Resurrection Day.

Waiting for resurrection ...

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;

 

Romans 6:5

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
 

Good Friday ... the rescue for Laodiceans ...

                             Jesus said: It is finished

Maundy Thursday

John 17 

Jesus’ Prayer for His Followers

17 ^1-5 Jesus said these things. Then, raising his eyes in prayer, he said:

Father, it’s time.
Display the bright splendor of your Son
So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.
You put him in charge of everything human
So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.
And this is the real and eternal life:
That they know you,
The one and only true God,
And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
I glorified you on earth
By completing down to the last detail
What you assigned me to do.
And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,
The very splendor I had in your presence
Before there was a world.

^6-12 I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.
They were yours in the first place;
Then you gave them to me,
And they have now done what you said.
They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,
For the message you gave me, I gave them;
And they took it, and were convinced
That I came from you.
They believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
 

I’m not praying for the God-rejecting world
But for those you gave me,
For they are yours by right.
Everything mine is yours, and yours mine,
And my life is on display in them.
For I’m no longer going to be visible in the world;
They’ll continue in the world
While I return to you.
Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life
That you conferred as a gift through me,
So they can be one heart and mind
As we are one heart and mind.
As long as I was with them, I guarded them
In the pursuit of the life you gave through me;
I even posted a night watch.
And not one of them got away,
Except for the rebel bent on destruction
(the exception that proved the rule of Scripture).

^13-19 Now I’m returning to you.
I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing
So my people can experience
My joy completed in them.
I gave them your word;
The godless world hated them because of it,
Because they didn’t join the world’s ways,
Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways.
I’m not asking that you take them out of the world
But that you guard them from the Evil One.
They are no more defined by the world
Than I am defined by the world.
Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth;
Your word is consecrating truth.
In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world,
I give them a mission in the world.
I’m consecrating myself for their sakes
So they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission.

^20-23 I’m praying not only for them
But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me.
The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—
Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you,
So they might be one heart and mind with us.
Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me.
The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—
I in them and you in me.
Then they’ll be mature in this oneness,
And give the godless world evidence
That you’ve sent me and loved them
In the same way you’ve loved me.

^24-26 Father, I want those you gave me
To be with me, right where I am,
So they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me,
Having loved me
Long before there ever was a world.
Righteous Father, the world has never known you,
But I have known you, and these disciples know
That you sent me on this mission.
I have made your very being known to them—
Who you are and what you do—
And continue to make it known,
So that your love for me
Might be in them
Exactly as I am in them.

(taken from the Message)

Passover 2013

 

 

The Jewish  Passover started on March 25 and will end April 2nd. During the Seder meal you follow the order from the Haggadah. On the Seder plate there is symbolic food to remind of the time of slavery in Egypt and the Exodus.

Gold

GOLD

Maybe you have come across jewelry or other items that are gold plated; which means that a metal has been covered with a thin layer of gold to look like gold.

“Gold plating is a method of depositing a thin layer of gold onto the surface of another metal, most often copper or silver by chemical or electrochemical plating” (Wikipedia)

“When an item is electro plated, the plating material is very thin - less than 0.01mm - so there is hardly any volume of gold. So even though gold is expensive, a gold-plated item is worth just a few cents more than the item would be without the gold. Any product plated with gold or silver doesn't have a scrap value. This is for the simple reason that gold or silver plated items will not melt during the separation process and it adds impurities in the gold or the silver, Most of the time these "impurities" in the gold are nickel, iron or flat base metals that disrupt the melting process; for this reason those who buy and sell gold only accept pure gold, silver or platinum.”

(information found on Internet)

There is also “gilding” which means a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold.

Dictionary.com explains “gilded” as “having a pleasing or showy appearance that conceals something of little worth”.

Jesus says: “Buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich”

“Gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire” is as far as I understand pure gold without impurities.

While doing research about Revelation 3 I have read some commentaries of famous Bible study authors and almost all of them refer this “gold” to “faith”. A faith that is tried and has been tested compared to a shallow and “thin” coat of religion that show off a certain tradition or custom but has no depth or root in Jesus.

I can agree with that but to me this also points to what God time after time has said to his own people Israel in the Old testament and what he says  in the New Covenant through Jesus himself and the Apostles:  “I’m not mixable!”

Why would the creator of heaven and earth; the life giver and healer mix with dead bones, gods of no value and belief systems that talks against him? He is Holy and there is no darkness in him. He has decided a wonderful way for man to accept; salvation through Jesus, so man can share his glory. There is no way he will change that and mix it with demons and dead bones. 

 ... to be continued.

"From me"

There is a lot of "commotion" in the book of Revelation but it all starts with "tough love"… for Gods ‘children.

Gods´ judgment starts with his own children. Each church suffers from illnesses and so he gives the diagnosis. He sees what causes the sickness; gives the prescription how to cure it and if the patient follows the prescription she will indeed be cured. The patient will even be in a better condition than before she fell ill.

The patient Laodicea doesn't know she is ill; or  even worse; she covers it well with a self-image that says: "Everything is OK". 

However Jesus cares about the “patient” and that's why he tells the truth about the state of the church. How different his view is compared to what the church of Laodicea thinks of herself.

"You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless". (The Message)

Here is the prescription:

Jesus says:

“Here’s what I want you to do: 

Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. 

Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough.

Buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see"

(Revelation 3:18, The Message)

Notice "from me". That is the key to the cure. The "riches" that seemed to be enough for the church of Laodicea was of no value. Obviously those "riches" were achieved from somewhere else but Jesus. How can it be that a church//a Christian is content with something that has nothing to do with Jesus? Because that is what it says; the source of the wealth was not Jesus.

 Jesus urged the Laodicea church to buy from him

 “gold”,

 ”cloths”

“eye-salve”;

Let’s look at each of them in the next entry.