Hello dontevensaythesethings. I hope I have covered everything in this post:.
You say you haven’t even read the Bible how then can you see Gods message to us? You want a relationship or develop a relationship with God but this cannot be done without first getting to know Him through His Word the Bible. The Bible was not written by God and then given to us to follow and hope for the best that we get into heaven by pure chance or our good works in attempting to please Him. The whole Bible is God revealing Himself to man in a very spiritually dark world and how we can get to be in a relationship with Him. The central focus of the whole Bible is Jesus Christ through whom we must come to God. There is no other way (John 14:6).
I am going to explain some things to you in this post and in order to be brief I will attempt to give it in a nutshell.
Everything here on earth has a beginning and an ending. Take a journey to go on holiday you start off, get to your destination, do your holidaying and then it has to come to an end. You could apply this when making something. You start it with the intention to create something. Its just an idea, a thought that inspired you to create something. You draw up plans, get the necessary materials and then you put it all together to have a final product. You started the project, you created the project and you completed the project. Obviously, you would not have created this item if you did not have a use for it. That would be pointless. Why make something for the sake of making it and then have no use for it?
Putting all your plans together to create this something and then seeing the item created makes you a creator. God is no different. You are created in the image of God and since God created everything that you see that means He created you too and for a purpose. If you want meaning to life then He is the one to whom you must turn. He has put in you His attribute to create. However, God is eternal and does not have a beginning or an ending. He has always existed.
The Bible has a beginning and an ending. It deals with the present, past and future. But its words are eternal and will never pass away. It speaks of Gods relationship with man here on earth and it speaks of heaven and hell. Everything on earth was created to be eternal when it was first created but something went wrong that put an end to that eternal thought. That something is sin. We will come back to this later.
Right from the beginning God wanted man (male and female corporately) to be in a relationship with Him. We can see this right through scripture. God spoke to Adam and Eve, He spoke to Cain and Abel, He spoke to Noah, He spoke to Abraham, He spoke to Isaac, He spoke to Jacob, He spoke to Paul the Apostle, Peter the Apostle … He spoke through Moses, the priests and the prophets. Who did He want them to speak to … you and me. When Jesus Christ, His Son, was born of a virgin, He spoke through Him too. Then once Jesus accomplished what His Father wanted Him to accomplish it opened the door for all to have this relationship with God restored. However, it required us to make a choice. Either we want to walk in His righteousness or to walk according to the evils of this world. That is where the gospel comes in. We are presented with His Hand of friendship through His mercy all made possible because His Son, in His death burial and resurrection, showed us the way to go. Where we deserved hell in judgement by God Jesus took that judgement on Himself so we could not be eternally separated from God. I will explain all this later.
God is the author of the Bible. He inspired it. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. He gave it through 40 different persons over approximately 1600 years. Although men wrote down what God wanted us to know it came from His heart and lips making it eternal and perfect in its origin. It deals with the present, past and future. There are no contradictions in the Bible either. Some things may have been lost through translation though, but it is sound. Heaven and earth will pass away but Gods words will never pass away.
Having said the above let us go back to the beginning.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God … all things originated from Him who is light and light is pure. Light is so pure that darkness cannot come into it or even join with it. (1John 1:5) This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Have you every attempted to put darkness into light? It is impossible. Light forces the darkness in a room to flee when it shines into it and it reveals all that is in that room. The bible is like a torch that shines into your heart and reveals all the sin hidden in it. This is why many hate the Word of God.
In the original Hebrew God is plural:
H430 אֱלֹהִים 'elohiym (el-o-heem') n-m.
אֱלֹהֵי 'elohiy (el-o-hee') [alternate plural]
1. (literally) supreme ones.
2. (hence, in the ordinary sense) gods.
3. (specifically, in the plural, especially with the article) the Supreme God (i.e. the all supreme).
4. (sometimes) supreme, used as a superlative.
5. (occasionally, by way of deference) supreme magistrates, the highest magistrates of the land.
6. (also) the supreme angels (entities of unspecified type).
[plural of H433]
KJV: angels, X exceeding, God (gods)(-dess, -ly), X (very) great, judges, X mighty.
Root(s): H433
Compare: H5945, H7706, H8199, H4397
Therefore, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are involved in the creation. Genesis 1:26 Let us make man in our image ….
What was Gods purpose in creating man (both male and female)? To give man dominion over the creation as we read in Genesis 1 and 2 (dominion not ownership), to multiply and fill the earth and all together walk with Him in a wonderful relationship. We would use the creativity that He gave us to create and build from the things that He has given us to do that. He would be the centre of all our worship and praise.
However, there was a rebellion in Heaven where Satan and a third of the angels chose to rebel against God and they were cast down to the earth. In Genesis 3 we see that Satan, through the serpent, beguiled Eve and caused her to sin and thereby partake in his rebellion against God. Adam listened to his wife and therefore both fell. They were separated from God because of this sin (as we saw earlier, God is light and man had become darkness and therefore they were cast away from Him). Can we see Satan and his demons? No, however, we can see their influence throughout the creation. A hate for God and His Son, a hate for our fellow man, adultery, murder, covetousness, lies, coveting our neighbours wife, thievery, abortion, homosexuality and lesbianism, breaking up of homes and families, hurt and pain, suffering sickness and even death from it, etc, etc. Man became depraved. They no longer glorified God. God is love and you can read about this throughout the scriptures and in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 13 and 1 John as examples.
