Words of the Bible

You Will See the Deliverance God Will Bring You

By celebrating the Passover, the Israelites were finally released from Egypt, where they had been slaves for 430 years. However, their joy didn’t last long. Pharaoh changed his mind and began to chase after them in hot pursuit with his chariots and his horsemen. To make matters worse, the Red Sea blocked their way. They could neither go forward nor turn back. Being extremely terrified, the Israelites cried out to God and began to complain against Moses. Then Moses calmed them down, saying: “Do not be afraid. You will see the deliverance God will bring you. God will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Then God said to Moses: “Raise your staff and stretch out your hand…

God Opens the Door of Hope

As we live in this world, we may occasionally encounter trials and obstacles. When faced a problem, many people give up or fall into despair, unable to find a solution. When we read the 66 books of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, we can find the fact that whenever God’s people encounter trials or obstacles, God always opens a door of hope for them behind the scenes. Life on this earth is sometimes tough and difficult, but it is all part of our journey to the eternal kingdom of heaven. We will continue to live a truly glorious life every day in heaven where there is no death or pain or sorrow. Such a gracious world has been prepared…

Starlight: The Universe’s Signal

In the movie Interstellar, the protagonist embarks on a space mission for the future of humanity. From a five-dimensional space, he sends a signal across time to his daughter on Earth. Even today, humanity receives time-transcending messages from the universe. The light emitted endlessly by the stars in the night sky—sent from the past and arriving in our present—is precisely that signal. The vast universe is filled with countless stars1 and galaxies, each radiating its own light. Yet from Earth, we cannot see the universe as it exists now. We see the Sun as it was eight minutes ago, and we navigate by the North Star as it appeared 466 years ago. What messages does this starlight—having traveled across space…

Ransom

As he expected, Jesus Himself came down to the earth in the flesh to save the souls who sinned, and sacrificed His body as a sin offering for them. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” So, in order to save the spirits who sinned, a righteous person without sin must die. According to ancient law, if a man sets a sinner free, he must die instead of the sinner (1 Ki 20:42). From Chapter 13 “The First Adam and the Last Adam,” VISITORS FROM THE ANGELIC WORLD 1. Literal Meaning Ransom, ‘λυτρον [Lutron]’ in Greek, is a word for money demanded in return for the release of a slave or a captive. 2. Meaning of ransom in…

Destiny

“The events that will necessarily happen to a particular person or thing in the future, or the hidden power that is believed to control what will happen in the future.” This is the definition of destiny. Simply put, it refers to something beyond human power. A beggar had a pessimistic view of life. He thought his destiny was different from that of the rich or great people. He asked a wise man, “Why is my destiny different from theirs?” The wise man answered, “Your destiny is not different from theirs. They were born with the same destiny as yours.” At his words, the beggar felt a little hopeful. He lived, waiting for his life to change. Then he died. After…

“I Was in My Mom”

Children sometimes joke, “I think my mom is a god. Even though I did it secretly, somehow she knows it was me.” “Not only she knows when I’m joyful and happy, but she also knows when I’m ill, lonely and sorrowful. It’s as if she knows me more than I know myself.” That is not all. She even defends her children despite the threat of death. We do not need to mention the case of the 27-week-old premature infant that came back to life just by being held by his mother for two hours to display the miracle of mothers who have saved their children on the brink of death. Mothers fear nothing and can accomplish anything for their children.…

When Jesus Saw Their Faith

One day, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were listening to the teachings of Jesus. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus, but they could not find a way because of the crowd. They gave up entering the house through the door and went up on the roof. They took off some tiles and lowered the paralytic on the mat in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the patient, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” They could have given up because there was no way. However,…

Which Day Does Jesus Want to Celebrate?

The Day We Stand Before God

The Bible prophesies that each of us will one day stand before God. When our life on this earth comes to an end, the time will come when we must give an account of our deeds and faith before the judgment seat of God (Rev 20:11–15; Ro 14:10; 2 Co 5:10). How joyful will it be if we can give an account to God on that day for what we have done to please God? If we are able to offer an abundance of beautiful gospel fruit to God as a result of carrying out His command to “preach the gospel to Samaria and even to the ends of the earth,” it will truly be an overwhelming and glorious moment…

A Written Charge Against Christ: “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS”

We, God’s people who dwell in the truth, are all aware that Jesus was sacrificed on the cross as a ransom for the forgiveness of sins that we had committed in heaven. Then, what kind of sins did we commit in the kingdom of heaven? Let’s find out what our sins were, which caused us to be expelled from heaven, through Jesus’ ransom sacrifice. When Jesus was hung on the cross, a written charge was placed above his head, which read: "THE KING OF THE JEWS." "Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS." Mt 27:37 When Jesus was born, the region of Judea was under the control of King…

