Ziangtin Thinharnak Kan Neh Thei Ding

Defeating  Disappointment

San No Thuan

Thuhmaihruai

Zozo khal kan nun sungah thinharnak, beidonghnak, le thinbanghnak a tong lo tu kan um lo. Ziangvek zumtu tha khal in caan rei maw, tawi kan tong cio. Thuthimnak ah, hnatuan na ngah thei lo; na ruahsanmi promotion na ngah thei lo; na duhmi inn le lo na hmu thei lo; duhmi fala maw tlangval thawn remcang lo; nupa karlak ah rem caang lo; fale pawl duhvek in an nung cang lo; cui tlun ah, innsang ah dam lonak nasa zet a thleng tivek, kan duh zet in in taansan hlo tivek cu zo khal in kan ton dingmi a si. Mihrek hrangah, thu thitha ruat lo in, thil kan rak tuah sual pang tivek pawl par ah riatsiatnak, le beidonghnak kan tong tengteng.

Cumi beidonghnak pawl kha kan neh thei daan thu pathum in sim ka duh.

1. Na dunglam thu ah na nunnak kha kharhkhum hlah.

1.1.  Maih sualnak tuahmi par ah

Na nunnak kha na dunglam thu ah kharhkhum hlah timi cu dunglam thu ruat in, riahsia le thinpit in um ringring hlah tinak a si. Kan tuah sualmi pawl vun zoh tikah, zokhal, “ka va aa lawmlam so,” “Ziangah cuti ih ka rak ti lo?” tiah kan vui hram theu. Cuvek ih na thil tuahsualmi ruangah ih na thin a har le, Pathian hmaika ah na sual phuang lohli aw la, na sualnak tlaansan aw la, sual ngaithiam dil aw. Cuti ih na tuah le, Pathian na sualnak a lo ngaithiam ding. Cule, hmailam ah feh sin aw.

1 John 1:9  ….

Pathian hnenah kan sualnak kan phuan ahcun zumtlak le a dingmi a si ruangah kan sualnak in ngaidam ding ih kan mawhnak hmuahhmuah a thiangfaiter ding.

Rom 5:2 …. Pathian ih zaangfahnak sungah Amah in in ret a si.

Pathian in kan sual ding hi a duh tinak a si lo. Asinan, Pathian in a fa le pawl kan sual pang thei ti cu a thei cia. Na sual tikah, Pathian in a mangbang ciamco lo. Curuangah, kan sual tikah, in hrem lo. Pathian cu suhpe daanpe (reward and punishment system) daan pakhat lawng hmangtu a si lo. A faale cu, kan sualnak hnak ih tummi duhdawtnak thawn in duhdawt ringring ih, “Nun in sim/in zirh sawn a si.” Cumi cu kan kir sal theinak ding hrangah a si. 

2 Pet 3:9

Bawipa cu a thukammi kimter dingah a khul a fung a si tiah mihrek in ruat hman haisehla, a khul a fung a si lo. Nan parah thinsaunak a neih ruangah a si sawn; ziangah tile pakhatte hman siatralnak tong lotein mi hmuahhmuah an sualnak ihsin an kir sal theinak ding a duh ruangah a si.

1.2.  Midang in kan parih sualnak an tuahmi parah

Nangmaih sualnak si lo in, midang in na thin an lo nat ter pang khal a si le, cutawk sungah taang ringring hlah. Thinhennak le lehrulhsal duhnak na neih ahcun na nunnak cu thinbang le thinhar in na um ringring ding. Ziangvek thinnatnak a si khal le, an hrangah Pathian hnen ah thluasuah dil sak sawn aw.

Joseph tuarnak vek a tuartu si ve sehla, kan unau par ah kan thin a va na ding ve. Asinan, Pathian ih thluasuah a pekmi Joseph cun, a unau pawl ih tuah siatnak kha ziang tin a ti?

