What Is A Christian? Part VI

What Is A Christian?  Part VI

It is important to point out that God never walks away from man.  Man may walk away from Him but never the other way around.  God did not go through all the effort recorded in Genesis, with man as His crowning achievement, just so He could walk away.

There are physical laws and there are spiritual laws.  When one is broken there are consequences.  Take the law of gravity:  it's a good thing we have it because the world would be a confusing and dangerous place if everything was just floating around and up into space.

If you decide to jump off of a 100 foot cliff to your death, is that the law of gravity's fault or your own?  When man breaks a spiritual law he should be no more surprised that there may be negative results than if he broke a natural, or physical, law.

When Adam and Eve decided to go against God's will, they broke a spiritual law.   They knew the result ahead of time, because God told them that in the day...thou shalt surely die.  Some might say "why would God give them boundaries?".  Why do people accept boundaries from employers and the government, or give boundaries to their kids, but complain about "boundaries" from God?  Don't be upset at God, it was Adam and Eve who brought sin and its results into the world.  They had a choice.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost their spirit.  They brought sin into the world and with it sickness, disease, and every negative that is recorded after Genesis chapter 3.  God's archenemy, Lucifer, received the power and rulership over Earth -- which was originally given to Adam.

Genesis 1:26

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Adam was second only to God: he had complete rulership over the earth and all that was in it. But when he obeyed the serpent, Lucifer, one of the results was that he transferred this power and authority from himself to Lucifer.

Luke 4:1-8

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Being forty days tempted of the devil.  And in those days he did eat nothing:  and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them:  for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan:  for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Had the Devil not had the power and the glory of all the kingdoms of the world to give to Jesus Christ, he would have called the Devil's bluff.  But it was no bluff.  Why?  Verse 6 says, "...for that is delivered unto me".  Adam delivered the power and the glory to the Devil way back in Genesis.

It is interesting to note Jesus' reaction to the Devil as opposed to Eve's:  she engaged in a conversation, which ultimately resulted in her listening to and acting on the serpent's "thou shalt not surely die", when God had said "thou shalt surely die".

Jesus Christ, the son of God, simply quoted the Word of God in verses 4 and 8.

The kingdoms of the world today are not perfect.  We do not have paradise.  We do have untold suffering, sickness, death, anguish, and disease.  This is not what God designed or wanted for man.  Yet God cannot overstep freedom of will.  God cannot force man to believe and accept His goodness.

Many churches today have this wrong.  They talk about "God using them", or "Jesus using them".  This is not what the Word of God says.  God does not possess, or take control of people.  The Devil does, but not God.  God must rely on people believing His Word and because of their love for Him, choose (by their freedom of will) to do His Word.

If you and I walk away from God we will not see the degree of consequences upon mankind as when Adam sinned.  Adam was in a unique position and his fall resulted in dire and far reaching consequences to all of mankind.  But by God's mercy and grace He has made available a way to once again become body, soul, and spirit.  We can live a life of power and excellence, even though we live in an imperfect world.

Galatians 1:4

Who [Jesus Christ] gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:

We have briefly touched upon the spiritual chasm that separates God and man, and how this came to be. Now it is time to look at the bridge between God and man, and that is the faith of Jesus Christ.