Jesus in the American Prison (Part-II)
Jesus and His eleven disciples are looked after well in the American prison. The names of His names are Mohammed, Salim Khan, Sayyed Laden, Vinod Krishna, Ramakrishna, Sunder Singh, Bhakt Singh, Surendra Jain, Xavier, Fernandez, and John Jacob. For the disciples, who are poor in their own nation, it is a blessing in disguise. Their own houses in India do not have the minimum basic facilities like toilets, etc. But the American jails have all the comforts with Air Conditioners, Televisions, food and snacks, mattresses and pillows, good toilets, newspapers. They are being treated with all the respects in the American prison. Some of the disciples i.e. Sayyed Yusuf and John Jacob had earlier tasted the life in Indian prison before their conversion. They had been convicts undergoing sentences of imprisonments for some minor crimes in the Indian jails. They accepted the Lord while in the Tihar Jail when one Evangelist Rajan preached the gospel to them. After completing their jail terms, they came out of the jail and started preaching the gospel. Evangelist Rajan is an ordinary man living in a hutment but a man of God filled with the Holy Spirit. People seeking prayers from him find it difficult to reach out to him in the cluster of hutments in Jehangirpur, a re-settlement colony in Delhi. You cannot locate him through his address. He does not own a vehicle, even a two-wheeler.
For these disciples, the American jails are a paradise on the earth. However, they are missing their delicious Indian food i.e. Rotti (round-shaped cakes made of wheat flower), Dhal (to be taken along with Rotti), cooked rice. The American food is very new to them, except bread, butter and jam. Ramakrishna is purely a vegetarian as he was from a Brahmin family. The people belonging to a Brahmin community are purely vegetarian and do not eat non-vegetarian food. They belong to the priesthood of Hinduism. After accepting Jesus Christ as his savior, Ramakrishna has not changed his food habits. The other disciples also have not changed their food habits and cultures. Similarly, Mohammed, Salim Khan, Sayyed Yusuf were Muslims before their conversion. However, their food habits have not changed. They do not touch the pork meat being served in the prison. Sunder Singh and Bhakt Singh were Sikhs before their conversion. Surendra Jain belonged to Jain religion which is a branch of Hinduism. People belonging to this religion do not harm animals. Surendra Jain is also a vegetarian. Though the cultures and the food habits of these disciples have not changed, yet their lives have been completely transformed through the powerful gospel of Christ.
For them in the presence of their Lord, it is more than a paradise. However, they are missing their loved ones. For many of them i.e. Mohammed, Salim Khan, Sayyed Yusuf, Krishna, Ramakrishna, Sunder Singh, Bhakt Singh, Surendra Jain, their parents in India are not believers. They are not happy with their children who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. They are now blaming Jesus Christ for spoiling the lives of their children by making them land in the American prison. Xavier, Fernandez, and John Jacob are married and their parents, wives and children are distraught. The parents and the loved ones of all these disciples are moving the governmental authorities here for getting their children released from the American prison. The believing parents are praying fervently to Jesus Christ for working a miracle in securing the release of their children. Their cries reach the throne of God and Jesus in the American prison comforts these parents in the Spirit. The people of God in different churches in India are crying out to God day and night.
Another Jesus?
All the disciples are happy because they enjoy constant fellowship with their Lord. Since there are televisions in their prison cells, they watch the Christian television programs. But they miss the Indian Christian television channels. They have to watch only the television programs like Miracle Net, God TV. They wonder how the Jesus presented in these Christian channels is different from the Jesus with whom they are now staying. In the television channels, they see a Jesus who presents Himself on the dais when the evangelists invoke His Name. This Jesus heals only a few people and sends home the majority of the sick empty-handed. This Jesus appears to make those people fall down whom the evangelist touches with his hands. This Jesus makes his presence felt only when the music is played with musical instruments and when the people shout praises at the top of their voices. The presence of this Jesus is brought about at will by the evangelist. In some program, they see some people, especially young people pop dance hysterically to the sounding of trumpets and other musical instruments and shout, “The Lord is here”.
But the Jesus whom they learnt from the gospels and the Jesus with whom they are staying is humble, holy, righteous, lovely, radiating the glory of the Father. This Jesus reveals their secret sins when He is present with them. He does not bother about the shouts of the people who want to seek only His blessings sans His life. These preachers are preaching wonderful messages, mainly, about the grace and love of God and about the great blessings through abundant life. They hardly preach the words like sin, righteousness, judgment, etc. These preachers also preach that poverty is a curse and that sickness is a badge of sin. But they find that their Master was also penniless and shelterless when He was staying in the hut of a saint there. Many of the disciples have no sufficient money in their bank accounts as they are leading a hand-to-mouth existence with their meager income. The parents of some of the disciples are suffering from chronic diseases. Even two disciples have some bodily weaknesses and despite their prayers coupled with fasting, the Lord has not healed them.
On hearing the messages of these preachers, a doubt arose in their mind whether the One who is with them is true or not. Then the disciples opened their Bibles and meditated on the Song of Songs, a book that reveals the entire Personality of Jesus Christ and then compared the qualities and traits of the One in their midst with that of “another” Jesus seen by them in the television programs. In the prison, they see the Jesus as the Man of sorrows, bearing their grief and burden. But in the television programs, the preachers present themselves as those who carry the grief and the burden of the people. What a pity! They have taken the place of the Only Begotten Son of God.
Let us now read what the disciples meditated on the savor of His good ointments, pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.
Revelation of the Jesus of the Scriptures
“Because of the savor of Thy good ointments Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee?” continues the bride praising His personality in verse 3 of Chapter 1 of the Song of Songs. How fragrant is the odor of His good ointments so that His name being uttered is like perfume poured out! His good ointments are love, long-suffering, joy, holiness, meekness, peace, and faith. If we are sick of love, He sends forth His fragrance of love in action. If we grieve His Spirit in impenitence, the sweet fragrance of His mercy and of long-suffering comes to us. If we are in mental agony, the sweet fragrance of His joy fills our soul. If we commit sin, the sweet fragrance of His holiness comes to us. If we lose our peace, His peace comes to us as a sweet fragrance. If we faint through repeated failures, He sends forth His fragrance of faith through promises in His word.
Because of the odor of His good ointments as narrated above, His Name is as perfume poured out. His precious Name that is JESUS, being uttered by His beloved virgins would propagate everywhere a sweet fragrance of His personality (2 Cor.2:14-16). We know His precious Name and love Him because of His peculiar Personality. In other words, we are gravitated to His presence by the odor of His Personality. Will you meditate upon the odor of His good ointments poured out as perfume in your personal life?
“Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like (stately) pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all (the fragrant) powders of the merchant?” the bride asks the daughters of Jerusalem in verse 6 of Chapter 3 of the Song of Songs, concerning her beloved.
Surprisingly enough, the bride who is deeply acquainted with her Beloved now suddenly asks, “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness?” Since her Beloved is coming out of the wilderness, she is unable to recognize and identify Him. Your Beloved Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by the Devil. Even during the remaining part of His earthly life, He was in the wilderness, undergoing physical sufferings by way of toil and penury and temptations. He preferred to withdraw Himself into the wilderness when His fame was spread, and when people thronged Him for miracles. He had no place to lay His head as He was wandering hither and thither with His beloved disciples. Wilderness spiritually stands for a place of loneliness, a place where one is crucified to the world, a place whence one’s fame is hardly spread, a place where justice is denied, a place where one is humiliated and stripped of his worldly glory, a place of misunderstanding and reproach by his own people, a place of constant temptations, a place where one’s faith is tested through fire.
Jesus was in this wilderness right from the time of His birth as Herod hunted down the Baby Jesus. He was further thrown into this wilderness at the garden of Gethsemane (loneliness), at the Pilate’s court of justice in Gabatha (denial of justice) and at the ruffed Golgotha (stripping of His worldly glory).
The bride of the Song sees astonishingly that marvelous Person coming out of this wilderness. How is He coming? He comes like stately pillars of smoke perfumed with myrrh, frankincense and all the fragrant powers of the merchant. He emerges from the wilderness in a different form so as to raise doubts in the heart of the bride whether it is her Beloved shepherd who was driven to the wilderness. Jesus too, after His resurrection, appeared to His disciples in a different form. And the marvelous Person of the Glorified Christ Who appeared in a vision to John at Patmos looked different.
To the bride of the Song, he is like a stately pillar of smoke. Dearly beloved, it is one and the same Person Who manifested the Father’s glory to the children of Israel in the form of pillars of cloud and fire as means of guidance and protection. The Pillar of Cloud and Fire is revealed as a stately pillar of perfumed smoke in the Song. The smoke emanates from the fire, which burns myrrh and frankincense (gums of perfume extracted from certain trees) and all the fragrant powders of the merchants. Myrrh and frankincense were presented as gifts to Baby Jesus by the wise men, and were also used in holy anointing oil. Myrrh and frankincense were the high-class perfumes, symbolic of Christ’s holiness fragrant through His Body. Jesus is the fragrance of God’s holiness. The fragrant powders of the merchants symbolize the holiness of God’s people on the earth. Such fragrant powders are too costly that the merchants trade them. These are like “pearls” not to be given to the dogs and not to be thrown before hogs (Matt.7: 6). God’s holy people have to separate themselves from sin, and to keep their bodies as “pearls”. Jesus is likened to the pillars of smoke carrying the holy fragrance of His Person, and of His bride.
