God created us in His image on the sixth day of creation and God placed man in command over every other living thing on earth. We are told that in (Genesis 1:26,27) . The very next day was the first Sabbath in man's existence. (Genesis 2:1 through 3)
It is not described how much time God spent with Adam and Eve, but it is obvious in Genesis that God was physically there. And I am sure that God was ready to help them whenever they wanted His wisdom or other assistance, that's the nature of a good father and God is the perfect father.
But there was one time when God was not there. It appears that Adam and Eve may have wandered off alone to explore. But the bible says that they were not in the presence of God. Eve had a conversation with what appeared to her to be a serpent. It was the devil, Lucifer, the instigator of sin, there to temp Adam and Eve to sin, to do what God had told them not to do.
I suppose that God already knew that it was only a matter of when they would sin, not if, and God already knew when too, since He can see all time at once. God could have exercised control over His children, but then where would free will be? Our strong desire for freedom is probably an inheritance from God, although like so many things man touches, we have been able to corrupt that inheritance too. Freedom requires responsibility, but we often want freedom without responsibility.
So without God standing over them, Adam and Eve chose to not follow God's rules but use their own judgment, the first instance of two people doing their own thing, as was the term in the sixties, or as it is known today, to discover your own moral reality.
They didn't obey the law of God because they wanted to do what they wanted to do. They were able to rationalize right and wrong until right and wrong exchanged places, a practice that has not ended, but seems instead to have become even more popular.
Well, even though Adam and Eve sinned, God had a solution. Before Adam and Eve existed, God knew what would happen and how He would solve the problem. Salvation would be earned by Jesus, and offered to all of us. Only God in the person of His son Jesus could solve the problem.
But the solution could not be used immediately, it would look like a set-up. Imagine. Children get into trouble, Father bails out the children even before they want to get out, or even know why. No, sin had to be left to take its course so everyone would know what it was, so they would know why they didn't want it. The stage was set and the universe was watching. The results of Adam and Eve's actions had to play out to show what happens when sin is planted.
The devil hadn't even lied completely, he had said that if they ate the fruit of that tree, they would know good and evil. (Genesis 3:5) . Today, after many generations of the growth of evil, we can ask why they wanted to know evil. But in the Garden of Eden they had not yet seen evil so it looked inviting.
But choosing to follow the devil had the natural result, it separated them from God. Not that God disowned or stopped loving them, He didn't. But God and evil do not exist in the same place. Adam and Eve had to leave the physical presence of God.
Man has for so long wanted to get back. So much has been written in literature and music about getting back to the Garden of Eden. Getting back to a place where evil cannot live. But we can't get there by our own strength or on our own terms. We have a component that cannot be physically in the presence of God. It's sin. But that doesn't stop the desire. We want to get back and God want's us to come back. But there is a timetable. We can't go immediately.
God calls us. He doesn't want anyone to be lost. But not everyone understands. Not because of lack of intelligence, it doesn't depend on that. It's because of lack of knowledge. If we know God, we cannot not love Him. He first has loved us. He has not given up on us. Some want to be free of God. They don't realize that freedom from God is slavery to another master, the devil. There is no middle ground. Some people think that there is neutral territory, there isn't. Let's turn to Matthew 12:30. If we are not on God's side then we are on the devil's side. And the devil is an unkind master, to say the least. But God our father still looks after even those of His children that don't know Him.
Once we do know God, we want to be with Him. How can we be with Him when we can't physically be where He is? Well we can pray. We can talk to God in prayer. We can "hear" His answers by reading the Bible. One good thing about God being all knowing and all powerful is that He has already answered all the letters that we could possibly send Him if we could send Him letters. No He doesn't give us all the answers, only the ones that we need. You can look at the Bible as a collection of letters from God answering all of our needs. God sent us the answers to our letters before we even had the thought about what to write to Him about.
Even with the separation caused by sin, we can have fellowship with God. Through reading and studying the bible we can Know God as we read His letters to us. We can talk to God through prayer. We can have fellowship with God even across the great divide that was caused by sin.
But not everyone knows that. Why not? It seems so simple. Well some have never been told. Some have been told but won't accept it. Some have been told, accept it, but can't seem to find the time. Maybe because they don't see how rewarding it can be. Or maybe because they can't see because they can't seem to put their time in order. Can't make time for God. That's strange. God made time, and gave it to us. And we can't take enough of the time that God gave to us, to spend time with Him. Stealing our time is another of the devil's ploys. The devil tries to keep us so busy that we have no time for God. But what do we use the time for instead. Do we use it for quality time with family and friends? That's seldom the case. It's usually too much work, too much TV, too much looking for wisdom in the wrong places.
The week that I was putting my thoughts together to write this down, I was noticing where people look for wisdom. While listening to talk radio at work, I heard a comedian, a talk show host, and a psychologist giving moral advice. On TV there were various actors, actresses, politicians and comedians, all giving advice on how to live.
To some, if a person is rich and famous it is qualification enough to value his viewpoint. This unfortunately has been going on a long time. People have for years wanted to hear what stars and other celebrities have to say about how to live. They write books, give interviews, and appear on the lecture circuit. And the news of what they have to say gets spread to almost everyone. A dozen celebrities are reported to have converted to a certain religion and others want to join. In the late sixty's, a famous rock band went to India to study under the direction of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the applications began applications began flowing in fast in an increased demand for his wisdom. Are we listening to these people and ignoring God? We are if we are spending time listening to radio talk shows, reading magazines, watching TV, etc. to hear what the rich and famous are saying and then say that we have no time for God.
And why are so many people doing this? Could it be that they have a need that is not being satisfied? We were designed to fellowship with God and each other. We were designed to be uplifted by God and then in turn uplift each other. We were designed to learn from God and from each other. What happens when God is taken out of the mix? Could it be that talk radio, talk TV, magazines, books, even tabloids get sucked in to fill the void?
There's an old term related to computers, as old as computers, and they are over 50 years old. The term is Garbage In Garbage Out. That used to be the reason given if a computer made a mistake. (That term was coined before today's operating systems were invented.) The term meant that if faulty data goes in, you get faulty data out. The same is true with the human mind. Put data in that's garbage and you will get data out that is garbage.
But put God's word in and wisdom comes out. That's closer to the way God designed us. We were to have at least one 24 hour day to talk to God. We would talk with Him and He would teach us. Sin changed the plan. But God has an alternate plan. And we have the Bible, God's letters to us that tell us what His plan is. We can read and re-read, put them together with others on the same subject. (2 Timothy 3:16,17). We can study and think about we have read, and understand more every time. I have never heard anyone say that they understood the entire bible.
So what does this add up to? A gift to us. Through the bible, God comforts us as we travel through life, if we let Him. One thing comes through in every story of what Jesus did when He was on earth. Sure, He was instructing. He was healing. He was gathering followers and workers to spread the gospel. He was fulfilling the plan of salvation. But mix it all together. Jesus was bringing us back to Himself and comforting us. As a father would comfort a child who was sick, or confused, or had been lost and was found. If a person needed healing, He healed them. If a person was in need, Jesus helped them.
One of the most striking of the work that Jesus did here on earth was for Him to make the invitation, and confirm that it was true, that we are to be welcomed back to be physically in the presence of God if we believe in Him and follow Him. (John14:1 through 3) As we know, there are responsibilities to being a Christian. But they are responsibilities that we will want to fulfill. Such as telling others about Jesus, and what He has done for us in our lives.
Who doesn't want to tell others if they got a fantastic deal on what they bought, or better yet got for free? Salvation is the best deal, but do we spend enough time telling others about that deal?
Another thing I came across that week got me thinking about another of our responsibilities as Christians. This one is mainly to ourselves. How will we recognize Jesus when He returns for us? It's looking more and more like Jesus will return in this generation. Not many more prophesies need to be fulfilled .A famous evangelist Benny Hinn, who is on television almost daily and was broadcasting his program from Pat Robertson's 700 Club studio recently, when he announced that he felt that Jesus would appear in person at his crusade in Nairobi, Kenya. Benny Hinn, in another broadcast announced that Jesus had been evangelizing in the Muslim world Himself because Christians are not allowed to.
More about what Benny Hinn said including audio and video clips on another web site at http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/ .
When did Jesus say that false Christs would be sighted? (Matthew 24:3-5,24) What kind of land is Nairobi, Kenya? Well Nairobi is not desert. It gets an average of 35 inches of rainfall per year. But Kenya? Much of Kenya, especially in the north of the country, is what we might consider desert. Let's look at Matthew 24:26) And secret chambers? Benny Hinn says that the face of Jesus appeared on the wall in the back of his church in 1986. The bible is clear about the return of Jesus. Lets' look at Revelation 1:7; Matthew 24:27. The return of Jesus will be seen by everyone. Not just the Muslims, not just those at Benny Hinn's crusade in Nairobi, not on the back wall of Benny Hinn's church.
Benny Hinn said that Jesus appeared to Saul, (later to be known as Paul), so why shouldn't Jesus appear at his crusades in Kenya or to Muslim lands. But did Jesus actually return to talk to Saul, (later to be known as Paul)? Let's look at Acts 9:3 through 5 , talking about Paul while he was still known as Saul. No it was a blinding light and the voice of Jesus that Paul experienced. It was not a physical visit by Jesus. So why would God identify Himself as Jesus? Because He is, and Jesus is God. Paul thought that he was doing the will of God in persecuting and killing Christians. God may have wanted to emphasize to Paul that Jesus is God, and that Paul certainly wasn't doing the will of God.
As you can see, there are many who may be able to be fooled by false Christs because they have mistaken ideas about Him. And why? Because they have not gotten to know Him. It is our job to introduce them to Jesus and help them find answers to clarify their mistaken ideas. It's all in the Bible. Even the prophesies in the book of Daniel that were to be sealed until the last days have been deciphered. But don't start with the prophesies in Daniel. Start with Jesus. Otherwise the prophesies don't make sense.
After the disciples met Jesus it wasn't time for them to relax and feel comfortable just being satisfied that they knew Jesus. That was when they had to start in earnest to learn and teach. Learning and teaching are not opposites. The more you learn the more you can teach. And the more you teach, the more you can learn. If you teach someone, invariably they will come up with a question that you hadn't thought of so you will have to learn the answer so that you can tell them.
Every day there are fallacies from people, that are claimed to be from the Bible, taught as if they were Bible fact. And sometimes all someone has to do for correction is to read about it in the Bible. All we have to do is show people the truth, God's word. And God will take it from there.
But all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So who are we to tell others about God? Why are we the ones who can tell others where to find out about God? Not because of any of our own abilities, but because we are here and we have gotten to know God. 1 Peter 2:9 When you are in a place where you don't know your way around you don't look for the wisest, most attractive, best educated person. You look for someone who is where you are who might know how to get to where you want to go. That's qualification enough. So we are all qualified to tell others about Jesus. And when you are lost, and don't realize that you are lost, wouldn't it be nice if someone noticed and told you that you are going the wrong way. One responsibility of every Christian is to tell others about Jesus.
It's very comforting to realize that, although separated from God by sin, we are given kinship to God through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus. When we refer to God as our father in Heaven, it is not an exaggeration. We can, through Jesus, expect a reunion with God in heaven. Sometimes we loose that thought when we are challenged by day to day living. But we must not forget to talk to God in prayer constantly and read and study the Holy Bible so that we don't forget that we are God's children and that He is going to welcome us into heaven when Jesus returns to gather up those who are His by His redemption of us.
E-mail your questions or comments to jvernooy@yahoo.com