There are special days, special incidents and special places memorable in the lives of people and those may be the days of some very special decisions for life. Enoch did not walk with the Lord during his young days. But when he got a son ‘Methuselah’ he started walking with God (Gen: 5:21-24). That could be the picture of young men and women living ungodly and rebellious lives during their teen age and youthful years. It could be that the birth of Methuselah was endangering the life of the mother which led Enoch to consider his rebellious life, repent and determine to live for God and with God.
Incident of great calamity, sickness unto death, accidents and fear of a sudden danger would force people to make new decisions in life. Stories of such are many.
So also, the beginning of a new year often inspires people to make new and positive decisions. Hoping for such good and spiritual decisions for the New Year, let me list seven incidents that took place on the first day of the first month, as recorded in the Holy Bible.
1. ATONEMENT FOR SINS – Sin Offering (Eze. 45: 18-25)
That was the day for the ‘sin offering’ and it involved three things:
i) Atoning for the sins committed knowingly or unknowingly. (v: 20): Every man is a sinner. Not because of the sins committed by him. But he is born in sin- unwittingly, unintentionally, unaware because of the first man who sinned (Adam). (Rom: 5:12).
You are a sinner from birth, even before you committed any sin. You need a city of refuge to flee and escape. (Jos. 20, Num. 35). Jesus Christ is the city of refuge. He took your place and died as substitusionary sacrifice. If you have not accepted Him as savior, first day of the year is the right time to receive Him into your heart and life, for your salvation, forgiveness of sins, for cleansing and eternal life. (1 Cor. 15:1-4, 1 John 1:7, Isa. 1:18. John 1:29)
ii) Passover feast was kept for seven days in the first month. (v. 21): This is the remembrance of the redemption from slavery of Egypt by the blood of the lamb. (Exo. 12). A determination is required to worship the Lord on regular basis, each week, first day of the week, with the table of the Lord as the apostles and early Christians observed. (Acts 20:7). Unfortunately, majority of Christendom observe the Lord’s Supper only once a year or the most once a month. The excuse is that there is no ordained pastor in the local church. But the Bible speaks of ‘elders’ in every church, set apart to administer the Lord’s Table, Baptism and other responsibilities. Some people argue that the observance of Lord’s Table each Sunday will reduce the seriousness of the practice. But the Bible says, “As often as you do this”! The exhortation and the expectation are that we should often remember the death of Christ for our salvation.
iii) They ate unleavened bread for seven days. (v. 21): Leaven speaks of pollution and sin. Feast of unleavened bread means to live a life of purity and sanctification. We are asked to abstain from all appearance of evil (1 Thess. 5:22). Observance of this for seven days speaks of completeness. It is high time to have a self examination and then discard anything that is in your life against the will of God. It may be a bad habit. It may be an unhealthy relationship. It may be an income generating business and yet sinful.
Let the first day of the fist month be a day to remember for ever – as a day of salvation to some of you, as a day of re-dedication for worship to some others and a day of decision for sanctified living for others.
2) RENEWAL OF TEMPLE WORSHIP: 2 Chro. 29: 3-19. (Chs: 29-33 & 2 Kings 20)
The temple worship was ceased during the sinful reign of Ahaz the king of Judah. Idolatry prevailed. But his son, King Hezekiah destroyed all the molten images, cleansed the temple and dedicated it for the worship of Jehovah. He asked the leaders and priests to cleanse the temple and revive the true worship of Jehovah. This is a plea to all those who neglect the worship of God with the people of God (Heb. 10:25). Our God seeks worship from His children. He wants people from every tongue and tribe to be His worshippers. Our duty is to invite all people all over the world, from every ethnic group to worship Him. Eternity is a blessed place when multitude of people will worship Him from every tongue and tribe (Rev. 7:9-12).
The Old Testament worship was in the Temple which was built for it. But the New Testament worship can be done in any place. It can be in a building or a house or under a tree. Millions are worshipping Him today happily bamboo huts, mud houses, forests, prisons and in very hostile situations. They are our inspiration.
Old Testament worship was with sacrifice of animals. But for us, the final sacrifice was Christ. We do not need any animal sacrifice in worship. What are our sacrifices?
i) Sacrifice of praise (Heb. 13:15)
ii) Sacrifice of giving (Phil. 4:18)
iii) Surrender of our bodies (Rom. 12:1)
A believer should not be silent. He should offer sacrifices of praise to the Lord.
He should also sacrificially give for the work of the Lord.
He should offer his body as a living sacrifice to the Lord.
This is a challenge to you for the New Year.
3) A CALL TO SEPARATION (Ezra 10:11, 17, 9:1, 2; Neh. 13:23, 24)
Israelites had taken pagan wives. Mixed marriages gave birth to children who did not speak the language of God’s people, but picked up heathen languages. Rituals and practices of heathens tolerated or accepted. When Ezra read to them the law of God in tears, people were pricked in their hearts, repented and gave up heathen wives and declared their 100% loyalty to God. God is calling you in the New Year to separate yourself from any practice, habits, sins that you have compromised with during the past year. This includes any ritual or practice of non-Christians you have adopted because of your circumstance. It may be the celebration of a heathen festival. It may be the dress code or adornment of non-Christians. (2 Cor. 6: 14-18). It may be the ‘Sindhur’ on the forehead or it could be the breaking of a coconut to an idol or in a temple. It could be the shaving of head at the death of your father or the eating of food offered to idols. It could be offering prayers and the burial ground of a loved one or burning incense in front of an image. It could be lighting candle for a god or doing Pooja for a departed soul.
New Testament does not allow anyone to divorce his or her partner if he or she is a non-Christian. By your sober, spiritual, biblical, Godly life you must seek to win your spouse to the Lord. As you fervently pray and humbly live a Godly, exemplary life, God in His grace will lead your partner to salvation. In any case, you should not have any part in the heathen, ungodly, doubtful practices and rituals. God calls you to a life of separation in the New Year. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” should be your motto for the coming year.
4) RETURN FROM BBYLONIAN CAPTIVITY (Ezra 7:8-10)
Because of sin Israel was in the captivity of Babylon. Ezra led the people of captivity on their return journey to Jerusalem, in the first day of the first month.
i) God is seeking for an Ezra to lead the captives to freedom. You could be an Ezra in the New Year to deliver sinners from the bondage of sin to salvation in Christ. You could be the person who will be instrumental in restoring a backslider from his backsliding to a life on fire for the Lord.
ii) Ezra himself was a captive. He was not content in Babylon. So was Nehemiah. So was Zerubbabel. God used all these three men too lead the captives to Jerusalem and to bring revival of the people and reconstruction of the city of God. God can use you, though you are in the wrong place now, if you just make your decision today.
Psalm 137 is a sweet song of the people who returned to the home land after long years of slavery in Babylon. There is only bitterness in backsliding just like that of Naomi who went down to Moab (Ruth: 1). after years of pain and bitterness, she returned to Bethlehem, the house of bread. The prodigal son returned to the father’s house. His wandering and starvation came to an end. There was feast and celebration at home. May the New Year bring songs of return and restoration for you?
5) GLORY OF GOD FILLED THE TABERNACLE (Exo. 40: 1, 17, 34)
Exodus 37-40 talks about the construction of the Tabernacle – the dwelling place of God for the people of Israel. Moses obeyed and followed all the instructions from the Lord for the completion of the tabernacle. The work was completed. Then the glory of God filled the tabernacle. This was on the first day of the first month.
Your body is the temple of God. Build your life according to the instructions found in the Word of God. Build your life on the strong foundation, the rock, Jesus Christ. Build your life on the pattern shown by God in the word of God. Then your life will shine bright with the glory of God. The brightness of God’s presence in your life will enable you to be shining as ‘light of the world’ showing directions to sinners in darkness. May your life shine that others may be brought to eternal light and life?
Build your local church exactly according to the pattern shown in the Bible. Forsake all human traditions, practices and empty rituals. Remove all rubbish and build with Biblical doctrines. Then glory of God will fill the church of Christ and others will be led to the saving knowledge of Christ.
6) PROCLAIM THE WORD OF GOD (Eze. 29: 17-21)
God frequently used the heathen kings and kingdoms either to punish another heathen nation or to deliver the people of Israel. In this chapter we read of a message God gave to Ezekiel to prophecy. The prophecy was that Egypt will be punished, plundered and brought to utter defeat by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. The prophecy also did say that Israel will be revived as a powerful nation.
God is looking for people who will take time to listen to the voice of God and then declare it without any hesitation or fear.
7) LOOK FORWARD WITH RENEWED HOPE (Gen. 8:13)
God punished the world and its people by flood because of their horrible sin and rebellion. God protected Noah and his family of eight people, shutting them up in the ark. For 40 days and night the rains fell. The flood continued for 150 days. All living beings were destroyed, except the ones that were in the safety and security of the God given ark. This ark is the picture of the Lord Jesus Christ and His cross which is our refuge at the flood of eternal judgment.
When the flood was over, on the dry ground stood Noah and worshipped the Lord. (v. 21) As he stood on the purified earth, he looked to the future with hope. And God made a covenant with Noah that He would not destroy the earth by flood again.
As a sign God gave the Rainbow (9:12-17). Whenever the clouds are thick and dark when the rains come heavily, the beautiful rainbow reminds us of God’s covenant with man that God will not destroy the world by flood again. Many more ‘Tsunami’ may occur. But God’s children need not live in fear of destruction. Of course, the Bible speaks of purification of the earth by fire. (2 Pet. 3: 7-9, Rev. 21:1). There will appear new heaven and new earth after that. This will be the inheritance of the children of God.
Noah stood on the earth purified by flood and he looked into future with hope, on the first day of the first month. The rainbow was the proof of the covenant that God will not destroy the earth again by flood.
This rainbow stands for the Jesus Christ and His Cross (Rev. 10:1, 2). in the New Year let us look expectantly into the future with the assurance that Jesus and His cross is the hope of the world. Let us declare this truth to the ends of the earth.
Dear readers / hearers of this message, may I plead with you on your knees with a contrite heart to make your new commitment to the Lord on this first day of the first month? This day God calls you to Salvation, Separation, Sanctification, Restoration, Worship, Witness, Fruitfulness and Victory.
0 comments:
Post a Comment