THE TRENTON BULLETIN

THE TRENTON BULLETIN

Trenton Church of Christ, Trenton, Florida

The hands of a new-born child are a most wonderful thing to behold. Ten little fingers with tiny fingernails reaching forth with innocent purity. One can only imagine how Mary and Joseph must have felt as their first newborn reached up and touched their face. They were literally looking into the face of God (John 1:14). As Jesus grew he learned how to hold things and reach out for things. Jesus waddled around their home in Nazareth, learning to pull himself up, pick up sticks, grasp at his food and inspect a carpenter’s tool. In time, he would share his home with his four brothers and sisters and his hands would find time to help them and play with them.

Following in the footsteps of Joseph, Jesus would have learned the carpenter’s trade. The Creator of the world (Colossians 1:16) would use his hands to create things on the earth. He would help his mother and help their neighbors. His diligence would lend itself to be held in favor with men (Luke 2:52).

Like Daniel of old, the hands of Jesus learned early to pray (Daniel 6:10). He would spend untold hours talking with his heavenly Father in prayer. As a young man growing up in a morally corrupt world of Roman dominance, the hands of Jesus learned early to spend time with the ancient words of Moses, the prophets and the poets of Israel. He filled himself with the wisdom that comes from above. As early as twelve years Jesus was in the temple “sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions” (Luke 2:46); his hands gesturing with truth and righteousness.

At the age of thirty, the hands of Jesus went to task for the mission his Father had sent him to do. His hands became wet with water as he arose from baptism and immediately gathered in prayer (Luke 3:21). Satan sought to destroy Jesus in the temptation but the hands of Jesus kept the devil at bay with the word of God (Mark 4:1-13). He took hold of the book of Isaiah and showed the people he was the fulfillment of the prophecy (Luke 4:16-30). His hands drove out “those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves” (Matthew 21:12). His hands were powerful.

Jesus laid his hands on the sick and afflicted. He touched the leper and made him whole (Matthew 8:3). Many others he healed with his touch (Mark 5:23; Luke 4:40). The Lord reached out with his hands and saved Peter from drowning from little faith (Matthew 14:22-33). “Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray” (Matthew 19:13).

At the Passover feast the hand of Jesus and the hand of Judas found themselves together in the betrayal. "He who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me” (Matthew 26:23). His hands were later bound as the Roman soldiers led him out of Gethsemane to be tried, convicted and executed. The final act of the hands of Jesus was to spread them forth before all mankind in a simple sacrifice of love, mercy, justice and compassion for a lost world (John 19:17-18). The hands of Jesus lay folded in death as Joseph and Nicodemus prepared the body for burial (John 19:38-42).

A person’s life can be traced by their hands. The hands of Jesus tell the story of his life and his purpose. His hands were always serving his Father. What do your hands say? Do they serve only your interest and your desires or do your hands show the wear of diligent service to the cause of Jesus Christ?

While there are so many items that prove creation and God, you probably did not realize most homes have incredible proof right in the kitchen. It is none other than eggs; chicken eggs to be more specific. What is so special about chicken eggs? Let me explain.

Each egg is incredibly complex and unique. While on the outside the egg looks solid, it actually contains around 10,000-17,000 tiny holes all over the shell. In fact, if you put a raw egg in warm water, you may be able to see tiny bubbles coming out. For over two weeks this is how the chick is able to breath. It would suffocate without these pores. This is not all these pores do though.

During the first few days after the egg is laid, blood vessels begin to form. Two of these attach to the membrane under the eggshell (in order to breath) and two attach to the yolk (for food). If any of these blood vessels do not form, the baby chick will die. By the fifth day, the little chick's heart is pumping blood through these blood vessels. Just by the chicken living, it begins giving off carbon dioxide and water vapor, which will kill the chicken either by gas poisoning or by drowning in its own waste if not removed. So, in order to survive, the newly developed blood vessels will pick up these dangerous products and remove them. How are these dangers removed you ask? They are removed through the holes in the eggshell. So, the pores in the shell not only provide oxygen, but also remove deadly products away from the chick.

By the nineteenth day a problem arises. The baby chick is now too big to receive enough oxygen from the pores in the shell and will die if something is not done. God had a solution for this. There is an air pocket inside of the egg. When you hard-boil an egg, have you ever noticed the flattened end, usually at the bottom? This flat part is the air sack. At this point, the chick is big enough to have developed something called the "egg tooth." This is basically a little tooth-like part that grows onto its beak. So, it will use this tooth to first break through the air sack and receive this stored air supply. The chick will use this 6 hour air supply to peck a small hole in the shell and gains the plentiful outside air. Then around twenty days or so, the chick will break out of its shell.