God’s judgement on man for their rebellion was that He handed them over to Satan and they would be eternally separated from Him. Hell was prepared for Satan and his angels and now man would go there too. It was not Gods intention for man to go there but He is a God that judges sin. If you do not believe in a hell I suggest that you look at the penal system in your own country. To be incarcerated with people who murder and thieve, rape, hate God etc, etc would give you an indication of who you would be with in hell and what it would be like… only eternally. These cells are like the holding cell in a police station where one goes to await trial. Once appearing in court and sentenced, and for instance a death penalty is given, off to the main prison you go. Here on earth one may be released from prison after serving out the sentence handed down by the courts but in hell there is no parole or escape or serving out your sentence. The sentence in eternal!! There is no such thing as purgatory where one atones for his or her own sin. After Gods final judgement on those who refused to repent, believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and seek Gods mercy there is the casting or all those who love iniquity into the lake of fire. A place of utter torment with the gnashing of teeth, grinding of teeth, You can read about this in Revelation 17 – 22. It is given once for man to die then the judgement. There is no second chance.
Because of this separation from God all men and women that come into the world would be separated from God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). You can read this in Romans 5. However, God made a plan to enable man to come back to Him in a relationship again and we see the start of that in Genesis 3:21. God made garments of skin for them and clothed them. Death had not been seen on the earth but God took the skin of an animal to cloth them. This symbolically points to Him clothing Adam and Eve and all those who would believe after them, in His righteousness. Adam and Eve had attempted to clothe themselves with fig leaves to hide their nakedness (they were not ashamed before the fall) this points to them as attempting to hide their sin from God in their own self-righteousness (Genesis 3). It is not acceptable to God!! Man would have to choose to come back to Him on His terms or remain in their sin. It would require man to repent (turn from his sin) and seek Gods mercy through His Son. Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins. (Hebrews 9:22) Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Sin separated us from God. Sin is darkness.
God judged the serpent and said, “Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel”.
The seed of the woman has two meanings:
1. Israel; and
2. Miriam (Mary) – a virgin would give birth to the Messiah.
Out of Israel would come the Son of God who would take away the sins of the world and that He would come into the world through a supernatural conception and birth. In the book of Isaiah (Isa 7:14) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. In Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. These were given around 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 52/53 we read:
Isa 52:14-15 (ESV2011)
(Isa 52:14) As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—(Isa 52:15) so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him; for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
Isa 53:8-12 (ESV2011)
(Isa 53:8) By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? (Isaiah 53:9) And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:10) Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. (Isa 53:11) Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:12) Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
As you can see that this prophecy was written 700 years before the event and fulfilled in the Gospels. There is no mistaking this that this points to Jesus Christ and was fulfilled just as God through the prophet Isaiah said it would. It is written too, “let God be true and every man a liar”. To say this is not true is make God out to be liar and it is impossible for God to sin.
I really am trying to be brief because this is something that should be taught through discipleship in a Bible believing church that teaches correct and sound doctrine.
I suggest that you read the Gospel According to Luke to read of the account of Jesus’ conception and birth. Read the other Gospel accounts of this after you have read Luke. The Gospel According to Mark does not give much detail regarding His conception and birth.
I do not Have the space to give a complete account of everything as I have mentioned prior to this that discipleship will have to be necessary at a true Bible teaching church who teach sound biblical truths.
Once you have read these accounts of His conception and birth then go and read the rest of the content of the Gospels until you get to where Jesus is crucified, taking on Himself the judgement for our sins. In John 19:30 He says, ”it is finished”. By this statement He is saying that He has accomplished what God wanted Him to do, redeem man by becoming the atonement for our sins. A fulfilment of what God said in Genesis 3:15 given 4000 years prior. Something man could not do for themselves as there was no man who was sinless. The one who died would have to be perfect and sinless and only God could fulfil that by becoming a man and dying in our stead. By doing this you will see that Jesus is God in a human body. A hundred percent man and a hundred percent God. Jesus Himself said that if you see Him and how he sinlessly conducts Himself and preforms healings, changing water into wine and bringing people who had died back to life, etc then you have seen the Father.
Once you have read the account of His death then you go on to read the account of His burial and resurrection. This is the absolute hope we have in the true Christian faith. He appears to many of the disciples. We read about this in Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 23:50 to Luke 24:1-53; John 20:1-25. These men whom Jesus called as disciples became Apostles and once the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost they went into all the earth a preached the gospel.
Why do I way that the resurrection is the absolute hope we have? Because those who are genuinely in Jesus Christ, who have believed in His atoning sacrifice, who believe that He has taken on Himself our sins and Gods judgement then we too will share in His resurrection. That means that if we are in Christ and we die then we are at home with the Lord to be with Him eternally in heaven having escaped hell and the lake of fire (read 1 Corinthians 15). Death therefore has no sting or victory over us we will be with God and His Som eternally.
Once again I would love to go into a whole lot more but I would have to write a book and post it on the forum in response to your post.
I hope I have given you now something to read and consider. God has given us the wonderful right to choose. To choose between heaven and hell, peace or torment. That choice is ours to make when we are presented with the true gospel.
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