Did Iesus make himself equal to God?

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Passage for Today

8 For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19 Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise. 20 For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. 22 For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgement to the Son, 23 that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who doesn’t honour the Son doesn’t honour the Father who sent him.

24 “Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgement, but has passed out of death into life. 25 Most certainly I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. 27 He also gave him authority to execute judgement, because he is a son of man. 28 Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement. 30 I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is righteous, because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.

John 5:18 - 30

 

World English Bible

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My thoughts for today —

A brief look into the accusations by the Jews against the Lord Jesus and our Lord's reply and explanation recorded in John 5:18 - 30 WEB :

In verse 18 we read that the Jews sought to kill the Lord Jesus not only because he broke the sabbath, but also because he called God his Father, making himself equal with God.

Our Lord took pains to explain in his reply to them that calling God his Father did NOT make him equal with God. (v19 Jesus THEREFORE answered them . . .)

When we look through verses 19 to 30 of this passage today, we can point out a number of things that our Lord says about himself in relation to God his Father in Heaven.

Firstly, our Lord tells the Jews that he can do nothing by himself (v19, 30). Instead, it is the Father who shows him all the things that he does (v 20).

Secondly, of all the many things our Lord is doing among the Jews, one thing in particular shown by the Father for our Lord to do is the giving of life to man. Just as the Father "raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he will." (v31).

Thirdly, we read that that besides the giving of life, the Father has also given our Lord the authority to execute judgment (v22, 27)

Fourthly, we see in verse 26 that just as the Father has life in Himself, He has also given our Lord to have life in himself.

Finally, in verse 30, our Lord reiterates that he can do nothing by himself, and that he does not seek his own will but the will of God, the Father who has sent him.

Besides the four points we have observed from verses 18 to 30 above, we also read in verse 36 and 37 that God has given our Lord works to accomplish, that those very works testify that God has sent our Lord Iesus.

This is all summed up in one verse further down in John chapter 5:43a

I have come in my Father's name . . .

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A related post that I wrote about sixteen years ago.

• Jesus the Son of God (21Feb2010)

Three days and three nights, or the third day?

Passage for today

15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
16 “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”

Esther 4:15, 16

 

New International Version

On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the palace, in front of the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the entrance

Esther 5:1

 

New International Version

Some people argue that the Lord Iesus could not have been crucified, died and buried on a Friday to be resurrected on Sunday. This is because our Lord said in Matthew 12:40,

"As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth".

To die on Friday and be resurrected on Sunday does not fulfill the three days and three nights prophecy. Yet surprisingly, we read towards the end of the Gospel of Matthew that after the Lord was buried, the chief priests and the Pharisees requested from Pontius Pilate in Matthew 27:63,64 saying

". . . we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day.

The request of the chief priests and Pharisees was for the tomb of our Lord to be sealed and guarded until the third day instead of until the fourth day. It did not include the third night. It seems to contradict what the Lord Iesus has said earlier in Matthew 12:40.

This apparent contradiction is also seen in my reading of the book of Esther this morning. In Esther 4:16, Esther asked her cousin Mordecai to gather all their fellow Jews to fast for three days and nights. Yet in the next chapter we read that Esther went to seek an audience with King Xerxes on the third day, before the three days and three nights were completed.

Is "three days and three nights" a figure of speech in Hebrew? Are the words of Esther 4:16 analogous to those of our Lord in Matthew 12:40?

Just as Esther's audience with the King on the third day fulfills her own "three days and three nights" instruction, I am persuaded that our Lord's resurrection on the third day likewise fulfills his own prophecy that he will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. As it is written in 1 Corinthians 15:3,4

3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

Conclusion:

Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, Let us remember the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Lord Iesus throughout the coming Holy Week leading to Easter next Sunday 05Mar2026.

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For Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory

Passage for today

11 Yours LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty!
For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.
Yours is the kingdom, LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.
12 Both riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all!
In your hand is power and might!
It is in your hand to make great, and to give strength to all!
13 Now therefore, our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name.

1 Chronicles 29:11 – 13

 

World English Bible

It is often pointed out by Bible teachers that the last line of the Lord's Prayer, "Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory" did not exist in the oldest and most reliable Greek manuscripts. It was most probably added later on as a "liturgical addition" as part of Christian tradition.

However, this last line of the Lord's Prayer is not without scriptural basis.

While reading 1 Chronicles chapter 29 a few days ago, I came across a passage from verses 11 to 13 that records the prayer of King David as he blessed the LORD before the congregation of Israel (see passage quoted above). David began his doxology by saying,

"Yours LORD, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty!"

He went on to tell the LORD,

". . . Yours is the Kingdom, and you are exalted as head above all",

and

". . . In your hand is power and might".

The last line of the Lord's Prayer might have been a liturgical addition that was possibly based on the Blessing of King David to the LORD in 1 Chronicles 29, where he affirmed that to God belongs the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory.