If any of the steps are missing in the chick's development, it will not survive. This raises many questions for evolutionists: How did the chicken know it needed to make an egg with pores small enough so the yoke does not leak out, but large enough for the baby chick to breath (or pores at all for that matter)? If a chicken figured out it needed to do this, how could it possibly make such a porous shell? How does the baby chick know that it needs to grow blood vessels for both the shell and the yoke? How does the chick know there is an air-sack in the egg? When did the chick figure out it needed an "egg tooth" in order to get into the air-sack and out of the egg? Each of these questions and each step of the development of the chick defies evolutionary reasoning. (Facts and Information From Present-Truth.org)

There is no doubt God has His hand in the development of something even as small and insignificant as an egg. It is wonderful to see God's power through this process. This world we live in was created by God (Genesis 1), and what a privilege it is to honor and serve Him. Let's always remember how incredibly wonderful and powerful God is, and also remember that if God is willing to put forth so much effort and design into an egg, how much more has/will He invested in us (Matthew 6:26)? Let's always strive to serve God to the best of our abilities (Ecclesiastes 9:10; Deuteronomy 13:4; Romans 12:1-2; etc).

The inquisitive mind of man has always sought to know what lay just beyond the horizon of the unknown. Our desire to search out the outer limits has led man to find great discoveries. From the early days of the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) man went into the vast regions of the world (Genesis 10:25,32; 1 Chronicles 1:19). Our country was created from those who dared cross the unknown. Great men of science led mankind to set foot upon the moon and send machines far into the outer reaches of our universe. Medicine has kept in check many diseases through the continual pursuit of wanting to solve the riddles of the human body.

It is from this pursuit of knowledge that man is able to find God. Paul said on Mars hill, “So that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:27). All men can find God if they look for Him. “His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).

Finding God has its limitations though. Jehovah has revealed Himself through natural revelation and through the special revelation of His Word (Psalm 19). Peter wrote the Lord by “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (2 Peter 1:3). Yet man can only go so far in this pursuit of knowledge. God has placed a limitation on what man can and will know (Acts 17:26).

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). All that we can know is revealed to us through the word of God. Beyond those words there is no knowledge. No one can stand in the counsel of God and know His mind (Jeremiah 23:18).

The early disciples asked Jesus, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:6-7). They wanted to know but it was not to be revealed to them. In the discourse Jesus had with Peter in John 21 the Lord described the persecution Peter would face. Peter then asked the Lord what would happen to John. The answer Peter received was basically to let God take care of those matters; it was not any of business to know (John 21:20-23).

Do you hear men today talking about the coming of the Lord and how we are living in the “end times”? Prognosticators declare the Lord is near and the world is coming to an end during our life time. Whether or not the Lord is coming today, tomorrow and next week is not relevant to man because he does not know. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36). Every generation is scared into believing the Lord is coming because the signs point to the imminent return. One generation will be right (because He is coming – 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10) but not because they knew He was coming.

The times of seasons belong to God and not to man. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

A strange custom prevailed in ancient Judea. At the feast of the Passover, the Jews could request a criminal’s pardon and the governor was obliged to comply (Mark 15:6; Luke 23:17). It so happened that Jesus’ trial took place at Passover, conveniently presenting Pilate the occasion to release Him without sentence. Pilate welcomed the opportunity, knowing full well that Christ was undeserving of any punishment whatsoever (Matthew 27:19; Mark 15:10; Luke 23:20).

The governor presented to the public what he likely considered a simple choice: exonerate the One “called Christ” (Matthew 27:17) and “King of the Jews” (Mark 15:9), or acquit a “notorious prisoner called Barabbas” (Matthew 27:16), who was a “robber” (John 18:40), an insurrectionist, and a murderer (Luke 23:18). Someone had to go free that day and someone else would die. The crowd chose pardon for the killer and cruel death for the Savior (Matthew 27:20).

“You’ve got to crucify somebody” was the message then; “You’ve got to crucify somebody” remains the message now. Sin has the awful effect of putting Christ to death all over again (Hebrews 6:6). Every transgression is another shout to “Crucify Him, crucify Him!” (Luke 23:21). The Lord can be spared double jeopardy, though, if sinners will crucify themselves instead, for “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). Baptism into Christ’s death makes that happen (Romans 6:3-6, 11). Who have you crucified?

You, LORD, are my shepherd. I will never be in need. You let me rest in fields of green grass. You lead me to streams of peaceful water, and you refresh my life. You are true to your name, and you lead me along the right paths. I may walk through valleys as dark as death, but I won't be afraid. You are with me, and your shepherd's rod makes me feel safe. You treat me to a feast, while my enemies watch. You honor me as your guest, and you fill my cup until it overflows. Your kindness and love will always be with me each day of my life, and I will live forever in your house, LORD. (Psalms 23)

Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Revelation 7:15-17)

Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:13-14)