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ConText in Culture – The Greatest Text Message

Posted by ronmoore on September 11, 2009

Read from Time Magazine (April 2, 2007)

Simply put, the Bible is the most influential book ever written. Not only is the Bible the best-selling book of all time, it is the best-selling book of the year every year.

Simply put, the Bible is the most influential book ever written. Now you would expect that kind of statement in a Christian magazine, wouldn’t you? But you have to admit that it’s a little surprising coming from an issue of Time.

In this cover story, Why We Should Teach the Bible in Public School, the author is very positive about an elective class being offered in many public schools around the country—a class offering the Bible as secular literature. His argument is that the Bible is so pervasive in our culture, if a person is going to have well-rounded education you have to have a basic knowledge of this book written in 2,656 languages and is sold or distributed to the tune of 65 million copies each year.

With all the different writers how can this book be God’s word and not just a collection stories and myth mixed in with a few historical accounts? How can I trust a book to speak to me today and deal with the issues of my life fast paced technology driven world when the last entry of the Bible was written almost 2000 years ago—500 years before the invention of the printing press? How can I trust the integrity of a book written over a period of 1500 years on three different continents? What gives me confidence that these are the only books that should be in the Bible? Other books written about Jesus. Why did these 66 books make the cut and others didn’t? And speaking of these 66 books—since they didn’t have the e-mail or UPS—how were they collected, compiled, and distributed. How did Moses learn about the creation account when he wasn’t there? Here’s one. When the Bible says that Jesus went alone to pray, had do we know what he prayed if he was alone when he prayed? Is the Bible really a book I can stake my life and eternity on?

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Is the Bible Fact or Fiction? – The Greatest Text message

Posted by ronmoore on September 10, 2009

These questions—for some—are keeping you at an arm’s length from the Christian faith—your confusion about the Bible confuses you about the God of the Bible.
Others have questions about the Bible that keep them from truly selling out for Christ. Their wheels are stuck in the mud of confusion. There are some issues about Scripture they just can’t get over.

Still others have a burning passion to follow hard after Christ and yet there are these questions that come up. I had a very godly individual ask me not long ago, Okay, when Jesus went away to pray alone, how did the gospel writer record his prayer.

Now here is what we believe…whether you are a skeptic, or stuck, or a believer with some query it is OK to question and challenge the Word of God. You can bring your skepticism, cynicism, your doubt, all your issues and confusion against God’s Word. In fact, we encourage you to do that.

Here’s why: When your confusion about Scripture leads you to an honest and open challenge of Scripture; the answers you find in your challenge with lead you to a firm confidence in this book as God’s Word.

CONFUSION LEADS TO CHALLENGE; CHALLENGE LEADS TO CONFIDENCE.

Now here is the passage that we are going to consider to learn more—2 Timothy 3.14-17

Before we read it, let me give you a little background. 2 Timothy is the second letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to this man named Timothy. Timothy came from a religiously blended home. His mother, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, were both Jewish and became followers of Jesus. Timothy’s father, on the other hand, was Greek. No indication that he ever became a Christian. It was through the influence of Timothy’s mother and grandmother that he became a Christ-follower.

2 Timothy 3.14-17

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3.16a

All Scripture is God-breathed

What did Paul mean when he said that all Scripture is God-breathed or inspired by God. He uses this Greek word– qeo,pneustoj–. .
Theo—God and neustos—spirit—coming from God’s spirit. The only time he uses it.

We know the Bible has 40 different human authors writing over a period of 1500 years in three languages and on three continents. So is God the author or are humans the authors. How does this concept of inspiration answer that question?

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Does God Exist – Big Questions series

Posted by ronmoore on September 8, 2009

If God does not exist, we are here by chance without purpose or accountability. Richard Dawkins, a scientist at Oxford, even speaks of evolution as “The Blind Watchmaker” saying that is brings order without purpose. If God does not exist, then at the end of the day…nothing really matters.

Let me put forth six lines of reasoning that give evidence for the existence of God.

1. THE EVIDENCE OF CREATION
The first proof of the existence of God is the witness of His creation. Just look around you. The undeniable evidence of sky—the billions of stars and galaxies
Land—the composition and structure of the earth
Sea—vast oceans and the life the waters contain

The sky, the land, and the sea—all beg the question— Where did those things come from?

You have to come to one of three conclusions:

  • It came from something
  • It came from nothing
  • It has always existed

The Apostle Paul says it like this:

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Creation proclaims—loudly and strongly and unmistakably: There is a God!

2. The Evidence of Design

Not only does all this stuff exist but there is a design and purpose behind it all. We could go a lot of ways here to illustrate the intricacies of creation.

The earth’s location, size, composition, structure, atmosphere, temperature, internal dynamics and all the cycles essential to life—carbon cycle, oxygen cycle, sulfur cycle, calcium cycle, sodium cycle and so on testify to the degree to which our planet is exquisitely and precariously balanced. (Creator, 155)

But to illustrate the evidence of design lets think about the human body.

The Eye: can see objects far away and in a split second close at hand. The eye contains an automatic shutter that opens wide in the dark and closes to a pinpoint in the light. All without any thought or awareness on our part. Small glands in the eye keep it wet and slippery to enable the eye lid to slide up and down easily.

I recommend the book Case for A Creator, by Lee Strobel
Strobel considers among other things the Evidence for God from physics, astronomy, biochemistry, and biology.

Among the many people interviewed and quoted in this book is biochemist Michael Behe. Listen to what he says regarding the evidence for God:

My conclusion can be summed up in a single word: design. I say that based on science. I believe that irreducibly complex systems are strong evidence of a purposeful, intentional design by an intelligent agent. (Creator, p. 282)

Colossians 1:16-17

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

The Evidence of Moral Reasoning

There is within each person a sense of right and wrong.
Education and experience and culture can sharper or dull our moral reasoning—but woven into the heart of every person a sense of what is right and what is wrong.
Where does that come from?

Anthropologists find that in the civilizations around the world—even who are unaware that the Ten Commandments exist—murder, stealing, lying, adultery, is wrong…and honor for ones parents is upheld as right and good.

Michael Ruse is a Darwinist philosopher. Listen to what he writes in his book “Can a Darwinist Be a Christian?”

Why should a bunch of atoms have thinking ability? Why should I, even as I write now, be able to reflect on what I am doing and why should you, even as you read now, be able to ponder my points, agreeing or disagreeing, with pleasure or pain, deciding to refute me or deciding that I am just not worth the effort? No one certainly not the Darwinian as such, seems to have the answer to this…The point is that there is no scientific answer (Creator, p. 247).

But the Apostle Paul explains it very clearly:
Romans 2.14-15

(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)

4. Evidence of Man’s Religious Nature
Anthropologists tell us that in the remotest tribes, no matter how primitive, there is a belief in God, or a universal spirit, or some form(s) of a higher power. There is virtually no people group in the ancient or modern world that does not acknowledge an existence of a supreme deity. There is a desire to reach beyond themselves to something higher than themselves. May not be the God of the Bible…

Canaanites—Baal
Babylonians—Marduk
Greeks—Zeus
Romans—Jupiter

But there was an acknowledgment that something greater and higher existed.

The mathmetician Blaise Pascal wrote of the God shaped vacuum in the heart of every man.

Augustine wrote 1500 years ago.

O Lord, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find rest in You.

Ecclesiastes 3:11b

He has also set eternity in the hearts of men….

There is a longing for God in every heart. Who do you think put it there?

5. THE Person of Jesus Christ
The fact that Jesus walked on this earth is not disputed.

One of the foremost Jewish historians—a man named Josephus (37-95 AD) wrote this:

And there arose about this time Jesus, a wise man…for he was a doer of marvelous deed, a teacher of men who receive the truth with pleasure. He led away many Jews, and also many of the Greeks…And when Pilate had condemned him to the cross on his impeachment by the chief men among us, those who had loved him at first did not cease…and even now the tribe of Christians, so named after him, has not yet died out. (Mind Games I-20)

But the Bible says that Jesus was more than just a founder of Christians. Listen to the words John:
John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:18

No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

The life, work, death, burial, and the resurrection of Jesus—is evidence not just for God but for a God who desires to be known; a God who desires us to know him. A God who provides the way to know him personally through Christ.

Everyone has to deal with the person of Jesus Christ.

6. The Evidence of Personal Experience
This is at the same time one of the weakest and one of the strongest arguments for the existence of God.

On one hand human experience is very subjective and may not serve as a convincing proof to others. People have experienced some really incredible things—like being kidnapped by aliens. Our minds are capable of fanatic imagination.

On the other hand, personal experience can well serve to validate more objective truths. Our experience, our feelings, our emotions confirm what we believe like nothing else. Our heart confirms what our head conceives.

I understand the argument and they are great one’s but I believe there is a God because I have experienced him.

I have experienced his comfort; his overwhelming presence in times of loss. His word says he will give a peace that passes all human understanding…I have felt that.

He has answered my prayers.
He has brought conviction to my heart.
He has kept me from falling into temptation.
I have experienced his forgiveness.

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WHEN DO WE GO THERE? – Big Questions Series – Follow up

Posted by ronmoore on September 8, 2009

Is there a place of limbo? Or do we spend some time in purgatory? Not according to Scripture.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 We live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Philippians 1:21-24

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.

John 5:24

I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

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WHAT WILL BE MISSING FROM HEAVEN? – Big Questions Series – Follow up

Posted by ronmoore on September 7, 2009

Revelation 21:4

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

No Death

Death and all that causes death is the result of sin. But there is not death and no sin in heaven. The penalty paid by Christ now moves into its perfect application. No death. No phone calls with the bad news. No cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease. No car crashes; no plane crashes. No war, or famine, senseless killings. Death and everything that causes death is gone.

No Mourning

Loss through death/divorce/breakup produces an emotional pain that put us into a painful process. In the process of grief our heart feels like it has been ripped in two. But in heaven no reason or need for mourning.

No crying

In the process of pain, tears come many times involuntarily. But in heaven there is nothing that will ever make us cry. No more rejection, betrayal, separation…No more standing at a casket and having to say good-bye.

And look at the first part of 21.3…Jesus will personally and tenderly wipe every existing tear from our eyes.

No Pain

There are things in this life that hurt. Sometimes emotionally; sometimes physically…the throbbing hurt of the heart or of the body wears us down. But in heaven no more pain.

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WHAT WILL WE LOOK LIKE? – Big Questions Series – Follow Up

Posted by ronmoore on September 6, 2009

There is much speculation here but this is what we know. We will live in a brand new death proofed resurrected body.

Only example we have of that is Jesus after his resurrection. Some observations:

In John 20, Mary Magdalene thought Jesus was a gardener until she heard him say her name. When the resurrected Lord said her name she recognized his voice.

What caused Thomas to believe? He saw the scars. The resurrected glorified body still had scars. Will we have all our scars…I don’t think so…but we will have battle scars of the Christian life as trophies of our earthly walk.

In his earthly body Jesus was recognizable. He spoke with his disciples, he had fellowship with them over food. But he also appeared in the room without opening the door.

Racial identities will continue.
Revelation 7:9

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.

This suggests a genetic carryover from the old body to the new.
Randy Alcorn Heaven

I’m speculating, but it seems likely that people whose bodies were tall will have tall resurrection bodies; those who are short will likely be short. The naturally thin will be thin, and the naturally thick with be thick. But all of these sizes will be healthy and appealing, untouched by the Curse or disease or restriction, and we’ll each be perfectly happy with the form God designed for us. [Heaven, p. 282]

AugustineThe City of God

[The body] shall be of that size which it either had attained or should have attained in the flower of its youth, and shall enjoy the beauty that arises from preserving symmetry and proportion in all its members…overgrown or emaciated persons need not fear that they shall be in heaven a figure as they would not be even in this world if they could help it.

Whatever age stage or form we will be in the resurrected body we will recognize and know each other and live with each other for eternity.

Revelations 3:5

He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

1 Corinthians 13:12

Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

From this W. A. Criswell in his book on heaven, understands that we will know each other intuitively. Just as Peter and John knew it was Moses and Elijah at the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17.4)—we will know all the saints of all time.

We will see our loved ones and be reunited with them. There will be no marriage in heaven (Matthew 22). We will be like the angels in the sense that we will be non-sexual beings, but certainly we will enjoy the relationship of a husband and a wife. Don’t worry—if your spouse has passed away and you have remarried—he/she will not be irritated at you. This is heaven.

If we will know our loved ones in heaven, what about our pets. Will Fido be with us in heaven? Personally, I hope not. But I am in the vast minority here. I really don’t mean to treat this flippantly because it is seriously addressed by serious theologians. In this book on Heaven Randy Alcorn devotes a whole section (about 20 pages to the topic) and most agree that while Jesus certainly did not die for animals, the whole creation—Romans 8.21—will be redeemed through the work of Christ. We do know that in the millennial kingdom the lion will lie down with the lamb.

R.C. Sproul

All of this is sheer speculation, but I would like to think that we will see our beloved pets again someday as they participate in the benefits of the redemption that Christ has achieved for the human race.

Randly Alcorn

Imagine Jurassic Park with all of the awesome majesty of those huge creatures but none of their violence and hostility. Imagine riding a brontosaurus—or flying on the back of a pterodactyl. Unless God made a mistake when he created them—and clearly he didn’t—why wouldn’t he include them when he makes “everything new”?

Riding a brontosaurus sounds like fun…I lot more fun than having my dog with me.

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WHAT WILL WE BE DOING IN HEAVEN? – Big Questions Series – Follow up

Posted by ronmoore on September 6, 2009

Floating on clouds playing harps sounds a little boring to me. I could take about a day of that. But we will not be floating around on clouds. Heaven will be anything but boring.

Three things we will be doing:

We will worship God.
We will do perfectly and permanently that very thing that we were meant to do. Some of our worship will include praise and singing:

Revelation 5:9

And they sang a new song:
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.

Revelations 12-13

In a loud voice they sang:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

13Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!”

But it is not going to be one long worship service.

2. We will serve God.

I will not take the time to read these passages but Matthew 25.20-23 and 2 Corinthians 5.10 tell us that we will be rewarded for faithful service while on earth. Many believe that we will be given assignment based on our gifts and abilities here on earth. Our work hear is to prepare us for greater rewards in heaven.

W. A. Criswell in his book on Heaven makes a very interesting point that is worth considering.

He writes:
We shall be the same person there as here…our traits, abilities, personalities will be the same only redeemed and glorified…Our lives, talents, gifts, and abilities shall continue to be developed throughout all the ages. In heaven we shall be permitted to finish tasks we dreamed to do but have had no opportunity or time or strength or ability to finish on earth (p. 36).

The great astronomer O. M. Mitchell believed that in the future life he would go from world to world and planet to planet continuing his study of astronomy. In heaven we will be singing new songs. Will we know them intuitively or will someone be writing them? Maybe some of the great composers of all time are preparing them for eternity.

In heaven we will be worshiping and serving God. Perhaps in the same type of capacity we served Christ on earth but in a perfect and eternally satisfying way? Only gift you will not be able to use in heaven is the gift of evangelism.

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What Will Heaven Look Like? – Big Questions Series – Follow up

Posted by ronmoore on September 5, 2009

Brilliant beyond imagination
Revelations 21.10-11

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Revelations 21.18-19a […precious stone]

The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,

Revelations 21.23

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

The brightest day on earth—dull in comparison to brilliance of heaven.

Spacious and multidimensional

Revelations 21.15-16

The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia[a]in length, and as wide and high as it is long.

12,000 stadia is about 1500 miles. So think of the United States from the Northern tip of New York to the southern tip of Texas and then from the east cost to the Mississippi River. 1500 mikes long, deep, and high. A multidimensional cube. The point is this: There will be plenty of room for all those who have trusted in Christ!

Revelations 21.12-14

It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Gates to go in and out of the city. This would imply that there are other places you can go to. The 1500 mile cube is the measurement of the New Jerusalem. Also, there is a new heaven and a new earth which lead bible scholars to believe that there is an immeasurable vastness to our eternal dwelling.

Now as you look around your new home you will notice there are some things missing.

No Sea
Revelations 21.1

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

Why? In Scripture the sea describes that which is treacherous and dangerous. [Faroe Islands] And the sea is not permanent—you don’t live on the sea, you cross the sea to get to land. In heaven there will be no need for the sea.

No Churches
Almost everywhere you travel on earth you see a steeple. Or a temple or some holy building. Not so in heaven.

Revelations 21.22

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

We will see God face to face in constant communion with other believers. No need to go to a place to meet with him or with other Christians.

No Night

Revelations 21.25

On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.

In the day that John wrote The Revelation cities would shut their gates in the morning and evening for protection. No need in heaven…no more night. No more physical darkness where we can’t see what’s ahead or behind.

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Finite or Forever: Does Heaven Exist? – Big Questions Series

Posted by ronmoore on September 4, 2009

According to a Time Magazine 81% of those surveyed believe in the existence of heaven where people will live forever with God after they die. 81%

That statistic should not be surprising because we read in Scripture that:

Ecclesiastes 3:11b

[God] has…set eternity in the hearts of men

In the deep recesses of our hearts, we know that we are eternal beings. We recognize that while this earth is all we know…it is not all there is. Whether we are young or old, man or woman, rich or poor, black or white…each one of us is faced with an undeniable fact…we are going to die. And God has place in our hearts the truth that we will enter a real, conscious, existence after we breath our last breath.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

[God] has…set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

We know it’s going to happen…but what is it going to be like.

C. S. Lewis

[Heaven is] the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience…We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it.

Now the vast majority of people believe there is a heaven. However, how you get there and what it looks like and what is going to take place there is a matter of much debate. And without scripture, many determine heaven to be the eternal experience of what they deem fun and exciting and satisfying on earth. You have seen the beer commercial…it doesn’t get any better than this…whatever their “it doesn’t get any better than this” is…many transfer that to heaven.

Ernest Hemingway thought of heaven as:

Two lovely houses in town; one where I would have my wife and children and be monogamous and love them truly and well and the other where I would have my nine beautiful mistresses on nine different floors.

In fact, in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul had a vision of heaven…he says that he does not know if it was a mental vision or he was actually there in body.

2 Corinthians 12:3-4

And I know that this man– whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows– 4 was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.

So here is an honest to goodness Scriptural account of a vision of heaven—but no talk shows, no books—he heard inexpressible things that man is not permitted to tell.

Read John 14.1-4

Heaven is a place. It is not a state of mind or some mental transportation or a feeling. Jesus said, I am going to prepare a place for you.
Heaven is likened to a home. Jesus says: “In My Fathers house.” I don’t know of too many people who don’t enjoy being home. A place of warmth and comfort. A place where you can be yourself. A place where your loved ones are. Heaven is like going home.

J.C. Ryle

Home as we all know, is a place where we are generally loved for our own sakes, and not for our gifts or possessions; the place where we are loved to the end, never forgotten and always welcome. Believers are in a strange land. In the life to come they will be home.

2 Corinthians 5:1

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

Heaven is a place where we will be with Jesus.

Read John 4.3
The way to heaven is only through Jesus.
Read John 14.5-6

Revelation 21:27

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

At the end of Revelation—the last book of the Bible—the Apostle John is give a tour of heaven. And he does his best to describe the indescribable. He has to use figures of speech and comparisons to describe that which is beyond our scope of comprehension. On our best day, we could not completely fathom the splendor, vastness, brilliance and the eternality of heaven. We can only imagine.

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Guru or God: Is Jesus Christ the only way to heaven? – Big Question Series

Posted by ronmoore on September 3, 2009

To fully answer the questions before us today we have to go back to Genesis 1. In fact, we have to go back before Genesis chapter 1.

We learn from Scripture that God created all things and among his creation there are two entities that he gifted with eternity. Who are those entities? Two entities that God gifted with eternity are the human race and angels—supernatural heavenly beings created to carry out His will. God chose to give these two eternal creations a will of their own. He did not want robots. He does not desire forced love or devotion. Forced love or forced devotion is no love or devotion at all, is it.

At some point, before Genesis 1 there was a civil war in heaven between the angels who chose God and those who chose to rebel against him. And while we are not given all the details in Scripture we are given the highlights—or in this case the lowlights.

God revealed this to the Apostle John in Revelation 12:

Revelation 12:7-9

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he [dragon] was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

Isaiah 14 describes what many believe to be a description of Satan’s fall. Notice here the cause of Satan’s downfall.

Isaiah 14:12-14

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star [Hebrew: Lucifer], son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth….13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God….I will make myself like the Most High.”

So before Genesis 1 Satan was exiled from heaven, hurled to the earth where he has lived ever since to lead the whole world astray. And who are his first two victims are Adam and Eve.

Turn to Genesis 2.16-17. God placed man and woman in a perfect environment and gave them these instructions. In their act of disobedience, Adam and Eve rebelled against God. Just as the mighty oak is first found in the acorn, so sin entered the human race through Adam and Eve. We call that Original Sin. And the proof text for original sin is:

Romans 5:12

Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned….

Just as God warned, death became the penalty for sin. Not just physical death, but spiritual death…due to sin man separated himself from God and thus separated himself from the spiritual source. Without God the spiritual part of us shrivels up and dies.

The justice of God demanded death for sin. The love of God provided a sacrifice. Now as we read through Scripture it becomes clear that the animal sacrifice was never mean to be the final solution.

Read Hebrews 10.1-4

But there was One God was preparing to come. The perfect once for all sacrifice. Not an animal—but a man.

We read about him in the OT.


  • He would come from the tribe of Judah—Gen. 49.10
  • Born in Bethlehem—Micah 5.2
  • Born of a Virgin—Isaiah 7.14
  • His ministry would begin in Galilee—Isaiah 9.1
  • He would work miracles and teach in parables—Isaiah 35.5-6, Psalm 78.2
  • He would be accused by false witnesses—Ps. 35.11 and be sold out for 30 pieces of silver—Zechariah 9.9.
  • He would be wounded and bruised—Isaiah 53.5
  • His hands and feet and side would be pierced—Psalm 22.16, Zechariah 12.10
  • He would die with sinful men—Isaiah 53.12

Why is Jesus the only way to God? Because God’s justice demanded death for sin and Jesus—God in the flesh—is only one who can provide a perfect sacrifice.

That’s why Jesus came.

JESUS CHRIST—GOD IN THE FLESH—WAS THE SINLESS SUBSTITUTE WHO PAID THE PENALTY OF SIN ONCE AND FOR ALL BY HIS DEATH ON THE CROSS.

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