choose life

Choose Life

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Romans 8:6

If you were given the choice between life and death, which would you choose? The answer seems obvious. But, in reality, it's not. You see, choosing death doesn't necessarily mean jumping from the nearest cliff. It's much more subtle than that. The Bible says death is being carnally minded, being entangled in this present worldly realm. The Bible also tells us what life is. "My son, attend to my words," says Proverbs 4:20-22, "...for they are life!" To be worldly-minded is death. To be Word-minded is life. In Luke 10, there's a story that illustrates this principle extremely well. It's the story of Mary and Martha. You probably remember it. Mary was sitting at Jesus' feet listening to Him teach while Martha was bustling around in the kitchen cooking dinner for everyone. Finally Martha couldn't stand it anymore. She came to Jesus and said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work myself? Tell her to help me!" Jesus answered, "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42). Mary had set everything else aside, so she could hear the Word. But Martha had let the seemingly important business of living take priority over the Word. She'd chosen death, not life. You see how easy it is to slip into that? "But Brother Copeland," you say, "if I didn't spend all my time taking care of the business of living, my life would fall apart!" Oh, really? Martha probably thought that too. She probably thought if she didn't cook dinner for all those folks, they'd go hungry. But they wouldn't have. Jesus had miraculously fed multitudes before and He could have done it again in Martha's home. She could have plopped herself down at Jesus' feet, and they could have had a banquet at God's expense! Don't make the mistake that Martha did. Don't get so entangled in the business of living that you choose death by default. Decide to put the Word first place. Choose life!

Yesus Mesias yang diurapi

Yesus melawat Nazareth spt kebiasaannya selalu menghadiri kebaktian dirumah ibadah. Dia ditugaskan oleh pengurus rumah ibadah utk membaca firman ( dari kitab para nabi / perjanjian lama); dg berdiri sbg suatu sikap menghormati .
Atas tuntunan illahi pas pada waktu giliran Dia membaca ayat tepat dari kitab Yesaya ttg Mesias yg akan datang.
ttg tahun rahmat Tuhan, kabar baik, dan pembebasan.
Yesus adalah Mesias, yang diurapi dan diutus Allah untuk melaksanakan misi penyelamatan Allah. Dengan tegas Ia memproklamirkan diri ketika menyatakan bahwa,

Lukas 4: 18-19 (TB)

18 "Roh Tuhan ada pada-Ku, oleh sebab Ia telah mengurapi Aku, untuk menyampaikan kabar baik kepada orang-orang miskin; dan Ia telah mengutus Aku
19 untuk memberitakan pembebasan kepada orang-orang tawanan, dan penglihatan bagi orang-orang buta, untuk membebaskan orang-orang yang tertindas, untuk memberitakan tahun rahmat Tuhan telah datang."

Yesus adalah Mesias, yang diurapi dan diutus Allah untuk melaksanakan misi penyelamatan Allah. Dengan tegas Ia memproklamirkan diri ketika menyatakan bahwa ayat ini telah digenapi.

Yesus menyatakan diriNya adalah Mesias yg ditunggu itu. Hal ini membuat org Yahudi/nazareth dari yg mulanya kagum dan heran menjadi menolak Dia, marah dan mau membunuhNya. Mereka tahu Yesus sbg tetangga yg mereka kenal. Mana mungkin Yesus adalah Messias raja agung yg ditunggu-tunggu bangsa Israel seperti yg dinubuatkan para nabi.

Markus 6:3 (TB)  Bukankah Ia ini tukang kayu, anak Maria, saudara Yakobus, Yoses, Yudas dan Simon? Dan bukankah saudara-saudara-Nya yang perempuan ada bersama kita?" Lalu mereka kecewa dan menolak Dia.

Yesus memproklamirkan tahun rahmat Tuhan yg dibawa Mesias namun mrk tidak mau mempercayai Nya; dg tegas Yesus mengatakan karena mrk menolak maka rahmat itu akan diberikan kpd bangsa lain yg mau menerima spt pada masa nabi Elisha ( janda di sarfat dan naaman org syria). 1 raja 17: 9
2 raja 5: 1

 Yesus mengakhiri pembacaan nubuat itu dengan menyatakan bahwa nubuat itu sudah genap. Itu berarti, Yesus menyatakan bahwa diri-Nya adalah Mesias yang dijanjikan dan telah dinantikan sekian lama. Dan saat itu menjadi saat penuh anugerah, dari Allah bagi manusia.

Kalau kita perhatikan kisah-kisah selanjutnya, kita akan menemukan kisah Yesus yang menyembuhkan orang sakit, membangkitkan orang mati, mengusir roh-roh jahat, dan berkuasa atas alam semesta. Semua dampak dosa yang diderita manusia disingkirkan oleh Yesus Kristus melalui karya-Nya di kayu salib. Maka kita patut bersyukur dan memuji Allah karena Yesus Kristus datang bukan hanya untuk berkhotbah tentang manusia yang harus melepaskan diri dari dosa. Karena Ia sendiri datang untuk membebaskan manusia dari dosa. Hanya, bersediakah kita mengakui Dia sebagai Mesias, Juruselamat kita dan memohon pengampunan-Nya?
Yesus secara pribadi melawat Nazareth namun mrk menolakNya. Akal pikiran mereka tidak bisa menerima atau mau menyelidiki kitab para nabi ataupun merenungkan akan mujizat dan tanda ajaib yg sudah dilakukan Yesus di Kapernaum. Karena jelas Yesus sudah menggenapi ayat ttg nubuatan Messias.
Apakah kita memiliki kepekaan rohani sewaktu Tuhan melawat kita? ataukah kita termasuk orang yg mengeraskan hati kita dan tidak mengenali hadirat atau karya Tuhan diantara kita?

Mendengar firman Tuhan ternyata tidak lantas membuat orang jadi mengerti dan percaya. Memang dibutuhkan hati yang terbuka untuk melihat siapa Yesus sebenarnya dan kemudian mengalami kuasa dan kasih-Nya. Mungkin kita telah pernah menerima Kristus sebagai Juruselamat dan Tuhan kita, tetapi apakah kita telah membuka tiap area dalam kehidupan kita secara utuh kepada Tuhan?

666

Today gematria is well-known as a Jewish interpretive method that assigns numerical values of Hebrew letters to words, phrases and/or sentences. Then, by adding them together, it seeks to determine their deeper meaning. Sometimes that connection is farfetched, but sometimes it is quite clear.

In Matthew’s genealogy, which shows that Jesus/Yeshua was a descendant of King David, we read “Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.” (Mathew 1:17). The numerical value of the Hebrew characters forming the name of the great King of Israel – David (דוד) is 14.

This is how it works – (4) ד (4) + ו (6) + ד  – Matthew uses geneology to intentionally tie Jesus to David numerically (through gematria of 14) three times. And his point is that Jesus is the son of David, i.e. the Messiah.

In the Book of Revelation, we read, “Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.” (Rev. 13:18). The author clearly says that the number of the beast can be calculated, which is a clear hint to do exactly that.

Although the beast of the book of Revelation is almost certainly not limited to the first-century, near the time of writing of the Book of Revelation, there was a blood-thirsty persecutor of the early Christ-followers – Nero.  His name in Hebrew (Nero Ceasar – נרון קסר) has a numeric value of 666. According to tradition, both Peter and Paul were both martyred during his reign. It is likely that Nero was a symbolic figure of all future government-sponsored persecutions. If the original identification of the beast as Emperor Nero is correct, this would explain why some early manuscripts of the Book of Revelation have 616 instead of 666 as the number of the beast. The difference is from spelling Nero’s name in Latin instead of Hebrew. But the method is still gematria.