Bible is a book of revelations about the restoration of the Kingdom of God. Bible contains many prophesies about future events. These prophesies are recorded in the Bible by different authors at different periods of time. These prophesies are God’s revelation about His ultimate plan for humans. The disciples of Jesus who followed Him while He was alive on this earth, believed that He was the Jewish Messiah who came to re-establish the Jewish Kingdom forever. Their perception changed only when they were filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. When they received more revelations from the Holy Spirit, their concept about the Jewish Messiah was replaced by a spiritual Kingdom. They suddenly understood that Jesus is the “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 - NKJV). This is a fundamental change to their concept of Jesus that happened on the Pentecost day. If this revelation was not achieved, they would not go beyond the Jewish community. But Jesus’ intention was to send them to Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. They were entrusted by our Lord with a great mission unto the end of the world.
History of the Jewish Temple
Tabernacle of Moses
The history of the Jewish Temple is as old as the wandering days of the Israel in the desert. Israelites were marching from Egyptian slavery towards freedom and the land of Canaan. On the way, Moses went up the Mount Sinai to meet God. The incident is recorded in Exodus 25. On the Mount Sinai, Moses received the two Tables of the Law. He also received instructions to construct the Tabernacle. Chapters 35 to 40 of the same book record the execution of the work and at its completion.
Tabernacle is called in Hebrew Mishkan, meaning “dwelling”. The Tabernacle of Moses was a simple tent within which, God manifested his presence and communicated his will. It was considered to be the earthly dwelling place of God; a visible emblem of God's presence in the midst of Israel. It represented God's throne on the earth and typified God dwelling in His people. Wherever the people went, the Tabernacle went with them. It was dismantled as they moved and re-erected at the new camp.
New Testament Message
Let me pose a question: what is the true New Testament Message? Or what is the New Covenant message to us?
Please note that we are not thinking what the New Covenant is, but simply what is the New Testament message, and how it is different from the Old covenant message.
Surely the New Testament message was spoken by
our Lord Jesus Christ to all humans, in all nations and in all ages. It is an
ageless, timeless message without any barrier of race and nations.
At the same time, we know that Jesus, primarily
talked to the Jews living in Judea. Jesus lived and served as a Jewish rabbi,
talking in their language, in a different culture and religious background.
That was God’s perfect plan. We read in Romans 1: 16 : “… it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” (NKJV)
The mystery of choice in the redemptive plan
Choice is an important topic in the Bible. The first choice made by human beings is recorded in the Garden of Eden. We read the story in Genesis 3. In this video, we are going to spend some time to understand the spiritual mystery of that choice.
The chapters from Genesis 1 to 11 is a quick introduction to the plan of God to restore the Kingdom of God. It informs us in brief, how the Kingdom of God was lost and the plan of God to restore it. Since it is a speedy record, many details are missing.
Genesis
1 to 3 describes how humans fell into sin and the slavery of
satan and thus how he lost the Kingdom of God.
These chapters reveal us that sin and slavery to satan was a choice of early humans. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, to reject the holiness of God and they chose the slavery to sin and satan. This incident reveals that choice is very important to us in deciding our future eternal life.
Missionary Journeys of Apostle Paul
Apostle Paul is an amazing person who influenced Christianity more than anyone else, after Jesus Christ. He taught the gospel of Jesus Christ to the 1 Century world. Approximately half of the book of Acts deals with Paul's life and works. But he was not one of the 12 apostles.
The New Testament outlines at least fifty cities visited during his major missionary journeys. From the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD he founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe.