Judge Jesus

In John chapter five we read

²² For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son:
²³ That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father which has sent him.
²⁴ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
²⁵ Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the Son to have life in himself;
²⁷ And has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
²⁸ Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
²⁹ And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
³⁰ I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me.

Herein Jesus established the fact that all judgment is given by the Father to him.  It is Jesus and Jesus alone who determines an individual's fitness for eternal life, or if he be condemned.

The escape from condemnation is simple and clearly stated by the Master in verse twenty-four:  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. --John 5:24

Do not allow yourself to be one who hears these words from Christ the Judge:   Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:---Matt. 25:41

 Sunset 

April 2 

April Showers

Sweet April showers
Do spring May flowers

--Thomas Tusser 1557  

                         Good Points of Husbandry

Or as we always said, "April showers bring May flowers."

As I was thinking of wishing you a pleasant April to come, this and the succeeding twenty-nine days, I recalled a little song we sang when I was in elementary school.  Why we were taught such things, I cannot fathom, but there it is, stuck in my mind.



Rosy Betsy, blue eyed Molly, Molly
April is the time for folly, folly
Blackbird's shouts ring round and round
While Jenny Wren is building in the Willow.

Put off your cloaks of grey and brown 
Run in you green shoes out of town
Run in the meadow up and down
While Jenny Wren is building in the Meadow.

 What nonsense that you learned in school is still stuck in your head?

May your flowers be bright and your feet be dry.  Happy April Days!

Ten Word Wednesday 6

 

Did you play one ol' cat, workup, stick ball? What?

No Kidding

I'm purty well acquainted with that.

Encumbered

 

A part of my boyhood, a very small part because these "tax tokens" were worth a mill, or one-tenth cent up to five mills, or 1/2 cent.  That is, five two mill coins would be the equivalent of a penny. There were twelve states that issued tax tokens.  I lived in one of them.

The coins were variously made of aluminum, plastic, or even cardboard. The purpose was to "save" the customer from being overcharged when he paid the sales tax on small purchases, say a dime on which the tax at 2% would be two mills and paying a penny would lose the customer 4/5th cent.  Not paying at all would cost the state 2/5th cent, hence the creation of the tax token.  Different states issued different denominations, 1,2, and 5 mill values.

The use of these tokens prevailed throughout the thirties and into the forties.  Eventually someone figured out that the whole thing was too cumbersome, yet the government could not afford to simply eliminate the sales tax, so the bracketed tax was devised.  Say at 2% the table would indicate a tax on purchases of one to twenty-four cents would be zero; from twenty=five to seventy-four cents, one cent tax; seventy-five to $1.24, two cents, and so on.  This required the publication of sales tax tables for the merchant and the general public.  Which of course was not cumbersome..  Or perhaps it was, who knows?  This method is still being used in some states,  Except of course a two-percent tax is a long-dead dream.  Also some municipalities have jumped on the bandwagon and imposed their own sales taxes in addition to the statewide taxes.  In some states these now total as much as 9.45%.  Ours is seven percent except in certain cities where it is more, at least on some items.

And.  Some states have a tiered system in which the tax rates vary for different items purchased.

The mind of man is infinitely convoluted and forever seeking more ways to complicate our lives.

 Image:By $1LENCE D00600D at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32892050

Saving Jesus #T

We have come through what is known in the church as Passion Week.  We have observed the adulation of the crowds in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  We have seen the Master with his select twelve in the Upper Room at the Feast of Passover.   We have watched Jesus agonize in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane while his followers were unable to stay awake "even an hour."  We have seen the tragic betrayal of the Christ by one of his own select, the taking of this innocent man to be tried and falsely convicted and sentenced to die on the cross.  We have watched as a favored disciple, "Rocky," as it were, denied that he even knew this fellow.

We have watched the agonizingly slow dragging of the cross through the streets of Jerusalem, and finally collapsing, Jesus yields the cross to another to bear in his stead.  But the denouement, the nailing to the cross and the plunge of the post into the hole prepared for it; the tearing and ripping of the flesh of his hands; the crown of thorns placed on his head; the promise of paradise to the thief who dying beside him believes on Jesus as Savior; his cries, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me?"  And finally, "It is finished!"    We see this even as his friends and his mother before the cross witness this unbelievably cruel death in which this man is literally suffocated as he is raised up on the cross. The Temple curtain tears in two. We see the soldier piercing his side and his removal from the cross.  We see him taken and entombed in a burial chamber belonging to Joseph of Arimathaea; the great stone slamming the entrance shut; the Roman guard placed on the burial site.

But now!  But now on this Sunday morning, this Easter Sunday morning, we celebrate the completion of our salvation through the death and resurrection, yes, resurrection of this Man Jesus who is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!

Is it any wonder that this day unrecognized by any government fiat is nevertheless my favorite Holiday of the Year?

Rejoice!

 
 Tipton Presbyterian Church

March 2016

Samsung DV150F

Evening available light
f/6.3 1/60sec at 30 meters

Solution to TWW #5

Here is a hint to the answer to this past Wednesday's question.










For further enlightenment, check Vees' comment on this blogpost from 2012.

Ten-word Wednesday 5

Why did she put a nickel in her penny loafer?