The Big Picture of the Bible part 2 Assistance from the book written by Kenneth W. Craig

Introduction Eph 1:4; 3:11 “We are told that God had this plan of redemption before He ever created mankind. ( Eph 1:4; 3:11 “ 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”) Why would He do this? It has to do with the free will. Free will simply means the ability to choose one’s own moral actions without an interference or compulsion. It makes logical sense that if God were going to create a free moral agent-a being that could choose to do right or wrong from its own volition-He would have prepared a plan in advance as to how He would react or handle the result of mankind’s choices. This plan of redemption is God’s planned reaction to the free moral choice of mankind to sin (Break God’s law).”

Why did God bother to create man or even the physical universe? Since we cannot get into the mind of God Himself, we are restricted in what He has revealed about Himself to His creation – Is 55:8-9; Job 26:14 God created spirit beings in Heaven that would choose to love & worship Him out of their own choice (prior to the creation of the universe) –Spirit beings (angels) in another dimension (Heaven) chose (as free moral agents) at some point to sin against Him 2 Pet 2:4 –Subsequently God cast them out of Heaven – 2 Pet 2:4 –After this He created the dimension in which we live in (our physical universe) & spirit beings (us) & placed us in physical containers we call our bodies –This Spirit (created in the image of God) is what separates us from the animal world  Gen 1:27 –We are placed in these physical containers in order to train our bodies to love, serve & worship Him to His glory

Why did God bother to create man or even the physical universe? Unlike the angels, we have been created as embodied spirits. The mortal bodies we posses restrict our free moral actions to this dimension (physical realm). –God watches us to see if we’ll choose to love Him, serve Him, & worship Him while we experience all the trials, temptations, tragedies & blessings on this Earth  Deut 8:2; Deut 13:3 –We will all one day die and our eternal spirit will return to God and await His final judgment  Eccl 12:7; Heb 9:27; Rev 20:13 –We will either join God in our resurrected spiritual bodies in Heaven (His dimension), or will be cast from His presence eternally (Hell)… This will all depend how we love & serve Him while here on earth  1 Cor 15:43-58; 1 Pet 1:17

Why did God bother to create man or even the physical universe? God uses the closest relationship we have here on this earth (family) to describe our relationship with Him 1 Jn 3:1 –He is our father and we are His children – 1 Jn 3:1 –Consider what parents desire of their children –Children demonstrate their love for them not because they have to or want something, but because they want to –God has made us in His image and this is effectively demonstrated in the love of a parent to a child –It is God’s will and desire to have a loving spiritual relationship with every spirit being that He created… This must be defined in accordance with His character & nature

Two Gods? “Some people have drawn the mistaken conclusion that there must be two Gods in the Bible. There is the God of the New Testament that is all love, joy, forgiveness, peace and happiness, while the God of the Old Testament is an angry God of justice, punishment, and wrath”

Two Gods? “Clearly we see that God does behave differently towards His creation in the Old Testament than He does in the New Testament. But is He really a different God? No. Consider a parent that lovingly disciplines a small child so that it will learn the things needed to be a productive adult. When my children were little, I, as their father, disciplined them as often as I though they needed it. They rarely enjoyed it, and, on occasion, would remark, ‘Daddy, you are mean.’ At that point in their lives I might have resembled that God of the Old Testament that appeared harsh to his creation. But now that my children are grown up, they have a completely different attitude toward ‘mean dad’. We have a great relationship with our grown-up children on a completely different level than that of the growing-up training period. That is what the New Testament is trying to tell us about the Old Testament period. As pointed out earlier, the Old Testament was a teaching and training period to prepare us for Christ that included many disciplinary actions toward people and nations that often appear unnecessarily strident or harsh by later standards and behavior. God behaves differently toward His creation in the New Testament, as well as today, on the basis of spiritual maturity learned from the training of the Old Testament period. The God of the Old and the New Testament is the same God. ‘I the Lord do not change’ (Mal 3:6)”

God is Holy All Biblical understanding must begin & end with a knowledge of God –The character/nature of God is defined by the characteristic of holiness  Ps 5:4; Ps 99:5 & 9; Ps 145: 17; 1 Jn 1:5 –It is God’s holiness that perfects His attributes of omnipotence (infinite power), omniscience (perfect knowledge), & omnipresence (present everywhere) A God of justice & love –God’s holiness is demonstrated in 2 ways, His justice & His love  Ps 33:4-5; Ps 89:14 –All of our dealings with God are governed by these 2 aspects of His holiness –God’s justice means that we will never be treated unfairly… we can trust His promises, pronunciations, and judgments  Deut 32:4; Job 8:3; Is 46:8-11

God is Holy –A complimentary facet of God’s holiness & justice is His love for His creation… while His justice is fair and sure, it is always administered in the context of His love –God repeatedly states that we are to be holy because He is holy  Lev 11:44-45; Lev 19:2; Lev 20:25; 1 Pet 1:15-16

Final thoughts “This forms the basis for the plan of redemption, God’s incredible plan of justice and mercy first demonstrated in the Old Testament. So, why was a plan to redeem mankind needed in the first place?” “The Problem of Sin”

Final thoughts 1 Jn 3:4 Breaking of God’s will, to any degree is called sin ( 1 Jn 3:4 ). Sin is bad. Nothing defines God’s character and His relationship to man as much as his absolute abhorrence of sin. God is God. God is Holy. God is King. Any breaking of his law results in absolute revulsion of those who reject His will. Sin makes us unholy.