Brothers and Sisters in Iesus the Anointed One, let us bless Our Heavenly Father, God Almighty, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. Like King David, let us ascribe to God, "Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever. Amen"

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Please visit the following links for my thoughts and observations on related topics.

• Give us each day our daily bread (26-04-2022)
• The Power of spoken words (19-05-2021)
• Worship Him who sits on the Throne (04-08-2014)

John's vision of the Throne of God

Passage for today

1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.
3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.
4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.
5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits[a] of God.
6 Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

Revelation 4:1 – 6

 

New International Version

Sunday 07Sep2025, Wesley Methodist Church Kampar.
Notes written from my observations of the Vision of the Apostle John recorded in Revelations chapters Four and Five.

John was in the Spirit when he saw a vision of the Throne of God in Heaven (Rev 4:22).

On the Throne

One seated on the throne

having the appearance of jasper and carnelian (Rev 4:3)

Encircling the Throne

a rainbow

resembling emerald (Rev 4:36)

Surrounding the Throne

24 other thrones

24 Elders seated on those thrones

each wearing white clothes and a gold crown (Rev 4:4)

Coming from the Throne

flashes of lightning

rumbling and peals of thunder (Rev 4:5)

Before the Throne

7 Lamps, blazing (Rev 4:5b)

they are the 7 Spirits of God

a crystal clear Sea of Glass (Rev 4:6)

Around the Throne

in the centre (inner circle) (Rev 4:6b)

4 Living Creatures

covered with eyes, front and back

resembling Lion, Ox, Man's face, Eagle

each having 6 wings, covered by eyes

the 4 Creatures constantly say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come" (Rev 4:8)

each time followed by the 24 Elders who fall down and worship the One sitting on the Throne (Rev 4:9-11)

In the Hands of the One who sits on the Throne

a Scroll written on both sides, sealed with 7 Seals (Rev 5:1)

no one could break the Seals, nor look into the Scroll (Rev 5:4)

Standing in the Centre of the Throne

(innermost circle)

encircled by the 4 Living Creatures, and by the 24 Elders

is the Lamb that had been slain

having 7 Horns and 7 Eyes (Rev 5:6)

Encircling the Throne, the 4 Living Creratures, and 24 Elders

(outermmost circle)

a Host of Angels, thousands upon thousands, ten thousands upon ten thousands (Rev 5:11)

Beyond all these

every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth,

and upon the sea, and all things in them (Rev 5:13, 14)

saying, "To him that sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb, blessing, and honour, and glory, and might, to the ages of ages"

at which the 4 Living Creatures said, "Amen"

and the 24 Elders fell down and worshipped.

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Please visit the following links for my thoughts about the worship of God Almighty who sits on the Throne, written over the past eleven years:

• Thou art worthy to take the Book and open its seals (2022.03.15)
• The Lamb took the Scroll from the Right Hand of God (2021.09.19)
• Let us draw near to the Throne of Grace (2021.12.20)
• Worship Him who sits on the Throne (2014.08.04)
• The Throne of Sapphire (2021.09.05)

A different Gospel?

Passage for today

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel
— which is really no gospel at all.

Galatians 1:6 - 7

 

New International Version

When we read through Galatians 1:1 - 7, we see that the Apostle Paul preached the following Gospel of the Lord Iesus:

• God the Father raised Iesus from the dead (v1b)
• Grace and peace comes from both God our Father and from our Lord Iesus the Anointed (v3)
• God is our Father, and to Him belongs Glory forever (v4b, 5)
• the Lord Iesus gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age (v4) — according to the will of our God and our Father (v4)

Sadly, we read in verses 6 and7 that the Galatian Christians have deserted God and have turned to a different gospel (v6).

Question:

What Gospel are we believing today?

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Taking the Lord's Supper

Passage for today

For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

1 Corinthians 11:23 - 26

 

New International Version

Sun 31Aug2025 Wesley Methodist Church Kampar

In what manner should we take the Lord's Supper?

(A) We should avoid the Unworthy Manner

When we look closer into the short passage from verse 18 to verse22, and comparing them with verse 22, we see that taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner can be characterised by the following behaviour in the Assembly of believers

• showing divisions in the assembly (v18), having differences with one another (v19)
• not waiting for one another to take the supper together (v21)
• some believers take too much, and get drunk, while others remain hungry because they do not get their share of the bread and wine (v21b)
• such a manner of taking the Lord's Supper despise the Assembly of God and humiliates those who have no food to eat (v22)
• those who do so have sinned against the body and blood of the Lord Iesus (v27)

(B) We should adopt the Worthy Manner

Verses 23 to 25 of today's passage go on to tell us about the worthy manner in which all believers should partake of the Lord's Supper in the Assembly:

• take it in the same manner as shown and as given by the Lord Iesus (v23 - 25)
• compare with Luke 22:19 - 20; Mark 14:22 - 25; Matthew 26:26 - 29
• the proper manner or order of taking the Lord's Supper was received from the Lord and was passed on to the believers in the Corinthian Assembly (v23), as follows:
  1. Take bread, give thanks, and break it (v23, 24)
  2. Recount the words of the Lord Iesus, "This is my body, which is for you, do this in remembrance of me" (v24)
  3. After taking the bread, take the cup in the same way i.e. give thanks, then distribute the wine to everyone (v25a)
  4. Recount the words of the Lord, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me" (v25)

Why is it necessary to take the Lord's Supper in a Worthy Manner?