Seemtirnak 50:20

Keimah siatsuah dingah khua nan khang nain Pathian in thil ṭha-ah a canter a si. Cucu tuih sunih kan hmuh vekin mi tampi humhimnak dingah a si.

Zumtu pawl ih kan nunnak midang ih thil tha lo an tuahmi pawl hi Pathian ih a duhmi a si lo. Asinan, cumi pawl kha Pathian in a hmang ih, kan thatnak ding hrangah a tuah a si.

Rom 8:28

28Ziangtinkim ahhin Pathian cun amah a duhdawtu le amah ih tumtahmi vekih a kawhmi hrangah cun an ṭhatnak ah hna a ṭuan a si, ti kan thei

Curuangah, Jesuh in hi tin tuah uh tiah in fial. Nan ral pawl hrangah thluasuah nan dil sak pei tiah in fial. A har zet ding nan, thluasuah na dil deuhdeuh in, na thinlung a dam deuhdeuh ding.

Mtt 5:43

Nan rualpi nan duhdawt pei ih nan ral pawl nan hua pei,” timi cu nan thei zo. 44Asinain kei cun hiti in ka lo sim: nan ral pawl duhdaw uhla a lo hremtu pawl hrangah thla cam uh;

Paul in Pathian in hiti in in zirh thotho:

Rom 13:8

Zohnen hmanah baakmi nei hlah uh. Nan baakmi cu pakhat le pakhat duhdawt awknak lawng kha siseh. Duhdawtnak a neitu cu Daan thluntu a si.

Rom 12:9  Phulak tum hlah uh. Pathian ih tuanvo a si.

Curuangah, a cem zomi par ah cutin tuahta sehla a tha tuk ding nan tivek ruahnak ah khan, na thinlung le nunnak kharhkhum hlah. Na dunglam ah na nunnak kirpi tum hlah. Cuvek lungput neitu pawl cu an thlengh thei lo dingmi a cemciami par ah an ruahnak le an thazaang pawl an cem ter. Cuhnak in, kan thleng theimi kan hmailam hrangah, kan tikcu le thazaang kan pek ding hi Pathian ih duhmi a si.

Zokhal in, kan nunnak ah kan tuah sualmi le midang ih thilti sualmi ruangah, kan nunnak hi na duhvek in a rak feh lo tla si thei. A hlan hnak ih cak sawn le tha sawn in ka nunnak hi um thei sehla, feh thei sehla tiah zo cio kan duh. Nangmah hman in na duh ahcun, van ih na Pa Pathian cun, na nunnak lo tundin sal ding cu na hnak in a duh sawn timi hi kan hngilh lo ding a thupi zet. Asinan, cuti ih Pa Pathian ih a lo tundin sal theinak dingah, na dunglam thu par ah na ruahnak pawl bun nawn hlah. Pathian in ka hmailam ah mangbangza in lam I hruai thei ti thei in, hmailam ah feh aw. Tuah tulmi pawl tuah aw.

2.      Pathian in na hrangah tumtahnak dang a nei.

Pathian hmai ah kan sualnak ruangah maw, a thu kan ngai lonak ruangah, Pathian ih in tumtah sakmi a pakhatnak “A” cu kan thelh pang theu. Asinan, thuthang tha cu Pathian in kan hrangah, tumtahnak B le C pawl a taang thotho ti hngilh hlah aw. Pathian cun, a mai a tumtahmi hmun ih kan thlen hlan lo, tumtahnak zin dangdang in a mi le fa pawl in hruai thotho ding ti hngilh hlah.

Profet Samuel ih thuanthu kan zoh ta ding (1 Sam 16:1f).  Samuel in Israel mi pawl Pathian thu ih an feh theinak dingah, Saul a hril. Samuel khal in Saul kha Pathian ih lungawinak tuahtu si dingah, he tiah a bawm. Kum reipi a bawm rero nan, Saul in Pathian thu a ngai lo tikah, Pathian in Saul kha Siangpahrang dingah a duh nawn lo. Cutik ah, Samuel cu hi tluk ka rak zirh, ka rak hruaimi pa ziangah saw na duh nawn lo tiah Pathian hnen ah a ti ih, riahsia in a tap.

