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trinity? l s God one person? They
just don't understand.
And none, either, understands
God's purpose. Does God have a
purpose he is working out? Winston
Churchill said before the United
States Congress during World War
11 that there is a purpose being
worked out hcre below. He implied
God, a higher power above, is work–
ing out that purpose.
Not one religion on earth fully
knows what and why man is. Why
are we here? What is the purpose, if
any?
What does God say about all of
this? Notice what God says in
lsaiah chapter 40, beginning with
verse 17:
"AII nations before him are as
nothing; and t hey are counted to
him less than nothing, and vanity.
To whom then will ye liken God? or
what likeness will ye compare unto
him? ...
It
is he t hat sitteth upon
the ci rcle of the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof are as grasshop–
pers [that is to God]; that stretch–
eth out the heavens as a curtain, and
spreadeth them out as a tent to
dwell in:
" ... T o whom then wi ll ye liken
me, or shall 1 be equal? saith the
Holy One. Li ft up your eyes on
high, and behold who hath created
these things, that bringeth out their
host by number: he calleth them all
by names by the greatness of his
might [there it speaks of God's
might, bis power], for that he is
strong in power; not one faileth"
(verses 17, 22, 25-26).
The earth turns on its axis. The
different seasons regularly come.
It
is the power of God that is causing
all of that. And that is mighty
power. Yes, God has all power.
How lt All
Began
What is the real ong1n of God?
What is the or igin of all this visible
universe?
It
is not evolution. That
can be absolutely d isproved. But in
the Bible we read, " In the begin–
ning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was
God" (John 1:1 ).
In the beginning was one great
personage called the Word, the
Spokesman. And the Word was
with another personage, God. And
the Word was God. How could that
be? You might say in a certain res-
20
idence was John, and John was with
Smith, and John was a Smith. But
John isn't the same man as S mith .
He's a different person. John could
have been Smith's son. They could
have been of the samc family.
That's precisely what this verse
means.
There was the Word with God.
"The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by
him ..." (John 1:2-3).
In Ephesians 3:9 we read about
"God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ." The Word, in other
words, became Jesus Christ. And
God created all things by Jesus
Christ. Another scripture says,
"For he spake, and it was done; he
commanded, and it stood fast" (Ps.
33:9). The power that emanated
from him and from God the
Father-the power of the Holy
Spirit-leaped forth and did the
work. All t hings were created in
that manner.
Now, further, about God. What
is God? In Jobn 4:24 (RSV) we
read tbat "God is spirit." Man is
not spirit. Man is flesh. Man is
composed of matter. But God is not
composed of matter; God is spiri t.
Now spirit is sometbing you cannot
see; spi rit is something that has no
weigbt. Matter is something that
occupies space and has weight.
Spirit is different.
Turn now to the book of Genesis:
" I n the beginning God ... " (Gen .
1:1 ). The word for God there is
Elohim,
a plural form indicating
more than one person- but with a
singular verb indicating one God.
God, then, is composed of more
than one person.
The Word was God, and the
Word was with God, and so God
was composed of these two beings.
When Jesus was born he was begot–
ten of God as his Father. God then
became his Father and Jesus then
became the Son. And so there is the
Father and the Son. They compose
God. God is the family name.
The fact t hat God is a family is
very significant. That begins to
explain tbe whole question.
Turn now to Genesis 1:26:
" ... Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness...." In verses 21
through 25 we read God had made
sea creatures and land animals each
after its own kind. Each kind repro-
duces after its own kind and never
generates a totally new kind.
After the God Klnd
God formed man after the God
kind, not after an animal kind. God
is reproducing himself! Now when
you understand
that,
you begin to
understand why God is allowing all
the suffering on the earth today.
Notice, now, Genesis 2:7: "And
the Lord God [Lord there is the
name of the one that became
Christ] formed man of the dust of
the ground , and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man
[made of the dust of the ground)
became a living sou
l."
The dust of the ground, then,
became a soul. The dust of t he
ground is not spirit-the dust
became a man. And that man is a
soul. A soul carne out of the ground.
Man, then, is physical, mortal.
In other places in the Bible you
find that there is a spirit
in
man that
is altogether different. Man is flesh.
Manis mortal. Man does not inber–
ently have eternal lífe; he only has a
temporary existence. He carne out
of the dust of the ground. Man's
existence- what we call human
life-is supplied by the breath of
air.
lt
is called the breath of life
here in Genesis 2:7. Also, "the life
of the flesh is in the blood," says
Leviticus 17: ll. The heart pumps
blood through the body, and the
blood has to be refueled by oxygen
and by food and water out of the
ground .
Man Must Choose
The man that God created now had
to make a choice.
Character is the ability of sorne
separa tely created entity to cometo
a knowledge of right as from wrong,
of truth as from error, of good as
from evil. To cboose the right, or
the good , and to reject the evil–
even though he might want to do
the evi l- to have the will todo the
good , that is character.
God is the supreme, holy, righ–
teous, perfect, spiritual character.
And if he is reproducing himself, he
must reproduce that character in
man. Man must acquire that char–
acter.
H ow is that divine character
going to get into something made
out of the ground? God placed a
The PLAIN TRUTH