We read in today's passage that both the bread and the cup is to be taken for one solemn purpose — to do it in remembrance of the Lord Iesus (v24b, v25b).

Each time we take the Lord's Supper together, eating the bread and drinking the cup, we are taking no ordinary bread and wine. Instead, we are proclaiming the death of our Lord Iesus.

Conclusion

The Lord's Supper is no ordinary supper. It is to be taken in the same manner as first given by the Lord Iesus to His disciples.

Each time we take it together, we do so in remembrance of our Lord. We proclaim His death.

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The following are my thoughts on related topics, written over the last eleven years on this blog:

• A Final Commandment (2022.07.30)
• King of Righteousness, King of Peace (2021.09.06)
• Melchizedek, Priest of Most High God (2014.08.02)

The Living Soul

Passages for today

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.

Genesis 2:7

 

King James Version

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it . . . gives everyone life and breath and everything else. . . .
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Acts 17:24 – 28

 

New International Version

Sun 2025-06-08
In loving and cherished memory of my daughter-in-law's dearly beloved father, the Late Foo Check Ping who passed away on Sat 2025-06-07. These thoughts from two passages of scripture came to mind during the funeral wake service that Sunday evening.

(1) The Living Soul gets life from God

Adam got his life from God. He became a Living Soul after the LORD God breathed into his nostrils. Since that day, God's breath became Man's breath. Likewise, all of us today who descended from Adam has the same breath of God in us. Like Adam we also are Living Souls who get life from God.

(2) The Living Soul has life in his Body

When we take a closer look at Gen 2:7, it was after the LORD God breathed into Adam's nostrils that Adam became a living soul. God did not just blow some breath over his head, nor on his hands, nor upon his feet. Instead, the LORD God breathed into his body through his nostrils. Adam received God's life in his body. This life remained in him throughout the years, from young until old.

In Acts 17:28, the Apostle Paul told the Athenians that it is in God that we live and move. Without this God-given life in our bodies, we will not be living souls anymore. We will probably be just like any of the other creatures that God has created, without the breath of God in them.

(3) The Living Soul lives life for God

After Adam became a Living Soul by the breath of God, the Lord God commanded him to go forth and multiply and have dominion over all the other creatures on earth. That was the whole purpose of life prepared ahead of Adam. Adam the Living Soul was given one task — to live his life for God.

Conclusion

Brothers and Sisters in Iesus the Anointed One, as Living Souls who have received the breath of life from God, the same breath that was in Adam, let us live our lives for God everyday until the day of our Lord's return

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Love is patient and kind

Passage for today

4 Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; 5 it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.
7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4 – 7

 

Revised Standard Version

Last Sunday during morning worship service in Kampar Wesley Methodist Church, I was reminded of an old gospel song based on this well passage about the Love of God, recorded in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

During my undergraduate days at Universiti Pertanian Malaysia in the 1980s, we used to sing a song using the lyrics from the Revised Standard Version, quoted above, with a few minor adaptations. Today, I'd like to post the lyrics of this song below. Sadly, I'm unable to locate any audio or video recording of its tune. I shall come back here and post a link should I manage to come across one in future.

Love is patient and kind
Is not jealous or boastful
Not arrogant or rude
Does not insist on its own way

It is not irritable nor resentful
Does not rejoice at wrong
But rejoices in the right

Love bears all things
Believes all things
Love hopes all things
Endures all things

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U P D A T E — Wed 2025.07.16

At last I have managed to write out the tune of this song from memory using numeric solfege notation. Initially, just the melodic pattern, then followed by the rhythmic pattern with the lyrics. Photos below:

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U P D A T E — Wed 2025.07.23

Finally, I have converted the numeric solfege notes above into music notation. Photos below:

Since you have been raised . . .

Passage for today

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:1 – 4

 

New International Version

These notes were first written on Sun 2024-08-18

This well known passage from the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians tells us that we who have been baptised in the Name of Iesus the Anointed One have gone through three changes:

1. We have died with the Anointed v.3
2. We have been hidden with the Anointed in God v.3
3. We have been raised with the Anointed v.1

We are also told in v.4 that we will undergo one more change at the Second Coming of Our Lord Iesus

4. We will also appear with Him in glory v.4

The teaching of being buried with the Anointed in baptism, and of being raised with Him is also written in an earlier passage in Colossians chapter two:

having been buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him
through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

Colossians 2:12

 

New International Version

Verses 1 and 2 in this passage tells us what we must do with our lives in this world while we look forward to appear with Our Lord Iesus in glory on the day of His return:

. . . set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things

As children of God, we who have died, buried, and raised with Our Lord the Anointed One, let us look forward to appear with Our Lord when he returns in glory. Let us set our minds on heavenly things above us, at the throne of God where Our Lord is seated at the right hand of God. Let us beware of the tempations of many things around us in this world.

