Food for Thought – Introduction

Food for Thought [David Vine]

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit

The Gospel of God

We are living in days when the “Christian” church is speaking about many gospels. They are all man-centred. Some of them are easier to recognise than others and therein lies the snare to true believers. There is the prosperity gospel, the word of faith gospel, the "name it and claim it" gospel, to name but a few more identifiable ones.

From the earliest days of the church alternative gospels have emerged to draw away the Lord’s people. We are warned in Paul’s letter to the Galatians – probably the earliest New Testament letter to be written – about a “different” gospel, that Paul preached against.

“I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another: but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.” Galatians 1:6,7.

At the end of Paul’s life he is still warning the churches of the dangers of false teachers.

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers: and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned to fables." 2 Timothy 4:3,4.

The “gospels” preached by men, and even angels, carry serious consequences to those preaching them, as they are not received through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul says he was not taught the gospel, even though he advanced in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries. He says it did not originate with man. Galatians 1:11.

Paul’s remarkable claim is that he received the true gospel by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The true gospel came from revelation to Paul resulting in revelation in him. Galatians 1:12,15,16.

“But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:11,13.

Here Paul calls the true gospel “the gospel of Christ”.

“There are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ”. Galatians 1:7.

In other places in the New Testament it is called the gospel of Jesus Christ.

“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Mark 1:1”.
“Those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 1:8”.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, Romans 1:16”.

In the gospel writings it is the phrase “the gospel of the kingdom” that we read of.

I believe the greatest title is the gospel of God. This comes seven times in the New Testament. Here are some occurrences:

“Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, Romans 1:1”.
“That I might be a minister of Jesus Christ,… ministering the gospel of God…. Romans 15:16”.
“Even after we had suffered … we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God….
1 Thessalonians 2:2”.
“We were well pleased to impart to you, not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us, 1 Thessalonians 2:8”.
“What will be the end be of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1 Peter 4:17”.

I have chosen to entitle this series the gospel of God to firmly place the emphasis on God.

What is the essential message of the gospel?

The word gospel means good news.
Why is the gospel good news? To whom is it good news?
Is it so that we might feel better about ourselves having received good news?
Is the Christian message, portrayed in the gospel, about me being blessed and helped to build up my self-esteem?
Isn’t the gospel helpful in me finding peace and meaning in life?
Isn’t it all about the love of God to man(kind)?
Isn’t it about me finding my true potential, my personal fulfilment?

What does the gospel tell us about mankind in relation to God?

Let’s remind ourselves before going any further that we are thinking about the gospel of God.

The gospel is God’s revelation of Himself. It is about His self-disclosure, and why He chose to do that.

So in the Gospel of God part 5 we will go right back to the beginning and think about God.

In part 4 we said we want to think about God, God who revealed Himself.

God has revealed Himself in a number of ways.

He is revealed to all humanity in four main ways.

1. He is the Creator of everything, and everyone is left without excuse.
   
   “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful….. Romans 1:20”.
    
2. He is known in every man’s conscience.
   
   “When Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing them witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them, Romans 2:14,15”.
   
   These two revelations are what is described as general revelation. The following two are specific revelation, God’s written word and God’s living word.
    
3. The Bible.
   
   The Bible is not available to everyone yet, but is very widely available nonetheless, and is God’s written revelation of Himself. The Bible is God’s spoken word to humanity. We have the incredible privilege of reading our Bible and by the inspirational work of the Holy Spirit God will reveal Himself to us. We should make sure we are taking every opportunity to discover Him in this way!
   
   “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work, 2 Timothy 3:16,17”.
   “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.  Psalm 119:105.
   “Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I may keep Your judgments. Psalm 119:97-102
    
4. Jesus Christ.
   
   Jesus is the complete and final revelation of God to humanity. We discover, and can come to God, the Father, through Him. Jesus Christ is God’s living Word to humanity.
   
   “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name that they. Hebrews 1:1-4”.
    

In the last section we read about how God had revealed Himself in the “last days”.

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name that they. Hebrews 1:1-4”.

The “last days” started at the time of the coming of Christ into the world. All the previous days God had spoken in part though the prophets. One can read in the Old Testament of many remarkable men who were used by God to speak to His people. These words included detailed prophecies of the One who was to come as the long-awaited Messiah. They give insights into his miraculous birth, the place of his birth, his exile as an infant, indications of his unique life, amazing descriptions of his cruel death, referring to methods of torture and execution unknown at the time of writing, and the promise of a second coming in glory following his bodily resurrection and ascension back into heaven.

But notice the one clause there that describes His reason for coming.

“When He had by Himself purged our sins”.

The reason for His coming was to deal with sin. Sin had to be purged away. Something had happened to cause God to become a Man, to leave the glory of heaven and do something amazing that would purge away sin.

Sin lies at the heart of the reason for the gospel of God.

We will think further about sin in Part 7 onwards.

We have established that God’s gospel is His response to the problem of sin. This never to be forgotten subject of sin is the fundamental need of the human race. This is what Jesus, the eternal Son of God, was sent to rectify.

How did sin begin?

We are told in the book of Romans that sin was not in the world originally but it entered the world from outside.

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned, Romans 5:12”.

To have an answer to this question we need to turn to two Old Testament prophecies.

First of all we will go to Isaiah where we are introduced to a remarkable being called Lucifer. He is a member of the angelic created order who, it seems, led a rebellion in heaven.

“How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart; I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit”, Isaiah 14:12-15.

The second section of Scripture that describes Lucifer is found in Ezekiel.

“You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty; you were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.

You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery coals. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.

By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I have cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones.

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendour; I cast it to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading; therefore I brought fire from your midst’ it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and you shall be no more forever. Ezekiel 28:12-19”.

Jesus referred to this insight into heaven when he called the being described, Satan.

“Jesus said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven”, Luke 10:18”.

We know little from Scripture about these events and that is probably for good reason lest we become too intrigued about things that are beyond us.

What we can be sure of is that sin began in heaven. It involved the highest created angelic being that God had made. In spite of his station, beauty and power, He allowed his heart to be lifted up to be equal as God and greater than Him. He led a rebellion in heaven and was cast out by God along with a third of the angelic host. He has been described as the “Cosmic Vandal”, and it was he who brought sin into God’s world.

Interestingly Ezekiel, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says that Lucifer was found in Eden, in the garden of God. It is there we must go to next.

The third chapter of Genesis describes the terrible catastrophe of the human race as Adam and Eve capitulated to the enemy of their souls. The is called “the Fall”.  This phrase doesn’t appear in Scripture, but it has been the term used regarding the appearance of sin in the world, and for man’s – human kind’s – part in it.

But before we consider that subject in more detail we should think about the context in which it happened.

The first two chapters of Genesis are most wonderful and describe God’s handiwork in creation. His magnificence and creativity are demonstrated in the amazingly beautiful and diverse things He has made, from flowers, trees, animals, birds, etc all set in an environment of outstanding and breath-taking beauty. He stamped His mark upon it all by proclaiming it all as good.

Into this Eden paradise He brought man. He was conceived in the heart of God. Unlike all that God had made before, Adam and Eve were to be the expression of God and to be in His image and likeness.

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping things that creeps on the earth.

So God created man in his Own image; in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.

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 them that moves over the earth, Genesis 1:26-28”.

Chapter 2 gives us another account of Adam’s creation.

We can read of his unique creation from the dust of the earth in the hand of God and inbreathed by Him. Eve too was created uniquely, having been “built” (the Hebrew word) from Adam.

When God had made man(kind) He saw all that He had made and pronounced it as very good. Human beings, made in the image of God, were the pinnacle of His creative love.

The garden that Adam was tasked to steward for God was a rich source of provision and blessing for the man and his wife. There were numerous fruit trees in the garden including the tree of life in the centre of the garden. The river of life had it’s source in the garden and flowed out in four mighty rivers. Having made man God had provided for them liberally.

God told them:

“See, I have given you every herb… and every fruitful tree to eat of, Genesis 1:29”.

“The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die”. Genesis 2:16,17.

Now we come to a key point in the story.

It is important for us to notice and understand what God was showing them.

God was liberal in his generosity and provision to Adam and Eve. Not only were they commanded to eat of every tree and herb but they were told to eat of them liberally, bountifully, and gratefully.

There was one condition. They were not to eat of just one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They were told that “in the day you eat of it you shall surely die”, Genesis 2:17.

In having this condition to meet, or command to fulfil, or instruction to obey, God was giving them a free choice. He had made them for Himself, and wanted them to choose to reciprocate His love, care and authority. It was a small ask against a background of such a relationship, creatures before their Creator, servants before their Sovereign and children before their Father.

Eden must have been a marvellous place. With a statement like this one tends to think of the natural beauty of God’s creation, and rightly so.

But the beauty of the place was established by the presence of God Himself being there.

We are told in Genesis 3:8 “they heard the sound, or the voice, of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool, or breeze, or wind, of the day”.

It seems that Adam and Eve enjoyed being in the company of the Lord Himself in the garden He had placed them in. They were born into this, they were created for such intimacy and fellowship.

I have often wondered how long this state lasted as Scripture does not say.

Was this uninterrupted state of living experienced for a few days, weeks, months, years, decades?

However long it had been it ended decisively.

One day the serpent appeared to Eve. He is described as being “more cunning that any beast of the field which the Lord God had made”.

The word in Hebrew for the serpent is “nachash”, “the shining one”. The last verse of Genesis 3:24 says that “God placed cherubim at the garden of Eden”.

This juxta position of these two beings suggest they were of a similar order.

Also when God later speaks to the serpent in verses 14,15 He says “on your belly you shall go.”

This is suggestive that the serpent is perhaps not to be thought of as a snake as he is usually depicted in art etc, but rather that he stood upright – hence the later judgement that he would go on his belly. He was also a shining creature.

2 Corinthians 11:13 tells us quite clearly that “the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness”, but lower down in verse 14 we read “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light”.

However the Hebrew word used throughout the Old Testament carries the meaning, serpent or snake, and this is thought to be derived from the hissing sound of the snake. It is also used of the constellation of the serpent or dragon in the northern part of the sky.

Whatever the truth is, he was a formidable foe, albeit created by God Himself.

This is the first time we read of the serpent, Satan or the devil, speaking. The second occasion was when God gave Satan permission to tempt Job, and the last occurrence was in the account of Christ’s temptations in the wilderness.

How did the devil tempt Adam and Eve?

The serpent spoke first to Eve. Where was Adam? Was there an abdication of duty by him not being there when the serpent appeared to Eve?

Or was there an abdication on her part by not referring his appearance to Adam?

This raises the subject of headship.

In 1 Corinthians 11:3,7-9,11-12 we read “But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.….man is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man….Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the Lord. For as woman came from man, even so man also comes through woman; but all things are from God”.

We read in 1 Timothy 2:13-15 “For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control”.

There are several other references to headship in the New Testament. They include:

 Ephesians 1:22 “God gave Him – Christ – to be the head over all things to the church”.

Ephesians 4:15 “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up to Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ”.

Ephesians 5:23 “for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church”.

Although this is an important topic for thought and study we will leave it there for now as the context in the account of the Fall is more speculative.

Let us look now at the process by which Adam and Eve fell in the garden.

The first attack of the enemy was to engage Eve in conversation around what God had said, and in particular to undermine her understanding of God.

He sowed doubt in her mind. ““Has God indeed said, “You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1. Immediately Eve would find her confidence in what God had said to her/them questioned and undermined.

The serpent also subtly missed out one word of what God had said to Adam and Eve. He left out the word “freely”. God had said to them in Genesis 2:16 “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat”. The devil significantly misquoted God! The intention of the wicked one was to leave an impression in Eve’s mind that perhaps God was holding something back from them, that He was being less than true, or that He was being restrictive.

I wonder if this small, word-seed sown was the beginning of one of the most common problems that people face in relation to God. God had freely given them what they needed. They didn’t have to work for it. There was only one straight forward condition to abide by. All was provided freely for them. It was sheer grace and undeserved favour.

We read in Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?’

“Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely”, Revelation 22:17.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God”, Ephesians 2:8”.

We will return to this theme later.

Let’s follow the sad process of the conversation between Eve and the serpent.

In Genesis 3:3-4 we read that Eve now is the one to misquote God’s word. She says, quoting God, “You shall not eat of it nor shall you touch it, lest you die”.

God did not say anything about touching it. She added to the word of God – a dangerous thing to do. There is a clear warning in the book of Revelation about adding to His word, “If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book, Revelation 22:18”.

Also, He did not say “lest you die”. He said “you will surely die”. This is a significant loss of emphasis. In chapter 2:17 God had said “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”. The Hebrew manuscript actually says “dying you will die”.

In other words the process of death began the moment that Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord, and ended around 900 years later when they both physically died.

Not only was there a loss of the emphatic, there was the direct contradiction of the word of God.

The devil goes on to say to Eve in verse 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”.

 This is another wicked lie of Satan.  He leads Eve to believe that God is keeping something back from them, something that would be better for them, to “be like God” Himself.

This false promise is blasphemous, and is carried right down to our day in many practices of the New Age movement, where the ultimate goal for participants is to become like gods, or god-like.  

We will now look at Eve and Adam’s response to the conversation Eve had had with the devil, recorded in verse 6:

“So, when the woman saw:

1. That the tree was good for food – the lust of the flesh
2. That it was pleasant to the eyes - the lust of the eyes
3. And a tree desirable to make one wise – the pride of life

She took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate”.

Calamity, calamity – what a Fall!

The pattern of the temptations is repeated in the gospel accounts of the temptations of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are recorded for us in Luke’s gospel.

“The devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread; the lust of the flesh, Luke 4:3”.

“The devil… showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time…and said to Him, all this authority I will give You….the lust of the eyes, Luke 4:5-6”.

“He brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down…””. the pride of life, Luke 4:9-11.

Where Adam and Eve failed, the second Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, overcame and won the victory.

Where Adam and Eve disobeyed the word of God, Jesus Christ obeyed it and lived by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God.

We see the same pattern in 1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

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. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever”.

So, as believers in Jesus Christ we have the same pattern of temptations and have the same resources in the word of God to overcome them.

Sadly it all could have been different.

Eve took the fruit. She could have refused to have taken it.

She could have asked Adam.

He could have declined to take it and to have warned and reminded Eve of their responsibility before God.

It would appear that he abdicated his headship, had a further dereliction of duty, and failed in his responsibility, as it is he that God holds responsible for bringing sin into the world. 

“Therefore just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned, Romans 5:12”.

“As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners…. Romans 5:16”.

“For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:21,22”.

“For Adam was formed first then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. 1 Timothy 2:13,14”.

Once Adam and Eve had taken the fruit of the forbidden tree, their eyes were opened, just like Satan had told them they would be, and they had lost their innocence. They also became aware of their nakedness and tried to cover themselves up by sewing fig leaves together to make coverings.

It is likely that Adam and Eve were clothed with a garment of glory that surrounded them, resulting from being in the presence of the God of glory Himself. Paul alludes to such a garment when he refers to our natural physical bodies being ultimately clothed with a dwelling which is from heaven.

“For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed having been clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 2 Corinthians 5:1-4”.

When Jesus Christ was moving towards Calvary He went up to the mount of transfiguration where He was “transfigured”, “transformed” or “changed” before three amazed disciples. His whole being was altered, being described in many ways as the viewers sought to understand what they were seeing.

Matthew 17:1-9 uses these descriptions: “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.”

Mark 9:3, Mark’s account reads like this: “His clothes become shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth could whiten them”.

Luke 9:29, Luke recalls: “the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening”.

There is also a glimpse in the Old Testament as the glory of God shone on the face of Moses as he spent days in the immediate presence of God.

2 Corinthians 3:7 “But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away”.

Perhaps these verses and words give us an insight into how Adam and Eve were clothed in their state of innocence, before they sinned; but also, what a terrible awareness of their nakedness they experienced as such a glory fell from them.

The best they could do was to cover their guilt. They sewed fig leaves together in an attempt to cover their shame, as described in verse 7.

Tragically Adam and Eve compounded their sin by hiding from God. They had lost relationship with Him and were now estranged from Him. They were alienated from Him.

As terrible as that was for them, it was heartbreak for God. He had created them for His pleasure, and given them free will that they might reciprocate His great heart of love for them.

God came calling, “Where are you Adam? Genesis 3:9”. It was not that God did not know where they were. In His omniscience He knew everything. He was not wanting to know where they were geographically, as it were, but rather wanting to know where they were in their heart states before Him. Perhaps - and this is only conjecture – things might have turned out very differently if they had confessed their sin and been honest about what they had done!

God called to Adam first and later addressed Eve as seen in verses 9 and 13. Here is the order of headship seen again. Adam replied that the voice of God, which once they rejoiced to hear, now struck fear into his heart as he became so aware of his nakedness.

The fear of God is an appropriate human response to Him, who in all His splendour and holiness, is Almighty God, who dwells in unapproachable light.

However, where there is no relationship with Him, mankind in all his sinfulness, stands in terror at His presence, his spiritual nakedness exposed.

“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Genesis 3:11-13.

This was a huge moment for Adam. How would he respond? Would he be honest, humble, repentant? Sadly not. He abdicated his headship responsibilities again and sought to shift the blame to Eve, his wife. He answers; “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate”.

Not only did Adam fail to take responsibility for his own sin, and his failure as a husband, but remarkably he has a snide comment at God Himself. He even seems to blame God when he says; “The woman You gave me to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate”.

The sheer arrogance, pride and disrespect for God is quite amazing! This is breath-taking in the extreme!

God then addresses the woman, “What is this you have done?”. Here is Eve’s opportunity to disassociate from her husband’s sin, and confess her part in her deception; but how does she respond? She blames the serpent! “The serpent deceived me, and I ate”.

The shame and blame game!

How will God Himself respond given this course of events?

The Lord God addresses each in turn, the serpent, Eve, and Adam in that order.

1. God curses the serpent and tells him that he will slither on his stomach for the rest of his days. He will also eat dust all the days of his life.

Adam and Eve must now have seen the serpent, or Satan, in a different light from when he appeared in verse 1.

There is however in these following verses the most amazing promise.

God says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel”, Genesis 3:15.

God announces that Satan will bruise, wound, or hurt the coming Messiah’s heel, foot, but the Messiah would crush, and destroy Satan with a mortal wound. Here is the earliest promise of the complete destruction of Satan, and the total victory of the coming Christ.

Even in the face of the cosmic rebellion God has had His plan of redemption for the human race.

Redemption is a truth we will return to as it is a key Biblical word.

2 “To the woman He said: I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain You shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you”.

The woman will know a multiplied sorrow, specifically in relation to bringing children into the world.

Suffering has been the lot of women throughout history. Some of it has been relieved as a consequence of the gospel being preached throughout the world. Where the Christian ethic has been taught the lot of women has been improved.

Regarding the woman’s desire for her husband it seems that this has changed as a consequence of the Fall.

“This speaks of an inherent challenge in embracing the husband’s role as leader of his home and family. Now the curse on Eve makes it much harder for her to submit and flow with God’s institution of male headship in the home. David Guzic”.

 “So, the rule of love founded in paradise is replaced by struggle, tyranny and domination: Susan T Foh, cited in Boice, in the Blue letter Bible”.

3 Adam listened to the voice of his wife rather than the choosing to obey God, hence he entered into a form of idolatry. So, God said to him;

“Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return”. Genesis 3:17-19”.

Adam had been given stewardship of the ground in the creation mandate. It was to be his work and he found great joy in it.

Here God’s judgement came against his most basic role; his work became a chore, a struggle. It was a constant cycle of keeping on top of things that would spoil the creation.

He was reminded now of his mortality. He was a dying man and ultimately would return to the dust from which he had uniquely been made.

Genesis 3:20-24 tells us a few more snippets of information. Adam called his wife’s name Eve which means mother of all living. Although I have referred to Eve by name in my comments above, in fact this is the first time she is given that name by Adam.

This implies that the woman takes her name from her husband. Both genders are encompassed in terms like mankind, humanity, etc. This is not merely cultural – albeit a disappearing one in the western world – it is Biblical.

See Genesis 5:2 “He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created”.

Genesis 3:21 is the record of God making tunics of animal skins with which to clothe them. This is, by implication, the first time that there had been blood shed as a sacrifice for sin. It is an incredible thing that God did in His kindness to Adam and Eve. It was clothing for them but it represented much more than that. It was a means of their acceptance by God in spite of their sin. God Himself took the initiative to clothe them by a bloody sacrifice.

So, in their darkness moments, being under the judgement of their Creator, hope was extended to them and a way was established in blood, that would be the basis of God’s further relationship with mankind.

This theme will recur in our later studies.

The last few verses in Genesis 3:22-24 record for us God’s final judgement on their sin. They were both sent out of the garden. This was to prevent them for eating of the tree of life and living forever in their fallen state. Expulsion was God’s mercy to them.

“Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” – therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So, He drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life”.

God’s final punishment was to banish them from the garden that had been their home. They were alienated from Him who had created them.

This too was a mercy for if they had remained in Eden and had taken of the tree of life, they would have lived forever in their sinful state.  The cherubim and the flaming sword turning every way prevented their return.

Once out of Eden it is astonishing and sobering to read how rapidly and seriously sin increased and spread.

Adam and Eve’s firstborn son Cain, killed his brother Abel, in a fit of pique and rage, because his offering was not accepted by God in the way his brothers was. Adam’s eldest son – a murderer! Genesis 4:8.

Cain’s son built the first city, called Enoch, after their firstborn son. Cities are places where sin finds increased expression. Genesis 4:16-26.

Four further generations later we reach Lamech, who was the first man to take two wives.

There was considerable cultural development in these days including farming, musical instruments, and craftsmanship in a variety of metals.

Lamech however was an incredibly violent man who used excessive brutality against minimal provocation, boasting of the people he had murdered.

He was also pleasure seeking and committed to physical and outward beauty. His wives’ names indicate this. Adah means “pleasure, ornament or beauty”; Zillah means “shade” probably referring to a luxurious covering of hair. His daughter’s name was Naamah, which means “loveliness”.

The last account of Adam and Eve was, that through Seth, their eldest son, the line of the promised deliverer would be continued, and so it did.

“And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore him a son and named him Seth – meaning “appointed”. For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed….then began to call on the name of the Lord”. Genesis 4:25,26.

Apart from a brief reference to the wonderful man, Enoch, who walked with God, the next man we meet in Genesis is Noah.

In Noah’s day sin and wickedness had increased to such an extent that God sent a world-wide flood to destroy man and begin again.

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and the Lord was grieved in His heart.

So, the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”, Genesis 6:5-8”.

This is the description of sin at its worst. So badly had sin developed in the heart of mankind that “that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. What terribleness!

No wonder God had to bring judgement upon all mankind.

In the midst of a such a severe judgement God had prepared Noah, along with his family, and they were safe in the ark. After many months shut in the ark by God Himself, Noah and his family emerged on to a new earth, a new world – a new creation! 

There was a restoration of the original purpose of God for humanity to be in the image of God.

“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it, Genesis 9:6,7”.

God also set their place in the new creation by establishing a covenant with them; a new creation and a new covenant.

There was also the continuation of the seed line from Noah, through his son Shem, to Abram, the single most dominant figure of the Old Testament, “Genesis 9:18, 10:21, 11:10, 11:26”.

We need to turn, once again, back to Adam, before we leave him and move on in our study.

Romans 5:12,15,17,18,19 says:-

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death though sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…

For if by one man’s offence many died, much more ……

For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one…

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men…

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners….”

The terrible consequence of Adam’s sin was that he brought down the whole of humanity with him. I have heard him described as the federal head of the human race.

What happened through, and to, him has resulted in the principle of sin being inherited by every man and woman born into the world. This is called original sin, or as Charles Wesley often says, inbred sin, although Scripture doesn’t use these exact terms.

It is even more starkly stated in 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22 “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive”.

Note the contrasts: in Adam  in Christ.

 This actually is the tone of the New Testament. There is no middle ground, no compromise position, no uncertainty or room for negotiating.

One is either in Adam or in Christ. 

Either in one man or the other Man.

Either alive or dead, lost or found, light or darkness, with or without, old or new, etc.

The clearest definition of sin in the New Testament is found in Ephesians.

 Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you he made alive, who were once dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others”.

We noted in Part 25 that everyone comes into the world with a nature that is under the judgment of God. We are all children of wrath.  This inherent nature is expressed in our daily walk. Our walk is a term describing the usual pattern, direction and character of our lives. Paul in this text says that our walk, our pattern of life, was according to, or in keeping with, the powers that operate in our fallen world.

