Recap: From part 1: Si God ay love. God and Love is synonymous. God’s very being is love. His creation was made by love and will only function for love Himself. In the beginning, all things created were good. Only good and perfect things come from God.
From part 2: Dahil God is love, God is Law, Love is law. Love is the frame that keeps creation in perfect balance. Everything was created for God alone. Any creation that breaks the law by going against his purpose (which is to love God) and against His Word is against God. Breaking the law removes our legal rights to be near His holy presence, to be called as sons and daughters of God.
Dahil nga may law, there are legality issues in the spiritual realm. Siguro akala natin na ang legal system ay pinasimulan ng tao. Ngunit kinopya lang natin to sa systemang ginagamit ni Lord to take control of everything.
Without God’s Word, ang lahat ay chaotic pa. When God spoke, His words became the law and with His Word, He maintains order.
So when Adam and Eve chose against God, it became a legal issue. Diba nga, Adam and Eve (human race) were created for God, to love only God.
See it this way: kunwari gumawa ka ng essay about yourself that is meant for yourself, and to represent youself. Legally speaking, possession mo yung essay na yun. Every legal right to the essay belongs to you and you alone. You are one with the essay kasi basically, it’s all about you.
Ngayon, kunwari buhay yung essay mo, you have given it an ability to choose for itself. Tapos it chose to add words dun sa essay. Words about what kind of paper it was made of. It might seem like this.
My name is Ryan Rotor. I am 22 years old. I like to draw. love to eat..Hindi ko gusto ito. Hindi ko gusto iyan. Magulang ko sina. Kapatid ko si. Ang papel na ito ay galing sa kahoy ng mangga na nakatanim sa likod ng bahay. Ang papel na ito ay ipinroseso sa pabrika upang maging papel na pwedeng sulatan.
It is not about me anymore. I have now a valid reason to say it’s not my essay any longer. This essay na binigyan ko ng free will have chosen against me. I have now the right to throw it in the trash.
Same with God. Diba we were created in His own image and likeness. Nilikha tayo para sa kanya, to love Him alone. When man chose to look at himself, nahaluan na ng anti-God. Therefore, God, in accordance to His own law, has to send us away and disown us. Because of this, someone else had the legal right to own us…satan, the anti-God.
So anu-ano yung mga nawala sa ating mga tao when this happened?
Una, yung closeness and intimacy with God. Wala nang :”Hi Lord, Kamusta you?” “Lord, holding hands tayo habang naglalakad.”
Pangalawa, nawala yung immortality natin. God is our life source. Nung humiwalay tayo, nagkaron ng deadline ang ating buhay na dati wala. Pano, malayo na tayo sa life source natin.
Pangatlo, nawala yung title satin na sons and daughters of God. Dati we own what He owned and He owned the whole of us. “Lord, kelangan ko ng ulan para diligan yung butong tinanim ko.” God will reply. “Ok. Yun lang pala.”
Pang-apat, we lost our God nature. We lost our perfectness.
Panlima, the right to exist and live. The law called for the blood of Adam and Eve. Kaya sinasabing the wages of sin is death. We should have died instantly when they disobeyed.
Kaso mahal na mahal tayo ni Lord na gumawa siya ng paraan (without breaking His own law) to give Him the right to still be with us kahit temporary lang. Remember God clothed Adam and Eve with animal skin para matakpan ang kanilang nakedness.
21 Also for Adam and his wife, the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Genesis 3:21
So ibig sabihin, for the first time ever, God killed an animal (kung san galling yung skin). And for the first time ever, blood was shed in paradise. The wages of sin is death. So what God did, He killed an innocent animal as temporary substitute for Adam and Eve.
Dapat sila yung namatay to fulfill the law. Yung blood ni Adam and Eve (which symbolizes life) na dapat kabayaran sa nagawa nilang kasalanan was replaced by the blood of a clean, innocent animal. Their sins were covered by the animal’s blood. This now gives God a legal right to own them and watch over them temporarily.
