Why are we here?

Despite being mere vessels of clay, made from the dust of the earth, man has an important purpose in God’s plan.  This is also described in the bible.  For Israel, it is to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation unto God, for ever and ever.  For the church, known as the body of Christ, it is a heavenly calling. The citizenship of all who believe the gospel of Christ, is in heaven.  Their role today, on this earth, is as ambassadors of Christ and ministers of reconciliation.  Their job is to preach the gospel, so that others might believe and be saved; that is, have their sins forgiven and gain eternal life. The age in which we now live is referred to as the age of grace, because God is offering salvation freely to all who will simply trust that Christ died for our sins, was buried and raised again for our justification.  From the bible, we learn that this age of grace will come to an end; at that point, those believers who are still alive will be caught up to heaven, together with those who are already asleep in Christ.  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, they will be changed and will receive their new, immortal, incorruptible, celestial bodies, fit for heavenly places.  That event will signal the beginning of the end and the commencement of major prophesied events such as the great tribulation or, as it is known, the time of Jacob’s trouble (because it concerns Israel). Most people have heard of Armageddon; it’s not just a science fiction disaster film, but the battle of Armageddon is a real future event in which God’s wrath will be poured out on the armies who come up against Jerusalem.  God described, through the prophet Zechariah, a time when he would make Jerusalem a cup of trembling and a burdensome stone for all the people of the earth who gather against it.  That prophecy was written around 530 -520BC, at a time before Christianity or Islam existed, at a time when Jerusalem was a city in ruins and the Jewish Temple destroyed; yet now, over 2,500 years later, we see these three world religions, all claiming Jerusalem as their holy city.  This is not the fulfilment of prophecy, but perhaps the prophesied end time events are not that far away.  After Armageddon, the Antichrist and his false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire, while Satan will be bound for 1000 years, during the prophesied 1000-year reign of Christ on earth.  At the end of the 1000 years, Satan will be loosed again for a little season, during which he will go out again to deceive the nations. They will come up to battle against Jerusalem for the last time, when God will devour them with fire from heaven.  To complete the prophesy, the devil that deceived the nations will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.  The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, ushering in the final Great White Throne judgment, from which all unbelievers will be cast into the lake of fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,  to be tormented day and night for ever and ever.  Heaven and earth, as they are today, will be replaced by a new heaven and new earth wherein dwells righteousness and where sin will be no more.  Its citizens will have witnessed the fulfilment of God’s plan of redemption; declared in prophecy from ancient times, resisted by Satan and mankind throughout history, yet fulfilled in its entirety. They will glorify God for his wisdom, love and mercy, power and righteous judgment, and they will worship him out of thankfulness for their salvation, for ever.  The bible tells us where we came from, why we are here and where we will go to after we die.  It provides an account of the struggle between good and evil, from Lucifer’s fall, all the way through to the restitution of God’s kingdom in heaven and earth, the certain hope of glory for those who believe the gospel and the eternal torment in the lake of fire and brimstone that awaits those who have rejected the love and salvation of God.  Natural man finds this truth offensive, as it exposes our sin and need for God’s mercy. Most importantly, the bible tells us who God is and it explains the gospel of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection by which we can be saved, if we believe.

Knowledge is essential

Curiosity is something we all possess, something which naturally drives us to seek knowledge; it is like our navigator for life, and without knowledge on important topics we can feel lost, or at least uncomfortable or uncertain about what’s ahead and how to get there.  We use it to make decisions; otherwise life would seem to be a result of fate or random chance, over which we have no control.  And that would be unsettling for most people. Some will work hard to seek out knowledge for themselves, while others will be more content to trust expert opinion, or the views of the majority. We also have a conscience, which enables us to make judgments.  But when we believe something to be true or false, we add that to our knowledge, and it becomes part of who we are.  We cease to be curious about that specific topic, unless the eyes of our understanding are opened, such that we change our minds.  

What is on offer here, is the opportunity to learn some amazing truth that has the power to replace uncertainty and even fear of the future, with certain hope and a joyful looking forward to each and every day.  

Let God be true

The veracity of the gospel and the eternal future of mankind is absolutely dependent on God being true.  

Someone who trusts in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as complete payment for sin, by definition, does not doubt the wisdom, love, truth, righteous judgment, mercy and wrath of God.  In their faith they are like Abraham, who staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but they are fully persuaded that what God has promised he is able to perform.

• Romans 4:20-22 KJV  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;  (21)  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.  (22)  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 

Faith in the gospel of Christ is the only means of salvation today, and it requires belief and trust in God as he has revealed himself in his Word, and not according to the philosophical inventions and imaginations of the heart of man.

Ignorance is no excuse

Is a lack of understanding about why God created Lucifer and Adam, a reason to reject God or to doubt the truth of what he has revealed to us?  Of course not, yet those who hate God and those who lack understanding about his true character, sow seeds of doubt that blind men to the life-saving truth of the gospel.

Faith in man versus faith in God

Whether in science, philosophy, religion or any field, the ability to argue persuasively does not necessarily make a proposition or rebuttal true.  Debate is a process seen in democratic societies, in which opposing arguments are put forward and the people decide; the word democracy is made up from the elements dêmos (which means "people") and krátos (which means "force" or "power"). Regardless of wrangling debates, controversies and striving questions of mere men, created from the dust of the earth, God is who he says he is.  Man’s grappling for a philosophical version of the truth does not change God, who is Truth. That’s an important place to start.  While men debate the origins of life and the universe, or the character and purpose of God among themselves, God says: Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth, but Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!

• Isaiah 45:9 KJV  Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

God is, and there is no other God

If God says he is God and there is none other, that it is he who made the earth, and created man upon it: that his hands stretched out the heavens and he commanded all their host (Isa 45:12); and he told us the reason why he sent his only begotten Son to dwell among us (John 1:14): to suffer and die for the sins of the world (Joh 3:16; Rom 8:32), to redeem his entire creation (Col 1:20); then who is man to question God’s power and character, or his foreknowledge and wisdom regarding the fall of Lucifer and his angels, or regarding the fall of Adam and God’s pre-ordained plan of redemption for his entire creation in heaven and in earth?  Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? (Isa 45:9).  Man has no true understanding of creation, other than what God has revealed. 

• Job 38:4 KJV  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.

Stand in awe and fear of God, or suffer vengeance

Because, by the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth, all the earth is told to fear the LORD: and the inhabitants of the world are told to stand in awe of him.  For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast (Psalms 33:6-9).  Yet mere man, rather than standing in awe of God’s great power and fearing his righteous judgement, arrogantly and shamelessly questions the wisdom and integrity of their maker.  

Those who question God would do well to be reminded of God’s warning - Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!  (Isa 45:9)  

When Christ returns, he will judge according to the gospel and will execute judgment and take vengeance on those who do not believe.

• 2 Thessalonians 1:8 KJV  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Our future state 

God’s purpose is not to restore mankind to the same state in which Adam and Eve lived, prior to the fall.  There is a fundamental difference between our future state and that of Adam and Eve, prior to the fall, in that they had no knowledge of good and evil, until they ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In contrast, since their fall, the entire history of mankind has both suffered the consequences of evil and enjoyed the goodness of God, who has always been merciful.  This has profound consequences for our understanding of God and our eternal relationship with him.

The entrance of sin to mankind

While Adam and Eve had free will to choose evil, they were not compelled to do so, because they did not have a sin nature at the begining.  Evil itself did not exist in mankind prior to the fall, until Eve was deceived, and Adam chose to sin against God.  As a just and righteous judge, God had no option but to impose the death penalty, having told Adam and Eve that in the day they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die.  The character of God does not change.  (Mal 3:6; Hebrews 13:8) He always was, is and will be a righteous judge (Gen 18:25), judging righteously and able to execute mercy and vengeance accordingly (2 Th 1:6-10).

The inheritance of a sin nature

As a consequence of the fall, sin entered in and death by sin.  

• Romans 5:12 KJV  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Therefore Adam and Eve, and all their descendants since, have a nature that is in bondage to sin that entered in, and which now dwells in each and every man, even in the flesh of a believer in the gospel of Christ, who still lives in a body of flesh and bones, yet has a new identify in Christ.  

Paul makes this clear in Romans 7, showing that when we do things which we should not, we consent or agree with the law, which proves we are all sinners in the flesh and that the cause is sin, which dwells in us. 

• Romans 7:15-17 KJV  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.  (16)  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.  (17)  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

The unsaved are natural enemies of God.  They only have a carnal or fleshly mind and cannot please God.  Their identity is in Adam and they are compelled to live according to who they are, as sinners and enemies of God, unable to perform a single righteous act.  Even if they bestow all their goods to feed the poor, and even if they give their body to be burned, and have not charity (love with the truth), it profiteth them nothing. Feeding poor people is a good thing to do, but without believing the truth of the gospel, they will face eternity in hell. 

Unlike Adam and Eve before the fall, unsaved man today is compelled to walk according to Satan’s course of this world.  That was the course we all followed, simply because we were born with the sin nature inherited from Adam.

