The Word of God

POST # 109 – October 22, 2018.

“I love to tell the story of unseen things above
Of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love.
I love to tell the story because I know it’s true.
It satisfies my longings as nothing else can do.”                                                                                                                           – Kate Hankey – 1866.

The apostle John reported in his gospel book that Jesus was the Word of God who became flesh and lived among us (John 1:14). (All scriptures are quoted from the World English Bible in the public domain.)

Who was the Word? John claimed, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4).

“In him was life.” He was the One who gave life to plants, animals and humans by his spiritual power. Scientists know that all physical entities on earth receive life from preexisting life.

When was the beginning? Moses wrote that “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2).
John mentioned God and the Word, and Moses introduced the Spirit of God, which revealed the triune nature of God. In the New Testament Jesus revealed God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Also notice that the writer of the Book of Job reported God asking Job a very humbling question, in Job 38:4-7; “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? …. Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” God ‘fastened’ the earth in place by its orbit around the sun.
All the morning stars and the sons of God sang and shouted for joy when they witnessed the physical universe coming into existence. The One who spoke to Job was the Word. In the beginning all was happy and harmonious, but this was not to last.

The angels were created as unique individuals who possessed eternal life. Revelation 5:11, ”I saw, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands;”

Hebrews 1:13-14 says, “But which of the angels has he told at any time ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet? Aren’t they all serving spirits, sent out to do service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?’ ”
Lucifer possibly became dissatisfied with his future job description of being a servant of his Creator and the humans that God planned to create.

He rebelled as the prophet Ezekiel was inspired by the Word of God to write in Ezekiel 28:14-16 ; “You (Lucifer) were the anointed cherub who covers: and I set you, so that you were on the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the middle of the stones of fire. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your traffic they filled your insides with violence, and you have sinned: therefore I have cast you as profane out of the mountain of God;”

John wrote from his visions in Revelation 12:7-9, “There was war in the sky. Michael and his angels made war on the dragon (formerly known as Lucifer). The dragon and his angels made war. They didn’t prevail, neither was a place found for him any more in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” ( Luke 10:17-18 corroborates, “The seventy returned with joy, saying, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!’ He said to them, ‘I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven.’ ” )

The next scene opens in the Garden of Eden. Moses wrote in Genesis 1:26-28 , “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them. God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ ”

Humans are persons and, having been created in God’s image, we are different spiritually from the animals. This very important difference provides us with the possibility to have a personal relationship with our Creator, the Word of God who became Jesus. God also gave people the right of free will to make their own choices, which makes love possible. Love is absolutely something that must be freely given. People can choose to love each other and their Creator or NOT. It is certainly one of the most important choices to make in life.

There are two ways people can respond to God’s gift of free will. One way is to believe God, love him with their whole heart, put his kingdom first in importance and pray, “Your will be done, Lord!” The second way is to Not believe in God, NOT want him to be in authority and NOT pray for his help;  to them GOD says, “Very well, Your will be done !!” God allows people to choose to disobey him, but he doesn’t give them his blessing, unless perchance they should change their mind at some time and decide they want to love and worship him.

God gave the Holy Spirit and the Bible for all who choose to believe in him, to consult for guidance  and encouragement in order to sustain their faith and  trust in Jesus to transform them into his likeness.

Going on to Genesis 2:8-9, “Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. … Genesis 2:15-18, Yahweh God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but you shall NOT eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die’ (and not live forever with God). Yahweh God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make him a helper comparable to him.’ ” … Genesis 2:21-24, ” Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Yahweh God made a woman from the rib which had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She will be called “woman”, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh.”
So the happy couple was set up for life in a luscious garden and ecosystem with all their physical needs provided within easy reach.

However, a very subtle adversary entered the scene to compete with them for dominion over the creation; the wily talking serpent, the fallen archangel, Lucifer.
Long story short Genesis 3:4-6 says, “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You won’t surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one WISE, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.”

Wow! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to gain wisdom by simply eating such a fruit? It is not so quick and easy,  as we know. Wisdom comes from work experience and learning that it pays to accept responsibility and learn how to correct mistakes.

But being like God means to nonbelievers that they do not need God! They want to judge between right and wrong for themselves. However, our original parents had also given up their ruling position to the serpent; one of the creatures that they were supposed to exert dominion over. Thus the serpent became the god of this world instead of the God who created the whole show – the heavens and the earth.   2Corinthians 4:3-4 says, “Even if our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who perish; in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them“.

Back to Genesis 3:14-15, “Yahweh God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You shall go on your belly and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.’ ”

This is the first prophecy given by the Word of God regarding the coming of a Messiah to redeem and reconnect all people to God. One of the woman’s offspring (the Messiah) will “bruise your head” means he will remove and replace the serpent (Satan) and begin to rule the world directly and in visible presence, after his second coming. The serpent will “bruise his heel” refers to the death of Jesus followed by healing in his resurrection by God the Father after his first coming.

The final scene opens when the angel Gabriel appears to the virgin Mary with God’s proposal to have the Messiah to be born through her.

Luke 1:26-37 says, “Now in the sixth month (of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist), the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and give birth to a son, and will call his name “Jesus.” He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?’ The angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God’. Mary said, ‘Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.’ ”

In Isaiah 9:6-7, the Word of God inspired a prophecy about himself: “For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies  will perform this.”
It should be noted that “For to us a child is born. To us a son is given;” refers to the first coming of Christ, while the remainder of the passage pertains to his second coming.

Also we should keep in mind when reading the Old Testament, that the Word of God, the future Jesus Christ, is the One who inspired its writers; and it is the resurrected Jesus Christ who inspired the writers of the New Testament.

For more about the second coming of Christ see the next post: “The Dual Nature of God: His Mercy and Justice System.” Post # 110