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human spirit in the first man. That
human spirit could have a relation–
ship with God, who is spirit.
But God placed before that man
two choices, symbolized by two
trees in the garden of Eden. The
one tree was the tree of life. How
does God give that life? It comes
through the Holy Spirit. The per–
son that has the Spirit of God has
life, and he that has not the Spirit of
God does not have life. lf the Spirit
of Christ is in you, you are his
(1
John 5:11-12).
If the Spirit of God is not in you,
you are "none of his" (Rom. 8:9,
last part). And, verse 11 , " But if the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus
from the dead dwell in you, he that
raised up Chr ist from the dead shall
also quicken [make immortal] your
mortal bodies by his Spirit that
dwelleth in you."
God made us mortal, but he
made us to become immortal. And
God required that the man had to
make a choice, because character
had to be built in the man! Charac–
ter is built through choice.
The other tree, the other choice
before man, symbolized the way of
man's taking to himself-deciding
altogether by himself-the knowl–
edge of good and evil. How do we
cometo know the truth of God? In
1
Corinthians 2:9 we read, "Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart [mind]
of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him"–
in other words, spiritual knowl–
edge.
God reveaJs these things to us
only by bis Spirit. The Spirit of
God reveals God 's knowledge–
spiri tual knowledge and spiritual
character. But man decided to take
the basis of that kind of character to
himself, to decide right from
wrong, truth from error, by him–
self.
So, in punishment, God at that
time closed up the trce of life. In
other words, he shut up the Holy
Spirit from man.
God had set out a 7,000-year plan
and purpose in which to develop the
godlike character in man, made
from the dust of the ground. God's
purpose is to make us immortaJ like
God, until we become God as he is
God. That has got to come through
human experience, but it has to
October 1983
come from God, with our consent,
our desire, our decision and our
wills.
What God ls Llke
1
John 3:1-2 says, "Behold, what
manner of !ove the Father hath
bestowed upon us [here is the fact
that God !oves us], that we should be
called the sons of God [ultimately to
be born of God, though now begot–
ten of God; for God is reproducing
himself, and we're called the sons of
God]: ... now [even right now] are
we the sons of God [but only begot–
ten, not yet born], and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be [in other
words, what we shaJI be one can't see
yet]: but we know that, when he
shall appear, we shall be like him; for
we shall see him as he is."
How is he? In the first chapter
of Revelation, and other places in
the Bible, you'll find that his face is
as the very sun in full
power
and
strength. It's so bright it would put
your eyes out even if you look with
smoked glass. His eyes are like
flames of fire.
God is spirit. And if you could
see spirit that is what you would
see. And that is what we will be
when God comes. When he appears
we'll be like him. This is referring
to the Second Coming of Christ,
which is now imminent for our very
generation.
The purpose of God is character
building. That is why he made man
of matter. We could be
molded
spiritually, in a body of earthly
clay, into divine character. We read
in Isaiah 64:8, "But now, O Lord,
thou art our father; we are the clay,
and thou our potter; and we all are
the work of thy hand."
Even Job asked,
" If
a man die,
shall he live again? all the days of
my appointed time will 1 wait
[meaning in the grave], ti ll my
change come. Thou [God] shalt
call, and
r
will answer thee: thou
wilt have a desi re to the work of
thine bands" (Job 14:14-15).
Job knew he was the work of
God's hands. We all are tbe clay.
God is the potter. A potter molds
and fashions clay into the forro and
shape he wants. Now God will-if
we put ourselves in his hands, if we
surrender to him, and to bis will–
take us and mold and shape us into
the godlike character of love.
God is love. God will put his
divine love in us, a love with which
we were not born.
It
is a gift of God
through his Holy Spirit.
Notice Isaiah 45:9, "Woe unto
him that striveth witb bis Mak–
er! ... Shall the clay say to him
that fashioneth it, What makest
thou? ... "
What about the theologians rea–
soning that today's divided Chris–
tianity is God's religion, that this is
God 's wo rl d , and God i s n 't
powerful enough to stop all of
evil?
God
is
allowing man to make his
own decisions. And if man makes
the wrong decision, God has said
whatever we sow we shall reap.
God has told his people that ever
since the beginning. He told Adam
that. He told ancient Israel that.
And Jesus Christ told us that. If we
sin we will have to reap the conse–
quences. God allows it. He allows
suffering and the pain of sin for a
good purpose.
God has given man a mind to
think with . He gives man revealed
knowledge in the Bible. Man can
take that knowledge and learn to go
God's way. That is necessary for the
development of character so we can
become like God, so we can become
the very children of God, so we can
be born the chi ldren of God. But
man has, throughout history,
refused to go that way-except for a
very few whom God has called and
to whom he has revealed his truth
by his Holy Spirit.
In Matthew 24:4-5 Jesus said,
"Take heed that no man deceive
you. For many shall come in my
name [Jesus said] , saying, [that] l
am [the] Christ; and shaJI deceive
many."
How can they do that? Jesus said
in Matthew 15:9, "But in vain they
do worship me, teaching for doc–
trines the commandments of men."
They make the commandments of
God of no effect by their tradition
(verse 3).
The commandments of God are
the right way to live; they reveal
God's way of life. Human beings
have not kept the commandments
of God. They have said, and many
preachers are saying today, that the
commandments of God are done
away.
(Continued on page 43)
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