Finally verses 5 to 10 of Colossians chapter three teaches us to "put to death", to get rid of our old ways and practices.

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.[b] 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Colossians 3:5 – 10

 

New International Version

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Iesus, since we have been raised with the Anointed One, let us set our hearts and minds on things above, where our Lord is seated at the right hand of God. Let us also get rid of our old ways and put on our new selves in the Anointed One.

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I have previously written on similar passages in the following posts:

• How shall we continue living? (2016-03-05)
• Three Spiritual Laws (2021-08-04)

The Anointed Iesus made Himself nothing

2024-07-07 Iesus made himself nothing.

Passage for today

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:5 – 8

 

Revised Standard Version

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9 – 11

 

Revised Standard Version

Our Lord Iesus the Anointed One was in the beginning with God. He was the Word of God from the beginning (ref John 1:1). Today we read from the above passage in Philippians chapter 2 that the Anointed One was originally in the form of God.

However, our Lord did not count his equality with God something to be grasped (Philippians 2:6 RSV). He did not hold on tightly to his position. Instead he was willing to let go and make himself nothing. Verse 7 tells us that our Lord "emptied himself".

Let us take a closer look what our Lord Iesus the Anointed One had to go through in the process of emptying himself, of making himself nothing:

• He took the form of a servant (v.7)
• He took the form of a human servant (v.7, 8)
• He took the form of a humble human servant (v.8a)
• He took the form of a humble obedient human servant who was obedient to God even to death (v.8b)
• He took the form of a humble obedient human servant who was obedient to God even to a cruel death on the cross. (v.8c)

It was because our Lord had gone through this painful process of emptying himself, from being in the form of God to becoming in the form of man, a humble slave who went to his death on the cross, that God has exalted him highly and has given to him the Name above every name (Philippians 2:9).

So high is the name of the Lord Iesus, the Anointed One, that at the Name of Iesus, every knee — in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, — will bow. And every tongue will confess that Iesus is Lord.

Finally, verse 11b tells us that all this will be done to the glory of God the Father.

In summary, we can say :

1. Iesus did not come to dictate the people around him. Instead he came to die for them
2. Iesus did not come to subjugate the world. Instead he came to sacrifice himself.
3. Iesus did not come to orchestrate a new earthly kingdom. Instead he came to obey God.

Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, let us also humble ourselves before God. Like our Lord Iesus, let us be humble obedient servants in His Kingdom so that God will also exalt us and make us sit with Him in the heavenly places.

But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:4 – 7

 

Revised Standard Version

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Today I am reminded of the following devotional messages which I have posted in my blog over the past fifteen years:

• 2020-04-06 The Heavenly Realm of the Son of God
• 2013-02-25 Whom shall we glorify?
• 2009-07-09 A name above every name

The Parable of Trust

2024-05-05 The Parable of Trust

14 For it is like a man, going into another country, who called his own servants, and delivered his goods to them.
15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his own ability, and he went on his journey.

Matthew 25:14 – 15

 

World English Bible

12 So He said to them, 'A man of noble family travelled to a distant country to obtain the rank of king, and to return.
13 And he called ten of his servants and gave each of them a pound, instructing them to trade with the money during his absence

Luke 19:12 – 13

 

Weymouth New Testament

Wesley Methodist Church Kampar, Sunday Service, Matthew 25:14 – 30

This morning, for the first time after having read this passage numerous times over the last forty years, I realised that the Parable of the Talents, a name commonly given to the parable narrated by our Lord in Matthew chapter 25, is actually not a parable about how many talents are increased or multiplied by each of the three servants, but rather how trustworthy the servants have been in carrying out the work entrusted to them by their master.

My meditation on this parable brought to mind three observations about the Trust that the master showed to his servants and the kind of Trustworthiness shown by the servants as Trusteess, in taking care of the business entrusted to them. My observations are as follows:

Firstly, the Commitment of the Trust

The master was a businessman. He was from a noble family. When he wanted to travel to a distant country, he had to find some way to ensure his business continues to go on without disruption. He decided to entrust his money to his servants.

The account in Matthew chapter 25 tells us that he gave different amounts of money (or "goods" as mentioned in Matt 25:14, WEB) to each servant "according to his own ability" (Matt 25:15 WEB). In contrast, the account in Luke chapter 19 says that the master gave the same amount of money — one pound — to each servant (Luke 19:13 WNT).

Regardless of the amount of money given to each servant, the master had one purpose in mind — he wanted to entrust his servants with his business. He committed his goods, or money, into their hands to continue running his business while he was away on a long journey to a distant land. Luke 19:13b WNT tells us that he instructed the servants to "trade with the money" during his absence.

It was a commitment of trust.

Secondly, the Conduct of the Trusteees

We can see from the parable that the servants conducted themselves in two different ways.

Some of them conducted themselves in a trustworthy way. They carried out their duty to their master, to trade with the money entrusted to them. Regardless whether they were given much or little, these servants used their money to make gains by trading.

In Matthew 25:20, we read that the servant who was entrusted with five talents had gained five more. Further on in verse 22, we are told that the servant who was entrusted with two talents gained two more. They had proven themselves worthy of trust, when in the long absence of their master they had diligently carried on with doing the master's business with the money put into their hands.

Such was the conduct of the trustworthy servants.

In contrast, some servants conducted themselves in an untrustworthy way. They refused to carry out the duty of doing their master's business while he was away. They did not trade with the money given to them. They did not make any gains at all. The master's business came to a standstill at the hands of these untrustworthy servants.

Verses 24 and 25 of Matthew chapter 25 tells us that the servant who had been entrusted with one talent began making excuses when asked by his master to give an account of what he did with the money. He said he had buried his one talent in the ground while the master was away because he "knew" his master was a hard and demanding person who "reaped where he had not sown".

Such was the conduct of the untrustworthy servant.

Thirdly, the Consequence of Trustworthiness

The trustworthy servants were highly commended by the master. They were given a promotion to be entrusted with more wealth. (Matt 25:21, 23 NIV).

In both verses 21 and 23 of Matthew chapter 25 (NIV), the master told the trustworthy servants:

Come and share your master's happiness!

As a consequence of their trustworthiness, the servants became partakers of their master's happiness.

The opposite happened to the untrustworthy servant. His master called him "wicked and lazy" (Matt 25:26 NIV). The one talent that had been entrusted to him was taken away by his master and given to the most capable servant, the one who had shown his ability to use his ten talents to gain ten more.

Our Lord explained the taking back of the one talent from the untrustworthy servant with these words:

For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

Matthew 25:29

 

New International Version

What does this mean? What kind of consequence does this verse imply for both the trustworthy and the untrustworthy servants?

I have been struggling with this teaching of our Lord, both in Matthew 25:29 as well as in Luke 19:26. In particular, I ask myself why does the Lord practise such unfairness, that those of us who already have much will be given even more whilst those among us who have "nothing" to start with, even whatever little we have will be taken away from us.

Doesn't this tell us that God appears to rob the poor to reward the rich? God forbid that I should think thus.

Today I have come to a new understanding of Matthew 25:29 — that everyone of us who are trustworthy will be entrusted with even more wealth in the kingdom of God. And anyone among us who are NOT trustworthy, whatever little wealth we have will be taken away from us in the kingdom of God.

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Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, let us ponder over the gifts, the "goods" or "talents", that our Lord Iesus has entrusted to us in this world to carry out His business.

Are we living as trustworthy servants?

Are we doing his business in the kingdom of God while he is away? Will our Lord find us trustworthy when he returns to receive us to be with him in heaven? Our Lord told his disciples in John chapter 4:

"My food," said Iesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."

John 4:34

 

New International Version

Let us also have the same mind as our Lord Iesus. Let us make it our food to do the will of our Lord who has sent us into the world, with gifts that he has given us.

Let us do his will. Let us finish his work.

The man of lawlessness

Passage for today

3 Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition,
4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this?
6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.
9 The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders,
10 and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 – 10  Revised Standard Version

Today in my devotion, I am reminded of the Day of our Lord — the day of His second coming when He will take all of us to be with him forever (1 Thess 4:17).

However, before that day arrives, there will be a rebellion, a world-wide rebellion against God. At that time a "man of lawlessness" (also called the son of perdition) will appear, calling himself god and deceive "those who are to perish" by the power of Satan, even with signs and wonders.

Brothers and Sisters in Iesus the Anointed One, let us be watchful against the appearance of the man of lawlessness and the great rebellion he brings along. Verse 7 in the passage above tells us that this lawlessness had already begun to work, even in those early days of the Apostle and the Thessalonian Church. Let us beware of the son of perdition who comes to deceive many.

Let us wait for the Day of our Lord.

Wed 21Aug2024

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We can turn to our Lord Iesus to guide us, to teach us, to comfort us and to make us steadfast as we wait for the Day of our Lord. Below is a short devotion I wrote about two years ago, in December 2022.

• May our Lord help us

You received the Anointed Iesous as Lord

Passage for today

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught,
and overflowing with thankfulness.
Colossians 2:6, 7  New International Version

This afternoon during my reading of the New Testament, I came across for the first time the expression, "receive Christ as Lord". It is found in Paul's Epistle to the Colossians, chapter 2 verse 6.

This expression "receive Christ as Lord" forms the basis for the Apostle's discourse in the rest of the chapter. I'd like to post the passage from Colossians 2:6 - 12 NIV, with key words underlined for emphasis, for us to ponder over as a devotional reading.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,
rooted and built up in him
strengthened in the faith as you were taught
and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive
through hollow and deceptive philosophy
which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world
rather than on Christ.

For in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.
He is the head over every power and authority.

In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands.
Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ.

having been buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him
through your faith in the working of God
who raised him from the dead.

