Archives for February 2014

For the past few years I have been working on a new book “The Life of Christ in Five Phases.” In narrative form, it draws its information from the four Gospel books in the Bible with a big assist from various commentaries on the Bible. There is also a Teaching Aid I have compiled to assist anyone who wants it. The textbook “The Life of Christ in Five Phases” and the companion book “The Life of Christ in Five Phases Teaching Aid” are both nearing completion. I thought it would be a nice gesture on my part to give my readers a FREE short preview of the book up to the impending birth of Jesus in Lesson Four. It will be a series of 3 or 4 posts, starting with the present one. Regrettably this cannot include the Teaching Aid because of technological difficulties.

Phase One: Divinity Comes to Earth

Lesson One

Introduction to a Creator God

I want to draw you a picture, a picture of 1) great power, 2) absolute majesty and 3) comprehensive knowledge – all of this and many other attributes that are all concentrated in one ineffable Being: the Almighty, omniscient Elohim of Genesis 1.1. That is all there was “in the beginning,” a beginning whose date we find it hard to calculate because time did not exist prior to the creation of the worlds. Space and time were brought into being to accommodate Creation and the man who as yet existed only in the mind of God. It was for this creature whom He would love to death, that God spoke planet Earth into existence.
God is the Creator of all things, including those human creatures capable of reason who have not yet submitted themselves to their Creator. All Creation is the property of God and if He elects to send to hell those who rebel against Him – He has full right to do so. Who can order Him to do otherwise?
Text Ref. 1
Remember this: In a sense there are only two factors in all of existence — that which is created and that which is not created. The factor that is not created must perforce be eternal, and the only eternal (in the full sense of the term) entity is God. So we have on one side of the existential equation, all of Creation. On the other side we have only God. (Please understand that referring to it as an “existential equation” means only that the equation refers to all of existence, nothing more; nothing “deep” and quirky.) There can be no gray area here, that is, there can be no area that is part of creation and part of eternity. Although all believers in Christ are, in reality, at this moment a part of creation and a part of eternity, they cannot claim to have existed in the forever past and thus stake their claim to being truly eternal. One being alone is exclusively eternal: God.
Our logical minds, enlightened by the Word of God (the same Word of God that quotes God as swearing an oath based on His eternalness: “40I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live forever…” Deut. 32.40 NIV.), impel us to that conclusion.
Text Ref. 2
While speaking Earth into existence, this great all-everything God – who was all alone and yet not lonely due to His multi-faceted being that embodies “all things pertaining to life and godliness” – simultaneously created the universe with trillions of cosmic objects flying and whirling hither and yon, with no easily discernible pattern, either to their movements or the reason for their creation.

He had no need to consult with a gaggle of architects and engineers before any step in the creative process and there was no one mightier or possessing greater authority than He – He was the only One who existed “in the beginning.” It was fitting, therefore, that He should create what He wanted, where He wanted it and when He wanted it. So, mighty and alone, did God create the universe.
The Diversity of God
Text Ref. 3
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” (Joh 1:1-2)
With regard to the scriptures above, it is evident that as far back as “in the beginning,” God, who was undeniably one God, was not simply an undifferentiated being with not the slightest complexity in His mighty being. If God – the ONE, complex Creator of the universe – had not meant to convey the idea of a plurality of expressions within Himself (the Godhead), He would simply have had John start his account of the life of Jesus with the third verse of the same book thus:
“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (Joh 1:3)
There would have been no need for verses 1 and 2. But in those two verses we see there is another element, the “Word,” which Word (Logos) was with God and, in fact, was God.
Furthermore, if God had not meant to indicate to mankind the intricate and convoluted nature of His mighty Self, He need not have said in Gen. 1.1 that “Gods” (using the plural form of the Hebrew word for God – “Elohim,” – yet using the singular form of the verb denoting a creative act – “bara” – which restricted the triune expressions of the Almighty God to only one being) created the heaven and the earth. By using the plural “Gods,” the writer of Genesis seems to concur with John 1.1 that “in the beginning was the Word, etc.” Without bringing the Word onto the scene, he could have said simply that God (singular) created the heaven and the earth. That of course makes no allowance for either the Word or the Holy Spirit. But we are very much aware of them both: 1) the Word became flesh and dwelt among men as Jesus (John 1.14), and 2) The Holy Spirit came in anointing on God’s prophets in Old Testament days (Ez. 2.2; Mic. 3.8 et al.), and came into the hearts of Jesus’ followers on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2.1-4) and still fills His followers today (Acts 2.38-39).
The All-Sufficiency of God
Text Ref. 4
If we were using man’s terminology, we would say that, after creating the worlds, God looked around and then decided to make a creature in the likeness of Himself. Perhaps God was feeling lonely, even after creating the innumerable host of angels that were at His beck and call. But, of course, that was not the way it was at all. How can a perfect Being who has all-sufficiency ever be lonely?
Furthermore, all that God has ever done has already been decided by Him from forever. It is admittedly difficult for us, who have never had perfect knowledge, to relate to the preceding statement. God’s knowledge is not like ours, forever growing as we learn and experience new things. God’s knowledge is static and perfect; it is the same today that it always was. We are not here on a sudden divine whim: God has had a plan from all eternity for all mankind and for each individual person within that generic term.
Perhaps you can at least dimly see what I am trying to get across to you: There is no limit to God’s authority. No one can tell Him what to do. He brought all we see into existence by His own power. God smiles and the skies are bright and blue; He frowns and the storm clouds gather; He becomes angry and all hell breaks loose in the skies that had once been so pleasant and balmy. God alone is God and He alone dictates what shall be in His creation.
When mankind gets that conviction rooted firmly in his mind and heart, his path, even when rocky, will be much easier to travel and his entire outlook will change. There is a saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” You certainly can never defeat God, no matter how hard you try, so, if you are not serving Christ now, why not join up with Him? Your life will be better here and it will be much better in heaven – better than this present life and an infinity better than the eternity in hell toward which you are now so resolutely pressing.
What you need is the salvation that you can have only by giving your life to Jesus Christ.

My Unusual Journal 49
Wednesday, November 09, 2011, 1:18 PM
A Short History Lesson: The Ten Plagues of Egypt
Let’s quickly get to the heart of this little homily. If you will walk with me a short mile – I’ll not ask you to go twain – I will remind you of the experiences of Israel early in their history. First consider all that God had done for them:
After they had endured several centuries of hard slavery under their Egyptian masters, God delivered the Israelites by ten wondrous miracles that were so devastating they nearly destroyed the land of Egypt. (Ex 7:8 through 12:31) In the list below are the ten plagues and a brief explanation of each one:
The Ten Plagues of Egypt
1. Water turned to blood. (Ex. 7.17-24)
“And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.” (Ex 7:24)
2. Proliferation of frogs (Ex. 8.1-15)
“[Frogs entered Pharaoh’s] house, and into [his] bedchamber, and upon [his] bed, and into the house of [his] servants, and upon [his] people, and into [his] ovens, and into [his] kneadingtroughs.” (Ex. 8.3b)
3. Lice infestation (Ex. 8.16-19)
“Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.” (Ex. 8.17)
4. “A grievous swarm of flies” (Ex. 8.20-32)
“…there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants’ houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.” (Ex. 8.24b)
5. Murrain (cattle disease) (Ex. 9.1-7)
“…all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.” (Ex. 9.6b)
6. Boils (Ex. 9.8-12)
“So they took soot from a furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on men and animals. 11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils that were on them and on all the Egyptians.” (Ex. 9.10-11 NIV)
7. Hail (Ex. 9.18-35)
“And the hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and brake every tree of the field.” (Ex. 9.25)
8. Locusts (Ex. 10.12-20)
“…they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt.” (Ex 10.15)
9. Darkness (Ex. 10.21-29)
“…there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days; they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days…” (Ex. 10.22b-23a)
10. Death of the Firstborn (Ex. 12.21-39)
“And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We be all dead men”! (Exo 12:30-33)
Here are a couple of reasons as to why God did not deliver Israel with one fell swoop of His mighty arm:
A repetition of calamities would leave more of a lasting imprint on the Egyptians than one affliction. The 10th pestilence would have been terrifying enough to effect the emancipation of the Israelites without the other plagues, but God knows the creatures He has made. The memory of the preceding nine afflictions, culminating in the last, most terrifying affliction – the death of the firstborn male in each family of man and beast! – would hang over the land like a monstrous miasma or poisonous atmosphere through many decades.
The record of this ravaging of a nation by God in this awful way would not fade from the annals of human history for as long as the earth exists in its present form. This should be an ever-present lesson to all men and women, but of course the majority of them will ignore it, tripping the light fantastic straight into the fire and brimstone waiting for them.
The story of the Ten Plagues is not included in the biblical record for our entertainment; no part of the Bible is written for that purpose. It serves as a dire warning from God that no one is so powerful or so good that they can buck against the will of God with impunity. No one can afford to say as Pharaoh did, “Who is God that I should do what He wants?”
I don’t have to add anything to the story; its warning is plain to see: Serving God means to prosper and live; rejecting His counsel equates with suffering and death. You have to make the choice. Don’t be deceived – ignore God and you will pay for your sins!