| Author: | Kenneth B. Alexander BSL, JD, Deacon | ISBN: | 9781456612153 |
| Publisher: | ebookit | Publication: | January 10, 2013 |
| Imprint: | eBookIt.com | Language: | English |
| Author: | Kenneth B. Alexander BSL, JD, Deacon |
| ISBN: | 9781456612153 |
| Publisher: | ebookit |
| Publication: | January 10, 2013 |
| Imprint: | eBookIt.com |
| Language: | English |
Table of Contents
Introduction-Fall of Man
Before and Immediately After the Flood
Nations and gods After the Flood
Wilderness, Conquest, Promised Land
The Fall of Israel and Judah
God Uses Nations To Accomplish His Will
God Uses Satan to Accomplish His Will
Miracles In the Old Testament
Christ's Sacrifice
Jesus In the New Testament
Birth of Christianity
Men Sent By God After Christ
Conclusion
Bibliography
The purpose of this Book is to show how God used aspects of creation to accomplish His will on the earth. God will use anything, even if it seems not to be logical. He uses Satan, men, nations, miracles, sinners, prostitutes, wars and just about anything He can lay His hands on all to glorify himself in His creation. He will call men His servants who don't know Him. He will destroy the love of His life if they disobey Him. All of this he does in the name of love even though it may not seem so at the time. He honors and blesses those that are His. He destroys that which prove themselves not to be His. All his ways are just and righteous. He is our personal Father not some far off God living in a spirit realm we can't understand. He is omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscient (knows all) and fills all things. He speaks a Word and it comes to pass. He is always on time (His time) as He rushes to deliver one of His possessions. This book will reveal His ways most of which are past finding out. He will annihilate His enemies.
God's greatest intervention history is that He created the vast havens and the earth from nothing visible. He created everything we can see and much we cannot. Man was the jewel of that creation and the earth was His focus. He filled created space and filled it with galaxies and trillions of stars and planets with distances between them to far to contemplate. He filled the microscopic world of quantum mechanics too small to see. He foresaw everything that was ever to exist in this physical realm and spoke it into existence with a word: "let it be". He carved a section out of eternity, called it time, and included in it the physical heavens (universe) and the earth. His spiritual heaven was already created. He created all manner of life including man made in His image. His purpose in physical creation was to integrate this physical realm in the likeness of the eternal Spirit realm (heaven if you will) where He lives. One of the few specific prayers He gave man was: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven" (Mt 6:10).
God began with "the heavens and the earth," (Gen 1:1) but then chose to the earth, not the heavens, as the theme from which He chose to inhabit man. Having chosen the earth, God now bypasses the angels (fallen angels included) and elects to deal with man. Man is first created below the angels with the expectation that he will rule angels and will in fact rule all of His creation (Psalm 8:5-6). From Adam's many sons, God chooses Seth (4:25). Of Seth's many descendants (Gen. 5), God chooses Noah (6:8), and from Noah's family, He chooses Shem (11:10), Terah (11:27), and finally Abraham (12:1). Abraham has many children, but Isaac is the chosen seed (21:12). Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau, and God chooses Jacob to be the recipient of His blessing. He chooses His younger Son Joseph to save a world from starvation.
God left the remainder of the heavens to the other nations of the earth (Deut 4:15). Most ancient civilizations worshipped Satan through the heavens or the pagan gods associated with him (Sumeria, Babylon, Canaanites, Chaldeans, Medes and Persians, Grecians, Macedonians, Asiatic nations, Native Americans, Romans and countless others. God made this clear in Deuteronomy: So watch yourselves..."so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, THOSE WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS ALLOTTED TO ALL THE PEOPLES UNDER THE WHOLE HEAVEN" (Dt 4:15-19). His intention for the heavens were for planting, keeping time and navigation and looking up to see the glory of God. Most other civilizations used the heavens for divination, fortune telling etc.
Man asks the eternal question "Why are we here?". He searches the earth, the vast heavens and the minute quantum realm seeking answers to this question. He asks "Are we alone in the universe?" and searches for alien beings and misses what is right in front of his nose. He asks "What was before our beginning 13.7 billion years ago?". "How did life begin?" The deeper he searches the more questions he uncovers but no answers. Man does not comprehend the basic truth that: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT!" (Ro 11:33-34). Only the Son knowns the Father who is the creator of all things and those whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (Luke 10:22). Man and all his efforts to know God, without accepting the Son, are utterly useless and futile. The human mind, no matter how intelligent, can never know God and the mind is actually hostile to God because it does not think His thoughts (Romans 8:7). Only those with the mind of Christ will know the truth (1 Co 2:16).
Why are we really here? The answer for the believer is clear. We are not an insignificant being on an insignificant planet. The answer is that we are responsible for converting the earth into a place that mirrors the spirit world (heaven if you wish). He didn't make it an easy task. He placed Satan "the adversary, [Peter 5:8] and the accuser" [Rev 12:10] directly in man's path to challenge him every minute of every day. Jesus defeated Satan through His death and resurrection. But it remains for mankind to make what Christ accomplished on the cross a reality in the earth. Adam and Eve were created into an atmosphere of sinless perfection but they lost it by disobedience to God. However God created a path back to a perfect world and we know the end from the beginning (see Revelation). "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, [from Eden[ who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;... When the thousand years are completed... the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev 20).
So God had a plan for mankind, that is why he is here. He is working toward the redemption of mankind and he works toward that plan every day. God uses man/women to accomplish this plan. However He intervenes in the affairs of mankind when He finds it necessary. He uses what we call miracles, He uses Satan, He uses nations hostile to Him, He uses men of God (prophets and Kings), He uses secular leaders and all the tools in his arsenal when there is a need. But he does not come down soveringly to do the job delegated to mankind with his invisible hand always in the background. That is primarily the function of this Book, to show how God intervenes in history to accomplish His will. His workings on earth are more of a nudge in the right direction as He accomplishes full redemption for His people.
When considering God and His plan for mankind after man's fall from the Garden of Eden we must view secular and religious history in a completely new light. After the fall of man from Paradise in the Garden of Eden He, of necessity, subjected all of creation to a curse of futility. "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope" (Rom 8:20). We continue to live in that futility today but with hope that: " ...that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body" (Rom 8:21-23).
In protecting and creating israel as His special nation great world Empires crossed paths with God to their ultimate detriment. He used and destroyed great nations at His whim. Learn a side of God you haven't seen before.
Introduction-Fall of Man
Before and Immediately After the Flood
Nations and gods After the Flood
Wilderness, Conquest, Promised Land
The Fall of Israel and Judah
God Uses Nations To Accomplish His Will
God Uses Satan to Accomplish His Will
Miracles In the Old Testament
Christ's Sacrifice
Jesus In the New Testament
Birth of Christianity
Men Sent By God After Christ
Conclusion
Bibliography
The purpose of this Book is to show how God used aspects of creation to accomplish His will on the earth. God will use anything, even if it seems not to be logical. He uses Satan, men, nations, miracles, sinners, prostitutes, wars and just about anything He can lay His hands on all to glorify himself in His creation. He will call men His servants who don't know Him. He will destroy the love of His life if they disobey Him. All of this he does in the name of love even though it may not seem so at the time. He honors and blesses those that are His. He destroys that which prove themselves not to be His. All his ways are just and righteous. He is our personal Father not some far off God living in a spirit realm we can't understand. He is omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscient (knows all) and fills all things. He speaks a Word and it comes to pass. He is always on time (His time) as He rushes to deliver one of His possessions. This book will reveal His ways most of which are past finding out. He will annihilate His enemies.
God's greatest intervention history is that He created the vast havens and the earth from nothing visible. He created everything we can see and much we cannot. Man was the jewel of that creation and the earth was His focus. He filled created space and filled it with galaxies and trillions of stars and planets with distances between them to far to contemplate. He filled the microscopic world of quantum mechanics too small to see. He foresaw everything that was ever to exist in this physical realm and spoke it into existence with a word: "let it be". He carved a section out of eternity, called it time, and included in it the physical heavens (universe) and the earth. His spiritual heaven was already created. He created all manner of life including man made in His image. His purpose in physical creation was to integrate this physical realm in the likeness of the eternal Spirit realm (heaven if you will) where He lives. One of the few specific prayers He gave man was: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven" (Mt 6:10).
God began with "the heavens and the earth," (Gen 1:1) but then chose to the earth, not the heavens, as the theme from which He chose to inhabit man. Having chosen the earth, God now bypasses the angels (fallen angels included) and elects to deal with man. Man is first created below the angels with the expectation that he will rule angels and will in fact rule all of His creation (Psalm 8:5-6). From Adam's many sons, God chooses Seth (4:25). Of Seth's many descendants (Gen. 5), God chooses Noah (6:8), and from Noah's family, He chooses Shem (11:10), Terah (11:27), and finally Abraham (12:1). Abraham has many children, but Isaac is the chosen seed (21:12). Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau, and God chooses Jacob to be the recipient of His blessing. He chooses His younger Son Joseph to save a world from starvation.
God left the remainder of the heavens to the other nations of the earth (Deut 4:15). Most ancient civilizations worshipped Satan through the heavens or the pagan gods associated with him (Sumeria, Babylon, Canaanites, Chaldeans, Medes and Persians, Grecians, Macedonians, Asiatic nations, Native Americans, Romans and countless others. God made this clear in Deuteronomy: So watch yourselves..."so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, THOSE WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS ALLOTTED TO ALL THE PEOPLES UNDER THE WHOLE HEAVEN" (Dt 4:15-19). His intention for the heavens were for planting, keeping time and navigation and looking up to see the glory of God. Most other civilizations used the heavens for divination, fortune telling etc.
Man asks the eternal question "Why are we here?". He searches the earth, the vast heavens and the minute quantum realm seeking answers to this question. He asks "Are we alone in the universe?" and searches for alien beings and misses what is right in front of his nose. He asks "What was before our beginning 13.7 billion years ago?". "How did life begin?" The deeper he searches the more questions he uncovers but no answers. Man does not comprehend the basic truth that: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT!" (Ro 11:33-34). Only the Son knowns the Father who is the creator of all things and those whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (Luke 10:22). Man and all his efforts to know God, without accepting the Son, are utterly useless and futile. The human mind, no matter how intelligent, can never know God and the mind is actually hostile to God because it does not think His thoughts (Romans 8:7). Only those with the mind of Christ will know the truth (1 Co 2:16).
Why are we really here? The answer for the believer is clear. We are not an insignificant being on an insignificant planet. The answer is that we are responsible for converting the earth into a place that mirrors the spirit world (heaven if you wish). He didn't make it an easy task. He placed Satan "the adversary, [Peter 5:8] and the accuser" [Rev 12:10] directly in man's path to challenge him every minute of every day. Jesus defeated Satan through His death and resurrection. But it remains for mankind to make what Christ accomplished on the cross a reality in the earth. Adam and Eve were created into an atmosphere of sinless perfection but they lost it by disobedience to God. However God created a path back to a perfect world and we know the end from the beginning (see Revelation). "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, [from Eden[ who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;... When the thousand years are completed... the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev 20).
So God had a plan for mankind, that is why he is here. He is working toward the redemption of mankind and he works toward that plan every day. God uses man/women to accomplish this plan. However He intervenes in the affairs of mankind when He finds it necessary. He uses what we call miracles, He uses Satan, He uses nations hostile to Him, He uses men of God (prophets and Kings), He uses secular leaders and all the tools in his arsenal when there is a need. But he does not come down soveringly to do the job delegated to mankind with his invisible hand always in the background. That is primarily the function of this Book, to show how God intervenes in history to accomplish His will. His workings on earth are more of a nudge in the right direction as He accomplishes full redemption for His people.
When considering God and His plan for mankind after man's fall from the Garden of Eden we must view secular and religious history in a completely new light. After the fall of man from Paradise in the Garden of Eden He, of necessity, subjected all of creation to a curse of futility. "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope" (Rom 8:20). We continue to live in that futility today but with hope that: " ...that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body" (Rom 8:21-23).
