Why should a series whose subject is apocalypse and disaster begin with the paradise of Eden?
The obvious answer may escape the eyes of a perishable mortal facing a life-ending disaster. In an instant we may wonder what’s next, yet in accelerated times we may not have considered what was before.
What was before me, even before man? How did I get here? Even more importantly, why am I here? Why, and what does my life have to do with my death?
Certainly disaster will ensnare many: accidents, seemingly random events which bring an unexpected end to an already brief life. That death should overtake a man or woman should not ambush any.
Yet have you considered your death, the death of man, the death of the earth upon which we walk?
If so, you may also have considered the beginnings of the same. Our hesitant conclusions about our beginnings may logically lead toward answers to our existence and inevitable conclusions. So from before Eden and paradise we begin.
Before we move forward with creation let’s just take a minute to consider what we believe. Do you believe in God?
Can you define God? In fact, you may ask, ‘Why God?’
In these last days man has observed both creation and destruction of distant universe of which we have but minuscule evidence.
DNA strand & computer-sequenced 5.5 petabits of data [Harvard research]
We have mapped mysteries of our flesh, split the stuff of our existence with fearful explosion of devastation. Yet our awestruck wonder of creation fails to comprehend —the impassable great divide
We shall consider man next and even the angels and spirits, but first consider the primordial soup of stuff from which great power formed the beginnings of all.
If you must ask what inertia from nothingness moved hydrogen twice into oxygen, then consider the power to bring both into existence. No logic states, ‘in the beginning was water’ or rock or atoms.
Who created atoms and universe? In the beginning was… something: yes, One more powerful and more intelligent; yes, even One more wise and more good than all of which we wonder in awestruck human observation.
If you must deny that things cannot create themselves, then you deny the very purpose for which God, Who IS and Was and Will BE forever, created you for this brief flash of life in our human flesh.
You are not here for nothing any more than you were created by nothing from nothing. In the beginning, God created …
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
Let us confess that NO man or alien from planet yet uncreated from nothingness and NO mathematically improbable coincidental collision of primordial matter could possibly have done this!
Do you see the the light is good and must be separated from the darkness to define the glory of the light? Will you consider separating darkness which brings disaster from that light with which your life is blessed?
We with eyes to see know the glory of our creation and the defining darkness which beckons our countenance back toward the deep dark chaos opposing the light of of this life.
The LORD speaks the beginning into existence
5 God called the light “day,” and He called the darkness “night.” Evening came and then morning: the first day.
6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, separating water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above the expanse. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” Evening came and then morning: the second day.
9 Then God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land “earth,” and He called the gathering of the water “seas.”
And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” And it was so. 12 The earth produced vegetation: seed-bearing plants according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.
And God saw that it was good.
13 Evening came and then morning: the third day.
Light separated from darkness to celebrate God
14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. They will serve as signs for festivals and for days and years. 15 They will be lights in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the sky to provide light on the earth, 18 to dominate the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 Evening came and then morning: the fourth day.
The Beginning of Life on earth
20 Then God said, “Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the large sea-creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 So God blessed them, “Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.” 23 Evening came and then morning: the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 So God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kinds.
God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
3 But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!
18 You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.
19 Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation. Selah
28 Summon your power, O God,
the power, O God, by which you have worked for us…
34 Ascribe power to God,
whose majesty is over Israel,
and whose power is in the skies.
35 Awesome is God from his sanctuary;
the God of Israel—
he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God!
Who is in Control?
Political and religious bickering such as is common in every age postures man against man and promotes idea against ideal. Jesus encountered such controversies as part of everyday life and ministry, yet refused to become entangled in issues of authority.
The hidden question beneath numerous inquiries to Jesus from religious officials of every belief was, ‘do you see why we are right and that you are wrong?’
Their assumption of the Son of Man was that Jesus would have taken control (like they would have seized power) IF He IS the Son of God.
Yet God did not sacrifice his only Son for power of control, but for forgiveness of sins.
When do powerful leaders look upwards to the Lord in humility?
Where was the humility of Jerusalem’s religious leaders in the presence of their Messiah Incarnate? They continued to cling to what little control Rome would allow. To relinquish power to Jesus would mean giving up authority of their position.
Perhaps the best illustration of the questions of authority of the Lord Jesus Christ from officials in control of the people takes place in their first dialogue after clearing the Temple.
“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
Jesus, surrounded and worshiped by crowds, rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. (Christians celebrate this occasion as Palm Sunday.) He drove out all who were buying and selling from the temple of God.
“It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
He healed the blind and the lame in the courtyards of the temple. Crowds continued to praise Jesus, while the established religious authorities continue to question their witness to miracles.
… they were indignant, 16 and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?”
“Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
Jesus left for Bethany, home of Lazarus whom He had raised from the dead! He returned the next morning and crowds continued to follow and Praise the Lord.
Do you suppose the multitudes praising Jesus in Jerusalem included those who had witnessed the resurrection of Lazareth in Bethany?
Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead…
9 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
10 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
In the seventh and sixth century before Christ idolatry would replace worship of the Lord. The Temple would fall, though prophets warned the people of the error of their ways.
Are we so much less idolatrous?
Do more than a few, a mere remnant, even now remain faithful to God?
In addition to holding out the hope of a Messiah to come, Jeremiah warns against evil leaders and false prophets:
Their course is evil, and their might is not right.
11 “Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil, declares the Lord.
Lies of evil leaders and false Prophets
Do shepherds of these last days seem ungodly? Do false prophets since Christ yet stir hatred into the evil hearts of violent men?
Will any nation, shepherd, priest or prophet endure the wrath of the LORD when judged apart from the holy, sinless and risen Savior of lost sheep?
Jeremiah 23:16
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.
17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord,
‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”
21 “I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
23 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
Power Prevails against False Prophets and Evil Shepherds
Yes, men seeking power will claim gods or prophets of their own desires. Idolatry against the Living God!
Men seeking power will always deny the Lord.
Evil men will always lead others toward their own destruction, rejecting the Lord who forgives through Christ’s sacrifice. They do not bow down to to God’s own love for those He made in His own Image, but rather wallow in their own inevitable hopelessness. Vain hopes.
God only will judge!
He will lead. And to those called to His love, the Lord will redeem them in love with great grace through His own sacrifice.
True Prophets such as Jeremiah and true kings such as David have spoken the word of the Lord.
They have pointed to the truth of the Messiah, truth for those ‘with ears to hear‘ of His great love and mercy.
To be continued…
Next: Amos
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