The Mysteries of the

The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

The Mysteries of the

Mysterious God

By

Sundara Rao Tsappidi

3The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

Sundara Rao Tsappidi

First Edition: November 2016

© The Author

Price: Rs. 80/-

Published by:

Grace Publications,

4The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

INTRODUCTION

I was neither a writer nor a preacher. I was simply a Lecturer in English at K.B.N. College, Vijayawada, India. I never thought that I would write and publish books. God’s plans are mysterious and unknown to humanity. My stay in the USA after my retirement has brought me very close to the Lord and I am inspired to read many books on the background history of the Bible. At that time, by God’s grace, I visited the Holy Land which brought a tremendous change in my life and attitude. Before going to Jerusalem I had a dream about heaven and God. This was a turning point in my life. I narrated my experiences and the habit of reading books to a friend who advised me to put everything on paper. I prayed to God earnestly in tears to provide me with writing skills and the gracious God heard my prayer and bestowed upon me the gift of the skill of writing and this was at the age of 70. The Lord graciously provided me the gift of preaching and I preached the word of God both in India and the USA. I understood that God can do anything and at any time whatever He likes to do. That’s how I became a writer as well as a preacher. By God’s grace my first book, “The Legacy of God’s People and Holy Land Tour” was published in 2008. Since then, with the blessings of the Lord I was able to write and publish nine books altogether due to the encouragement of my readers and the members of my family. I owe a lot to the library for the blind in New Jersey (USA) in large print for I lost 60% of my eye sight. I also owe my tributes to the writers of the magazine called, “Zion’s Fire”, (USA) whose articles inspired me a lot to study more books and to write on them. The following are my books published so far:

3.OffSprings from the Tabernacle (2010)

4.The Redemption Plan of God (2011)

5.The Everlasting Kingdom of God (2012)

6.Jewish History (2013)

7.Unveiled Mysteries of Qumran (2014)

8.Shoots of Jerusalem (2015)

9.The Mysteries of The Mysterious God (2016) As I was hospitalized now and then due to several severe health problems, I was at the threshold of death. The gracious Lord touched me, healed me and used me for His glory with the publication of this ninth book, “The Mysteries of the Mysterious God”. This book contains 16 essays altogether and a short article with the title, “Names of God, the Father and Jesus Christ, the Son”. The first essay “Supremacy of God”, throws light on how the Israelites became unfaithful to God and the punishment they got due to their idol worship and disobedience. Yet, merciful God pardoned their sins and brought them back to Jerusalem from the captivity of Babylon after seventy years. Another essay, “Should Christians observe Moses Law?” This is really a question for many Christians who do not know how the law of Moses is given and the conditions to give it. This is, in fact, a question in the minds of Christians of the first century Church and it is also a burning problem to the members of the Church of Galatia due to Judaizars, the false teachers, who polluted the Church with wrong teachings. St. Paul, in his letter to “Galatians” as well as “Romans”, clarified the doubts of the members of the Church. The essence of his clarification is “Christ became the fulfillment of the Mosaic Law”. Both Jesus Christ and Paul preached about the moral and heart related aspects of the law and not the physical aspects. 6The Mysteries of the Mysterious God All the essays of the present edition, “The Mysteries of the Mysterious God” throws light on the incidents, events and prophesies of the prophets in the Bible. I humbly dedicate this piece of work to my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Though at times I am at the death bed, my Lord touched me, healed me and blessed me to recover from serious illness. It is He who gave me strength to publish this book. I thank my Lord from the depth of my heart. All my books are aimed at providing the historical background of the Bible to the readers of the Bible and the students of Theology. I hope this book will meet their requirement and help them to acquire Biblical knowledge.

God bless you all.

Yours in Christ,

Sundara Rao Tsappidi, M.A., D.Litt. 7The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

Dr. Sundara Rao Tsappidi

old

The Author of this 9th Book. who is now 80 Years 8The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

FOREWORD

“O my Strength, I watch for you; you, 0 God are my Fortress” Psalm 59:9

The above verse is true in the life of Rev. Dr. Sundara

Rao Tsappidi. We can see God’s hand in his writings. At

the age of 80, sheltered in health, though there are ups and

downs in his health conditions from time to time, though

lost his beloved son, David Ravi, the eldest son, though he

has very poor eye sight, his zeal to read the background history of the Bible and to bring out the hidden treasures of the Bible has not been diminished. Like, David, the Psalmist, who watches for the Lord for help in troubles and tough situations Rev. Dr. Sundara Rao also watches at the feet of the Lord for inspiration, encouragement and for energy the publishing his nine books. Due to old age and Physical ailment, Rev. Dr. Sundara Rao is unable to stand and is hospitalized several times. But the gracious Lord touched him, healed him and made him stand for Him for His glory to bring out this ninth book, “The Mysteries of The Mysterious God.” Unless God’s grace is there for him, this book would not have published. “Blessed be the Lord”. “Praise to His Holy Name”. I went through all the essays of, “The Mysteries of The Mysterious God”. Each essay is unique of its kind. They are richly informative and provoke the reader to read them instantly. Therefore, they will no doubt help the Bible readers, students of Theology and also those who wish to know the hidden treasurers in the Bible. All his nine books, Legacy of God’s People, Quest for the Living God, Offsprings from the Tabernacle etc. are written and aimed at providing historical background of events, incidents in the Bible and also 9The Mysteries of the Mysterious God God’s prophets and their prophecies. The motive behind all these books is to Glorify God. Hence, I sincerely pray to God through His Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour, to provide him good health and wisdom to publish many more books for the use of the readers of the Bible all over the world. In fact, he made use of his stay in the USA in writing books/ glorifying God with this humble piece of work. I also Congratulate and appreciate beloved sister firs. Grace Vijaya, Rev.Dr. Sundara Rao’s better half, who herself is a writer of more than 40 books in Telugu with wonderful testimonies, I Praise God for the encouragement and help of his daughter, son-in-law, son and daughter-in-laver, eider daughter-in- law and all the grand children. May the Lord bless all of them abundantly. Vijayawada, 20-11-2016

With sincere wishes and greetings,

D.S. Sundara Rao, M.A., M.Phil.,

Associate Professor of English (Retd.)

and Evangelist 10The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

INDEX

1. Suprimacy of God

2. An Insight into Psalsm Two

4. Prophet Zachariah

5. Seventy weeks of prophet Daniel

6. Some wise sayings

7. Restoration of Israel

8. War in its Final stage

9. Glorious birth of Jesus Christ

10. Why was Jesus of Nazareth Rejected?

11. Apostle Paul Light for Law and Grace

12. A New Heaven and a New Earth

13. Should Christians observe Moshe Law

14. The Resurrection

15. The wonderful Word of God

16. History of emperor Constantine

17. Names of God

18. The Father and Jesus, The Son The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

10

17

25

34

41

51

57

66

78

85

96

107

122

135

145

152

161

164

Suprimacy of God

“To whom then will ye liken me or shall I be equal”? Sayeth the Holy One. Isaiah 40:18 Few verses of the scripture will captivate the mind and encourage the heart. They keep the child of God pressing on in the midst of the adversary than the familiar one of such verses is: But those who “wait upon the Lord shall review their strength; They shall mount up with wings as eagle. They shall run and not to be weary, they shall walk but not faint”. Isaiah 40:31. “To soar above the clouds like the eagle to rum in the arena of life and not weary to walk in the path of uncomfortable circumstances and not faint”. What incomparable promises of comforts are these? What circumstances must have made prophet Isaiah to plan such lofty expressions? What must be the context? What must be historical realities involved only in understanding those facts. One can fully comprehend the promises of God and apply those promises to the condition of his life. God commanded His chosen people Israelites that they should be comforted. (Isaiah 40:1-2) The main cause was that Israelites were taken as captives by the king of Babylon who was a heathen king. God ordered Israelites to repent for their sins, and prepare the way for the coming of Jesus Christ. Their sin was the main cause for their captivity. God made a promise that the glory of the world would be revealed to them. This fact is the glory of God and His promise had been withdrawn from the temple before the Babylon captivity. Their unfaithfulness forced God to reveal that all flush in the grass would weather and all humanitie’s glory like the flower of field would fade away because Israelites had to be remembered the glory of Babylon as it was tempting and transient; which would one day fade like flower. God commanded Zion to ascend high mountain and proclaim Behold your God O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high 12The Mysteries of the Mysterious God mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God (verse9) because this Evangelists ministry looks forward for the second coming of Lord Jesus Christ. And finally God promised, when he comes for the second time he would judges wicked and the righteous unfounded. This is the day of reference to the sheep and a great judgment by the Lord. It is written in the first eleven verses of the 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah. Those verses are really amazing from the worst of circumstances to the best from darkness at its blackest to light, at its brightest from captivity and from strong idolatry to freedom and intimate fellowship with the living God. The Israelites became slaves to Idol worship during their seventy years of captivity. They have really lofty promises but they could not enjoy them. But the Lord comes for the second time in glory and helps them for deliverances, as they were in slavery. To explain the certainty of these comfortable words, the prophet Isaiah dipped his pen into the resvervent of God’s character. The prophet Isaiah reminds the readers that the power of God is infinite. We have to believe that His wisdom is perfect and his sovernity complete. So, the plan of God is to be in three critical points.

1.Comparison of idols with God is foolishness.

2.The correct conclusion drawn from the verse 11through 17 is that the

God of Israelites is matchless, and incomparable. This comment on God

naturally leads to put a question. These Israelites were directed to harm

themselves against the seductive power of idolatry of the people. This

had become cruel necessity as majority of the people became victims to

that. The Jewish people as captives in Babylon starved spirituality. They

were separated from their beloved Jerusalem, for seventy years. The

temple and the alter in it were totally destroyed. Due to that demolished condition the common praise and national religious of observances became impossible. The traditional symbols were not seen in the temple. Added to all those problems there was another setback. That is, the Babylonians happened to 13The Mysteries of the Mysterious God defeat Israelites in the battle previously, and that is quite authentic according to history. This consistent contemporary tradition appeared to be only means that is Gods of Babylon’s repeated God of Israelites. So, instead of seeing their miserable condition as the direct result of their own nationalism, they put the blame on the scholars of the vanquished and impotent Gods. For the readers it is not surprising for such thinking, which was supported by confrontation, at every stage as a result the apparent blessing was on the heathen population with who they were freely mixed. They must have tempted many Jewish people to feed their starved hearts at the sherimes of their conqueror Gods. The main reason for the entire disturbance, in the life of Israelites was that they totally ignored the very presence and existence of their God. Who had been guding them always. They did not honor even the worst moments of apostasy. Some of them foolishly kept the Babylonian Gods in their houses and completely forgot the God of their forefathers. They were under the impression that Babylonian Gods possessed more strength and power than the “Yahweh”. So they began to worship the heathen Gods as an alternative to their own God. That was the real position of Israelites in Babylon at that time. To their bad luck, God thought it impossible to change the mental set up of the way word Israelites. He deliberately brought before them the process of the image making to show and prove their utter foolishness. God also wanted to remind those stiff necked Israelites that they were in danger of embracing the heathen Gods. Bossing on their wealth, some of them could have golden idols, some silver and some wooden idols in their houses. God’s supremacy is clear - There was continuous demonstrations regarding the stupidity of Israelites their worship of idols of Babylon, and also their mountains of idolatry. So, prophet Isaiah felt it wise and addressed a series of questions to those hard hearted and exited Israelites. They were looking for the alternative of idolatry with longing desire even though; they had not succeeded in what they had in their minds. Prophet Isaiah wrote in this connection. Have yet not known have ye not 14The Mysteries of the Mysterious God heard hath it not been told you from the beginning, have ye not understood from the foundation of the earth. (Verse 21). The truth is that Israelites knew their God they heard about Him, and they understood Him properly. The most dynamic person prophet Moses simply warned Israel nation against Idolatry. This was when he happened to address the whole nation to be obedient to God. Moses reminded them when they stood before God in mount Sinai, “Ye come near and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire in the midst of heaven with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness”. (Deuteronomy 4:17). It was really solemn sacred scene. The children of Israel heard the voice of God but they saw no physical being. There was fire, smoke and the voice of God; but there was no substance no visible essence, or physical form. In such circumstances Moses made a proclamation. Since you did not see God, on the day you stood before him at Sinai, do not make golden image of man or beast or foul or fish anything that creeps on earth (Deuteronomy 4:15-12). Babylon was called a mother of idolatry and heathen religions. Finally idol worship became common to Israelites. Idolatry was unbearable and crossed its limits among the children of Israel. On the whole through the creation of the universe the redemption plan of God and the Mosaic Law, Israelites knew who God was and how much he loved them as His own children. But the truth has been handed down through successive generations. Here, prophet Isaiah was not dealing with people, who had no true knowledge of God in the past, the intellectual questions about the reality of God. He was dealing with people who had national heritage of truth about God but they bluntly refused it; people had hearts and full of religious affection, but it had been betrayed. This God whom Israelites forefathers knew for many centuries in the past, now prophet Isaiah was reminding them that the throne of God was the circle of heavens which arches over the earth. God from His unimaginable height appears to humanity who is like insignificant grasshoppers. Then prophet Isaiah wanted to spread out the blue sky with a transparent garment and spread it above like a tent for all His believers to dwell. 