In protecting and creating israel as His special nation great world Empires crossed paths with God to their ultimate detriment. He used and destroyed great nations at His whim. Learn a side of God you haven't seen before.
Table of Contents
Introduction-Fall of Man
Before and Immediately After the Flood
Nations and gods After the Flood
Wilderness, Conquest, Promised Land
The Fall of Israel and Judah
God Uses Nations To Accomplish His Will
God Uses Satan to Accomplish His Will
Miracles In the Old Testament
Christ's Sacrifice
Jesus In the New Testament
Birth of Christianity
Men Sent By God After Christ
Conclusion
Bibliography
The purpose of this Book is to show how God used aspects of creation to accomplish His will on the earth. God will use anything, even if it seems not to be logical. He uses Satan, men, nations, miracles, sinners, prostitutes, wars and just about anything He can lay His hands on all to glorify himself in His creation. He will call men His servants who don't know Him. He will destroy the love of His life if they disobey Him. All of this he does in the name of love even though it may not seem so at the time. He honors and blesses those that are His. He destroys that which prove themselves not to be His. All his ways are just and righteous. He is our personal Father not some far off God living in a spirit realm we can't understand. He is omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscient (knows all) and fills all things. He speaks a Word and it comes to pass. He is always on time (His time) as He rushes to deliver one of His possessions. This book will reveal His ways most of which are past finding out. He will annihilate His enemies.
God's greatest intervention history is that He created the vast havens and the earth from nothing visible. He created everything we can see and much we cannot. Man was the jewel of that creation and the earth was His focus. He filled created space and filled it with galaxies and trillions of stars and planets with distances between them to far to contemplate. He filled the microscopic world of quantum mechanics too small to see. He foresaw everything that was ever to exist in this physical realm and spoke it into existence with a word: "let it be". He carved a section out of eternity, called it time, and included in it the physical heavens (universe) and the earth. His spiritual heaven was already created. He created all manner of life including man made in His image. His purpose in physical creation was to integrate this physical realm in the likeness of the eternal Spirit realm (heaven if you will) where He lives. One of the few specific prayers He gave man was: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven" (Mt 6:10).
God began with "the heavens and the earth," (Gen 1:1) but then chose to the earth, not the heavens, as the theme from which He chose to inhabit man. Having chosen the earth, God now bypasses the angels (fallen angels included) and elects to deal with man. Man is first created below the angels with the expectation that he will rule angels and will in fact rule all of His creation (Psalm 8:5-6). From Adam's many sons, God chooses Seth (4:25). Of Seth's many descendants (Gen. 5), God chooses Noah (6:8), and from Noah's family, He chooses Shem (11:10), Terah (11:27), and finally Abraham (12:1). Abraham has many children, but Isaac is the chosen seed (21:12). Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau, and God chooses Jacob to be the recipient of His blessing. He chooses His younger Son Joseph to save a world from starvation.
God left the remainder of the heavens to the other nations of the earth (Deut 4:15). Most ancient civilizations worshipped Satan through the heavens or the pagan gods associated with him (Sumeria, Babylon, Canaanites, Chaldeans, Medes and Persians, Grecians, Macedonians, Asiatic nations, Native Americans, Romans and countless others. God made this clear in Deuteronomy: So watch yourselves..."so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, THOSE WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS ALLOTTED TO ALL THE PEOPLES UNDER THE WHOLE HEAVEN" (Dt 4:15-19). His intention for the heavens were for planting, keeping time and navigation and looking up to see the glory of God. Most other civilizations used the heavens for divination, fortune telling etc.
Man asks the eternal question "Why are we here?". He searches the earth, the vast heavens and the minute quantum realm seeking answers to this question. He asks "Are we alone in the universe?" and searches for alien beings and misses what is right in front of his nose. He asks "What was before our beginning 13.7 billion years ago?". "How did life begin?" The deeper he searches the more questions he uncovers but no answers. Man does not comprehend the basic truth that: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT!" (Ro 11:33-34). Only the Son knowns the Father who is the creator of all things and those whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (Luke 10:22). Man and all his efforts to know God, without accepting the Son, are utterly useless and futile. The human mind, no matter how intelligent, can never know God and the mind is actually hostile to God because it does not think His thoughts (Romans 8:7). Only those with the mind of Christ will know the truth (1 Co 2:16).
Why are we really here? The answer for the believer is clear. We are not an insignificant being on an insignificant planet. The answer is that we are responsible for converting the earth into a place that mirrors the spirit world (heaven if you wish). He didn't make it an easy task. He placed Satan "the adversary, [Peter 5:8] and the accuser" [Rev 12:10] directly in man's path to challenge him every minute of every day. Jesus defeated Satan through His death and resurrection. But it remains for mankind to make what Christ accomplished on the cross a reality in the earth. Adam and Eve were created into an atmosphere of sinless perfection but they lost it by disobedience to God. However God created a path back to a perfect world and we know the end from the beginning (see Revelation). "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, [from Eden[ who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;... When the thousand years are completed... the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev 20).
So God had a plan for mankind, that is why he is here. He is working toward the redemption of mankind and he works toward that plan every day. God uses man/women to accomplish this plan. However He intervenes in the affairs of mankind when He finds it necessary. He uses what we call miracles, He uses Satan, He uses nations hostile to Him, He uses men of God (prophets and Kings), He uses secular leaders and all the tools in his arsenal when there is a need. But he does not come down soveringly to do the job delegated to mankind with his invisible hand always in the background. That is primarily the function of this Book, to show how God intervenes in history to accomplish His will. His workings on earth are more of a nudge in the right direction as He accomplishes full redemption for His people.
When considering God and His plan for mankind after man's fall from the Garden of Eden we must view secular and religious history in a completely new light. After the fall of man from Paradise in the Garden of Eden He, of necessity, subjected all of creation to a curse of futility. "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope" (Rom 8:20). We continue to live in that futility today but with hope that: " ...that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body" (Rom 8:21-23).
In protecting and creating israel as His special nation great world Empires crossed paths with God to their ultimate detriment. He used and destroyed great nations at His whim. Learn a side of God you haven't seen before.
Introduction-Fall of Man
Before and Immediately After the Flood
Nations and gods After the Flood
Wilderness, Conquest, Promised Land
The Fall of Israel and Judah
God Uses Nations To Accomplish His Will
God Uses Satan to Accomplish His Will
Miracles In the Old Testament
Christ's Sacrifice
Jesus In the New Testament
Birth of Christianity
Men Sent By God After Christ
Conclusion
Bibliography
The purpose of this Book is to show how God used aspects of creation to accomplish His will on the earth. God will use anything, even if it seems not to be logical. He uses Satan, men, nations, miracles, sinners, prostitutes, wars and just about anything He can lay His hands on all to glorify himself in His creation. He will call men His servants who don't know Him. He will destroy the love of His life if they disobey Him. All of this he does in the name of love even though it may not seem so at the time. He honors and blesses those that are His. He destroys that which prove themselves not to be His. All his ways are just and righteous. He is our personal Father not some far off God living in a spirit realm we can't understand. He is omnipresent (everywhere at once), omniscient (knows all) and fills all things. He speaks a Word and it comes to pass. He is always on time (His time) as He rushes to deliver one of His possessions. This book will reveal His ways most of which are past finding out. He will annihilate His enemies.
God's greatest intervention history is that He created the vast havens and the earth from nothing visible. He created everything we can see and much we cannot. Man was the jewel of that creation and the earth was His focus. He filled created space and filled it with galaxies and trillions of stars and planets with distances between them to far to contemplate. He filled the microscopic world of quantum mechanics too small to see. He foresaw everything that was ever to exist in this physical realm and spoke it into existence with a word: "let it be". He carved a section out of eternity, called it time, and included in it the physical heavens (universe) and the earth. His spiritual heaven was already created. He created all manner of life including man made in His image. His purpose in physical creation was to integrate this physical realm in the likeness of the eternal Spirit realm (heaven if you will) where He lives. One of the few specific prayers He gave man was: "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven" (Mt 6:10).
