I planted a garden
So I thought to be
A garden of flowers
Day after day I watched
It grow into a garden
So I thought
A garden of flowers
Weeks of rain and sunshine
My garden I thought to be
A garden of flowers
Became a garden of weeds
Everywhere a weed
Taking away the breath
From my flowers!
Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who feared the lord and who thought on His name (Mal. 3: 16)
I remember when young while living in the orphanage in Brazil, I was given a book of remembrance where friends and acquaintances wrote beautiful thoughts of encouragement and what they thought of me. It registered sentiments that would later bring me memories of those days, although not all positive, but sifting them through in my mind, there were a few wonderful memories which I treasured. They bring me joy as I relive those days. It is to me a privilege to know that the Lord is aware and taking notice of the things we say that is pleasing to Him to the point of having them written in a special remembrance book.
(Acts 16)
On his missionary journeys, Paul was confronted with angry Jews, and Gentiles. He was mistreated unfairly several times and sometimes thrown in jail. In one of his letter to the Corinthians he gives a summary of his experiences in his mission field. He wrote: five times I received from [the hands of] the Jews forty [lashes all] but one; three times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I have been aboard a ship wrecked at sea; a [whole] night and a day I have sent [adrift] on the deep; many times on journeys , [exposed to perils from rivers, perils from bandits, perils from [my own] nation, perils from the Gentiles, perils in the city, perils in the desert places, perils in the sea, perils from those posing as believers; in toil and hardship, watching often, in hunger and thirst frequently driven to fasting by want, in cold and exposure and lack of clothing ( II Cor. 11:23-27). However, Paul arose from it all with a song of victory even in the darkest hours of his life: we are hedged in on every side, but not cramped or crushed; we suffer embarrassments and are perplexed and unable to find a way out, but not driven to despair; we are pursued, but not deserted; we are struck down to the ground, but never struck out and destroyed; always carrying about in the body the liability and exposure to the same putting to death that the Lord YAHSHUA suffered, so that the life of YAHSHUA also may be shown forth by and in our bodies. For we who live are constantly being handed over to death for YAHSHUA’S sake, that the life of YAHSHUA also may be evidenced through our flesh which is liable to death (II Cor. 4:8-11).
“The word despise implies a strong emotional response toward that which one overlooks down with contempt, scorn, disdain. Scorn is to feel indignation toward or deep contempt for; disdain implies a haughty or arrogant attitude for what one considers beneath his dignity; condemn implies a vehement disapproval of a person or thing as vile, despicable” (Webster’s dictionary).
The word despise is a word within a word translating sentiment of hate toward others. When Israel looked at her Messiah disfigured by the wounds he suffered, and covered with His blood, they despised Him. Their emotion toward Him was one of contempt, scorn and disdain. That’s what the word despise ultimately translates to. In their scorn, they expressed indignation and disapproval, considering Him as a despicable person; in their disdain toward YAHSHUA, they showed their arrogance for Him as they considered Him beneath their dignity. Despising Him, they rejected Him. They considered Him worthless, and useless, and ultimately, sentenced Him the cruel death with a curse – death on the cross. That happened when they gave Him up to the Romans to execute the death penalty on Him- death by crucifixion according to their demand. Men’s reaction to His sufferings was one of accusation against Him. We read in Luke 23: 18-23, But they all together raised a deep cry saying, away with this man … upon Pilate concluding that He had not found offense in Him worth of death, they insistently demanded He should be crucified with loud cries… and their voices prevailed.
A covenant is an agreement between two people; it will only work if both parties will honor their obligation to it. Therefore it is conditional. God had a covenant with Abraham, from which the nation of Israel was born. The Lord also promised Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. When Abraham was tested on the mountain “The Lord will provide,” God blessed him by saying, I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that since you have done this and have not withheld or begrudged your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants like the stars of the heavens and like the sand of the seashore. And you Seed will possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed [Christ] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and [by Him] bless themselves, because you have heard and obeyed My voice (Gen. 22:17-18). Although Abraham kept the covenant between God and him, his descendants did not; reason why they lost their beautiful Promised Land covenanted with them, conditionally upon their keep of the contract.