Cutikah, Pathian in Samuel kha ziang a ti tile, “Samuel, ziangtik tiang so Saul hrangah na ttah ih na riah a siat ding?” a ti. Cuvek thotho in, Pathian in kan nih khal tuisun ni ah in sut ve a si. Ka fa, ziangtik tiang so na ruahsannak ngah lo ruang ah, na tumtahmi vek ih feh lo ruangah na riah a siat ding? Na ttah ding tiah in ti ve si. Kan riahsiat ih, kan beidonghnak lawnglawng kan ruah tikah, Pathian ih thluasuah in pek tummi kan la ngah nawn theu lo.

Cutikah, Pathian in, “Samuel, na uum ah, siti thun aw. Jesse inn ah feh aw. A fapa sung in Siangpahrang si dingah pakhat ka hril zo” tiah a ti. Tong dang in kan sim le, Samuel ttap nawn hlah. Hmai ah feh aw. Na hmuh dah lo mi ka lo hmuh ter ding tiah a ti.

Himi kan zoh tikah, Pathian in kan hrangah, tumtahnak pakhat kan thelh pang tikah, a dang tumtahnak a nei ringring ti a fiang a si. Samuel in ka paih nawn lo tiah ti sehla, Jesuh Khrih suahnak ih pupi bik hminthangbik Siangpahrang David hriltu Profet ah Samuel kha a cang lo thei men.

Curuangah, Pathian hmaika ah thil sual kan tuah ngah pang tikah, kan tuah zomi parah riahsia beidong in hmailam hrangah zianghman tuah nawn lo in kan um ding hi Pathian a duh lo. A duhmi cu, Pathian hmaika ah tangdornak thawn, kan sualnak pawl taansan tahrat in, Bawipaih ngaithiamnak dil uh si. Cule, Pathian in kan sualnak in ngaidam ih a tumtahmi B le C ah in hruai ding a si.

2 Sansiarnak 7:14

Ka hmin in kawhmi ka minung pawl in ka hnenah lungsiir in thla an cam ih ka mithmai an hawl ih an thil ṭha lo tuahnak ihsin an kirsal a si ahcun van in an thlacamnak ka thei ding ih an sualnak ka ngaithiam ding ih an ram cu ka damter ding.

3. Pathian ih a lo ngaithiam bang in nangmah le nangmah khal ngaithiam aw aw.

Mihrek khat cu, Pathian hnen ah ngaithiam an dil ih, Pathian in I ngaithiam ding ti an zum/cohlang nan, an mah le mah an ngaithiam aw lo ih, sual thilrit thawn an nung ringring. Cucu, sualnak tumpi a si. Cumi dingah Jesuh in in duh sak lo. Curuangah:

Matt 11:28

28“Thilrit a phurmi le zonzaih a tuartu pawl, ka hnenah ra uh, colhdamnak ka lo pe ding.

Curuangah, Pathian ih thluasuah a pek zetmi le a hman zetmi Paul in, ka dung lam ih kan sualnak pawl cu ka hngilhsan ih hmai ah ka tlaan a ti.

Filipi 3:13

“… ka dunglamih a luan ciami thil kha hngilhsan tahratin ka hmailamih a ummi kha ban dingah ka dawh aw rero a si.”

Ziang ruangah, cutin a ti thei? A theihmi thu a um. Cumi cu, Khrih sungah kan va pan ih kan um ahcun, nitin te in Pathian in nun thar in kan nunnak thawhsal theinak in pek ti a theihfiang tuk ruangah a si.

2 Kor 5:17

17Zozo khal Khrih thawn an pehzom awk tikah cun mithar a si; a nun hlun cu a cem ih nun thar a thok zo.

