Amiga Format CD 41/Amiga Format CD41 (1999-06)(Future Publishing)(GB)[!][issue 1999-07].iso/-seriously_amiga-/misc/evenmore/docs/godsremedy

Text File | 1999-04-28 | 8KB | 127 lines

God's remedy

In Genesis we are told of how our first parents sinned against God, by eating of
the  forbidden  fruit.  God  gave  man a free will, to choose to obey Him, or to
disobey and be punished. In Genesis 2:16, God told Adam that he could freely eat
of  every  tree  in the garden, except the tree in the middle of the garden, the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told Adam, face to  face,  that  the
day he touched or ate of that tree, he would surely die (Gen 2:17, Gen 3:3). The
literal Hebrew means 'dying, you shall die'. As head of  the  family,  God  gave
responsibility to Adam to make sure his wife understood what He had said.

But Lucifer, one of the highest ranking angels in heaven rebelled  against  God.
Isaiah  14  tells  us that his heart was lifted up because of his beauty, and he
wanted to become like the Most High. He wast cast out of the  presence  of  God,
and  1/3rd  of  all the angels, which sided with Lucifer, with him. Satan (which
means 'slanderer') then set about to destroy all that God had created.

Satan, who Jesus Christ calls a liar, and the father of lies,  as  he  told  the
first lie, (John 8:44) told three lies to Eve to tempt her to eat the fruit. His
first lie was, 'Yea, hath God said, Ye shall  not  eat  of  every  tree  of  the
garden?'  (Gen  2:1).  Satan  will  always  try to make us question what God has
plainly said. Did God really say that? Did He really say he took dust and made a
man?  Did  He  really  say He created this world in 6 days? Did He really say He
will destroy the world with a flood? Did He really say He will punish  sin?  His
second  lie was 'Ye shall not surely die' (Gen 2:4). His third lie was 'ye shall
be as gods' (Gen 2:5).

Eve was beguilded by the serpent into taking the fruit, although she  knew  what
the consequences would be (Gen 3:3). Adam, who received the commandment from God
face to face not to eat the fruit, was right beside her when she  took  it  (Gen
3:6).  Adam  ate  the fruit knowing that he was sinning against God. Immediately
both their eyes were opened, and they had knowledge of what was  good  and  what
was evil. They tried to hide from their Creator.

God cursed creation as a punishment for the sin they had committed.  In  Genesis
3:14, God curses the serpent. Although it was not the serpent itself that caused
Adam and Eve to sin, but Satan acting through it,  in  Jewish  law,  whenever  a
crime  had  been  committed, the impliment that was used to commit the crime was
always broken too. God cursed  Eve  by  increasing  womens'  sorrow  in  bearing
children, and making their husbands to rule over them (Gen 3:16). God cursed man
by making him have to work and till the ground just to  eat  (Gen  3:17-18).  He
finally cursed them with the eventuality of physical death (Gen 3:18).

In order that they should not live forever in their fallen state by  eating  the
tree of life, God drove them out of Eden, and placed an angel at the entrance to
the garden (Gen 3:24) to stop them returning. The reality is, sin  seperates  us
from  God. Just like Lucifer had discovered when he was cast out of the presence
of God, our first parents had now discovered to their misfortune.



God is love (1 John 4:8), but God is also just (John  5:30),  and  sin  must  be
punished.  God  killed an animal and made Adam and Eve coats of skin and clothed
them (Gen 3:21). The coats  covered  their  nakedness,  while  the  first  blood
sacrafice  was  a  covering  for  their sin. Leviticus 17:11 says that it is the
blood that makes an atonement for the soul. Without the shedding of blood, their
is  no  remission  of  sins (Heb 9:22). God requires that in order for sin to be
forgiven, a life must be taken. It was very important that the animal that would
be  sacraficed  should  have  no  blemishes  (Ex  12:5),  no effects of a fallen
creation. As the animal was being sacraficed for another's sin,  it  had  to  be
perfect, and guiltless of sin.

