Title: The Faith Called ‘TODAY’ (2)
Last week we learned that ‘TODAY’ signifies a spiritual state whereby a person is filled with faith fully. This week, let’s look at Luke 23:43, “Today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Being with Jesus is ‘Today’, thus I will say that ‘Today’ is Jesus Himself.
We all like to receive the blessing of Eternal life. The blessing of Eternal life begins from the blessing of ‘Today’, and the blessing of ‘Today’ begins from having Jesus.
In Luke 13:31-33, because Jesus said He must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day. It is called 3 days’ journey. He also said by taking 3 days’ journey, He will reach His goal. Greek word for ‘I reach My goal’ is ‘Teleioo’ and it means ‘to complete, to finish, to be perfect.’ So, to walk the 3 days’ journey is the real goal and the purpose why Jesus came. In other words, by walking 3 days’ journey, Jesus will complete His mission. In a literal sense, nothing important or dramatic happened on the third day from this incident, thus, ‘Today, tomorrow and the third day’ should be understood as an expression of spiritual condition or spiritual realm.
Mathew 1:21 says that Jesus is the One who will save His people from their sins. John 3:16 says that God gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes in Him should have salvation and eternal life. The very reason why Jesus came to the earth was to save mankind from their sins and give them eternal life. Thus, 3 days’ journey must be related to this mission of saving mankind and giving them eternal life.
1 Peter 3:18-20 says that after the crucifixion, Jesus as a Spirit went to the prison where the spirits of the disobedient during the time of Noah and made proclamation to them. This scripture is one of the scriptural dilemmas in theology because it seems contradicting to other parts of the Bible. Founding pastor made an emphasis on the fact that Jesus went to evangelize. Here’s how he explained it: It is not that Jesus took 1 day to go to the prison and made proclamation on the next day and came back to the tomb on the 3rd day like when He had a physical body. As Jesus is the Spirit, He is released from the limitation of time and space. As Jesus resurrected on the 3rd day, we can say that He spent 3 days in making proclamation to the spirits in prison doing evangelism. Through this, we can glimpse that 3 days’ journey is related to evangelism and saving the people.
Today’s main scripture shows how the right-side criminal became another ‘Today’ (Luke 23:39-41). The right-side criminal started defending Jesus saying, “He is innocent, Jesus is without sin.” Then in verse 42, he asked Jesus to remember him when He comes in His kingdom. It shows that this right-side criminal believed in Jesus, believed that Jesus can lead him to enter the kingdom of heaven. So, when the right-side criminal believed in Jesus, believe in the Word of God, Jesus proclaimed the blessing of ‘Today’ upon him, and he was found as another ‘today’. Because Jesus was ‘Today’ and the right-side criminal became another ‘today’, so, 2 Days’ journey is completed.
Conclusion:
3 Kinds of Faith
John 20:16-17 Jesus *said to her, “Mary!” She turned and *said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). 17 Jesus *said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’”
After the resurrection, Jesus told Mary not to touch Him because He hasn’t ascended to the Father. Then, Jesus appeared among the disciples walking into the room where all the doors and windows were locked.
But one of the disciples, Thomas was not there. So, when other people told Thomas that Jesus is risen and visited them, he said “I won’t believe it unless he touches the wounds in the body of Jesus.
Did Thomas touch the body of Jesus in John 20:24-29? Jesus said, “you believe because you have seen Me.” So we can see that Thomas didn’t touch the body of Jesus.
There are 3 kinds of faith here :-
The first is to believe by touching.
The second is to believe by seeing.
And the last is to believe without seeing
How do you believe in Jesus and the Word of God today? How do you believe in our Father God today?
Are you eagerly waiting for to touch Him before you are filled with faith fully? Do you only believe when you see something with your own eyes? Jesus said that those who do not see but believe are the blessed.
TLCC started Year 2020 with the faith that the blessing of Jehovah-Shammah is and will be with us. We started this year with the faith that no matter what our Father God is with us and dwell among us. Do not let our faith grow weak. Do not become the one who insists to touch and believe. Let’s become the one who has the faith to believe without seeing.
Let’s entrust our lives, our body our family, our business to Him so that we are protected by the blessing of Sabib Sabib and the blessing of Jehovah-Shammah.
The Lord's Covenant Church Malaysia 