The Pillars of Smoke can reach any person living in sin, bringing forth the sweet fragrance of holiness. This Smoke had emerged out of the Altar of God at Golgotha where Jesus was sacrificed as a Sin-Bearer vindicating God’s holiness. The Holy Fire had consumed the Lamb of God at Golgotha and the resultant holy smoke of the sacrificed Lamb is the eternal Pillars of Smoke.
The bride sees her beloved gliding from the wilderness like the pillars of smoke. Because of His wilderness experience, Jesus is crowned with God’s glory. The bride, who sees her Beloved gliding from the wilderness, is also required to follow the footsteps of her Beloved in the wilderness. There is no other way for her to know more of the Person of her Beloved, except by following His imprint left on the wilderness. “Who is this who comes from the wilderness?” she wonders. She has thought that her Beloved, a King of Kings, was probably in a royal palace, enjoying all the paraphernalia of a king, and that she too would be taken to that place on the earth where she need not face loneliness, temptation, suffering, etc. Christians who always believe in all-round material prosperity don’t want to follow their Master’s footsteps in the wilderness. They tend to think that with the presence of God in their life, there would be no wilderness at all. Dear bride, as you emerge out of every wilderness experience in your life, you too would be clothed with God’s glory and power, and would carry the fragrance of His holiness.
“Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense” tells the bridegroom to his bride, in verse 6 of chapter 4 of the Song of Songs.
Before the dreadful night approaches to the bride, the Bridegroom would want to go His way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. Myrrh and frankincense are the high-class perfumes, which are symbolic of Christ Jesus’ holiness fragrant through the Holy Spirit. Before the night begins, you should go to the presence of Jesus Christ, Who is known by His fragrance of holiness. Wherever Jesus Christ is present, His holiness will be as lofty as a mountain. A hill is a high mass of land less than a mountain, whereas a mountain is a high hill. He tells He would go to the mountains of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. Myrrh is the most superior perfume, followed by frankincense. Jesus Christ, the only Begotten Son of God, right from His conception in His mother’s womb has been holy. His holiness was at its zenith even when He was in His mother’s womb. The very place of Christ Jesus is the mountains of myrrh. We, the adopted sons of God, are not holy as Christ Jesus. We attain holiness on our new birth and then grow in holiness. As the bride of Christ Jesus, you should have the minimum standard of holiness, which is likened to the hill of frankincense so as to reach the hill of frankincense to meet Jesus Christ. You are required to grow into the stature of Christ Jesus and to reach the mountains of myrrh finally so as to be holy as He is. The Bridegroom straightaway goes to the mountains of myrrh and then goes to the hill of frankincense just to receive you. After receiving you on the hill of frankincense, He will manifest His presence to you, well before the dreadful night appears.
Revelation or creation of Jesus?
After meditating on the odor of His ointments, the disciples are now convinced that the relationship between the bride and the Bridegroom should be built and edified only on the foundation of a personal and close communion between the bride and the Bridegroom that leads to the revelation of Jesus Christ. This relationship and communion cannot be brought into existence overnight by a servant of God for us. Of course, a sermon or a message opens our eyes to the truth but with our eyes opened to the truth, we have to build our relationship with Him. In other words, some servant of God through his sermon or prayer cannot bring about the presence of God for me. That servant of God is merely a tool to reveal the truth to me. It is only for me to enter His presence and to know Him more. No servant of God can create a Jesus through his ministry of signs and wonders. For instance, my son wants to go to a particular place for which I know the way. I have to simply guide him to go to that place. And I cannot bring that place to my son by uprooting it. He has to go there as per my directions. Similarly, I cannot cause the presence of Jesus Christ in the life of another person. What I have to do is preach the truth to him. If he accepts the truth, he will find Jesus. No servant of God or any church can bring about the presence of God in their midst by emotions or by messages. No doubt, the Lord manifests His presence when two or more people are gathered in His Name. But these two or more people cannot bring about His presence at their will.
But the disciples, to their utter shock and disappointment, see the creation of another Jesus in these television programs. They create this Jesus by quoting from the Word of God only. The evangelists concerned create a Jesus as per their sweet will and this Jesus blesses the people and heals the sick. On their intercessions, they create a Jesus who prospers the people as if the sovereign God acts through the media. No doubt, the evangelist concerned can intercede and pray for the people. But he should not mislead the people that God blesses them only through his ministry.
The disciples then go to their Lord. The Lord did know about the confusion in their mind after they had seen the television programs. The moment they entered His presence, they came to know the truth. The Lord simply asked them to abide in Him always. It is the presence of Jesus, who is the Truth that dispels the darkness from your heart. It is not some doctrine of the Bible but His presence in your life leads you to the truth. They simply told the Lord, “Lord, Your presence is sufficient for us. We will not ask You for anything in this world. We are Your disciples”