This article can be read as standing on its own to deal with ‘The changes coming to the earth very shortly’, or as a follow up to last month’s, “Why does God allow suffering?” which can be found immediately below the present one if you wish to read that first.

The object of this article is to show you how God has promised He will change the Earth because it is the reason He created the Earth. This is stated in a very familiar verse to many regular Bible readers.

¹⁴  For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.        Habakkuk 2

So let us show you what God says in His Word, the Bible, about what the Earth and its population will be like when He achieves His purpose.

Now it is clear that the state of the world in which we live is nothing like the glorious place the Creator intends it to be. The work to be done to achieve that change is huge and He has told us who will do that work for Him.

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.         John 3

The explanation of how Jesus’ sinless life makes our escape from death possible begins here.

²¹  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.                      2 Corinthians 5

But we must expand on that another time.  Here we need to tell you about the coming changes in the Earth.  Staying with Jesus, as soon as his Heavenly Father introduced Jesus to the world he immediately set about the work God had set him.

⁹  And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. ¹⁰  And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: ¹¹  And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. … … ¹⁴  Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.          Mark 1

An important part of that work was searching out a people who would respond to the call of God through a desire to please Him and be part of His eternal purpose which involved the “Kingdom of God”. He started with Israel because they were the Lord God’s Kingdom in the past. David had acknowledged this many years before.

⁵  And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.           1 Chronicles 28

When Jesus appeared in Israel they were ruled by the Romans who had conquered them 100 years or so before. Israel’s Old Testament prophets had promised that God would send them a saviour. So when Jesus came teaching about God’s coming Kingdom they quickly began to anticipate that he would restore the Kingdom of Israel there and then ridding them of their Roman overlords.  After Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, when his disciples had overcome their amazement at seeing him again, they questioned him aboutthe

⁶  When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?  ⁷  And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.  ⁸  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.          Acts 1

After a gentle rebuff and the promise that the Kingdom will come, he told them it was not the time to establish the Kingdom.  Rather, that they must continue his work of preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God.  Then something amazing happened to Jesus!

 ⁹  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. ¹⁰  And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
¹¹  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

They now understood that Jesus would definitely return to the Earth to carry out the work of establishing the Kingdom AND fill the Earth with the glory of God.  But how and when that happens is a long story and we must continue, as promised, telling you about the remarkable changes that are coming.

There is a huge amount of work to be done when Jesus returns and he will need the help of his faithful followers who are called in the Bible ‘saints’.  We therefore need to be clear what the Bible means by a saint.

⁵  Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.             Psalm 50

This verse shows that a saint is not a person some church official or committee has chosen. They have always been chosen by God and are those who have made a promise – a covenant – a commitment – to obey God.  For us that means following Jesus – the son of God – and obey his commandments.

Very helpfully, the apostle Paul tells us that God has said, when Jesus appears to the world on his return, he will gather his saints – all the faithful believers – to him.

¹³  To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.         1 Thessalonians 3

That means his return will be in two stages. First in private to collect together the faithful.  This is called the resurrection and judgement.

¹⁰  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.     2 Corinthians 5

¹⁶  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.    Romans 2

This only involves those who have known God and his laws.

¹¹  For there is no respect of persons with God. ¹²  For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; ¹³  (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.              Romans 2

Those who did not know and obey God’s laws, what ever sort of life they have led, will not be called to judgement, they will simply die.

²⁰  Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish. …  ….  ¹⁴  Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.  Psalm 49

Sadly, those that are found to have failed to faithfully obey God’s laws will return to the Earth. But we don’t want to dwell on failure. We are considering the wonders and joys our Heavenly Father has reserved for those whom Jesus welcomes at the judgement to join him in his kingdom.

The faithful followers of Jesus will experience a remarkable change of nature described by the apostle Paul like this.

⁴²  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: ⁴³  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: ⁴⁴  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.                                               1 Corinthians 15

Man is born with a dying nature, given to corruption, often dishonourable, weak and human.  But if chosen by Jesus, when he returns to help him change the world, they will be raised to incorruption, glory, power, and a spiritual body.  Free from temptation, sin and death.  Not subject to pain and suffering but experiencing joys unimaginable.

⁴  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. ⁵  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.                         Revelation 21

It is difficult to imagine the change we will experience if Jesus chooses us because things will be so different from this life.

¹⁰  And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.         Isaiah 35

We hinted earlier that Jesus has made possible our escape from death.  Those chosen are called ‘ransomed’ because he has paid the dear price to rescue them from death, a process we need to describe in another article soon.  Meanwhile Paul gives another description of the amazing change from mortal to immortal that will take.

⁵⁴  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ⁵⁶   The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. ⁵⁷  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. .            1 Corinthians 15

What an amazing and marvellous change that will be.  Now let’s go on to consider the ‘new’ world that is to be created when Jesus returns.   There isn’t the space in this article to describe the situation that brings Jesus back to the Earth and how he and his Saints will deal with the modern world in which many will resist him. We must jump forward to get to the remarkable changes in the Earth.

We pick up where all resistance to the arrival of Christ and the saints to rule the world has been dealt with.

²⁷  And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.                      Daniel 7

The mortal population will have accepted the Lord Jesus and his saints as their rulers.  In a peaceful and settled world the saints, under the direction of Jesus, will establish a government.  It’s duty will involve teaching the mortal population God’s laws and guiding, and directing how they worship Him and live.  This phase of the Kingdom of God will last 1000 years and is called the Millennium Age.

²  And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. ³  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. ⁴  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ⁵  O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.    Isaiah 2

it will be a joy to have a part in this new age.  The saints will have their own community and territory in the restored Kingdom of Israel with Jesus ruling from Jerusalem. The mortal population will enjoy great benefits from Christ’s righteous rule.

²¹  And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. ²²  They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.         Isaiah 65

The mortal population will be responsive to the saints, eager to learn God’s laws and the way they must live; they will restore the environment, rebuild their homes, and remove all armaments and evidence of war.  A new temple will be built and, no doubt, local places for true worship and the joint study of God’s word and much more. There will be one language thus allowing world wide harmony and religious belief to be achieved

⁹  For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent.                    Zephaniah 3

The world as a whole will be changing. Nature and agriculture will be very successful and beautiful with the animal Kingdom at peace.

¹  The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. ²  It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. ³  Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. ⁴  Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. ⁶  Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. ⁷  And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.                    Isaiah 35

The countryside worldwide will be beautiful and agriculture bountiful. The mortal population shall live  long and healthy lives, continuing family life in accordance will God’s laws, and having a life expectancy of about 100 years or more.

But Jesus and the saints will live forever. At the end of the Millennium there will be a second judgement of those who have lived during the 1000 years when the disobedient will return to the grave and finally the whole population will be immortal.

²  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, ³  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: ⁴  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  2 Peter 1

What happens next is not detailed in the scriptures. It could be that what God intends to do is so wonderful that with our present capacity of mind we could not understand it.

God plans are so amazing they cannot be thought of or worked out by men or women.  They can only be known when God reveals them.

We must wait to understand what God intends for Jesus and his Saints at the end of the Millennium.  But be sure you are doing your very best to make sure you are there to experience the wonders and joys to come.

~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Meanwhile, we recommend that you go to our index page to select more good things to read about the Word of God.

 

Are you surprised that we should suggest that we ask God for the answer to the above question?  Well, before we ask the question we need to explain a little of the background to why this is valid approach to the question!

¹  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.           Genesis 1

So, the next question seems obvious.  Why did he do it?

¹⁴  For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.                                                                  Habakkuk 2

That is why Jesus tells us that one day soon a host of the faithful, in praise of God’s blessing of them, will call in unison … …

¹¹  “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honour and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”     Revelation 4

Did you notice that the prophet Habakkuk said God wants the earth to be full of the knowledge of His glory?  That means that He needs thinking beings that are able to understand Him and think like Him as he describes in the opening of his book wehich is why man was different to the rest of his creation

²⁷  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.                                                          Genesis 1

The Hebrew word translated image there is: ‏צֶלֶם‎ (transliteration: Ṣelem) and Strong’s Hebrew/English Dictionary defines Selem as …

So, man was not the same as God, but he had similarities to God – especially a mind that could think, reason, and have emotions in the same way as God, and the ability to communicate with Him and one another, and much more.

Now, God has given men and women a great deal – life, an amazing body, and, we find as we read more of His word, for those who love Him and use this life to please Him, the promise of a wonderful reward.

³  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,                                    1 Peter 1

A wonderful inheritance that is beyond the conception of the human mind, but that is revealed to those who read His word carefully.

⁹  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. ¹⁰  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.                                               1 Corinthians 2

Just six short passages of scriptures reveal to us that God is the creator of the universe and that He has a special purpose with the planet we live on that reflects His glory, the wonder of which will be appreciated by the inhabitants – those who have shown they love God by living a life that pleases Him.

But you may well say, “How does this fit in with our world today – full of suffering, poverty, killing, and so much destruction of the environment”?

A very reasonable question with a straightforward answer. It is the only way that God could achieve His purpose!  You will remember that his purpose was that …

¹⁴  … the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.                                                                      Habakkuk 2

And we are given a big clue as to why suffering, hardship, wickedness and much more distress is involved, by the apostle Paul, writing to faithful converts, in just one verse.

¹³  For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13 ESV

Love is a freewill offering.  It involves choosing to do things for others, when we have the natural choice is not to do them. So, to achieve His purpose God needed to create man with a make up, a nature, often called Human Nature, that has the freedom to act without any constraint.

Wikipedia defines Freewill as follows,

The apostle Paul describes how he finds controlling the nature of man, which has powerful urges to rebel against restraint, difficult to achieve.

¹⁸  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. ¹⁹  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. ²⁰  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.               Romans 7

Putting it simply, He finds life is a battle between his own desire to please God and the nature he bears very hard because his nature – “the flesh” – prefers to go it’s own selfish way. In other words, it wants to please itself rather than Paul’s desire to please God. When you think about it, for love to be valid it has to be that way. Equally, God’s reward for those who show love for Him, is to love them, and give them a far better way of future life, than those who love their own way. This is why the apostle Paul wrote,

⁷  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. ⁸  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,                                     Philippians 3

Everything this world had given Paul in the past and could give him in the future was the lowest form of rubbish he could think of, compared to the excellence of escape from sin and death and to receive eternal life with freedom from pain and suffering in the glorious Kingdom of God free from all forms of evil.  Peter, another apostle much loved by Jesus, wrote in similar terms of all the glories promised to those who truly love Him.

³  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: ⁴  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.                                             2 Peter 1

If service to God, bringing such a wonderful reward that nothing in the present way of life can compete with,  is new to you and difficult to believe and understand, we need to tell you more about that reward.  However, these are short articles designed to whet the appetite of the reader for deeper study and there is so much to what God promises, as a caring and loving Father, that we cannot even begin to describe it here. Therefore we intend to put together further articles to introduce the reader to the huge benefits of serving God as their Heavenly Father, and following to the best of their ability the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Meanwhile, if you’ve not already read them, below are some of our existing short essays on important aspects of putting your future into the hands of our Heavenly Father that might interest you.  Also, we have available leaflets and booklets all free of charge that cover the sort of subjects in this series of essays. Simply request a copy telling us the subject of interest to you in the Comments Box at the top right of this page.  There, you can request that we provide you a phone number, or an email or postal address for communication.

PLEASE BE ASSURED THAT we only respond to questions and requests and WE WILL NOT APPROACH YOU AGAIN UNLESS YOU REQUEST US TO.

GO TO LIST … …

Who knows the future? – February 2021

How can Israel be God’s witnesses? – April 2021

As we say in the message above, it is sad when we are discussing an important subject and the other person uses a simple word, but we don’t know what they mean as is the case with the word ‘Faith’.  The Oxford English dictionary that we quote in the above message defines it as, ‘a certainty’ OR ‘an unproven conviction’ !  Not very helpful with an important subject like this.  We know that, with the passing of the years, words change their meaning.  But to have two opposing definitions in use at the same time is hopeless.

Faith is used 247 times in the King James Version of the Bible and when we add other words containing ‘faith’, like faithfully, etc., it rises to 360 times.  Other English translations use the word extensively as well.  The New International Version for instance, uses Faith 270 times and the group total is 443.  So, we need to know which definition applies to this group of words in the Bible. Is it a certainty or is it an unproven conviction?  For instance, look at the opening words of the Bible.