Tidai khi na tan tikah, a lo pahtu tidai cu a liam hlo zo ih, neta ih a lo pahtu tidai cu tidai thar a si. Cuvek thiamthiam in, zing na hung thawh ih na mit na men thei vetein, thei aw, Bawipaih duhdawtnak zaangfahnak thar, sual ngaithiamnak thar ka co, nun thar in I nun ter a si timi hngilh hlah aw. A zaangfahnak thar a luangmi kan comi a si.

Thunetnak:

Ziangtin thinharnak pawl kan neh thei ding?

1. Na dunglam thu ah na nunnak le tikcu caan hmang theh hlah. Cuhnak in:
1. Na sualnak ruang ih na thin a har ahcun, Pathian hnen ah ngaithiam dil aw (1John 1:9).
2. Midang sualnak ruangah na thin a har ahcun, an hrang thluasuah dil sak aw (Mtt 5:43).
3. Kan ral pawl in, kan siatnak hrang ih an tuahmi kha Pathian in kan thatnak hrangah a hmang thei a si (Gen 50:21).
2. Pathian ih tumtahmi pakhat na thelh pang tikah, na beidong cih hlah. Pathian na hrangah, tumtahnak dang tampi a nei eueu lai ti hngilh hlah. Cumi pawl na thlen hlan lo a lo hruai thotho ding (1 Sam 16:1).
3. Pathian hnen ih sual ngaithiam na dil tikah, na sualnak a lo ngaithiam bang in, nangmah le nangmah na sualnak na ngaithiam awk ding kha a lo duh sak a si (2 Cor 5:17).

The Penguin Song Happy Birthday!

The Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast

Open Arms

January 21, 2013 — by David C. McCasland

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Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Luke 15:11-24

When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. —Luke 15:20

Bible in a Year:
Exodus 1-3; Matthew 14:1-21

At the funeral of former US First Lady Betty Ford, her son Steven said, “She was the one with the love and the comfort, and she was the first one there to put her arms around you. Nineteen years ago when I went through my alcoholism, my mother . . . gave me one of the greatest gifts, and that was how to surrender to God, and to accept the grace of God in my life. And truly in her arms I felt like the prodigal son coming home, and I felt God’s love through her. And that was a good gift.”

Jesus’ parable about a young man who asked for and squandered his inheritance and then in humiliation returned home leaves us amazed at his father’s response: “When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). Instead of a lecture or punishment, the father expressed love and forgiveness by giving him a party. Why? Because “this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (v.24).

Steven Ford concluded his tribute with the words, “Thank you, Mom, for loving us, loving your husband, loving us kids, loving the nation, with the heart of God.”

May God enable us to open our arms to others, just as His are open wide to all who turn to Him.

Lord, help me be kind and forgiving—
Your loving forgiveness You’ve shown
To me for the sins I’ve committed;
Lord, grant me a love like Your own. —Anon.

Forgiven sinners know love and show love.

God's Covenant Through Moses

The covenant that God made with Abraham was renewed with his son Isaac. In Genesis 26:3 God says to Isaac, "To you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath which I swore to Abraham your father." And then to Isaac's son, Jacob, God appeared at Bethel (according to Genesis 28:13–15) and confirmed the covenant to him: "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth . . . and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go." At the time Jacob may not have known that he would be going to Egypt and that for four hundred years his descendants would be slaves and that the promise would lie dormant until God confirmed it afresh with Moses.

From Misery in Egypt to Mosaic Covenant

But God's ways are seldom our ways, and it was indeed his plan to carry his covenant people through the miseries of Egypt toward the promised land. (See the prediction ofGenesis 15:13.) That divine principle hasn't changed to this day: "If we suffer with him, we will be glorified with him" (Romans 8:17). But after a long dark night of Israel's soul, dawn breaks. God calls Moses, and with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm God liberates his people from bondage. They cross the Red Sea on dry ground. They receive food from the sky and water from the rock. And in three months they arrive at Mount Sinai. Here God makes a solemn covenant with Israel to confirm and undergird the covenant he made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

Virtually all of Exodus 19–34 is concerned with the making of this covenant. I want you to see this morning,

1. how the covenant was established, and then
2. what divine promises and human conditions make up the covenant, and
3. how it leads on in God's plan to the work of Jesus Christ.

