I've often heard people say: "Oh! My God would never do that!"
People often view God by their own image. The Bible shows us God in HIS Own Image.
When we see God in HIS truth, many things change.
Then we come into a respect and awe of God and HIS mighty works. The miracles God does are enlarged. We take on a reverential "fear of God" and respect. And we draw much nearer to real salvation in God through Jesus Christ.
This book will show us God as God really is and man as he really is by viewing the Holy Scriptures.
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In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth and all plants and all animals and man and woman.
Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that HE had made, and, behold, it was very good.
God created the perfect environment for the man and the woman to thrive.
But the man and the woman corrupted their way through disobedience to God.
Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Adam & Eve:
Adam & Eve:
Genesis 3:1-3 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
(The woman added to the Word of God for God did not say, "Neither shall ye touch it.")
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
4-5 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
(Humans desire to "be as gods", knowing good and evil, being wise in their own eyes. Refusing to trust in God and refusing to obey God and avoiding dependence upon God. In fact, departing from God and setting themselves up as gods.)
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
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With disobedience to the Word of God came God's judgment upon the disobedient and penalty with disobedience.
After the man and the woman disobeyed the Word God gave them, they wanted to hide from God.
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
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Genesis 3:9-13 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
And HE (God) said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
And HE (God) said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done?
And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
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Penalties set by God for disobedience to HIS Word:Genesis 3:14-19 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Unto the woman HE said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
And unto Adam HE said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Unto the woman HE said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
And unto Adam HE said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
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Genesis 3:22-24 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:
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So HE drove out the man; and HE placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
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Here is God's view of man:
Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
(Man is no different today than he was in the days of Noah, except for those men who are born again by the Spirit of God. The nature of man has not changed since God described man in the above scripture.)
6-8 And it repented the Lord that HE had made man on the earth, and it grieved HIM at HIS heart.
And the Lord said, I will destroy man
whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast,
and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth ME
that I have made them.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.
So God made a way of escape for Noah and his family!
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The apostle Paul came to see himself as God viewed him.
And Paul said:
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing ..." Romans 7:18
Here are the things our flesh does:
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft (living in superstitions), hatred, variance (to vary, to argue, to debate), emulations (to strive to outdo one another), wrath (to desire to see harm done to those considered enemies), strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
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So God made another way for man to be redeemed from his own flesh.
When I was baptized, after I was born again, as the minister lowered me into the water, the Holy Spirit said to me, "This is like being buried with Christ."
When I came out of the water, the Holy Spirit said, "This is like being raised with Christ."
After we are born again we have the Spirit of God in us. We keep the flesh "crucified" by choosing the way of the Spirit. Our flesh suffers when we do this for the flesh no longer gets to do what it wants to do. There is now a power of God in us which gives us the option of walking in the ways of the Spirit of God and keeping the flesh "under". We live in Christ when we learn to do this.
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The Holy Spirit that God gives us to live in us does the following for us:
John 14:26 Jesus said: But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, HE shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 16:13 Howbeit when HE, the Spirit of truth, is come, HE will guide you into all truth: for HE shall not speak of HIMSELF; but whatsoever HE shall hear, that shall HE speak: and HE will shew you things to come.
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Now that we are Christians, we no longer choose to follow what our flesh wants to do. Now we walk in the Spirit by choosing to do that which the Holy Spirit brings to our mind, keeping our flesh crucified by going in the way instructed by the Spirit.
Romans 6:3-4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into HIS death? Therefore we are buried with HIM by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
The flesh will continue to suggest to us ways to go but we choose the way shown us by the Spirit which is the way of God.
5-6 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of HIS death, we shall be also in the likeness of HIS resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with HIM, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
We keep our flesh, the old man, crucified by choosing to go in the way of God in the matter pertaining to this present life.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8-10 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with HIM: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
11-12 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Now we ask God not to let us do that! We pray to God asking God to keep us from saying that!
Instead of exalting ourselves over other people, we come to want to help those other people that they can know God as we know God.
Every time the Holy Spirit shows us the way of God and we choose to go in that way of God, we are recreated in the image of Christ, the Word.
We still have the flesh which wants to do all the works of the flesh but now we also have the Spirit of God living in us and we overcome our own flesh by choosing the way of the Spirit and keeping the flesh "under" as if that flesh is dead, crucified with Christ.
I Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
For in that HE died, HE died unto sin once: but in that HE liveth, he liveth unto God.
Now we live unto God, choosing God's way instead of the way of our flesh.
11-12 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
Now we ask God not to let us do that! We pray to God asking God to keep us from saying that!
Instead of exalting ourselves over other people, we come to want to help those other people that they can know God as we know God.
Every time the Holy Spirit shows us the way of God and we choose to go in that way of God, we are recreated in the image of Christ, the Word.
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God had another way to provide salvation for us. We would never be "good enough" by our own works, so God had Jesus die for us that HIS blood would pay for our sins, and HIS Spirit, the Holy Spirit, would come to live in us to guide us in God's ways and to teach us and to help us and even to comfort us.
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Hebrews 9:22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission
In the Old Testament, the blood of bulls and goats were offered to appease God for the sins and trespasses of the individual. And this had to be done yearly and throughout the year.
Jesus offered himself to appease God for our sins. Jesus bought us by His own blood.
Jesus offered himself to appease God for our sins. Jesus bought us by His own blood.
God provided for us today a better way than they had in the Old Testament.
I didn't shed my blood to pay for my sins. Jesus shed HIS blood to pay for my sins.
And through the Spirit of Jesus who came to live in me, I can know the will of God for me to go in the specific issues pertaining to this life so I can choose to go that way and keep my own flesh under without going in the preference of my flesh!
My flesh is not made better after I am born again. The flesh is just as bad as it ever was. But I can mortify my flesh each time it tries to rise up in me to hate, and to exalt myself over others, and to please itself through adultery or fornication and such.
I now have a power in me to overcome my own flesh and that is the power of God by HIS Spirit.
I now have a power in me to overcome my own flesh and that is the power of God by HIS Spirit.
I Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
So in the temptation, I can cry out to God asking God to help me ... and HE does!
Not once has God failed me when I have asked HIM to help me.
We, who are of God, do not want to sin.
The world wants a freedom to sin. They want to be approved in their sins. They look for people, and even for churches, which will approve them as they continue to live in various sins.
But we want a freedom from sin.
And that way, shown to us by God in the midst of a temptation, is a freedom from sin when we choose to go that way, keeping the flesh under the control of the Spirit.
Paul says:
I Corinthians 9:24-17 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Paul says:
I Corinthians 9:24-17 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
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This is a really great plan of salvation given to us by God, for God knew we could never be saved by our ownselves.
The examples presented in this book should turn us to God, allowing us to see God and to see God's view.
It will be a very exciting and profitable journey for us to see these Old Testament examples and to compare such with New Testament truths as we examine this book.
For the Old Testament shows the image of God and the great power of God for the church who believes in HIM.
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