¹  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²  The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1 (NKJV)

Is it a certainty or is it an unproven conviction?  The whole status of the Bible depends upon it for God, through the prophet Isaiah says,

¹²  I have made the earth,  And created man on it. My hands stretched out the heavens, And all their host I have commanded.                Isaiah 45

Let’s see if the Bible defines the word faith as it is used in His word, because,

²⁰  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. ²¹  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.     2 Peter 1

The power of God’s Holy Spirit in directing what men say is amazing. Jeremiah was a prophet that was given the task of telling Israel they were wicked and must listen to God’s message or their capital city – Jerusalem – would be destroyed, many of them killed, and the survivors taken captives to Babylon.  But the people rejected his message, abused and persecuted him.

So Jeremiah said to himself, “They don’t want to listen to my warnings because they don’t believe them or care because they enjoy the ways of idol worship.  I need not go on repeating this message. The suffering their response causes me is too much for me cope with.”  But see what happened …

⁹  Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.  Jeremiah 20

When God needs His message to be proclaimed no man can stand in its way – a fact many other scriptures confirm.  Thus, making clear God’s word should be trusted as absolute truth.

¹⁹  “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Numbers 23

Therefore, what God says has, and will always be fuilfilled and having faith in the Bible makes that faith a certainty.

⁹  Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;    Deuteronomy 7  

There is one problem remaining for those new to the Bible.  We need more than the Bible telling us it is certainly true because many people today think it is not a reliable book.  We need independent evidence that it is true, which is readily available, but we don’t have the space in this article to demonstrate that.

An exciting way of showing the Bible is true is through ‘fulfilled prophecy’.

But sceptics claim that the prophecies were written after the event took place.  However, there is excellent well-founded proof that this is not true.

There are many prophecies that were predicted in the Old Testament that have been fulfilled in the New Testament and scholars using scientific methods are able to show us evidence that the Old Testament was complete before the birth of Christ which was predicted in many parts of the Old Testament.

We have articles in this series which demonstrate that the New Testament was written after the Old Testament and we recommend that you read these as soon as is convenient.  These confirm that the Bible is to be trusted as the true foundation of ‘True Faith.’. 

We recommended two of those articles which are

Who knows the future? – February 2021 and
How can Israel be God’s witnesses? – April 2021

“How can Israel be God’s Witnesses?” and if you click on the article title you will be taken to the one requested.  Please bear in mind that these short articles are designed to whet the appetite of the reader for deeper study.  So please be ready to ask questions in the Comments Box at the top right of this page.  We only respond to questions and comments and will not approach you again unless request.

 

 

 

We want to present to you what the Bible says about God’s purpose in creating the Earth.  Ah, yes, we do believe that the Bible shows very clearly that God created the Earth and we have recently published two articles demonstrating the Bible is a book of truth.  So, we are not going to do it again here.  But we will give you links to those articles at the end of this account so that you can, if you wish, read those as well.  Our object in this article is to show you why God says He has created the Earth and everything on it.

He directed the prophet Isaiah to present Him to Israel like this.

¹¹  Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. ¹²  I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.           Isaiah 45

And this revelation to Israel is equally relevant to all humanity as is shown throughout scripture.  Here, for example, is a description of God by the Apostle Paul.

¹⁵  …, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; ¹⁶  Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.          1 Timothy 6

I’m sure it won’t surprise you to know that the Creator is all wise and powerful since the whole universe is His work.  Furthermore, it is wholly logical that the Creator would have some object in mind in doing so great a work which, He declares through the prophet Habakkuk this time,

¹⁴  For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.           Habakkuk 2

So He created the planet Earth to be full of glory and beauty for His satisfaction, but He wanted more than this.  God wanted it to be “filled with the knowledge of” His glorious work.  That clearly means He wanted people to exist that would see and appreciate His work.  What sort of creatures did the Creator design?  He tells us from the start that He had decided they should be like him in many respects calling them ‘man’ as he confirmed in his word.

²⁷  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.             Genesis 1:27

So what was it that God wanted men and women to do in response to the knowledge of His work and purpose?

²⁹  And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: ³⁰  And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. … …

It did not stop there for the next verse goes on …

,,, ,,, ³¹  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.            Mark 12   

God wanted the Earth to be filled with men and women that love Him and one another.  Aah, you say, then He has miserably failed.  But wait a minute. Think about this.  What must go with love for it to exist?  It requires free will.  For love is a person’s response, they need to be able to choose and therefore they must be to free not to love.  Free to reject others, to hate one another, to be unkind, to be selfish, and much more as well as to exhibit the good attributes that are love. The contrast between love and the uninhibited freewill of man in action, called in the scriptures “the works of the flesh” are clearly to be seen in the world today and plainly described in the scriptures. For example,

¹⁹  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.      Galatians 5

The “works of the flesh” can be very ugly in the extreme as can be seen today in the many trouble spots around the world, and, if we are honest, are in evidence in some measure, in all of us. But when men and women listen to the “Spirit” through the words of God, the teaching of the Lord Jesus, and the example of faith men and women in the Bible, we see a total contrast.

²²  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.             Galatians 5

Thus we see that men and women at large have a choice.  They can live a life focused on their own will, guided by their own judgement, or they can look around at the amazing natural world from the tiniest creature to the vast universe and be moved by the wonder of it all as was the Apostle Paul to live as God wanted us to live according to His wishes.

¹⁸  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; ¹⁹  Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. ²⁰  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.          Romans 1

The Great, all-powerful, wise God is invisible, as is His power.  But His work of creation, when seen by an unbiased mind, is the evidence that He is there and His amazing mind and wisdom designed and created everything; setting the unchanging myriad of rules that enable the Earth to support the multitude of life forms, amazingly dependent upon one another, so that men and women can live there and fulfil His purpose.

We rejoice that God cares for those who recognise there is a God having learnt from the Bible His desire and purpose, and strive to please Him and has instructed the Angels to support them.

⁶  This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. ⁷  The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them. ⁸  O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.            Psalm 34

However, there is a big BUT.  God, of course, knew the battle those who strive to please Him have to fight against their nature of flesh would be a huge struggle.

⁹  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? ¹⁰  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.           Jeremiah 17

We can see from the scriptures that God clearly understood the kind of creature He was creating in man.  He knew also that He had the power and wisdom to finally free the Earth of wickedness and evil and fill it with His glory, at the same time raising those men and women who love Him and the works of His hands to glorious eternal life.

³⁸  But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.  ³⁹  But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.           Psalm 37

This is a big subject that we have started upon, but our article has reached its limit, therefore, we have brought our article to an encouraging conclusion.  The faithful followers of Jesus can look forward to the day that Jesus promises …

⁴  … God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.              Revelation 21

~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~

We are eager to tell you more about the hope that Jesus promises his followers and there are many articles on our website that do that.  So, please feel free to have a look at them now, or during a future visit.  Especially, if you want to see some of the evidence for The Truth Of The Bible.  As mentioned at the outset, we have two articles in this series which do that.  Just click one of the boxes below to go to one of them.

• Who knows the future? – February 2021

• How can Israel be God’s witnesses? – April 2021

 

Our regular Bible Seminars and Presentations in Rugby, Warwickshire are currently suspended due to COVID 19.  Nevertheless we are still offering readers of  THE RUGBY REGISTER invitations to our website to give some thought to important topical questions. So that all our website visitors can join in stimulating our minds, below are some of the relevant Rugby Register messages.

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES

You will see above that our July message in The Rugby Register focuses on the name of our website – “Search the scriptures” and quotes the Apostle Paul’s words,

⁹  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.                                                               1 Corinthians 2

On first reading it would appear that this verse suggests that there are a number of unsolved mysteries in the Bible which ‘eye hath not seen, or ear heard’. Indeed, it may be thought that Paul is referring to some of those ‘mysteries of Christianity’ that many accept will not be revealed until some future time.

But our message in the Rugby Register states that there are no unsolved mysteries in the Bible, and we say that because the following verse in 1 Cor 2 states:

¹⁰  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.      1 Corinthians 2

As the Bible is the product of Spirit inspired men who were moved by God to express His thoughts in words for the benefit of His Creation, it follows that the only way we can understand what is revealed is by reading or hearing God’s Word, hence the need to ‘Search the Scriptures’. The importance of so doing is emphasized by Paul writing in his letter to Timothy in which he affirms that:

¹⁶  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ¹⁷  That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.                                                                           2 Timothy 3

God has not caused His Word to be written to deceive or confuse us, and if it is as profitable as Paul states, then it has a message that is not only of benefit to the way we live now, but must contain words of comfort and hope for our future, for above all it speaks of the way in which we can gain salvation.

The Word of God is therefore the foundation of all belief, and without it we would be in total ignorance of His intentions in Creation, His purpose with the earth and the men and women who live on its surface, but to gain the benefit it offers we must read it accurately, as to take a single verse without considering what follows, as we have already shown, can lead to the wrong conclusions

An example of this is to be found in John 14 where Jesus states:

²  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.                                                                            John 14

It may be thought that ‘in my Father’s house’ refers to Heaven and that Jesus is saying that it is there that there are ‘many mansions (rooms)’ for us to occupy. In Acts 1 we can read of Jesus ascension to Heaven after his resurrection; so we can deduce that he is waiting for the faithful to join him there. But if we read the next verse we find that he continues

³  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.                                                                         John 14

The expression ‘I will come again’ means he is to return to earth where he was before his ascension and there that he will ‘receive us unto himself’. And other Scriptures show that the place of reward for faithfully following his example and teaching will be on earth where he will establish the Kingdom of God. Indeed this is what Christians the world over are praying for when they repeat the words of Christ’s model prayer ‘’Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven’’.

So, it is vital that we read the Word of God accurately, as we have said, and without any pre-conceived ideas. Wikipedia reports that there are thousands of Christian denominations all claiming their beliefs come from the Bible, yet whose beliefs differ, sometimes radically, from others. A true understanding of its message is the only dependable way to please God and achieve salvation.
The foundation of the teaching of Jesus when men and women came to hear him was ‘’follow me’’. This expression is recorded 19 times, showing how important it is that those who would be ‘Christians’ must be like their leader, and believe the things that he believed.

²³  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.                                                                        Luke 9:23

Jesus defines very clearly what this entails in words to be found in John 15.

¹³  Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. ¹⁵  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. John 15

Christ here confirms that ‘the words I have heard of my Father I have made unto you’; therefore, as with the other writers who set down words they obtained by inspiration, so Christ’s teaching also has the Divine ‘Stamp of Approval’ and we ignore it at our peril.

²⁰  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. ²¹  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.        2 Peter 1

Peter is telling us that God’s Spirit power guided the pens of these inspired writers, so that we can have absolute reliance on the accuracy of their words as reflecting the very mind of God.

Consequently, the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, must be regarded as infallible, and if this be so, we would be foolish to ignore the Bible message, which is why we urge people everywhere to ‘Search the Scriptures for they are the Word of Life.

That is the great benefit we can derive from God’s Word, particularly in the very difficult days we are currently experiencing, and we therefore urge you to seek the comfort and enlightenment that only God’s inspired word can give.

⁴  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.                Romans 15

Is it possible any prophecies of the Bible are self-fulfilling prophecies?’

The following video is a recording of a Zoom type meeting (not a professionally produced film) but we felt that the video support to the talk is very effective.  Do give it a try and tell us in our ‘Contact us’ box feature at the top right of the page what you think. (To help our future planning.)

We hope that you found this Bible Presentation interesting.  Questions and comments are welcome.  Press the Red arrow on the right to go to the top and fill in the ‘Contact us’ feature on the RIGHT.

¹¹  For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; ¹²  The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; Song of Songs 2

Who could not want to be present on such a lovely spring morning?  For this is to be a day when the Earth will be  covered in re beauty.

The next two articles – ‘How can Israel be God’s witnesses?’ and ‘Our troubled World’ – look at two important different, independent, examples of evidence of the truth and reliability of the Bible.  We hope you will read them and if you have doubts, or questions, you will contact us at the top of this page.

If curiosity brought you to our website that would be good​​ because we like visitors with an inquiring mind. Many people will know that it is the Bible that is ‘reckoned to ​​ be the world’s bestselling book’. But to be told the people of Israel have a 4,000-year history could be harder to believe.

The above article outlines reliable evidence that the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament, which contains many prophecies of New Testament events, was completed well before the birth of Jesus Christ.  Another article that gives trustworthy evidence of how the Dead Sea Scrolls are further proof, in a separate way, of the truth of many Old Testament prophecies can be found if you click the link below.

• Who knows the future? – February 2021

 

 

 

Please use the red arrow on the right to go to the top to give us your comments or views on Bible and/or our Website at the top on the right.