A. How Was This Covenant Established? 

Let's walk through these crucial chapters together. I'll point out the main features as we go. In Exodus 19:3 Moses goes up the first time into Mount Sinai, and God announces to him the general terms of the covenant in verses 5 and 6: If you obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my special possession, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Moses goes down, reports to the people, and in verse 8 they accept the covenant: "All the Lord has spoken we will do." Moses returns with this acceptance to the Lord, and in verse 9 the Lord says that he is coming to speak in earshot of the people so that they will believe Moses.

In Exodus 19:10–15 God instructs Moses to consecrate the people. In three days they are to approach the mountain. In three days the Lord descends in fire and the mountain is wrapped in smoke. God calls Moses to the top (v. 20) and sends him down again with the warning to the people not to break through and perish (vv. 21, 24). Then God himself (20:22) addresses the people in 20:1–17 and gives the ten commandments. The people are so terrified at the voice of God that (in vv. 18–19) they plead with Moses, "You speak to us and we will hear, but let not God speak to us lest we die." So in 20:21 Moses draws near to the thick darkness and receives the rest of the ordinances from the Lord. These are given in chapters 21–23 and include a lot more specifics than the ten commandments.

In Exodus 24:1–2 God tells Moses to get the priests and the elders and to come up on the mountain. But first in Exodus 24:3 Moses reports all the ordinances to the people, and again they accept the terms of the covenant: "All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do." Then Moses writes the words he had received in a book (v. 4), builds an altar, sacrifices several oxen, and seals the covenant with blood. He throws some blood on the altar, reads the book to the people, and throws some blood on the people (vv. 5–8). The implication is probably that the people are taking an oath that if they break the covenant, their blood will be shed like the oxen's and it will be on their own head.

Then (in Exodus 24:9–10) Moses and Aaron and Nadab and Abihu and the seventy elders went up the mountain partway and had a feast and saw God's glory. But in verse 12 the Lord calls Moses further up to receive the "tables of stone" written by God. So Moses went up into the cloud (v. 18) and remained forty days. Chapters 25–31 give the message God spoke to Moses, mainly a plan for the tabernacle to be built and for the ministry of the priests. When he was done speaking, God gave Moses the two tables of testimony (31:18) to carry back to the people—a kind of personally signed covenant document from the Lord.

But during the forty days the people had already broken their covenant promise and made an idol. In Exodus 32:8 God says, "They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them." Moses prays for the people and God withholds his destruction (32:11–14). When Moses comes down to the camp (v. 19), he smashes the two tables of the covenant to show how the people have broken the covenant. The sons of Levi slaughter 3,000 men (32:28) and God sends a plague (v. 35) but the nation as a whole is spared through Moses' prayer.

Now the question is, what becomes of the covenant? They had broken it before it was even completed. If this covenant were based on works or on strict justice alone Israel would be done for. But to show that the covenant is based on grace, God renews the covenant and uses words which make this gracious foundation clear. In Exodus 34:1 God tells Moses to make a new set of stone tables and to come up again. In 34:6–7 God reveals himself and the basis of the renewed covenant: "The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and children's children, to the third and fourth generation."' Moses pleads in verse 9, "Pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us for thine inheritance." And the Lord responds in verse 10, "Behold, I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth or in any nation."

Then in 34:27–28 the Lord concludes this last meeting on Mt. Sinai like this: "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.' And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." And he came down with his face shining because of his time with God. The rest of Exodus reports the building of the tabernacle.

B. What Are the Covenant's Promises and Conditions?

Now from that overview of how the covenant was established between God and Israel we can answer our second question: what are the divine promises and human conditions of this covenant? What does God commit himself to do? And what does he require of his covenant partner?

Five Divine Promises Within It

First, the promises. There are at least five.

1. Israel Will Be God's Prized Possession

In Exodus 19:5 God says, "If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all the peoples; for all the earth is mine." God mentions that allthe earth is his to show that when he calls Israel his "own possession," he means more than the general care and authority he has over the world. He will be Israel's God and they will be his possession in a special way. They will have blessings beyond all other nations. They will be God's prized possession—if they keep his covenant.

2. Israel Will Be a Kingdom of Royal Priests

The second promise in Exodus 19:6 is, "and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests." The most striking privilege of the priests was intimate access to God. They drew near on behalf of the people. Their inheritance was not the land but the Lord. This privilege God promises to the whole nation. This privilege is heightened when God calls them a royal priesthood or priests in the services of the King. There is no greater privilege than to have intimate access to the King of the universe.

3. Israel Will Be a Holy Nation 

The third promise of the covenant in 19:6 is that Israel will also be a "holy nation." Israel would be holy in two senses: one, she would be set apart and distinguished from all the other peoples; two, she would be granted a moral likeness to God. She would share God's character. "Be holy, for I am holy" (Leviticus 19:2). If Israel keeps covenant with God, she will have the all-satisfying privilege of likeness to God. She will be a holy nation.

4. God Will Defend Israel from All Her Enemies 

The fourth covenant promise is found in Exodus 23:22. "But if you hearken attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." Like the cat who bites into a mouse and discovers it is a dog's paw. Anybody who opposes Israel will have to deal with almighty God—if Israel keeps covenant. This is probably what God means in Exodus 34:10 when he promises, "I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord." In defense of his people God will do marvels to display his glory among the nations.

5. God Will Be Merciful and Gracious and Forgiving 

Finally, and as the foundation to everything else, God promises to be merciful and gracious and forgive iniquity and transgression and sin. Exodus 34:6–7 are among the sweetest gospel words in the Bible. The fact that they come from Mt. Sinai and not Mt. Calvary, the fact that they preface the ten commandments (34:28) and not the book of Romans shows that the message of Christ and the message of Moses are one harmonious message of grace. "The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, 'The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.'" So the fifth great promise of the Mosaic covenant is that God will treat Israel with mercy and grace and will forgive her sins—if she keeps the covenant.

In summary, then, five divine promises of the Mosaic covenant, which reconfirm the covenant with Abraham, are

1. that Israel will be God's special possession,
2. Israel will be a kingdom of priests to God,
3. Israel will be a holy nation,
4. God will fight for Israel and overcome all her enemies, and
5. God will treat Israel with grace and mercy and forgive her sins.

These are the divine promises of the covenant. But they all depend on certain conditions being fulfilled by the people, as Exodus 19:5 says, "If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall . . . " experience all these divine blessings.

Three Pointers to Its Human Condition

So we turn now to the human conditions that must be met in order to enjoy the covenant blessings.

1. Founded on Grace and Offering Forgiveness 

One thing is clear from the outset. The condition is not sinless perfection. The Mosaic covenant does not teach that if you commit a sin, you forfeit the covenant blessings. It says that the Lord forgives iniquity and transgression and sin (Exodus 34:7). The foundation of the covenant is grace. Therefore, when Exodus 19:5 says that Israel must "obey God's voice and keep God's covenant," it does not mean they must earn their blessings by working for God. It means they must keep themselves in an attitude to receive God's grace and mercy and forgiveness.

2. Loving God and Earning Grace? 

And what attitude is that? One answer is given in Exodus 20:5–6 in the midst of the ten commandments: "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love (KJV: mercy) to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments." Israel upholds her side of the covenant by loving God and by not putting any other value where God belongs in her heart. And out of this love to God inevitably flows an obedience to his word, because you always go after what you value. So this obedience is not earning God's grace. It is the evidence of love for God's grace. God is not loved when we put ourselves in the position of an employee and him in the position of an employer who pays us earnings.