The world is under the prince of the power of the air, a title of the devil himself. This spirit works in us, sons of disobedience. In our fallen nature there is power that is destructive to us. We are influenced by it at best, and controlled by it at worst, this formidable opposer to God.  We are given over to the lusts of our flesh, with no fear of God in our eyes. The spirit has power to work in us because we are fundamentally disobedient sons. All of us have an inbuilt bias to sin, until we allow God to put it to death in us. 

Much of our behaviour is because of what we have inherited by birth, but this must not be used as an excuse as we all have committed sin of our own volition.

Our text here describes that, in our un-regenerate state, we all fulfil the lusts of our flesh and of the mind. Not everyone manifests gross sin. Not all have the opportunity to either commit sin, or be protected from sinning; but all of us have a mind and an imagination that may know no limit to the extent of our sinfulness. All of us are capable, given the right circumstances, of any sin.

Paul goes on in his letter to describe the amazing change that happens when we “learn Christ, when we are taught the truth that we have put off the old man, put on the new and are renewed in the spirit of our mind”.

He contrasts the old manner of life, living and walking like everyone else, in darkness, ignorance, blindness, lewdness, greed, and so forth. He says that this behaviour springs from “the old man” in us – the power of sin that yields fruits of sins. There are numerous manifestations of sin, that are called sins in the Bible, but they come from a single source, the nature of sin itself. 

Ephesians 3:17-24:-

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness”.

So how did God respond to the dreadfulness of sin?

Before we can start giving some thought to this question we need to very briefly turn back to Abraham. We have already noted that he plays a key part in God’s great purpose and therefore is revealed frequently in the Bible.

God called Abraham out of a totally heathen people by revealing Himself as the God of glory. God made great promises to Abraham saying that He would bless all the families of the earth through his descendants. These promises were made in a covenant that God instituted with Abraham and his seed – his descendants.

“Abraham was justified because he believed God; his faith was counted to him as righteousness” Galatians 3:6.

It put him in right standing with God. This is a central theme in the New Testament.

Abraham had a son, Isaac, and Isaac had a son called Jacob. From Jacob and his wives came twelve more sons, resulting in a large tribal group that came to be known as the twelve tribes of Israel. (Along the way God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.)

His eleventh son, Joseph, was his father’s delight as he came from the love of his life and his marriage to Rachel. Being favoured did not help Joseph however as his brothers took exception to his status and sold him to traders from Egypt.

There, through a series of amazing events, he remarkably rose to become the chancellor of the exchequer, only Pharaoh being above him.

Meanwhile, back in Canaan, where the tribe were living, famine forced them to go down to Egypt for food. There Joseph recognised his brothers and eventually, forgiveness and reconciliation followed, resulting in all the family moving to live in Egypt.

The tribal family grew quickly and after a change in power the new Pharaoh became apprehensive of these people and put them into slavery and bondage.

This dark passage of the children of Israel’s history lasted for 430 years, exactly the time period revealed to Abraham when God instituted the covenant with him.

Where was God now?

How could the seed line be continued?

How would all the promises of God be fulfilled in the face of such impossibility?

Is this how God responds to the dreadfulness of sin?

Because God had made a covenant with Abraham, He would not forget His people, even in their darkest hour. He was behind the scenes preparing a man, Moses, who with his brother Aaron, was going to be the long-awaited deliverer.

God judged Pharaoh in a series of devastating plagues culminating in the death of the firstborn in every family. During this time the people of God were waiting safely inside. They had applied the blood of a lamb to each of their homes, so that the angel of death passed over them.  They had marked the occasion by taking a special meal all dressed and ready to move. This was the “Passover”. It was a reminder that the people were delivered by the blood of the lamb. These events are all described in Exodus chapters 12-15.

They left quickly, taking with them the spoils of Egypt. Pharaoh pursued them in haste. The children of Israel were trapped in the desert with the Red Sea ahead of them and the Egyptian army behind them.

God spoke to Moses and told him to advance stretching out his rod in front of him. Remarkably the cloud that had been over them came behind them blotting out the view of the following army. At that moment there was a strong wind and the sea divided making a path right through it. All the children of God safely passed over, may be 1-2 million of them. Then Moses raised his rod again and the sea returned to its normal state with walls of water on each side cascading down drowning the chasing army out of sight. The New Testament tells us that this was God baptising the people in the cloud and in the sea and into Moses.

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed though the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea… 1 Corinthians 10:1,2” ESV.

This is an amazing illustration of the great act of God in the Exodus – the coming out – of Egypt. They had been saved by the blood of the lamb and had seen all their enemies destroyed in the sea. This was a true baptism into Moses, a picture here of course of Christ; freed from our enemies by the blood that saves and by baptism into our Head, our Deliverer.

Are we still thinking about the Gospel of God?

What do we learn from these historical accounts?

Are we still thinking about the problem of sin?

After such an amazing deliverance we see Moses leading the people through the desert until they came to Mount Sinai.

This is a key passage because it is at Sinai that God gives the people the law. He had brought the people out of Egypt and now He wanted to take them in to the land, promised from the days of Abraham.

Moses was called up the mountain to meet with God. Here he was given the ten words, the ten commandments of God which were to be received by the people and which were to be the basis of a covenant that they were required to keep.

Moses is referred to as the mediator of the old covenant in “Galatians 3:19 ESV 9: the law …..was put in place through angels by an intermediary”. He received them directly from the hands of God, written by His finger.

“The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  John 1:17”

The earlier part of this verse says: “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring – seed – should come to whom the promise had been made” ESV.

This is the key question. “Why then the law?” Why was the law given?

The law does not justify anyone. God has chosen to count men and women righteous by faith. Remember this is what God established with Abraham thousands of years previously.

As a result those who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ”Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them” Galatians 3:10, ESV.

But we know that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us- for it is written cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, Galatians 3:13” ESV.

The law was given to make sin known. If it had not been for the law, Paul says, I would not have known sin. “For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said ”You shall not covet”, Romans 7:7,8.

Because the law is holy and good, sin kills us. (Romans 7:11). We all stand condemned by it. There is nothing wrong with the law; the problem is with us, we are “sold under sin”, Romans 7:14”.

God gave mankind the law to keep sin restrained. The law acts as our protector. God kept us shut up until Christ came. So, the law shows us our sin and also leads us to Christ.

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith…. Galatians 3:23-26” ESV.

This section in Galatians refers to the Jews, (Paul was one of course) when Paul uses the pronoun, “we”. Then he says, but “you”, referring to those who were Gentiles. The children of Israel were God’s people and to them the law was given, which kept them “under guardians and stewards” until Christ came. 

Paul says that the Gentiles also received the Holy Spirit that brought them into sonship too. Sonship for the Jews was couched in terms of them coming into the full right of sons, adoption, whereas the emphasis for the Gentiles was that of a new birth, where “Abba, Father” is the birth cry. These of course are not separate experiences but rather truth revealed in different ways and emphases.

We must now turn largely to the New Testament to see how God has provided a gospel that thoroughly deals with sin.

Let us try to summarise where we are at this stage of our study. We will attempt to see sin and its consequences on one hand and God’s great provision on the other.

Let’s begin with the immediate build up to the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ.

At the beginning of the New Testament we are introduced to a strange, charismatic, preacher called John; as he baptised his converts, he was referred to as John Baptist, or John the Baptist. He described himself as the voice preparing the way for the coming and long-expected Messiah.

His baptism was a baptism of repentance. He ruthlessly exposed sin, especially of the religious leaders of the day. He castigated them for their hypocrisy.

His message was a dual one:

Firstly, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” in Matthew 3:2, with a prophetic word that the ax was laid to the root of the trees in Luke 3:9 and Matthew 3:10.

Secondly, the promise that the One coming of whom he spoke would not baptise his followers in water, but he would baptise them with the Holy Spirit, Matthew 3:11, Mark 1:8, Luke 3:16, John 1:33 and Acts 1:5. This reference to Spirit baptism in the beginning of all three synoptic gospels and quoted in the early verses of the Acts of the Apostles is highly significant. We plan to explore this great subject of the baptism with the Holy Spirit at a later date in Food for Thought.

So, the picture of the ax resting against a tree is an image of the work that Christ would do to slay the principle and power of sin in everyone who repents, and submits themselves to the baptism with the Spirit that was to come. There are also other images depicted of the same powerful work of grace, like fire, and a winnowing fan, that burns up sin, and cleanses the heart.

In addition, we read in John1:29-34 two wonderful promises of the work of Christ as told by John Baptist. He says “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!....this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit”.

Here is established at the very beginning of the gospel the link between the sacrificial lamb, the taking away of sin and the baptism with the Holy Spirit. This was John’s great calling to be Christ’s forerunner announcing the greater ministry that was to come.

The word “gospel” means good news, glad tidings, the proclamation of the grace of God manifest and pledged in Christ.

The first words of Mark’s gospel are “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”, Mark 1:1.

Later he goes on to record this; “Now after John (Baptist) was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, Repent, and believe in the gospel”, Mark 1:14,15.

After His great time of temptation in the wilderness, following which He returned in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus went into the synagogue at Nazareth where he had been brought up. There he read a portion of the scroll that was telling of the coming Messiah. When he finished reading, remarkably He sat down as an indication of His authority and right to speak and applied the text to Himself!

“When He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: the Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

The He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. So, all bore witness to Him, and marvelled at the gracious words which proceded out of His mouth, Luke 4:17-22”.

The time was fulfilled. “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son …Galatians 4:4”.

This would have included all the time of the prophets right up to John, whom Jesus would describe as the greatest of the prophets. Every Old Testament prophecy had been or was about to be fulfilled. Everything in the then known world was ready, politically, economically, etc. The Roman Empire with their great roads and civilisation were all available to ultimately aid in the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The fulness of the time had come!

One perspective is to see Jesus on earth as a man announcing, and moving in, the power of the kingdom of God. Another perspective is to understand that Jesus was not merely another human being however wonderful. He was, as Mark told us, the eternal Son of God.

The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most amazing miracle! He left the unsullied glories of heaven and intimacy of love with the Father and the Spirit, to come to our sin sick, broken world, to save us!

Here is one of the most wonderful sections of Scripture describing the glories of Christ in His Sonship.

“Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the the dead, that in all things He may have the pre-eminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fulness should dwell and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. Colossians 1:15-20.”

Here is the clearest statement of Scripture concerning his incarnation and His self-emptying.

“Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant , and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance  as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross, Philippines 2:6-8”.

The sentence, “made Himself of no reputation”, is often translated “He emptied Himself.”

It is important for us to note at this point that Jesus did not cease to be God when He came to earth as a man. He emptied Himself, not to divest Himself of His sonship as some erroneously teach, but to choose not to act in that manner.

“In the incarnation Jesus did not (and could not) become “less God” in the incarnation. No deity was subtracted (though He did renounce some of the rights of deity); rather humanity was added to His nature.” David Guzic in the BLB”.

“His condescension was free, and unconstrained with the consent of His Father…the Son of the Highest can, at His own pleasure, show or eclipse His own glorious brightness, abate or let out His fulness, exalt or abase Himself in respect of us (Poole)”.

God was on the earth breathing, living, walking and working in the person of Jesus Christ!

God’s gospel had come!

The gospel is essentially the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus lived a perfect life in thought, word and deed.

The gospel records show the wonders of His life.

His life however, culminated in a betrayal by one of His closest friends, and all the others of His friends ran away and abandoned Him. One of them cursed and swore that he had never known Jesus!

The religious leaders of the day stirred up hatred among the people and brought false witnesses against Him. They put Him on trial at night and repeated it in the day time, in a flagrant misuse of authority.

Even though Pilot could find nothing wrong with Jesus, he still allowed Him to be “examined” – beaten and whipped, even though innocent of any wrong doing.

Finally, they took him out of the city, stripped Him and nailed Him to a wooden cross, before raising it up and dropping it into the ground. There He died in agony, refusing anything such as myrrh to deaden the pain.

He was crucified between two villains and was there only because the authorities had released a notorious terrorist in His place.

Never a word of denial, anger, hatred, or bitterness came from His mouth. The only words were of forgiveness to His torturers and prayers for His executioners.

The Roman centurion in change of the spectacle exclaimed that “Certainly this was a righteous Man!” (Luke 23:47). No doubt he had witnessed many similar scenes as those unfolding before his eyes, but nothing had compared to this!

Remarkably they did not have to break the legs of Jesus because He was already dead.

John 19:33, 34 tells us that “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out!”

However, His moment of death was marked by a great cry, “It is finished!” as recorded for us in John 19:30, following which “He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit”.

Jesus had fulfilled what He said He would do.

He said “I am the good Shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.

As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.

And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

Therefore, My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay if down, and I have power to take if again. This commandment I have received from My Father.  John 10:14-18”.

Jesus conquered our ultimate and greatest enemy, death itself! Death did not defeat Him, He defeated death. He laid down His own life, no one took it from Him!

He demonstrated this before His bewildered disciples, by rising from the dead three days later. He appeared to them, individually, as well as in both small and large groups, over a total period of forty days.

We can read amazing accounts of conversations He had with individuals like Mary, Peter, who He had to re-commission after his failure, Thomas, who missed out on the first occasion Jesus came into their locked room! There were others also!

Paul writes later; “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once….. 1 Corinthians 15:3-6”.

Jesus used the forty days no doubt to prepare His disciples that He was going to go away again, not for a few days or even weeks, but for ever. He had told them of these things in the days immediately before His crucifixion, but they had failed to understand, or even, remember them.

He had said the that “it was expedient – necessary – to your advantage - that I go away; for if I do not go away the Helper – Comforter – the Holy Spirit, will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. John 16:7”.

So, the death and resurrection of Christ was required so that the Holy Spirit could be given.

And for that we need Part 33!

At the end of the forty days on earth Jesus ascended back into heaven out of the disciples’ sight.  There Jesus received the Holy Spirit from the Father, pouring Him out upon His waiting disciples.

“This Jesus God raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. Acts 2”32,33”.

Jesus’s exaltation was the final act of His great work upon earth.

“Therefore God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the God the Father, Philippians 2:10,11”.

He was incarnated in the womb of the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect life as both God and man. He was crucified at the hands of wicked men. He was raised to life again by the power of the Father. He was exalted to the right hand of God, to the position of greatest honour. He received the promise of the Holy Spirit which He poured out.

Death, resurrection, ascension, exaltation and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. These are the great elements of the work of Christ.

All the writers of the New Testament refer to this great work of Christ. He is the central theme of all. At any one time there might be one theme in view, but each aspect is dependent on, or flows out from, the other. Christ’s work would have been impossible without the virgin birth for example. Christ’s death would have been powerless without the subsequent resurrection. The gift of the Holy Spirit is clearly linked to Christ’s exaltation.

“But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified, John 7:39”.

All go together forming one great whole; not just as the record of Scripture, but in reality, truth and power.

Finally, in this part, we need to mention briefly the significance of the wonderful third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the Executor of the Godhead. He works out in humanity all that the Son has made possible, and all that the Father has desired. The Father is the Source of everything; the Son fulfils all the Father’s will; the Holy Spirit indwells believers to make everything real on the earth.

We will return to the subject of the Holy Spirit in a later part of our study.

We need to stand back now and return to the subject of sin and man’s alienation from God for which the gospel is God’s provision.

Do you remember these columns we wrote about previously in Part 30?

We will now consider the manner in which God has provided for man’s full restoration and recovery, using the words above.

The left-hand column lists many of the key ways in which sin has had its terrible consequences. This is not an exhaustive list but it does cover the more serious ones.

The right-hand column lists words that are the corresponding Biblical ones, so one can see how full, wonderful and complete has been God’s provision in the gospel.

One of our friends, Ron Bailey, has said many times that Bible words don’t have definitions, they have histories.

We will need to examine the histories around these Bible – gospel – words.

We have seen God’s judgement of Adam and Eve when we were considering their place in the Biblical narrative. We also saw the awful condition of men’s hearts at the time of Noah when God destroyed them all in the flood.

Man is still under the judgement of God. This is clearly written in the book of Romans, which is Paul’s great statement of the gospel.

“We know that the judgement of God is according to truth…” Romans 1:2.

“You are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God”. 2:5.

“In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ”. 2:16.

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God”. 3:19.

This is an aspect of the gospel that is unpopular to the modern man’s mind. One seldom hears these days of God’s judgement. But without the knowledge of sin and judgement there can be little understanding of the grace and mercy of God in His provision in the gospel.

In using the words in the right-hand column it is not my intention to suggest that each word represents a different experience that we must know and enter into. Rather the variety of words used illustrate to us differing aspects of what God has done for us in Christ. This richness in the Biblical record increases our understanding and appreciation of Him and His work.

The different words may have a “family” of ideas related to them as they are drawn from different fields of life.

So, for example, there might be words that come from biological or family concepts; words with a legal emphasis that would be heard in the courtroom; another set of words might have had a religious or ceremonial application.

Now we will consider each of them in turn.

Job asks these great questions. “What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?” Job 15:14.

How can a man be made righteous?

How can he stand as a guilty sinner before the Triune, thrice holy God?

You may remember, many parts ago now, how Adam’s nakedness as a consequence of his sin, was covered. The Lord God made coats from the skins of animals to clothe them. This is the first indication in the Bible that a sacrificial blood offering had to be made, and it was God who provided such.

Further on in Genesis we read of the great man, Abraham.

You will remember from our studies that Abraham was called out of his heathen culture to walk with the true and living God, the God of glory. God had given Abraham many promises, all of which were dependent on him having an heir. This was a problem as he had no children; both he and Sarah were infertile.

One evening when Abraham was talking with God about this matter, the Lord took him outside and this is what we read took place.

“Then He (the Lord) brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And he said to him, “So shall your descendants be”.

And he believed in the Lord and He accounted it to him for righteousness, Genesis 15:5,6”.

Abraham received righteousness because he believed God. He received it as a gift from God that had come to him by way of his faith in God.

This shows both Abraham’s greatness as well as God’s greatness!

Abraham did not earn this gift of righteousness; he put his faith in God by means of His word to him. It was unmerited and totally of grace.

Paul takes up this central theme of our salvation in the New Testament. There we read “We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we who have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified, Galatians 2:15,16”.

The words are quoted again in Galatians; “Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? – just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness”, Galatians 3:5,6”.

He goes on to clearly state that this righteousness was not merely for the Jews but also for the Gentiles in the purposes of God; “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying , “In you all the nations shall be blessed”

So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham, Galatians 3:8.9”.

“Abraham did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

And therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness””. Romans 4:20-22.

The next verses to consider in Romans relate righteousness to Christ’s work on the cross and the shedding of His blood.

“But now the righteousness of God apart for the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:21-26”.

Sin could not be overlooked. God is holy and cannot tolerate sin. Righteousness demanded judgment on sin. God must be just.

We have just read that God put forth Jesus as a propitiation for our sin. The word “propitiation” means a substitute sacrifice. It only occurs here and in 1 John 4:10 “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins”.

God’s love was the great motivation for Him to become our substitute sacrifice. He became the sacrifice for sin that was due to be ours. He took our place.

It is important to note the words used above – “freely“ and “grace”. It was a sacrifice freely made and given by Christ. (Do you remember the use of the word “freely” in the Genesis account, when God said they could “freely” eat of all the trees in the garden?)

Here the word is describing the extravagant gift of God in justification. It was freely given by God and is an expression of His great grace to us. Grace is underserved favour from God. This is wholly a work of God and has nothing to do with us at all.

God is just and the justifier.

The only other place where the word “propitiation” is used in the New Testament is in Hebrews 9:5 where the Greek word is used in the Septuagint for the mercy seat, the lid covering the Ark of the Covenant, upon which sacrificial blood was sprinkled as an atonement for sin. While it might be said that this passage means “Jesus is our mercy seat” it probably has the more straightforward idea of propitiation -a substitute sacrifice”.

“At the same time, the “mercy seat” idea should not be neglected as an illustration of propitiation. Inside the Ark of the Covenant was the evidence of man’s great sin: the tablets of the law, the manna received ungratefully, the budded rod of Aaron, showing man’s rejection of God’s leadership. Up over the Ark of the Covenant were the symbols of the holy presence of the enthroned God in the beautiful gold cherubim. In between the two stood the mercy seat, and as sacrificial blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) God’s wrath was averted because a substitute had been slain on behalf of sinners coming by faith. We really can say that Jesus is our “mercy seat”, standing between guilty sinners and the holiness of God”. David Guzic, in the Blue Letter Bible.

Justification clears us from the accusation brought against us by the law; we have transgressed the law of God, and thereby deserve damnation of hell. God does not inflict on those who are justified the punishment which they had deserved.

Justification means we are pardoned; we receive the forgiveness of our sins. Our sins are put away from us; they are not only forgiven, they are forgotten and remitted – put away from us.

God will not inflict on the sinner what he deserved to suffer, because Jesus has suffered for him.

When we receive justification through an act of faith it is “just as if I had never sinned”. This is a word that has its roots in the legal world. No condemnation – not guilty - is the cry of the great Judge! The not guilty verdict has been given, there is no more condemnation! When the enemy comes to accuse us, we stand on our legal ground by faith. What Christ has done for us has provided a rock-solid place of standing where the enemy has no longer any rights over us.

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God”. Romans 5:11,2.

Justification by grace alone through faith alone was the key truth that started the Reformation in the early sixteenth century. The main name that stands out is Martin Luther.

Other people were significant but Luther and his actions started the whole movement going. 

In those days the religious life of the nation was completely different to what we would understand today.

There was great darkness over Europe. People were afraid of demons, hobgoblins, and the like. People were ruled by the Catholic Church from Rome, and local priests were to be feared. The people of the day had no means of learning as they had no access to books, or even a mindset to discover and investigate new ideas. They were told what they were required to believe.

There was a practice going around at that time known as indulgences. This was an edict from the Pope himself. He authorised the production of letters of authority from priests to sell indulgences to the people. The people were told that if they gave money buying these indulgences, they would keep a loved one out of purgatory.

Martin Luther was stirred by the wickedness of the religious powers and what they were practising. He went to the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on 31^st October 1517 and posted up his Ninety-five Theses on the door of the castle. This would be equivalent to posting a lecture on the town notice board. He was soon summoned to the religious authorities in their council and asked to recant – i.e. to say he had acted erroneously. He asked to sleep on the matter overnight and give his reply in the morning.

He returned in the morning to make his famous statement: “I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against my conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen”.

Luther’s stand against the power of the Papacy had an incredible consequence. His stand triggered a great move of God through many nations in Europe.

The resulting move coincided with the emergence of the printing press, his words and preaching rapidly being communicated to the masses. For the first time for generations men and women had the opportunity of discovering God for themselves. This came in part from people having access to the Bible for the first time, through men like Tyndale and others. Tyndale’s Bible was written in English, not Latin. The Bible then was available for anyone who could read and not seen as a book only for the priests.

A result of Luther’s understand was his teaching on the sanctity of marriage, love in the family and Biblical instruction for all in the household.

The Reformation also saw the beginnings of science, moving away from fanciful ideas to assessments on fact and truth.

The emergence of art is another cultural consequence of the Reformation as men began to understand that we have all been created in the image of God and art is one way of expressing that value.

It bears repeating however that all these secondary consequences of the Reformation draw their origins from the great Biblical truth, foundational to our Christian experience – justification by grace alone, through faith alone.

Many years later John Wesley was very low in spirits. He had tried to evangelise, unsuccessfully, and had had his experience of God questioned as he witnessed the lives of some Moravian believers travelling with him, all of them passing through a tremendous storm. The Moravians exhibited all the peace, faith and security in God that he lacked.

Let him describe in his own words his experience of what happened to him on the 24^th May 1738:

“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation: and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

I began to pray with all my might for those who had in a more especial manner despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there what I now first felt in my heart. But it was not long before the enemy suggested, “This cannot be faith; for where is thy joy?” Then was I taught that peace and victory over sin are essential to faith in the Captain of our salvation; but that, as to the transports of joy that usually attend the beginning of it, especially in  those who have mourned deeply, God sometimes giveth, sometimes withholdeth, them according to the counsels of His own will.”

Justification by grace alone through faith alone was one of the foundational truths that John Wesley preached.

Let us now look at another significant word describing God’s provision in the gospel.

When our fore parents sinned, they died. In that moment they were aware that their relationship with God had changed; there was now a great gulf between them. It was a gulf that only God could span. It was too massive for man to find a way across. God in His grace took the initiative to make a way.

“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time” 1 Timothy 2:5,6.

“He deigns in flesh to appear

Widest extremes to join

To bring our vileness near, and make us all Divine;

And we the life of God shall know

For God is manifest below.”

Charles Wesley in number 60 of Hymns of Eternal Truth.

Here is the revelation of the coming of the God Man – Christ Jesus. He is fully Man and fully God. As both holy God and perfect Man He alone is able to give Himself a ransom for all. He spans the gap, He bridges the gulf. His sacrifice alone is sufficient to bring together holy God and sinful man.

Ephesians 2:13-18 tells us “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordnances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who are near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father”.

Not only was there a great gulf fixed between God and man but also the New testament describes a distinction between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews had been the people of God with all the benefits and privileges associated with that status, but the Gentiles – the non- Jewish world – were considered in comparison to be “afar off”, not “near”.

In the death of Christ, He has brought both together those afar off, and those near, and created one new Man. In this new Man all distinctions are rendered none and void. 

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fulness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross”.

And you, who once were alienated and enemies in our mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight”.  Colossians 1:19,22.

By His grace we have received the reconciliation. Not only that we should be brought near to God again by the work of His cross but also that He has entrusted us to share this great ministry. We have received the reconciliation.

“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” Romans 5:10,11.

“Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

Believers have received the reconciliation and are now called to act here on earth as ambassadors for Him. They implore and plead for others on behalf of Christ.

The church must exhibit the life of the one new man. In Christ there is only one man.

“Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all”. Colossians 3:9-11.

We have seen in our previous studies that man is dead. That is not physically dead, at least not yet! But the words of God in the garden come back to us now – “dying you will die”.

Spiritual death occurred instantly that the original couple disobeyed the word of God. That death resulted in corruption so that ultimately, they died physically too, albeit about nine hundred years later.

They died initially as far as their relationship with God was concerned.

Paul says “you were dead in trespasses and sins”.  Ephesians 2:1.

So, the provision that God made in His mercy and love was to give life again, for mankind to have a new beginning, a new birth. Receiving a new life from God is called regeneration.

The rest of Ephesians 2:1 reads, “And you He made alive, who were dead!”

One early reference to the word regeneration occurs in Matthew 19:28. Peter is anxious to know what will be his reward in the hereafter as a result of what he had given up to follow Jesus on earth.

“So, Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel””.

In other words, the regeneration is going to be the final chapter of God’s great plan to restore everything. All will be new. That is not to say new in the sense that it has never been there before. Rather, that it is new in the sense that everything has been renewed. All that had been lost will be regained. Man’s restoration will be complete. “There will be no more death”. Revelation 21:4.

All that was so beautiful in the original garden will now be seen in its fullest expression in the city of God, new Jerusalem. What a prospect! What glory awaits the believing soul!

When we are born again, we enter into that great process of continual transformation, into God’s great and eternal renewal and restoration of all things.

Paul uses the word regeneration once in his writings in Titus 3:4-7. “But when the kindness and the love of God our saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which he have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life”.

This is Paul’s sole use of the word regeneration or similarly connected word. Yet remarkably it links all the main aspects of our salvation; God’s love and grace, justification by His grace, washing and cleansing of new birth and the important reference to the work of the Holy Spirit.

He also says as well, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation”, or more accurately expressed perhaps, “in Christ, new creation”!  2 Corinthians 5:17.

Another writer of the New Testament is Peter and he has two references to new birth in the first chapter of his first letter to the scattered pilgrims.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith to salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”. 1 Peter 1:3-5.

We have been born again through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus to be kept now for the fulness of our inheritance in Christ later.

“Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever?” ! Peter 1:22,23.

We must note here the work of God is dependent on the word of God being received as a seed into a believer’s heart. This is able to keep him for ever. We also note the link with purity of heart which is a theme we will return to.

We must now turn our attention to John’s writings.

John’s word collection includes references to birth, love, family, children, Fatherhood, life, love and so on.

It is interesting to note that the early chapters in John’s gospel are thought to be placed very early in the public ministry of Jesus. Perhaps the call of the disciples was first but then the early chapters in John’s gospel come next.

In the first chapter John says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God”. John 1:11-13.

New birth is seen by John as a foundational experience for men and women to know. New birth follows believing faith. Man’s responsibility is to turn to Christ in faith, believe in His name and receive Him deep into his heart. God responds by giving new birth. He alone is able to impart the life and power of God into a soul. It does not lie in the power of man, nor his will to make new birth happen. God Himself births a man in God as he believes and receives by faith.

A wedding is the context of His first miracle, after which comes the account of Jesus meeting Nicodemus at night. This is most instructive. Nicodemus was the teacher in Israel and was the authority in the knowledge of Scripture and the law etc.

It is too long to discuss the whole conversation in this article. Suffice it to say Jesus focussed down on the need Nicodemus had to be born again. He did not engage in a theological discussion with him. He ignored Nicodemus’s responses and came straight to the point, Nicodemus needed to have a new birth, a birth from above. Without such an experience, Jesus says, a man will not see the kingdom of God. It is that fundamental in His plan.

The other significant section of the New Testament that we should briefly explore is John’s epistles, especially his first.

At the time of writing John is an old man and is probably sending a circular letter as a pastor concerned for a number of churches. They have been infiltrated, it would seem, by Gnosticism, a common heresy of the day. He is trying to give the churches ways of recognising true believers and true teaching from false brethren and erroneous teaching.

He basically gives a series of tests by which people could evaluate and discern between the true and the false.

The things he mentions all spring out of the new birth. He suggests six evidences or indications that a person has been born again.

1. The practice of righteousness. Chapter 2:29.
2. The power not to sin. Chapter 3:9.
3. Love and the knowledge of God. Chapter 4:7.
4. Believing that Jesus is the Christ. Chapter 5:1.
5. Overcoming the world. Chapter 5:4.
6. Victory over the enemy. Chapter 5:18.

These evidences, as it were, show us just how radical and powerful the new birth from above really is. We must be sure that we have allowed God to work His mighty works in us. If we find we have not, then we must believe into Him with all that we have, receive His word and God will give us new birth.

There are several feasts in the life of the Lord’s ancient people representing different events in their history. Some were celebrations of the seasons and of God’s faithful provision for the nation. None of them however carry the significance that the Passover does. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, combining pastoral and agricultural elements, were observed together, to commemorate Israel’s departure from Egypt. The observance began on the fourteenth day of the first month and lasted for a week. These events are recorded for us in Exodus 12:1-20; 23:15.

So why are these Feast so important and so faithfully commemorated each year, even today by practising Jews?

They point back to the terribly dark years of their history when the nation was subjugated under a tyrannical despot, Pharaoh, in Egypt. For four hundred years they were a nation of slaves, having no national identity.

How they were delivered is truly remarkable.

Through a series of ten plagues God sent judgement on Pharaoh, culminating in the death of the first born in every family and house. Israel too would have suffered the same fate unless they had obeyed God’s instruction. They were to stay in their houses but were to paint the two door posts and the lintel with the blood of a lamb that each family had acquired in preparation. It had to be cooked in a special way and the whole family were required to eat it together, all dressed to leave at a moment’s notice. When the Angel of Death passed over the land any living in the houses with the blood-stained doors were safe and would not die.

When the cries of despair were heard from the Egyptian homes all the people of God began to move out. God had miraculously delivered them. They were en route to the promised land.

However, it was not too long before Pharaoh relented and ordered his army to pursue the escaping Israelites. At this point Israel’s progress was halted by the Red Sea. Trapped in the wilderness with the Sea in front of them and Pharaoh’s army behind them, they once again faced impossibility. Then God told Moses to lift up his rod and in doing so the waters stopped flowing, they rose up on either side, and revealed a path through the sea. All of the Israelites passed over on to dry land. Lifting up his rod again Moses and the people then watched as Pharaoh’s chasing army were all drowned in the Sea.

A likely two to three million people were delivered from Egypt to begin a new life as a nation, with their own identity, laws, authorities, culture, worship etc. This event has been known as the Exodus. Its story lies deep in the psyche of the ancient people of God.

He had redeemed them. They had been redeemed by the blood of the lamb, upon which they also fed. Their enemies were defeated and destroyed before them. The power of the oppressor had been broken. “A nation had been born in a day”.

The whole story can be read in Exodus chapters 3-15.

Listen to King David’s words when the ark had been brought back to Jerusalem and he was alone with God:

“And who is like Your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a name – and to do for Yourself great and awesome deeds for Your land- before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, the nation, and their gods?” For You have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever; and You, Lord, have become their God”. 2 Samuel 7:23,23.

The word “redeem” or “redemption” is the word used when one would buy out a slave to grant him his freedom. The release would be in response to a price being paid. The death of Christ is stated as the means of our redemption.

“In Him (Christ) we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace”. Ephesians 1:7.

 “Knowing you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot”. 1Peter 1:18,19.

“Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. Romans 3:24.

 “Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good work

s”. Titus 2:14

“Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption”. Hebrews 9:11,12.

Note the refences to the blood that was shed to redeem us. We are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, who offered Himself as a sacrifice for all. He has taken us out of the hand of the enemy, set us free from bondage, and made us His very own.

Like many Biblical truths there is an immediate relevance of these great things but also a future fulfilment when the Lord Jesus will return and set up His kingdom.

This is the time when we will receive a new body with which to live in the new earth that God will make.

“In whom (Christ) also, having believed you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory”. Ephesians 1:13,14.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”. Ephesians 4:30.

“And not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body”. Romans 8:23.

Redemption, we have seen, is about Christ’s great work in delivering mankind from the power of the enemy and from our own sins, and setting us free to belong to Him. He has paid the price to buy us back to God.

There is however another aspect in the Bible about our redemption and that is concerning our inheritance. Through Christ’s work we can know that in Him we have an inheritance. This is most beautifully seen in the small book of Ruth in the Old Testament.

Naomi was a Jew married to Elimelech, they had two sons and they lived in Bethlehem. When famine hit the land, already struggling under the rule of various judges, the family moved to Moab for food.

Soon tragedy struck. Elimelech died leaving Naomi a widow. Her two sons took wives from the Moabite women but incredibly then her two sons in law both died leaving Naomi with her two daughters in law, Orpah and Ruth.

Hearing reports that there was food back in Bethlehem Naomi decided to return encouraging her daughters in law to remain and re-marry. Orpah did but Ruth clung to Naomi.

This is a wonderfully moving piece of prose:

“Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. The Lord do so to me and more also, if anything but death parts you and me”. Ruth 1:16,17.

This was an amazing response from a heathen woman to her mother in law’s faith.  

So eventually both Naomi and Ruth return and the Lord gives them wonderful favour back in Israel. Cutting a long story short Ruth falls into the hands of a kind landowner whom she falls in love with. Little did she realise but Boaz was a close relative of her.

In ancient Israelite society the following well defined legal obligations fell to the next of kin, known as the (goel), or kinsman-redeemer.

Family lands could not be sold out of family possession. A destitute relative could sell inheritance land to pay debtors, but landless people were effectively reduced to servitude. It fell to the goel to redeem lands, and family members by payment of outstanding debts. Where no goel existed, the land could be sold outside the family, eventually reverting back in the Jubilee year.

Remarkably Ruth had been led to Boaz, who was unbeknown to her at first as her goel, kinsman redeemer. Once he had clarified his leg position Boaz wasted no time in taking Ruth as his wife. In so doing he established her inheritance.

Boaz says, “Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day”. Ruth 4:10.

Ruth’s faithfulness at a time of unfaithfulness results in God giving her a son, Obed, and she has a privileged position in the lineage of David and Christ (she is the great-grandmother of David). Ruth 4:13-17.

Christ is our goel!

He has become one of us, and has taken us up for himself by spiritually marrying us. He has cleared our debts, and given us an inheritance in Him.

He is our kinsman- redeemer.

After Jesus had been raised from the dead He appeared to many groups and individuals of his disciples as we have seen in a previous part of our study. After ten days He ascended to heaven where He received the Holy Spirit from His Father and whom He poured out upon His waiting people.

Jesus had promised them this, that they would know power to live.

“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”. Acts 1:8.  

The Greek word for “power” is the word “dynamis” from which we get our English words like dynamite, dynamo, etc.

The power that the disciples needed was a power to live. This promise must not be taken to mean that it refers specifically to the receiving of certain supernatural gifts, like speaking in foreign languages, languages otherwise unknown to the speaker. These are amazing gifts and the New Testament gives several lists of such gifts. This is not primarily what is in view here however.

The power that the disciples needed was supernatural power to live by the life of the Holy Spirit that they had received.

Up until this time they were still struggling to understand Jesus and certainly did not understand the power released in the resurrection. The contrast between the days when Jesus was appearing to them, and the immediate days after Pentecost is immense. By the coming of the Holy Spirit they had been transformed from a group of fearful men and women, locked up in the upper room, doubting, confused, afraid, and riddled with guilt and shame, to an altogether different group. Now they were filled with the Holy Spirit and were boldly preaching Him in the very place, and among many of the same people, who, only a few days ago, were crucifying Him. Those who had deserted Him and had run away at the scenes of the cross, were now fearlessly declaring His claim on their lives, and His power to transform all who would receive Him.

Nearly all of the disciples – or apostles as they were later named – experienced martyrdom for their faith. The only rational explanation of this remarkable transformation is that God had given them divine power to live.

They had been regenerated by the power of God. They went on to preach the gospel and share their faith all over the then-known world as Jesus prophesied that they would.

When Jesus was crucified the Bible teaches that we were crucified with Him. Not only did He die for us, in our place, as our substitute, He also died as us, for our freedom and deliverance, from self and sin.

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me”. Galatians 2:20.

“Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Romans 6:11.

“There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death”. Romans 8:1.

“The normal Christian life” is not just the title of a very helpful book written by Watchman Nee; it is an expression that should describe the experience of every believer.

Are we all living the quality of life described in the New Testament, or have we settled for something “safer”. There is provision for all of us to be in something new and radical and that is only possible by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us?

Through the ages God’s dealings with man(kind) have always been by a covenant relationship. Examples would include the covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David.

This is not the place where we can study this theme more fully. Suffice it to say that the law given by Moses includes those covenants already mentioned and viewed in the light of the New Testament as being “Old”.

The book of Hebrews is the most helpful when we want to have a fuller discussion of this great theme.

The writer – many think it would be Paul – says this;

“In that He says, “A new covenant” He has made the old obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away”. Hebrews 8:13.

This is in the light of majestic prophecies from the Old Testament that have now been applied to Christ who has fulfilled them. The clearest comes from Jeremiah.

“Because finding fault with them, He says: Behold, the days coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah –

not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall by My people.

“None of them shall teach his neighbour, and none his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more”. Hebrews 8:8-12.

The key thing to see is that what was originally an external covenant and one that required keeping from both sides was impossible for the people to do.  That is why the very first words we read regarding Jeremiah’s great prophecy was that he laid squarely at the door of the people the reason why the covenant was continually being broken – He found fault with them. Hebrews 8:8.

God fulfilled both sides of the covenant agreement so we can be in the agreement as we are in Him.

The New Covenant is where we read and see the power of God to change us inwardly.

This is well described in the other marvellous prophecy of the Old Testament.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

“I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgements and do them”. Ezekiel 36:25-27.

This wonderfully declares that the Lord will give us a new heart as we believe Him.  This will enable us to walk in Him. He will cause us to walk. This is no longer our efforts to live as we should but is dependent on the activity of the Holy Spirit in our new hearts, as we believe Him.

What was once external – the external law and commandments – is now internal, the law written on our hearts and in our minds.

God the Holy Spirit fills the life of the believer so that He is indwelt by Him. In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit came upon a few and a limited number of people for a particular task or purpose. In the New Covenant the Holy Spirit lives within us. This is an amazing truth and revelation!

Jesus was teaching His disciples this the night before He was arrested and taken from them. He was explaining about the unique work of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, our Advocate.

“Jesus answered and said to him, (Judas, not the disciple who would betray Jesus) “If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word; and My Father will love him., and We will come to him and make Our home with him” John 14:23.

Jesus, along with God the Father and the Holy Spirit – We – will make Our home with him!

When Jesus was teaching them, He was describing a different order of relationship.

“The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you”. John 14:17.

Jesus by the Spirit is certainly with us, He leads us, guides us, comforts us etc, but the greater truth is that He is in us!

This is the marvel of the gospel in its culmination.

We who were sinners, born in sin and in slavery to the devil, have been redeemed and reconciled to God by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and He now lives within us!

“I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how He could love Me, a sinner condemned, unclean!

How marvellous, how wonderful and this my song shall ever be, How marvellous, how wonderful is my Saviours love for me!”

Food for Thought – Introduction

Food for Thought [David Vine]

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit