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How the Bible lays out the Plan of God step-by-step
Fred R. Coulter—August 10, 2019
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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!
Today, we're going to do a little inspection of the Holy Bible in It's Original Order. So, all of you who have the Bible, open it up to the first page where it says:
The Holy Bible In Its Original Order is Presented to:
You will notice that we have a number of important things so that anyone who has this Bible, if they begin at the beginning, right here, that they will have things to help them understand. Next:
The Ten Commandments of God
Why did we put that there? Because that's the first thing that everyone needs to know! What we do is build from there. Next:
The Perfect Law of God
Psalm 19:7
The Law of the LORD is perfect…
Why do those in Protestantville say that it's a harsh old Law and it's done away? Because they have carnal minds hostile to God, and they want a Christianity after their own way, rather than God's way! If it's perfect, can anyone add anything to it or take away from it to make it better?
If you have a perfect recipe for making a chocolate cake and you take away the baking powder or baking soda, you have a fake chocolate cake, but you don't' want to admit that it's a fake chocolate cake, so you call it a brownie.
…restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure…
Meaning anything that God has said in the Bible is sure and it has happened, or will happen, or if it's a prophecy know for sure there may be two, three or four fulfillments of it.
…making wise the simple….
The uneducated! When the serpent came to Adam and Eve, he said, 'I'm going to make you wise because God hasn't told you everything. The Word of God makes them wise!
The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart…
That also has to do with the Holy Days!
Sidebar on the Holy Days: They lay out the plan of God. What is doing on the earth? How is He going to handle the problems of evil, war, death and slaughter and all of that sort of thing.
If God is a God of love, surely He's got a plan for that! He does! But those who don't keep the Holy Days of God don't know! So, they invent their own.
…the commandments of the LORD are pure, enlightening the eyes….
Meaning that you're receiving education from God!
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether, more to be desired than gold, yea, much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward (Psa. 19:7-11).
I'll let you do the reading of some more!
The Beatitudes and Blessings
Here is something that we're going to learn beginning today: Everything in the Old Testament—outside of prophecy—has to do with actions! Everything in the New Testament has to do with your thoughts! That's a simple way to understand it
The Love of God
All of these are introductory in getting into the Bible. The greatest of all is love! God's Divine protection, that if you belong to God, will help and protect you.
Let me tell you just a little something about these thick pages in the front of the Bible. Whenever you have a thick book, you want to have strong pages in the front to keep the binding from coming apart. That's why we have it.
Then there's a two-page spread of the temple in Jerusalem. How did we get these? When I was doing A Harmony of the Gospels we had an architectural renderer—Jay Vance—whose specialty was to take plans—and my son Jonathan makes the best plans in the world for homes and stuff—and he puts it in 3-D. That's before computers.
With computers today, he can draw the plans on the computer and take it to the clients and say, here's the front room, from the front, the back and the side. Here's the stairs going up and takes them through the whole house. What color paint do you want? What color wood do you want? What do you want on the floors? Etc!
They didn't have it then, so he drew these and these were with a Rapidograph pen, the finest point possible. So, we have two of these in the front and turn the page and there's a picture of the Altar of Burnt Offerings.
You are at the first page: The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A New English Translation,
What I want you to do is go forward to page 118[transcriber's correction; this pg not numbered]. that goes through all of the Commentaries, which tells how we got the Bible, how we got the Old Testament, how it was canonized, and so forth!
The Word of God
Division One
The Law
It's in the order that it should be!
The reason that this is here is because there are a lot of people who believe that the Word of God is full of lies. The reason is because they are hostile to God! So, when they read the Bible they read it with hostility! It generally tells them something they shouldn't do, which they are doing, and they get angry because that's a lie in their mind. So, to help everyone understand about the Word of God, we put this in the front.
We'll read several of these to help you understand about the Word of God. This will help you to understand inside the Bible. We're going to approach this like someone who has never had the Bible, like someone who knows nothing about the Bible, to help them get into the Bible, to understand the Bible. It will help all of us who have known the Bible for a long time, as well.
But we could not design the Bible this way unless we first knew what the original order of the books were, and unless we understood the good translations vs the false translations, etc.
The Word of God
"Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in the heavens" (Psa. 119:89).
That's put there so people cannot say the Word of God has been changed, done away.
"Your Word is true from the beginning, and every one of Your righteous ordinances endures forever" (Psa. 119:160)
- Is time still going on? Yes!
- Is it still true today? Yes!
"The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away" (Matt. 24:35).
That's quite a statement! All of these are basic fundamental statements to help the reader understand the Bible and be grounded in the sure fact that the Bible is the Word of God.