When God says that love for him is the condition Israel must meet in order to share the covenant blessings, it's like saying that the condition you must meet in order to benefit from your vacation is to enjoy the sunsets. It is unthinkable that the command to love God could be a command to earn blessings from him. On the contrary, when you think it through, the command to love a God who is gracious and forgiving (Exodus 34:6–7) must include a command to trust him. The only way to receive forgiveness is by trusting the forgiver. And the only way to benefit from gracious promises is to trust the promiser. The fundamental condition that Israel had to meet in order to enjoy God's blessing was trust.

3. Israel's Failure of Unbelief 

Again and again in the Old Testament the rebellion of Israel against the covenant is traced back to unbelief (Numbers 14:11; Deuteronomy 1:32; 9:23; 2 Kings 17:14; 2 Chronicles 20:20; Psalm 78:22, 32; 106:24). For example, Psalm 78:22 looks back and says that God's anger flamed against Israel in the wilderness "because they had no faith in God, anddid not trust his saving power." And Hebrews 3:19 says that the reason the wilderness generation did not enter the promised land was unbelief. Or as Hebrews 4:2 says, "The message which they heard did not benefit them because it did not meet with faith in the hearers."

So there are at least three reasons to conclude that the basic condition required from Israel is faith.

1. First, because the covenant is renewed on the basis of grace and offers merciful forgiveness for sins (Exodus 34:6–7). Forgiveness can only be received by faith.
2. Second, God promises mercy to all who love him (Exodus 20:6). But loving God is just the opposite of trying to earn wages from a heavenly employer. Loving God must include delighting in his trustworthiness as one who "bore you on eagles' wings (out of Egypt) and brought you to himself" (Exodus 19:4).
3. Third, numerous Old Testament and New Testament passages say that the root of Israel's disobedience was her failure to trust God. Therefore, the obedience required in the Mosaic covenant is the obedience which comes from faith.

It's the same obedience required in the Abrahamic covenant when the Lord said to Abraham, "By your descendants shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice" (Genesis 22:18). And it's the same obedience required in the new covenant under which we live. Hebrews 5:9 says of Christ that "Being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him." The Abrahamic covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and the covenant that Jesus sealed with his own blood are all various expressions of one great covenant of grace. And under all these covenants, expressed in many different ways, one thing is required of man in order to inherit the covenant blessings: "faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6).

C. How Can So Much Grace Come by This Covenant?

That brings us to one last question which the Mosaic covenant leaves unanswered. How can so much grace be dispensed under this covenant? How can a righteous God simply forgive iniquity and transgression and sin? How can a judge just let guilty sinners go free? Surely the sacrifices of bulls and goats are no just satisfaction for all the dishonor heaped on God's name by Israel's sins. Again the answer lies in the future. Isaiah saw it most clearly and said, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). How could a just God, under the Mosaic covenant, be so gracious and forgive so freely? Answer: he looked forward to the coming of his Son and the sacrifice that repairs all the injury done to God's honor through the disobedience of the elect. There could have been no covenant with Abraham, no covenant with Moses, and no new covenant without the coming of Jesus Christ. What was freely given under Moses was purchased by Christ.

If you want a fresh glimpse of Jesus this advent season to help you trust him and love him and obey him, consider these two things. First, every forgiven sin from Adam to the end of the age was laid on the innocent Christ and crushed him to hell. He accepted it willingly for the glory of his Father and the good of his people. Second, if you trust him and follow him in the obedience of faith, then you are the heirs not only of God's covenant with Abraham but also God's covenant through Moses. You are God's special possession. You are a kingdom of priests. You are a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9, 10). God opposes your enemies with wonder-working power. And to you he is now and always will be "the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love . . . forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin."

