The God Files

John 19:

¹⁹ Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was:

      JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

²⁰ Then many of the Jews read this title, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
²¹ Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but, ‘He said, "I am the King of the Jews.""
²² Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

Many Christians who are not familiar with the original languages are at a disadvantage when it comes to gaining insights in the word. Like in the previous passage, why was the chief priest asking Pilate to change the epitaph from "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews" into "Jesus of Nazareth, I am King of the Jews" when it was Jesus’ claim of being the Messiah that prompted them to force Rome to execute Him?

The answer lies in the acrostic of the original language. The written Hebrew language is closely linked to cryptography, to say the least, and an acrostic would not be too far from it. I shall write more regarding the real Bible codes in another article. An acrostic is a verse where the first or last letters are taken to form another word or phrase. The original epitaph Pilate wrote is this:

• Yeshua
• HaNazarei
• Vmelech
• HaYehudim

The first letters spell: YHVH, the tetragrammaton. The unpronounceable name of God. The chief priest wanted to change the epitaph because it gives a picture that people killed God. In a way, he was right. People, because of their sins, wanted God dead. Yet, Jesus Christ, being fully God and fully man gave His life for us. No man can take His life away, He freely gives it.

If this short article has encouraged you to dig deeper into the scriptures then this article has served its purpose. Always remember the principle of Acts 17:11, Receive the word with all readiness but search the scriptures daily to find out whether these things are so. May God richly bless you.

Two weeks ago, my cousin from the Philippines died at the age of fifteen. Some people may think that it is far too young for him to die, "his life was ahead of him." I say to you that the length of people’s life is ordained by God. All of us have a lifetime, be it 100 years or 100 seconds. Whatever God’s purpose is in our lives, He has accomplished it in whatever length of time He has given us. It is not our right to tell God what to do for He is sovereign. The clay can not complain to the potter "why have you made me this way?"

Of course this situation would raise other questions like "Would children who don’t know the Lord be saved?" in another form, this question would be the famous "How about the native who’s been cut off from the rest of civilization, would they be saved if they don’t know Jesus Christ?" Or "How about the babies who died?"

These questions plagued the mind of Christians for years. Yet, I say unto you that the answer is simple and is a faithful saying; God is fair. This is not written verbatim in the Bible but by principle, we know God is fair. Wherever the babies would stay for eternity, be it Heaven or Hell, God will judge and His judgment is righteous.

As for the children and the native without contact, God knows what we have in our minds, hearts, and souls. He knows what we know and beyond. The children, if they have never accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, which is the only provision for sin, then they never entered the kingdom of God and can not enter Heaven.

For the native who lived and died and never even heard the name Jesus Christ, God expresses Himself in other ways. Nature itself testifies of God. If this native, who is closer to nature than us, ponders about nature and thinks that there is a creator; that is accounted to him as faith even if he doesn’t know God’s name. If he ponders nature and thinks there is no creator, the same measuring rod he uses for righteousness shall be used against him but still he will be found lacking.

The bottom line is God knows all about us; He knows even things that we don’t know like the number of hairs on our head. God knows if you seek Him or not. When your time of judgment has come then He will judge fairly.