Christians, secularism, morals and values

Our western society has been under much pressure lately. Many could see that humans are hard- and soft-wired towards co-operation as much as competition. One may wonder if there is such a thing as the common good of society, shared morals and values, and that individuals need common rules for living together and contributing to the overall health of their society. {A relentlessly upbeat take on citizenship: My Review of Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship}

After a long time that people had it very easy, they now come tested again. They once again have to become aware that

Nothing is easy, all goes slowly, we carry time as a very heavy burden, but little by little we see clearly and advance… Living spiritual life — as opposed to religious life — is very difficult because spiritual life happens within whereas religion comes from outside oneself. {Advancing in spiritual life}

Though today many seem to forget that the religious life, coming from outside, when forced to some some one has no value and is just an empty box. Religion has to be chosen by the person himself or herself. For adults it is the own choice to belong to a certain religion. For an adult it is also the own choice how they live that religion. The best can this be seen in West Europe were lots of people say they are Catholic but where the majority does not live up to Catholic rules, and where even more than 90% even does not belief all the Catholic dogma‘s and do not affirm to the Catholic sacraments. they have come to an age where they made themselves a religion for their own. But they also should come to see that there are others who sincerely belief in God and want to serve that God (Allah, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah) to their best efforts.

Several people have lots of questions of life and death and want to have something to hold an and look for some spirituality. This spirituality is different than the religiosity.

Spiritual life, although it has a unique goal throughout the world which is the Union of All that is the Creator and all creatures, takes place in a wide variation of form and thought, because there is a constant rapport between spiritual life which is unique with the variable environment of the moment. {Advancing in spiritual life}

People have looked for different ways to come to see, meet and have a relationship with each other and with that Creator of the universe. Thousands of forms have been found to bring themselves to higher spheres and to try to make contact with the inner self and with creation and Creator. Lots of techniques found day light for humans to find ways to bring their body and soul in unison.  Many techniques are daily used by people all over the world to keep their body and soul healthy and to become a human which is in balance.

That balance is brought in danger by many factors and mostly by the impacts from outside world.

Man and woman in swimsuits, ca. 1910; she is exiting a bathing machine

At the beginning of the 21st century man in the West clearly has a troubled mind about tohorah or ritual purity, modesty, personality, self-expression, freedom or liberty, morals and values. Living in a place where the population in previous years was brought up under Judeo Christian values, those values seem long forgotten, and some, like the French some have chosen to oblige totally different moral values.

France’s Burkini Ban

Under the pressure of Islamic terrorists, people in the West have gotten such a fear which seems to trouble their mind so much they can not think straight any more. So, many suddenly start looking to see danger everywhere, even in women wearing certain clothes.

Normally you would think we are living in a multicultural society where it should be possible that

We do not need to like or love our fellow citizens. But we have to respect them and engage with them. {A relentlessly upbeat take on citizenship: My Review of Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship}

At the moment the world shows that respect is totally gone. There does seem to be no respect at all for people who have chosen an other way of thinking and living than theirs. It looks like today everybody has to agree with the same and has to be cut from the same cloth or has to be the same buffoon.

Lots of people are not willing any more to think about certain matters or to do some more research about certain things, to come to know more about it. Everything seems to be of the same cut and everybody is tarred with the same brush.

Take for example Islamic people living here in the West. Lots of people consider them a danger for our society because they hear a lot about those Islamic terrorists and have recently seen that those fundamentalist Muslims created havoc in our own regions killing many citizens.  Lots of people do forget they also killed many Muslims, Jews, atheists, Christians and other believers and that they really have nothing to do with the real Islam. They also do not seem to know that in the East even Sunni‘s came to fight against those so called Sunni Muslims of Daesh.

Women wearing hijab

In Europe we may find today a very big issue about Muslim faith, they way those people cloth, namely the hijab (headscarf) or turban, burka (full body cloak) or burqa and burkini or burqini becoming the symbol of Islam and all that there is about Islam. It has come so far that we see that a garment now defines Islam. But only a name could make them afraid to and have them saying a bukhara (Bukhoro or Bokhara) should be forbidden though then we shall not be able to eat any Bukhara Chutney (Plum Sauce) any more.

A cloth, has become Islam. The issue is that modesty and virtue have been reduced to the abundance or lack of abundance of a garment. And that indeed is a shame. {Tell me I’m wrong about the hijab  + Maniza Naqvi is wrong on so many levels about the hijab}

For us still the idea exist that the Ummah or Muslim community is still much too silent and does not show enough the world that those terrorists are misusing the name of Allah and are not real Islam.

It does not help when we in the West hear about maltreated women in the East. A Saudi 17-year old teenager making the decision to leave her family during a vacation in Turkey this summer; a 20-year old Muslim woman ran away from her family in Saudi in 2014; Hind Al-Otaibi escaping her abusive father who raped and injured her; Sahar Al-Sharif, attempting to escape domestic violence and her abusive brothers by getting married; all Saudi women who are not criminals, but people who have simply made a conscious decision to live! Who can blame them and who can say they have caused any harm? But why should they, when coming to the West put their faith aside and come to cloth themselves like Western people, who in their eyes do have low morals and not good ethics?

Strangely enough it are on those aspects they and western Muslim women become judged, as so called being without good morals and without good values. Today those values in France seem of a totally different sort as the ones in the previous century when they made a fuss when a short or skirt was not long enough or when too much bare skin was visible. Today several French people want to see as much as naked skin as possible though they forbid full nudity because than the excitement is taken away. For them clothing has to be spicy and seducing, otherwise it is not acceptable. That seems to be the moral and ethic attitude of the majority of French people today.

That modesty and virtue have been reduced to the abundance or lack of abundance of a garment for many does not seem to be a problem, but they want to see in the way women prefer to cloth, their inability to make their own proper choice. When women are not clothed like some of the youngsters prefer today they are considered not old fashioned, but are considered to being oppressed.

People also have becoming very narrow-minded thinkers (or would we not better say non-thinkers) limiting their own thoughts not wanting to go against the mainstream.

One of the biggest mistakes people make when talking about Muslim women, rather than talking to Muslim women, is to assume that Muslim women are all the same, think the same, to ignore the diversity of thought, experience, opinion. {Tell me I’m Wrong About the Hijab by Maniza Naqvi}

All Muslims are lumped. For the majority of Europeans they are all the same, from the same wet jar. Many of French or other Europeans, even do not come to see the difference between hijab, burka and burkini. They condemn and reject it without logic thinking and without good fundamental thought.

In case those people, who call themselves Christian, but adhere a trinity, do not want to come up for those women who love God more than man, real Christians, who love only One True God, should speak for those other lovers of God (Allah) and who have chosen to cover their body for God.

Real Christians should show that world which thinks it has good morals, that her morals have become polluted and reprehensible. They should show the world that it are not such good morals when man wants to exploit women as a sex object.

We as Christians should show the world that lovers of God should follow the rules of God and should respect each others and their own body. In the same way we should know that we have to be careful not to tempt others or to bring others to wrong thoughts about our body. We also should consider our body to be holy, i.e. set apart for God and for the one who intensely love and want to share our life with. This means that we should have the right to keep our own body to that person or persons who we want to share our body with or would not mind being seen in our natural skin.

We also should respect those women who want to go so far to cover a lot of their body. We also should show the world that we ought to respect those women for their choice of reserving their bodies just for their beloved.

For some it may look like those women are oppressed by their husband, but did they ever thought it might be the strong women their own choice to believe in certain values which may be much higher than the present values of the world?

Jews, Christians and Muslims should be lovers of God and as such prefer to keep to the Law of God much more than to the preferences of the majority of the world, who have abandoned God. Real lovers of God should know that the world its secularism, does not have to mean they have to follow in all the world their liberties.

Real lovers of God should always have in mind that the Law of God should be on the first place. That Divine Law is part or should be part of the Judeo Christian values our Western world should be keeping to, but many have gotten wrong ideas about those values, because they do not know their Scriptures any more.

It is up to lovers of God to come up for other lovers of God and to show those who have gone astray or do not know God to show the Way to God.

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Preceding article: Secularism in France becoming dangerous for freedom of religion

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Find also to read about the burqini or burkini:

1. Women’s Groups Say Gender Equality is a Must for Sustainable Development
2. Gender connections
3. Gender equality and women’s rights in the post-2015 agenda
4. What is Racism??
5. Is Europe going to become a dictatorial bastion
6. On French beach French police forces woman to undress in public
7. Women in France running with naked bosom all right but with covered bosom penalised
8. France and the Burkini
9. French showing to the whole world their fear and weaknesses
10. Pew Research: How People in Muslim Countries Believe Women Should Dress
11. Allowing dress code according liberty of religion
12. The Dress Code for Women in the Quran
13. Meditating Muslimah on “hijab to be a religious obligation”
14. Coverings Worn by Muslim Women
15. Does Banning Face Veils Help Us Fight Terrorism?
16. Islamism Rises from Europe’s Secularism
17. You are what you wear
18. Where’s the Outrage Over Nun Beachwear? – The Daily Beast
19. Not limiting others but sharing peace with all
20. What we don’t say about the refugee crisis?
21. A charter for a truly free world and why we need it
22. When will it stop
23. ‘I try to keep my hate in check. If you can’t hate, you can’t love.’
24. Meditating Muslimah on “hijab to be a religious obligation”
25. Silence, devotion, Salafists, quietists, weaponry, bombings, books, writers and terrorists
26. Are people willing to take the responsibility for others
27. Colour-blindness and road code
28. Man’s own fault and the choice to flee from fear
29. Lovers of God, seekers and lovers of truth

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Further of interest

1. Religious Dress in Catholicism
2. ISIS is Islamic, but most of Islam is not ISIS
3. What if this existence is not real?
4. The Dark Side is Strong with this One
5. The More Things Change . . .
6. What not to wear
7. How Much Cover is Too Much, or Too Little? The French bathing suit controversy as represented in original source material
8. What Not To Wear: A Short History Of Regulating Female Dress From Ancient Sparta To The Burkini
9. Tell me what you wear
10. Burkini Ban: Nice
11. France’s Burkini Ban
12. The reason you aren’t succeeding as a woman? Thats because you bleed apparently.
13. Reviewing Channel 4’s Investigation into ISIS Sympathisers
14. Should France launch air strikes against ISIS after Friday’s attack?
15. The Islamic State responds to Pope Francis: “We are making a religious war, and we hate you
16. ISIS tells the Socialist Pope that the Islamic State is in a war against the infidels approved by Allah.
17. ISIS Responds to Pope Francis: This IS a Religious War and WE HATE YOU
18. I Stand with Humanity ! I Stand against Terrorism #PrayforParis
19. The Written Stuff vs.The Not Written Stuff: Sex Education From An Islamic Perspective Part I
20. Is the Woman in Hijab oppressed? Who is a free woman ?
21. What Hijab Means to me, Hashtag #Hijabtome
22. Why I never wore a Hijab so far?
23. At what point does a ban become a chance to publicly humiliate?
24. And the Debate about Burkini Ban continues #burkiniban
25. The Swimsuit Issue
26. Stripped Down Make-up and Full Cover Suits.
27. Nawaz: Both Sides Are Wrong in the Burkini Wars – The Daily Beast
28. Burkini ban overturned
29. What a lot of Berk(a)s
30. I got 99 problems and the burkini is one of them…really?
31. Bombs in a burkini?
32. Bretons bathe fully clothed as Muslim asked to leave beach
33. My Burkini and I
34. This is why.
35. The Story In A Rug
36. You’ve Got to BurKining Me!
37. Ramadan Kareem!
38. Requiem
39. What Can You Learn Through Someone Or Something Shivered? — Michael J. Fite
40. Finding yourself
41. Beauty Eclipsed: Day 8 – Focus inward
42. Beauty Eclipsed #9: Surface vs Core
43. A Journey From Being Alone To Alone
44. Own, Apologize, Repair: Coming Back to Integrity
45. Counter-Activism…or… Subverting Democracy
46. The world in trouble
47. i know why the caged bird shrieks…
48. Darkness
49. What do we do?
50. The New Testament Church Part 2
51. Peace
52. De-Stress Your Mind & Body
53. Let a young woman accept as a life companion only one who posseses pure,manly traits of character,one who is diligent,aspiring,one who loves and fear God.
54. Why I wear the iron maiden: One woman on dressing modestly in everyday life
55. Turn away from companions who will lead you in wrong paths.
56. How legitimate is Christian Head-covering?
57. Misnomer
58. Why We Are Not Meant To Live Our Lives Naked
59. There Is No Biblical Reason Why Women Can’t Go Topless?
60. Power Of Happiness
61. Being Grateful and Being Sorry—Are You Humble Enough To Do Both?
62. …make this gift count.

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Standing within proximity of the glory of God

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“No other “god” can stand within proximity of the glory of God,
or share the same platform with God the Creator.”
– Dianne Crossland

“Don’t let the scenery and poetry and music of your relationship with God shrivel up and die. You have capacities for joy that you can scarcely imagine. They were made for the enjoyment of God. He can awaken them no matter how long they have lain asleep. Pray for His quickening power. Open your eyes to his glory.”
– John Piper

“Faith in God always brings a response from heaven – the kind of response that delivers and exalts,
if not in this life then surely in the life to come. This to the Glory of God.”
– Marcus Ampe

“To the glory of God we do have a mediator between God and man in heaven.
He died for the sins of many.
To Jesus all who are weary can come and he will speak for them to his Father,
who shall  give them rest,  supply all their needs according to their riches in glory.
He shall carry your burdens, watching over His word to do it for you.
He is it who heals you to His glory and to the glory of His son.
All good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father
to His glory.“
– Bible students

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
– Psalms 19:1 (NIV)

“A life in gratitude opens God’s glory.”
– Bengt Sundberg
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John Piper (theologian) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Related articles

• A Peculiar Glory
• A Peculiar Glory
• In Jesus’ Name
• Searching For Fulfillment
• LISTEN: Jesus Is the Light for Your Life, Part 17 (Just Jesus Evangelistic Campaign, Day 117 with Daniel Whyte III)
• Does God See The Real Needs of Those with Chronic Illness?
• True
• So you are going to Heaven?
• Israeli Messianic leader Howard Bass on Larnaca Statement: “compromising post-modern Christian humanism”
• The Gender Conversation

Bring praise to the Creator

Often people moan about their life. It is as if they do not like to be here on this world. Many think the grass is greener somewhere else.

