Bethesda

   Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew. It has five colonnades, and under these a large number of sick people were lying - blind, lame or paralyzed - waiting for the movement of the water. At certain times an angel of the Lord would go down into the pool and stir up the water, and whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had (John 5:2-4 ISV)

   Recently, during a discussion, someone referred to an event described in the fifth chapter of John's gospel. I remembered what I once saw in this scene, how I understood it. And I saw in him a crowd of sick people whom God gave a chance to regain health. It was enough for such a sick person to enter the water after the angel of the Lord appeared in it. The Bible gives us various examples of the miracle of healing, and this is just one of them. One day, when I read the text again, something caught my attention and I started thinking about something.

   I asked myself why recovery was only available to who first entered the pool? Jesus came to earth to reveal to us the truth about God, the truth about God's love for fallen people. His healings had deep symbolic significance and pointed to healing from sin, the most dangerous disease of humanity. God wants to heal everyone from sin, He wants to save each of us. In that case, why was healing only available to those who first entered the pool? Why couldn't someone who couldn't get to the water quickly enough be healed? After all, in many situations Jesus acted quite differently, thus revealing the Father's desire and desire that every person be cured. How often did people come to Jesus and ask for healing? And yet He never said that he would heal only those who approach him first, and all the rest must wait for another occasion. Once upon a time, Jesus healed a withered man on the Sabbath, and then left the place because of the Pharisees' intrigue. „But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all” (Matthew 12:15). Comparing what the Bible says about God in different places, I noticed a certain contradiction between the image of a God who loves all people and the image that was shown in the scene at the Bethesda pool. But how do you explain that the angel of the Lord healed only the sick who was the fastest?

   I decided to check what this fragment looks like in other translations than the one I use most often. It turns out that there are big differences between different translations. In such translations as KJV or NKJ in this verse there is only the word 'angel', not 'the angel of the Lord', which is found in NAS, ASV and ISV. And such translations as NIV, NLT or ESV do not contain this verse at all! So, I decided to check the original Greek text in interlinear translation. And I learned that there is the word 'angel', not 'the angel of the Lord'.

   It is not difficult to understand the meaning of this fact. After all, the word angel does not have to mean the angel that God sent. „And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7-9). We have two types of angels, there are those who obey God, and there are those who do not. What angel caused the water in the pool to move? Sent by God or by Satan? If it was an angel sent by God, it would mean that God prefers only those who are stronger and rejects the weak. However, this concept is not in line with the context of the Bible, which says that God loves everyone and wants to help everyone. In that case, why would Satan send his angel to heal people, even if it only helps individual people in this way? Maybe just to make people think that they must be faster, stronger or smarter, that God would not reject them. In addition, in the Bethesda pool, selected people experienced healing of the body, but God wants to heal our souls. A man with a healthy body does not have to be saved, but a man with a healthy soul will be saved.

   Satan uses various miracles to present people with a false image of God, assigning God his own character traits. The Bible warns us against this type of fraud. At the end of time "false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect" (Matthew 24:24). There will be many people claiming to be believers who will believe that God is working through them by performing miracles, but these will be only satanic deceptions. „Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:22-23). Of course, this does not mean that every miracle of healing is the work of Satan, but the point is not to automatically associate each such miracle with God's action. The context of the event is also very important. What's important about what happened in the Bethesda pool is not that people were healed, but that only the strongest, or those who could afford the right help, could be healed. Satan wants us to look at God in this way, he wants us to think that God loves only the elect and despises the rest.

   In that case, why did Jesus heal only one man then? There was a lot of “blind, lame, or paralyzed" by the pool, but only one of them was cured. Jesus never did anything accidentally, so this event should teach us something. Why no one else was healed? It is easier to find the answer to this question when you compare this situation with the one that took place in Nazareth. When Jesus „had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:53-58). Was there not many sick in Nazareth? Didn't Jesus want to help them? I'm sure Jesus wanted to heal all the sick in Nazareth. However, because of their disbelief, he did not. The sick people gathered at the Bethesda pool believed that their last chance was to dive into the water when the effect of supernatural power was revealed. They associated this power with God, but did not pay attention to what God was saying to them. They believed in a God who rewards the strongest and the wisest and they wanted to be like this. They were ready to trample on everyone to get what they wanted. They really did not believe in God but in the god of this world. It is this world that teaches us that only winners count, those who succeed. The rules of this world say that above all, we must care about ourselves.

   The sick who was healed by Jesus thought similarly. To the question: "Do you want to be healthy?" he replied, "Lord, I don't have a man who would throw me into a pool when the water moves". However, when Jesus told him, "Rise, take up your bed and walk" this man for some reason believed Jesus and simply stood up. He did not think that it was impossible. Perhaps he had heard of Jesus before, and it made him hope that Jesus was speaking to him. The fact is that he simply accepted by faith that he could get up and walk. He believed that Jesus not only wants but can also help him. He had forgotten that he had seen his only chance in the water before. Now a real chance for healing appeared before him and he caught her with all his might. He believed and was healed. By healing this man, Jesus shows us that He wants to free everyone from sin, but he cannot do it unless we come to Him first. We must trust Him and then He will do what He promised. We must feel as helpless as this man. He knew he couldn't help himself; he knew he needed help. If he still wanted to recover by immersion in water, Jesus could not help him. This man would still believe in a God who is kind to the strong but despises the weak. He would still believe in God who sends his angels to help only those who are able to do something on their own to receive this help. At this point, however, he believed that he could receive help despite being unable to do anything.

   Did Jesus heal this man and make him unable to fall ill anymore? When Jesus met him the second time, he told him, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you" (John 5:14). Why did Jesus say that something worse could happen to this man? Something worse than the disease he was cured of? Jesus healed not only this man's body, but also his soul. Regaining health in a way, that this man did not know before, made him believe in a merciful and loving God. He realized that God was not what he had thought before. These words that he heard from Jesus in the temple made him realize that losing his health was not the greatest misfortune that could happen to him. Body disease can lead to death of body, but sin is a disease that leads to the eternal death of the soul. „And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). The death of the soul is the second death, eternal destruction. Anyone who has been healed by Jesus and yet returns to a previous life is at risk for something worse than what happened to him before. A previous life is a life without God, a life of faith in a god other than the One True God. Sin is about living without God. Jesus warned a healed man that if he again began to believe in God who sends his angel to the pool to heal the strong and clever, his condition would become even worse. Only faith in Jesus, based on life with Jesus, can save a human soul and save a person.

   What happened to this man later? We do not know this, but we know that his fate was in his hands. And it's the same with us. God wants to help each of us, but some people are like those who waited for the water to move in the Bethesda pool and do not even look where Jesus is. They don't want to hear His voice and are only interested in healing the body. Such people may think about salvation, but they want to be saved in their own way. They don't want to accept the truth that Jesus is talking about, the truth about the relationship between sin and death. They accept some changes in their lives as a result of God's actions and a sign that they are already healthy. However, they often refuse to accept signs indicating the unfinished process of healing their soul; signs revealing that they are still attached to sin. Our fate lies in our hands, because God gave us free will and does not force us to do anything. He just warns us, "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you". God wants each of us to be in his kingdom, but he doesn't force anyone to follow the path that leads there. We must step on it, just like a paralyzed man who, at Jesus' call, got up and began to walk this new path. God calls us and helps us to follow this path, but He does not deprive us of free will and we can leave it at any time. This path leads to light, and everyone who leaves this path turns away from light. "He who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God", but everyone who “practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:20-21). I do not know what path chose the one whom Jesus healed at the Bethesda pool, I also do not know what other people are guiding when deciding on choosing their path, only God knows. But I know, because the Bible says so, that God helps us make the right decisions, and that each of us can be saved. 

   Jesus not only tells us: "Rise, take up your bed and walk", but also says: "See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you".

Prodigal Son

   A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living (Luke 15:11-13)

       Why did the younger son leave his father's house? Living in the family home in the presence of his father, he had the impression that his father restricted his freedom. At times, adapting to his family's rules was a heavy burden and a painful yoke for him. He wanted to live differently, he wanted to do what he couldn't do at his father's house. It seemed to him that outside his father's home he would be able to lead a life without the restrictions that disturbed him so much, but at the same time he would meet with the same love and understanding. The atmosphere of his family home seemed natural to him, and he could not imagine that relationships between people could be different than those he knew. He did not know how it is when a person is treated as an object that can be thrown away when it is useless. He underestimated what he got every day at his father's house. He underestimated the love that surrounded him and the interest in his life. He thought that he would be treated in the same way everywhere.

      When he left home and started living alone in a foreign country, he thought he was in a place that was like his family home, but here he could do whatever he wanted. He found friends, who were kind and cordial to him, but when he ran out of money, their friendship ended. He found that the new surroundings accepted him not because of what kind of man he was, but because of his wealth. He began to see the difference between his father's house and the place where he lived now. In this foreign country he could get what he desired, but only if he gave what people in this place expected from him. In this world, friendship and interest in him were conditional, and when he ceased to fulfil this condition, he was rejected by this world. This young man began to look at his father differently. He stopped associating his father with someone who restricts him and does not allow him to enjoy life. A new image of his father began to form in his mind, the image of someone who loves him unconditionally. He also began to understand better the principles by which this world functions. He became convinced that life according to the rules of this world is based on selfishness, that this world only wants to take without selflessly giving anything. He understood that living in his father's home is based on love that selflessly gives everything and unconditionally satisfies all real needs.

   The prodigal son now remembered all these situations when his father helped him without demanding anything from him. And he also began better to understand the real reason, why he abandoned his family home. He understood that he was driven by selfishness and a desire to satisfy his own lusts. Once he didn't see anything wrong with it, but now he understood what it leads to. Now he also knew how much he hurt his father when he decided to leave home, because with this decision he really rejected his father's love. And deep in his heart he knew, that he not only still loves his father, but that he began to love him even more. His assessment of what he once considered a limitation of his freedom had changed. Now he would gladly adapt to these principles to show his father his gratitude and love and felt the need to do so. Now his desire was to live next to his father, because he knew how much his father loved him. He knew that with his selfish decision he touched his father very hard, but he also knew that his father still loved him and wanted him to come back. So, he decided to return, but he did not care about regaining his previous position in the family home. He could become the smallest servant of his father, just to live next to him and for him. He rejected his pride, turned away from what he liked so recently, humbled himself and returned to his father.

It is very important in this parable that the prodigal son did not really love his father when he left home. He was selfish and loved himself above all. He did not understand what true love was at the time and did not really know his father. The experiences he went through opened his eyes and he learned the truth. And when he learned the truth, he also understood who his father was, he loved him sincerely and with all his heart. He gave up his life in a foreign country, not because he had nowhere to live and was hungry, but because he wanted to live next to the one he loved with all his heart.

      Love for his father changed him and he became a new man, he was born again. This change meant that he ceased to associate life in his father's house with unpleasant restrictions. Now he was completely satisfied with all the rules in his father's house, they became nice to him, and compliance with them became something natural to him.

This is the case with everyone who has truly known God and loved Him. "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome" (1 John 5:3). How many of us think that we know and love God, yet in some situations feel obedience to God as an unpleasant yoke and a heavy burden? If such feelings arise in me, it means that I know God just as the prodigal son knew his father before leaving his family home. And that means I don't really know God or love Him. Jesus said that his yoke is easy, and the burden is light, so if I feel it differently, it means that Jesus has not lived in me yet, and my thoughts, feelings and desires are not like His.

If this is the case, then I can't change it, clenching my teeth and forcing myself to do things that I know are good, but I don't feel like when I’m doing them. The only way out for me is to keep looking for Jesus to finally get to know him well enough to love him. Only then will I stop being like a prodigal son and become a son, a true household member of the Father's house.

We are all born as prodigal sons (or daughters) and the only chance to change is to really know God and love Him. To know the truth, each of us must go through the experience of the prodigal son. Without this experience, we are like the prodigal son before leaving home. The truth is available to us, but we don't want to see it because we are not interested in it. We may think that we know and love God, but our wrong decisions, even the smallest ones, are the best proof of this. They show that we are more interested in satisfying our lusts and more willingly choose what this world gives us than what God gives us. These things seem more interesting and attractive to us. We also believe that thanks to them we will be happier and more satisfied. However, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman: „Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:13-14). The treasures of this world are not able to satisfy the desire of the soul. They can give a momentary feeling of satisfaction, but it passes quickly and the desire returns. The prodigal son realized this before he lost all his property. Those who want to satisfy their egoistic desires, no matter what they are, find out about it. They simply can't be satisfied. Only satisfying the desire to accept what comes from God does not bring back feelings of lack and emptiness, because it is associated with the need to share these gifts. The prodigal son also became aware of this, but he did not fully recognize this feeling until he returned to his family home and began to live in harmony with his father's principles.

    Each of us is born as a prodigal son, but that does not mean that this state cannot change. But do we want this to happen?

Power of the Cross

   For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel - not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power

1 Corinthians 1:17

  Let's imagine that classes with a group of anonymous alcoholics are led by someone who comes to these classes drunk. A man who is to help others free themselves from the addiction to drinking alcohol is his slave himself. Can such a person help those who want to stop drinking? Another situation. A group of drug addicts who want to free themselves from this addiction meets someone who wants to help them. However, this person is addicted to drugs and conducts classes while under the influence of drugs. What will be the effect of the work of these two people trying to help others?

  And now imagine that classes with a group of alcoholics are led by someone who says about himself that he was an alcoholic, but someone helped him free himself from this addiction and now he not only does not drink, but more importantly, he does not want to drink alcohol. Let's also imagine that classes with a group of drug addicts are conducted by someone who says about himself that he was a drug addict, but someone helped him free himself from this addiction and now he not only does not take drugs, but more importantly he does not want to take them and feels disgust at what he once liked so much.

   Who can effectively help those who seek help, the one who has theoretical knowledge, but is not able to use this knowledge to help himself, or the one, who has not only knowledge, but above all his own experience of overcoming addiction? Is the example of such a man the best proof that you can win with addiction?

  Drug addiction or alcoholism are just two of the many serious diseases of humanity. Every day many people die because of overdose or bring their own body to a state of complete destruction. However, there is a disease that is the most dangerous of all diseases known to us. This disease is sin.

  It is because of sin that many people will die an eternal death, „for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14). How many drug addicts or alcoholics are there in this world? And how many are those who suffer from serious illnesses? There are people in the world who do not have such problems, but we are all sinners, which means that we are all sick of sin. „There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). „If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). Each of us needs help, we are not able to heal ourselves, we do not have an effective cure for this most dangerous disease of humanity. However, such medicine exists, and that is the gospel.

  What is the gospel? This is good news, which is a revelation of hope and chance for a new life for everyone; it is God's power that brings us back to real life. The apostle Paul wrote: „For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). It is the gospel of Christ that is the remedy for sin. The gospel is "the message of the cross", which is "foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). The task of Jesus' disciples was (and still is) to preach the gospel, but it turns out that not all of those who heard the gospel experience its power. 

   There are two reasons why the gospel is ineffective, the first is the listener and the second is the preacher. Whoever listens must be at least slightly interested in the gospel and desire its activities in his life. God's power cannot work in someone who does not want it and consciously rejects the gospel. It may also be that for some reason the gospel is preached in the wrong way, then the problem is the one who preaches it. Can you tell the truth the wrong way? „And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matthew 7:28-29). „Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Matthew 23:1-3). There was a clear difference between Jesus and the Pharisees and scribes. In what Jesus said, people felt God's power, and Jesus' life was a confirmation of His words. Jewish teachers preached biblical truths, but their words did not move people's hearts, and moreover, their lives were often a denial of those truths they preached. They were like drug addicts who try to convince others to quit using drugs. They were like drunks trying to convince others to abstinence.

   The apostle Paul warned the Corinthians that there are situations when the gospel loses its power. „For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect”. Paul gave here the conditions that must be met so that " the cross of Christ should be made of no effect".

   The first condition is that the evangelist must be sent by Christ, and the second condition is that he must preach the gospel without using " wisdom of words".

   Paul knew perfectly well the effects of his own decision to preach the gospel. He did it as Saul, and he knew that his words either did not impress people, or only caused fear in them because of the power he possessed. And although he was eager, God did not send him to this work. Just because Jesus commanded his disciples to preach the gospel does not mean that everyone who does this does his will. Jesus first chose his disciples, then prepared them, and finally sent them to work. How can I make sure I am a disciple of Jesus, that Jesus has prepared me for work, and finally how can I be convinced that Jesus wants me to start this work?

   Jesus trained his disciples for three and a half years. Many people followed Jesus, but the disciples were only those who responded to the call, "Follow me". During the training, Jesus sent students to work alone, but not because they were ready to preach the gospel. It was part of the training. Learning time was not needed for students to acquire specific knowledge, but to stop relying on themselves and fully surrender to the Holy Spirit. This training ended with a ten-day exam in the Upper Room, culminating in an outpouring of the Holy Spirit. From then on, students no longer thought about themselves, they became humble, they were filled with love, and their hearts and minds were open to the Holy Spirit. They did not become perfect, they still made mistakes, but in their hearts, there was no room for the word “I”, because they were filled with the desire to live in Christ.

   The power of the cross removed from their hearts all that was unnecessary, all attachment to worldly values. The students stopped being interested in them. Paul wrote about himself: „I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11-13). Paweł still had to eat, drink, rest and sleep, he needed clothes and footwear, but he did not attach much importance to these things. When he was hungry, he ate what he had, and when he had nothing to eat he went hungry, he did not focus on his needs, but on being as close to Christ as possible. Those who became Jesus' disciples felt and thought the same way.

   How can I find out that I became a disciple of Jesus? Is my knowledge confirmation of my discipleship? Certainly not, knowledge is important, but having knowledge does not make me a disciple. My discipleship is demonstrated by my priorities, what is important to me, what I like to think, talk and read; what I follow when I make decisions, especially in situations where the choice is to show obedience or disobedience to God. When obedience to God is a truly ardent need of my heart, I am not looking for excuses and pretexts not to do what I know I should do. The very thought that I might not do something for Jesus is then disgusting and awful to me. Do I think and feel that way?

   Is Jesus' disciple someone who cultivates his attachment to something bad, even if it seems small and unimportant to him? Does Jesus' disciple reveal such features as jealousy, anger, revenge, pride and loftiness in his life? John, Jacob and Peter walked with Jesus and were chosen as apostles, yet they still showed negative character traits, still matters of this world were important to them. It had to change so that they really could become disciples. And this change took place in the Upper Room, and when it happened, those who went through this chanfe became Jesus' true disciples. The Holy Spirit could take control over them, because their desire became total obedience to God. From then on, they began to proclaim the gospel with power.

  What should we learn when we look at Jesus' first disciples? Maybe that preparation for the proclamation of the gospel is not about gaining knowledge and gathering arguments confirming the validity of our doctrines and principles of faith, but about knowing and loving God so that He can cleanse our hearts and characters, and thus make us evangelists . In this way, a man who was possessed by a legion of demons loved Jesus. He did not know much about Jesus, he did not listen to his sermons and teachings, but he knew His love and desire to free sinners from the slavery of sin. This made him an evangelist, and when Jesus told him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you" (Mark 5:19), he just went and did this. His desire was to do whatever ask him the One, who revealed him His love and power. And although according to human criteria he was not prepared for this work, because he knew nothing about the doctrines of faith and did not know the interpretation of biblical prophecy about the times of the end, as a result of the work he did, when Jesus and his disciples again "came to the land of Gennesaret", people recognized them and "ran through that whole surrounding region, and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard He was" (Mark 6: 53-55).

   This man did not even try to find an excuse not to do what Jesus asked him to do. He didn't think that following Jesus with his disciples was more important to him. He didn't think it would be better for him if he knew what his Saviour is teaching. He just went to preach what Jesus told him. And it is this readiness to carry out God's orders, not the desire to implement their own ideas, that distinguishes real disciples from those who only consider themselves followers of Jesus. A real disciples not only knows his Teacher's voice well, he not only talks to Him every day, but understands well what God is saying to him and wants to follow His instructions. A real disciple does not make action plans or make decisions on his own, but awaits what God will tell him. That's how the apostle Paul lived. When together with Timothy they wanted to preach the gospel in Phrygia and Galatia, "they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia" (Acts 16:6), to lead Paul to Macedonia, because God wanted it. During the first synod in the apostolic church, which was held in Jerusalem, the apostles had to decide on the principles of observing Mosaic law by non-Jewish Christians. However, they did not make this decision alone. "For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things ..." (Acts 15:28). Even Jesus did not plan what he would do, but he received orders from the Father every day. "In all that He did, Christ was co-operating with His Father. Ever He had been careful to make it evident that He did not work independently" {DA 536.1}. "Every act of Christ’s life on earth was in fulfillment of the plan that had existed from the days of eternity. Before He came to earth, the plan lay out before Him, perfect in all its details. But as He walked among men, He was guided, step by step, by the Father’s will" {DA 147.2}.

  The one, whom Jesus freed from legion of demons, opened his heart and surrendered to the Holy Spirit. His life changed, and the most important change occurred inside him. He not only began to live differently, but above all he wanted to live differently. He met Jesus, felt the action of His love and this caused that, in addition to love and gratitude to his Saviour, he felt the need to share with others what he knew about Jesus. By revealing what had happened to him and how his life had changed, he revealed God's love and preached the good news to sinners. He talked about the fact that everyone can be freed from the bondage of sin just as he was freed. And although he spoke about himself, he did so under the direction of the Holy Spirit. He received the Spirit of which the apostle Paul said: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God". He did not preach the gospel "in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches" (1 Corinthians 2:12-13).

