“ PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD”

‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ (Luke 3:4-6) If we are to receive the powerful presence of God, we must prepare ourselves. John the Baptist was God’s messenger, called as the forerunner of Jesus, to help people prepare to receive the Saviour of the world. John preached unwaveringly: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”(Matt.3:2) Those who heard John’s message and prepared their lives recognized Jesus when He came, and they left all to follow Him. This was especially true of the disciples, whose hearts God himself prepared (Matt. 6:17) God’s instruction for preparation is specific: repentance! This involves a complete change of mind, heart, will, and behaviour toward Him. He is Lord, and your life must be prepared to receive Him as your Lord. Anything less is inadequate. Some were obviously unprepared to follow Jesus and missed the opportunity (Luke 9:57-62). The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were largely unprepared for His arrival. They knew the Messiah was coming. They even knew where He would be born (Matt. 2:4-6) Yet when word came that the Saviour had been born, they made no effort to join Him, preferring instead their religious ritual. For them, obeying the Law was the only way of salvation, thus underestimating God’s mercy and love and His manifestation of the Kingdom through His only Son, Jesus. If you are unprepared this Christmas, you, too, will miss the opportunity to experience Jesus. You may practice religion, but you will miss God. While others encounter the Lord personally in worship, your heart will remain unmoved. As others receive a fresh word from God, you will experience a painful silence. Religious activity can never substitute for a heart that is pure before Him. Purity comes only through repentance. Therefore, pray with a humble and contrite heart, as the psalmist did, that God will examine your heart and reveal your need to repent of your sin. (Psalms 139:23-24) Your repentance can clear the way of the Lord to your heart, who will guide you through His SPIRIT, HEAL your body and soul, fill you with His PEACE, LOVE and JOY, and protect you from all harm.

WISHING YOU A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS AND A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2006!
To all readers of DIVYA-JYOTI with prayers and love,
from the EDITOR and All at JEEVAN DHAM

A HUMBLE CHRISTMAS PRAYER TO OUR LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER!

O MOST HOLY, OMNIPOTENT, OMNIPRESENT,
almighty God, our Heavenly Father, give me the most beautiful, the greatest, the most precious gift, your only Son, that you have, JESUS!
When I am sick, give me JESUS;
for He is the Healer.
When I am weak, give me JESUS;
for He is my Power.
When I am hungry, give me JESUS;
for He is the Bread of Life.
When I am thirsty, give me JESUS;
for He gives the Life-giving water.
When I go astray, give me JESUS;
for He is the Good Shepherd.
When I feel sad, give me JESUS;
for He is my Joy.
When I feel bound, give me JESUS;
for He is the Freedom.
When I feel downcast, give me JESUS;
for He is the Victory.
When I feel disappointed,give me JESUS;
for He is my Hope.
When I need love, give me JESUS;
for He gives me the Infinite Love.
When I need anything,give me JESUS;
for He is the Provider.
When I am near to death,give me JESUS;
for He is the Life and the Resurrection.
When my mouth is full of lies and abuse,
give me JESUS;
for He is the Eternal Truth.
When I fall in sin, give me JESUS;
for He is the Saviour.
When I am afraid, give me JESUS;
for He is my Strength & Courage.
When I feel lonely, give me JESUS;
for He is my True Friend.
When I feel darkness, give me JESUS;
for He is the Real Light.
Dear Father, to all my requests, for all my needs, answer with only one Word,
which existed already before the World, and was with you from the very beginning, your Eternal Word: JESUS!

JESUS CHRIST, our Lord & King
-THE FULFILLER OF ALL PROPHECIES:

For the Gospel writers, one of the main reasons for believing in Jesus was the way his life fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies about the promised Messiah. The Gospel of Matthew, written especially for the Jews to convince them that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah and the Eternal King promised by God through the prophets, relies heavily on the Old Testament passages concerning the Saviour starting from Jesus’ birth to his teachings and to his crucifixion (Mt. 1:21-23; 2:14-15; 2:16-18; 2:23; 13:34-35; 21:3-5; 27:9; 27:35). One phrase runs through this Gospel like an ever-recurring theme – “This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet.” This phrase occurs in the Gospel about 16 times. It is thus Matthew’s primary and deliberate purpose to show how every detail of Jesus’ life was foretold by the prophets; and thus to compel the Jews to admit that Jesus was the Messiah. In the other Gospels too, we find many more prophecies being quoted by the evangelists, which are fulfilled in Jesus and thus convincing the readers that it was all under the Divine plan of God to redeem and sanctify His people through the precious Blood shed by His Son on the Cross for all mankind. The following list of prophecies (given in the table) find their fulfillment in Jesus of Nazareth, the promised Messiah, in the New Testament –

Prophecies on the nativity and the early life of Jesus:
1. “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”
2. ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
3. “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
4. “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
5. “He will be called a Nazarene.”
Prophecies on the public ministry of Jesus:
6. “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.”
7. “Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali... the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”
8. “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
9. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
10. “This is really the prophet.” (Messiah was to be a prophet like Moses.)
11. “Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smouldering wick until he brings justice to victory. And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
12. “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
13. ‘You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears... and I would heal them.’
14. “I will speak in parables; I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”
15. “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
16. ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?
17. “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”
Prophecies on the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus:
18. “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.”
19. “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one on whom a price had been set,... and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.”
20. ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
21. ‘They hated me without a cause.’
22. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. (Messiah was to be tried and condemned)
23. But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge...(Messiah was to be silent before his accusers)
24. Then they spat in his face and struck him; and some slapped him, saying, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who is it that struck you?” (Messiah was to be struck and spat on by his enemies)
25. They offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. (Messiah was to be given vinegar)
26 ... because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Messiah was to suffer and die with criminals and pray for his enemies)
27. “They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.”
28. “None of his bones shall be broken.”
29. “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”
30. Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. (Messiah was to die as a sacrifice for sin)
31. They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. (Messiah was to be buried with the rich)
32. For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit. (Messiah will be raised from the dead)
33. The Lord says to my lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” (Messiah is now at God’s right hand)

Jesus himself revealed the truth about Him to his apostles when he gave them his last instruction: “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:44-47)
The verses quoted above reveal that Jesus is the fulfiller of all the prophecies of the Old Testament regarding the Messiah, the Eternal King, the Son of David, whose rule will never end.

365-DAY BIBLE READING PLAN

BIBLE READING PLAN FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER:

Praise be to Jesus! Thanks be to Jesus!
My daughter Pooja aged 4years lost her eyesight totally last month. At first her eyes started turning reddish and later gradually she lost her vision. I showed her to some ENT specialists in Faridabad but everywhere I got the same answer: “We do not have any treatment for her eyes and cannot help her get back her eyesight. She will not be able to see anymore in future”. Then I took her to the Apollo Hospital where the opthalmologist, after examining her eyes, suggested an operation. He told me that replacing her eyes with someone else’s would be the only solution possible and it involved an expenditure over one-and-a-half lakh rupees. I had already spent by this time over Rs. 30,000 on her treatment and I was not in a position to meet such a huge expense with my meager income. However, the doctor fixed a date in the first week of November for her operation and notified me to deposit the amount by October last.
It was at this this juncture that God came to my rescue through one of my friends who advised me to go to Jeevan Dham and attend the prayer service on Sunday. He brought me to this place and I listened to the Word of God and the testimonies given by those who received favours. I got the oil and water blessed from here and prayed to God to help my daughter who always kept her eyes closed. She was unable to eat or even get up from her bed and walk. I gave her the blessed water to drink and applied few drops of oil on her eyelid. Miraculously, within a few minutes, she told me that she could see the objects even in the night. A layer of some sticky substance peeled off her eyes which cleared up the next morning and her eyesight, through God’s grace, was restored to normal. It was certainly awe-inspiring. The almighty God gifted new eyes to my daughter and gave her a new life to witness His glorious creation and thank Him for His mercy and love.
Dinesh Kumar, Pooja, Faridabad
“Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness.” (Luke 11:34)