Dahil dito, nauso ang animal sacrifices noon. Cool, right? God is sorta desperate to restore our relationship with Him that He made use of covenants.
Pag sinabing covenant, it’s like a contract between parties where what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours. Your enemy is my enemy and vice versa. And it is always sealed with blood. Palatandaan na it is life binding. If one failed to do all his agreed obligations, buhay niya ang kapalit.
So God made a covenant (the old covenant) with one nation first to show the world that He is God. Lagi niyang sinasabi sa bible na dahil sa covenant na ito, Israel is HIS people and He is THEIR God. There is possession in both parties.
Do you now see why the Ten Commandments are fashioned in a way that the very first is to love God with all. This re-establishes a legal right for Him and for the covenant people to own each other.
This is the reason why Israel had access to the power of the Most High. The Red Sea parting, pillars of fire, manna from heaven, and many more. This is why David said this.
26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” 1Samuel 17:26
David knew the covenant. That’s why he is so sure that he can defeat Goliath. And until this very day, in effect parin ang covenant na ito. Any country that touches Israel feels the wrath of God. God is never a covenant-breaker.
HOWEVER…..before I continue, I want to ask the readers a question. Earlier in this article, I listed 6 things that we lost when we got separated from God. Without scrolling upwards, do you remember yung pang-apat? Do you remember that I listed only 5 things? Probably not. Anyway, what’s the fourth one? Scroll up na.
Remember the conditions of God in His covenant with Israel. If you obey ALL…..
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping ALL his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Deuteronomy 6:1-2
1 If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow ALL his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: Deuteronomy 28:1-2
15 However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: Deuteronomy 15:28
Kung etong simpleng bagay nga lang nakalimutan natin, what more ALL those terms and conditions?
If people are preaching you na you have to obey ALL the Ten Commandments by yourself, ask them first if they did. Kung sinabi nilang oo, they just broke one of it.
Sa part 2 natin, we studied that every word that comes from God becomes the law and the law is the word of God, and the word was God. It means the law is perfect because God is perfect. Only a perfect being like Himself can accomplish all of the Ten Commandments.
God knew this. We lost the very nature of God when we left Eden. Deins tayo perfect. We cannot do our part in the covenant. Hindi namamastidya si God! God, by giving these perfect commandments, wanted to make His people realize something. Hold on to this thought. Let’s continue.
When we parted from God, we lived under natural laws. One of those natural laws that is still in effect now is the law of sowing and reaping.
When I was writing about the law of sowing and reaping, I had a tennis elbow. Sumakit yung kaliwang kamay ko and I sorta blamed God again. God rebuked me of always blaming Him of bad things that happen to me.
We all believe (after reading part 1) that nothing bad can ever come from God. Sickness, disease, and death is the very absence of God which takes place when creation rebel against Him and His Word.
Kaya we should stop blaming God for the bad things in our life! Stop it! It’s unfair in His part! It is the law of sowing and reaping in effect!
So bakit ako nagkaron ng tennis elbow? Wrong sitting posture sa opisina for almost a year or so. Don’t blame God for sicknesses and disease, for lack of money, for poverty, for accidents, for loneliness, for fear, for addiction, for anything bad. God did not give it to us. He does not have any in Him. We have this because of the law of sowing and reaping.
Tama! One way or another, we were involved. We did something that we were not supposed to do. Sickness and disease are the manifestations of sin. Our sin and what’s worse, the sin of our forefathers, parents, ancestors. Kaya siya sowing and reaping.
Do you think hereditary diseases are normal? NO! Hereditary illnesses are caused by sins done by our ninuno. We reap the effect of their sins. Unfair in our part, I know.
Adam and Eve sowed disobedience/sin. Sickness and death is what we reaped.
Tandaan natin that the Ten Commandments is a universal law na kailangang sundin no matter what. It is the law of all creation. But because of the law of sowing and reaping, we were put under a curse. What we sow is what we reap. Kung anong itinanim, siya ring aanihin.
