EarthHarvest


                                              

The Simplicity Of God’s Plan For Eternal Life

     If there were a God who created human beings in his own image, as the Bible maintains, then his nature would be reflected in human nature. Engrained in all human beings is a desire to do what is right or, if our actions are evil, a desire to justify our actions in light of an absolute moral code. Children, when caught misbehaving, will struggle to justify why they did what they knew they shouldn’t. Even ruthless political leaders go to great lengths to justify their conduct in a cloak of decency. Dictators will destroy civil liberties for "the good of the people."

As C.S. Lewis aptly puts in Mere Christianity, "If there was a controlling power outside the universe, it would not show itself to us as one of the facts inside the universe - no more than the architect of a house could actually be a wall or staircase or fireplace in that house. The only way in which we could expect it to show itself would be inside ourselves as an influence or a command trying to get us to behave a certain way. And that is just what we find inside ourselves. Surely this ought to arouse our suspicions?"

Though there are differences between the moral ideas of one time or country and those of another, points out Lewis, the differences are not really very great - not nearly so great as most people imagine - and you can recognize the same law running through them all. Honesty is valued in the West and the East. "Progress means not just changing, but changing for the better. If no set of moral ideas were truer or better than any other, there would be no sense of preferring civilized morality to savage morality, or Christian morality to Nazi morality."

The moment we say one set of moral ideas is better than another, we are measuring them both by a standard, saying that one of them conforms to the standard more closely than the other. The standard that measures two things is something different from either. As Lewis says, "You are, in fact, comparing them both with some Real Morality, admitting that there is such a thing as a real Right, independent of what people think, and that some people’s ideas get nearer to that real Right than others. If your moral ideas can be truer, and those of the Nazis less true, there must be something - some Real Morality - for them to be true about."

This Real Morality is an absolute standard imprinted in our minds by the controlling power, The Master of the Universe, outside the universe. The Master of the Universe is a great artist, as the universe is a very beautiful place, and intensely interested in right conduct - in fair play, unselfishness, courage, good faith, truthfulness and honesty.

Having established an absolute standard of morality, the Master of the Universe abides by its strict and moral principles and as such, for those who rebel against Real Morality, becomes a Terrifying God. Having established the Law, the Master of the Universe, being righteous and fair, will not break it. "The Moral Law does not give us any grounds for thinking that God is ‘good’ in the sense of being indulgent, or soft, or sympathetic. There is nothing indulgent about the Moral Law. It is as hard as nails." Being intensely interested in right conduct, the Master of the Universe will punish wrong conduct.

The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans clearly states, "He will punish sin wherever it is found. He will punish the heathen when they sin, even though they never had God’s written laws, for down in their hearts they known right from wrong. God’s laws are written within them; their own conscience accuses them, or sometimes excuses them" (Romans 2:12-14,  Living Bible).

The Moral Law is written in our hearts. If we don’t believe in God because the universe seems cruel and unjust, where do we get this idea of just and unjust? "A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line." We wouldn’t call a room dark unless we knew what light was. In our hearts we all have inscribed the Moral Law and by breaking its very strict principles, we incur the wrath of a Terrifying God.

Lewis, C.S, Mere Christianity, The Macmillan Company, New York, New York, 1958, pp. 11, 19, 23, and 31.

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It is impossible not to break the Moral Law. Numerous times a day, many times a week, we will all inevitably break that strict Moral Law. The Apostle Paul repeatedly states that in our own righteousness, we all fall short of the Moral Law:

"No one is good - no one in all the world is innocent. No one has ever really followed God’s paths, or even truly wanted to. Every one has turned away; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one" (Romans 3:10-12,  Living Bible).