   We consider ourselves to be Jesus' disciples and we want to talk about Him to people who have not yet known Him. We want to preach the gospel, but how do we do it? Are we telling people the truth in the form of principles and doctrines that we can confirm with the help of the Bible, or are we talking about a God who has become close and important to us because he has changed our lives by removing attachment to what is bad? Are we telling people what they should believe or why we believe and love God? If we preach the good news in "with wisdom and eloquence", then we empty cross of Christ of its power. But when we do it guided by the Holy Spirit and we reveal the action of God's power by presenting our own experiences to people, then they will feel the effect of this power and if they submit to it, their lives will also change.

Am I an example of how the power of the cross works and I want to tell people about it to reveal God's love for fallen and sinful humanity?

Purification of the Temple

    When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he "made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” 

(John 2:13-16 NIV)

    What was the reason for Jesus' violent reaction? Was it a view of what was happening in the temple? It turns out that the temple was already a place where even worse things happened. An example of this could be what happened at the time of King Manasseh, of whom the Bible says:

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-five years (...) He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my Name.” In the two courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger. He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple" (2 Kings 21:1-7)

    Though Manasseh converted at the end of his life, his son Amon, another king of Judah, continued his father's bad practices:

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem two years. (…) He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. He followed completely the ways of his father, worshiping the idols his father had worshiped, and bowing down to them. He forsook the Lord, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in obedience to him (2 Kings 21:19-22)

    What was the temple like when Amon son of Manasseh was king? In the temple stood the Asherah pole, at the entrance to the temple stood “the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun” (2 Kings 23:11), in the two courts of the temple of the Lord stood “altars to all the starry hosts”. Next to the temple were ritual houses "of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the Lord, (…) where women did weaving for Asherah" (2 Kings 23: 7). And this is what the temple looked like when Josiah son of Amon became king.

    Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. (…) And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left (2 Kings 22:1-2)

    Let's check more closely what the first years of Josiah's reign looked like.

     For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David; and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images (2 Chronicles 34:3)

    During the first twelve years of Josiah's reign, the temple still looked like in Amon's time. In the Temple still stood: the Asherah pole, “the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun”, and “altars to all the starry hosts”. And yet the Bible says that Josiah "did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left". How is this possible?

    Josiah became king when he was eight years old. Did he really rule Judah when he was eight? Rather not, although he was formally a king, until he came of full age, someone else ruled, so he had no influence on what was happening in the temple. He probably began really rule when he was twenty. And just then "he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images". Did he remove from the temple all that his ancestors had put into it? It turns out not. From the moment when Josiah began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem, the next six years passed and the Asherah pole still stood in the temple, there were also “the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun”, and “altars to all the starry hosts”. And yet the Bible says that Josiah "did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left". After these six years, something happened that caused the king to clean the temple.

    In the eighteenth year of King Josiah (…) Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king. Now it happened, when the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, that he tore his clothes (2 Kings 22:3.10-11)

    Josiah heard for the first time what exactly God gave the Jews through Moses. Josiah met the law. What he heard meant that in an act of despair he tore his clothes. He found out how far the Jews had gone from God, and found out what was the truth about what had happened in the temple for eighteen years of his reign. Josiah knew that the temple should be the only place to worship God, but now he understood that the temple should be also in a better state. And when he learned the truth, he began to act.

    And the king commanded (...) to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the articles that were made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; and he burned them outside Jerusalem (...) Then he removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense on the high places (...) And he brought out the wooden image from the house of the Lord, to the Brook Kidron outside Jerusalem, burned it at the Brook Kidron and ground it to ashes (...) Then he tore down the ritual booths of the perverted persons that were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the wooden image. And he brought all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense (...) also he broke down the high places at (...) the city gate (…) Then he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun (...) and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. The altars that were on the roof (...) and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, the king broke down and pulverized there, and threw their dust into the Brook Kidron (2 Kings 23:4-8.11-12)

    During the first six years of his effective reign, King Josiah saw nothing wrong with what was happening in the temple, but the lost Book of the Law, discovered in the Temple, opened his eyes to the truth. Josiah was not looking for an excuse to preserve the current state of the temple. When he learned the truth, he immediately rejected what was an abomination in God's eyes. It was Josiah's willingness to accept new truths, his sincere and zealous heart, and obedience to God that were the reasons why the Bible says of him that he "did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left".

    Jesus as a man did not have the opportunity to enter the temple in the time of King Josiah, when the temple was not yet cleansed, but if he had such an opportunity, would he behave in the same way as when He "made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables"? Jesus did not appear in the temple during the time of Josiah, and yet the temple was cleansed. There was someone who lived under the influence of the Holy Spirit and did what Jesus did personally in the same temple over six hundred years later. It was King Josiah, who "did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the ways of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left". God could use Josiah because the king's greatest desire was to obey God. Obedience of the king was not keeping external signs of justice, but it was true obedience flowing from the heart, out of love for God. Josiah loved God so much that he couldn't disobey him. Six hundred years later, there was no-one, whom God could use for the same purpose, and therefore Jesus had to do it personally.

    There are two things we need to consider when we think about why Jesus "made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables". The first is why, two thousand years ago, there was no one like King Josiah in Israel, the second is the purpose of Jesus' action in the temple.

