2004-04-30
Good Morning Cherished Readers,
You’ll remember that at the end of last week’s message that I promised to look at some of the events that God and mankind had to go through in the process of God’s effort to civilize man. I intend to make good on that promise and must state my belief that God wants as many of us as will listen to the truth to turn from our sins and embrace faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ gave us His “mission statement” in JN 6: 39: 40, “And it is the will of Him Who sent Me that I should not lose any of all those He has given Me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last Day. For what My Father wants is that all who see the Son and believe in Him should have eternal life. And I will raise them to life on the last Day.” Paul restates Christ’s mission in COL 1: 19-20, “For it was by God’s own decision that the Son has in Himself the full nature of God. Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to Himself. God made peace through His Son’s death on the cross and so brought back to Himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.” This was the decision of God in what is often called the “pre-Creation counsel.” It is clear that for this mission to be accomplished, mankind must desire to behave like Christ, and thus, God had before Him the monumental task of transforming mankind’s hearts from sinful, deceitful ones to ones which desire to love Him and other people. This kind of theology can never work apart from God’s presence through the Holy Spirit within a person.
We already know that from the time of the original sin [GN 3: 1-6] mankind was destined to inherit sinfulness as their nature. Because there was no law given to them before Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Law [the Ten Commandments], how could people be held accountable for their behavior? God knew this before anyone like myself with perfect 20/20 hindsight that comes from examining history could have ever known it. His first step in dealing with the situation was to inspire Moses to write the Torah, the first five books of the Bible and a remarkable early history of His chosen people, the Jews. How horrified God must have been when He saw Cain offer such an unacceptable sacrifice to Himself and then when it was rejected, slay his brother, Abel [GN 4: 2-8]. Perhaps, that was His wake-up call that He needed to take some kind of action to begin civilizing mankind. I don’t presume to know God’s mind, but it would seem logical to me that our God, Who loves justice, teaches us to revere human life, and practices such a compelling example of His unselfishness would abhor this cowardly act. God sought to change the course of His creation by allowing the flood to happen, saving only Noah, his family, and of course, the animals. [Kinda wished he hadn’t bothered with mosquitoes, though J.] After the flood was over, God made the promise of the rainbow in GN 8: 21, “The odor of the sacrifice pleased the Lord, and He said to Himself, ‘Never again will I put the earth under a curse because of what man does; I know that from the time he is young his thoughts are evil. Never again will I destroy all living beings, as I have done this time.” This is the Noahtic Covenant.
But still, God had to deal with the problem of imparting His will concerning the premeditated taking of another’s life. That’s why God included with His instructions to Noah the words of GN 9: 4-6, “The one thing you must not eat is meat with blood still in it; I forbid this because the life is in the blood [see also LV 17: 11 and HE 9: 22]. If anyone takes human life, he will be punished. I will punish with death any animal that takes a human life. Man was made like God, so whoever murders a man will himself be killed by his fellow man.” Thus, we see the institution of what will later become the practice of the kosher regime, of human government based on God’s will, and yes, capital punishment for premeditated murder.
We can only imagine God’s disgust when despite all His efforts, some of the people began to construct the Tower of Babel, a ziggurat which was designed to reach all the way to where God dwells in heaven found in GN 11. Once again, just as the serpent had lied to Eve that she could become like God [GN 3: 4], the evil one was encouraging mankind to corporately be “like God.” Those who read IS 14: 14 know that Satan himself claimed he would be “like God” just before he was cast out of heaven with one third of the heavenly host (evil angels) stupid enough to follow him. The account of Satan's fall from IS 14: 12-15 and EZK 28: 11-19 gives us some insight into the horrific disappointment God suffered in losing His favored angel in charge of heavenly worship, Lucifer, to evil. Then, heap upon that the power, albeit limited in time and scope by Him, that Satan has over unbelieving mankind. With the Tower of Babel, organized evildoing had begun on the earth. God’s decision was to first set apart a new group of people, the Jews-His people who believe He is the Aleph and the Tahv (Hebrew)-Alpha and Omega (Greek), the One and Only Supreme God-descended from Abraham through his child of the promise, Isaac. This group was to be His “chosen people, a nation of priests [EX 19: 5-6] and a “light to the nations” [IS 49: 6]. What does all of this mean to us? It means that we need to spend daily time in the Scriptures to give our loving Abba the opportunity to reveal Himself and His righteousness to us. It means that we are so spiritually poor on our own that we must recognize our utter need for His direction, correction, teaching, and encouragement in our lives. There simply is no other way to overcome the evil of this world or to share in the blessings of a righteous life.
PRAYER: O Lord, without You in our lives, we live like uncivilized cave men, totally self-absorbed with no real guidelines for our behavior. We take all around us for granted, including our very own physical lives. Our spiritual and emotional selves are in ruins. Many of us don’t realize the extent of the sin of which we are capable, unless we take a look at our history and the evildoing still going on today. Only Satan could drive a person to strap himself with bombs, go into a crowded place and set them off, as some of those in whom he has a stronghold do. EPH 1: 18-20 tells us that as believers in Christ, Your Son, we have the same power You used to raise Him from death to life to use against Satan and his followers. How many of us realize the extent of Your love for us? How many of us spend much time contemplating the great sacrifice You made by allowing Your Son to suffer and die on the cross as a perfect once-for-all sacrifice for our sins [HE 10: 10]? How many of us even after we turn from our will to sin and accept Christ as our personal Savior eschew taking for granted the gift of Your Spirit to dwell within us? Dearest Lord, we are spending some time, most especially during Lent, in prayer, so that we can begin to hear from You what You desire for us to understand. Many of us will see the Mel Gibson movie, “The Passion of Christ,” and will discuss it. Some of us will bring non-believers and new believers (babies in the faith) to see this movie. You have had to suffer enormous disappointments from mankind’s willingness to give in to the flesh. We, Your children, desire to dedicate our lives to being Your friends and Your servants. We acknowledge the emptiness of our lives without You [MT 5: 3] and offer You our confession, our thanks, and our utmost praise. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that it will take me more messages to give reasonable attention to the subject at hand-God’s task in civilizing mankind. Next week, I am led to begin with a look at the Abrahamic Covenant and the Covenant of the Law. We can stand in awe at the enormity of the task God is undertaking, and I use the present tense here very much on purpose. How very resistant some people are to opening their hearts to our loving, patient, compassionate, and righteous God! I put myself at the top of that list, because I wasted so many years not being obediently faithful to Him. And yet, He has given us grace when we least deserved it. He has given us the Law so that we might know what is pleasing to Him and righteous and what is not [RO 7: 7]. He has seen that all who come to faith are washed in the blood of His Son-the Covenant of Grace is even sealed with it [1 COR 11: 25]. Nowhere in the universe can we find so great a love as our God has for us! HO 14: 9, “The Lord says, ‘Bring My people back to Me. I will love them with all My heart; no longer am I angry with them.” Bask in the warmth of that truth.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn