A solemn wake-up call

Yesterday, I attended a funeral wake of one of my church member. He died from heart-attack while battling cancer for a long time. His death, to me, was a rather abrupt and unexpected one. Although he had been battling cancer, a few months back, during one of the testimony-sharing sessions, he was vibrantly, joyfully sharing his story and fight against cancer. As he stood there to share, I couldn’t even tell that he was a cancer-stricken patient. He had so much life in him that he could even share a joke or two.

I realised how fast things could take a turn. A scary, unexpected, unbelievable turn.

I was once again reminded about the reality of death, that on one day, it would be my turn to lie in a coffin, motionless, still, cold, lifeless. My loved ones would be around me, sobbing and mourning at my lifeless corpse, taking reluctant glances of what’s left of my soon-to-decay body. The thing that makes funerals different from all the other ceremonies is that the person for which it is to cannot attend it. At birthday parties, the main person would be there. At weddings, the main person would be there. Only at funerals, the main person wouldn’t be there.

Job 1:21 - “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Genesis 3:19 - By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

This is the frightening reality of death! The reality in which no man can ever escape!

This is the reality in which Jesus himself wept about when he saw his beloved friend Lazarus in the tomb. (John 11:35) People weep at funerals because of death, because death has taken and separated their loved ones from them.

But I do thank God that physical death is not the end.

John 11:25 - “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.”

Even when physical death has taken us, we live because of Jesus Christ! Though we die, we live forevermore, without suffering, without pain, in the face of our living God.

The solemn wake-up call of death tells me that I should be living my life worthwhile. Not with the ‘by eating and drinking for tomorrow we die’ mentality, but by living every moment of life for God, by living life as God wants me to live, for death comes as he calls.

 

300

300, the film adaptation and fictionaliised retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae, fascinates me a lot. I was drawn to the plot of how King Leonidas of Sparta took along his 300 valiant Spartans to take on an army of over one-million soldiers. Although the film is said to be fantasy, it is told to be 90 percent relevant to the historical event. Given that this epic battle had really occurred, I believe one cannot help but admire the courage of these 300 men as they took on the impossible task. Though they all perished, these men were greatly honoured for their glorious sacrifice.

Strangely, I was brought to a somewhat similar event that actually occurred in the bible. I couldn’t help but draw similarities and differences to the epic Battle of Thermopylae.

Just like King Leonidas, Gideon took along 300 men in a battle against the Midianites and the Amalekites.

Some background for this battle:

Judges 6:1b-5 - the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian seven years. And the poewr of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian, the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. For it was when Isreal had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts in numbers, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it.

Judges 7: 12 - Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

It seemed that Gideon was in the same situation as King Leonidas. His people oppressed by the Midianites and the Amalekites so badly and his army was tremendously outnumbered, 300 to an army as numerous as locusts and camels as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

But unlike King Leonidas who was brave enough to fight with only 300 men, Gideon would like to fight with more. Initially, he had 33,000. Then, it went down to 10, 000 and finally decreased to 300.

In the Battle of Thermopylae, King Leonidas had no choice but to bring along only 300 men, but Gideon had a choice. He could have brought all 33,000 men to fight and he would have stood a better chance perhaps against the uncountable hordes of the Midianites and Amalekites. But God limited his army to only 300 men.

This was a very irrational decision to make. Every battle commander knows that a larger army would stand a better chance against the enemy. What could 300 men do against an army of innumerable men even with a perfect strategy?

But God had a reason for choosing only 300 men. This was it:

Judges 7:2 - And the Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel become boastful, saying ‘My own power has delivered me.’

It was because 33,000 men was too many for the Lord.

Something struck me here: 33,000 was too few for men to win the battle, but 33,000 was too many for the Lord! In fact, 300 was already too many for the Lord. The Lord needed none of mens’ efforts at all, he simply needed his own.r

The result of the battle was even more amazing. King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans managed to destroy more than half of their enemies, but they all perished, losing the battle. Gideon and his 300 won the battle, chasing the enemy away, without even losing a single man.

I’ve been pondering over this and I realised that this has a great deal of application for my life. Many times in my life, when I’m placed into impossible situations, I tried to use my ‘33,000 men’ to try to win the battle, but the odds were always simply too great. I wasn’t able to get out of those situations. No matter how hard I tried, using my own human efforts, I was never be able to overcome these situations by myself.

I realised that what God has been teaching me is similar to Judges 7:2 - The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, lest Israel become boastful, saying ‘My own power has delivered me.’

If I had overcame by my own human efforts, I would become boastful for I got out of it myself. Things were so tough and I got out of it. I deserve to be commended. I deserve to be rewarded. I deserve the praise and the glory.

But if God was the one who fought the battle, he deserve the praise, the honour and the glory.

The striking thing is that God always wins the battle, he always overcome the impossible situation no matter how impossible it might seem to us when we lay down our own desperate attempts and let him take over.

 

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil: The Forbidden Fruit

Lately, I realised God has been teaching me a lot using trees. First, it was the Fig tree, now it is the tree from the very beginning, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Well, I always have this problem of starting something but not ending it. Many times, I told myself I would read the bible from the first book to the last, from cover to cover. I would begin well reading the first few books and always give up soon after. Hence, the Book of Genesis, being the very first book, was read through many times and the creation story became so familiar to me to the point of over-familiarisation.

But once again, God taught me something new from this book, something new from a familiar passage. And I would like to share this we all who reads.

Gen 2:16,17 - And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.”

This was the commandment the Lord gave to Adam concerning this tree. Initially, this commandment felt like some chinese mythological tale in which the Jade Emperor would issue a decree of banning anyone from eating the forbidden fruit in the imperial garden. But God isn’t like the Jade Emperor who issues decrees without purposes. I believe that this commandment God gave to Adam had a purpose and principle hidden behind it.

What then is the meaning of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? Why was it’s fruit forbidden? What does it signify to eat of its fruit?

The answer can be found in Gen 3:22. “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”

Was God utterly selfish? Was it because God didn’t want men to be powerful like him and thus made the fruit forbidden? Was there something at stake at God’s side that he couldn’t risk that if men ate of the fruit, it would jeopardise his power?

No.

From this passage, it is clear that the forbidden fruit signifies something that for man have it, it would be bad, but for God to have it, it would be good. What is it?

It is the independence of determining what is good and what is bad. This is eating of the forbidden fruit.

Having tasted of the forbidden fruit, we see in our world today how man’s independence of determining what is good and bad has ruined us. It was totally devastating for man to have independence, to define rights and wrongs, to do whatever is right in their eyes. And because of this, many lives are lost because man thinks war is justified, abortions are justified, revenge killings are justified, all because man thinks these are right, in their own eyes.

The devil says in Gen 3:5 that “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God , knowing good and evil.”

This is effective lying. Yes, after tasting the fruit, we became like God, knowing good and evil, but we are still different. God is an independant being. He has the right of defining good and evil. But we are beings dependant upon him. We don’t have this right, except to leave the knowledge of good and evil to him and rest and trust in him. But we chose to claim his right as ours and hence our dependence on him was cut when the forbidden fruit was eaten and we are perishing.

The very first sin committed here was not some ‘grave’ sin like murder or adultery. It was the sin of wanting the supreme pleasure of being God, rather than submitting to him. The essence of the fall is finding more pleasure in ruling our lives so that we get praises, rather than beholding God’s life, so that he gets our praises. We want to be God. We love our rights and our accomplishments. We love to be in the centre of everything, as if we are God.

Gen 3:7a - “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.”

The result of trying to be like God is this: shame!

We realise it is such a shameful thing when we look at ourselves in the mirror. We see our wreakage, our bodies breaking down, showing signs of decay. No matter how much we try to hide it by going for facials, going to the gym, putting on make-up, we can’t hide the fact that we don’t last forever! Cutting the dependence from God leads eventually and inevitably to death because we are dependant upon him. We are fallable, weak creatures and yet, we think we deserve praise like God, we try to define our rights like God, we think we can be independent like God, we try to be like God! Now, this is shameful!

I realise how much our fall is like the Devil’s. Satan fell because he wanted to be like God. Oh how much we are like him!

But I thank God that restoration has come from Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came into the world to make a way for all those who has committed insurrection against God to have forgiveness, acceptance and justification.

Just as the hymn says:

Upon that cross of Jesus
Mine eye at times can see
The very dying form of One
Who suffered there for me;
And from my smitten heart with tears,
Two wonders I confess:
The wonders of His glorious love,
And my unworthiness.

We need to confess our unworthiness, our wretchedness of wanting to be like God when we are not and we need to confess that his glorious love has come to restore us back to him that we may return to dependance on him, praise him and him the glory and honour that we have once taken away from him for ourselves.