God began with "the heavens and the earth," (Gen 1:1) but then chose to the earth, not the heavens, as the theme from which He chose to inhabit man. Having chosen the earth, God now bypasses the angels (fallen angels included) and elects to deal with man. Man is first created below the angels with the expectation that he will rule angels and will in fact rule all of His creation (Psalm 8:5-6). From Adam's many sons, God chooses Seth (4:25). Of Seth's many descendants (Gen. 5), God chooses Noah (6:8), and from Noah's family, He chooses Shem (11:10), Terah (11:27), and finally Abraham (12:1). Abraham has many children, but Isaac is the chosen seed (21:12). Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau, and God chooses Jacob to be the recipient of His blessing. He chooses His younger Son Joseph to save a world from starvation.
God left the remainder of the heavens to the other nations of the earth (Deut 4:15). Most ancient civilizations worshipped Satan through the heavens or the pagan gods associated with him (Sumeria, Babylon, Canaanites, Chaldeans, Medes and Persians, Grecians, Macedonians, Asiatic nations, Native Americans, Romans and countless others. God made this clear in Deuteronomy: So watch yourselves..."so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. "And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, THOSE WHICH THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS ALLOTTED TO ALL THE PEOPLES UNDER THE WHOLE HEAVEN" (Dt 4:15-19). His intention for the heavens were for planting, keeping time and navigation and looking up to see the glory of God. Most other civilizations used the heavens for divination, fortune telling etc.
Man asks the eternal question "Why are we here?". He searches the earth, the vast heavens and the minute quantum realm seeking answers to this question. He asks "Are we alone in the universe?" and searches for alien beings and misses what is right in front of his nose. He asks "What was before our beginning 13.7 billion years ago?". "How did life begin?" The deeper he searches the more questions he uncovers but no answers. Man does not comprehend the basic truth that: "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT!" (Ro 11:33-34). Only the Son knowns the Father who is the creator of all things and those whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (Luke 10:22). Man and all his efforts to know God, without accepting the Son, are utterly useless and futile. The human mind, no matter how intelligent, can never know God and the mind is actually hostile to God because it does not think His thoughts (Romans 8:7). Only those with the mind of Christ will know the truth (1 Co 2:16).
Why are we really here? The answer for the believer is clear. We are not an insignificant being on an insignificant planet. The answer is that we are responsible for converting the earth into a place that mirrors the spirit world (heaven if you wish). He didn't make it an easy task. He placed Satan "the adversary, [Peter 5:8] and the accuser" [Rev 12:10] directly in man's path to challenge him every minute of every day. Jesus defeated Satan through His death and resurrection. But it remains for mankind to make what Christ accomplished on the cross a reality in the earth. Adam and Eve were created into an atmosphere of sinless perfection but they lost it by disobedience to God. However God created a path back to a perfect world and we know the end from the beginning (see Revelation). "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, [from Eden[ who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;... When the thousand years are completed... the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever" (Rev 20).
So God had a plan for mankind, that is why he is here. He is working toward the redemption of mankind and he works toward that plan every day. God uses man/women to accomplish this plan. However He intervenes in the affairs of mankind when He finds it necessary. He uses what we call miracles, He uses Satan, He uses nations hostile to Him, He uses men of God (prophets and Kings), He uses secular leaders and all the tools in his arsenal when there is a need. But he does not come down soveringly to do the job delegated to mankind with his invisible hand always in the background. That is primarily the function of this Book, to show how God intervenes in history to accomplish His will. His workings on earth are more of a nudge in the right direction as He accomplishes full redemption for His people.
When considering God and His plan for mankind after man's fall from the Garden of Eden we must view secular and religious history in a completely new light. After the fall of man from Paradise in the Garden of Eden He, of necessity, subjected all of creation to a curse of futility. "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope" (Rom 8:20). We continue to live in that futility today but with hope that: " ...that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body" (Rom 8:21-23).
In protecting and creating israel as His special nation great world Empires crossed paths with God to their ultimate detriment. He used and destroyed great nations at His whim. Learn a side of God you haven't seen before.