Does this mean we will all inevitably incur the wrath of the Master of the Universe? The answer to this important question lies in understanding who God is. The human mind cannot fully grasp the nature of God, but through his Creation we can get a glimpse into his nature. "The laws of physics - gravity, thermodynamics, matter, and energy - are universal. You can go to another galaxy and they will apply. There is order. The earth is fruitful.  Crops grow and are harvested with the seasons. The oceans are abundant with life. The sun is exactly the right distance from the earth to sustain life. There is beauty. There are hundreds of types of butterflies, tree, and flowers ... many more than dictated by the necessities of random evolution" (Herring, Michael, Succeed With Solomon’s Principles, Winepress Publishing, Enumclaw, Washington, 1998)

Christianity teaches that since all humans are flawed, God incarnated as a man, Jesus Christ, and by dying on the cross takes away our sins. We simply have to trust that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God limited in the flesh as a man. Only God is without the dreadful stain of sin. Atonement for sin in Biblical times involved sacrificial offerings of doves, spotless lambs, bulls. The process had to be continually repeated. The perfect atonement had to be God Himself, since only God is without sin. When John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to him to be baptized, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for he EXISTED before me’" (John 1:29-30, New American Standard Bible or NASB).

God loves you so much he wants you in His eternal company and not in hell, a place where God is not. He does not want you eternally separated from Him and therefore sent Jesus to pay for your sins on the cross (1 John 4:10). Since salvation, which is God’s forgiveness of your sins, is a free gift through faith in Jesus as your Savior, you do not have to work for it. You don’t need to torture your flesh as some Middle Ages Christians or Hindu sadhus do. You won’t have to reincarnate over thousands of years overcoming your karma to merge with Brahman ("It is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment" (Heb.9:27, NASB)). You don’t have to disassociate from the world to eventually "snuff out" the desires which constitute your self and reach Nirvana. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). No matter how grievous your sins, by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior you have eternal life.

As Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him" (John 14:6-7. New International).

Jesus is clearly stating that by knowing him, we know and have seen God Himself. Jesus said to the Jews, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM" (John 8:58, NASB). John in his gospel powerfully states:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:1-4, NASB). "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14, NASB).

His countrymen clearly understood Jesus’s claims. They sought to kill him because, "He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (John 5:18, NASB). In the temple, in the portico of Solomon, Jesus said, " ‘I and the Father are one.’ The people took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of these do you stone me?’ The people answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we stone you but for blasphemy; because you, being a man, make yourself God" (John 10:30-33, Revised Standard, italics mine).

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As C.S. Lewis pointed out, if we look at Jesus and we look at the claims he made regarding himself he was either a lunatic or who he claimed to be.

Jesus, as a man, manifested the power of God. He healed the sick (the blind, the deaf, paralytics, the bleeding, those with withered limbs, life threatening fevers etc...), exercised dominion over the forces of nature (stilling an angry sea, defied gravity by walking on water), delivered the possessed, altered the molecular structure of matter (turned water into wine, multiplied a few fish and loaves of bread to feed a multitude), raised the dead, and even rose himself from the grave after suffering a brutal death as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Which prophet or world leader ever walked on water, rose from the dead or performed a single miracle? The world’s leaders and prophets are all resting in their graves, their brief ascendancy in the limelight forever stilled.

Yet although Jesus manifested superhuman powers, he acted with compassion, doing miracles to benefit human beings, giving us valuable insight as to the nature of God. He cared for humans and his overriding message was we should trust him as the Son of God and love one another. The God Jesus represented is not a petty, angry God, but a merciful, caring, loving one. Jesus could easily have become an earthly king by using his superhuman powers to free the Jews from the Roman yoke. Instead, he chose to die on a cross of wood so that anyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

That the God of the Universe should incarnate as a man and die such a humiliating death is to the unsaved preposterous (1Corinthians:1:18). This is not the script a human author would write. It is the very absurdity of this scenario which makes it believable.

Another attribute of God’s nature is respect for the free will of man. He could have created robots, but instead he gave them free will by giving them the opportunity to defy him. God instructed Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that he ate from it he would surely die (Genesis 2:17). However, Adam could eat and sin if he chose to. Exercising free will, under the serpent’s influence, Eve ate of the fruit and she gave some to her husband and he ate. Their sin, defying God’s command, made them subject to death.

In love, God offered mankind a plan of redemption. He, as the only perfect atonement, took the form of a man, Jesus, and died for their original sin.

You may rebel at the entire scenario of redemption, but don’t forget that this is God’s plan. He is the Master of the Universe and writes the Script. There is a wealth of evidence that God is the author of this Script.

God created Adam as a companion, a friend. Sin shattered that relationship, however God being merciful and forgiving still wants a relationship with each of us, a relationship which is eternal. All we have to do is trust in God’s Son to save us and we will have eternal life. Those who don’t believe and obey God’s Son shall never see heaven, but shall face the wrath of God.

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Paul in his letter to the Romans instructs us, "We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don’t yet have - for a man who already has something doesn’t need to hope and trust that he will get it. But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn’t happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently" (Romans 8:24-25, Living Bible).

Those who trust Jesus to save them have no eternal doom awaiting them. However those who don’t trust him have already been tried and condemned for not believing on the only Son of God (John 3:18). Believing on is similar to resting on and having faith in. Jesus urges us to trust in him, "Let not your heart be troubled. You are trusting God, now trust in me. There are many homes up there where my Father lives, and I am going to prepare them for your coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can always be with me where I am" (John 14: 1-3, Living Bible).

Since Christianity is based on an eternal relationship with the Living God, what happens to us after bodily death is of vital importance. In Christianity the self survives. God promises you a new body that will never be sick again and will never die (Romans 8:23). Death can’t separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:38). Jesus clearly promises, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die" (John 11:25,26, KJV, italics mine).

Paul compares dying to putting a seed into the ground. The seed doesn’t grow until it "dies" first. The green shoot which then comes out of the seed is very different from the seed first planted. In the same way once our earthly bodies cease to function, God gives us beautiful new bodies. Our earthly bodies now embarrass us for they become sick and die. The weak, human bodies at death become superhuman bodies. Our present perishable bodies are not the right kind to live forever (1Corinthians 15).

We all have bodies just like Adam’s made of dust, "but all who become Christ’s will have the same kind of body as his - a body from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15, Living Bible).

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Romans 1 tells us that God’s existence and righteousness are evident within us and made evident to us. Yet many professing to be wise, became fools and started to worship man and the creation rather than the Creator. We ignored our God given inner compass and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator. Taking our orientation away from God, the source of all good and light in the universe, we became depraved.

Hosea 4:6
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”

THE SUPREME HURDLE WHICH WE MUST BUT CAN’T ACHIEVE IN OUR STRENGTH - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
To remedy our fallen state God gave Moses the Ten Commandments.

Beginning with Exodus Chapter 20:3

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.

2. You shall not make for yourself an idol.

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s property.

THE LAW IS ROCK HARD AND NONE OF US CAN MEET ALL OF ITS REQUIREMENTS – JESUS RAISES THE BAR EVEN HIGHER

Jesus looks at the heart of the law, not just the law and as such calls us to a much higher standard of behavior.

In Matthew 5:21 Jesus says, “Under the laws of Moses the rule was, “If you kill, you must die.’ But I have added to that rule, and tell you that if you are only angry, even in your own home, you are in danger of judgment! If you call your friend an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse him, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

In the Gospel of Matthew (5:20) Jesus says that unless we exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees we shall not enter the Kingdom of God. The Pharisees were the most legally righteous people of Jesus' day with strict codes of behavior to make their actions acceptable to God.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:27-30:
“The law of Moses said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say: Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your eye – even if it is your best eye! - causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away.

“Better enter the Kingdom of God half blind than have two eyes and see the fires of hell, where the worm never dies, and the fire never goes out – where all are salted with fire” (Mark 9: 47)

Matthew 18:7,9

“Temptation to do wrong is inevitable, but woe to the man who does the tempting. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into the hell of fire.”

SOME MAY THINK THEY’RE SAVED BUT THEIR ACTIONS CONDEMN THEM. THEY’RE REALLY DESTINED FOR HELL

Matthew 7:21-24

“Not every one who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.

Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?

And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS,’

Therefore every one who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.”

Addressing the Church of Corinth, those who are saved, in 1 Corinthians 6:9 Paul states: “Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

Regarding some who are saved 1 Timothy 4:1 says: “The Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” This concerns Christians who have abandoned their faith. 2 Timothy 2:12 states: “If we endure, we shall reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us.”

He will never leave us or forsake us but we have the freewill to leave Him. We are not created as robots and God won’t force salvation upon us.

Hebrews 10:26

“If anyone sins deliberately by rejecting the Savior after knowing the truth of forgiveness, this sin is not covered by Christ’s death; there is no way to get rid of it. There will be nothing to look forward to but the terrible punishment of God’s awful anger, which will consume all his enemies.

Think how much more terrible the punishment will be for those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God and treated his cleansing blood as though it were common and unhallowed, and insulted and outraged the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to his people.”

Hebrews 6:4-8

“For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then commit apostasy, since they crucify the Son of God on their own account and hold him up to contempt. For land which has drunk the rain that often falls upon it, and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed; its end is to be burned.”

Luke 11:23

“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.”

There must be action, investigation, seeking of Him, receiving Him, obeying Him. The only way to truly prove that you love him is to obey Him and your actions should reflect this.

Jesus said in John 14:15:

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
If you truly love Him you will prove it by your obedience to Him and there is no other way. Jesus said if you don’t keep my commandments, you don’t love Me.

THE DANGER OF A HALF HEARTED RELATIONSHIP

Many times a Christian has a halfhearted relationship with the God of the Universe. Everyone of us goes into these neutral places with the Lord where we are marking time and are not hungry, searching, or seeking after Him. That neutral place is not a neutral place. You are actually going backwards.

This is why Jesus said in Matthew 22:37:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.”

Again in Luke 16:13 Jesus said:

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and …………”. YOU FILL IN THE BLANK. In this case Jesus was referring to mammon.
In Revelation 3:16 Jesus as the Beginning of the creation of God says:

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.”

If your heart is not in love with HIM you are imperceptibly moving in the other direction. The scripture is very clear about this in John 1:11:

“He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.”

IF THERE ARE SO MANY WHO CLAIM THEY HAVE ACCEPTED CHRIST WHY IS THE WORLD IN SUCH A SAD MORAL STATE?

“They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed” (Titus 1:16)

GOD JUDGES BECAUSE ALTHOUGH GOOD HE IS ALSO JUST – A PLACE CALLED HELL
Because God is just he will not allow evil, which is the transgression of his commandments, to persist forever. Otherwise the whole human race would be infected and “defiled”. There would be rampant lawlessness. God will judge our actions in this life and in the life to come.

The penalty for those who are evil is hell, “a place of outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 22:13).

In Matthew 10:28 Jesus says, “ Don’t be afraid of those who can kill only your bodies – but can’t touch your souls! Fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The wicked will be thrown “into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:42).

In Revelation 14:10 we are told that anyone who worships the Beast (the Antichrist) or receives his mark on his forehead or his hand will drink the cup of God’s wrath and will “be tormented with burning sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night …”

Hebrews 10:31 says: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.”

In the final great white throne judgment we are told (Revelation 20:15):
“If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

C. S. LEWIS EXPLAINS GOD’S NATURE

We need to fear God’s justice. In “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C. S. Lewis (the Chronicles of Narnia) Aslan, the lion, is a representation of Jesus Christ. The children enter Narnia, the fictional land, and are being prepared by the beavers to meet Aslan, the lion. Little Lucy says, “He’s a lion, he’s not a man?” “Yes,” comes the reply. She then asks, “Is he a safe lion?”

The beaver exclaims, “Safe? Who says anything about being safe? He’s a lion, BUT HE’S GOOD.” The real lion is Jesus, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. He’s the King who has “swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms.”

To illustrate the point Lucy later meets the Aslan and sees his paw, which is furry and soft, but she realizes that any moment claws can spring out of that paw and shred anyone who comes against him.

In Revelation we are given a description of Jesus as the Lion:
“And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.

And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself.

And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word of God.

And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.

And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations; and he will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

PROVISION FOR SIN AND ETERNAL LIFE. GOD’S PLAN FOR ETERNAL LIFE.

Hell must be a very horrible place for God to incarnate as a man to die a horrible death on a cross to keep us from going there, a place of fire, torment and suffering, which he did not create for men but for Lucifer and his angels. On the cross God Himself took our sins. By doing so He took the punishment meant for us.

God became an ANT on an ANTHILL to warn us as ants that a bulldozer is headed our way and will raze the anthill.

The reality is that we are sinful and separated from God. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Man is separated from God, and “the wages of sin is death” (spiritual separation from God) (Romans 6:23). Even Billy Graham is only saved through Jesus Christ by “the skin of his teeth” and he would be the first to admit it.

When Jesus came up to John the Baptist to be baptized in the Jordan River John said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Only Jesus' blood on the cross atones for our sins and gives us eternal life. God Himself had to incarnate as a man and take the penalty of our sin.

John tells us “God is love” (1 John 4:16) and “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18) and that’s true. God does not want us to fear Him and be tormented, but he does want us to have a fear which will bring a walk of holiness, righteous behavior and action. Proverbs 28:14 says, “Happy is the man who fears the Lord” because if we remember God is loving yet terrible to transgressors, we will live righteously with wisdom. The fear of the Lord will affect our worship, our walk (sinning means we have lost the fear of the Lord), our work, our witness (if we are truly conscious of hell we will not mince our witness).

If you do not have a relationship with the God of the Universe today or if your relationship has gotten cold, you can establish a powerful relationship through Jesus.

Jesus said in John 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

In Revelation 3:20, he says:

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.”

John 3:16 states:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life”.

Jesus told Martha in John 11:25

“I am the one who raises the dead and gives them life again. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies like anyone else, shall live again. He is given eternal life for believing in me and shall never perish.”

In John 11:41 Jesus shouted:

“LAZARUS, come out.” If Jesus hadn’t called Lazarus by name all the dead in the cemetery would have come out!

If you desire to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior or if you are a backslidden Christian and SINCERE about changing your ways pray the following prayer:

“Lord Jesus, forgive all my sins and the evil I have done. Thank you for taking on the cross the penalty for my sins and that your blood now washes me clean. I accept you as my Lord and Savior. I open the door of my life and receive you as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. I invite your Holy Spirit to indwell in me. Take charge of my life and realize through me the special purpose you created me for.”

Clean house, find a solid Christian church, read the Bible, find Christian friends.

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Understanding the Trinity is of vital importance. The Scriptures teach that there is one God who has revealed Himself in three persons. The three persons of the trinity are the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The following verses clearly state there is only one God: "There is one God" (I Timothy 2:5, KJV). "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4, NASB).

The following verses allude to the plurality of the one God as God addresses himself in the third person plural: "Let us make man in our image" (Genesis 1:26, KJV) and "God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us’" (Genesis 3:22, RSV).

A rudimentary and far from perfect analogy can be drawn in nature to water which exists as a liquid, a gas and a solid. Regardless the state, it remains H20. This analogy however is deficient in the sense that God is living and has a personality. As the Creator he is distinct and separate from his creation. He is not an impersonal force as some philosophies maintain.

Understanding that there is a Trinity and its nature is vital to understanding the concept of redemption. Only God incarnating as a man, the Son of God, could have redeemed humans from sin since God alone is without sin. If Jesus were a great teacher or a great prophet, this wouldn’t have been sufficient for mankind’s salvation because a great teacher or prophet remains human and thus tainted with original sin. Had a mere man died on the cross the chasm between man and God would not have been bridged and we would not have been given the opportunity for eternal life. In other words salvation comes from above, from God, not from below, from man. Plenty of men died on crosses, but when the Son of God died on the cross he atoned for the sins of the world.

"And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us ..." (John 1:14, NASB) describes God’s incarnation as a man. Jesus confirms this by saying, "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30, NASB). "He who has seen me Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).

The argument is often made that we are all sons of God. New Agers and those with an Eastern philosophical bent will argue that when Jesus said he was one with the Father, he was referring to the deity in all of us and therefore we are all one with the Father. In John 10:30-37 Jesus sets this argument straight. He draws a distinction between those who are called gods merely because the word of God came to them and Himself who the father sanctified and sent into the world. He offers his works as evidence that, "the Father is in Me, and I in the Father" (John 10:37-38, NASB). Mere humans are incapable of performing the works He performed and which attest to Jesus’s divinity.

"Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves" (John 14:11, NASB, italics mine.).

Furthermore, mere humans all die. Psalm 82:6-7 quotes, "I said, ‘You are gods, And all of you are sons of the Most High. Nevertheless you will die like men, And fall like any one of the princes’" (NASB). Many sects, cults and the New Age espouse the belief that every man has the potential of being a god or in fact is a god if he or she attains that level of consciousness. The fact remains that in all of history only one man rose from the grave and that was the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity in his "Counting the Cost" chapter sheds a valuable insight into this concept: "The command Be ye perfect is not idealistic gas. Nor is it a command to do the impossible. He is going to make us into creatures that can obey that command. He said (in the Bible) that we were ‘gods’ and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him - for we can prevent Him, if we choose - He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful; but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said." God can therefore take us, diamonds in the rough, and, when we accept his Son, polish and transform us. The process involves succumbing our egos to God’s will and allowing him to take charge of our lives by refining us over time.

The Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the trinity which is God. Acts 5:3-4 gives us an insight into this relationship. Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God" (NASB). Lying to the Holy Spirit is the same as lying to God, therefore God and the Holy Spirit are one.

C.S. Lewis expounds on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit Relationship in Mere Christianity ("The Good Infection" chapter): "The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us: or (putting it the other way round) each one of us has got to enter the pattern, take his place in that dance. There is no other way to the happiness for which we were made. Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection. If you want to get warm you must stand near the fire: if you want to be wet you must get into the water. If you want joy, power, peace, eternal life, you must get close to, or even into, the thing that has them. They are not a sort of prizes which God could, if He chose, just hand out to anyone. They are a great fountain of energy and beauty spurting up at the very centre of reality. If you are close to it, the spray will wet you: if you are not, you will remain dry. Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever? Once a man is separated from God, what can he do but wither and die?"

By believing and trusting in Jesus, we enter the dynamic, pulsating relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. "For I will live again - and you will too. When I come back to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. The one who obeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will love him; and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him" (John 14:19-21, Living Bible).

Of Jesus, John the Baptist said, "He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not even fit to remove His sandals; He Himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:11, NASB). Jesus tells us that he sends us the Comforter or Helper as the Holy Spirit is also named (John 15:26). If we love Jesus, Jesus will ask the Father and the Father will give us the Comforter (John 14:16) who will never leave us.

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There is plenty of Biblical authority substantiating a Triune God, a God of three personalities, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This section examines these scriptures.

Jesus Christ

There is abundant Biblical authority equating Jesus Christ to God. Genesis 1.1 states that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. John 1.1 states:

John 1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:14 "And the word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the father, full of grace and truth."

Colossians 1:13: "For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

And He is the IMAGE of the invisible God, the FIRST BORN of all creation. For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – All things have been created through Him and for Him."

John 8:58: Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I AM." Therefore they picked stones to throw to Him, but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.

John 5:18: For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal to God.

The analogy can be drawn of an anthill. If you, not being an ant, wished to communicate with the ants what better way for you to become an ant yourself, if it were in your power, and speak to the ants their language? In the same way God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ to show us His nature and communicate to us in our own language.

You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of me.

If you had known Me, you would have known My father also; from now on you know Him and have seen Him.

John 10:30

"I and the Father are one"

The Jews took up stones to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?"

The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."

And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life.

HOLY SPIRIT:

Holy spirit is not just a power, an essence or an influence but a Person. As a Person the Holy Spirit has a personality.. He speaks, loves, wills, which are manifestations of personality. In the first chapter of Genesis it states, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). The Hebrew word for God is Elohim, which is a plural word translated "God".

"And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."

Deuteronomy 6:4: "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." Jesus quoted this as the greatest commandment. To this every Jew would agree.

In the Hebrew text the word for God is plural …. Elohim and is really "gods". The word for ONE is EKAD in Hebrew, a compound unity just like in my hand the four fingers and the thumb are a compound unity as a fist.

The Hebrew could have used the word YACHID for one, an absolute one.  The word means “only, only one, solitary” (Brown, F., S. Driver, and C. Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc. – 2000).  This would have precluded any doctrine of the Trinity.  You could not have had the doctrine of the Trinity if YACHID had been used, but it wasn’t.  Instead, the word EKAD was used

Christians believe in One God manifested in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit one in unity, in purpose, in law, in work.

DIVINE ATTRIBUTES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

To establish that the Holy Spirit is God we need to look at scriptures, which attribute to the Holy Spirit, attributes which only belong to God.

A. One of the attributes of God is that He is eternal. Hebrews 9:14 refers to the Holy Spirit as eternal: "how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God."

B. God is omniscient. 1Corinthians 2:11. "For who among men knows the thought of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God." David in Psalm 139:7 asks, "Where can I go from Thy Spirit? Or where can I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend to heave, Thou art there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Thy hand will lead me."

C. God is omnipotent, all-powerful. In Luke Chapter 1:35 the power of the Most High is equated to that of the Holy Spirit, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God."

DIVINE WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT:

Divine works as well as divine attributes are attributed to the Holy Spirit.

In creation the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are active in creation. God as Elohim, a plurality, is the Creator.

As already seen in John 1:3 refers to Jesus’ part in creation: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."

Referring to Jesus Paul states in Colossians 1:16, "For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him."

In Genesis 1:26 God said, referring to His plurality, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness." Here the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are cooperating together in creation.

In Genesis 3:22 God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us," again alluding to His plurality.

Referring to animals both small and great and Leviathan (the twisted serpent (dragon) who lives in the sea) in Psalm 104:30 creation is ascribed to the Holy Spirit, "When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth." By moving His Spirit across the surface of the waters God created light and separated the light from the darkness.

The Spirit gives life, which is a work of God. Paul said that the letter of law killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. Jesus declares in John 6:63: "It is the Spirit which gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life."

The Spirit gives instruction. "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter on one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (2^nd Peter 1:20-21).

SCRIPTURAL ASSOCIATIONS OF FATHER, SON AND SPIRIT:

Jesus instructed his disciples to teach all nations and baptize in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here the Spirit is a person and not the wind, a force, or a power and is coupled with the other two persons of the Trinity.

In 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul sends the following greeting: "All the saints greet you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all."

The Spirit works in the Church. In 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 Paul teaches, "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."

Here we have the operation of the Spirit, the Son, and the Father in the ministry of the Church.

In Ephesians Chapter 4:4-6, Paul proclaims, "There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all."

HOLY SPIRIT IS GOD

God is spirit; and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Acts 5:3 Holy Spirit is God:

But Peter said, "Ananias why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to me, but to God."

2 Corinthians 3:15-18:

"Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their minds; but when a man turns to the Lord the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."

GOD IS GOD:

And God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14).

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