• Ephesians 2:2-3 KJV  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:  (3)  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

The rich mercies of God

Thank God for his rich mercy to all sinners.

• Ephesians 2:4-5 KJV  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  (5)  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

By the offence of Adam came judgment, condemnation and death to all men; but by Christ’s death burial and resurrection came the free gift of righteousness and the justification for eternal life to all men.

• Romans 5:18 KJV  Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

On believing the gospel of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection as payment for our sins (1 Cor 15:1-4), we are made dead to the law by the body of Christ and are no longer under its jurisdiction (Rom 7:4); we are freed from the bondage of the law of sin and death; we are baptized by the holy Spirit into the body of Christ and receive our new identity in Him (1 Cor 12:13); we are now free to walk according the Spirit of Christ that dwells within us and to serve Him in newness of spirit and life (Rom 7:4; 6:7). 

Nevertheless, even as believers, sin still dwells within us and wars against the mind, causing us to do things that we don’t want to do and preventing us from doing good things that we do want to do.

• Romans 7:23 KJV  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Our new bodies and heavenly home

Only when we put off this mortal flesh and receive our new heavenly bodies, will we be as God planned from before the foundation of the world, before Adam and Eve sinned or were even created. 

• 1 Corinthians 15:40 KJV  There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

This is the substance of our hope in Christ, the mystery of the rapture and resurrection of the Church, the body of Christ, to be forever with the Lord.

• 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 KJV  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  (52)  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  (53)  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  (54)  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Our eternal state, knowing good and evil

In our eternal state, we will continue to have the knowledge of good and evil (something which Adam and Eve did not have prior to the fall).  Concerning evil, we will have witnessed the full extent of sin’s devastating consequences, including the final judgment and the destruction of both the heavens and earth, which will be burned up to make way for a new heaven and a new earth.  Death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire, in which there will be no rest day or night and the smoke of the torment of the Devil, his angels and all whose names are not written in the book of life, will ascend up for ever and ever.  Concerning good, we already know of God’s goodness and his rich mercies, but we will have then received our inheritance, laid up for us in heaven, and seen and experienced those heavenly blessings which will be forever to the praise of the glory of God’s grace.

We will no longer be held captive to the law of sin which is now warring in our members, that is in our earthly body of this death, but we will be free to live according to the spirit of God and our identity in Christ.  

In short, we will know and therefore love God for eternity because of who he is, and we will be free to serve him without the encumbrance of sin in our flesh.

God exists, evil exists – for a purpose

God did not create sin, but he is able to use the evil of sinful Satan and his fallen angels, together with the evil of sinful men to achieve his eternal purpose.  In heaven, not only will we have our new identify in Christ, which is ours from the moment we trusted in Him, having heard and believed the gospel, but we will have been delivered from this vile body of death (in which sin dwells).  While we will still have freedom of choice, we will no longer be compelled to sin (as was the case with Adam and Eve at the first), but we will also have the additional knowledge of good and evil.  

Because of the utter devastation caused by sin since Adam, the unspeakable suffering throughout the history of mankind, and the eternal damnation of billions of souls who have rejected the salvation of God, we will hate sin with such everlasting passion and be forever thankful to God for our deliverance.

God suffered evil, for his ultimate glory

The greatest example of God allowing evil for the greater good, is in the suffering and death of his only begotten Son, by whose shed blood on the cross God made peace, reconciling all things to himself, whether in heaven or earth.  

• Colossians 1:20 KJV  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Christ did not just die for our sins, he was mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on, scourged and with a crown of thorns on his head, he had nails driven into his hands and feet where he hung on the cross, slain by wicked hands. 

• Acts 2:23 KJV  Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

All this was ordained by God before the world was created, yet kept secret because this necessary evil had to happen, as part of God’s plan for redemption of heaven and earth; had the rulers of the world known about this mystery, this hidden wisdom of God, they would not have crucified our Lord.

• 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 KJV  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:  (8)  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

God indeed knew about evil and he allowed it to happen, even to his only begotten Son, who willingly laid down his own life and suffered that we might have eternal life; and through his blood, shed at the cross, he made peace and reconciled all things to himself, both in heaven and in the earth.

God’s purpose in creation

Before asking why did God make Lucifer and Adam, we should ask why did God make anything at all?  The answer is that God was before all things and he made and sustains all things by and for himself.

• Colossians 1:16-17 KJV  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:  (17)  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Not only has God created all things, in heaven and in the earth, but they are and were created for his pleasure.

