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in to take of that tree of LIFE!
Without any repentance-with–
out even FAlTH in God or in
Christ-mankind would have
beJped himseJf to RECEIVING
ETERNAL LIFE.
THJNK a moment!
God Not Unfair
How UNfair would God have
becn, had He allowed that? Man,
wi t h all his sins- and sin has a
habit o.f increasing in the one who
indulges in it-would have be–
come immortal- living
for ever
while
suffering
the pains, mental ,
physical and spiritual, that sin
would bring on him!
Man does not seem to realize
that he now is the SLAVE of sin.
He does not realize that only a
real repentance-turning
from
sin- and the living FAJTH of Jesus
Christ can FREE him from that
penalty! Sin enslaves!
lt
punishes!
It
brings sorrow, remorse, an–
guish. lt inflicts physical injury,
sickness and disease.
lt
produces
frustration and hopelessness.
Tbe most UNfair, UNkind, cruel
thing God could have done would
have been to leave the way open
into the Garden, with fre·e access
to all comers to the tree of LIFE–
symbolic of the gift
of
ETERNAL
LJFE!
But what
did
God do? He
drove out the man and the
woman. He barred reentrance. ·
He, however, made salvation
and eternal life in extreme happi–
ness and bliss become available to
ALL the human family. But, with
Godly wisdom, He set a time–
arder and conditions! For the first
6,000
years- now almost com–
pleted- all but the predestined
FEW were cut off. Meanwhile He
called a comparatively infinitesi–
mal FEW to repentance and faith
and-dependent on those condi–
t ions and overcoming-the gift of
His Holy Spirit and eterna! life!
Then in due time, after approx–
imately
4 ,000
years from Adam,
God sent Jesus Christ to live a
perfect life, overcoming Satan,
qualifying
where the first Adam
failed , to replace Satan as RULER
on the throne of the whole earth.
Those who, as Jesus did, over–
come Satan, their own selves and
August 1980
sin (the "called," that is), will sit
with Christ
in His throne
when
He comes to set up THE KING–
DOM OF Goo and to restore the
GOVERNMENT OF Goo, which the
former Lucifer rejected and
ceased to administer!
Those
very
few called, begin–
ning with "righteous Abe!" up to
now and on to Christ's return to
earth, have had todo what Adam
refused to do-REJECT THE WAY
OF SATAN, who rebelled against
the GOVERNMENT OF Goo!
Who, then, is a
real
Christian?
Only those who have been, and
are being led by t be Holy Spirit
of God (Romans 8:9, 11,
14).
And none can receive the Holy
Spirit until that person,
1)
RE–
PENTS-of bis sins, bis transgres–
sions of God's Law, and 2) has
complete faith in Jesus Christ–
which includes BEUEVING Jesus
Christ. I mean, believing what He
says-His WORD, the Holy Bi–
ble!
Now, what of all the others–
the THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS? Up
to now, unless called and
drawn
by God, they simply have not yet
been judged! 1 do not mean they
shall not have to give account for
their sins. They shall, indeed! But
their judgment is COMINO. Judg–
ment has begun in the true
Church of God
(1
Peter 4: 17).
Jesus said, "No man can come to
me, except the Father ... draw
him ..." (John
6:44).
No MAN
CAN
come to Christ otherwise!
But this is merely the FIRST har–
vest.
When Christ comes as KING
OF KINGS and LORD of lords, He
will reign for the next thousand
years. EvERYBODY living from
His coming will be called.
After that thousand years, shall
occur the "Great White Throne
Judgment" of Revelation 20:11-
12. All who ever lived from
Adam on, who were uncalled by
God, shall be resurrected MORTAL
in human flesh and blood as they
were in their first life.
Then
they
shall give account for the sins of
tbeir former life-but on real
repentance and faith they shall be
forgiven and receive God's Holy
Spirit, begetting them lo ETER–
NAL LIFE.
Goo's woNoERFUL MASTER
.PLAN WILL CALL EVERYONE WHO
EVER LIVEO TO RECEIVE ETERNAL
SALVATION but, there is a time
order in resurrections (1 Corin–
thians
15:22-23).
"For as in
Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive. But every
man in his own order; Christ the
firstfruits, afterward ... " ( two
other resurrections revealed in
Revelation
20:11 - 13 ,
are not cov–
ered in
1
Corinthians
15.)
Those called in the Millen–
nium, and those in the Great
White Throne resurrection and
judgment, shall NOT have Satan,
then, to overcome.
How WONDERFUL are God's
ways-even though hidden now
from most of humanity bringing
so much suffering on them–
selves!
As the apostle Paul exclaimed,
'O the depth of the riches both of
the wisdom and knowledge of
God! How unsearchable are hls
judgments, and bis ways past
finding out!" (Romans
11:33).
In MAN, God is reproducing
Himself! The word for God in
Genesis
1:1
is
Elohim
in the
original Hebrew.
lt
is a uniplural
name, like
church
or
family
or
group.
God said "Let us"-not
ME-"make man in OUR image."
God truly is a Family into which
we,
literal/y
may be born!
WHAT, then, is man? He is a
living being made from the dust
of the ground. He is CLAY, and
Goo is the Master Potter, mold–
ing, shaping, forming our CHAR–
ACTER-if we respond when He
calls and draws us to Him. With
our willingness He is infusing
into
US
HIS VERY OWN SPIRITUAL
HOLY, RIGHTEOUS and PERFECT
CHARACTER!
WHY is man? God created man
on the earth to build in us what
the sinning angels refused to Jet
Him build in them- His perfect
CHARACTER! He is, in His time
order and way, developing us to
become VERY Goo-each of us–
and to finish the creation of the
unfinished UNIVERSE!
(t's all WONDERFUL beyond
words. But, for NOW, we still live
in this deceived world led by
Satan. o
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