A Tale of Two Generations

Passage of the Day
Judges 2:6 – 10

8 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Jehovah, died, being a hundred and ten years old. 9 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. 10 And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, that knew not Jehovah, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel.
Judges 2:8 – 10  American Standard Version

I wrote these notes towards the end of last year on 12Nov23, the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost in my church calendar.

In Judges chapter 2, we read that the children of Israel served Yehovah while Joshua was alive. They continued to serve Yehovah while the elders were alive after Joshua's death. These were the elders who had seen all the great things that Yehovah had done among them from the days when Joshua led them across the Jordan and brought down the walls of Jericho (verse 7).

Then another generation grew up.

This new generation of Israelites did not know Yehovah (verse 10). They did not know what Yehovah had done.

Soon they began to do evil in the sight of Yehovah (versesf 11 - 12). They served the baals. They forsook Yehovah, the God of their fathers. They worshipped various gods of the people around them.

They provoked Yehovah to anger (verse 12).

We can see a distinct difference between the old generation of the children of Israel and the new generation —

• The old generation of Israelites saw the great works of Yehovah under their leader Joshua and the elders who outlived him. And they believed in Yehovah.
• The new generation, however, only heard about the great works of Yehovah from the elders in their families. They had not witnessed the works of the LORD. Sadly, they stopped believing in Him.
• Eventually, they began to forsake Yehovah. They went to serve baals and various gods of the people around them.

One may say that the new generation of Israelites would not have turned away from Yehovah had they seen Him continue to work among them. Perhaps they would have held on to their faith in the LORD if they were taught by their elders to pray to Yehovah in times of need or trouble, and to see the hand of Yehovah working in answer to their prayers.

If they had done so, the new generation of Israelites would no longer be just a generation who merely heard about the works of Yehovah but, instead, would have seen Yehovah answer them when they cried out to Him in their prayers. They would have become a new generation of Israelites who saw God supply their needs and deliver them from evil.

Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, let us show, and lead and teach the next generation of believers among us to pray. Let us lead them to seek God our Father in Heaven, to depend on His Providence, and to experience Him answering their very own prayers.

Let us turn the next generation from merely hearing about God to actually seeing the Hand of God at work among them.

Fourteen years ago, I wrote about the patience of our Lord Iesus in teaching His disciples to open their eyes and see the work of the Father among them, link below.

• The Lord was patient with his disciples (May2010)

Iesus at the home of Simon the Pharisee

Passage of the Day

When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
Luke 7:36 – 38  New International Version

The account in Luke 7:36 – 50 about our Lord's having dinner in the household of a Pharisee named Simon, shows us at least two failures on the part of Simon when he saw the sinful woman weeping at our Lord's feet and said to himself,

If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is – that she is a sinner. (verse 39)

His failure to do

Simon the Pharisee failed to wash Iesus' feet with water whereas the sinful woman washed His feet with her tears

He failed to greet the Lord with a kiss whereas the woman kissed His feet unceasingly.

And he failed to anoint the Lord's head with oil whereas the woman anointed His feet with costly perfume.

His failure to see

Simon saw an ugly sinner when he looked at the woman weeping at the Lord's feet. He couldn't see a beautiful person loved by God.

He only saw the woman's sins. He didn't see her remorse and her penitence.

He saw her unholy hands touching the Lord's feet. He couldn't see God's holy hands touching the woman's heart.

Conclusion

In the end it was the woman, not Simon the Pharisee, who received forgiveness, salvation and peace from the Lord.

Then Jesus said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ (verse 48).
Jesus said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’ (verse 50).

Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, let us look at people with compassion like our Lord did that day in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Let us see the beautiful person loved by God our Father. Let us pray for their hearts to be touched by the hand of God. Let us pray for sins to be forgiven. Amen.

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Two years ago I wrote a short comment on seeking forgiveness from God our Father, link below:

• If My people who are called by My Name

3+1 God's appointed time

Passage of the Day

Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig-tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, “For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig-tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?”
‘ “Sir,” the man replied, “leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig round it and fertilise it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.” ’
Luke 13:6 – 9  New International Version

The significance of the number 4 in the Old Testament

These notes were first written five years ago on 01 September 2019 09:36 hrs

The number 4 symbolises the "appointed time" of God, starting from the 4th day of creation when sun moon and stars were completed, to divide day from night, and to indicate months and years, and seasons. In other words, God's appointed times began from Day 4.

And towards the last days, it is by the 4th Trumpet that the prophecy is given in Revelation 8:12 – 13 — that Three Woes will be coming upon the world. These Three Woes will be heralded by the 5th, 6th and 7th Trumpets respectively.

See my notes on The First Four Trumpets.

Link: The meaning of numbers in the Bible

In addition, Jewish tradition looks at 3+1 as the fulfilment of God's plans, e.g. in Amos chapter 1, we see a pattern of 3+1, where we read of God's impending judgment on Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and Ammon, "For three sins, and for four".

