2007-05-11
Good Morning God's Children,
The Holy Spirit has directed me to write about the five statements of faith in the context of materialism. You'll remember that last week the first two were discussed: 1) God is Who He says He is; 2) God can do what He says He can do. Now, I am led to pick up with the third statement of faith. 3) We are who God says we are. Because of the original sin [GN 3: 1-6], we are born to sin. Sadly enough, this condition exists because we are all progeny of Adam and Eve. This was surely not God's choice for His human creation, created in His own image [GN 1: 27].
Understanding who Satan originally was helps us to better understand the tragedy of his deceitfulness. In EZK 28: 11-16 metaphorically refers to Satan as the "king of Tyre." "The Lord spoke to me [Ezekiel] again. 'Mortal man,' He said, 'grieve for the fate that is waiting for the king of Tyre. Tell him what I, the Sovereign Lord am saying: 'You were once an example of perfection. How wise and handsome you were! You lived in Eden, the garden of God and wore gems of every kind: rubies and diamonds; topaz, beryl, carnelian, and jasper; sapphires, emeralds, and garnets. You had ornaments of gold. They were made for you on the day you were created. I put a terrifying angels there to guard you. You lived on My holy mountain and walked among sparkling gems. Your conduct was perfect from the day you were created until you began to do evil. You were busy buying and selling, and this led you to violence and sin. So I forced you to leave My holy mountain, and the angels who guarded you drove you away from the sparkling gems. You were proud of being handsome, and your fame made you act like a fool. Because of this I hurled you to the ground and left you as a warning to other kings...'" Exactly who was Satan before all of this? The Rev. Billy Graham in his book, Angels, tackles what Paul called "the mystery of iniquity" [2 THESS 2: 7], which is the origin of the sin of God's adored angel in charge of light [worship] in heaven, Lucifer. It is through this passage that we can see how human behavior on the part of those who have great wealth and then become greedy in the buying and selling behavior can follow from the original sin-the deceitful human heart, the "stubborn heart of stone" [EZK 36: 26]. I am not saying all wealthy people behave this way, only that the temptation to do so is there. It is through this buying and selling behavior, that angelic rebellion in heaven got started. Lucifer's pride in wanting more power than his Creator fuels the behavior, including the greed. One third of the heaven host [angels] sided with Lucifer and shared his punishment. 2 PET 2: 4 KJV, "God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment."
IS 14: 11-15 gives us some insight. Satan is called the king of Babylon here metaphorically. "You used to be honored with the music of harps, but now here you are in the world of the dead. You lie in a bed of maggots and are covered with a blanket of worms. King of Babylon, bright morning star, you have fallen from heaven! In the past you conquered nations, but now you have been thrown to the ground. You were determined to climb up to heaven and to place your throne above the highest stars. You thought you would sit like a king on that mountain in the north where the gods assemble. You said you would climb to the tops of the clouds and be like the Almighty. But instead, you have been brought down to the deepest part of the world of the dead." In Leslie Miller's little book All About Angels, he points out that angels are sometimes called stars. This explains why prior to his fall Satan was called Morning Star. The apostle John adds, REV 12: 4, "His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth." At the moment he was cast down, Lucifer's name was changed to Satan.
Having written all of this, we need to understand the truth of the third faith statement. Without God's intervention, sending His Son to minister on earth, suffer, die on the cross to expunge the sins of those who will repent and have faith in Him, without all of that, mankind would be sunk! When God tells us that believing mankind is forgiven for both the original sin, which they inherited from Adam and Eve, and for past sins they committed, we can believe Him. How do we know this? HE 8: 12 [God speaking], "I will forgive their sins and will not longer remember their wrongs." HE 10: 10, 14, "Because Jesus Christ did what God wanted Him to do, we are all purified from sin by the offering that He made of His own body once and for all.. With one sacrifice, then, He has made perfect forever those who are purified from sin."
PRAYER: Dearest Abba, we come before Your mighty throne in awe of Your love for and compassion toward us. As we examine what happened to Your treasured angel in charge of worship [Lucifer] by giving in to temptations of pride in his material wealth, we can now better understand the bitter disappointment You have endured at his hand. His prideful buying and selling in heaven was only the beginning of it. He, like the leaders of many countries in the world today, polarized the angels in heaven, causing You to exercise Your mighty power to cast them down. His deceitful heart led him to spread his evil to Adam and Eve, so that Your human creation would be tainted with sinfulness. When we allow the acquisition of material wealth to overcome our thoughts and deeds, we too deliver bitter disappointment to You. Because of Your righteousness, You are forced to send habitually sinning mankind to hell in the Judgment of the condemned. RO 3: 26, "God did this [offered His Son on the cross] in order to demonstrate that He is righteous. In the past He was patient and overlooked people's sins; but in the present time He deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate His righteousness. In this way God shows that He Himself is righteous and that He puts right everyone who believes in Jesus." In Your eternal wisdom, You show us how to avoid the Judgment of the condemned. RO 14: 10b-12 helps us to better understand the issue of sin in any form, including materialism. "All of us will stand before God to be judged by Him. For the Scripture [IS 45: 23] says, 'As surely as I am the living God', says the Lord, 'everyone will confess that I am God.' Every one of us, then, will have to give an account of himself to God." Because of Your great sacrifice of Your Son on the cross, we can believe that we are saved from spiritual death [conscious and eternal torment in hell]. You are a loving and kind Father. We are eternally grateful to You and pledge You our worship, obedience, loyalty, adoration, praise, and heartfelt thanks. In Christ's mighty name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, I am led to take up the fourth statement of faith, PHIL 4: 13, "We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us." There is still one aspect of this third statement of faith that needs mention. God has given each of us certain talents. Mine are in the area of ministry [teaching, speaking, and writing, etc.] No one single person born on earth is here without a talent. Anyone who says that he has no talents doesn't tell the truth. That's a bold statement, but it is the truth. Not one of us, despite his material wealth, education, title, or anything else, is less important to God than another. I believe this with all my heart. The things that human society holds as valuable are different than what God considers valuable. That's why we can't live without God's intervention the righteous lives of holiness He desires for us. Remember MT 5: 3, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit: their's is the Kingdom of heaven." These are Christ's own words in the Sermon of the Mount. Our God adores each of His human creation, which is why He brought Christ to the cross for our redemption. His mission statement and Christ's [EPH 1: 4-5; JN 6: 39-40] both put forth the truth that God wants us all to come to faith in Christ and to be brought back to His side in heaven to rule as "joint-heirs with Christ" [RO 8: 17]. As hard as it is for us to learn to reject temptation to evil, what God is asking of us is small in comparison to the glory He wants to share with us [RO 8: 18; 2 COR 4: 18]. Our Lord would not have given us the richness of His word, had He not loved us with all His heart. If He can love someone with my own past, He can surely love someone with each of our past lives before coming to faith in Him. Think about it: 2 COR 5: 17 tells us we are "new creations when in union with Christ" and COL 3: 10 tells us, "...This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in His own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of Himself." He loves us enough to be working to guide us through sanctification, so that He can bring us to our permanent home with Him in heaven [in His own perfect time and way]. Now that's being loved! Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn