What is the meaning of life? Where did I come from and why am I here? Why is life so tough? Where are the resources I need to get through this life? Why is there so much suffering in the world? Ever had that nagging feeling that we were meant to know these answers, and were meant to be so assured of the truth that not knowing gnaws at you?
As advanced as we have gotten in knowledge and technology, we all still struggle with these basic questions. These continue to nag us and pull at our hearts no matter how busy we get, or involved we are in whatever we find to fill our thirst for life. Whether or not we are aware of it, the only answer that will truly satisfy our longing is the knowledge- should we choose to embrace it- of who we are, who’s we are, and the reason we are where we are, when we are, and why we are.
We are a created being. Intricately made, and hand crafted, a one-of-a-kind being, put on this earth for a purpose. The God that flung the galaxies, stars and planets into a seemingly infinite universe crafted you and me just as beautiful and and detailed as the clockwork of the universe itself.
The Crown jewel of his creation is you and me. He cherishes us more than anything else he’s made. We are the apple of his eye. He so carefully and thoughtfully made us that there is not the slightest gap of anything left out. Psalm 8:5-8 RSV says, speaking of Man,
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.”
Some translations say “lower than the Angels”, but the Hebrew text is better translated (and most translations agree) as “Lower than God”. This shows us what authority we’ve been given, but most of us don’t realize it or take that authority seriously.
The Father has made sure that every one of us already has access to everything we need to become exactly what we were meant and made to be.
Now for the icing on the cake. God decided to give us something extra special. He gave us his image. That’s right, we look like him! He even went one step further, he gave us a will, and that my friend, is a most precious gift! This gift of a will actually makes it possible for us to not believe in him! Pretty gutsy I would say. He went so far as to promise that no matter what happens, no matter how far we stray, no matter how much we believe lies, and that no matter what, he can not interfere with our autonomy. That’s right! We could actually make ourselves our own god, because we have the freedom to do so. This is called sin. Of course that breaks his heart when we do. Why then would he give us a will? Well he knows what we leave behind when we choose him, and this makes the intimacy between him and us so much more profound when we choose him and his ways over anything else this world has to offer. It also gives us special insight into himself and his ways because he will trust us with his secrets. When it’s our decision, he delights in us so much that the blessings are multiplied that much more.
Because of the complete freedom we enjoy to go any way we please, it’s easy to become arrogant; discovering that we can make decisions outside of the Father’s will and guidance. The enemy starts putting in our thoughts, wondering if the Father is holding back on us, or if someone else is getting more than we are, causing us to miss out. This is the same lie the Serpent used to tempt Eve. We also wonder if we can just live on the edge sometimes. Or we wonder if we trespass outside what we’ve been told is the best for us, that we can somehow gain some advantage… We start looking for some nudge or advice. We then look for agreement from someone else– someone to affirm what we’ve already decided in our mind what we’d like to do– if it sounds reasonable after all, and causes us to gain insight, then why not? So we listen to the tempter and take the plunge. So now, we become separated from Father, and he has no authority over us to give us his best, because we’ve taken that authority for ourselves and made us our own god. We have decided what’s best for us. For the Father has taken an oath not to interfere with our choice of whom to answer to.
Along came a very high and beautiful Angel in Heaven who because of his glory and beauty that God had given him, he became arrogant and proud. He challenged the Most High and his authority because he forgot who created him, and his pride blinded him of his arrogance. So he was cast down to earth, and in his bitterness, he entices the world to indulge in pleasure, ignoring the hurting, and forgetting the Father. He blinds people from seeing the provision and love the Father has for his creation. He loathes the idea that anyone would choose God over him because of where he had come from and the position he once held.
Funny thing about God. Everything in his creation was made to be perfect. Everything tidy, no chaos, and no rebellion. So when trouble comes, he has to shut out the corrupted portion from his sight. It happens like this: So then you say to yourself, “I know better than he does, what he says he wants me to do is stupid and boring!” (Probably because you already have your eye on something else that looks very enticing, and have made up your mind about it, or you don’t understand the big picture or see that it takes faith to receive all that he has for you.) You’ve been told that if you don’t indulge, you’ll really miss out on the things that others are enjoying. So you decide not to live with the synchronicity, harmony, and clockwork that is in tune with all creation.
At one point in history, the enticements of the flesh snared all mankind and led everyone away from God. His heart was deeply broken, and he was sorry that he ever made Man, so much so that he decided to reboot the world. He took the only people he could find loyal to him– just one family– and protected them while he killed the rest. Estimates are, with the longevity that existed in those days, there were over a billion people on earth at that time. With as much as he cherishes us and loves us, and with as much care he made us, and lovingly gave us what we would need, this shows that he is unable to abide with us or to have his favor on us when we have chosen our own way.
After the reboot, the Earth eventually was repopulated. He then chose a man with whom to make a special set apart people, a people with whom he would favor. These would be a people that he promised to make as many as the sand on the shore. He also promised a certain track of land; a land that was said to be blessed by God and it flowed with milk and honey. He would bless them, and if anyone messed with them, he would mess with them back. He would protect them from all their enemies. God wanted so bad for his people to understand his favor, love, and goodness, so he sent a bunch of guys over the years, one after another to warn the chosen people of what would happen to them if they forsook him. He also made sure all the proclamations were recorded for future generations. But he also had the messengers tell of the protection and provision for them if they remembered him and chose to sync with him.
All along the way, the people would regularly stop remembering God, go their own way, (and by the way, some of the things they did were really disgusting. God actually called a number of things detestable to him.) God would then lift his hand of protection, and enemies would capture them, carry them off to slavery until they repented. Sometimes captivity lasted for generations. When they finally repented and remembered God again, they would then be delivered by God’s hand with many miracles. This happened a number of times throughout history.
Remember the reboot? God killed all those people because they refused to come into alignment with his love. From the beginning until right now as you’re reading this, the price paid for rebellion against him is and always has been, and always will be death. He so can’t live with or tolerate any kind of sin. Kind of harsh you say? Well take it up with him, not me. I didn’t write the rules, I’m just here telling you about it. But there’s another side to it. He takes no pleasure in punishing or killing his own creation. He said that so many times. In fact it’s his last resort. That’s why he waits so long for us and is so patient and merciful. If we got what we deserved right now, no one would be left alive, anywhere. There’s got to be a better way… a way to allow for sin and yet be in fellowship and blessing with the Father. It gets more profound– sin would even have to be so hidden, that God doesn’t even know it’s there! Yikes, that’s a tall order. This was finally taken care of later, but first there was atonement.
God set up a way for death to pay for our sins without us having to die. He said that if something (an animal) that didn’t have the guilt of sin that the guilty had, could die in place of the guilty, then the guilty would be justified. The sacrifice would have to be valuable, pure and without blemish. There were some caveats however. One of them was that the guilty was not to be allowed to spread their sin and contaminate the people. If they continued in their ways and encouraged others to do so, they were to be expelled from the rest of the people. God wanted a people set apart, a holy nation.
Animals were continuously being slaughtered for centuries for the people’s sins. There was still something missing. People carried on their lives for centuries living only a shell of what God really wanted for them. He wanted true relationship. He needed intimacy with his people, to show them his personality, not just letting them read about him or learn from teachers. The heart is what God is after, not mechanical motions of atonement for sin. The reality of life however was that man saw God as a mean spirited task master who demanded life for sin, so the people wound up riding through life oblivious to the true nature of a relationship with him.
Enter God’s only Son. Not one of us, not his creation that is us, but his Begotten. He was with God from the beginning. He knew the Father’s plan from the beginning. God’s love and the longing for intimate relationship with his self-willed creation was so deep, and his sorrow for man’s stubbornness was (and is) so intense (and his Son also shares the same longing with as much intensity), that he put together the most brilliant plan from the very beginning. God’s perfect Son, would come to this Earth, experience everything we do, grow up here and willingly give up all rights to be God, so that he could show us the way. He was so focused on giving himself, spending himself on others, pouring out his life energy, and selflessly showing us how to love. Then he did the un-thinkable. He allowed himself to be slandered and falsely accused of things that really didn’t amount to much. But the crowd with a mob mentality nailed him to a wooden cross and killed him. He took on all our sins and shortcomings to the grave. After three days he was resurrected, and left those sins in the grave, never to be revisited. He returned to the Father in a cloud promising to return again.
That one act of incredible love of willingly giving up his life for you and me broke the tempters hold. It finally and decidedly destroyed the curtain that blocked ordinary people access to the Father. It put an end to the need of any more sacrifices to atone for sins. It smashed Satan’s ability to lead us astray unless we choose to be led. It gave us access to the same power that Yeshua (Jesus, the Son of God) had while he walked on this earth. It also assured us of eternal life with the Father, no matter how steeped in sin we are. It also frees us from guilt that others would lay down on us. Since God is our defender, we are no longer under condemnation. Another thing it did was that it made peace with our waring flesh internally. We now don’t have to strive to be better, God makes us better on his terms. All of our good works are as filthy rags to God. Only through Yeshua’s power can we do anything that’s worth anything. So Jesus plus nothing is the key to the abundant life. None of us are good enough, but because he requires perfection, Yeshua’s blood is all God needs to see in order to see us as perfect. And we are made perfect in the Father’s eyes with Yeshua’s once and for all sacrifice. Too good to be true you say? I say so too! We have a lot of reason to shout for joy. God has promised that to whomever will admit that they are full of sin and accept Jusus’s gift of fellowship and eternal life, then the blood of Jesus will automatically include us in the Lamb’s book of life.
If everyone knew the measure of this truth, there would be no one that could refuse. But because there are still people out there that fight against this good news (because the lust of the flesh has a hold of them and their pride has hardened their heart), God has unspeakable wrath laid up for them. The cost for this free gift was huge, so anyone who doesn’t take it seriously doesn’t have a chance to escape unless he or she accepts the truth before it’s too late.
Here’s what the best scholars have losely (and I mean losely) come up with as the most likely scenario for the future:
Jesus said that he is coming again some day to set up his kingdom here on earth. He also said he was coming again to take his people– those who have accepted his gift– home with him, and that we would meet him in the sky. Through gathering and sifting information from data scattered throughout the Old and New testament, it looks as though there is going to be about seven years of unparallelled pain and torment upon the earth. This is to pour God’s wrath on those who refuse to turn to his ways, and to avenge his people from persecution. It’s also to bring those who simply didn’t know, but who have open hearts into eternity. The start of that will be what the Church has called the “Rapture of the Saints”, where those who are ready (a reference to the 10 virgins parable) will meet him in the sky. Those who may be Christian in name only, or asleep (still caught in the snares of the fleshly desires, and have neglected to focus on God’s incredible adventure for us), will endure the tribulation where God will require them to be martyred by being beheaded. After the great 7 year tribulation, Satan is thrown into the pit where he can no longer deceive, and those who had turned to Jesus during the tribulation get to see him come down to Earth to reign with him for a thousand years. After that, Satan and all the people who are not found in the Lamb’s book of life are thrown in the lake of fire where they will endure eternal torment. We’re then introduced to the new heaven and new Earth. We get to live in timelessness in the New Jerusalem.
Time is getting very short. Jesus said no one knows the day nor hour, but we’re definitely to know the signs in the sky and the season. The first sign happens this April 15th, 2014 with the first blood moon of the Tetrad on Jewish Feasts. You may read this fascinating article about that here:
http://www.pray4zion.org/TheComingBloodMoons.html
There are a number of signs that people have put together about the impending collapse of this nation’s monetary system, and the chaos that will ensue as a result. Many think this could happen with 6 months or sooner, and that other events could be triggered around the world very quickly that could lead into the great tribulation. Are you ready? Are you willing to lay down your life for Jesus so that God could send you on an adventure? Are you ready to fly with him should he come for his Church and be saved from the tribulation? Or are you prepared to trust your “instinct” and say, “I don’t believe it could happen this soon, too many things would yet need to happen.” Jesus warned of that saying, it will come like a thief in the night, and there will be no time to prepare for it. The time for preparation is NOW.
These thoughts are my own, and I take full responsibility for anything on this page.
John Griffith