Teacher: Min Precious Oyeniyi

GOD’S ETERNAL PLAN (PART 1-3)

Vital questions would be addressed, questions such as:

Why did God create man?

Why the whole creation story?

What is God’s ultimate goal?

What is sin?

What exactly did Adam refuse when he rejected God's plan and many more.

John 1:1 - 5 NIV

[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word

was God. [2] He was with God in the beginning. [3] Through him all things were

made; without him nothing was made that has been made. [4] In him was life,

and that life was the light of all mankind. [5] The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.

John begins to write his Gospel accounts by saying, in the beginning, was the Word

and the Word was with God. The Greek word for "word" is Logos. Among variant
uses of the word, the word Logos refers to something said based on an intention. It

doesn't merely refer to the spoken or written word.

Logos in its deeper meaning is the reason for something being said or done. In its

purest form, it's a thought, motive, an intention, a plan, a reason for something that

is said, uttered, and done.

This thought (LOGOS) is not just a thought that ends with it being thought or

wishful thinking, rather it is a thought that always becomes an action.

Let me use an example

Say, I wish to get someone a car. Logos would now mean that I actually got the car.

It didn't just end with a mere thought but an action.

When you hear the Logos, you know that the intention, is not the end of it; it will

surely lead to something, and something will surely come out of it. This motive,

thought, intention will mean there is a plan for something to be executed or done.

So, Back to verse 1

John says "In the beginning..." When you hear the phrase 'in the beginning', you

are referring to God, showing God in his self-existence. Genesis 1:1 says "In the

beginning, God created..." that means God was in the beginning and He was the
only being in existence. It shows God's independence from everything and all

things.

So John picked that same line and said, "In the beginning was the word (as earlier

defined; thought, motive, intention, plan)". He is saying, God in his self-existence

and great independence had an intention. He went on to say the Word (thought,

motive, intention, plan) was with God and the Word (thought, motive, intention,

plan) was God.

So, John 1:1 in summary, in the beginning God thought of something, God

had a plan. That plan was with God and that plan will be executed by God.

That means God will be at the center of this plan. This plan will be born and

accomplished by God.

God was the plan (Word). That means He would accomplish the plan by Himself.

So, God is the one being credited with this Logos. God will be the one to do this.

Let's go back to John 1

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was

God.

² He was in the beginning with God.

Having established what verse 1 means, we see that the intention was at the

beginning.

In the second verse, John turns that intention and plan into the first person singular.

John turned the intention of God into a person by calling it "He". "He was in the

beginning with God". Now we can see clearly that John is talking about a person,

right?

Now you need to understand that John wrote this book many years after Christ's

resurrection. So the reason John uses a person here was that He knew this Logos

(intention) will become a person (verse 14).

In verse 3, John goes further to say, "all things were made through Him", through

this intention. He says, "that reason, that intention, was what founded everything".

Nothing was made without that intention of God in mind. Nothing was made

randomly. This will mean that everything God made was because of this intention

(plan).

John 1:4-5

⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The intention was now called light. The light becomes the guidance of men. The

light became a direction. Everything gravitated towards that intention. The light

became the lead for people (men) to follow. "The light of men" now begins to

speak of what men spoke of, the testimony of men. The words that men wrote and

spoke.

What men am I talking about? Men in the Holy Scriptures. He was referring to the

Old Testament Prophets who wrote about this light and witnessed this light in their

warnings.

The light guided the writings of the Prophets. All the utterance of the Prophets

leads us to the light - Christ. We can say that their inspiration, the reason why they

wrote was the light (which is the intention).

I've explained John 1:1-5 for us. Now, I want to show us why I needed to break it

down.

Let's see some texts

John 5 (NKJV)

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³⁹ You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these

are they which testify of Me.

⁴⁰ But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

John 8: 12 (NKJV)

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who

follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

Paul refers to the light in Genesis 1:3 as the light of the knowledge of the Glory of

God in the face of Jesus Christ.

❝For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone

in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of

Jesus Christ.❞ —2Cor 4: 6 (NKJV)

The light was Christ. He was the light that they wrote of, and He was the light that

guided their writings. We see this confirmed in verse 6 of John 1, where John

spoke about 'John the Baptist' also bearing witness of that light.

John 1 (NKJV)

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⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ This man came for a

witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. ⁸ He was

not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹ That was the true Light

which gives light to every man coming into the world.

So the reason for their writing was to show forth God's plan, which now became

flesh - a living being - Jesus Christ.

We can pick a point from all this, Jesus Christ was the essence of their writings.

So, I said all that to say the writings of the Old Testament were purposeful. The

prophet from Moses down, wrote deliberately. They might have written several

things, but the essence of their writings was to show forth God's plan.

Understanding this is the key to unlocking the whole scripture (Bible), so pay

close attention.

Let's do a short study to this effect.

2Tim 3 (NKJV)

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¹⁴ But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of,

knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹ ⁵ and that from childhood you have
known the Holy Scriptures, which can make you wise for salvation through faith

which is in Christ Jesus.

2Tim 3: 16 (NKJV)

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for

reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

V.15 says Holy Scriptures to make you wise for salvation.

V.16 says all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, reproof...

Let me explain this.

The Holy Scriptures (referring to the Old Testament writings, because at this time

there was no book called the New Testament) can impart wisdom for salvation

through faith which is in Christ Jesus. The scripture can instruct us on salvation.

The word Scripture there in the above text is the Greek word Gramma. It refers to

writing, a letter, or a note. But the way the word is used here refers to a special

type of writing. This is because of the word 'Holy' before it properly qualifies it.

The word Holy in the above scripture is the word Hieros.

The word Hieros is used specially to refer to something or a set of things that are

taken out of a whole bunch. They are separated from the larger chunk of things and

are treated differently from the rest. This word is only used one other time in the

entire New Testament, 1 Corinthians 9:13; this other particular scripture does not

shed much light on it. However, its compound use in Colossians 4:14 gives us a

clearer insight into what it means.

Col 4: 13 (NKJV)

For I bear him witness that he has a great zeal for you, and those who are in

Laodicea, and those in HIERAPOLIS.

Hierapolis is from two words, Hieros and Polis (which means a city). The two

words together mean a holy city. Hierapolis was a city found in the region of the

Asian Minor and the word is akin to the phrase 'Government Reserved Area', used

in our modern-day to refer to a sacred place. It is like an Estate, a closed area, and

the likes. It's a part of a bigger community but it is treated differently because of its

content or constituent elements or people as the case here. It is a part of a bigger

bunch, separated and spoken of differently because of its content.

So Hieros Gramma (Holy Scripture) is a portion of the entire scripture treated

differently (sacredly) from the others primarily because of its content. And

remember, the Bible says those particular portions are able to make you wise for

salvation.

Scripture here is Graphe in greek.

Graphe is like the whole text book while Hieros Gramma is the topic or a theme of

the text book.

Graphe is like the entire document that the Scriptures are, Hieros Gramma is like a

portion (big or small) of the entire Graphe. Paul says that everything that was

written was inspired by God to be documented (it doesn’t mean everything

documented is right, neither does it mean that God did everything documented. He

just says God is part of the documentation, God allowed it to be captured in the

document).

So, inside all that was documented, there is a classified portion (Hieros Gramma)

that inspires and imparts wisdom for salvation. This is what Paul was referring to

when he was addressing Timothy. So, Paul says to Timothy that the Holy

Scriptures that he understood from childhood has given him wisdom as touching

the subject of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Take Note. Do not forget Hieros Gramma.

Not everything in the Bible is about salvation, not everything written in the

scripture is about Christ. So don't go about searching for Christ in every page of

the Bible.

There is a Hieros Gramma. The content about Christ and salvation is just a portion

of the whole Scriptures and not the entire Scriptures.

In general, we can say that the central theme of the Bible is Faith in Christ

Jesus.

You can learn wisdom for different things - career, leadership, relationship, etc; but

the essence of the writings being put together is to instruct and guide as concerning

God's Eternal Plan in Christ.

That's why Jesus said, "you search the scripture for eternal life but they testify of

me". The Bible does contain History, but the Bible is not an historical book. In

fact, there are some historical books that give an even deeper insight into history

than the Bible. This is because the Bible was not written to tell history. The

strength of the Bible is Faith in Christ Jesus.

When you understand this, you'll stop looking for answers to questions the Bible

wasn’t inspired to tell; because in not finding the answer, you might totally deviate

from the path and start forming your own "rhema".

I've seen how people, because they did not understand this simple truth (the

strength of the Bible is not history but Faith), they stop 'believing in God', because

some historical facts in the Bible does not check out. One famous question; who

was Cain's wife? The Bible’s strength is salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

This is the essence of the Scriptures.

The Bible was silent about some people because they were not relevant in salvation

story. So, trying to find out who Cain's wife was or some other things will just lead

you away from the truth of GOD's Word. Also, you'll stop defending the Bible as a

correct book of history, because it is not.

The writer's aim wasn't to tell you stories that will make you feel good or history.

Rather, the writing was to an end, salvation, faith in Christ Jesus.

MOSES MANNER OF WRITING

To explain the essence of the Scriptures further, let's take a little Study on how the

man Moses wrote. Moses is a very important Bible figure, if you are going to be a

good Bible student then you must come to understand his manner of writing
because his influence in the writings of the Scriptures cannot be overlooked. He

wrote the very fundamental first 5 books of the Bible called the Torah.

He laid down the pattern, and the Prophets who came after him, recognized his

pattern of writing and followed that pattern. Even the New Testament writers took

after him. That's why the initial words and phrases he used in Genesis like 'tree of

life', 'in the beginning' 'heaven and earth' and many others were used by some of

the epistle writers. The book Hebrew, was totally drawn out from Moses writings.

We will just do a general study on His first Book - Genesis. And then we will go

further into seeing more of Moses’ pattern of writing

When we hear Genesis, we usually picture the beginning of things. To some extent

we subconsciously think of historical information and stories. But this is what has

made many people miss out on the essence of Moses' writings. Now I'm not saying

the Bible does not contain history, it does. But I'm saying history is not the strength

of the Bible.

When you see Moses give a historical information or story, his primary aim is not

to tell history. Rather, when he gives history, it's because at that point, the historical

information he provides is necessary in explaining what he really wants to

communicate - Faith in Christ Jesus.

That's why you will find him not giving clear and precise historical facts in many

cases. This is because He wasn't trying to tell history in the first place. Moses’

writings need to be understood and only faith will unlock it. Moses’ writings will

only make sense if viewed with the eyes of faith.

Our first example in Genesis

1. The Genealogy

Gen 5 (NKJV)

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¹ This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man,

He made him in the likeness of God.

² He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind

in the day they were created.

³ And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own

likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

¹³... ²⁹ And he called his name Noah, saying, "This one will comfort us

concerning our work and the toil of our hands, because of the ground which the

Lord has cursed."

³⁰ After he begot Noah, Lamech lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and

had sons and daughters.

³¹ So all the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and

he died.

³² And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and

Japheth.

Gen 11 (NKJV)

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¹⁰ This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot

Arphaxad two years after the flood.

¹¹ ... ²⁸ And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the

Chaldeans.

²⁹ Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and

the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah

and the father of Iscah...

Now it seemed as if Moses was trying to show the history of the world from

the first man right?

But if you look at it carefully, he was just concerned with the line that

Abraham will come from. He didn't trace the Lineage of the others. Why only
focus on Abraham lineage? Because he wasn't trying to show history. Rather

it was because Christ will come from the lineage of Abraham. So, the reason

He wrote all of that was to show that Christ will come from the Jews.

John 4: 22 (NKJV)

You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is

of the Jews.

Jesus wasn't saying that salvation is only for the Jews. Rather, what makes the Jews

special was that the Christ will come out from them; the Christ will be a Jew by

birth.

Moses was writing about Christ. He was tracing Christ's lineage to show God's

Eternal Plan from the beginning.

Was the background true? ( I mean the History)Yes?

Was it complete? No

It can’t be safe to use this for historical conversation because it’s not complete.

It had its own focus.

Here is what to notice.

When Moses wrote this down, Jesus wasn't yet born, in fact it was thousands of

years later that Jesus was born. But look at the lineage he wrote about, the very one

Jesus will come from. Are you seeing a coincidence there or rather, a divine

influence/inspiration in His writing? That's because the essence of the Scripture

was faith in Christ and Moses knew this so He wasn't writing because the Jews

lacked understanding of their heritage. In fact they will know it better than Him,

because unlike him, they spent all their years learning their heritage.

Now like I said, Jesus had not come at that time when He was writing. Jesus only

came after so many generations had passed. It took thousands of years before he

arrived. Yet the Man Moses was able to tell where He will come from. And He

began to write his first book - Genesis, with that in mind. Matthew will make you

see this clearly.

Mat 1 (NKJV)

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¹ The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of

Abraham: ² Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah

and his brothers. ³ ... ¹⁵ Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and

Matthan begot Jacob.

¹⁶ And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is

called Christ.

See again?

All the Genealogy was Christ centered. That was the essence of his writings.

2. The Stories of the Heroes of Faith.

We will now see that even the people Moses wrote about in details weren't just to

tell history or an interesting story. He wrote about them purposefully - His aim was

still - faith in Christ.

While Moses was tracing the lineage of Christ in the book of Genesis. He side-

stepped to give a little insight about certain men such as

Abel and Cain - Abel

Enoch

Noah

Abraham

Sarah

Isaac
Jacob

Joseph

Why did Moses tell all these stories? He wasn't trying to keep his reader

entertained. It was because these men were men of faith. They all performed

actions of faith because of the Christ they believed in. Though they did not see

Christ. They believed in his coming and did things that attested to their faith.

Hebrew 11 explains this further.

Heb 11 (NKJV)

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¹ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not

seen. ² For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. ³ By faith we understand

that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are

seen were not made of things which are visible. ⁴ By faith Abel offered ... 13

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them

afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were

strangers and pilgrims on the earth. ¹⁴ For those who say such things declare

plainly that they seek a homeland. ¹⁵ And truly if they had called to mind that

country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to

return. ¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for

them...

***

You can see here that faith was the guiding force of Moses' writings. He wasn't

trying to tell us history or an interesting tale. He was trying to communicate faith

in Christ. There were many people He could have written about if he was trying to

write history, but he didn't. There might have been more touching stories if he was

just trying to tell a story.

The 12 sons of Jacob were discussed because they represented a Nation. The

Nation that we are now, the (Zion) of God.

Joseph's story was also told, because his story led to the Captivity of the Israelite

by the Egyptians, which symbolizes man being the captive of Sin and the later

deliverance that will follow through the hands of Moses - which showed the

salvation of man from Sin. The Passing of man from death to life, from darkness to

light by the blood of the Lamb (Christ).

Moses’ writings were purposeful. Only through faith will one come to understand

the scriptures. So, every writing is purposeful, and the main theme is to lead us to

salvation through faith in Christ.

When the Bible is being studied, every understanding must precede this priority;

that the central focus is salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. In as much

as you can learn other beautiful things, the Bible was not made nor put together

primarily for that purpose. The Bible was essentially given for faith in Christ Jesus.

So, when you are studying, faith must be close to your heart. When you read

Moses’ writings from the beginning, keep close to your heart that the purpose of

the writings is centered on the Gospel.

Now see this

1Cor 2 (NKJV)

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⁶ However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of

this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.

⁷ But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God

ordained before the ages for our glory,

⁸ which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not

have crucified the Lord of glory.

The word ‘Mystery’ here is ‘Musterion’ in Greek which means something that is

hidden, not understood, requires explanation. Wherever mystery exists knowledge

is present by default.

See the following;

Rom.11.25 - "For I do not desire, brethren, THAT YOU SHOULD BE

IGNORANT OF THIS MYSTERY, lest you should be wise in your own opinion,

that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles

has come in."

See another part

Eph 1:9 "HAVING MADE KNOWN unto us the mystery of his will, according

to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself"

See again

Romans 16:25-26 "Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my

gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the REVELATION OF

THE MYSTERY, which was kept secret since the world began, BUT NOW IS

MADE MANIFEST, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the

commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the

obedience of faith"

What do we see? Wherever there is a mystery, there's supposed to be a revelation.

Also, how will people gain knowledge or have revelation if you don't speak?

“Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to

speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds:” Colossians 4:3 KJV

So it is your communication of knowledge that makes a mystery dissolved.

Now, you'll ask, why do we see lots of mysteries in the Bible especially before the

death of Christ?

Mat 13 (NKJV)

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¹¹ He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the

mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

¹² For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but

whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and

hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

¹⁴ And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will

hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive;

¹⁵ For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing,

And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear

with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I

should heal them.'

See verse 13&15

We see in verse 13 that it was the people who could not see or hear because of the

state of their heart - unbelief.

We mentioned earlier that faith is the centre of the writing in the scriptures. We

also mentioned that the Old Testament contains sacred information about faith for

salvation but these people could not see it because of the state of their heart -

unbelief.

So this clarifies that to be inclined in the light of what the scriptures is saying, you

need faith.
Faith reveals the message in the scriptures to the reader in the right way. That is, it

takes away unbelief, takes your attention away from the activity or history and stirs

up faith in you!😁

Let me show you this interesting part where the people displayed lack of faith.

Mat 16 (NKJV)

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⁶ Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees

and the Sadducees."

⁷ And they reasoned among themselves, saying, "It is because we have taken no

bread."

⁸ But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, "O you of little faith, why do you

reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?

See verse 7😂

Because Jesus mentioned leaven, they thought about bread.

This is funny but it is what lack of faith does. It takes your gaze from the message.

And sometimes, when things are being communicated to us even today, we can be

like that if we're looking at the teaching carnally.

2Cor 3 (NKJV)

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¹⁴ But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted

in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.

¹⁵ But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.

¹⁶ Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

What does veil mean from all that we have said?

The veil there means unbelief.

So we can understand from verse 14 that there was covering of the truth (remaineth

the same veil untaken away). But as written in verse 16 ‘ when it shall turn to the

Lord the veil shall be taken away’

Doubt can be another word too. But to be precise, it's better to call it Unbelief.

Doubt will mean that they are double minded, not really sure. However, Unbelief

is more precise.
What do we understand here? It is talking about Faith. When they believe the Lord,

the veil is taken away.

So, for you as a believer, the veil is taken away! You can understand everything

better in line with the character of Christ.💃💃

THE CONCEPT OF DIVORCE

Mat 19 (NKJV)

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⁷ They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to give a certificate of

divorce, and to put her away?"

⁸ He said to them, "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you

to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.

See verse 8. God never had a hand in divorce, not even from the beginning. It

was a misunderstanding as a result of unbelief. The view of marriage God had is

what He gave us, an inseparable union between Christ and the Church where

the man is like Christ and the wife like the Church.

We see the Pharisees asking Jesus questions here. Jesus already knew these people

had no understanding from the way they asked their questions. He knew they

didn’t know God’s plan.

Take a look at verse 8

“He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to

put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.” Matthew 19:8 KJV

The hardness of heart here is the greek word ‘sklērokardía’ meaning unbelief.

Sklero (stony like), Kardia (heart). So, it explains the state of their heart, they had a

heart of stone, which signifies unbelief.

Moses was just explaining the consequences of their unbelief- which is divorce

(separation from God).

God’s plan was an eternity together which he modeled in marriage. There was no

plan at all for separation whatsoever.

Remember we started from John 1:1

In the beginning, God had an intention, a plan

So what is this plan, it is that - there will be an inseparable union between Christ

and the Church because Christ is the head and the Church is the body.

You cannot separate the head from the body and still expect the body to be

functioning, right?

So Divorce was actually Moses showing them their state, how that they have been

separated from GOD but from the beginning, it was not so.

THE CONCEPT OF STONING

Do we remember the story in John 8:1-12 how that Jesus was against the killing of

a woman alleged to be an adulterer? Jesus was not trying to endorse sin but He

wanted to turn their attention to the right place. If the woman is stoned the problem

is not solved yet so the root of the problem itself has to be dealt with. We can see

an example of stoning here

Num 15 (NKJV)

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³² Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man

gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.

³³ And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and

to all the congregation.

³⁴ They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be

done to him.

³⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, "The man must surely be put to death; all the

congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp."

³⁶ So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the

camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.

But if Jesus, who gives us a clear understanding of the character of the Father was

against stoning, what does this mean? It means it wasn't the physical man that

sinned that was to be stoned but rather that sinful nature, the old man. It needs to

be dealt with and put to death. Now, we say the resurrection of Christ has

conquered sin right.

So what can we say the stone is?

It is the Spirit released at Christ’s resurrection. That Spirit was released in the

believer, therefore it took care of sin forever.

So, let’s take note of the following

1. It is the work of the Spirit to put to death the sin in man.

2. It is not man’s duty to stone sin but God’s duty through Christ.

So if you're struggling with sin, it's not your duty to try to "get over it yourself".

The truth is, you cannot.

You need the help of GOD to do away with this sinful nature, with this old man.

And believers today have the help of GOD in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

EARTH- MAN'S DWELLING PLACE

We should not be seeing some historical events in Genesis 1 because we

understand that these writings are there to instill faith in man.

The Earth is a place for the man while the Heaven is a spiritual world.

From God’s plan we don’t see where God says man should move to Heaven and

live permanently. The Old Earth and Heaven will be destroyed because of the

corruption but we will come back to the New Earth!

We only see God saying the man should dominate this Earth and multiply.
The Earth is for the man. Some people want to use their Eternal life to go sing

Hallelujah in Heaven. GOD didn't create Heaven and Earth, then Adam's fall and

then Jesus came to die so that we will all go back and live in Heaven. If you look at

it well, even you will wonder what's the essence of everything.

“Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let

them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the

cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."”

— Gen 1:26 (NKJV)

This is GOD's intention for man and till today, it still stands.

However because of the corruption and fall of man, the old earth and heaven will

be rolled away and there will be a new one. Then we will come live the life GOD

originally intended for us in Genesis.

In the scriptures we see three realities that Heaven and Earth depicts.

1. The Unseen/Spiritual realm (Heaven); the physical realm (Earth)

2. Heaven – an expanse of sky; Earth – the world we live

3. Heaven – The Spirit; Earth - Man's body

John 5 (NKJV)

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³⁷ And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither

heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form.

³⁸ But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you

do not believe.

³⁹ You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these

are they which testify of Me.

We will observe from Luke 18:18-22 and John 5:38-40 that the Jews were not

expecting to go and live in a place called heaven. They understood this but they

were searching the scriptures so they can know where to get eternal life.

The Earth is created for the man and so this is our home. God wants to be revealed

in us, here on earth.

We will come back to this Earth because God made this place for us.

So what was God’s plan?

God wanted man to live on earth forever. (Please read John 6:26-29, 37-40, 47-51,

53-58) but due to Adam’s sin, the earth was corrupted (Gen 3:17-19) but this earth

and heaven (expanse of sky) will be changed (Heb. 1:10-12).

We see various instances where the Bible speaks of A WORLD TO COME.

Here is an example

“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the

heavenly gift , and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the

good word of God, and the powers of THE WORLD TO COME,” Hebrews 6:4-5

KJV

There is a World to come. So when the Old Heaven and Earth pass away then the

New Heaven and Earth are created, who will stay on earth?

Genesis 1:26

**

This is God's plan. For man to express dominion over EVERYTHING ON EARTH

and this man will be in God's image, He will have God's Spirit and will carry His

DNA.

So he will be operating as a spiritual (heavenly) man here on earth.

THE IMAGE OF GOD

“Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let

them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the

cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."”

— Gen 1:26 (NKJV)

First of all, we need to see this Scripture as it was written in the originals: (like we

earlier established, some translations were added by the translators to help build a

meaningful sentence but if not carefully studied, it can lead to a wrong exegesis).

Using the Strongs Concordance Bible, the phrase ‘let us’ was not written in the

originals. Let me show us.

The phrase ‘let us’ was not written in the originals so we would read it without that

phrase.

The word ‘make’ is ‘Asah’ in Hebrew and it means ‘to do’, ‘to fashion’.

‘Our image’ is the Hebrew word ‘Tselem’ which means ‘resemblance’.

‘Our likeness’ is the Hebrew word ‘dᵉmûwth’ which means similitude, character

and nature.
Remember that the word ‘us’ is not in all these words. Why? God was alone in the

beginning. The Angels are also part of His creations, the book of Job explains more

on that so, God was not talking to the Angels there. Remember we said the Bible

isn't really about history? Even Genesis doesnt really explain when Angels were

created because that wasn't the point there.

‘Man’ that is, Adam means mankind, a race of men which includes male and

female. He wasn't just talking about making one man.

Now from the explanation, let's explain Gen 1:26a

In a better view, Genesis 1:26 reveals God's plan to make a race of men bearing

His resemblance and expressing His nature.

Here's my punchline .

Now, moving on,

In the last class we said God had a plan but Adam sinned and brought corruption

into the earth.

So Adam was unable to attain God’s intention but like we mentioned, the eternal

life that God planned for man has now been made available by the Spirit to him

that believes. This was made possible because Christ suffered and died, therefore

fulfilling the mandate in Genesis. (Heb 2:5-9).

The man that God had in mind should be a man with Eternal life. So at this point

we can say that the man that was to rule/ have dominion over all creation as stated

in Genesis is supposed to be an immortal being (a man who should not die).

(Remember we agreed that this is God's plan for us? To have dominion here on

earth. So when all is said and done, we'll still come back here.)

More than that, Adam sinned and rejected Eternal life (we will examine this soon).

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”

— Col 1:15 (NKJV)

"Image" here is from the greek word ikon and it means a perfect representation.

See why we can't use dictionary words to explain the Bible

See 2 Corinthians 4:3-4

"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this

world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the

glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

From this scripture what is the image of God?

A man that is the perfect representation of God will be who?

So, do we think a natural man can be said to be in the image of God?

Remember God's plan was to create a man that will resemble Him and express His

nature. So if you say this means physical looks, do you mean God has a physical

body? So, you'll agree with me that not all men are in God's image. It's definitely

more than the physical body.

Besides, we all look different so how can we all look like God? "God is Spirit, and

those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24 (NKJV)

Again, GOD is Spirit, He doesn't have physical looks.

If GOD is Spirit, to express His nature, you will need the Spirit as an enablement

isn't it?
Therefore the man in the image of God will be the man that has the Spirit of God.

So, Adam was not in the image of GOD, because of He actually fit into the plan in

Genesis 1:26, we won't have a need for Jesus to come be the perfect representation

of Christ.

But since He failed, Christ had to come.

GOD wanted to create "a race of man (not just one man)" that has His Spirit and

will rule forever here on earth, having dominion.

Then we see Adam being created, He was a natural man. The head of a race.

However, he rejected God's plan, the life of GOD and had to be sent out of the

Garden of Eden.

“Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know

good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life,

and eat, and live forever"-–”

— Gen 3:22 (NKJV)

This kind of man, God didn't want him to live forever because that isn't the man

God intended.
And because Adam sinned, he created a pattern where other men can choose to do

what is wrong, to sidestep from God's plan.

So we now see the need for another man, another head of the race, to come. This is

Jesus. Who was now the perfect representation of GOD. This man then became the

head of a new race, the new creation and we see that we are now patterned after

this new man, who is in the likeness of GOD.

Now

Eph 1 (NKJV)

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⁷ In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according

to the riches of His grace

⁸ which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

⁹ having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure

which He purposed in Himself,

¹⁰ that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in

one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him.

The mystery in God's will is now being made known to man. See v. 10. What is the

implication of having the Spirit in you?

Now, I'll bring together the definitions of Heaven and Earth that I gave us in the

last class.

In the fullness of times, which we are in now, He will gather together in one all

things in Christ.

So,

We have the Heaven (Spiritual) and Earth (Physical) in one place and now, as an

extension, this one place is in Man.

So, as a man, you can function as a spiritual being on earth. This is the true

dominion. This is the man that is in the image of GOD.

ETERNAL LIFE - THE PLAN OF GOD

We mentioned that God's plan for man is eternal life. A life that does not end.
God’s plan is that man lives forever. See this:

2 Tim 1 (NKJV)
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 ⁸ Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His
prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to
the power of God,
⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us
in Christ Jesus before time began,
¹⁰ but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ,
who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel,

Tit 1 (NKJV)
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¹ Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to
the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which
accords with godliness,
² in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time
began,
³ but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was
committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;

Compare these two books. Which words are common there? Take note of Titus
1:2 and 2 Timothy 1:10

We see that emphasis is laid on eternal life & immortality? They are similar words.
God had promised this eternal life before time began.

This shows you that God's plan has always been revealed right from time but men
could not just understand it.

See John 3:14-17

John 3 (NKJV)
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¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
 Son of Man be lifted up,
¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through Him might be saved.

Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness in the Old Testament was symbolic
of how Jesus would be raised up.

“Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it
shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live."” (Num 21:8
(NKJV)

This was symbol of the resurrection of Christ. Anybody that (sees) believes in the
resurrection of Christ will live and the quality of this life will be Eternal life!God's
plan!

God has always revealed His plan right from the Old Testament but they were
communicated in symbols. Remember we said Moses communicated God's plan
through symbols? Recall the example of Divorce that we explained in the last
class.

His plan has been to have a man in His image but this could only be attained when
a man has the Spirit. And now that we have the Spirit, we have eternal life.

Have we ever wondered why we had to go through the stress of Adam in the
garden of Eden and all the stories in the Old Testament? Why didn't God just get
into the plan and establish His sovereignty?

It's because man has a will. God would not force anything on us, even salvation.
We decided if we want to be saved or not. So, this is because man has a will.
TWO ADAMS (THE FIRST AND THE LAST ADAM)

Eden is an Hebrew word. It means God's delight/God's perfection. God’s reason for
putting man in the garden was not to literally to make him a farmer.

What God was doing was to present eternal life to the man. Wondering how?
Follow closely

“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to
the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and
the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9 KJV

The tree of life here is a figure of speech. We have mentioned earlier that Life is in
the Spirit. This is why we have Eternal Life through the Spirit of God. So, this is
God introducing His plan to Adam.

Why is it a figure of speech?

“Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth,
this defiles a man.”
— Mat 15:11 (NKJV)

So, if Adam was missing out on God's Eternal Plan, it's definitely not because of
what He ate but what proceeded from Him. The action he carried out.

God’s reason for putting man in the garden was not to be a farmer like I earlier
said.

“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend
and keep it.”
— Gen 2:15 (NKJV)

We already established that Eden is a place of God's perfection right? Now let's
break Genesis 2:15 and see for ourselves
"Tend" there is the Hebrew word abad which means to serve and worship

"Keep" there is the Hebrew word shamar which means to hold on to, to guard

So, reading this verse again, we can understand that God put Adam in His pleasure,
His place of perfection and in this place, man is supposed to live a life of worship
(consecration/devotion) by holding on to the instruction God gave Him.

So now, what instruction did God give Adam?

“And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to
the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and
the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9 KJV

Man was supposed to eat (believe and accept) of the tree of life (eternal life) And
where was the tree of life? In the midst (center) of the garden.

What man would receive was in the midst of GOD’s perfection. It is the very
essence of God's perfection - Receiving His life which is also, His Spirit.

Now, if He doesn't take of that tree of life, it means He will take of another which
is the tree of knowledge of good and evil (this simply means rejection of God's
life)

So we can conclude that the first Adam was created A NATURAL MAN and he
was supposed to receive this Life from God. The tree was majorly to enable the
man live forever.

See this

"And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good
and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and
eat, and live for ever:” Genesis 3:22 KJV
If you check the Original rendering, It is: "And the Lord God said, Behold the
man has become one to know..."

When you study the Bible, be mentally alert. God wanted man to be in His image
right? So man has now become like one of Him, will He complain?

No! That means something is wrong there

The correct rendering is "And the Lord God said, Behold the man has become
one to know good and evil..." (he is dependent on Himself) and God would not
have Him receive the Spirit into this corrupted mind and body. This was why
Adam was "sent" out of Eden (God's perfection).

Immortality was the ideal plan of God. But God needed man's will to align with
His so He created a natural man (that needs to accept the life of God) but when
man refused the plan, He became a mortal man.

The body of man is mortal which is the word mrətós in the Greek ( it means liable
to die). This body we have came from Adam. It is subject to death because it is a
mortal body.

God's plan is immortality from the beginning but because of man's fall, he could
not partake of the eternal life God had promised.

Again, The TREE OF LIFE is a figure of speech as it symbolises God giving His
SPIRIT (we said Life is in the Spirit, right). Adam’s body was a natural body so for
him to be sustained and conform to God’s eternal plan, he needed eternal life by
the Spirit.

So, now we would wonder, what about the breath that was given to him when he
was made?

See Genesis 2:7

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

After breathing into his nostrils he became what? MAN became A LIVING SOUL.
Let’s examine these two terms.

Man there refers to Adam and Adam means the head of a race.

1 Corinthians 15:45
"And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last
Adam became a life-giving spirit."

We will see that the Bible talks about two Adams. Why do we think the Bible
stated two Adams? What is an "Adam's role"?

The first Adam, who will be the head of a race, did not receive the spirit of God
and because he was natural, the only life he got from GOD was the breath that
made him a living soul, which means he didn’t have eternal life.

See 1 Corinthians 15: 46

"Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and
afterward that which is spiritual"

The first was not spiritual, from here we can conclude that Adam was a natural and
mortal man, subject to death. And as the head of the race, he passed this natural
body and mortality to us. This is what we received from Adam.

The second Adam now, the head of the last race. Since the first man did not align
himself to God’s will, God had to become a man and fulfill this plan by Himself so
that he could be the head of the final race.

See 1 Corinthians 15:45 again.

“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam
was made a quickening spirit.”
We have the first Adam and the Last Adam
1. We have one Adam here:
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his
nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7 KJV

2. And another one here:

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon
the earth.” Genesis 1:26 KJV

Which of the above passages do you think should be the Adam that is God’s eternal
plan? The second Adam. Like we mentioned, the first Adam in Gen 2:7 is made
one that is mortal, he needs the spirit to live eternally, so he is a work in progress.

While the second one in Gen 1:26 is the revelation of God's Eternal Plan, we do not
see this man in Genesis nor was He the first Adam. It was a declaration of what
God would achieve.

Back to 1 Corinth 15
“And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam
was made a quickening spirit.”

The word "Last" speaks of FINALITY, not position.

Jesus ATTAINED the image of the Last Adam (the complete man) and He in the
resurrection will make us the Last Adam (we will live forever) because we have the
Spirit.

"Attained" because He was also tempted. It wasn’t a walk over for Him. God
became a man - Jesus and with that natural body, He had to prove that He is worthy
to head the second race so that man would identify with Him.

So, safe to say that the concept of trinity is mainly for salvation.
📌 GOD, the author of salvation

📌 Jesus, the man that would do all the work

📌 The Spirit, that will give eternal life.

These three are still one but have different roles in salvation. Let's tie this up

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that
slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the
dead. 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 they that are Christ's at
his coming.”
1 Corinthians 15:19-23 KJV

Also see:
“There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the
celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.” 1 Corinthians 15:40
KJV

Natural does not mean mortal, it is the word Psychikos which means of, or
belonging to breathe. The opposite of natural is pneumatikos which means of the
Spirit.

Please follow closely

The natural man is the one that doesn't have the Spirit. ( You can See Jude 1:16-19;
1Cor.2:14). The word Mortal means "subject to death". "Man" (ànthropōs);
"earthy" (choïkós) made of dust.

So when we say the first Adam was natural and mortal, it means he had the breath
for living but he was still subject to death.
Since the first Adam is the head of a race, everyone born in this order would be
natural men and they remain natural men who can die but they will receive the
Spirit that enables eternal life if they believe.

This is why the body we received from Adam will need to be changed. This mortal
body will be quickened by the Spirit in us.

The second man is the head of another order. And this man is Christ. Everyone
born in this order has his Life. God's plan was from the beginning and is now
revealed at the appearance of Christ. Christ has brought "life and immortality" to
light showing that what God had planned for man was immortality.

So at this point we can say that the man that was to rule/ have dominion over all
creation as stated in Genesis is supposed to be an immortal being (a man who
should not die).

But since we currently have the natural body, there would be a need for us to be
changed, put on immortality and then come back to live out God's Eternal Plan.

CONCEPT OF SABBATH

Recall that we said the writings of the prophets of old were to bring about
Salvation through faith,

That's where we said Faith unlocks the Old Testament because there are lots of
symbols there. And this teaching we have been having is also to help us understand
the writings of the Old Testament from the angle of Faith.

Genesis 2:1-3
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God
blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made.”
Moses introduced this seventh day concept. Actually in Genesis it was not called
Sabbath. Moses was writing this to the Jews. Normally the Jews work for 6 days
and rest on the 7th day. So Moses was using a concept they were familiar with to
preach to them. He was deliberately writing the book of Genesis to provoke faith in
them.

Let’s see very shortly about this 7th day.

Ex.20:7-11
"7- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the
LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 - Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 - Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 - but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it
you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your
male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger
who is within your gates.
11 - For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD
blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

Also see

Heb. 4:1-5
"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest,
any of you should seem to come short of it.
For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word
preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it.
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn
in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were
finished from the foundation of the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God
did rest the seventh day from all his works.
 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest."

We see that both books are talking about a certain 7th day, A day of rest

The Seventh Day is the day of the Last Adam, the day of Christ. The Seventh day
is God resting; but man was to enter that rest making heaven and earth in one (God
in Man). Remember Genesis 1:1? God's plan revealed, again.

There is a rest of God and the rest of man, the rest should be dual in nature. God
rested after his work, but He did not enter into His rest because the man who was
to be his place of rest, did not believe.

Man is the place of God's rest (Acts 7:46-49). Faith is how to enter into God's rest
(Heb. 4:1-12).

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mrk 2:23-28). The Sabbath was made for Him.
He owns the rest and by extension we also own the rest.

God will rest in us through His Spirit and we will rest in the finished works. (Do
we see how the rest is dual in nature now?) God does not dwell in a temple made
with hands. He dwells in our heart through the Spirit.

Does this mean, He is resting in us through his Spirit by making our body His
temple? Yes!

“The Son of Man” is Christ's way of showing his identification with man.

So by identification, we have also become the Lord of the Sabbath, together with
Christ. Lord (owner) of the Sabbath (rest). So, we own this rest as much as Christ
does.

He rests in us through His Spirit, we rest in His finished works.

THE SIN OF MAN

Romans 5:12
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through
sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-–” (NKJV)

Sin is from the greek word harmatia which means the absence of something.

Entered there is from the greek word eiserchomai which means something that
came in from an external source.

World there is from the greek word Kosmos which means the activities of men.

So, this verse explains that through Adam, the pattern of doing things in the
absence of the Spirit started.

God did not create sin. Everything God created was perfect. Also, not all sins came
in through Adam but he just gave us a pattern to do things against God's will.

Adam didn't create sin of lying that you're almost in a place when you're still at
home. He didn't steal, He wasn't transgender and many other things Sin was man's
creation. Not God's, not Satan's.

Adam created the pattern and people would now choose to follow what he created
and they can even create other types too. Every man born into this earth is a natural
and mortal man.

You have the will to accept or reject God's plan.

So we're not reading our minds nor speculating with David's statement

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”
— Ps 51:5 (NKJV)
David personalised this statement. He wasn't talking about everyone.

When does conception take place? Obviously when a man and a woman meets.

Many people have misinterpreted this to also mean that sex is sinful, even inside
marriage. This is not true!

David was explaining the circumstances surrounding his birth. His conception was
in sin.

This is also why the book went ahead to explain how his older siblings and father
treated him, to establish the circumstances surrounding his birth. This is also to
clarify that babies/little children are not sinners.

“But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for
of such is the kingdom of heaven."” — Mat 19:14 (NKJV)

Jesus would not say this about sinners.

Little children will take in everything that you feed them. They are dependent on
their parent. This is who God wants us to be - to live a life dependent on Him.

Man decides willingly to go against God's plan and sin. The devil only acted as the
tempter in Genesis. At the end, it was still left for man to decide what he would do.

The consequence of this sin also later became man's creation.

The devil is manipulative but in the end, it's the man that will still decide whether
to commit the sin or not and it's largely dependent on your knowledge. So, even if
the devil comes with his lies, it still takes a man to willingly decide which path he
will choose.

Jam 1 (NKJV)
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 ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God
cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
¹⁴ But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and
enticed.

God did not send the serpent to tempt Adam. The Devil went in the form of a
serpent, cunning and wise, tempted and manipulated man, then the wrong
knowledge devil fed Adam appealed to Him. He became drawn away by His
desires

Remember that Eve said it was the Devil that made her sin? Did that excuse spare
her? No, she had to partake of the consequence because she had her part to play in
the decision she made.

1Cor 15 (NKJV)
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²¹ For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the
dead.
²² For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
²³ But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those
who are Christ's at His coming.

What's the wages of sin? Death

So, sin is first a choice that is made, before we now see man acting it out and the
consequence of this is death (a separation from God)

GOD AND DEATH

We already established that it was through man that sin and then death came.

Tit 1 (NKJV)
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¹ Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to
the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which
accords with godliness,
² in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time
began,
³ but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was
committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior;

God's plan is eternal life, going contrary against it will be death, and then eternal
death.

God did not author death. Let's see something interesting. God gave the green
herbs to both the man and animals for food. He instructed man to have dominion
over animals, but to eat herbs.

Gen 1 (NKJV)
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¹¹ Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields
seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is
in itself, on the earth"; and it was so.
¹² And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to
its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to
its kind. And God saw that it was good.
………..
²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and
multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the
sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the
earth."
²⁹ And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which
is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you
it shall be for food.
 ³⁰ Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to
everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given
every green herb for food"; and it was so.

He told us to have dominion over animals and He gave us green herbs for food.
God created us to have a mutual relationship with animals and not turn them to
food.

Read verses 29 & 30 again

What did God give man for food? Herbs. And the beast also, they were given herbs
for food.

What did God give animals for to man? Dominion

Dominion is rule. But as the creator that man is, he creates and comes up with
things to suit him. But it was expressly stated, man was to eat herbs and exercise
dominion over animals.

But you can go ahead and eat your fish and meat. There's no problem with it.😅

Gen 2 (NKJV)
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¹⁹ Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and
every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call
them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.
²⁰ So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every
beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable
to him.

This explains more about man's dominion over animals.

When the Bible says there is no variable of darkness in God, here it is.
God worked with the ways of man/actions/characteristics to execute His plan.

Also, God did not kill Jesus. Shocking right? Why would God take the pain to
become a man just to kill Himself and offer Himself to Himself. Doesn't make
sense.

The wrath of sin needed to be satisfied. The Spirit had to be given, Jesus's life had
to be given. God gave Jesus up to die for the sins of mankind. Men killed Jesus and
we see God's action in raising Jesus up.

Now, Jesus was not to die any kind of death. He had to satisfy the wrath of sin by
going to defeat eternal death for us and this was not going to be a physical thing.

The real burial of Jesus was not in the tomb, (Luke 23:50-56) and also, He went to
Hades when He died.

Beyond the physical things, we need to look at the spiritual implications. The
physical things that we see are governed by things that we do not see right?

CONCEPT OF HELL AND HADES

The Jews were familiar with the concept of Hell and Hades. Jesus went to Hades
when he died.

Mat 12 (NKJV)
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³⁸ Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, "Teacher, we
want to see a sign from You."
³⁹ But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation
seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the
prophet Jonah.
 ⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great
fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in "the heart of
the earth".

This "heart of the earth" was referring to the grave (or tomb). Jesus was talking
about His burial.

Mat 16 (NKJV)
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¹⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah,
for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in
heaven.
¹⁸ And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My
church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

(The old King James Version used "HELL" to describe "HADES")

Hades is the Greek word, "HÁIDĒS" - a place of the dead, grave. HADES is the
place of the dead. When people die and they are not in Christ, they go to Hades.

Acts 2:24-27(NKJV)
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²⁴ whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was
not possible that He should be held by it.
²⁵ For David says concerning Him: 'I foresaw the Lord always before my
face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
²⁶ Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my
flesh also will rest in hope.
²⁷ For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy
One to see corruption.

Rev 20 (NKJV)
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 ¹² And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books
were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.
And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which
were written in the books.
¹³ The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered
up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according
to his works.
¹⁴ Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second
death.

The actual burial of Jesus wasn't that which was done physically; His burial was in
Hades. The death He died was eternal death symbolized in the Old Testament by
Jonah’s stay in the belly of the fish for 3 days and night.

Acts 2:25-27 (NKJV)

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²⁵ For David says concerning Him: 'I foresaw the Lord always before my
face, For He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.
²⁶ Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my
flesh also will rest in hope.
²⁷ For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your Holy
One to see CORRUPTION.

The "corruption" was referring to eternal condemnation.

Our identification with Christ is in His death, in that he died in our stead (Rom 6:1-
5)

Let's examine the word "Hell". "HELL" (Greek: GEHENA)

Gehena is gotten from the valley of Hinnom, a valley where destruction takes
place. Hinnom is a place where refuse are dumped, after a while, fire is set in that
place. The Jews know this place. When a Jews hears "hell", what comes to his
mind is that place where refuse are dumped and later destroyed.
Let's clear the misconceptions about hell. It is not a dark place, there will not be a
place where people are burning forever with the devil. Or do you mean to say God
gave the devil immunity to fire?

It is not under the earth.

Hell is a one-time occurrence. It doesn't describe a continuous place of destruction.

When refuse is destroyed in Hinnom, the fire does not burn forever.
It's once and for all.

Mat 10:27-28 (NKJV)

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²⁷ "Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear
in the ear, preach on the housetops.
²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But
rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

A destruction, both soul and body. The hell talks about an event that will take place
at the end of the age. This is where the confusion had set in.

Mat 13 :37-43 (NKJV)

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³⁷ He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son
of Man.
³⁸ The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but
the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
³⁹ The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the
age, and the reapers are the angels.
⁴⁰ Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be
at the end of this age.
⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of
 His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, ⁴²
and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and
gnashing of teeth.
⁴³ Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their
Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

25 (NKJV)
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²⁹ For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have
abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be
taken away.
³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

“Cast to outer darkness” speaks of exclusion from a place. “Outer” will be outside
of what is being done, a ceremony. There is no physical torment.

“Weeping”(klauthmos): to lament; it is an expression of emotions (used for

tears and joy)

Gnashing (Brucho)-to grind your teeth against another... It's done in anger against
someone.

Weeping and gnashing of teeth will be actions to something. This will be an

expression of the lost. It will be a regret of being cast out.

When Jesus gives a parable, it's to depict and help us understand better and not to
say that the things there are actually happening.

"Hell" and "Hades" are not physical. The physical body ends in the grave. And then
the spiritual realities start. So why will a physical body go to burn in a spiritual
realm?
So, the burial of Jesus was not actually in the grave, it was in Hades (the place of
the dead).

Acts 2:27 - For You will not leave my soul in Hades, Nor will You allow Your
Holy One to see CORRUPTION.

The corruption we saw in Acts 2:27 was referring to eternal condemnation.

The Hades is not that corruption but it is what would lead to that corruption. It is
the one without the life of God who will see corruption. The corruption is HELL
(destruction). This destruction (hell) is an event that happened to those who are in
Hades.

There is no scriptural basis that people are burning now in Hell. The believer will
not experience this casting out because he has believed the gospel. In believing the
gospel, he has received Eternal Life.

God is Just! His judgment is on those that refuse Christ no matter their good works.

Do you believe in Jesus, that he died, was buried and resurrected to save you?

Then you're saved. God did not save us to lose us, else that will mean His salvation
was not complete or it means God failed in His work which is impossible. You will
not see corruption nor will you experience a casting out. You cannot perish because
the life of God is in you!

The resurrection is the proof of our salvation. It is a proof that man would live
forever and is the Crux of the Gospel. The substance of everything that Christ did
is in the fact that He was raised because it is in this that eternal death was defeated
and the Spirit was given to us so that makes it the most important element of Christ
work.

This also translates to the fact that we will live forever. The faith of those in the
Old Testament was also in the fact that they will live again.

Heb 11 (NKJV)
⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place
which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing
where he was going.
⁹ By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling
in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise;
¹⁰ for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and
maker is God.

We will see more on Resurrection as this is our topic today.

From THE GOSPEL IN GENESIS, we see that "Heaven and earth" is God's
intention to put the Spiritual and Physical in one-man"

"The earth is without form and void" explains the state of man without the Spirit of
God.

"The Spirit of God hovering upon the face of the deep" is the Spirit appealing to
the hearts of men with the Gospel... And the message is of Light (which is
LifeJohn1:1-5).

Hence, the term "Let there be light and there was light" is that which happens to
the one who believes the Gospel.

Light has shone in his heart. This man is now called "Day" (1Thess.5:1-5), and the
unbeliever is called "Night".

Therefore, "God divided the light from the darkness" is the judgment at the end of
the age when believers (Light or Day) will be separated from unbelievers
(Darkness or Night).
In salvation, the plan of God has been fulfilled in the man who believes. He now
operates heaven on earth. So the believer should live heaven conscious, that is,
conscious of the spiritual world which is within him.

Now, having learnt of God's Eternal Plan, what is your purpose in this?

Everything that God created finds their purpose in man. That is why everything fell
apart when man fell.

Col 1 (NKJV) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

¹⁶ For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things,
and in Him all things consist.

"consist" is from the greek word (suniesthemi) that means something pieced
together or brought together.

We can lay claim of what God has made, because we are the crown (head) of
His creation. All natural things were created for man including Angels.

Heb 1 (NKJV) ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

¹³ But to which of the angels has He ever said: "Sit at My right hand, Till I
make Your enemies Your footstool"?
¹⁴ Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who
will inherit salvation?

As we have concluded, God's plan is that man should be in His image which is
already God's Spirit in man. Adam did not fulfil that, if he did, he would have been
called the Last Adam.

Every man that has come into Christ has fulfilled God's plan for him and
everything that is not found in Christ will be destroyed.
This is why preaching the gospel is very important because it is in the gospel that
the plan of God (eternal life) is offered.

Everything we do that contributes to God's eternal plan for mankind is us walking

in our purpose and expressing His nature on the earth. Every activity that we do
that doesn't conform to His is us walking outside of God's plan. God's purpose is
not a man becoming a doctor, engineer and teacher but to express His nature on
earth.

Our career, vocation, etc must be an avenue to preach the gospel since the ultimate
goal is that men receive this new life of Christ and because of sin in the world, it
becomes imperative for us to preach the gospel and we must go about it.

You might think a whole lot of people are saved until you start reaching out to
people and listening to their beliefs. I know people that believe that Jesus is their
brother and we classify them as Christians. I’ve heard of Jews who are still waiting
for the prophecy of Jesus' birth to be fulfilled.

There are really funny stuffs out there and you'll be amazed when you go for
evangelism. People just believe things because that's what they heard. They
don't go to see if it is actually written in the Bible.

This is the story of Christians around today. Many people have built the beliefs
strongly on what people said or this is what I've heard without actually going back
to see what the Bible says.

For example, that there were three gifts doesn't translate to three men. This is why
there are many errors and contrasting teaching in Christianity.

When you learn God's word, see things from the Bible and no matter how old your
belief is, learn to always conform to God's word so that you can pass a sound
doctrine to the coming generation.
“who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” —
1Tim 2:4 (NKJV)

The crown is men saved and men raised. You find your purpose in God's purpose
and your plan in His plan.

Remember, Nothing is wrong with your choices until it contradicts God's choices.