Collected or prepared by Pastor Wilfred Chung

August 30 - September 5, 2009

August 30, 2009 - Don't Add Or Subtract

Meditation on Revelation 22

We have been comforted by God's word concerning the new heaven and new earth and new Jerusalem. Verses one to five in this chapter continues to give us the grandeur picture in the new city prepared for those who have their robes washed and are thirsty to take the water of life without cost. Their names are written in the Lamb's book of life. There is a river of the water of life in this city of God. On either side of the river was the tree of life bearing twelve kinds of fruit every month. The tree leaves are for the therapeutic, health giving of the people there. All occupants will worship God and reign with Christ forever.

But we should pay special attention to the emphases in verses 6 and 18 to 19 on the characteristics of the word of God through John.

First, "And he said to me, 'These words are faithful and true'; and the Lord God of spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place." (v. 6 NASB) God's word including John's prophecy is always true and will never change.

Second, "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them or take away some words form the Bible, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book." (v. 18-19 NASB) John's prophecy is the last portion of the New Testament. After his, there should be no more prophecy adding to the Bible. Any one or any religion or cult that adds so called word of God to the New Testament is going to be judged by God severely. This person, or religion, or cult should not be accepted by Christians at all. Any one who disregards and takes away some words from the Bible, this person will not enter the kingdom of God either.

So we should avoid those who advocate and believe in adding to or subtracting from the book of Revelation and even the entire Bible, the word of God.

August 31, 2009 - In The Beginning

Meditation on Genesis 1

The word, Genesis means "origin". So the book of Genesis recorded the origin of the creation, the origin of man, the origin of marriage, the origin of sin, the origin of civilization, the origin of the basic races of mankind, the origin of God's chosen people, the Israelite and etc.

In this account of creation, it is clear to us that God created the earth and all the living things on earth in six days. I do not see how we can get around the fact that each date was clearly spelled out after the specific statement, "there was evening and there was morning." That is the period of one day according to the Jewish custom of calculation.

This chapter concludes with the summary, "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (v. 31a NASB)

Furthermore, it is important to notice what God said in verse 27, "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them." Three time in this short verse God's word emphasized that man was created. It means that man was a brand new creation. Before then, man had never existed. This should throw out the hypothesis of evolution of man completely. Mankind may have variation, development, or degeneration throughout the years. But man was never evolved from lower species because God said, "Let us make man in Our own image, according to Our likeness…" (v. 26)

Since you and I have the image and likeness of God, we know that God loves each of us very much.

Let us thank God for His creation and let us praise Him for loving us and providing for us through this earth.

September 1, 2009 - God's Original Design

Meditation on Genesis 2

Man was created to have fellowship with God. "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (v. 7 NKJV) The breath that breathed into Adam did not only make man a living soul, it also gave man the spirit which has the capacity to understand God. (Job 32:8) Read Genesis 2:19 and you will see that God had wonderful fellowship with Adam together before the fall of man.

Also man was also designed to have intimate fellowship with his female partner. That was marriage. It was his wife that can satisfy all his need, resolve his loneliness, compatible to him yet equal to him. (v. 18, 21-15) Certainly it is the same for a woman to have a loving husband. (Ephesians 5:25-31) They are one flesh.

Do you have fellowship with God today? If not, Go to Jesus in prayer and ask Him to forgive your sins and come into your heart. He has completed the work of restoring your to have fellowship with God. (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) And keep on having your personal time of devotion to Him everyday.

Do you have intimate fellowship with your spouse? Look at this Genesis account again, and see if there is anything you are not following God's original instruction. Correct yourself by the help of God. You will have a much better life when you follow God's design.

If you are still young and single, ask God to provide you a partner as he did provide one for Adam.

September 2, 2009 - The Fall Of Man

Meditation on Genesis 3

Man and woman were created to have transparent, good fellowship with God and with each other. But the disobedience of Adam and Eve caused mankind to loose that kind of intimate fellowship.

Since Eve was deceived by the cunning Satan and ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and gave also to her husband to eat, curse came upon them and their descendants. Immediately, they were afraid of God and hid from the presence of God. (v. 8) Their fellowship with God was broken. Then, Adam instead of acknowledging his wrong, he blamed God and his wife for his disobedience by saying, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate." (v. 12 NASB) From then on, man and woman would always blame each other for their problems.

Of course we see a lot more tragic consequences because of this original sin of disobedience before God in this chapter. Especially, sin and death came upon all men. (Romans 5:12)

However, we thank God for His provision for man's fall. Verse 21 says, "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them." God was the first Taylor for mankind. He made it from skin of the animal. That indicated that blood had to be shed. It was a prophetic sign that the blood of the Lamb of God would take away the sins of the whole world!

God Himself had provided garments to cover up our sins and shame.

September 3, 2009 - Two Religions In Making

Meditation on Genesis 4

Why did God accept Abel's offering and not Cain's? Let us examine the evidence carefully. Verse three said, "So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground." (NASB) "The course of time" in Hebrews means "at the end of the cycle of days" which refers to the Sabbath. This is the first time in the Bible mentioned that man kept Sabbath by offering sacrifices. Apparently Adam had instructed his sons about offering.

Cain just offered something he produced for he was a tiller of the ground. (v. 2)

"Abel on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering" (v. 4) What made Abel's offering special was that he offered his best because the animal was the firstborn and he offered the fat portion which was the best in the sight of God.

Therefore we can see that God is interested in the attitude of the worshipper's heart. Abel's worship with his best then signified he came before God with faith. (Hebrews 11:4) But Cain's was not. In fact, Cain's change of countenance and extreme anger showed that his attitude before God was really an attitude of disrespect and irreverent. No wonder John considered him evil. (1 John 3:12)

Let us learn a great lesson of worship from the lives of these two brothers. How we must come before God every time with true faith and not a self-centered attitude. These two attitudes represent two entirely different religious systems. One is totally God centered. The other kind of religion is just for getting blessings and fulfilling one's obligation.

Those who come before God with faith though even dead yet can still speak, the Bible says.

September 4, 2009 - Name Can Tell A Story

Meditation on Genesis 5

Many names in the Bible have a story behind. The Chinese takes great care and research in naming one’s own children and grandchildren. So in this passage, instead of focusing on Enoch who walked with God (v. 22-24), let us look at the meaning of all the ten names of the antediluvian fathers presented by the word of God in sequence.

In Hebrews, Adam means man, Seth - substitute, Enosh - mortal man, Kenan - one acquired, Mahalalel - God is splendor, Jared - descending, Enoch - teacher, Methuselah - man who shoot, Lamech - over-thrower, Noah - rest. From these names we have a story of salvation that go like this:

The original man, Adam was substituted with mortal and weak man (because of his sin). But in his lament, man acquired God who was splendor and to be praised. God descended to teach us and shoot at the over-thrower, Satan. Man then received rest.

Let us thank God for the revelation of salvation through these names. The Bible in this chapter of names has given us spiritual teaching that is relevant. Do you feel weak spiritually today? Turn to Jesus by reading His word, the Bible, and listening to the preaching of His word. He has defeated sin and Satan for you. And He will give you rest so you can be strong!

September 5, 2009 - God Doesn’t Like Sin

Meditation on Genesis 6

Noah was commanded by God to build an ark, a huge wooden box that floated so that he and his family and all the living things he collected would survive the flood which God would bring to destroy the earth.

The reason of this catastrophic judgment was recorded in verse five, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” (v. 5 NIV) As a result, “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.” (v. 11) Man at that time was actually destroying each other constantly. So God had decided to eliminate them. The consequence of sin was terrible.

But Noah found grace in God’s sight. He obeyed God and did everything God told him to do. (v. 27) The ark he was instructed to build was about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high with three levels. It would have a volume of about 1.4 million cubic feet. It should have a tonnage of about 14, 000 tons. Someone estimates that it had the capacity of 522 standard railroad box cars. Therefore it should have enough space to room all the living species and insects of the world with two of each plus the storage for their food for a whole year.

Recently, there are separate groups of Christians in Europe and Hong Kong who are building a similar boat for exhibition. It will be interesting to see them when it is finished. Also there had been incidences in modern time that reported sighting of the ark-like structure buried in the snow and the collecting of a piece of ancient wood at the region of Mt. Ararat.