But it is not possible that the blood of animals can ever  take  away  sin  (Heb
10:4,  10:11),  they  can  only  cover  it. God did not take any pleisure in the
sacrafices of animals (Psalm 40:6, Hosea 6:6). If  the  human  race  was  to  be
redeemed,  a  member of the human race would have to be sacraficed. God searched
for a member of the human race that was perfect  but  could  find  none  (Isaiah
59:16).  Romans 5:12 says that as 'by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world,
and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for ALL have sinned'. There  was
no  way  for  man to redeem himself, and there was no way a just God could write
off his debts.

So God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ the Creator of the universe (John  1:10),
into this world, to become a man, to be our perfect sacrafice, to take away sins
forever (Heb 10:12). John 1:14 says that 'The Word (Jesus Christ)  became  flesh
(a man) and dwelt among us'. 1 Cor 15:45 calls Jesus Christ, the 'last Adam', as
He was sent to redeem mankind from the first Adam's sin.  Isaiah  prophesied  of
the  suffering  and  death  of  God's Son. Isaiah 53:5 says, 'But he (Jesus) was
wounded  for  our  transgressions,  he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities:  the
chastisement  of  our  peace  was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed'.
Verse 6 says, 'the LORD hath laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us  all'.  God,
who  found no pleisure in burnt offerings, now found pleisure in the sacraficing
of His own Son, to reedem a rebellious creation.  Isaiah  53:10  says  that  'it
pleased  the  LORD  to  bruise  him (Jesus); he hath put him to grief: when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin', verse 11 says 'He (God) shall  see  of
the  travail of his (Jesus) soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall
my righteous servant (Jesus) justify many; for he (Jesus) shall bear their (our)
iniquities'.

At last the Lamb of God (John 1:29), Jesus Christ had been  sacraficed  for  the
sins  of  the world. Animal sacrafices were only a pointer to the real sacrafice
that was made by Jesus Christ 2000 years ago.  Every  time  God  saw  an  animal
sacraficed  for  sin,  it  would remind Him of the promise He made that He would
send His Son to be a sacrafice for all sin. God honoured that promise, 'when the
fulness  of  the  time  was  come, God sent forth his Son', Galatians 4:4. Jesus
Christ Himself said on the cross, 'It is finished',  John  19:30.  Nothing  more
needs to be done, the plan of salvation is complete.

God had already punished His own Son for all the sins  you  have  done.  He  has
carried  out  the  death sentence that you justly deserved. Your criminal record
can not only be wiped clean, but destroyed completely (Hebrews 10:14), as Christ
has  once suffered for your sins forever (Hebrews 10:12), you can never again be
brought into condemnation (Romans 8:1). All God asks is that your repent of  the
sins  you  have  committed (No sin is too great, Christ has died for them all, 1
John 1:7), and that you believe that God's  own  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  took  the
punishment  for  your  sins in your place. John 3:16 says, 'For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son (Jesus), that whosoever  believeth  in
him should not perish (in hell), but have everlasting life (in heaven)'.

God loves you, and so does His Son Jesus. God is not  willing  that  any  should
perish, but all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But John 3:18 says that
unless you believe in Jesus Christ, then you are condemned  (to  hell)  already.
Hebrews 9:27 says that 'it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the
judgement'. God has set a day in which He will judge  all  those  who  have  not
believed  in  His  Son (Acts 17:31). Revelation 20:12 says, 'And I saw the dead,
small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and  another  book
was  opened,  which  is  the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books, according to their works'.  The  verdict
is  unanimous, 'And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire', Revelation 20:15. Unless  you  have  believed  in  Jesus
Christ,  and  God  has  written  your name in the book of life, then you have no
hope.

Jesus Christ can either be your judge (Acts 17:31), or your advocate with God (1
John  2:1). Jesus promised, 'He that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out'
(John 6:37).