Bakit curse? Question, can life be created by man alone? Hindi.
Can any good come from man alone? No.
Only God can create life. Only God is good. Only God can enable us to be good and therefore sow good seeds.
At dahil we were away from God and we lost the God nature, we do not have the ability to sow good seeds. Kung ganun, anu pa ang pwede nating maitanim? We have no choice but to sow sin and bad seeds. What we reap is what we sow. We can only sow the bad kinds of seeds such as sin kaya parating bad fruits ang aanihin like sickness and death. This is the curse that man is under – the curse of sin and death.
Yes, we are slaves of sin. Sumpa to sa’tin na walang ni isa ang makakatakas (kaya nga sumpa). The law of sin and death is like a bottomless pit. All humanity, doomed to perish. We need to fulfill ALL the commandments of love to live but we just can’t because of our sinful nature. At dahil nga sinful nature, we are pretty much good at sinning. It was hopeless.
All were doomed to hell. The men of God who were before Christ did not go to heaven yet when they died. They went to Abraham’s bosom.
Bakit hindi sa langit? Because that time, they were still sons and daughters of the enemy. The enemy, still, had the legal right to own them. Yung sinful nature kasi, they still had it. That’s why they cannot enter heaven yet.
This just proves that there is nothing I could have done to get out of the curse. Kala ko gumawa lang ako ng good works, hindi nako mapupunta sa hell. But I was mistaken. Kahit limpak-limpak na pera ang ipamigay ko sa mahihirap, I still can’t enter heaven by just doing that.
Guys, we were hopeless.
Gusto nating magpakabait pero hindi natin magawa kasi natural sa atin ang maging masama. Natural sa atin ang maging maka-sarili.
Ngayon, can you honestly tell me that you love your neighbor? Can you honestly tell me that you love your enemies? Ako, it is too difficult. It is not easy to love a stranger. It is not easy to love a pulubi. It is not easy to love officials na corrupt. Yes! I sinned against God most of the times. Isipan ko lang ng masama yung isang tao, I already sinned. Sinning is like breathing. It is so easy. Thus making me eligible to hell.
I don’t want to go to hell. I don’t care if people believe if there is hell or not. Hell exists whether they believe or not. Denying the existence of hell is making God a liar. Hell is a real place meant for the fallen angels, meant for satan. Hell is not a state of mind. Hell is a place, a space of torment and humanity was doomed to go there.
I was doomed to go there. There was no hope.
Then this happened.
****
For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Remember when I wrote that God wanted people to realize something nung binigay niya yung Ten Commandments. Para ma-realize natin na we cannot do it on our own. That apart from Him, we are nothing. We need a savior. And we really do. We need God after all.
This is the Gospel that we are preaching. Eto yung good news! This is now the new covenant between Jesus and the Father. If before, it was between the imperfect man and God, now it is between God and His perfect Son. We, if we choose to be one with Christ, are now partakers of this new covenant.
God has made a way because he loves you so much that He can’t afford to lose you. That’s right. Ikaw.
Eto yung foundation ng faith natin. If you don’t understand before what you are saved from or why you need to be saved, I pray that now, you do.
Because of one man, we died. But because of one man, the Son of man, we shall live. He became the perfect sacrifice – the innocent lamb, ang Kordero ng Diyos.
Yung animal sacrifices before was a foreshadowing of the perfect sacrifice that was to come and has come – God’s only son.
He who knew no sin became sin for mankind. One man was able to fulfill all the requirements of the law of love (nung nabuhay siya sa mundo), thus, making Him legally qualified to be the perfect sacrifice.
God so love us that He do not want us to reap what we sown.
God loves me so much that He sacrificed His precious son so that I won’t get to suffer the fruits of my evil nature.
He took to himself the law of sin and death. He stopped the unstoppable curse. He became sin itself – all the sins of the world from the past to the future. That’s right, all your sin, he took it all there.
Kapag nakikita ko si Lord sa picture na’to, I am reminded na ako dapat ang nakapako sa punong kahoy na yan.
I lied about so many things. I hated people na naka-offend sakin. I backstabbed my friends. I was not able to hold my tongue when I promised to keep something a secret. I dishonored my parents. I betrayed my brother. I judged wrongly. I said bad words. I cursed people. I stole someone else’s stuff. I visited pornographic sites. I look at people in a degrading manner. I belittled people – categorized them by how much they earned for a living. I was self-centered. I give ill advices.
He did not just carry sin, He became sin. Naging synonymous siya sa kasalanan. At that point, He became lying, betrayal, lewdness, homosexuality, fornication, and all sins – named and unnamed of the past, present and future.
And the furious God smite Him with His raging wrath. Naalala niyo that God hates sin so much. Kung gaano niya ka-hate yung sin, this is how He hated the One who willingly chose to identify with sin to substitute the real transgressor – mankind.
Yun yung mga oras na kahit si God the Father was disgusted with the One hanging on the tree to the point na He can’t even look at Him because He carried all the sins of the world. My sins. Your sins. Our sins. Combined in the body of one man.
Sin disfigures. Kaya si Lord, sa picture na yan, hindi pa yan close sa totoong nangyari sa kanya. Yung sa movie na The Passion of Christ, may nagreklamo na “sobra” daw yung depiction ng suffering ni Lord sa movie. I believe na even that was not close to the actual.
Read this prophecy about the Christ on Isaiah 52-53.
13 See, my servant will act wisely[b];
he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him[c]—
his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being
and his form marred beyond human likeness—
15 so he will sprinkle many nations,[d]
and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
For what they were not told, they will see,
and what they have not heard, they will understand.
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4 Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes[c] his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g]
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,[h]
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.
Recently, I read the Christ’s word through a prophet. He told them more specific things about His suffering.
Nobody ever suffered so much as ME, when they crucified a man. It was the most horrible thing. When they beat ME with the whip, they beat off my flesh, so what Ethan heard is correct. They beat me so violently, that my flesh was torn apart in pieces. This means indeed pieces of my ears and nose was gone. The enemy wanted to see blood. But he did not realize that this Blood would save humankind. That’s why I literally shed MY Blood for humankind. It was not just a couple of drops of blood that was shed.
MY ears were ripped off with the whips. MY nose was beaten off. MY eyes were bruised and swollen shut. MY hair was ripped off of MY head. They tore off MY hair. MY beard was pulled out. I was not even human, daughter. This is what MY mother and John saw. I was disfigured for mankind. I was treated cruelly for sport. MY Life was as if nothing to these who ripped into ME. I was only of value to tear apart and for those who did this to enjoy dehumanizing ME for their enjoyment. It was their entertainment to see ME bleed. And when they were finished, I was gross. I was a worm, disfigured beyond comprehension. No depiction of ME has come close to the truth. This was MY gift. The price I paid to save mankind. It was paid in full.
This was the illustration of how gross His face was during the scorging.
I will never comprehend the depth of His love for me. I cry knowing how much He had suffered for the sins I did.
At dahil sa ginawa niya, all my sins were forgiven and were washed away by His precious blood. On the cross, when I repented of my wickedness, yung evil nature ko and its evil fruits were crucified with the Lamb of God.
He reaped what our forefathers had sown. Not only sins did He carry, but also our infirmities, our sicknesses and disease. He became cancer, tuberculosis, at lahat ng sakit na meron. Lahat para sa atin, para sa’yo. Ganon ka kahalaga sa Diyos. You are too precious for Him.
If you think that you are of no value, well guess what, a big price has been paid for your salvation. That’s how expensive you are. This is how expensive I am. This is how loved we are.
And when He died, when it was finished, when His blood was poured out, He descended to Abraham’s Bosom to where the captives were, the faithful ones of the old testament. When He rose from the dead, He was glorifed. Our evil nature died with Him and behold, nung bumangon siya ulit, His nature became our new nature, the God nature.
We are no longer children of the enemy, but now children of God. His Father became our Father too. And through Him, the captives were set free, now they are in heaven together with God – just like the beginning.
The law of love, the Ten Commandments, is never nullified. We still need to fulfill them. But now that we have the God nature, loving in spirit and in truth is now an easy thing to do. Kung dati, sinning is like breathing. Now, loving God and others is like breathing. It is God nature to love God then others. Because in loving God and your neighbors in truth, you fulfill ALL of the commandments.
The law of reaping and sowing is also never nullified. IF we sow bad, we reap bad. But because we now have the God nature inside of us, now WE CAN CHOOSE to sow good, and reap LIFE through Christ.
It all underwent a legal process. It wasn’t automatic. Blood was shed for the salvation of the people He loves so much. Now, it is as if I never sinned.
Do you wanna know His name? That’s right, His name is Yeshua. Jesus Christ, Son of the living God. You might know Him by name. But now you know partly, the measure of what He did for you.
This is why the true believers have intimate relationship with Him. It is because while we were still sinners, he loved us so much to the point of death. He did not condemn me of my sins. He saved me from them. Love only begets love.
He did it once and for all. Yung ginawa ni Lord Jesus sa’kin, He also did for you. But as my salvation undergone legal process, so is this offer. God will never mess with your free will. Never pa niyang ginawa yun. It is always our choice (what we sow) that leads us to death or life. And so is this salvation offer from the Lord Jesus. To make what Jesus did to be in effect in our live, we have to be one with Jesus. So that when Jesus dies, our sin nature died with Him. And when He rose in glory, we, too, rose having now the God nature, the Jesus nature.
It was our choice to separate ourselves from God. It will be our choice to get back to Him.
Before it was impossible, now it is possible through the Messiah, Jesus.
Familiar ka ba sa parable of the prodigal son?
Like the parable, we have a loving Father who, for such a long time, ay sabik na sabik mahagkan kang muli. He is faithful to forgive your sins and trust me when I say that He will rejoice and whole heaven will celebrate for your return.
You need God in your life. We all do. He is waiting for us to come back to Him and He will be glad to provide for you with the richness of His kingdom through His Son, Jesus Christ.
He does not promise a problem-free life. But He promises deliverance from every tribulation you undergo, victory, wisdom, freedom, blessings and love. He will show you what real love is like. You will be changed without you exerting hard efforts. All these when you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Your Lord because you acknowledge that you need Him and that you surrender your life to Him. Your Savior because you acknowledge that you are a sinner and that He saved us from the law of sin and death.
Do you want this? It is your choice. Walang pilitan. This is the turning point, whether you want to be with Him in heaven just like we used to…or not.
If you have not made this decision yet, and you feel a thug in your heart right this very moment to accept Jesus because you admit that you are sinful and you are helpless without Him, then do this with me. All you need is a believing heart.
Say this prayer with sincerity. I want you to say this from the heart. Not in your mind. Speak it. For when God created everything by speaking, to make this legal, you have to speak from the heart.
Heavenly Father,
I come before you today as a sinner. Lord God, nagkasala ako sa’yo. Inaamin ko, ako’y isang makasalanang tao. I break the law of love without knowing. Forgive me, Father.
Lord, gusto ko nang magbago. Binubuksan ko po ang puso ko kay Hesus ang inyong anak. Lord God, I receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Thank you for His precious blood that was shed for me, for the forgiveness of my sins. I need Jesus. I need you.
I believe that you have sent Him Father, that He died for my sins and rose from the dead on the third day. I believe that He has risen and is now seated at your right hand. I believe this Lord. Thank you that now I can call you Abba Father.
Lord God, baptize me with the Holy Spirit. And may He guide my ways as I live my life with your son, Jesus, starting this day.
In Jesus’ Name.
Amen.
