Eternity

Posted on January 23, 2024January 24, 2024 by christianwordsblog

(Christ’s eternal) ANGUISH

Out of the anguish of his soul he shall seeand be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11) *

Jesus’ agony on the cross was for all to see, the spectacle of suffering was the deterrent the Romans intended; but Isaiah says Jesus endures spiritual torment. Can it be that Jesus suffers even as he is glorified?

The word translated ‘anguish’ is עָמָל amal which means trouble, labour or misery. It intimates a sustained burden from which there is no escape.

Posted on November 8, 2022November 11, 2022 by christianwordsblog

LYING

When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44b)

Jesus is speaking of the devil, who is elsewhere in the Bible shown to be Satan and he is the original deceiver.

The Greek word translated ‘lie’ is the verb ψεύδομαι (pseudomai) and it means ‘to falsify’ or ‘to wilfully misrepresent’.

Posted on September 15, 2022September 15, 2022 by christianwordsblog

LAZARUS

Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’

The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. (John 11:43-44)

Lazarus is a name taken via the Latin Lazar, derived from the Hebrew ‘Eleazer’, which means ‘God helped’.

Lazarus was the brother of Mary and Martha. The family were clearly very good friends, possible even relations of Jesus. They lived in Bethany, now called El-Azariya (‘place’ of Lazarus), situated on the south eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, and thus a short walk from Jerusalem.

Posted on July 20, 2022July 25, 2022 by christianwordsblog

God has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11b)

The Bible affirms that human beings are eternal creatures. Mortality was simply a mechanism of grace, for without mortal life the first infraction would doom to hell. Solomon, granted all earthly wisdom, says self-knowledge of eternity is hard-wired into our very nature.