These things I Have
written to you
who believe
in the name
of the
Son of God,
that you may
know that you
have eternal life,
and that you may
continue to believe
in the name of the
Son of God.
1 John 5:13
God had willed that there be a people that He would call to be His children. It isn't that God needed us; it is the other way around, We need Him. Out of His Love and by His grace we were created, not as other creatures, but with His image. This special creation being so different from all other living creatures inasmuch as we had this attribute(s) so that we could know Him and live according to His rule of life that we should be in awe and respect and in worship to this Great God. How great is He? That old song we have heard and probably sang: "How Great Thou Art," is so true because God made man with something different; man would not exercise their life by a nature that is controlled by simple intuition, rather that man would have a "free will." Man could exercise faith. Yet, faith untried, untested is not faith. Faith is faith when it has been put to the test, therefore "free will" does not exist unless it too is put to the test. God did just that, a simple test: "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of he knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die" (Genesis 23:16-17. Notice two things: 1. They did not want for something to eat, they could choose from the variety of fruit trees in the garden and eat to satisfaction; 2. There is no command for them not to eat of the tree of life. This tree would be given to them when God in His Providence, His economy, in His dispensation, would allow them to eat of that tree. Why was this tree mentioned for them not to eat? It was not that the tree was poisonous, it would be either good or evil according to their faithfulness to the command of God. This command was given to Adam (Genesis 2:18) and Adam recited this command to Eve, she knew and repeated the command to the serpent: "And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die" (Genesis 3:2-3). They failed the test, their faith was tested and they refused to adhere to the command of God who they spoke with, walked with and knew. Is this refusal to God's commands different from them today? No! We have the command of God and yet we find all sorts of way to avoid doing what He has commanded. We find ways to make our sins palatable. Abortion is just one. Adultery is another, and divorce that is rampart in the Christian Church is one such sin that we have given even support to and advised others to do. That particular problem is that the Church has become worldly and will not hold fast to the faith, and become devoted to Jesus Christ, only devoted to their happiness and yet God has only given to reasons for divorce: 1. Adultery: (Matthew 5:32); 2. If an unbeliever has deserted the marriage: (1 Corinthians 7:15). The Proverbs written for our morality while we live on this earth says: "It is a snare for a man to devote rashly something as holy, and afterward to reconsider his vows" (Proverbs 20:25). Jesus made this a fact; we are to keep our vows by saying: "But let your 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no' be 'no.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one" (Matthew 5:37). This is faith in action and should be in our every thought. We should teach them to our children and we should live them in our lives. It is a shame to the Church, to Christianity that sin abounds, and far too often freely, in the Church. Not just divorce, but allowance for homosexuality, women in preaching and taking the role that only the Bible assigns to men. This is said not to put the woman down only to remind that there is a Biblical hierarchy, women have an important role in the Church as well; you may as many do, not agree with the hierarchy that it is males that are to lead but we should follow Biblical principles, not our feelings and especially not that of the world.
This then is the problem; the human race has been in a process of destruction from Adam until now and will continue until Jesus Christ returns for His Bride, the Church, on the last day. Death and corruption has been gaining hold on man. Death due to their transgressions prevails. The image of God is disappearing. There is not escape from this Law of Death.
It would be unthinkable for God to go back on His word. Did He not say that man would die if they sinned? The justice of God will prevail, and He is just, and not just fair, for if He was fair then all people would have His love and grace and be saved. No, for man is under the curse of sin and death and the justice of God demands death. Man at one time shared the nature of the Word and it also would then be equally wrong for them to die and return from where they came; nothingness, non-existence. Man was destined to perish and from dust he was made and to dust he would return and man was and is unable to do anything about this Law of Death.
How then could a good God allow Satan to destroy that which He made, and that which He brought into existence? Would it not be unworthy of God and unfitting for the word of God in mankind to be destroyed and then to disappear either by their neglect or by means of the devil? (Genesis 6:11-12; Titus 1:15; Revelation 19:2). What was God to do? God has done something and there will come a day when God will avenge the sin of Satan and his hordes of demons and to all men and women here on earth who have followed the wiles of Satan: "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her" (Revelation 18:20). God's will is always accomplished for if He did not will a thing to be then it cannot be. The next blog will discuss what God has done.
Then I saw that
wisdom
excels folly
as light
excels darkness.
Ecclesiastes 2:13
Hate the way of the world; live for God
Richard L. Crumb
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