23rd December, 2007 [The Greatest Legacy]
Matthew 10¡§34-39

1. .Jesus came with a sword

During these recent weeks before Christmas, we have continued to learn from the Old Testament. What it teaches us is that human history is full of sin, bad human conduct and disloyalty to God our Creator. The Old Testament revealed humans to be egoistical. They participated in false worship, focussing on themselves, rather than God. They exploited others, even though they were all from the same source of God’s creation. From our view of history, we see a flawed people whose erratic behavior generated conflicts and wars. (³¤­…)

16th December, 2007 [The sun of righteousness will rise]- Malachi 4:1-6

1. Words given to the unsettled faith

We continue to lecture from the Old Testament while we are awaiting Christmas. Today’s text is from the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi. Before the time of Malachi, the Israelites had been defeated and exiled into captivity in Babylon as punishment for their disloyalty to God. However, after 50 years of exile, they were freed and went back to their homeland filled with a new hope of rebuilding the country. But, they received a hostile reception from the occupants who were already there. And then, there was a sever famine throughout the land, which impeded the temple’s reconstruction. Their daily life was a struggle with many dificultities. So, God commissioned the prophets, Isaiah and Haggai, to encourage the people: “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the LORD Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the LORD Almighty” (Haggai 2:9). (³¤­…)

12th December 2007 [From Desolation to Joy] Isaiah 61:1-9

1. The faith of those who came back

While awaiting Christmas we continue the lecture from the Old Testament. We learned last week about the liberation from the Babylonian captivity, recorded in Isaiah, chapter 52.It revealed the reluctance of the people who were living in exile for fifty years to move. They would not go back to their ruined home-land, Jerusalem. Thus the prophet Isaiah appealed to them: “The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing” (Isaiah 51:3) (³¤­…)

2nd December, 2007¡¡ [ The Promise is fulfilled ] Isaiah 52:1-10

1. Return from Babylon

From today we are in the period of Advent, in other words, the time of waiting for the commemoration day of Jesus’ arrival on earth as our Saviour. That event was like a beam of light which pierced the darkness where humans lived. Throughout the history of Israel, Jewish people had similar enlightening experiences. Twice - the first being the Exodus from Egypt, the second being a return from Babylon.
So, we shall read from Isaiah, chapter 52 which describes the liberation from Babylon. But, we will also observe this reading as a means to contemplate the significance of Christmas. (³¤­…)

25th November, 2007 [The Lord is our Savior ] - Jeremiah 23:1-10

1. Christmas and prophecies in the Old Testament

While awaiting Christmas we are reading from the Old Testament in order to contemplate the meaning of the Nativity. The word “Christmas” is composed of “Christ equals Messiah” and “Mass equals celebration”, which signifies a celebration for the arrival of the Messiah - a long expected event.
The Christ came to earth under the name of Jesus, which is an anglicized form of the Latin Lesus, which itself is derived from the Greek name Lesous. Lesous was the Greek transliterated form of the Hebrew name Yehoshua, meaning Lord as savior. (³¤­…)