• Revelation 4:11 KJV  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

God even made the wicked for the day of evil, when he will execute righteous punishment. 

• Proverbs 16:4 KJV  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
• Job 21:29-30 KJV  Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,  (30)  That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked

Many people blame God for the evil and suffering that happens in the world, or they accuse him of having decided beforehand, that certain individuals would be punished, which is the Calvinistic idea of predestinated vessels fitted to destruction.  But this is so wrong.  It is not God’s will that any should perish and he takes no pleasure in suffering and death.

• Ezekiel 18:23 KJV  Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
• Ezekiel 18:32 KJV  For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
• Lamentations 3:32-33 KJV  But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.  (33)  For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.

The righteous judgment of God

God’s justice is righteous and perfect.  He not only grants forgiveness of sins and eternal life to those who trust the gospel of Christ, but those who obey not the gospel will experience the vengeance of God and will be punished with everlasting destruction. This is part of God’s righteous character.

• 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 KJV  Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;  (7)  And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,  (8)  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:  (9)  Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

Even back as far as Job, he knew the character of God, as a perfect righteous judge who would execute his wrath upon the wicked in the day of destruction. 

• Job 21:30 KJV  That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

In executing judgment upon the wicked, God’s power will be manifest to all.

• Nahum 1:3 KJV  The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Concerning those angels who rebelled and all who have rejected God’s mercy, God’s power will be shown in their destruction, as will his glory be seen in his mercy to those who he has saved by grace, through faith in the gospel.

• Romans 9:22-23 KJV  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:  (23)  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Abraham attested to the righteous judgement of God, that he would not punish the righteous with the wicked. 

• Genesis 18:25 KJV  That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Paul summed it up, in that our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God who is righteous in taking vengeance.  God’s truth abounds through our lie unto his glory. 

• Romans 3:5-7 KJV  But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)  (6)  God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?  (7)  For if th truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?

God is righteous in that he judges sin by death.  

• Romans 6:23 KJV  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And it is clear, all have sinned and there is none righteous, no not one.

• Romans 3:9-10 KJV  What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;  (10)  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 

The law condemned all, yet God was righteous in that he made both provision for atonement through sacrifices under the law, as well as punishment for transgressors.  That was in times past, but now Christ has manifested the righteousness of God without the law. 

• Romans 3:21-26 KJV  But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;  (22)  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:  (23)  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;  (24)  Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  (25)  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;  (26)  To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

In this age of grace, it is not through the sacrifice of animals, but by Jesus Christ that we have received the atonement.

• Romans 5:11 KJV  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

In was necessary that Christ suffered at the hands of evil men, of whom he said:

• John 8:44-47 KJV  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.  (45)  And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.  (46)  Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?  (47)  He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Even today, men prefer lies and refuse to believe God’s truth.  The premise of evil in the world being incompatible with God, as he has revealed himself, is just not correct.  Evil was and will be necessary to bring about God’s perfect plan of redemption.

Conclusion

Knowledge is important and so there’s nothing wrong with honest science that reports observations and draws conclusions based on repeatable experiments.  However, while tempted to comment further here on oppositions of science, falsely so called, the bible is clear, these things are to be avoided.  So, our conclusion focuses on the far more exciting wisdom, foreknowledge, love, power and justice of God, and the flawless plan which he established before the foundation of the world, to restore perfection to his entire creation.  

Far from being taken by surprise about the fall of Lucifer and then Adam, God had a plan to demonstrate who he is, a plan for good and which would require all of creation to have the knowledge of good and evil. 

God made Lucifer, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, the anointed cherub that covereth, an angel of light, son of the morning.  But he was lifted up with pride due to reasons of his beauty and he said in his heart I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.  God did not cause Lucifer to sin and become the adversary of God, but he certainly had foreknowledge and a plan to turn that evil to work for good.

To the glory of God, while Satan has consistently tried to usurp God’s position and thwart his redemptive plan to restore his perfect creation, God has always been above it all and had preordained, even before he foundation of the world, to send his Son in due time, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

• 1Jn 3:8 KJV  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Just as Satan’s pride was his downfall, men continue to proudly resist God.  By spreading lies and creating doubt through philosophy and false religion, they think they are winning the argument and proving God does not exist, or is someone other than who he says he is in the bible.  Throughout time men have devised and worshiped other gods and they’ve cruelly persecuted God’s people in an attempt to silence them and eradicate the truth.  Yet, in their pride and arrogance they’ve failed to see that even their evil is turned to the good of God, in fulfilling his plan and purpose.  Nothing takes him by surprise, in fact it is all the more to the glory of God that his word foresaw and recorded attempt after proud attempt to oppose his plan of redemption, yet each time the outcome simply confirms that God is above it all.

