Sounds like my old girl friend! This statement Jesus made is different in the Greek rendition than we have in the English! Here are some notes from the Greek notation in my Bible. The verb “hipton”, the present imperative of hipto(681), should be translated, “do not continue to touch me.” It is “do not touch me” in the commonly translated and should have been translated if this verb had been in the aorist imperative, hapsou. So does it matter? It means Mary has already touched Him! I think anyone would have to want to touch Jesus after his Resurrection with the human curiosity of is this the real deal? Remember Thomas later in this chapter would not believe until he touched Jesus and felt the scars of His Crucifixion! In regards to the four pillars of redemption which includes Jesus birth, death, resurrection and ascension Jesus even though human fingerprints were all over the first three pillars did not want human influence on Him after the resurrection before His ascension! The Greek word touch means to intentionally touch to modify with influence on! God wants to modify our behavior but God wants no human influence on Him! We are not going to take this flesh we are living in to Heaven! The only thing that influenced my behavior away from God is my flesh! We leave it the grave for a reason! After Jesus resurrection He walked through a closed door to see His disciples! No physical limitations of the flesh! Jesus has transformed my life but death will finish the job! We cannot enter Heaven in this flesh so we have to be transformed from the worm to the butterfly! We do not die without a purpose! We live with purpose in Christ and we die with purpose in Christ! Without Christ you live without purpose and you die without purpose! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: death
Easter Thoughts!
The word compassion means to suffer with! Do you see the word passion in compassion? The first use of the word compassion used in our Bible is in Exodus 2:6. Pharaoh’s daughter saw the baby Moses drifting down the river in a basket! She had compassion on the baby and rescued him! The word used here means to have pity and spare! However there is another Hebrew root word used for compassion that really got my attention! This word is used in 1 Kings 8:50 and 2 Chronicles 30:9. The word means the tender mercies of the womb! Moses was a deliverer of his people and the fruit of the womb! Compassion was born! Just as Jesus death was an act of compassion so was His birth! You cannot separate Christmas and Easter! We were not born to die but Jesus was! We die because of sin but Christ is sinless! So Jesus suffered for us and with us at birth and at death! He took our death upon Himself so that we could live! His resurrection nullified our death! Satan threw the yellow flag with the penalty of death for our sin but Jesus protested the penalty and threw the red flag reversing the decision! The penalty on the field of life is reversed! Our new resurrected life is a 1st and 10! A fresh start! Born again! A second chance at life! His blood defeated death and has won the day and life for us! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Anticipation or Apprehension?
Which is it? “Let us consider this settled, that no one has made progress in the school of Christ who does not joyfully await the day of death and final resurrection!” John Calvin
Is Jesus Just a Gardener to You? John 20:15
Just as with Mary at one time in my life Jesus was just a gardener to me! As long as you do not look for Jesus you will never see Him! Mary Magdalene was the first disciple to recognize Jesus after His resurrection from the dead! Death seems to close the door on our personalities but really it does not! Remember the rich man and Lazarus? One life carried on in Heaven and the other life in Hell. Jesus carried on after his death the same way He was before death! Jesus disciples wrote Jesus off after the Crucifixion! Peter and John had preconceived idea’s about Jesus before they entered the tomb! They looked around the empty tomb and saw the grave clothes then fled and went into hiding from the Romans and the Jews! What they saw confirmed what they believed! This whole thing is a hoax! Mary hung around the tomb weeping because there was no body there to anoint for burying? Mary had experienced Jesus power for He cast 7 demons out of her! Yet she let death close the door on her faith and thought the man speaking to her in the tomb was a gardener! Then the voice and light of Jesus opened her eyes! Rabboni! Rabbi! Master! Jesus is always present even if you do not see Him! Just as a blind man can feel the rays of the sun so you can feel Jesus love! The stars shine brightest in the darkness of the night! After Jesus delivered me from death I could only see Him and experience His love! My allegiance and devotion turned to Him! Rabbi! Master! Power over death! Jesus was no longer a gardener to me! The Resurrection took on a whole new meaning! It was no longer just a religious story I heard once a year at church! Do you want the reality of Jesus or just a once a year story? You do not want to wake up on the wrong side of death as the rich man did! Either a Heaven or a Hell? The reality of Christ will one day come to all the living and the dead! Just so it is not too late for you! Chance and choice only come once to every individual. Wise men and women still seek Him! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Messianic Prophecy! 700 B.C.
Isaiah 50: 6-11 Comment: Isaiah begins in Chapter 50 asking the Jews why should they be surprised that they are in Babylonian captivity? You dug your own grave! The Lord told them they sold themselves into captivity through your own sin! Your mother is put away and you can never pay your creditors! The answer to their yoke of slavery is through a coming deliverer that has the tongue of the learned! This deliverer has given his back to the whip! His beard is plucked out! He has set his face like a flint to his task! He shall not be ashamed! No one will be able to condemn you although you deserve death! Is there anyone who will fear this deliverer? Walk in His light! He will show you the way of righteousness which by yourselves are not able to achieve! If you trust in the work of your own hands you will lie down in sorrow! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Darkness in 21st Century! Genesis 1:2
Hebrew Translation: “The earth was without breath, desolated, confused without purpose in obscurity, falsehood and ignorance was upon the face of the deep. And the breath of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Comment: Could this Bible verse at creation describe the 21st Century? All of these conditions manifest today in the 21st Century from no knowledge of God! No perception and understanding of His presence! No acceptance of His existence trying to run the planet without Him! Trying to run your life without Him! Like having all your modern appliances without electricity? Even though Christ exists today we try to live without Him? Living in deception! The lack of Christ is the source of ignorance that runs our world today! Same problem in all previous Centuries! Trying to exist before creation will not work! It did not work then and will not work today! Trying to live before creation is history repeating itself! Darkness upon the face of the deep! Many men of the 21st century are trying to live without God in the Garden of Eden! There are many fruits around but give me the one I should not eat! The results are the same! Separation from God! Separation from God is a voluntary choice! Getting back to Genesis is getting back with God! History has proven that we cannot live without God yet we still try? To chose the Light of Christ is also a voluntary choice! When will we get fed up with self and choose the light? Fools still say there is no God! Why not be a wise man for a change? Come Holy Spirit we need thee! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Lent Season 2 Corinthians 5:17
Greek Translation; “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new quality never before accomplished and a fully restored man that God has created. Old things are passed away and all things have become new.” Comment: What things are passed away? Our sin has passed away! It passed away on a Cross over two thousand years ago! Sin died on the Cross with Jesus! It was nailed on a Cross never to rise again! Sin is defeated forever! Man was raised from the dead without sin! A new creature uninfected by sin! Born again! A restoration that has nothing to do with men but everything to do with God! The only sacrifice that is perfect and everlasting! Man’s efforts have failed but God’s work won the day! A victory that is not seasonal with every new game but eternal! No rivals! It is not a victory that is waiting for the next war but has defeated all foes past and future! A trophy that will not rust with time but the timeless redemption of all ages! Heaven and earth will pass away but not our Christ! He will create a new Heaven and a new earth to go along with your new life! Awaken to your new reality that had been hidden in time! Do you want to trade in your old model for the new model or do you want to hang unto death? Do you want to exchange your sin for righteousness before God? Righteousness that He purchased for you! Do you want to be wrong with men and right with God? Free at last! You cannot have it both ways! Heaven or Hell not Heaven and Hell. As we enter into the Lent season think on these thoughts! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Medal of Honor! John 15:13
I have watched some video’s of American Medal of Honor Winners from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. As I watched these I began to see a pattern in the lives of these brave men! Their love for their comrades on the battlefield led them to take very heroic actions in combat! One particular Vietnam Veteran really got my attention! When they were in the midst of a battle a Viet Cong soldier through a grenade into the midst of his army platoon! When he saw the grenade he said it was like being frozen in time! What to do? He took his steel helmet off his head threw it over the grenade and then threw his body on top of his helmet! The grenade exploded under his helmet tearing his stomach open and filling his body with shrapnel! He said his intestines were laying outside of his body on the ground! Another soldier came along and put his guts back in his stomach and taped his stomach closed with ribbons torn from his uniform! Another soldier came along and drug his body away from the fire fight so the medics and the helicopters could get him to a field hospital. He said we never left the dead or wounded for the enemy! His recovery took years at a Veteran’s Hospital. He said the hardest thing for him in this hospital was to see the young men come in from Vietnam and die in the hospital with no family around them! After his recovery he tried to go back to college but the protesting college students would mock him for going to war for his country so he left school. The other veteran’s also said that the love for each other is what kept them going and bonded them together! It was not the politics of the war or political parties that mattered to them! They had to look out for each other! That is what a family does for each other! Jesus said there is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his brother! Why did Jesus go to the Cross? His love for His Father! Only He could pacify the anger His Father had for His Creation! Remember Jesus words on the Cross? Father forgive them! Why have you forsaken me? The Vietnam Veteran’s even today feel forsaken by their country! But their love for each other bonds them together! We the people are free from foreign aggression because of their love for each other! Likewise we are benefited by God’s love in particular with Jesus love for His Father in being obedient even to the death on a Cross for our sin! Today Jesus position in Heaven is not by accident! He is seated at the right hand of the Father because of His love for His Father! None of us will even sit closer to the Father than the Son! Jesus is returning soon back to the earth to complete His love for the Father and for you! Jesus went into combat for you! He lives for you and died for you and rose from the dead for you and His love of the Father is also expressed to you! Love is manifested in relationship! We cannot love God if not in relationship to Him! You could never sacrifice your life on the battlefield unless in relationship to other soldiers of your Nation suffering the same combat! To honor God is to honor American Veterans! No one except President Trump understands the neglect our American Military Veteran’s! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Life After Death? John 5:24
Absolutely! Dozens of scriptures in your Bible that verify this! Let us hear from a philosopher on this subject: “What does it take for justice to be truly real? In this world justice does not always prevail. For justice to be real and prevail there must be life after death where justice is meted out!” Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Fools in Heaven? Isaiah 35:8
Hebrew Translation: “And a highway shall be there, and a pathway of life, and it shall be pronounced and proclaimed. The way of holiness set apart and sacred, the morally unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those men who are wandering to and fro in the earth, though fools stupid and silly shall not go astray.” Comment: If you were a Jew living 700 years before Christ in Israel and read this verse from Isaiah what would you think? Maybe Isaiah should be sawed in two as King Manasseh did! To the Jews keeping the law was essential for salvation! Moses gave them the law from God! The problem was no one could keep the law! Not even Moses! So the Jews must have asked who is going to provide this pathway to life? If not the law then who? No human could do this! Who is going to proclaim this pathway to life? Surely keeping the law is the pathway to holiness! How could this pathway be established for wayfaring men wandering to and fro in the earth? How could this pathway be made for fools? God could not be talking about the gentiles? Gentiles are for the firewood of Hell. Gentiles are unclean! How can God make a way for them and include us? They do not keep our laws! When Jesus arrived in Bethlehem 700 years later it was even more perplexing for them! A Jew one of us born as God into humanity to establish this pathway? Certainly he must be a sinner just like us? Crucify Him! Now He has become a sacrifice for us? How did we do this? Jesus has power over death, hell and the grave! He raises the dead! The blind see! Is this the pathway Isaiah was talking about? If not Him who else could it be? James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com