“I
am
the
Alpha
and
the
Omega”
Says
the Lord God,
“Who
is
and
who was
and
who is to come,
the
Almighty.”
Revelation
1:8
The Cosmic Struggle
The cosmic struggle started between God and Satan in eons of time before the Garden of Eden. In this Was in the heavens, the forces of God were led by Michael, a mighty angel, and Satan led the angels which sinned.
Satan lost this battle of the War, and fell from heaven, along with the “angels which sinned.” Jesus told the seventy, He watched him fall!
Come with me now to a point in time when we see an earth that had been created “In the beginning” as stated in Genesis 1:1, but had perished, (not cleansed ~ perished) by water, before the fierce anger of God, which is well described in verse 2 of Genesis 1. Here we are told exactly how His anger had left that which he had destroyed.
Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning (We do not know when this was)
God created the heavens
(How many heavens
he placed in this vast Cosmos, We do not know.)
and the earth.”
(There was only one earth created
and we are on it now!)
Now, note the condition of the earth that had been created in the beginning as it is described in:
Genesis 1:2
“And the earth
- was formless
- and void
- and darkness was over the surface of the deep;
- and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters”
Now in my youth, I took this to be the condition of the earth as God Created it in the beginning. Calculate the years of time from Adam and Eve to Christ and you will find a few thousand years but not eons of time. When given a test my Senior year in High School that dealt with many millions of years before Christ, I answered all the questions according to the text book, and made a grade of 98, then wrote, at the bottom of the last page on the examination, “I don’t believe a word of it!”
Thus, I present to you, in my lack of knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, but with Blind Faith based on the teaching of the blind guides, I took on my teacher. In his very next class he gained my profound respect and became Mr. Thompson, “My Teacher” to me.
Until this day I love and appreciate him. He told the class how we might bring a small animal into the laboratory and dissect it, study every part of it, and gain the knowledge of every part of the animal. There would be only one thing we could not do. Which would be put it back together and have it live again.
Only
God could give life.
In pursuing my study of the Holy Scriptures I learned that God had destroyed, at some point in the eons of time past, the earth he had created in the beginning.
The awesome Power of God is noted in the condition of an earth he did not create in a “Waste Condition” as is stated in the following passage:
Now
consider,
Isaiah 45:18
“For thus says
the Lord,
who created the heavens (vast Cosmos)
(He is the God who
1. formed the earth
2. and made it,
3. He established it
4. and did not created it a waste place,
5. but formed it to be inhabited,)
I am the Lord and there is none else.”
Some might say, if you change “Waste Place” to read “in Vain” this was the way the earth was created in the beginning. Let us see if God created it – made it – established it.
Waste
– in Vain – Void?
or
Had God in his fierce Anger destroyed the earth He had created in the beginning?
Jeremiah 4:23
“I looked on the earth and behold,
1. it was formless
2. and void
3. and to the heavens and they had no light.”
(This is the
way the earth was described in Genesis 1:2)
Jeremiah 4:24
“I looked on the mountains, and behold,
1. they were quaking,
2. And the hills moved to and fro
(This is not
Noah’s flood.)
Jeremiah 4:25
*3. “I looked, and behold, there was no man,
(This
had to be before Adam)
4. And all the birds of the heavens had fled.”
(Birds
could not flee if they had not been here)
Jeremiah 4:26
5.
“I looked, and behold,
The fruitful land was a wilderness,
7. Before the Lord, before His fierce anger,”
The right to Choose had been Abused!
Obviously, God wants only those around Him who want to be there! Satan had made a choice, along with the angels in heaven who had made a choice. Those who chose to “Listen to God” are still with Him. Those who chose to listen to Satan are still with him.
As recorded in Genesis 1:0, when God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”, and it was so. He spoke to an earth that was already here, having been created in the beginning.
Having called the dry land forth, God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, they too, were given the right to choose. They could “Listen to God” or “Listen to the arch Enemy” of God. Satan, who with the angels who sinned had already been cast out of heaven.
Adam and Eve chose to listen to Satan and we have been plagued with thorns and thistles ever since.
When the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, subject to any and every temptation that Satan might use against any mortal.
The battle raged between Jesus and Satan, who at this point in time, was so powerful he had even offered Jesus the whole earth as His Kingdom, if he would just fall down and worship him. In fact, Satan tempted Jesus in every way a mortal can be tempted.
The man called Jesus, who claimed to be the Son of God,
never sinned!
Come with me now to Golgotha! Stand at the foot of the Skull. Listen to His mother cry, as she hears the thud of the hammer securing His body to a rugged cross. Watch the soldiers lift His cross to be held high, by the earth, which God had created in the beginning. Look at the Blood on His face from a crown of thorns *that had been beaten into His brow. The Blood on his back was still fresh from the lash of a ship. The mod mocked Him as he was dying. Then Jesus, looking at those who had called out to Pilate, “let Him be crucified, let him be crucified,” called out to God, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Grace!
Unmerited grace had just been defined
Not long thereafter a Roman Spear was thrust into His side as he hung in death on the cross, and there flowed both blood and the water from his side. Jesus had paid the awesome price of
Salvation
by
Grace ~ through Faith
For
any mortal who might choose to
“Listen to God”
He came to Earth
to pay a Debt
He didn’t Owe,
because We
owed a Debt
We Couldn’t Pay!
The blood of bulls, goats, heifers and turtle doves had now been replaced with the blood of the lamb of God, through which perfection in Jesus Christ was available.
“After
his resurrection from the dead,
having received all authority
in Heaven and on earth.
He became the mediator of the
New Covenant
Between God and mortal man.”
Presenting
Salvation
By Grace: God’s Part ~ Provides:
Remission of Sins
Gift of the Holy
Spirit
A Member in the
Body of Christ
Through
Faith: Man’s
Part ~ Produces:
Turning from
Sin in repentance!
Being
buried by baptism
in a grave of water
with an obedient Faith
reaching the
Blood of the Lamb of God!
Raised by the glory of God
Man
Experienced
A New birth
He
had been
Born again!
Those who had listened to God
were by Grace made to be
A Royal Priesthood
A Holy Nation
A people for God’s own possession
Thus
Christ
established
His Church
On
The first
Pentecost
After
His
Resurrection!
Nearly 2,000 years later
the battle between God and Satan is now over
the survival of the Church!
Amazingly, in the first century, the Church spread through out the world, in spite of the fact that Christians were fed to wild animals, burned at the stake, stoned to death, put in jail, whipped and crucified. Such persecutions only spread the work of the Church to reconcile the World unto God.
When Christians were being killed they understood and accepted it for what it was. They charged into battle with the sword of the Spirit, as they “Listened to God,” and the Gospel was proclaimed in the Then known World in a little over thirty years.
Now in this century, Satan uses drastically different, but much more lethal methods.
This
Arch Enemy of God
has smooth talked us into
the use of denominational barriers
that are nothing more or less
“Berlin Walls”
Time and again, I have poured out my soul, asking God to help me, to guide me, to give me wisdom that comes only from Him, that I might be able to reach the masses who really believe in Him and would prefer to be united as he wants us to be. He answered my prayer with a dream, in which He brought back the memory of a family I had met with some fifty years ago. When I awoke, I knew immediately that God wanted you to meet this same family of ten gathered from four states for a family reunion. This great family was divided by such “Berlin Walls.” The example they set, in search of unity in the Lord, may well live forever in your heart if you too,
“Listen
to God.”
Each
and everyone of them,
as the word of God,
agreed to let God
which had divided them!
The
Bible was placed in the
One rule prevailed!
Anything anyone had to
offer as a
consideration of unity,
had to be PRESENTED from the
“Word of God”
The prayer that Jesus prayed
the night of his betrayal
John 17
That which had divided them, began to crumble away. Within one week, six of the ten were united. Three months later, three more were united with them. Three years went by, and the tenth one, having finally chipped away the last stone in his “Berlin Wall” became united through the blood of Christ with the rest of his family.
By
the providence of God
I was richly blessed
As I watched and listened
To this marvelous family
Openly, frankly and sincerely
Discuss their differences.
By listening to God
They became united
And
God had planted the seed in my heart, that became the foundation of the lessons presented here for your consideration. May God bless you with an open and receptive heart, as you study His Holy Word.
If you “choose” to study these lessons, by searching the scriptures to see if these things are so, please remember this final plea from me…
“Let
us not find ourselves,
within the boundaries of
denominational barriers, or
fixed concrete opinions,
bringing the Lord Jesus Christ
down from His own throne
by setting ourselves
up as judges of each other”
As
Christians ~ As One People under God ~ Let us lift
the Cross of Redemption, knowing in our Hearts…
He came
To pay a debt
He didn’t owe,
Because we owed
A debt
We couldn’t pay!
Believing
that God was,
is, and ever will be;
Who with priceless blood
bought
a sinner like me,
of heart and soul
a
brief overview of my
understanding of
The Holy Scriptures,
bringing
together, by grace
through
faith,
One People under God
producing
a Holy Nation,
Own possession!
Scriptural Promise
“The
grass withers, the flower fades,
but
the Word of our God
Shall
stand forever.”
Isaiah
40:8
E-mail questions or comments
to: prewitt@church-of-christ.org
Copyright © 2001 - 2004 Edwin Prewitt
All rights reserved.
This page was last updated on 02/24/04.