Barabbas

During our recent trip to the US, God gave us the opportunity of listening to Pastor Chuck Swindoll at the Stonebriar Community Church, Frisco. As Pastor spoke about the trials of Jesus, he brought alive the scene of that last trial from Barabbas’ perspective to our minds!

Jesus faced altogether three Jewish trials and three Roman trials. All the Jewish trials condemned Jesus with charges of blasphemy while all the Roman trials found Him innocent. But finally, Pilot asked the Jews who had gathered to choose whom they wanted to be released, Jesus or Barabbas!

Barabbas must have been locked up in a cell close to where all this was happening. He must have been straining his ea...

The Lord is there!

When we go on road or train trips, we anxiously look forward to towns that are famous for something special and we try to get them. Tirunelveli always brings to mind it’s very own halwa and Kadambur reminds us of boli! While Dindukkal brings hill bananas to our mind, Manapparai reminds us of murukku. We remember places by association!

In the book of prophet Ezekiel when we come to the end of the book, Ezekiel writes about a new city which he saw in a vision. But he keeps the name of the city secret till the last verse! Ezekiel 48:35 says, “…and the name of the city from that day shall be: Jehovah Shammah, THE LORD IS THERE”. The name of the place itself denotes the Presence of the Lord! Why is it so significant? Ezekiel in his earlier vision had seen th...

The Sovereignty of God!

We read the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis, chapters 37-50. Joseph was seventeen years old when he was sold as a slave by his own brothers. He was taken to Egypt where he rose to become the manager of Potiphar’s household. But then he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and was imprisoned. By God’s plan, Joseph eventually became the ruler of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself!

If someone can say that he or she cannot forgive their own brother or sister, it was Joseph. What is so amazing about Joseph is the fact that he was able to forgive his brothers who did very grave injustice to him! How was it even possible for Joseph?

It amazes me because many times we pick on small issues and blow them out of proportion so that we can justify ourselves n...

First things first !

Hezekiah was a very remarkable king. After David, he was perhaps the most righteous and faithful king that ever reigned in Judah. He did remarkable acts of service to the Lord particularly by purifying the land of the idolatry and restoring the worship of the one true God. But to appreciate his actions, we must know what he inherited from his father Ahaz.

Without a doubt, King Ahaz was the worst king Judah ever had. Ahaz walked in the way of the kings of Israel and worshipped molded images. He burned his children in the fire according to the abominations of the nations and burned incense on high places (2 Chron. 28:2-4). Ahaz took silver and gold from the house of the Lord and sent to Tiglath Pilaser seeking his help against the King of Syria. Ahaz built a new Alta...

Is there no balm in Gilead?

The heart of the Prophet Jeremiah is broken as he watches the condition of the people of Judah. We read about his anguish in Jeremiah 8:18-22. The promised land, the land for which the LORD God cared, was turning away from their God! Historically, after King Josiah, King of Judah died at the hands of Pharaoh Necho, King of Egypt, the land of Judah lost its freedom. They become a vassal of Egypt. At this moment of crisis, Judah did not turn to their Lord God but to the idols of the people around them! This not only broke the heart of God, but it also broke the heart of His Prophet!

We see the condition of the people and the land in the verses mentioned above. Even after the summer harvest, there was not much grain. The people were serving a foreign king. This dis...

The Heart of God

As grandparents and parents, we know the pain we experience when our children make wrong choices even after being adequately warned. The pain is more in the case of adult children for the consequences of their decisions hurt more! Our life experience will tell us that it is not going to end well. But to just helplessly watch them make wrong choices, is indeed heartbreaking!

As we read the book of Jeremiah, we can actually feel the heart of God anguishing over His children because of their choices. All that God ever wanted from the days of Eden was nothing but whole-hearted devotion and complete dependence on Him alone. But all through history, the chosen generation, served other gods and pursued wicked ways in spite of Word through the prophets, again and again!

Faith Like a Mustard Seed

What is faith? The Bible defines faith beautifully in Heb 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” To believe in things that are seen, faith is not required. The BSF notes on Romans 4 explains ‘faith’ as a means to an end. This means faith is necessary but it is only a ‘channel’. In the case of Abraham, God credited real righteousness to him because of his faith but not on the basis of his faith! It is not that Abraham had more faith than somebody else that he got this rare benefit. He simply had faith. Period. You either have faith or you don’t. It is just a ‘one’ or a ‘zero’ factor. You either have ‘faith’ or you have ‘doubt’. You can’t have both.

Whenever I thought of ‘mountai...

A Land for which the LORD your God cares….

As we travelled the whole of the Holy land, from the north to the south, the landscape that greeted our eyes were one of rolling hills with rubbles and shrubs! Since the Lord promised Abraham a land flowing with milk and honey, I kind of expected to see lush green countryside filled with flowers! Why would the Lord of all the earth, give such a piece of land to His elect! Don’t we all want to give good gifts to our children?

That question was bothering me until the Lord Himself showed me His reasoning. The Lord says in Deut 11:10-12,”For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills a...

They that wait on the Lord…

The eagle is a magnificent bird! It has strong wings and always flies high above the rest. The eagle was associated with strength, courage, and farsightedness in the ancient world. No wonder Rome used it as their official emblem. It is the national emblem of Spain and Syria too. Even now the German and US coins display the eagle!

The Bible says in Isaiah 40:31,” But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint”. This prophecy of Isaiah was directed to the people of Judah who were in captivity in the land of Babylon. They were in exile because of their own unfaithfulness. But we see them actually complaining that they were being ignored by Go...