Link: Judaism numbers

This allusion to the number 4, particularly to 3+1, of God's appointed times sheds light on the Parable of the Fruitless Fig Tree in Luke chapter 13, verses 6 to 9.

In this Parable, the fig tree was fruitless for 3 years, and the vineyard keeper asked the owner to give it one more year to bear fruits. It implies that the fruitless tree will suffer judgment at God's appointed time of 3 + 1 years.

Note that this parable was told in the context of the Lord Iesus warning in Luke 13: 1-5 about the peril of not turning away from sin. In this passage, the Lord warned his people, that regardless of whether one dies peacefully in his sleep, or in a violent death like the Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate's men, or like those who were crushed by the falling tower at Siloam, they would all perish unless they repented.

unless you repent, you too will all perish. Luke 13:5

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Iesus, let us take heed of God's appointed time. Let us repent.

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Below is a link to a post I wrote two years ago about bearing fruits worthy of repentance, a call by John the Baptist:

• He who has two coats

I go to prepare a place for you

Today's passage

Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many homes. If it weren’t so, I would have told you.
I am going to prepare a place for you.
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.
John 14:1 – 3  World English Bible

This post is written in remembrance of the passing away of my mother one and a half years ago on 01Jan2023.

I began writing these notes on Fri 30Dec2022, two days before she died, as I pondered over the Providence of God during difficult and worrisome circumstances, trying to come to terms with the fact that my critically ill mother was near the end of her life, but not knowing that she would breathe her last, two days later.

I go prepare a place for you

As much as our Lord Iesus the Anointed One has gone to his Father's house to prepare a place for us, I have come to realise that the Lord also prepares places for us to take refuge as we sojourn in this world each day of our lives.

Five years ago, my mother broke her legs when she fell down, first her right leg in May2016, then again her left leg in April 2017. She couldn't walk after surgery, had to be wheel chair bound, and cared for in a nursing home.

However, after a few months, the nursing home, Kinta Medical Centre, discharged her with 24 hours notice because of her disruptive behaviour. I was put in a quandary because I was unable to care for her at home.

Thu 26Oct2017

The Lord prepared a place for my mother at a another nursing home, Jln Bunga Raya, just one day after she was kicked out of Kinta Medical Centre.

This new centre, recommended by our visiting psychiatrist, was in an old neighbourhood in Pasir Pinji, along Jln Bunga Raya, a road that we were not familiar with. We would have been lost that Wednesday afternoon under such pressing circumstance, having to look for the nursing home in a strange place at very short notice.

However, the Lord had prepared us beforehand by leading us to Jalan Bunga Raya by chance a few days earlier as we were driving towards Station 18.

The name of the road rang a bell because an old classmate from Form 1, Anglo-Chinese School Lahat Rd, stayed at house no. 151 Jln Bunga Raya in 1972. That day, we drove along the entire stretch of road trying to find my classmates old house but somehow missed it.

So a few days later, when psychiatrist Dr Gurmit asked us to go to the nursing home at Jalan Bunga Raya on Wed 25Oct2017, we already knew the way!

Fast forward — five years have passed, with my wheelchair bound mother under the care of this nursing home, now called Lotus Care Centre

Sat 17Dec22

The Lord prepared a place for my mother in Ward 5B at Ipoh Hospital.

Earlier that Saturday morning, my mother was sent to the Emergency Dept of Ipoh Hospital for severe shortness of breath, gasping for air. She was triaged into the Red Zone as a critical patient.

At that time the Ipoh Hospital Emergency Dept was badly overcrowded and it took a long time for doctors to attend to her.

The next day, her condition being somewhat stabilised, she was transferred to the Enhanced Care Ward in the Yellow Zone. The medical wards upstairs were full and there were no vacant beds to admit my mother.

The Lord sent my classmate's daughter who is a Medical Officer in the hospital to visit my mother and managed to find a bed for her in Ward 5B upstairs.

Thankfully, she was transferred to Ward 5B that night of Sun 18Dec22, where more specific treatment of her condition, initially diagnosed as acute kidney injury and sepsis secondary to pneumonia and dehydration, could be carried out.

She was discharged from Ward 5B on Thu 22Dec22, but admitted to Emergency for shortness of breath again the next day!

Fri 23Dec22

The Lord prepared a place for my mother at Bed 4 of Cardiology Ward.

She was discharged from Cardiology Ward on Tue 27Dec22, but again had to be transported back to Emergency for Shortness Of Breath the next day . . .

Wed 28Dec22

The Lord prepared a place for me at my anxious moments.

• The Lord prepared a place for available time in Pastor's busy schedule to accommodate my sudden and somewhat untimely call for help.
• The Lord prepared a train ticket for her to come over to Ipoh that afternoon when she was unwell and couldn't drive.
• The Lord prepared a vacant parking lot at the busy road outside the Ipoh Railway Station while waiting for Pastor to arrive.
• Later, the Lord prepared a vacant lot for my car at the crowded car park in front of the Emergency Dept.

Thu 29Dec22

The Lord prepared a place for my mother at the Palliative Care Unit.

Finally, the Lord prepared a place for my mother to rest at the Palliative Care Unit where she spent the last four days of her life.

Today, I believe that the Lord has prepared one more place for my mother —

• a place where she no longer has to suffer
• a place where there is neither illness nor hunger nor pain.
• a place where heart soul is free from all troubles

"Let not your hearts be troubled," says our Lord, "you believe in God, believe in also in me, in my Father's house are many mansions, I go to prepare for you"

I believe the Lord Jesus has prepared a final resting place for my mother.

May her soul rest in peace.

Do you believe this?

Passage of the Day
John 11: 1 – 44

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;
and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25 – 26  New International Version

The followers of the Lord Iesus did not believe that the Lord could bring a dead person to life again.

In verse 11 of today's passage, having waited for two days after receiving news from Bethany that Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha, was sick, our Lord finally told his disciples that Lazarus had "fallen asleep" and that He was going to wake him up.

The disciples only thought that Lazarus was literally sleeping. (v.12)

The Lord Iesus then told them plainly that Lazarus had in fact died and He asked them to go with Him to visit Lazarus.

One of the disciples, Thomas (the Twin), could only think of the Lord's invitation as going to die with Lazarus. (v.16)

Upon arriving in Bethany, Lazarus had already been dead and buried for four days. Martha came out to meet the Lord outside the village (v.30). Our Lord told her that her brother would rise again.

Martha could only believe that Lazarus will rise again in the final resurrection at the end of the world (v24).

Martha went home to tell Mary about the Lord's arrival outside the village (v.30). Mary went out to meet the Lord and told Him,

Lord, if you had been here
my brother would not have died.

Mary could only believe that the Lord Iesus was able to heal her brother from his illness and to prevent him from dying.

None of the disciples in all the above account could imagine, much less believe, that Iesus could raise Lazarus from death and bring him back to life again.

When our Lord finally called out,

Lazarus! Come out!

— it was a sign, a glorious sign, that Iesus was indeed the Resurrection and the Life.

Brothers and Sisters in the Anointed One, do you believe this? Do you believe in the Lord Iesus the Anointed One?

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Nine years ago, I wrote about the verse from 1 Corinthians 15:19, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.", link below:

• If in this life only we have hope

The Prayer of our Lord Iesus

Passage of the Day

And in this consists the Life of the Ages--in knowing Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.
John 17:3  Weymouth New Testament

Today I ponder over the high priestly prayer of our Lord Iesus the Anointed One as written in John chapter 17, reading from Weymouth New Testament.

When Jesus had thus spoken, He raised his eyes towards Heaven and said,

'Father, the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son that the Son may glorify Thee;
even as Thou hast given Him authority over all mankind, so that on all whom Thou hast given Him He may bestow the Life of the Ages.

And in this consists the Life of the Ages--in knowing Thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent.

I have glorified Thee on earth, having done perfectly the work which by Thine appointment has been mine to do.
And now, Father, do Thou glorify me in Thine own presence, with the glory that I had in Thy presence before the world existed.
'I have revealed Thy perfections to the men whom Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to me, and they have obeyed Thy message.
Now they know that whatever Thou hast given me is from Thee.
For the truths which Thou didst teach me I have taught them. And they have received them, and have known for certain that I came out from Thy presence, and have believed that Thou didst send me.

'I am making request for them: for the world I do not make any request, but for those whom Thou hast given me. Because they are Thine,
and everything that is mine is Thine, and everything that is Thine is mine; and I am crowned with glory in them.
I am now no longer in the world, but they are in the world and I am coming to Thee. 'Holy Father, keep them true to Thy name--the name which Thou hast given me to bear--that they may be one, even as we are.

While I was with them, I kept them true to Thy name--the name Thou hast given me to bear--and I kept watch over them, and not one of them is lost but only he who is doomed to destruction--that the Scripture may be fulfilled.
'But now I am coming to Thee, and I speak these words while I am in the world, in order that they may have my gladness within them filling their hearts.
I have given them Thy Message, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

I do not ask that Thou wilt remove them out of the world, but that Thou wilt protect them from the Evil one.
They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
Make them holy in the truth: Thy Message is truth.

Just as Thou didst send me into the world, I also have sent them;
and on their behalf I consecrate myself, in order that they may become perfectly consecrated in truth.
'Nor is it for them alone that I make request. It is also for those who trust in me through their teaching;
that they may all be one, even as Thou art in me, O Father, and I am in Thee; that they also may be in us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send me.

And the glory which Thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one:
I in them and Thou in me; that they may stand perfected in one; that the world may come to understand that Thou didst send me and hast loved them with the same love as that with which Thou hast loved me.

'Father, those whom Thou hast given me--I desire that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see the glory--my glory--my gift from Thee, which Thou hast given me because Thou didst love me before the creation of the world.

And, righteous Father, though the world has failed to recognize Thee, I have known Thee, and these have perceived that Thou didst send me.
And I have made known Thy name to them and will make it known, that the love with which Thou hast loved me may be in them, and that I may be in them.'