One Word

From 1990 till November 2010 Aung San Suu Kyi the leader of the National League for Democracy was held under house arrest in Myamar (previously Burma) by the military junta of that country. When released she toured the country with good success in rallying the party. Suu Kyi and 42 other candidates from her party, won seats in by-elections on April 1. On the 26^th.April CNN reported, ‘After the elections, Suu Kyi and other newly elected opposition members were invited to attend the session of parliament this week in the capital, Naypidaw. But they demurred, requesting instead that the wording of the lawmakers' oath be changed first.’ There was one word in the oath that they were asked to take which they wanted replaced. The word that they wanted deleted was ‘protect’, they do not want to protect the wording of the 2008 constitution they want to change it, because 25% of the 664 seats are un-elected military people. Alternatives suggested by Suu Kyi were ‘respect’ or ‘abide by’. It is now down to all concerned to work something out that satisfies everyone in order for the newly elected ones to take the oath. 

CNN quotes Suu Kyi, "In regard to the obstacles in the way of taking our places in the National Assembly, we would like to think that these are purely technical ones," she told reporters at her residence in Yangon. "We would not like to expand them to the point they become a political issue.” One word can make all the difference to what is acceptable and what is not.

Many a person regrets uttering an inappropriate word, which when said cannot be recalled and the consequences can be devastating. Whether a word is spoken or written, it is good if they are wholesome words. Paul wrote to Timothy, If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words  

King David wanted to build a House for God, but although God gave him the details of the house he was not allowed to build it, his son Solomon built the Temple.

Thomas Newberry wrote a number of books but his best known work is the Englishman’s Study Bible commonly known as the Newberry Bible which he commenced working on in 1865. He wrote a small book, ‘The Temple of Solomon’ which I have got. He tells how David purchased the threshing floor of Arauna, ‘David built an altar to Jehovah on that threshing floor and purchased it from Arauna to be the site of the Altar for Israel; also the oxen and implements for fifty shekels of silver. David not only purchased the floor….but also the surrounding land for six hundred shekels of gold, as a site for the Temple and its courts. It is probable that the threshing floor might have occupied the precise spot on which Abraham, by the direction of God, was offering up his son Isaac, when he was stayed by God’s voice; and it is an interesting fact that the Dome of the rock, popularly known as the Mosque of Omar, now stands over the place.’  Earlier in the book Newberry speaks of three Temples, the one Solomon built which was destroyed by the Babylonians, then the Temple built by Ezra, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah and thirdly, Herod’s Temple which was of different and inferior design to that of Solomon’s. This was the one standing when Christ was here but destroyed by the Romans in AD70.

There will be a fourth Temple erected on the same site, in the Millenium, as described in the Book of Ezekiel.

When Solomon dedicated the Temple that he built, we read in 1Kings ch.8 from v.30 to v. 45, he uses an expression seven times, of four words, “Hear thou in Heaven”, and this expression is not found anywhere else in the Bible. For example, in v.34 “Then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.”

When he had finished praying v.54 says, “And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant.”

Not one word of God’s promises had failed and neither will they, for Paul said in 2Corinthians 1:19, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”

Suu Kyi does not want to protect something that is perverse, causing corruption and bondage; she wants her nation to be brought into freedom and fairness for all.

Jesus Christ brings corrupt sinners out of bondage into the freedom of the children of God; His promises are true and will not fail. He said in John ch.10 “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. He also said “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” WHAT PROMISES, WHAT PROTECTION? BRILLIANT!   God bless.

Written by Stan Burditt for FTMP

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