O, that we might love Jesus with a new heartfelt affection this advent season! "No eye has seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Corinthians 2:9).

©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Used by Permission.

Nupi/Pasal Tha Hawl Daan (Tips for Finding an Excellent Partner)

by San No Thuan

1. Zovek na thit khal le piangtharmi/Pathian tihzah le duhdawttu si tengteng seh. Culawngah Pathian thu lam ah a lo hruaikai theitu a si ding. Pathian thu in nan nung tlaang thei ding. Thin rual lung rual ten nan feh tlaang thei ding. Himi nun in ziangkim a rem theh ko ding.
2. Duhnak lawng ih hril ding a si lo. Duhnak lawng ih na hril le a rei hlan ah a thuhla na theih taktak hnu ah nan buai sal ding ih, na duhnak a cem sal leh ding. Vei khat fala ka rak duh zetmi a um ih, duh thu ka sim ih i cohlang. Asinan, a rei hlan ah a thinlung le ka thinlung kan tteh aw thei lo tuk ti ka hmu sal.
3. Duhnak tel lo khal in nupi pasal hril ding a si lo. Duhdawtnak tel lo in a sumpai, lennak le mawinak, fimnak pawl na duh ruangah na thit ahcun, a lungput le ziaza na tuar thei lo mi a si ahcun, nan nuam aw cuang lo ding.
4. Curuangah, a thinlung le a ziaza na cohlan theimi, na rinsan theimi, le na ngaithiam theimi siseh. Nan pahnih nan thinlung thei aw in nan duhdawtawk ding hi a thupi zet.
5. Nangmah a lo ringtu men si lo in, a lo somdawl theitu ding si seh. Sumpai lam ah siseh, innsang tawlrel lam ah siseh, mi sawnbiak lam siseh a lo bawm theitu si seh. Mileeng neih tik khal ah tawzaang/fimvaar in mi biatu a si maw? Sungkhat unau duhdawt pi theitu a si maw? Unau/Nupa thitha neimi a si maw?       
6. A mawinak hnak in na rinsan theimi a si tul. Nazii khi a mawimi hnak in  caan hmante ih a lo sim theitu a tha sawn. Mawi zet nan rinsan ding ziangkhal ah a tlak lomi cu a rei tikah na beidong ding. S/m Biak Mawi ih I simmi cu, “Mawinak hi tthitawk hlan ah a thupi nan, thinlung tha le rinsantlak sinak cu thitawk hnu ah a thupi sawn.”
7. Mi ih siksoimi a si maw? A society in amah thu an sim tikah thusia an sim maw? An siksoi hman ah na ngaithiam theimi a si maw?
8. Fimnak thiamnak teh a nei maw?  Himi a thupitnak cu thu nan ruahawk tikah, nan ruahnak a bang aw thei ding ih, nan kaa a thaw thei ding.
9. Sumpai a hukhek lo mi si a tul. Milian fa an si khal le, ei le inn, sin le fen lawngte ih cemtu an si le ziang tluk nan ngah khal le nan nei dah lo ding. Cutikah, na thin nuam lo ding nan, tthen aw dingah le thu harsa tiah na ti leh ding. 
10. Ziaza thami hril aw. Thitawk hnu ah ka thlengh thei ding timi ruahsannak thawn nupi/pasal nei hlah. Nan duhawk zet lai hman ih ziaza tha lomi cu nan neihawk hnu cun a luar sinsin ding.
11. Asinak vek ciah ih na duh taktak theimi a si tul. Cumi khami ruangah ka duh tiah na timi an sile, na duhnak “zawnte” kha a neih nawn lo ahcun, na duhdawtnak khal a cem ve ding. Mihrek khat cu faate kilkhawl dingah an ti. Asinan, an faale an hung upa ih kil tul an neih nawn lo cun, an duhdawtawknak a cem ve mei.