"…You have magnified above all, Your name…" (Psa. 138:2).
"The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Psa. 12:6).
How pure is that? Absolutely pure!
"Every Word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He correct you and you be found a liar" (Prov. 30:5-6).
Very interesting Proverb! All of these are designed to help a person get into the Bible!
Sanctify them…
All of those who are Christ's!
…in Your Truth; Your Word is the Truth" (John 17:17).
It's impossible to be a true Christian if you are not sanctified by the Word of God! If you reject part of the Bible and say that it's done away, you can't be sanctified in the Truth! Look at the Truth as whole, complete blanket. If you say part of it's done away, you cut it and throw it away. How are you going to stay warm? You're not going to!
Same way with God's Word: How are you going to be protected by God's Word? How are you going to understand it all? You only have part! Some might say that part is better than nothing! Well, not much!
Division One
The Law
Genesis
What I want to do today is get an overview of the Love of God and His Law. As we discussed in the sermon God's Love and His Commandments, the laws of God are based on His love. They're all made for our good! Since God is love"
- Does He want to harm us? No!
- Who wants to harm us! Satan the devil!
- Who does Satan say he is? I'm 'God'!
That's the fake god, the 'god of this world.' That's the fake Christianity. If you haven't seen Church at Home recently, go on and look up the newest one there and it show right there one minister standing up and shouting, yelling and screaming that 'God's love is unconditional and it doesn't matter what you do.' But that's not what the Bible teaches!
God's love is never unconditional, but God's love is always everlasting! There's a difference.
We won't go through all the creation account, except to say that everything of the creation of the earth and everything that is in it is a compilation of miraculous things geared for the life of people on earth.
Think about light, darkness, water, air, the clouds, land, animals, insects, all of the things that crawl on the ground, fish, whales—everything that God has made—and when you get down to the smallest particle, that is a marvelous and fantastic thing of itself, and God made it all! For what? For mankind!
As we go through here, we're going to pick out overall statements of God, which will help us understand more details when we get into those. Let's talk about God and man and woman.
Genesis 1:26: "And God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness…"
Go through everything else there, everything was after what God created it to be, after it's kind! The missing word here, the rest of the Bible tells us that it's going to be after the God kind! But it's not said so here, because that's reserved for later.
The reason that we're made in the image of God is so that we can become like Him, and God can become like us. That was necessary in order to redeem man and woman from Satan the devil. But you don't find any of that here. You find that later in the Bible.
Notice how generous God is; "…and let them have dominion… [rule and reign, control] …over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heaven and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that crawls upon the earth" (v 26). How is that for a blank check of all kinds of activities?
So, the earth is, in fact, a gift to all mankind. How they use it and treat it becomes the rest of the story in the Bible!
Verse 27: "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female"—contrary to the perversion of today! There are only two genders: male and female!
Verse 28: "And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth…'"
That's an interesting statement! You don't replenish something unless it had been another thing before. So, this is a hint toward Satan and his rebellion and what happened to the earth before man and woman were created. Most people don't know that!
"…and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth" (v 28).
Wouldn't you think that one of the most important things that God would do is make man to know one of the most important things for him to understand immediately.
We know that Adam and Eve were created as adults with a language in their brain so they could communicate with each other and God. Different from when a child is born. A child who is born knows nothing; he's got to learn everything!
Here's what God did. He wanted them to know the most important thing between Him and mankind:
Genesis 2:1: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And by the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work, which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day… [He didn't bless days 1-6] …and sanctified…" (vs 1-3).
Whenever you see where it says 'sanctified' that means made it Holy!
"…it because on it He rested from all His work, which God had created and made" (v 3).
That's the first thing that Adam and Eve did after they were created. They kept the Sabbath Day. Quite an amazing thing! Whenever a baby is born, right away it sleeps a lot, it rests. So, they had to rest!
Then in the morning on the Sabbath God began to tell them different things. At this point, God did not appear to Adam and Eve in His glorified form. Why? Because His glorified form is so powerful that it would consume anything in His presence that was flesh or material!
Adam and Eve would look at God and they would think that we're pretty close to God. So, here's what God did after He created Adam:
Verse 7: "Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed" (vs 7-8).
- I wonder what that garden looked like?
- Don't you think that that was the most beautiful place on earth at that time?
Here you're starting out perfect; you're created by God with His own hands—both Adam and Eve—in the Garden of Eden. They had knowledge of speaking, intelligence so they could understand.
Verse 15: "And the LORD God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it"—which also has the meaning: to guard it!
Verse 16: "And the LORD God commanded the man…" Who is the Lawgiver? God! God commanded Adam, and of course, that included Eve:
"…saying, 'You may freely eat of every tree in 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 in dying you shall surely die'" (vs 16-17).
Let's talk about this for just a minute. Why did God put that Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil there? Because Adam and Eve were not created as robots! They were given free moral agency to choose!
- Would they obey God? or not?
- Would they believe God? or not?
Then we see what happened, God brought all the animals to Adam and then He created Eve. After bringing Eve to Adam, it tells us that Adam had a good deal of knowledge of what was going on.
Verse 23: "And Adam said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man.'" So, Adam understood the whole thing that went on in creating Eve!
Verse 24: "For this reason shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife—and they shall become one flesh."
This tells us that God told them everything that they needed to know as husband and wife, and also that they were going to have children. They knew that there would be other men and women coming along; that statement includes everything!
How was Adam able to say that unless He had a good long discussion with God and God instructing him in it.
What this proves is that when we read and study the Bible, many times there's a lot that this implies but not specifically states.
In other words, it's like this: if you come home to your house and you see that there's a broken window, and you see that there are muddy tracks on the kitchen floor, and you see that they go into your bedroom or wherever your precious things are and find that they have been stolen. What can you conclude? A thief was here and stole your stuff!
It's the same thing here. God told them about how it was going to be with human beings. That's quite a thing!
How long were they in the Garden of Eden before God let the serpent in? Doesn't tell us! But don't you think that God would give them enough time so that they would be grounded in many of the basic things, and they understood what God said.
Unless you understand Gen. 3 you cannot understand what happened to mankind, and why there is so much evil in the world. Why, when every good thing starts out, it ends up in a mess?
Example: Look at what they did when they started America with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and all that sort of thing. Many of the early founders said that you can't have this way or that way because corruption will abound.
- What do we have? Corruption everywhere!
- What's the worst thing that can happen in corruption? That the lawless actions are codified and made legal so that it becomes the law of the land!
So they knew that. They did everything they could to prevent it.
Same way here with God. It was very simple. The one thing to keep from getting in trouble was, don't eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, because if you do, "…in dying you shall surely die." That's quite an expression! There was not instantaneous death, otherwise there wouldn't be any more human beings.
Genesis 3:1: "Now, the serpent was more cunning than any creature of the field, which the LORD God had made…."
Sidebar: You study any religion in the world and it always goes back to a serpent! Doesn't it? Every single religion in the world—old and contemporary—goes back to a serpent, who is the one who gave them knowledge.
"…And he said to the woman, 'Is it true that God has said, "You shall not eat of any tree of the garden"?'" (v 1). That's an outrageous statement!
Verse 2: "And the woman said to the serpent… [notice that there is conversation, understanding, language] …'We may freely eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has indeed said, "You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die"'" (vs 2-3).
That's added instruction, "…neither shall you touch it…"—given by God! So, Eve knew; she knew exactly what it was!
Verse 4: "And the serpent said to the woman, 'In dying, you shall not surely die! For God knows…'" Attacking God, imputing God!
God is not fair! God hasn't told you everything! I'm here to tell you something in addition that you need to know!
"…that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened… [To what? Good and evil!] …and you shall be like God, deciding good and evil" (v 5). You decide for yourself good and evil!
Now let's look at a choice today that has been promulgated in a lie to millions and millions of women. 'My body, my choice, my life,' meaning that 'if I get pregnant I can get rid of the body that's within my body.'
- Do they believe that? Yes!
- Is that a lie? Yes!
- Are there consequences of it in the world today?
Every time that there's a mass shooting, which we had two just last week… In that week 21,000 abortions, killing 21,000 newly conceived lives, at whatever stage of development, were executed!
The world doesn't view it that way, but God does! Every one of those things, however the choice came to terminate the pregnancy, was a choice that was made. How much it involved the man in addition to the woman? Don't know! But that's not to just pick on women.
What else do you see out there? Look at the drug scene! Doesn't everyone know that drugs are evil? But if it gives you a temporary exhilaration you think it's good.
I saw a special about selling 'meth' down in Australia. This one man who sold 'meth' would deliver it and then he would administer it into the vein of the one who purchased it from him. I thought: Ghastly! It showed his arm and there were big red spot where the needle goes all the time. A choice! A wrong choice! How many people have been told not to take drugs?
Every one of the commandments that says 'you shall not…'; most people know it, but they still do it anyway because they think—just like Adam and Eve—that they know more than God! "…deciding good and evil."
Verse 6: "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasing to the eyes…"—always attractive! Always remember this:
- Satan doesn't come cloaked in evil!
- He comes cloaked in good!
- He comes cloaked to bring a benefit!
- He always lies about the benefit!
How many people start on drugs thinking they will never be hooked? BINGO! They're hooked!
"…and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate…." (v 6). It doesn't say she took a bite! How much fruit she took and how much she ate, we don't know, it doesn't tell us!
"…She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate" (v 6). So, here's Adam there, sitting there watching all of this go on! What should he have done? He should have said, 'Eve, don't touch it! Remember, God said don't touch it. Don't pick it!'
I often wonder what he was thinking! She ate it and nothing happened. Because in dying you shall surely die, doesn't mean instantaneous death! It tasted good, and she said, 'Here, Adam, you eat some.' So, he ate it!
This shows the whole tendency of human nature down through time to not listen to God and to listen to the world and Satan the devil. That's what this is all about!
So, the consequences turned out to be, v 7: "And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Then Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden" (vs 7-8). God knew what happened, and God knew where they were!
Verse 9: "And the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?'"
Like when you were a little kid and you did something wrong and momma comes along and says, 'Where are you?' There you are hiding under the bed! 'Where are you?' My mom did that to me one time and I was hiding under the bed and she walked through the house three times, 'Freddie, where are you?' And she knew where I was all the time. The fourth time around she said, 'There you are!'
I did what I shouldn't be doing,so my punishment was 'go out and pick your own switch!' There were willow trees in the lot next door, no house so I had to go pick it. I got a thick one so it won't hurt so much, so she says, 'Go get another one.' I got a nice green one and…
Verse 10: "And he said, 'I heard You walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, and so I hid myself.' And He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you that you should not eat?'" (vs 11-12).
- What is sin? The transgression of the Law!
- Did God lay the law down and command them not to eat? Yes!
We will see later that because of the sin of Adam (Rom. 5) death passed into all mankind. In other words, all of us a death cell or cells! I think today they call them telomeres, when your telomeres run out, sayonara, you're gone! What did Adam do? Exactly what happens when you're caught! It's not my fault!
Verse 12: "And the man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.'" God, it's Your fault! Remember independent free moral agency (IFMA).
Verse 13: "And the LORD God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' And the woman said… [it's not my fault] 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'"
- Was she deceived? No!
- Did she give the right answer of what God said about the fruit? Yes!
How many times do we—knowing what is right, knowing what is wrong—choose to do the wrong? Knowingly? All of us!
Remember when your mom made cookies and put them out on a big dish in the kitchen? They smelled so good! Mom wasn't around so, you swipe one and eat the cookie. That one was so good that you had to have another one. Then mom comes in and says, 'Did you eat of the cookies that I just baked?' And the chocolate is on the corners of your mouth.
So, you see how human nature works! But that goes to important and big things, as well! This (with Adam and Eve) was important and this was big, the biggest!
Verse 14: "And the LORD 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 upon your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.'"
Verse 15 is a prophecy of the coming Messiah, Who would turn out to be the Lord God Himself. This is a prophecy of God Himself coming in the future, 4,000 years after this time.
- Why that long? Because God wants lots and lots of people!
- Why does He want lots of people with all the evil going on? Because in His plan He's going to undo all the evil IF they repent!
That's why the Holy Days are so important!
Sidebar: God is going to resurrect them all back to the physical life that they had. Satan will be gone! So, you have to keep coming to Church between now and then in order to get the rest of the story.
Verse 15: "And I will put enmity between you… [the serpent who is Satan] …and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed…"
Are there children of the devil? Yes, it says so in the New Testament that there are children of the devil! That's the seed of Satan!
"…her Seed…" is the Christ! Jesus overcame Satan. What was the most powerful thing Jesus had to go through before His ministry began? The temptation against Satan the devil! He had to conquer Satan the devil, and He did. He had to do in the flesh!
- Could He do it as God? Whenever He desired!
- Could He do if He were an angel? Probably would do a pretty good job at it!
But to do it as a man, and after fasting 40 days and 40 nights and being totally weak, He overcame Satan. I'm just projecting ahead. This in Gen. 3:15 is the first prophecy. So, whenever there's sin there is a way out of sin through repentance and the New Testament also includes baptism.
Verse 16: To the woman He said, 'I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception—in sorrow shall you bring forth children….'"
That doesn't mean the pain and agony of birth. That means that you're attached to your children all through their lives and your life, and all the ups and downs and sorrow that comes along. Mothers suffer with it more than fathers. Not that fathers don't suffer, but mothers in a special way. They carried the baby, they delivered the baby, they fed the baby, and they were with it growing up. That's all through there.
"…Your desire shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you" (v 16).
This doesn't mean with a rod of iron. This means that the husband is the head of the wife and the whole family is to follow what husband and wife work out for the whole family.
Verse 17: "And to Adam He said, 'Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife…"—instead of God's voice! Remember the three word command: obey My voice!
- Is that simple?
- Why did God give that? So there could be blessings!
When you don't obey the voice of God, for whatever reason, or whoever may persuade you, or whatever persuasion you may bring to yourself that you want to do it, you sin!
"'…and have eaten of the tree—of which I commanded you, saying, "You shall not eat of it!"—the ground is cursed for your sake. In sorrow… [sorrow to women and to men] …shall you eat of it all the days of your life. It shall also bring forth thorns and thistles to you, and thus you shall eat the herbs of the field; in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return" (vs 17-19).
Verse 20: "And Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all the living." That means human beings!
God did not execute judgment against them. They lived long—Adam lived 930 years—so there could be plenty of people.
Here's part of the good news, if you'll just get it: God removed them from the Garden of Eden because when there is sin you can't be close to God. He put cherubim there to protect it. But also, He put an altar for burnt offerings right there at the east gate of Eden so that sacrifices could be brought.
Genesis 4:1: "Then Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, 'I have gotten a man from the LORD.' And she bore again, his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground" (vs 1-2)—both were good occupations! Nothing wrong with this!
Josephus mentions that this when they were about 135-years-old, at this particular point.
(go to the next track)
Isn't it amazing that a book… You can't find any other book that is published that you can go back and talk about something that is now pretty close to 6,000-years-old, at the beginning of creation, and you can see how many of these things apply the same way today. That's amazing! You can't find another book like it.
What we're going to cover now is some of the good news and some of the bad news. Cain and Abel—let's see what happened.
Genesis 4:3: "It came to pass that Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground."
Are there laws written later in the Bible that you're to bring certain things of the fruit of the ground? Yes! You're to bring the firstfruit! You're to bring the tithe! If Cain had done that, it would have been perfect. We will see that Cain did not do that.
Verse 4: "And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it. And the LORD had regard unto Abel and his offering."
Why? Because the firstling is a command of God, which means that he obeyed God! So, the difference here is that Abel obeyed God; Cain did not obey God and thought God must accept what he brought! Same attitude that a lot of people have today.
The good news is that Abel did what was right. Now let's see what God told Cain, v 5: "But He did not have regard unto Cain and his offering. And Cain was extremely angry and his countenance fell."
Do people get mad at God today because they do something that they think is good, and it doesn't turn out the way that they think God should accept it? Yes!
Verse 6: "And the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you so angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, shall you not be accepted?….'" (vs 6-7).
Remember, God is speaking to Cain who was not converted. Abel may have been converted, because he is counted as righteous.
"…But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door…." (v 7). What is sin? The transgression of the Law! What is the door? The entrance to the east gate of the Garden! So, the brought the offering right at the doorstep of God!
"…Its… [sin] …desire is for you, but you must rule over it!" (v 7).
- Can people know the Law of God and keep the Law of God in the letter? Sure!
- Are they converted? No!
- Are they good, decent people? Yes! There are a lot of good, decent people in the world, well intended!
- Why are they good and decent? Because they keep many of the Laws of God!
But they're not called to salvation! Calling to salvation is above and beyond that. When you go on Church at Home, look up Perfectville—Come Out of Her My People—part 5—How to Live in Perfectville. What if everyone kept the commandments of God? You wouldn't need a policeman around! Everyone would be doing the right thing!
God is saying to the general population, through Cain, that if you keep the commandments of God in the letter, there's a blessing that will come with it.
At this point they didn't have the book of Proverbs, so for people who want to see how that works, read the book of Proverbs. It's designed to make it very simple: right and wrong, good and evil all the way through.
Then Cain got mad, rose up and killed his brother Abel.
- How many people today still try and solve their problems by murder?
- Does it solve it? No!
- Do they get away with it? Today it's almost impossible!
If you've seen Forensic Files… They got one man with a thumb print with a little bit of blood!
If people are law abiding and those laws are based on the Laws of God, society will work better. What happens when the whole society is sinning and sinning, and that's what happened with Cain. He didn't repent and he was removed from God. What happened?
Gen. 6 is about 1,500 years later, sin multiplies! Genesis 6:5: "And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth…" Just like today! What did Jesus say it would be like? As it was in the days of Noah!
"…and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" ( v 5).
Isn't that what we have today? Look at the television, look at the movies. Do you know how many movies you can have access to? 80,000! Also, whatever they have on the Internet, every kind of evil. This is a great lesson for us today because it's happening again.
Verse 6: "And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart."
God gave free moral agency, and when they lived such long lives back then, and the evil, they had all kinds of the most hideous evil possible.
Verse 7: "And the LORD said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, and the crawling thing, and the fowl of the air; for I repent that I have made them.'"
Did we have the Flood? Yes! Evidence of it everywhere! But why are we still here?
Verse 8: "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."
What does one man do for all of humanity? You've got Noah! Obviously, Noah had an impact on God so that God didn't destroy everyone.
Sidebar: Since they were turned over to Satan the devil, and all the evil was there, all who died in the Flood did not have an opportunity for salvation.
Keep that in mind! Also remember that God gives life. He created it!
- Can He take it? Yes, because He's God!
- Is God loving? Yes!
- Is God righteous? Yes!
- Is God just? Yes!
Sidebar: All of those who died in the Flood are going to be raised to second physical life and be given an opportunity for salvation.
- How just is that?
- How righteous is that? Very righteous!
Because people don't keep the Holy Days of God they don't understand it. Just like we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread and 'a little leaven leavens the whole lump' that's the theme of the Feast. Same way that's depicting sin! When sin is allowed to run rampant, look at what we have: San Francisco and Los Angeles and the homeless, the drugs and all of the stuff that goes on! That could be taken care of! That doesn't have to be!
But since God has given free moral agency, men and women have to figure out what they need to do. What a shame that that goes on! That's a result of free moral agency!
Verse 9: "These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations, for Noah walked with God."
- What does that mean?
- If you walk with God, what do you do? You keep His commandments!
God saved Noah and his three sons and their wives. After the Flood men started out again. But God, this time, said that He's going to limit the lifespan of man and woman to 120 years. So, after the Flood it started going down, down, down!
You read in Gen. 10 that 'So and So' begat 'So and So.' As you go down, the age gets lower and lower. Why did God do it that way? So, there could be an expanse of men and women again on this side of the Flood!
Now, I want to focus on the framework of God's plan. God has a plan for the world and a plan for those who will be His saints. Gen. 12 is very profound from here through all of the rest of the book of Genesis.
Genesis 12:1: "And the LORD said to Abram, 'Get out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house into a land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those that bless you and curse the one who curses you. And in you shall all families of the earth be blessed'" (vs 1-3).
That's quite a statement! All the families past, present and future! Who is the one man who comes of that for the blessing of the whole world? Jesus Christ! See how far back God's plan works.
Verse 4: "Then Abram departed…" What did do? God spoke to him wand what did Abraham do? Obeyed His voice! Simplest command: Obey My voice!
"…even as the LORD had spoken to him. And Lot went with him…." (v 4).
I'm just trying to get an overview here through Genesis, so we can see that even the New Testament is based on this. In order for the blessing to come to all nations, that has got to include an opportunity for eternal life. We will see how God does it step-by-step.
Genesis 15:1: "After these things the Word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.' And Abram said, 'Lord GOD, what will You give me since I go childless…'" (vs 1-2).
God deliberately had it so that Abraham and his wife Sarah would not have children, because God has a plan.
"'…and the heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?'…. [which was legal to do; take a chief slave and make him your son if you had no offspring] …And Abram said, 'Behold, You have given no seed to me; and lo, one born in my house is my heir.' And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him saying, 'This man shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own loins shall be your heir'" (vs 2-4).
At this time Abraham was 75-years-old. Whenever there is a promise, there is an assurety of that promise. When the assurety is made and completed it is called a covenant! So, here we have the beginning of it. Picture this:
They're in the Middle East, when the sun goes down it gets really dark. What can you see? The stars! The moon! God based His promise on the heavens and the earth.
Verse 5: "And He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward the heavens and number the stars—if you are able to count them.'…. [an impossible task] …And He said to him, 'So shall your seed be.'"
Little did Abraham know that this goes down through all the history of mankind—physical descendants and then spiritual descendants—goes down through all the plan of God to the very end where there will be billions and billions and billions!
God couldn't tell Abraham that, but He shows him the stars. You can't count them!
Verse 6: "And he believed in the LORD…." Here's a fundamental lesson that we learn in the Bible: You must believe what God has said!
- God cannot lie
- God will perform His Word
- God will bless
- God will do what He says
We will see even in spite of difficulties in between! Abraham was in good standing with God, because he, in his mind, said, 'This is the Lord, He said that this will happen, and He will do it!
In order for God to give evidence that this would happen, besides just looking at the stars, in the morning God said, 'I want you to bring Me a sacrifice.'
Verse 9: "And He said to him, 'Take Me a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.' And he took all these to himself, and divided them in the middle, and laid each piece opposite the other; but he did not divide the birds" (vs 9-10).
Picture this: Here's the heifer cut in half right down the spine and laid out with the entrails up. Same way with the she-goat and the ram. Then there was a pigeon on one side and the turtledove on the other side. Why did God do this?
This is called a maledictory sacrifice, meaning: 'If I do not perform what I say I shall become like this.' But also beyond that, God projecting His own death for the sin of the world.
Verse 11: "And when the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away." Then something very special happened as the sun was going down! I don't have time to explain it all in detail, but this has to do with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
Verse 12: And it came to pass, as the sun was going down, that a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And, behold, a horror of great darkness fell upon him!" As close to death as he could get!
Verse 13: And He said to Abram, 'You must surely know that your seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs (and shall serve them and they shall afflict them) four hundred years. And also I will judge that nation whom they shall serve. And afterward they shall come out with great substance" (vs 13-14). Prophecy of Israel coming out of Egypt!
Sometimes the Bible is very, very loaded with a lot of information in just a short space of time.
Verse 15: "And you shall go to your fathers in peace. You shall be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (vs 15-16).
Notice what happened. This is a special one-time covenant sacrifice of God to pledge that His Word from this time forward—and as the rest of the Bible shows—to the end of the age! Down through time, all the way down!
Verse 17: "And it came to pass—when the sun went down and it was dark—behold, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between those pieces."
A furnace has tremendous flames and burning. What this did was burn up the animal carcasses that were there. When Abram awoke, there was nothing but ashes left. Imagine how he felt. He went into a deep dark sleep, and then he saw this in his deep dark sleep: God walking between those parts and the power and glory of God burned them up! Then Abram awoke and there was nothing but ashes! Abram knew that God's pledge would be sure!
How do you suppose that he was going to obey God after that? Very diligently! This special sacrifice was done when Abram was 85-years-old.
Genesis 17:1: "And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am the Almighty God! Walk before Me and be perfect.'"
Think about that for a minute! We can look at this today through the eyes of the New Testament. What does it mean to become perfect? It means to love God and keep His commandments!
Verse 2: "And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.' And Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying, 'As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations" (vs 2-4). That's a lot!
Out of Ishmael all the Arabs; out of Keturah, the four sons that they had, all of those who are to the east in what is called Uzbekistan and all of the 'stans' over there. The 12 tribes or nations of Israel, all of the those physical descendants. That goes back to 'look at the stars and count them.'
Verse 5: "Neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your seed after you" (vs 5-7). A pledge by God that never failed!
Get our book: American and Britain by Philip Neal; you will see that that comes down to even our day today. Why is America the greatest nation on earth today, and why did it succeed Great Britain in being great? Because God determined it! (the book answers that)
Sidebar: Why has the Word of God always been available to the descendants of Abraham? Who come through Isaac, but not through Ishmael, and not through Esau? Because those are the descendants that God has chosen!
Verse 8: "'And I will give the land to you in which you are a sojourner, and to your seed after you, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. And I will be their God.' And God said to Abraham, 'And you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you in their generations. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised" (vs 8-10).
Very interesting! What did God do in His pledge with His sacrifice? The shed blood of those animals and burned it all up in to ashes! That was His pledge. Now to establish the covenant, there needs to be a sacrifice by Abraham. That sacrifice was the circumcision and the shed blood of that circumcision for the physical nations.
Let's jump forward. What kind of circumcision is required today? Circumcision of the heart for men and women! That means that God sends His Holy Spirit to be with your spirit and actually begins to dwell in you with the earnest of the Spirit. So, here we have the physical circumcision. In the New Testament we have the spiritual circumcision.
This is the beauty of the Bible. You have the physical first and then the spiritual. You have the prophecy of Christ. He comes in the flesh and dies as He promised He would. He's raised from the dead as it was promised that He would to be a Savior beginning with the children of Judah right there in Jerusalem and then to the whole world.
God's way reaches way, way out beyond anything that people ever imagine. All of those in the Church are: if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise!So, there's the physical promise. Let's look at the spiritual promise.
Gen. 22—Isaac had been born, and at this point he was now about 15-years-old, still called 'a lad.' Here's the test, because God will test us. God delivered on the promise that Sarah would have a son. She was 90-years-old, and she was given so much life that she nursed Isaac for three years.
- Is God's Word good?
- Is God's Word true?
The promise was to Abraham and also to Sarah! Remember when God came and said, 'Next year, at this time, Sarah is going to have a son.' She laughed and the Lord said, 'Why did you laugh?' Sarah said, 'I didn't laugh.' And the Lord said, 'Yes, you did!' She laughed because she knew that at 90-years-old it isn't going to happen! So, Isaac is born, the beloved son. Think about how much they loved him, the heir for the physical seed of all the rest.
You have Isaac, then you have Jacob, and then the 12 sons. Let's read about this test, and this is also dual.
Genesis 22:1: "And it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, 'Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell you.' And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off" (vs 1-4).
Exactly where that was… A lot of people think it was a the place where the temple was later built. Could be, don't know!
Verse 5: "And Abraham said to his young men, 'You stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.' And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire pot in his hand, and a knife. And they both went together" (vs 5-6).
When Jesus was being led off to be crucified, what did He do? He carried His crossbar! Isaac being led off for an offering carried the wood! A type!
Verse 7: "And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' And he said, 'Behold the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?'" Now you're getting down to cases! Right down to the very end!
Verse 8: "And Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.'…."
After all the things that God had done for Abraham, he knew that God would do it. It says in Heb. 11 that Abraham did it because he 'counted God able to raise him from the dead' if he did slit his throat. That's the faith that Abraham had!
"…So, they both went on together. And they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. And he bound his son Isaac and laid him on the wood, upon the altar. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son" (vs 8-10).
God wanted to know if he would really do it! Would God the Father send His only begotten Son to lay down His life for the sins of the world, for all mankind: past, present and future? Yes! He did!
Verse 11: "And the angel of the LORD called to him from the heavens and said, 'Abraham! Abraham!' And he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Do not lay your hand upon the lad, nor do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God…'" (vs 11-12).
Think about this: this is 40 years from the time that Abraham was called. And God says, 'Now I know!'
"'…seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.' And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram was entangled in a thicket by its horns…." (vs 12-13).
- How did it get there? I don't know!
- Did God send it and tangle it in the bushes?
or
- Did God create it instantly right there?
- Don't know!
"…And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son" (v 13). A substitute sacrifice for life! Isn't that what Christ is for us? A substitute sacrifice to receive eternal life! Amazing!
I wonder how many times the apostles preached this when they started preaching the Gospel. They only had the Old Testament.
Verse 14: "And Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide; so that it is said until this day, 'In the mount of the LORD it will be provided.'"
All of these things are written for us so that we can have faith in God, in His Word: Old Testament and New Testament. And to know that God controls the whole earth and everything on the earth. That God has a special calling for those who are His, just like this was a special calling for Abraham, who was God's.
Verse 15: "And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, 'By Myself have I sworn,' says the LORD…" (vs 15-16).
God has given the heaven and the earth as a witness, but when He swears by Himself, the Lord God Almighty Who controls everything in the universe swore by Himself.
"…'because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son; that in blessing I will bless you…'" (vs 16-17). Remember Gen. 12 at the beginning!
"…and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens…" (v 17). This is a type of eternal life,because Jesus said that those who are in the Kingdom of God shall shine like the sun. Daniel said that those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars of heaven. Those are physical symbols of eternal life! He's talking about all of those who would be converted and enter into the spiritual Kingdom of God. That an amazing thing!
"…and as the sand, which is upon the seashore…. [the physical descendants of Abraham] …And your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice" (vs 17-18).
That's an amazing thing! You can see how once you get some of the basic things down, then the Bible just kind of unfolds like turning the page of a book: line upon line; precept upon precept; here a little and there a little and it all comes together. This is why we have the Bible!
Next time we'll look through some of the Laws of God and relate the love of God and the love of neighbor and why God gave the laws to Israel.
Scriptural References:
- Psalm 19:7-11
- Psalm 119:89, 160
- Matthew 24:35
- Psalm 138:2
- Psalm 12:6
- Proverbs 20:5-6
- John 17:17
- Genesis 1:26-28
- Genesis 2:1-3, 7-8, 15-17, 23-24
- Genesis 3:1-20
- Genesis 4:1-7
- Genesis 6:5-9
- Genesis 12:1-4
- Genesis 15:1-6, 9-17
- Genesis 17:1-10
- Genesis 22:1-18
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Romans 5
- Genesis 10
- Hebrews 11
Also referenced:
Books:
- A Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter
- American and Britain by Philip Neal
Sermon: God's Love and His Commandments
Church At Home {churchathome.org}Come Out of Her My People—part 5—How to Live in Perfectville.
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 8/14/19
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