“We have only one chance through life, so grab with all the gusto you have.”
A common quote heard today and a recognizable sentiment seen in various forms throughout history. But is that all there really is? As a Christian do we miss something valuable in life? It is true; there are some temporary pleasures that a Christian does not have. However, if these fleeting moments of pleasure are all that mankind has to hope for, then as Paul wrote, “I am of all men most miserable”. (I Corinthians 15:19)
NO ! There is a better way, a more true way, to look at life. In fact, this short period of mortal existence we commonly call “life” is our time and opportunity to determine, by the manner in which we live, whether or not we have the privilege of living in heaven with God Himself throughout eternity. Jesus has gone ahead to prepare a place (John 14:1-3) for those who wisely use this time of “life” and make preparation for the life of the soul throughout eternity. Even if a person lives ninety years or longer here, it is still only a small span compared to the “big picture” and over-all scheme of our reality.
Abraham demonstrated this true vision of life on earth by leaving his home and family to go toward a land which God would show him. Abraham did not know where this place would be, but he was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10)
This view of life also enabled Moses to give up the honor of being called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter in Egypt. He could see that the riches and rewards God offers the faithful are far greater than any brief pleasures that sin can offer. (Hebrews 11:24-26)
In the same way, Paul could rejoice in a Roman prison even when facing death for his faith in Christ because he too understood that this short life was his “time trial” in which to prepare for eternal life. Paul did not enjoy the pain of suffering, but he saw a crown laid up for him in heaven, making any present suffering seem but for a moment. (II Timothy 4:6-8)
Even the happiest, most carefree person alive has some problems such as pain, sickness, sorrow, fears, and so on. As Christians, we can share most earthly pleasures. And there is a legitimate outlet for every physical desire we have. Conversely, Christians too are human beings and experience the same problems which are common to all of mankind. But instead of being the most miserable of all men, the Christian is the one to be envied.
The Christian can look forward to that eternal “life” where there will be no problems. Indeed, we have an anchor to our soul. (Hebrews 6:19) So, why worry about conditions in this life? What does it ultimately matter if things appear dark and troubling here for this temporary span? If we have that hope which makes anything worth enduring for these short years in order to live for eternity with God, then the worries and struggles of this time are so much reduced in relative importance.
But how can a person obtain this hope? How did it come to be available? What is the source and substance of this hope? The Bible gives us answers, it tells us how, why, where and who. The Bible is the beginning point for knowledge that leads to this great hope. It is not a series of unconnected “once-upon-a-time” stories, instead the Bible is the unfolding of the beautiful, eternal plan God made for the redemption of mankind.
God made mankind. Man is a reasoning being, made in the image of God. He has the ability to choose what he will become. As the Creator of man, God understands and has met every need of mankind. He designed man to be his happiest as a companion of God. God offered man the chance for such a companionship on earth in the Garden of Eden, where God walked with man in the cool of the evening. But man gave up this privilege of his own free will by choosing to listen to the devils advice, thereby committing sin – that is, man chose to violate God’s instructions for life. God had prepared for man’s unfortunate choice. He already had a plan established for the redemption of man. (Eph. 3:11). No longer could man share a companionship with God here, because sin separates man from God. So, God offered man a far greater blessing – the chance to live forever with God Himself in heaven.
There are certain conditions man must meet however. No man is forced to serve God, but the wonderful chance is offered to everyone, provided one will accept God’s terms. What terms could God make? How could God determine who could have this eternal life? He could justly condemn all mankind because all have sinned, and the wages or debt of sin is death. (Rom. 1:32). But God loves man and would prefer that none perish. (2 Pet. 3:9) Perhaps He could arbitrarily save some and condemn others – but God is no respecter of persons. (Acts 10:34)
Therefore, God determined to pay the price for sin Himself. In this way, God’s love for man could be shown by offering man the opportunity for salvation. At the same time, God’s justice could be satisfied by the enormous price which would be paid for man’s sin.
Man alone could not pay the price. Each person who has lived long enough to be responsible before God has sinned. There are many examples in the Bible of men and women who were “good people” even great in faith and service to the one true God, but they were not perfect. Adam and Eve sinned in Eden. Noah was saved in the ark because he was righteous, but later he planted a vineyard and became drunk on the wine. Abraham is called the father of the faithful, but he lied on at least two occasions. David was a man after God’s own heart, but he committed adultery and murder. Each person would have to die for their own sins, thus ending any continued companionship with God.
But how could God pay the price for man’s sin ? Death is the price God set. (Gen. 2:17: Rom. 6:23) But Deity as Deity cannot die. Therefore, God’s plan was to send Deity, the eternal Word of God, to the earth in human form as His only begotten Son. His Son would reveal to mankind the wondrous characteristics of God, establish the foundation for the kingdom of God – His church, and demonstrate a perfect life of obedience to the Father’s will. Then, that Son, as Deity in human form, would die to pay the price for man’s sins.
Man did not realize the need for such a price when he was first driven from Eden. The entire Bible is filled with accounts of how feeble man’s own efforts for self-salvation have been. Mankind is left with only one conclusion: we are totally helpless without God.
We cannot answer the question of why God ever made man. Neither can we know why He loved man enough to offer him the chance to live in heaven. But we can look at the beautiful plan He unfolds in the Bible for us, then seek Him, love Him and obey Him in return. What right do I have as His own created being to object to the conditions He offers me for such a reward ? The love demonstrated by God for mankind, thru His Son, compels us to realize that God knows each person completely, has provided for us entirely, and will protect us eternally if we will only choose His plan over our own self-willed desires and the deception of sin.
“In the beginning…” Come with me back to that point. There is no world, no universe, no physical life, no physical substance, no time. Eternity has no beginning, no end. What did exist? How did all we know come into being? What does it all mean?
There were three Beings in existence who are as everlasting as eternity itself; Jehovah, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. These separate Beings are yet one in purpose, in righteousness, and in deity. They comprise all that is Godhood.
At some point, we have no idea when, lesser heavenly beings were created. We read of innumerable hosts of angels (Rev. 5:11), of seraphim (Isa. 6:2), of cherubim (Gen. 3:24), and of other heavenly creatures around the throne of God (Rev. 4). At some point some of these heavenly beings sinned (2 Pet. 2:4). Again, we do not know the reason. Such matters are the secret things that belong to God (Deut. 29:29). A place of punishment, terrible beyond our comprehension, was prepared for these wicked beings (Matt. 25:41). They were “delivered into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Pet. 2:4). These heavenly beings are more powerful than man, but they, as the created, are far less powerful than God.
“In the beginning” God spoke the physical universe into existence. Then He began placing life on the earth. First God created plant life; then fish, birds, and land animals. The creation process was not complete at this point, because there was not yet life that could understand or share a companionship with God. Thus man was created. “Let us make Man in our image” (Gen. 1:26). Man is like God because we can reason, and each one of us has a unique soul within that will never cease to exist, an essence that is spiritual.
God placed the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, in a garden of beauty far greater than we can find today. There earth was new and unpolluted. Every desirable plant was there. There were no thorns or thistles; there was no pain or sorrow; there was no anxiety or fear. Adam and Eve had access to the Tree of Life so they need never die. Best of all, they had companionship with God Himself (Gen. 3:8).
But God did not want a creature who was His companion simply because there was nothing else he could do. Then man would have been no more than a robot programmed to worship God, and in capable of anything else. So God gave man a commandment. Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
There was food in abundance, so hunger did not encourage the eating of the forbidden fruit. The Garden of Eden was very large; four rivers ran through it, so there was no reason for the temptation to be constantly before their eyes. But mankind is weak. When the serpent tempted Eve, she was beguiled and ate of the forbidden fruit. She gave it to Adam and he ate also.
Now they knew shame, guilt, and fear. God gave each guilty party a curse. Pain, sorrow, problems, thorns, death, separation from the Tree of Life – and, worst of all, separation form the companionship of God.
Their sin was no surprise to God. He knew before creation that man would be weak and had prepared for man’s fall. God had already planned how man might be saved (Eph. 3:10-11). Adam and Eve gave up the opportunity for complete happiness on this earth. God began the long process of unfolding His plan of how man could live forever with Him, provided man accepted His terms.
Even with the curses upon Adam and Eve due to their sin in the garden, God gave the first glimmer of hope for a day when one of the seed, or descendants, of woman would bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Evil had triumphed on that day over Adam and Eve, but someday man would triumph through the “One” who God would send to complete His plan.
Adam lived 930 years and had sons and daughters. The Bible tells a story about Cain and Abel, two of these sons. You remember now Cain became angry and killed his brother because Abel’s sacrifice was acceptable to God, and Cain’s was not. Abel’s death erased his name from further part in the unfolding of God’s plan. God takes time in the last of Genesis 4 to tell us briefly what happened to Cain – then his family is left.
Adam had another son, Seth. We are told nothing about him except that it is through his family that the story develops. About as many years pass during the first five chapters of Genesis as in all the rest of the Bible. God tells us practically nothing about this period because it is unimportant for His purpose to do so. The people typically lived 900 or more years during this time of history. Among the ten generations named is a man named Enoch. He was righteous, and God highly blessed him by taking him to heaven without his dying.
As men spread over the earth, they practiced wickedness on every hand. Their thoughts were only evil continually. God decided to destroy mankind – except for faithful Noah and his family. Noah accepted God’s grace and took the escape offered. He, his three sons, their wives, and two of each form of animal life survived in the ark.
Now we are back to one family, that of Noah’s. But there are three sons, so no human historian could have known at this point which son to follow. But God guided the writer to follow the line through Shem, touching only briefly the descendants of Ham and Japheth. The writer deals with the nations which came through Ham and Japheth only as they touch Shem’s descendants.
Many, many peoples came through Shem, but the divine record narrows the story still more. Years passed, and men no longer lived as long. Soon 200 or fewer years were a long life.
Some nine generations pass from Noah, and we come to a man named Terah living in Ur of the Chaldees. There were three sons in this family also: Nahor, Abram, and Haran. Haran died while they were still in Ur, and the story follows his son Lot for a while because he traveled with Abram, the more important character.
God called Abram (or Abraham as his name became) and told him to leave his family and to go to a land he would be shown. Abraham obeyed and was led to the little land of Canaan. A three-fold promise was made to him: he was told his descendants would be made a great nation, they would inherit the land of Canaan, and through his seed, all families of the earth would be blessed (Gen: 12:1-7). The rest of the Bible is the story of the fulfilling of these three promises.
Notice that God had unfolded only a small part of His plan for man’s redemption by this point in history. We know that One will come who will triumph over Satan (Gen. 3:15). We now know further that this One will come from the nation composed of the descendants of Abraham, and that all nations will be blessed by His coming (Gen. 12:2-3).
Abraham’s wife was barren so she and Abraham tried to help God fulfill His promise by having a son through Hagar, the handmaiden. Ishmael was born. Abraham later had six other sons by Keturah, another handmaiden. They were blessed because they were sons of Abraham, but these were not the promised seed. Finally, through a miracle, Isaac was born when his father was 100 years old.
When Isaac became head of the family, God repeated the threefold promise to Isaac; land, nation and spiritual. Through his seed all nations would be blessed (Gen. 26:2-4).
Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob. Even before their birth, God said that Jacob would be the greater. Esau’s descendants became the nation of the Edomites. But it was to Jacob that the threefold promise was repeated. He would receive the land; his descendants would form a great nation; and through his seed all families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 28:13-14).
Space does not allow us to tell the details of Jacob’s life. Suffice it to say that Jacob had twelve sons. He loved Joseph, next to the youngest, best, and showed his partiality. The other brothers were jealous and sold Joseph as a slave into Egypt. There he served as slave to Potiphar. He was lied about and was cast into prison. Time passed, and he interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and became ruler of all Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. As he himself said, he was in Egypt to help save life during a severe, seven year famine (Gen. 45:4-8). You remember how the brothers came, were tested, and finally learned Joseph’s identity. Joseph had all his family brought to Egypt. There were 75 people in the family at this point – still far short of a nation.
As Jacob lay on his death bed, he called his sons and gave each a blessing. These sons would form the tribes which would make up the nation of Israel (Jacob was given the name Israel the night he wrestled with an angel). It was to Judah, his fourth son, that he gave a special prophesy. The scepter (the sign of ruler-ship) would not depart from Judah’s family until Shiloh – the special One – should come. (Gen. 49:10).
Now God has unfolded this much of His plan; One will come to triumph over Satan. He will bless all families of the earth. He will come through the seed of Abraham, through Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. He will reign. We know more than we did when Adam sinned, but we still understand very little about God’s full purpose (see Gen. 3:15; 12:1-3; 26:2-4; 28:13-14; 49:10).
Genesis closes with Joseph’s confident assurance to his brethren that the day would come when God would lead the people back to Canaan. Many years pass before the curtain rises again. Has God forgotten?
The scene looks dark as Exodus begins. By now there are perhaps three million people call Israelites, or Hebrews (later called Jews). A Pharaoh has arisen who does not know Joseph. He feared this vast group of people in his land, so he afflicted them by making them his slaves. They multiplied faster. He tried to destroy potential soldiers by ordering the death of all baby boys.
At this very time a baby boy was born. His mother hid him three months and then placed him in the bulrushes at the edge of the Nile River. He was found by Pharaoh’s daughter, who named him Moses. For forty years he was trained as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. His own mother was hired to care for him, so he grew from babyhood knowing the plight of his people.
At age forty, Moses decided to rescue his people, but God was not ready. Moses killed an Egyptian and had to flee for his life. The next forty years he worked as a shepherd in Midian. Then one day God appeared to Moses in a burning bush and gave him his commission to go back to Egypt to rescue the Israelites.
Again, space forbids any great detail here, but as you remember Pharaoh, refused to let the people go. God showed His might over the most powerful nation of the day by sending ten terrible plagues until the Egyptians were actually begging the Israelites to leave.
Instead of leading the people directly to the land of Canaan, God directed them south-eastward to Mt. Sinai. There He made a covenant with them. He promised to be their God and to allow them to be His people if they would obey Him and keep His commandments. The people wanted God’s blessings and were quick to agree to the covenant. God gave them a law that specified exactly how they were to live as His chose people.
Until this time, God had spoken directly to the fathers of the faithful families. That system (called the Patriarchal system) continued with all people except this special group assembled at Mt. Sinai. God was preparing a special people to be ready for the completion of His plan.
God showed his power and protection of this chosen nation in every conceivable way. He fed them when they were hungry: he gave them water from stones. He fought their enemies and shielded them as a father shields his own children (Hos. 11:1).
But the people did not keep their side of the covenant. Within six weeks of agreeing to obey God and keep His commandments, they mad a golden calf to worship. They murmured when they were thirsty and complained over the manna God had given them for food. Even when they reached Canaan’s border, they were too cowardly to go forward as God commanded.
Moses sent twelve spies through the land of Canaan. Ten brought back word that the task would be too difficult. Only Joshua and Caleb trusted the power of God. The people were forced to turn back to wander forty years in the wilderness, until every soldier above twenty years of age was dead except Joshua and Caleb.
Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers give the Law of Moses in detail and tell the important events during these forty years. Even Moses disobeyed God on one occasion, and was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. God allowed him to view the land from the top of Mt. Nebo. There he died and was buried by the hand of God.
The book of Deuteronomy is a series of speeches that Moses gave on the plains of Moab just before his death. He was pleading with the people to be faithful when they entered the land, so that they might prosper and might remain in the land through all the generations to follow. God, through Moses, promised great blessings to the people if they would be faithful to Him. On the other hand, He warned of punishments if they turned from Him.
Both sides of the picture – blessings and consequences to sin – are both absolutely necessary parts in God’s revealed plan. God has always offered man great blessings for keeping His law and has set stated penalties for disobedience. Then He has left it to man to choose which he wants.
Joshua became the leader in Moses’ stead and led the people across the Jordan River to conquer the promise land. They marched around Jericho by faith, and God caused those mighty walls to fall. Joshua and his army found victory on every hand, and within a very few years, the whole land was conquered and divided among the tribes.
Two of the promises made to Abraham have been fulfilled by this time. Abraham’s descendants have indeed become a nation, and God has lead them to victory in gaining the land (Josh. 21:43-45). Only the spiritual promise was still lacking. God was gradually unfolding His plan for mankind to learn, but the “fullness of the times” had not yet come.
The Israelites were faithful to God under the leadership of Joshua and remained so as long as the elders who served with him lived. But man is weak. As soon as the first victories were over, and each tribe received its portion of land, the soldiers grew lax. They did not drive out the remaining pockets of Canaanites, as God had commanded them. When they failed, God left the Canaanites to prove Israel to see if the nation would be faithful (Judg. 2:3). Israel failed the test. Very little time passed before they turned from God to the idols of their neighbors.
The next period of Israelite history is one of cycles. There was not one single leader during these 400 or so years as there had been under Moses and Joshua. The people would turn to idols; God would allow an enemy to oppress them; they would repent and cry to God for help; then God would raise a judge or deliverer.
There were fifteen such judges. There was Ehud, who killed Eglon king of Moab and led the people to throw off the Moabite oppression. There was Deborah, who went with Barak the general to fight against Sisera and the Canaanites. There was Gideon, who defeated the numberless host of Midianites with his tiny army of 300. There was Jephthaah, who vowed to sacrifice the first thing which came from his house if he were successful in battle. There was Samson to whom God gave super-human strength to serve as a one man army against the Philistines.
Our first glance at the period would indicate it was a time of constant warfare. This is disproved, however, by such verses as Judges 3:11, 30 which says the land had “rest forty years” or the land had “rest eighty years”.
The little story of Ruth occurs during the period of the Judges. It is a delightful story of a Moabite girl who left her home to follow here mother-in-law to the land of Israel. There she married Boaz, a near kinsman of her dead husband. Is it merely a human interest story, however? There were other virtuous young ladies in Israel. There were other happy homes. Ruth and Boaz had a son named Obed. He had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David, and David had a descendant named Jesus. Ruth was a link in the eternal plan of God!
Eli was priest and judge the day a woman named Hannah prayed earnestly for a son. God granted here wish, and Samuel was born. Hannah dedicated him to God as soon as he was old enough to help Eli around the tabernacle. Samuel is truly one of the names to be added to the list of great characters in the Bible. He judged Israel during a long life span.
When Samuel was old, the people begged for a king. Samuel was grieved, but God told him to give them their king. They had rejected God as their king rather than rejecting Samuel as their judge. Under God’s direction, the young man Saul of the tribe of Benjamin was anointed. Saul was very humble at first, but pride became the ruling attitude of his life. He failed to obey God until finally God rejected his family as the ruling family.
God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint a son of Jesse as king. Seven of Jesse’s sons passed before Samuel, and God turned each one down. Finally the youth David was called from the field and anointed. David was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). There are about 130 chapters in the Bible either relating the history of David or recording the Psalms he wrote. He was human and made mistakes just as other great men have done. Perhaps we are most impressed with his righteousness as we read the psalm of penitence he wrote after his sin with Bathsheba (see Psalm 51).
David wanted to build a temple for God, but God sent Nathan the prophet to tell him that he could not do so because he was a man of war. Instead, God promised to let his son build the house. God then promised to establish David’s throne forever. If his descendants sinned, God would chasten them with “the rod of men”, but He would never remove His mercy from the line of David as He had from Saul. (2 Sam. 7:12-16; 1 Chron. 17:11-14).
By this point, God has unfolded this much of His plan – One will triumph over Satan. He will bless all families of the earth. This One will come through Abraham, through Isaac, through Jacob, through Judah, and through David. He will reign on the throne of David forever (Gen. 3:15; 12:1-3; 26:3-4; 28:13-14; 49:10; 2 Sam. 7:12-16).
Before David died, he proclaimed his son Solomon king. God appeared to the young king Solomon and told him to ask what he would. Solomon asked for wisdom, so God was pleased and granted him wisdom far above others. In addition, God gave him riches, honor, peace, and long life, if he lived faithfully. Solomon did build the temple as God had promised. The fame of his wisdom and wealth spread abroad. He wrote Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. The nation of Israel reached its greatest size during his reign. Unfortunately, he was led away from God by his many wives.
The kingdom was in distress by the time Solomon died. He had overburdened the people with taxes and they wanted relief. When Rehoboam his son became king, the ten northern tribes rebelled because Rehoboam would not listen to their pleas for relief. Jeroboam became king over the northern portion of the land, which retained the name Israel, as the nation had always been called. Rehoboam was left with only two tribes in the south, and he called his little kingdom Judah.
The history of the Israelite nation had ended another phase. Israel left Egypt as a vast multitude of untrained slaves. God molded, taught, and reshaped the nation during the forty years of wilderness wondering under Moses. Joshua led an enthusiastic, conquering nation into Canaan, the Promised Land. Then followed the period of judges when each man “did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). The people wanted a king and worked together under Saul, David, and Solomon during the period called the United Kingdom. Now the kingdom has divided into two small, sometimes warring, kingdoms. From this point through the rest of the Old Testament, the people fall farther and farther away from God.
Jeroboam of the northern kingdom did not want his subjects returning to the temple at Jerusalem. He established his own system of worship: new gods, new priests, new feast days, new laws. There was never a righteous king in Israel. The dynasty changed nine times before the kingdom fell! Ahab, with his wicked wife Jezebel, stands out as one of the more wicked kings of the period. Elijah, Elisha, Amos, Hosea, and other prophets were sent by God to warn Israel of impending doom. Again space does not permit us to go into detail. Finally, God would tolerate their wickedness no longer. In 721 B.C. God allowed the Assyrian army to overthrow Samaria, the capital of Israel. The people were led away captives, and foreigners were brought in to fill the land. These foreigners intermarried with the low class Israelites left in the land and became the hated mixed race later called the Samaritans.
After this the southern kingdom of Judah continued, but they, too, drifted away from God. Their descent downward was not as fast as Israel’s, however, because they did have some good kings such as Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Hezekiah, and Josiah. There is no darker period in Israelite history than the divided kingdom. Finally, God’s patience was exhausted with Judah also (2 Chron. 36:15-16). In 606 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led the first captives away from Jerusalem. He returned for more captives in 597 B. C. and finally destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Only the poorest of the land were left, and even they fled to Egypt within a few months.
Has God forgotten His plan? Is it all over? Never for one moment!! God’s chosen people must suffer the consequences of their sins, but He did not allow man’s weaknesses to destroy His eternal purpose.
Do you remember the promise to David that the royal line would remain in his family (2 Sam. 7:11-16)? The ruling family changed nine times in Israel, but never once in Judah. God’s providence supplied a direct descendant in each generation. On one occasion, Athaliah the daughter of Ahab tried to destroy all the royal seed and usurp the throne (2 Kings 11:1-4). The baby Joash was hidden by Jehoida the priest for six years before he was brought to the throne. Another time, an enemy destroyed all the royal line, except for one son (2 Chron. 21:16-17). It was no accident that one was left each time to take his place on David’s throne. These kings were important links in the plan of God.
The same passage that promised the royal line would remain in David’s family also warned that his descendants would be punished if they were wicked. The punishment that came to the house of Judah was as much apart of God’s plan as the blessings they could have had if they had remained faithful.
The writings of the prophets Daniel and Ezekiel tell of the captivity. Trained to serve in the court of the kings, Daniel held positions of high authority under Nebuchadnezzar, and then under Darius of the Medes and Persians. Ezekiel lived among the common people and gives us an insight into their lives during the period.
Jeremiah the prophet had foretold the captivity would last for seventy years (Jer. 25:11). Sure enough, the first captives had been taken in 606 B.C. In 539 B.C., Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians. King Cyrus decreed that all captive people might return to their original homes. Thus, in 536 B.C., exactly seventy years after the first captives had been taken from Judah, a group of Jews started for their homeland. Zerubbabel led this first group. Their main objective was to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
As is usual in any worthwhile task, the people immediately faced opposition. The neighboring Samaritans interfered, and finally succeeded in stopping the work on the temple. For sixteen years nothing was done. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah urged the people to resume their work. The temple was finally completed, but the people did not remain faithful to God.
Ezra brought another group back to Jerusalem and set about to restore the worship of the people (458 B.C.). Not much later, Nehemiah learned that the city was still in distress. He received permission from the king of Persia to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. He and the people worked hard and completed the huge task in only 52 days. Nehemiah and Ezra worked together to persuade the people to put away their foreign wives and to return to faithfulness to God.
The percentage of Jews who returned to their native land was actually small. By this time there were Jews scattered all over the then known world. God did not forget His people wherever they were living. The book of Esther shows how God could exert His providence even in the court of a Persian king in order to save His people.
The prophet Amos had predicted that a day of famine would come, not of food or water, but rather a famine of hearing the words of the Lord (Amos 8:11). That time came following Malachi. Malachi prophesied about the same time as Nehemiah and Ezra.
Perhaps we get our clearest picture of the spiritual condition of the people during this period from Malachi’s writings. They went through a form of worship, but their hearts were not in it. Malachi closes his book by saying there would come one in the style of Elijah to prepare the way “before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:5). The prophets had foretold additional information about this special One who was to come, but He was still a shadowy figure at this point.
Now complete silence. The curtain has fallen upon the divine stage, and four hundred years pass with no recorded communication from God. Has He changed His mind? Has His purpose been forgotten?
Babylon fell before the Old Testament closed. The Medo-Persian Empire fell about one hundred years after Malachi’s book was written. Alexander the Great led the Greeks as they conquered the world. Years passed, and Rome, the fourth world empire since Daniel’s day, rose to power. God’s prophecy had been that in the days of this empire He would establish His kingdom which would never be destroyed (Dan. 2:44). “The fullness of the times” had come (see Gal. 4:4).
The curtain rises again to find an old priest named Zachariah serving in the temple. Suddenly, the angel Gabriel stood before him – the first communication from God since Malachi. Zachariah received the news that he was to be the father of John, the forerunner who was predicted by Malachi.
Some six months later the same angel appeared to a young virgin named Mary. He told her she would have a child, conceived of the Holy Spirit. This would be Jesus, the Savior; Immanuel, God with us; Christ, the anointed one; the Word become flesh to dwell among men.
In is this One – the Divine Son of God – who had come to sum up all the glorious plan of God. He is the One who fulfills the promises and prophecies. He is the One who offered the sacrifice of death for sin so that man might live in spite of his weaknesses. He is the One who gave the perfect law of liberty that man might live a new life filled with hope. He is the One who is the fullness of the whole Bible. There would be no Bible, no plan, and no hope for man without this Jesus. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written that we might understand and believe that this Jesus fits every qualification ever set by God to be the Messiah. He was indeed the “Christ, the Son of the Living God.” He lived a perfect life to show man the life that is in God. He died to pay the price for sin and was raised to be the first fruits of them that sleep. He was crowned in heaven itself to reign on David’s throne at the right hand of God.
Just before Jesus went back to heaven, He told His disciples to “go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). The word gospel literally means “good news”. In other words, Jesus was telling His disciples to go spread the good news. Go tell the world that the Promised One has come. Go tell every person there is hope for forgiveness; there is hope for a home in heaven. Go tell the world that man may be reconciled with God. Go tell the world that God’s love for man has been demonstrated and His plan for redemption has been revealed!!!
The apostles were given the Holy Spirit to guide them as they went throughout the world to tell people of this glorious plan of God, the good news about Jesus Christ. The book of Acts gives us a glimpse of the type work that was done and the amazing faith that was demonstrated by the first Christians.
By the end of the first century, the new covenant, the law of Christ, had been fully revealed and written for mankind to read, understand, and accept (Eph. 3:1-12). The laws and rules were given to guide us in shaping our lives to be like Christ, to partake of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).
The prophets of the Old Testament wanted to see the end of the picture (1 Pet. 1:10-12). We have it all revealed now in Christ. People of this era are heirs of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Acts 3:24-25). There is no greater spiritual blessing we could inherit.
The glorious, eternal plan of God is ready for us to accept. It is our choice. We may accept God’s plan and inherit the blessings, or we may reject its terms and be lost and without hope in the world. Life on earth really is that time trial where man has opportunity to make choices and select his eternal home, either with God in heaven or completely separated from God in a world of torments.
The New Testament ends with a book of great victory. Revelation foretells the final victory of Christ over Satan at the judgment day.
The entire Bible is the story of Jesus Christ, the fullness of God’s love and his scheme for redemption!
For this to be Your day of salvation, you Must choose to follow God’s plan, trust Him and obey the instructions in His word. Believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of the Living God, admit sinfulness and repent; that is, turn away from sin and turn to God, confess His name before men, and then be baptized into Christ and become a child of God.
Only then can you personally enjoy the wonderful blessings God has promised for those who live in Christ, those born again through faithful obedience, begotten by the Holy Spirit.
The promise of Heaven with God for eternity truly is a reality and it is for those who choose God’s way thru this life, that is, for those who choose God-like-ness rather than self-ish-ness, and live to best of ability imitating the nature of Christ.