Animals That Overcome the Heat

When the sweltering heat is in full force, people find ways to cool down—by drinking chilled beverages or enjoying time in the water. In regions such as Southeast Asia, where it feels like summer all year round, people cope with the heat by wearing clothes that block sunlight or by living in houses designed with good ventilation. In Korea, during July and August when heat waves and tropical nights are most intense, the use of cooling appliances causes electricity consumption to soar, sometimes even leading to temporary blackouts. Animals, on the other hand, survive perfectly well in scorching conditions without any special equipment, relying only on their own natural abilities. Termites, for example, are exceptional builders. On the African plains,…

Two Citizenships of Paul

Citizenship is the right of belonging to a certain country. You can exercise basic rights like the right to your own things and political rights such as voting for candidates in public office, for example, a president and members of congress, and being appointed as a government employee. If you have citizenship of a country, you can enjoy all the mentioned rights. The Roman Empire governed Israel 2,000 years ago when the apostles preached the gospel. A person with Roman citizenship held high social status and received various privileges from Rome like suffrage, the right to prosecute in court, and the right to appeal to the highest court of Rome held by the emperor. They could avoid certain punishments like…

Journey around the Earth Two and a Half Times

Around the World in Eighty Days is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1873. In the story, Phileas Fogg, a gentleman from London, wagers £20,000 on whether or not it is possible to circumnavigate the world in eighty days. To win the wager, he and his valet Passepartout leave for a long eighty-day journey, starting from London to India, Japan, and the U.S., and back to London. However, what is amazing is that a journey over twice longer than the round-the-world journey from the story is going on in our body. The one that makes this fascinating journey is blood. Blood is made in the bone marrow. Blood consists of plasma that is mainly water, and of blood cells.…

Judgment of Solomon

Two women came before King Solomon for judgment. Each woman claimed to be the mother of a child. “My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son—and he was dead! But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw that it wasn’t the son I had borne.”…

Jesus’ First and Second Coming

When we look at the state of the church during the time of Jesus, we can understand what will happen to the church in the age of the Holy Spirit. It’s because what happened in the past is a prophetic foreshadowing of what is to take place in this age. The Bible prophecies clearly show us that God is to come in human form to save humanity both at His first coming and His second coming. Nevertheless, ever since the time when Jesus Himself preached the gospel, the church has been persecuted by the world. This is something that all believers, who want to walk the true path of faith, must keep in mind. Let us see through the Bible…

Structure and Characteristics of the Bible

1. Languages of the Bible The word “Bible” originates from the Greek word βιβλος [Biblos=Book]. (1) The Old Testament was written in Hebrew ※ Some books in the Old Testament (Ezr 4:8-6:18; 7:12-26; Jer 10:11; Da 2:4-7:28) were written in Aramaic [Chaldean], a language used in Babylon. It is said that the Jews spoke both Hebrew and Aramaic languages after the time of the Babylonian exile. (2) The New Testament was written in Greek, a language which was used throughout the world at that time. Greek became the official language of the Roman Empire in the 1st century. ※ The reason why the New Testament was written in Greek, not in Hebrew or Aramaic, was because the gospel should be…

Matador

The bull is excited at the deft hands of a bullfighter who wields a red cape. Several spears have been stuck on the back of the rushing bull. Finally, when a sharp blade pierces the bull’s skull, it falls on the spot. The bullfighter who stabs the skull of a bull lastly is called the matador in Spanish. Nowadays, matador refers to black propaganda that distorts facts and manipulates public opinion to slander the other person. Matador spreads from mouth to mouth unlawfully, and strikes a fatal blow to the other person just as the sharp sword of the bullfighter who enticed the bull pierces its skull. A man struck by matador, which was originally meant to harm others, is…

What We See Isn’t Everything

Humans have remarkably developed civilizations up to the title of the “most intelligent species.” However, we have a big weakness that overshadows us in terms of being “on top” on this planet. This big weakness is that we understand the world through our imperfect sense organs. In other words, the level of our awareness of the world is determined by our sense organs, and we can perceive the world as much as our sense organs allow. We understand the world by using our five senses: vision, audition, olfaction, gustation, and somatosensation. We tend to trust our vision more than any other senses, just as the saying goes: “It’s better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand…

Don’t Be Afraid, and Remember God

Around 444 B.C., when Nehemiah returned to the land of Judah and began the work of rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem, the Gentiles, including Sanballat and Tobia, were jealous of it and plotted to hinder the work. Sanballat ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said: “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble―burned as they are?” His right-hand man Tobiah, who was at his side, also said: “What they are building—if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!” Then…

Manna and the Sabbath

When the Israelites were freed from Egypt and headed toward the promised land of Canaan, they had to pass through the vast wilderness. The journey took forty years. The wilderness is a barren desolate place where there is a lack of food and water. In such a place, an estimated three million people and their livestock did not starve for forty years. It was truly a miracle. This was because God rained manna from heaven for them to eat. Manna fell for six days, but none on the seventh day. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much as usual. During their 40-year journey in the wilderness, God repeated the weekly cycle of manna to teach them a commandment.…