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Luke 12:32
32 “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Genesis 3:3 shows us God lovingly gave this commandment to Adam and Eve.
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” (pretty plain!)
Genesis 3:6 shows us the action, the choice that would forever change the lifestyle of the Adamic race.
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (he fed her much food for thought), that it was pleasant to the eyes (an angel of light), and a tree desirable to make one wise (he said she could know evil as well as good and have her pick!), she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate (the first act of rebellion).
Revelation 20:2
2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
Side Note: God many times refers to people or other
created beings as trees in scripture. An example is found in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 61:3
3 To console those who mourn in Zion (talking about people), to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness (you can see they're not physical trees), the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
And what commandment does God speak today?
Romans 12:2
2 And do not be conformed to this world (don't taste, don't touch), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
We were
originally created in God's own image, with a loving nature like His.
Our spirits had the miraculous abilities we now read about as we study the life of Jesus. But man
chose to know evil as well as good, therefore
inherited the nature of the evil one and is born predisposed to sin. To top that, their
spirit died as a result of their disobedience leaving humanity frail, weakened, without the supernatural power and ability originally created in their spirits. They were well equipped to
subdue the earth and maintain dominion over all on it and be successful in
building a perfect world. They were now destined to
live according to Satan's plan, to function through the soul man, be
led by their emotions causing them to be in tune with their flesh influenced by the enemy. Therefore the
fruit of the spirit was pushed back by the
works of the flesh. Man caused himself to become an
inferior species by his disobedience. Where man's spirit once loved the earth as their home, their flesh had little regard for it so
even the earth suffered at man's hands! God tried to help the
now altered and soulish man by giving him a
set of laws to guide how to treat the earth, keep it in good condition so it would at least provide for them, but again they were disobedient, resulting in the poverty much of the world experiences today. In fact, all the laws given to Moses were
given in love to help man live on earth, void of his spirit.
After all the grief Adam and Eve caused for mankind,
God still loved His wayward children. All through the ages
God has intervened to help man. By His Spirit resting upon certain ones their spiritual eyes were briefly opened, giving them the discernment and spiritual wisdom to lead His people. He spoke through them, performed miracles through them to remind them of their Creator and show them what He desired for man to be like.
Ironically, even though man chose the enemy's ways, there is a part of him that
still longs for what he once had. For instance, some people plant beautiful flower gardens, design exquisite parks. Others plant food for our sustenance. Is this not trying to replicate the garden of Eden, the perfect home God gave man freely in the beginning? Then there are ones that really love animals and devotedly care for them. They see them as creatures designed by God to bring affection and pleasure to mankind. But wait a minute, wasn't that exactly what all mankind was originally meant to do, be
caretakers of earth and its inhabitants?
Genesis 1:28
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Man was
created in God's image and was a creature of love. In this love he was to keep earth and all on it in good condition for themselves. The earth was their eternal, beautiful home.
Genesis 2:15
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend (care for) and keep it.
Psalm 145:9
9 The Lord is good to all (all His creation is important to him), and His tender mercies are over all His works. (He loves all He made, earth and everything on it!)
Lust of the eye, lust of the flesh and pride of life is the force that drives man now however, replacing the law, the will, and love of the Father. The desire to have bigger cars, better phones, huge homes, designer clothes, the list goes on and on satisfying temporarily the
lust of the eyes, or if not attained, leaves man in total depression because he couldn't grasp hold of it.
Lust of the flesh is the force behind rape, pedophiles, bad choices of mates leading to broken marriages, ungodly relationships etc. Let's face it, money and sex have become the sought after reward for man's achievements in much of the world.
Pride of life will make one rude, crude, cruel, uncaring about the feelings of man or creation and unfortunately this is the dominant trait of the one
Adam and Eve chose to mentor mankind! For instance, pride is the motivating
spirit behind competition so the world is a highly competitive place. Unfortunately where man is competitive you will always see some form of
cruelty and abuse. A sense of pride drives the desire to win and becomes greater than any thought of the
ways of God's Kingdom. His knowledge and the
characteristics of His nature are many times pushed aside by the do or die attitude of a focused, driven competitor. It is not God's desire to see anyone made a loser, nor does He want to see anything harmed or wrongly treated for man to win. Certainly neither competition nor the world's games are the reason why the individual was gifted with the ability in the first place! Take the world's sports for instance, many times the sport itself is in
total opposition of God's ways and the competition turns out to be just another way the enemy snares man into disobedience while at the same time
causing others to feel inferior.
I John 2:16 says it perfectly.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
John 17:14-16
14 I (Jesus) have given them Your word (taught them from God's knowledge); and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (This world belongs to the enemy!)
15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world (die), but that You should keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (Not God's!)
Hebrews 10:16
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,” (We have easy access to them, they are inside us!!)
Isaiah 44:26
26 Who confirms the word of His servant, and performs (He does it) the counsel of His messengers; who says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited,’ to the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built,’ and I will raise up her waste places; (God's Word will not come back void. Isaiah 55:11 is law.)
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I Corinthians 15:26
26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
II Corinthians 5:19
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them (so they wouldn't have to die), and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (to tell others).
Romans 5:12
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
Genesis 6:1-2 speaks of this.
1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,
2 that the sons of God (angels) saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
It goes on to say they had children and man today is their descendant. Man also chose to be guided by the world's leaders rather than God's government putting us in a position of
slavery to the world's systems.
I Samuel 8:5-7 gives us an example.
5 and said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
6 But the thing displeased Samuel (God's high priest and prophet) when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the Lord.
7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. (How sad is that!)
Their appetite for the world has however enslaved them to the
control of man and opened them up to becoming a
possession of the enemy through drugs, obesity, alcohol etc. Another easy trap, Satan sets trends in clothing God would never approve of to lure man further into acquiring a taste for the pleasures of the world. See-through clothing, promiscuous dating habits, a
complete lack of morals in many areas is the reason behind the horrible sexual crimes and killings we see around us.
Matthew 5:28 shows us the heart of God.
28 But I (Jesus) say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (That is a law!)
Through lust of the flesh,
perverted minds have intensified. God is not responsible. We are! A little girl raped, a young man sodomized, God's fault? I don't think so! Look around you at the ungodly traits now accepted by the world's society and even worse,
condoned by its churches!
James 4:4
4 Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Man's choices,
the devil's plans, all at work in much of society, yet the Lord is blamed for the child run over at a school bus stop by a drunk driver or someone on drugs. How could God let that happen, they say. He didn't! Man chose to do what he did and disobeyed the laws of God pertaining to that situation.
Hurricanes, tornadoes, who is the prince of the air?
Ephesians 2:1-2
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world (not the Kingdom), according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
John 14:30-31
30 I (Jesus) will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming (Satan owns this world and is behind every problem in it, because mankind ate the fruit of his mind), and he has nothing in Me. (Jesus knew Satan's voice and ignored it.)
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do (He was obedient). Arise, let us go from here.
Matthew 24:22 speaks of this end time.
22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
Mankind will self-destruct if
the Lord doesn't intervene soon and give us wisdom to walk in His victory. He overcame the world, the enemy and death, but man must learn to walk in His triumph!
John 16:33
33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
Colossians 2:15
15 Having disarmed principalities and powers (evil spirits from the kingdom of Darkness), He (Jesus) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Romans 6:4
4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (We die into His death in the watery grave and resurrect through His resurrection as a new creature!)
Acts 2:38
38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized (how should we be baptized?) in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins (not in the title of Father, the title of Son or the title Holy Ghost); and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 2:1-4
1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.
3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
II Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (not the old race of man); old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Galatians 3:16, 26-27, 29
16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made (the promise of restoration). He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. (So He had to make it possible for us to be saved and restored.)
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (He is our covering).
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
I Corinthians 15:45, 49
45 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
Revelation 21:4
4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Now, here is what we can finally hold God responsible for! Salvation from sin, our rebirth and spirit revived, our spirit re-gifted and given language to speak directly to God. Then there are His laws to show us His will, the way to live, covering us by His sovereignty that guarantees His Word and writing them on the fleshly tablets of hearts and minds. And, let's not forget
total restoration of not only mankind, but all creation! We are also blessed with a portion of faith to believe in Him and in His promises! Jesus gave His life to
make these promises possible for each of us!!! God did this!!!