15The Mysteries of the Mysterious God In other words God stretched out the sky as an abode like the oriental stretch out His curing over the open court in the centre of his house to shelter in rain or hot weather. Why all this is said about Him was only to indicate His supremacy over everything in the universe. His ruling was not only from shore to shore but also every part of the universe. To speak in his perfect timings, he would bring the princes to nothing He would make the judges of the earth as vanity. In the ruling of God nations will come and nations will go concerning humanity no one is permanent and no one is immortal. Finally no one can endure the ravages of time and divine destiny. Regarding different plants in nation He said nothing can be planted and nothing can be shown and no plants can take roots into the earth. There would be any shoots bringing up from the stump after the trees are cut down and there should be no descendents for any tree. During His reign one day He would blow upon them and every tree will weather and where wild will take them away like stable. For Israelites unslaved in Babylon were impressed by the mighty and prosperity and attracted by her idolatry. It is crucial to understand that it was her neglected God who sitteth upon the circle of the earth from where He reign supremely and will crush the wicked nations “with a rod of iron”. Again in light of his truth God poses a question His wayward people. “To whom then will ye liken me or shall I be equal” saith the Holy one. What will you make of the supreme duty who is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the absolute sovereign who did on the circle of the earth. This time the phrase “sitteath the holy one is added. Because He is Holy, He will judge with justice and equity. In that judgment, the wicked will be punished severely and righteous will be rewarded abundantly. The certainty of God’s promises: At this stage God is commanding His down hearted, dismayed and faltering Israelites to look up for him at last for their future guidance. In this connect prophet Isaiah quoted some lines from his book. 16The Mysteries of the Mysterious God Lift up your eyes on high and behold who hath created those things that brightest out their host by member, he calleth them all by names by the greatness, of his might, for that he is strong in power, not one failleth (verse 26) It is really strange, how it is disrobed here. It is said might after night, season after season, and year after year, the stars and the heavenly bodies, appear in Heaven. God call them all by names means by the greatness of his might. God call’s them by names means He knows their attributes, qualities and characteristics. All those things move in the precise direction at the precise time and at the precise speed. And at the same time with the precise intensity by the strength of His power, nothing is missing. This is a reference to the suffering of the physical forces with which he was endured with heavenly bodies to present all disorders in their nations. Here is one crucial point: “If God takes care of the infinite number of inanimate heavenly bodies, why saith thou O Jacob and speakest O Israelites my way is hid from the Lord and judgment is passed over from my God” (Verse 27). It is naturally of themselves of pity which was set in the minds of Israelites. They opened their eyes now which were closed for centuries about the God said, now they believed in their God who destroyed them all years due to their hard heartedness. God has disregarded them for their negligence, all the years. They could pass their days miserably without noticing their distress. We have to pity Israelites and say “Had they forgotten so soon that “Yahovah” loves them with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3). It seems for the exited Jews God was finite in duration. He died for the sins of humanity and his intentions were wonderful. He had grown weak and tired. In that condition God speaks as a father to the son upon who much love and provision has been displayed, God in his too much love towards His choosen people asking them in a humble way whether they know not or whether they did not know about Him. Throughout the chapter, the important problem is not of introducing or proving new truth but reminding and recalling ancient belief. This time was exactly when the Jews were in exile for seventy years. God wanted to remind His people that their God is everlasting sovereign and the creator of the whole 17The Mysteries of the Mysterious God universe. He is aware of everything and called for the welfare of his people. Though His people are far from being weak or faint as men and women sometimes they would become due to lack of nourishment or overwork, or harsh treatment. In such unfavorable circumstances God will provide power and might to such persons. This is called to be Biblical Law, “The just live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). For doing so, even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fail. In spite of all that in marked and wonderful contrast prophet Isaiah says: They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint (verse 31). The above mentioned passage would certainly give a new hope and wigour. This does not mean the tears and trials of Israelites, who were taken as captives would end immediately; and as a result all their problems would be solved. They anxiously looked for the end of all their mental worries. God was with them according to their wish, and their problems were solved to certain extent. They were able to live peacefully above their tears, trials and all kinds of worries. They could saor higher and higher over the clouds like an eagle, that is to stay, run in the arena of life and never become weary. When they were in uncomfortable circumstances they would not be fainted. In this context one of the Christian poets by name Anne Johnson Faint (1866 to 1932) was very interested and impressed in the passage of prophet Isaiah and gave her impression in the following lines: “God hath not promised skys always, blew flower stream path ways, all our lives through God hath not promised, sun without rain, joy without sorrow, peace without pain, but God hath promised strength for the day rest for the labor, light for the way, grace for the treads help from heaven unfailing sympathy undying love”. 18The Mysteries of the Mysterious God

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