We have our good and our bad days on this earth. Some days we like it here very much, other days we hate it. Most of us do have questions why we are here and what life is all about. Many also wonder how they came about and what the reason of all the things that happen are. Lots of people only think of God when something goes wrong and than they question Him. It is not that God is silent when bad things happen here or when justice appears not to be meted out on our terms for the terrors of this world. It is also not God who created the terrors of this world. People do forget that most of the difficulties which come over them are a result of them leaving God, not listening to His ordinances. Most people have separated themselves  from the Creator, Jehovah God.

The Creator has always walked alongside His people and was always longsuffering, patient and waiting for any of us that would turn to Him. He provided the solution for mankind to come back to Him, but many still do not see the Restoration. God gave His only begotten son as The Way to come to Him. His door, through Christ, is always open.

One of the main problems of the human beings is that they put their trust in mere man. They look forward that other men can find a political solution to make this life better. Some look to their idols to inspire them, other put all their trust in so called powerful persons.  They all forget that no ordinary man shall be capable to find the most sublime best solution. They hope to find any kind of consistency and salvation in mankind.  They forget what happened in passed time. Many do not know the history of mankind.

Plaque at coastal viewpoint Quoting a Psalm in the praise of the Creator God. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In case more people would know the history of the world and religion they would know that the reasons why it is such a mess is that people have far gone off the Law of God. Many our blinded, even when they do think they are religious and belonging to a church. In those churches they eat dogmatic words and often have not much Words of God coming unto them. Words of pastors and men surround them. Some of them want to bring the flock to see through the mist, to look at God, who alone is our rock and source of eternal life.  God alone is worthy of our praise.

And because humankind does not recognises the works of the Creator, they also do not praise enough. In case they would praise more they would also be more enlightened.

Praise is not some non-emotional reaction – it is a holistic pouring out of self to lift up our voice and spirit to the Lord.  It isn’t a suggestion – it is a command.  It is an action.  It requires us to be totally involved emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Praising the Most High, Creator of all things, should become a way of life.

For every God loving person it is a way of living. It is a lifestyle.

Praising God is something that comes in earnest from the heart. It is the fulfilment of the grace of love. To Praise God involves all of the individual ‘I’.

To praise the Almighty God isn’t some external only action. It involves our entire being.  It takes all of us, down to our very soul, to praise Jehovah, God of all gods, King of all kings and King of all gods.

Praising God, is showing our love to Him and giving Him notice that we do not put ​our​ trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. It is recognising how small we are and that when we come to the end of our life our spirit goes out and we go back to the ground of this world, becoming dust. It is recognising that in the day of our death it shall be the day that our thoughts do perish.

Simeon’s song of praise. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By praising Jehovah, using His Name, we show Him that we want to give ourselves to Him and that we want to show are thanks for the many blessed moments we get in this life, though it may also be filled with difficult moments and moments never to be remembered. But by praising God we show Him and the world around us that we are belonging to the happy ones who has the God of Jacob for their help, whose hope is in Jehovah their God,  the Maker of heaven and earth, of the sea, and of all that is in them, the One keeping trueness to time indefinite.

By praising Him alone we show the world and its Creator that we are willing to give ourselves in the hand of the Elohim, the One executing judgement for the defrauded ones, the One giving bread to the hungry ones, because we know that Jehovah is releasing those who are bound. We are sure that Jehovah is opening our eyes and even those of the blind ones.

In case we do bow down in front of God He might raise us up.

Jehovah is loving the righteous ones and is guarding the alien residents. Wherever we may be on this earth or this universe God is willing to be with us. When we call unto Him He shall come unto us.

Giving praise to Jehovah the king to time indefinite, we let Him know that we do recognise those facts, as written in His Word, the Bible. We do recognise that His Word is infallible and let it inspire us every hour of the day. Reading in the Bible is also a form of praising God, often forgotten by many. It is like reading the love letter from your most beloved over and over again, thinking of Him all the time, wanting to be close by Him.

We should take as much time as we can in the Word of God, reading it and taking it at heart. By reading those Words of Hope we shall get to know better the rock on which our fortress shall stand strong. In the Words of God we shall be able to find who is our Deliverer; our God being our rock, in whom we take refuge.

He is my and your shield and the horn of my and your salvation, my and your stronghold, in case you are willing to recognise the Most High. His only begotten son made it possible for all people to be reconciled again with the Father of all. It is on Him that we should call. Jesus learned his followers to pray to his Father with the words ‘Our Father’. Yes we can say “Our Father” to the creator of all things and praise Him. We also can ask Him many things in the name of His son Jesus.

Let us be humble enough and give praise to the right one. Praise to the LORD of lords, who is worthy of praise.

We need to recognize God and His sovereignty continually. And we should praise Him with all our heart,with all our soul, but also we are told

“I will sing praises to my God while I have my being”.

“Jehovah” at Exodus 6:3 (1611 King James Version) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That reinforces the lifelong aspect of praise, but also that singing is one way we should be lifting up His name.  We should praise Him with our voice.  It isn’t something we should always do in a closet but verbally and often in front of others. His son also asked his pupils to go out in the world and proclaim the Name of the Father. This Name: Jehovah, should sound all over the world, through many generations.

We should let as many as possible know that we love Jehovah our God, for generation after generation.

It is a personal relationship with us the Creator God desires.  Not because He needs us, but because He loves us.  He desires that we enter into His presence and have a relationship.
Do you have that with God?
Are you praising Him with all your soul?
If not, today is the day to begin.  He is worthy.  He deserves and desires our praise!

“Praise Jah, ​YOU​ people!”

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Next: Praise Jehovah, ​You people

Preceding:

Nazarene Commentary Luke 1:67-80 – Zechariah’s Prophecy

We are redeemed; we are “bought with a price”

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Please also do read:

1. Jehovah God Almighty greater than all gods
2. Creator and Blogger God 5 Things to tell
3. Fear and protection
4. For Jehovah is greatly to be praised
5. Praise be to God
6. Praise the most High Jehovah God above all
7. Song of Praise for the Elohim Set-Apart
8. Songs of Moses and the servants of God
9. Worship and worshipping
10. Dealing With the “Silence” of God
11. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #2 Calling upon the Name of God
12. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #5 Prayer #1 Listening Sovereign Maker
13. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #13 Prayer #11 Name to be set apart
14. Good and bad things in this world
15. Longsuffering
16. Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be
17. Looking at the Source of joy
18. God our refuge
19. Jehovah steep rock and fortress, source of insight
20. sinking world….
21. Best intimate relation to look for
22. Look for your Refuge by God

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Please do find also of interest:

Previous articles on this subject:

1. Contents of the Book of Revelation
2. The Song of The Lamb #1 Visions, symbols and suggested meanings
3. The Song of The Lamb #2 Sevens
4. The Song of The Lamb #3 Daniel and Revelation
5. The Song of The Lamb #4 Methods of Interpretation
6. The song of the lamb #5 Revelation 5
7. The Song of The Lamb #6 Revelation 14
8. The Song of The Lamb #7 Revelation 15
9. Kingdom Visions of a Man, Throne and Great crowd
10. Kingdom Visions of Rainbowed angel, Lamb in Mount Zion
11. Kingdom Visions of God’s judgements and Marriage of the Lamb
12. 144 000 following the Lamb
13. An unblemished and spotless lamb foreknown
14. Seals, a flying scroll, a statue and blessings
15. Songs of Moses and the servants of God
16. Attributes to God, names and titles
17. Believe in only One God
18. God is one
19. Suffering through the apparent silence of God

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Related articles

• Psalm 10:13-18
• We don’t worship God in the generic
• The Theology of the Book of Revelation by Richard Bauckham
• Is there common ground between Christians and Muslims?
• New Flemish tryptich for those who want to know more about God
• Witnessing because we love
• Lord and owner
• What the Sunrise Reveals in the Work of the Sea
• The faithful God
• Do you purpose that your mouth will not transgress

In the death of Christ, the son of God, is glorification

The God Creator the Most High His son

Jehovah God, the Most High, who never lies, had told the people who stood around Jesus that they could see God His beloved son.

“16 As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”” (Matthew 3:16-17 NIV)

That son of David and son of God had now given himself as a sacrifice to the Elohim. The Nazarene man has always tried to do only the Will of the Father in the heaven. Jesus was never interested to do his own will, but only wanted to please his Father. Like David he had in mind only to do God His Will, even in the hour of his death.

“I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”” (Psalms 40:8 NIV)

“”Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”” (Luke 22:42 NIV)

The one who served God His purpose

Like when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, Jesus fell asleep and was buried. But now a miracle happened. The only begotten son of God  was not laid to rest to stay there in the underground (the sheol or hell) He only stayed there in the darkness for three days. Then God took him out of the dead and let him walk again on this earth to meet his friends again and to show them that he was risen. He proofed them that his Father had not let his body to body to decay.

Icon of Jesus being led to Golgotha, 16th century, Theophanes the Cretan (Stavronikita Monastery, Mount Athos). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The blood poured out on the altar of the stake on Golgotha brought the ransom offer of the Lamb of God. By walking around on this earth again Jesus showed the apostles that his Father had accepted his offering and taken him under his alms. Now he could convince them, also by the Power of God, the Holy Spirit which came over the apostles, that he was the Messiah by whom people could come free — free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free!

Jesus in his lifetime had always said he could do nothing without his Father, who is greater than him and that the Father could be glorified in the works he did. Never did Jesus take the glory himself, but it was his father who glorified him and made him higher than he was before.

 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18 NIV)

“And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” (John 5:27 NIV)

“Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (John 5:19 NIV)

“”You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28 NIV)

“So Christ also did not take upon himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”” (Hebrews 5:5 NIV)

“5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:5-8 NIV)

United by bloodshed

Jesus thought of everything, provided for everything the apostles could possibly need, letting his disciples in on the plans he took such delight in making, trying to give them insight in the Torah. All the time he tried to make the Words of his Father clear, so that the people could fully understand the Holy Scriptures and could find the God of heaven and earth. It was this Jehovah God who set it all out before the apostles in Christ. In this son of God, the Nazarene man Jeshua (Jesus) who was brought to death on the wooden stake, his friends now became united to understand the long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth. It’s in Christ that they found out who they were and what they were living for. Long before they first heard of Christ and got their hopes up, he had his eye on them, had designs on them for glorious living. We also may believe that God His Plan for the world is also part of us in Christ. Part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free — signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first instalment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

“7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. 11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:7-14 NIV)

Our chief end

We in Christ have become freed from our sins, have redemption and be part of God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. But than we may ask “What is it that God really wants for us more than anything else? What is He really after for us?”

The Scottish catechism says, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God.”  Is that according to you also the top goal of living.  For sure God created the universe to be part of One Great Unit in Unison with His wishes.  We should strive to come in unison with the Creator of heaven and earth. That’s the great business of our lives.

God is displaying His glory in His Creation. And in the created order of the universe, what’s the universe doing? “The heavens declare the glory of God; the earth is full of his glory,” says Isaiah.

When God made man, what was his purpose? He made man in His image to bear His likeness and Hebrews tells us that we are crowned with glory.

Faithful to the Father

Jesus, the son of God in his life, always tried to follow the Will of his Father. For him that was very important, not to say the most important thing in his life. Jesus always said to others he could do nothing without his Father. Without God no man can do anything. Jesus also spoke of glorifying God’s name and finishing the work He had for him to do. He also spoke of God being glorified through His death.

God created the world like a theatre in which to display His Glory. He has sent His Son in order that we may see something of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ – He is now working by the Holy Spirit in the hearts and lives of His people that they may be changed into the image of His glory.

Jesus prayed immediately before His death, “Father glorify your Son.”

God who can not die, nor be seen by a living soul or that one would die, found a man who was willing to offer himself for all the other people. Jesus did not mind to have his blood streamed down onto the ground.

Glory and heaviness of action

The original meaning of the word ‘Glory’ in the Bible is really ‘weight’. That’s weight in the sense of the ‘heaviness’ of something.  In Jesus his case it meant the heaviness of his action. It was incredible that he, as an ordinary human from a workers family, wanted to present himself as a worker for God, going to many places preaching the Gospel.  God can not be tempted but Jesus was many times, and it was not always easy for him to make the right choice. Sometimes he had to worry his earthly parents or to ask a lot of his mother Mary (Miriam) He had to show them his good character. He also proofed to God and the adversaries of God that it is possible for man to be faithful to God.

The ‘Glory’ Christ Jesus got is the sign of what he is worth. Those people who take Jesus for God ridicule in a certain way his offering. Because God knows everything, is eternal, can not be tempted and can not die.  When Jesus would have been or would be God, than this God would not always have told the truth, because He spoke about His son and did not say “that is me” or “this is me” and the son said about his Father that He is bigger and he can not do anything about Him. Jesus, in case he was God would have not only faked his death but would also have brought a charade of doing like he was asking the Father in heaven to do something he could not do. God can do everything and knows everything, though Jesus told the people he even did not know when he would come back to the world.

A build up of character

God His character is the most Holy and righteous; It is not a misleading Spirit. Christ Jesus is also not a misleading person. He could have sinned (God does not sin). Jesus did not sin and proofed in that way his faithfulness to the Laws of his Father, never going in against the Will of his Father.

The Glory of both is implicated with their character. In other words, the glory of God is the display of His worth, of His character. Also the manner of behavement of Christ Jesus, following the Will of his Father even bringing him into death shows us how strong this man has been. This is why we see the glory of God as supremely displayed in the ‘Cross of Jesus’, Jeshua finding death on the stake.

John Calvin made this point: “Nowhere in the universe does God display His glory more fully than in the Cross of Christ.”

It’s because there at the torture stake and by the resurrection of His son, the wisdom, love, justice, mercy, goodness and faithfulness of God are on show in all that God has done.
It makes us who believe part of the people called ‘the forgiven much’. When we understand that, we will love much and will serve much, and worship much, and adore Him, out of a heart of devotion and not just do it because we are Christians and we’re meant to do that kind of thing.

As Paul writes in Second Corinthians 3:18:

“but we all, with [our] face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the lord spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18 MKJV)

A reliable witness to God His power and His ways

Isaiah in his 24st chapter verse 20 wrote “the earth staggers like a drunken man … its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls ….” We see this as a fitting description of how our world is staggering today. Its transgression of the ways of God are causing it to fall apart. Let us not “put off” developing the faith and the patience and the earnestness, and a sense of “full assurance” – for, said Jesus, “the one who endures to the end will be saved.” [Mark 13:13] and will then be ready to inherit the wonder of what God has promised.

God had promised a Messiah and a Land for His people. In Jesus we should recognise this ‘Christos’ or Man of Salvation, the Christ. The apostle Paul was a devote Jew who knew the Torah very well. He only believed in One God, like Jesus also believed in that One and Only God, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah. In his letters to the Hebrews Paul clearly explains that the reality of Jesus as a Son. The apostles like Jesus did believe that the Scriptures also teaches that the heavens declare the glory of God and are a reliable witness to His power and his ways.

The Bible also appeals to us to carefully consider the evidence of God’s creations and what it tells us about God, and that it is a reliable source of knowledge.

When we do not want to accept the Words like they are written down, telling us who is who, we are not only ignoring the Truth, but we are minimising all the actions that took place. In case we do not accept Jesus his position we ignore the words of the prophets who lived before him and are not taking God His Words at heart when He talks about His beloved son. When we take Jesus to be God we do not want to believe a man could do such wonders by the Power of God, or we do not want to accept that God would give such Powers to a man of flesh and blood. By taking Jesus as God or by not accepting the written words ‘black on white’ of the printed Scriptures, in your ignorance of the Truth, you despise the evidence and so reject the knowledge of God that the heavens reveal night after night.

How much glory to the one who gave his life

God can not die but Jesus really did die.

Jesus gave his life for us, how motivated are we to accept what this man really did and to serve him as a result? Recall how Paul expresses it at the end of Romans 5, “…as sin reigned in death (before he/we knew Christ) grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [Romans 5:21]

Let us see and understand the verse of dire warning in the letter to the Hebrews. After writing of the punishment of sinners under the Law of Moses the question is put, “How much worse punishment, do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the spirit of grace?” [Hebrews 10:29] May we so live that we are among the “vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory – even us whom he has called …” [Romans 9:23-24] In the Scriptures we ‘hear’ him calling! Are you listening properly?

Are we willing to recognise the elements which show us the Grace of God in Christ? And are we willing to accept the position of Christ, who is seethed next to his Father, to be a mediator between God and man? Or do you prefer to think it is Jesus himself who has taken up the throne and the position of God?

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9 NIV)

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—” (Hebrews 2:14 NIV)

“For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17 NIV)

“Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12 NIV)

“In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you” (1 Timothy 6:13 NIV)

“”You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”” (John 18:37 NIV)

“Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”” (Acts 4:12 NIV)

“All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”” (Acts 10:43 NIV)

“And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17:5 NIV)

“Now I want you to realise that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3 NIV)

“When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.” (1 Corinthians 15:28 NIV)

“who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” (1 Peter 3:22 NIV)

“20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,” (Ephesians 1:20-22 NIV)

“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,” (Philippians 2:9 NIV)

“22 Moreover, the Father judges no-one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.” (John 5:22-23 NIV)

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5 NIV)

“to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:24 NIV)

Coming to Jesus giving him the honour due to him

Are you wiling to accept that Jesus gave his life for you? Are you willing to come to Jesus, who presents us with a new covenant, a fresh charter from God. We should recognise his position and not take it lightly.  When we make him not just a god but the God, Creator of all things, we do not accept that a man could proof to be faithful to God. Then we also do not believe Jesus is the Mediator of the covenant God made with His people. A mediator is namely a person who mediates between two parties, in this case God and the human beings.

God is an eternal Spirit, meaning that he had no beginning and no end. Jesus had a beginning when he was placed in the womb of the virgin Myriam (Miriam/Mary/Maria) God can not be tempted, but after many temptation Jesus had to endure he found an end to his life like it was ‘murder’, unlike Abel’s — a homicide that cried out for vengeance — which became a proclamation of grace.

Child Jesus with the virgin Mary, with the Holy Spirit (represented as a dove) and God the Father, with child john the Baptist and saint Elizabeth on the right (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

God is the Most High of all but Jesus, made “not quite as high as angels,” and then, through the experience of death, crowned so much higher than any angel, with a glory “bright with Eden’s dawn light.” In that death, by God’s grace, he fully experienced death in every person’s place. And therefore should receive our full recognition and the glory due to him.

The Saviour being of flesh and blood gave way to rescue us by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Adversary‘s hold on death.  [Hebrews 2:14]

Now we can trust God and his son who came before God as high priest to get rid of our sins. As God rewarded him extravagantly, we also should give Jesus the best of everything, the highest honours, because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch, because he embraced the company of the lowest. Jesus took on his own shoulders the sin of the many, he took up the cause of all the black sheep and we should be grateful for that and give him praise for doing so.

We should be fully aware that  salvation comes no other way, because no other name has been or will be given to us by which we can be saved, only this one, the man Jesus, son of God, who was promised many years beforehand. But the world had to wait such a long time, not because God was so much enjoying the suffering of the people, but because it took such a long time before there was at last a man who could proof to the world, to the many adversaries of God (in many Bibles translated with the word ‘Satan‘ or ‘devil‘) that it was really possible that a man could honour and love his Creator so much that he always preferred and did do the will of this Creator, the Only One God.

Not alone in our believes and glorification

Salvation belongs to Jehovah God. He allowed His son to be the human Saviour by bringing his life to an end at the stake, liberating the world form the spell of death.

Perhaps you may say there are not many people who take it for granted that Jesus was the son of God who died for our sins. Not many did want to testify of the wonders the Nazarene man Jeshua (Jesus) did.  But we’re not alone in this. Our witness that he is the means to forgiveness of sins is backed up by the witness of all the prophets and is clearly written down in the Book of Books, the Bible, which we consider the word of God.

It is that Word of God we want to follow and not the dogma‘s or certain teachings people just have to accept, because they are to difficult to understand. God is a God of order and clarity. He wanted all people to find Him and to love Him. He did not reserve the knowledge of Him only to very special educated people. No, everybody should be able to find out who God really is and to whom Glory is due.

Jehovah, God, was asked by Jesus to  glorify him with His very own splendour. God has a Plan and He foresaw the Messiah already from the beginning of the world. In the Garden of Eden when the first man went against God, Jehovah provided a solution to save all those who would come after Adam and Eve, so that the World of God could become a nice Creation into the end, a Kingdom of God, full of peace and tranquillity.

There in that Kingdom of God, the son of God, Jesus may have the glory and very splendour in the presence of the Most High Elohim, who has given him the authority to judge over us and to be king on this earth until Jesus Christ, having the last word on everything and everyone, from angels to armies,  shall have brought everything and everyone finally under God’s rule. Then Jesus, the Son of God, will step down, taking his place with everyone else, showing that God’s rule is absolutely comprehensive—a perfect ending! (1 Corinthians 15:28 )

Therefore let us accept the son of man Jesus (Jeshua) as the son of God,  the Father who handed over to the Son all authority to judge,  so that the Son will be honoured equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonours the Son, dishonours the Father, for it was the Father’s decision to put the Son in the place of honour. [John 5:22-23]

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Please do find also to read:

1. Some one or something to fear #6 Faith in the Most High
2. God about His name “יהוה“
3. God of gods
4. Pure Words and Testimonies full of Breath of the Most High
5. The radiance of God’s glory and the counsellor
6. Fearing the right person
7. History of the acceptance of a three-in-one God
8. Heed of the Saviour
9. Man’s plans prevailed by God’s purpose
10. Grace and beloved by God
11. A promise given in the Garden of Eden
12. About a man who changed history of humankind
13. Reasons that Jesus was not God
14. Jesus begotten Son of God #12 Son of God
15. Jesus begotten Son of God #15 Son of God Originating in Mary
16. Jesus begotten Son of God #16 Prophet to be heard
17. Jesus begotten Son of God #18 Believing in inhuman or human person
18. Jesus and his God
19. On the Nature of Christ
20. Clean Flesh #2 Purity of Jesus
21. Jesus spitting image of his father
22. Why did Christ not reveal the exact time of his second coming?
23. Christ having glory
24. One God the Father, a compendium of essays
25. Wishing to do the will of God
26. How is it that Christ pleased God so perfectly?
27. The meek one riding on an ass
28. Anointing of Christ as Prophetic Rehearsal of the Burial rites
29. A Messiah to die
30. Jesus memorial
31. No person has greater love than this one who surrendered his soul in behalf of his friends
32. The day Jesus died
33. Swedish theologian finds historical proof Jesus did not die on a cross
34. The Seed Of The Woman Bruised
35. Ransom for all
36. The redemption of man by Christ Jesus
37. Impaled until death overtook him
38. Jesus three days in hell
39. Christ has indeed been raised from the dead
40. Jesus is risen
41. Why did Christ not reveal the exact time of his second coming?
42. Ember and light the ransomed of Jehovah
43. A Jewish Theocracy
44. Observance of a day to Remember
45. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
46. Through Christ’s death you can be adopted as a child of God
47. The high calling of God in Christ Jesus
48. One Mediator between God and man
49. Festival of Freedom and persecutions
50. Not bounded by labels but liberated in Christ
51. The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ
52. Without God no purpose, no goal, no hope
53. Man’s plans prevailed by God’s purpose
54. The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
55. Written to recognise the Promised One
56. A Living Faith #1 Substance of things hoped for
57. A Living Faith #5 Perseverance
58. A Living Faith #10: Our manner of Life #2
59. God make us holy
60. Growth in character
61. Character is built
62. Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships
63. Minimizing the power of God’s Force the Holy Spirit
64. Praise and give thanks to God the Most Highest

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