of Eternal Life. The Baptism of Holy Spirit is a topic by its own and I will certainly write about it in another blog. As for baptism, this is it. 

     When we are born once (from mother's womb), We die twice (Death and Hell);

     When we are born twice (from mother's womb and baptism), We die once (Death).

The Fruit of Baptism is Eternal Life with God.