No nation has ever experienced the physical wilderness as the nation of Israel. Theirs were the trials, the thirst, the hunger for meat, for the onions and other things Egypt offered. To them were given forty years wandering through the desert for the purpose of being formed as a nation under God Himself. Many died; a large number of them; they did not make it through the wilderness to their destination, because they fell to temptation, while their hearts became hardened as they were tested. The signs and wonders they witnessed when God provided for their needs did not serve as a guide to exercise faith in Him. So their journey became a wilderness of temptation in every aspect: physical, emotional and spiritual. That constituted an open door to fail in every time a need arrived. Without waiting for God to provide for their needs, as He promised He was going to, they murmured and complained, even when manna- food from heaven was given them. They longed the world’s food instead. In Psalm 95 the Psalmist remembers those days with a warning: Harden not your hearts as at Meribah and Massah in the day of temptation in the wilderness, when your fathers tried My patience and tested Me proved Me and saw His work. Forty years long was I grieved and was disgusted with that generation, and I said, It is a people that do err in their hearts, and they do not approve, acknowledge or regard My ways. Therefore I swore in My wrath that they would not enter My rest (95: 8-11), and again in Hebrews 3: 7-11.
(Song of Solomon 2; Psalm 91)
The beauty of this Song lies on the fact that this is a picture of a marital relationship with spiritual roots and meaning between Christ and His bride. She confesses to finding delight under His shadow, the secure place for her to be, as Psalm 91 so declares: He who dwells in the Secret Place of the Almighty shall remain fixed and stable. While the bride of Christ delights to be in His presence feeding on His Word, she makes a proclamation that His fruit was sweet to her taste. His Word, like a fruit, nourishes and satisfies the craving of her soul. I will say of the Lord: He is my refuge, my fortress and my God, in Him I will trust. He delights in covering His bride with His love. In His presence, she experiences the abundance of a banquet- a spiritual banquet. While He spreads His love over her she is sustained, and protected, refreshed and completely absorbed in Him. She is enveloped by His embrace, a symbol of complete protection from all evil. He covers her with His pinions and under His wings she finds refuge. No one will be able to harm her. His truth and faithfulness are a shield and a buckler. He is to her a Protector and a Defender. Therefore, she will not fear terror, arrow, pestilence, and destruction that attack and surprise at any time of the day. Even though a thousand may fall at her side and ten thousand at her right hand, nothing will even come near her. Secured under the shadow of the Almighty, she becomes only a spectator or a witness of all that is happening around her.
(John 19: 11)
In the midst of YAHSHUA’S trials there was a dialogue between Him and Pilate, since the Jews did not enter the Praetorium not to defile themselves in preparation for the Passover. Pilate, the governor of Judea, a heathen and worshipper of the Roman gods, was now at a crossroad while presiding at the trial of YAHSHUA. Filled with pompous pride, he warned YAHSHUA of his power to free Him or crucify Him, when YAHSHUA would not respond to his question. But Pilate was a weak man; he would not stand for what he knew was right and true, afraid of the Jewish mob. We come to this conclusion after reading the accounts of YAHSHUA’S trials, although, not knowing the complete story found in other books, as in The Archeological Writings of the Sanhedrim and Talmud of the Jews. In this book we learn that Pilate met with YAHSHUA before His trial and crucifixion. This book includes Pilate’s report to Caesar of the arrest, trial and crucifixion and resurrection of YAHSHUA. In his report, Pilate mentions the month of YAHSHUA’S crucifixion-March; the name of his Centurion, Manlius, who after witnessing what had happened, uttered the words, “Truly this was the Son of God!” Pilate also describes the earthquake in detail at the time of YAHSHUA’S death. His emotions, he described as “sad and pensive.”
(Matthews 26:23; I Corinthians 11)
Christmas season is the time when everyone is running to and fro, here and there, after gifts for one here and the other there, but not realizing the meaninglessness of it all when they say it is YAHSHUA’S birthday. The Word of God tells us that YAHSHUA had no beginning and no end. We read this in the book of John chapter one verses 1-4: In the beginning there was the Word (YAHSHUA), the Word was with God and the Word was God Himself! He was present originally with God. All things were made and came into existence through Him(YAHSHUA), and without Him was not even one thing made that has come into being. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. He existed before time; He was never held in the boundary of time, neither to its limits, for time exists only by Him. To fulfill the Father’s will, a body was prepared for Him, but that did not measure the time frame of His existence, neither His beginning. It just implies the human’s time frame for men to mark the date of His coming to earth.
Light from the Word 