• Exo 18:11 KJV  Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.

What men intend for evil against God, he uses to bring about good for his will, that men would be saved.

• Genesis 50:20 KJV  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

God is just and merciful.  Throughout time he has offered repentance, or a change of mind, for those who withstood him.  Even going as far back as Cain, who murdered his brother Able (motivated by Satan to eradicate the promised seed of the woman, as God had decreed in Gen 3:15), God provided a sin offering, yet Cain in pride refused.

Only God, in his wisdom, omnipotence, benevolence and almighty power could devise and execute such a perfect plan for the final redemption of both heaven and earth, where despite sin and evil perpetrated against God and his people, throughout all ages, his purpose and plan remains on course and will be fulfilled in its entirety.

The wise men of the world, philosophers down through the ages, will be shown for what they are: fools.  They have mocked God, defamed his character and encouraged the masses, the potsherds of the earth, to use human reason to challenge the very existence of God.  They relentlessly search in vain for wisdom and answers to life’s big questions, inventing and imagining theory upon theory as they proudly boast each discovery, only to find that they reveal more complexity and raise more questions than answers.  Yet their motto “Dare to know” or “Dare to be wise” drives them to prove that an individual can know the truth for themselves, without God.  The bible defines a fool as one who says in his heart, there is no God.   In rejecting the witness of the created world, which would mean acknowledging God, their foolish hearts have been darkened.  Professing themselves to wise, but they are become as fools.

As foolish mankind arrogantly taunts God with their so-called wisdom, they blindly ignore the fact that time and again God has proven himself to be true and every man a liar, foretelling the future and overseeing to ensure it comes to pass, despite every vain and satanically inspired attempt to resist.  

Satan fell and heaven was corrupted by his sin and rebellion against God.  But why did God make Adam and Eve?  God is immortal and cannot die, but peace and reconciliation for both heaven and earth required a perfect sinless sacrifice.  So it was necessary that Christ, who is God, should be born of a woman to become mortal, so he could shed his blood on the cross and make peace and reconciliation for both heaven and earth.  Christ, of course, is the promised seed of Eve.  This is one reason why God made Adam and Eve.  But there are more reasons, as he had a plan to establish a kingdom on the earth, in which Israel will become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation upon the earth (Ex 19:6; Isa 61:6; 1 Pe 2:9).  For this purpose, God called Abram and, from him came Isaac and Jacob, who is called Israel and the father of the twelve tribes, whose names will be written on the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem which will descend from heaven.

The story of God’s preservation of Israel, as his people, for his earthly purpose, is the subject of prophecy throughout much of the Bible.  But God also had another people and purpose in mind when he created Adam. Rather than being contained in prophecies, God kept this purpose and people secret, so the principalities and powers in heavenly places had no idea what was coming.  His triumph on the cross was openly shown when Christ resurrected, but the manifold wisdom of God was made known later, by the church, the body of Christ.

• Ephesians 3:10 KJV  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

The church, which is his body, cannot be found anywhere in the Old Testament.  It is not the subject of prophecy, because it was a secret, hid in God from before the foundation of the world.  The church has a heavenly, rather than earthly calling.  Their conversation or citizenship is in heaven and their vocation now, on this earth, is as ambassadors of Christ and ministers of reconciliation, holding forth the word of life, the gospel of salvation.  Each person who is saved by the gospel is added to the body of Christ, by his Spirit (1 Cor 12:13) and there will come a time when we will all be caught up to be forever with the Lord in heavenly places. God’s redemptive plan for the heavens includes positions in heavenly places that will be occupied by members of the church, the body of Christ, and this would not have been possible without the original creation of Adam.  God is indeed the only wise God.

It is incredible that, despite the evidence amassed and written down in the bible, spanning thousands of years, man still refuses to accept that all of God’s word is true and what remains to be fulfilled, including the final judgement, redemption and restoration of his entire creation will also come to pass.  

Those who proudly resist the wonderful knowledge of God’s truth and prefer to rely on the opinion of science, falsely so called, would do well to humble themselves in the fear of God and take note:

• 1Sa 2:3 KJV  Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
• 1 Timothy 1:17 KJV  Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Choose the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

The bible provides answers to the biggest questions; where we came from, why are we here and what happens when we die.  Avoid science falsely so called; choose truth that can be relied upon to gain understanding of these great mysteries, revealed to mankind in the bible.

• Colossians 2:1-4 KJV  For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;  (2)  That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;  (3)  In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  (4)  And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.