2015-05-07

Abram in Egypt

GENESIS 12 :10~20

10 Now there was famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.
11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, I know what a beautiful woman you are.
12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live.
13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.
14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman.
15 And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace.
16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.
17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai.
18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!"
20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

The Call of Abram

GENESIS 12 :1~9

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you.
2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will cause; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.
5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

2015-04-28

World Water Forum and Famine


 
Under the slogan of “Water for our Future”, the 7th World Water Forum (WWF) was held in Korea a couple of weeks ago with the opening ceremony attended by the world leaders and experts from around the world. The forum is the largest international event to discuss water related issues. This year, as usual, it discussed solving water shortages and related environmental disasters, etc.

As the world is running out of water rapidly by industrialization and abnormal weather, the world comes to be afraid of water. Therefore, we need a world-wide forum or an organization to solve water shortages and related difficulties such as world wars between countries. In this respect, I think WWF has played a good role.

By the way, the Bible prophesies shortages of spiritual water as well as shortages of physical one in the last days.

Am 8:11~13 “The days are coming”, declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it. “In that day “the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of the thirst.

Water is very crucial to all living creatures. Just like that, spiritual water is vital to the spiritual life. The Holy Book said that someday, because of not a thirst for water but a famine of spiritual water, even young people will faint and stagger. Even though the almost countries try to solve the thirst for water internationally, who can solve the shortages of spiritual water and related problems and how? The answer can be found only in the Bible.

Rev 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever in thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

To those who are thirsty, the Spirit and bride say “Come!” It means the Spirit and bride can solve a spiritual thirst with the water of life. Who are the Spirit and bride? And what is the water of life? The Bible said that the Spirit is God the Father and the bride, His Wife, is God the Mother and the water of life is the Passover.  You can know them more exactly if you study diligently the Bible.

2015-04-23

The account of Terah

GENESIS 11:27~32

27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot.
28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth.
29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife milcah; She was the daughter of haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.
30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came Haran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

From Shem to Abram

GENESIS 11:10~26

10 This is the account of Shem. Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad.
11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah.
13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber.
15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg.
17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu.
19 And after he became the father of Reu, Plege lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug.
21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor.
23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah.
25 And after he became the father of Terah,  Nahor had lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

The Tower of Babel

GENESIS 11: 1~9

1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.
6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel-because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

2015-04-17

The descentants of Noah's sons

GENESIS 10 :1~32

1 This is the account of Shem, Ham, Japheth, Noah's sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.
2 The sons of Japheth : Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.
3 The sons of Gomer : Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.
4 The sons of Javan : Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim.
5 From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.
6 The sons of Ham : Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan.
7 The sons of Cush : Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca.
  The sons of Raamah : Sheba and Dedan.
8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD ; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD."
10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar.
11~12 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah ; that is the great city.
13~14 Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites.
15~19 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites.
Later the Canaanite clans scattered and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.
20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations
21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth ; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber.
22 The sons of Shem : Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.
23 The sons of Aram : Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech.
24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber.
25 Two sons was born to Eber : One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided ; his brother was named Joktan.
26~29 Joktan was the father of Almdad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.
30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country.
31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations
32 These are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.