    Why in the time of Jesus there was no-one who would decide to do the same thing Josiah did? Did the condition of the temple require more work, much more difficult work than that performed by Josiah? During the first eighteen years of Josiah's reign, the temple looked much worse than it did in Jesus' time. There were a lot of objects in it that should not be there, but Josiah had to face not only the enormity of the work of physically removing them. He had to face the strength of human traditions; the resistance of hearts contaminated by attachment to sin. Most Israelites probably did not realize that their way of worshiping God is rather worshiping Satan. Most of them refused to listen to the voice of conscience, refused to accept the thought that they could do something wrong. Josiah did it and at this point we should seriously think about how it happened. What motivated Josiah to follow the path of his father David? Was he lucky that he grew up in a godly family and his faith was a natural consequence of religious upbringing? What was his life like until he became king?

   Here is a short story of Josiah and his family. His grandfather was Manasseh, who was a king fifty-five years. Almost the entire period of his reign was associated with maintaining in Israel all possible abominable pagans' customs. In the thirty-third year of Manasseh's reign, Amon, his son, was born. Amon was brought up at the court of the most apostate King of Judah. He learned all the habits cultivated by his father. He grew up in an atmosphere of moral corruption and apostasy. He became a father when he was sixteen when Josiah was born. It was a very important year in the history of Judah because this year God allowed Manasseh to be captured by the king of Assyria and abducted to Babylon. „Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God” (2 Chrocicles 33:12-13). Changed man returned to Jerusalem. Manasseh truly humbled himself before God, understood who God was and wanted to change with all his heart. He rejected his previous life and wanted to live differently. He wanted to repair the evil he had done before. „He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem; and he cast them out of the city. He also repaired the altar of the Lord, sacrificed peace offerings and thank offerings on it, and commanded Judah to serve the Lord God of Israel” (2 Chronicles 33:15-16). 

    Manasseh wished that everyone would reject bad habits and begin to believe in God as he did. However, love for God cannot be ordered, so although the Jews changed some of their habits, they did not change their hearts. "The people still sacrificed on the high places, but only to the Lord, their God". Manasseh was then over sixty years old and suffered the consequences of previously committed sins. Despite his conversion, he did not become a moral authority for Amon, his son, who had been involved in sin for sixteen years so much that his father's conversion did not change that. Over the next six years, Manasseh tried to repair what he had broken, but he managed to change only some forms of behaviour of his subjects and members of his family. His change did not change the hearts of those who lived next to him. Then Manasseh understood David, who also had to bear the consequences of his mistakes and lost the authority as the father. Manasseh probably looked at Amon with a heartache now, and he ached for not being able to change his character. And maybe that's why he tried on the best way to influence his grandson. Josiah only knew the better side of his grandfather, and he heard of his sins from stories only. It seems to me that for the first six years of life, the development of Josiah's character was primarily influenced by his grandfather, the converted King Manasseh. Perhaps his authority influenced Amon to minimize his evil influence on Josiah. After Manasseh's death, Amon became king, but he was king only two years. He managed to rebuild at this time what Manasseh, after his conversion, ordered to be destroyed. His life could not stand the people around him. The same people who served Manasseh before his conversion, moved by Amon's apostasy, plotted and killed him. Fortunately, for two years of his reign, Amon failed to change Josiah in his own image. Josiah kept in his heart his grandfather's attachment to God.

    As you can see, Josiah did not have an easy childhood and it was not certain that when he grew up he would be faithful to God. From childhood, he was subjected to various temptations, mainly because of his father, but his love of God, instilled in his heart by his grandfather, helped him overcome these temptations. Josiah became a man whom God could use to reveal the truth. He was someone who was missing six hundred years later, someone who not only felt and knew that something had to be changed, but someone who took every opportunity to serve God faithfully. For example, Nicodemus could have been such a man, but when he met Jesus, he was still attached to the things of this world. He was afraid of losing his position and reputation, and although he knew that the temple had been desecrated by the trade that was taking place there, he did not dare loudly oppose this trade.

    Let us now consider what was the most important reason for what Jesus did in the temple? Did He just want to physically remove "people selling cattle, sheep and pigeons, and other people sitting at tables and exchanging money"?

The most important reason was what only He saw. When, after cleansing the temple, Jesus remained in „Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man” (John 2:23-25). Jesus told the Pharisees: „You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). According to Jesus, the greatest offense to God was (and still is) what is called hypocrisy. The biggest problem of the priests and Pharisees was what they carefully concealed in their hearts. They wanted people to regard them as God-fearing experts on God's law, but Jesus knew the truth and compared them to "whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:27). This duplicity and hypocrisy of those who consider themselves believers and faithful to God are the greatest offense to God. First, Jesus wanted to clean their hearts, His desire was that people would let Him clean their hearts. The scene of cleansing the temple has deep symbolic significance. Most priests and Pharisees have already gone so far in their hypocrisy that Jesus had to use radical methods to move them. His example, which worked so well on many people, has long ceased to work on most religious leaders. Jesus did not trust them because He knew what was behind their beautiful words about God and faith, He knew their moral corruption and attachment to the world's treasures, money and power. And although He knew that for many of them there was no chance of salvation, His desire was to free them from the slavery of sin.

    The Bible says Jesus cleansed the temple twice. The first purification is related to the beginning of His mission, the second to the end. This also has a symbolic meaning, because it means that we need Jesus all the time, no matter how long we know Him. One-time purification of the heart is not enough, heart must be under the influence of God all the time. Jesus taught people for three and a half years revealing the truth about God's character, and thus gave them a chance to know Him. Everyone who has begun to learn the truth notices the beauty and perfection of God's character, and this knowledge allows him to see his own imperfection better and better. A better knowledge about God is combined with better knowledge about influence of sin, better knowledge about what in fact sin is.

     All this means that an aware decision must be made about choosing one of two ways. One is a conscious choice of obedience to God resulting from an ever-greater love for Him; the other is the aware rejection of truth, often associated with unconscious obedience to Satan. „No servant can serve two masters” (Luke 16:13). No one, I think, consciously chooses to obey Satan, but any disobedience to God is obedience to Satan. God reveals us in various ways the truth about the different altars and statues of different gods, kept in our hearts; letting us know that there is no place for them in His house, that He cannot live in a house where is even one thing, which is an obstacle for us to completely surrender to God. „Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). The temple of the heart must be completely cleansed so that God shall become not only a guest, but a household member. He wants to live in us permanently, but he can't do it if we don't let him enter some rooms in our house because they contain things, we don't want to show Him. Any refusal to open such a door makes it even harder for us to accept God even as a guest. The temple of the heart must be cleansed just as Josiah had cleansed the temple of everything that had anything to do with pagan religions.

    Jesus „made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”. However, He does not clean our hearts on this way, He does not force us to give him everything, but affects our hearts so that we would want to give him everything. Perhaps Josiah did not understand the symbolic meaning of what he did, but the most important was that he wanted and desired to do this. Jesus wanted to remove from his father's house everything that was disgusting to God, but above all, he wanted to cleanse the hearts of those who brought the temple to such a state that it ceased to be a house of prayer and became a cave of robbers. Jesus still desires the same, His dream is that each of us become a house of prayer, devoid of all that this world is trying to fill our hearts with. Jesus wants that we want what He gives us only. However, He leaves us the decision about what we fill our hearts with. We decide what we read, what we watch and what we listen to. Our decisions influence whether spiritual matters interest us or rather bore us. „If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). Jesus helps us purify our hearts, but we decide what we fill our hearts with. It is thanks to Him that our hearts become more and more like a home that is empty of what is unnecessary, swept and decorated, ready to live. But we decide what we fill this house with. We decide what we do every morning after waking up, whether we are more interested in what God says, or rather what this world wants to put into our hearts.

     This is our decisions that we keep our hearts clean or we litter them so that spiritual matters become less and less visible among the growing number of things that may look nice, but create an ever greater veil between us and God. Jesus wants to remove this veil so that we can see God as He really is. He also wants to remove another veil, the one that covers the truth about ourselves. It is this veil that Satan helps us to expand so it becomes ever thicker. The Jews had such a veil in their temple, and they were sure that God was behind it. And when God personally torn this veil, it turned out that God wasn't there.

    Do you think you no longer have any of these veils? Are you sure you know God? Are you sure that God lives in your heart?

  Satan does everything to make those who consider themselves believers think in this way. But don't you ever ignore certain signs that indicate that your heart has not yet been completely cleansed by God? Do you react to these signs as Josiah reacted to the content of the Book of Law found in the temple, or are you trying to prove to yourself that everything is all right with your heart?

    Can I say with a clear conscience that these veils are no longer in my heart? Can you say that?

God - Creator and Saviour

     If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray (Matthew 18:12-13)

Astronomers believe that our galaxy has a diameter of about 100,000 light years, i.e. about 950,000,000,000,000,000 km, and consists of about 200 billion stars. The number of galaxies was estimated based on observations of a small portion of the sky (0.000001%) carried out with the help of the Hubble telescope. There are about 10,000 galaxies in this small area alone. Assuming that the galaxies are evenly distributed, their total number in the universe can be 100 billion. Even if the real numbers were many times smaller, they still make a big impression. Especially when we are aware that all this was created by God. Can we imagine the being who created these huge amounts of galaxies, stars and worlds with his word? And that's not all, God not only created stars and galaxies, his work is every single atom! It is estimated that the earth itself consists of about 10⁵⁰ atoms! And how many atoms are in the whole universe? These are numbers that are hard to even imagine. And yet God not only created all this, but also at every moment, with His word, sustains the existence of the entire universe!

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork (Psalm 19:1)

Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can declare all His praise? (Psalm 106:2)

What about our thoughts? At the right moment, God "will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts" (1 Corinthians 4:5), and this means that He knows our thoughts perfectly, even those that we hide very deeply. Our Creator knows us better than we do, because sometimes we don't want to admit to ourselves what we have in our hearts. Nothing can be hidden from God. And there is something that shows us what God is like. He not only knows everything that is going on, but he also knows everything that is about to happen.

     Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them (Psalm 139:16)

What possibilities must God have to not only create and maintain the existence of what he has created, but also to know his creatures and their future? I think it many times exceeds the possibilities of our imagination. And that's not all. This Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient God loves all His creatures so much that to save fallen people He gave up His position in Heaven and came to our planet, the only sin-tainted place in the whole universe to realize plan of our salvation. The parable of the lost sheep symbolizes this truth about Jesus. Jesus is the owner of one hundred sheep, and one of them is missing. We, fallen and committed to sin people, are this one lost sheep. Of all the worlds created by God, only one has been tainted with sin. And although Jesus had ninety-nine sheep, not fallen and sinless worlds, our sins did not change His love for us. God loves us and because of our condition He makes every effort to save us. „For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). „Oh, the mystery of redemption! the love of God for a world that did not love Him! Who can know the depths of that love which “passeth knowledge”? Through endless ages immortal minds, seeking to comprehend the mystery of that incomprehensible love, will wonder and adore. {PP 63.3}.

        Can we imagine what change Jesus made? In 1881, a novel by Mark Twain "The Prince and the Pauper" was published. It tells the story of two young boys who were born on the same day and are identical in appearance: Tom Canty, a pauper who lives with his abusive, alcoholic father in Offal Court off Pudding Lane in London, and Edward VI of England, son of Henry VIII of England. One day the Prince took on the role of a Pauper and the Pauper of a Prince. For young Prince, this exchange was something he did for fun, but quite soon the fun turned into a nightmare. The prince did everything to end this nightmare. Is there a big difference between a Prince's life and a Pauper's life? Certainly, but not as huge as between the life of the King and Lord of the whole universe, and the life of a humble man on earth. Jesus knew exactly what would happen to Him on earth and what His life would be like. If Prince Edward knew what would happen to him, he would never get to the place of a pauper. Not only did Jesus know his fate, but he wanted this change. And this is what our egoistic heart cannot understand. How can you desire such humiliation?

                I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart (Psalm 40:8)

    Only a few people are ready to sacrifice themselves completely to save a loved one, but can what they lose, apart from situations where they lose their lives, even minimally match what Jesus gave up? He held the position of God in Heaven, but "was made a little lower than the angels" (Hebrews 2:9). He knew that the implementation of the plan of salvation would forever deprive him of one of the divine attributes, because after binding himself to the human body, Jesus lost the possibility of omnipresence. That is why he told his disciples: "It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you" (John 16:7). And yet he wanted to do it. How many of us do something for other people in some situations but think about this  as a great sacrifice and don't really want to do it? Jesus thought differently about his role in the plan of salvation and obedience to the Father.

                „Your testimonies also are my delight (…) Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it (…) I long for Your precepts (…) And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love” (Psalm 119:24.35.40.47).

I think that many of us know a feeling that sometimes makes us unable to refrain from acting. In such situations, we don't even think about the fact that we need to do something, we just feel so much need to do something that nothing can stop us. Why do we decide to act then? What drives us to this action? There are two possibilities, both related to love. The first is God's non-selfish love; the second is selfish love, egoism. Each of us can find examples of the second one in our own lives. It is enough to recall those situations in which we decided to do something that was contrary to what common sense and the voice of conscience told us. The best example of the first one is, of course, Jesus Christ.

It was love that was the reason for all Jesus' actions, love for the Father and love for us, His creatures. How great is this love, since being aware of what would happen to Him could not stop Him from coming to earth? Can we really imagine that? Did we really know the price Jesus paid to enable us to be saved, and did this knowledge affect our lives properly? What knowledge did we gain while studying God's Word? Is this knowledge for us a revelation of God's character, God's love?

Jesus said to the religious leaders of Israel: "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). God gave us the Bible not only to tell us about His Law, but first and foremost to reveal us the Truth, that is, Jesus Christ. The Bible is a revelation of God's character, the foundation of which is love, or rather the highest type of love, of which Jesus said: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13). God's Word has the power to lead the sinner to repent, love God and reject sin. Anyone who has understood this message of the Bible can feel this power in his own life. Unfortunately, not all of those who read the Bible find this truth in it, and because of this they err, even though they are convinced that they have learned the truth. To such people Jesus said: "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?" (Mark 12:24). They were Pharisees and scribes, but Jesus judged all their knowledge as worthless. Why? Because they didn't understand the real meaning of what they read. And more importantly, their lives did not reveal the action of God's power, the power that alone can transform a sinner into a just man. This power manifested, for example, in the lives of those Thessalonians who received the gospel given to them by the apostle Paul. "For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe" (1 Thessalonians 2:13). The same Word of God that worked effectively on Thessalonians can also work on us because it is still "living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

Does God's Word work like that in my life? Does it pierce my consciousness like a sharp sword and reveal to me the truth about who I am? Did God's Word make me realize how much I need God's help? Jesus said: "He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15: 5). According to Jesus, the only condition for a good life is being in Him. Why did he not say here about the importance of keeping the commandments? Did he deny himself a few hours before his death on the cross, since he had previously said that whoever wants to be saved should follow the commandments? There is no contradiction here, because keeping the commandments is the fruit of abiding in Jesus, not a way to abide in Him. Abiding in God is first and foremost a love of God because „this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). „Whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:5-6).

Is this how God's Word works in my life? If not, it proves that I have not yet met God and did not let God's Word work in me effectively. And if so, then all my knowledge of biblical truths in no way will bring me closer to God and salvation. My mind can receive and accept the fact that the Bible is the supreme authority in matters of faith, I can agree that tradition, experience and other sources of knowledge about God must be subordinated to the Bible and checked by the Bible. I can accept the doctrines of faith because I see their confirmation in the Bible. I can be convinced that the Saturday is God's sabbath, or that after death man do not go to heaven, purgatory or hell, but fall into a dream that will last until the resurrection. I can believe that there is no eternal hell and there is no purgatory, and yet, despite all this knowledge, I can be no closer to God than atheists. Why? Because God's Word does not work effectively in my life, because God's Word has not revealed its power in my life. Because all the knowledge I have has not changed me and made me a new-born person. Because I didn't really know God and I don’t love Him, so I don’t live like Jesus lived in me. Because my thoughts, feelings and desires are not like Jesus' thoughts, feelings and desires. Because I am not perfect in union with Him, and yet Jesus prayed for such unity before His death on the cross:

„That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21).

Jesus' life is the best and most perfect revelation of God's love. It is a revelation of how much our God, Creator of the entire universe, the One who maintains everyday with his Word the existence of what he created, how much He loves all his creatures, including us, fallen and sinful people living on the planet, which is the only one in entire universe that is polluted and corrupt by sin. Does the awareness of the magnitude of this love impress us in any way?

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PP – Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets