Lesson 9 for March 3, 2012

SIN For man, history is what happened. We are not able to know what exactly will happen in the future. Nevertheless, God knows and gets involved in past and future history; He also has revealed it in His Word. Creation of man Eternal life Before ChristAfter Christ According to that revelation, God created man to happily live forever, and that’s our future. But that historical plot God wrote was interrupted by sin. The cross is the center of our history and ensures that God’s purpose for the future of man will be fulfilled. Sin is just a parenthesis in human history.

God knows and acts in the life of every living being. God knows and acts in the life of every person. God knows and acts in the future of every nation. God knows and acts in the future of mankind. Our history is part of a broader history; the cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan. The cross means the end of the cosmic conflict and makes a happy future for mankind and the universe possible. The prophets who wrote the Bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit. They countersigned their words with a categorical “Thus say the Lord” many times. We learn some aspects of our history thanks to that revelation:

“These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season. What You give them they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good. You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth” (Psalm 104: 27-30) “As regards this earth, Scripture declares the work of creation to have been completed. “The works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Hebrews 4:3. But the power of God is still exercised in upholding the objects of His creation. It is not because the mechanism once set in motion continues to act by its own inherent energy that the pulse beats, and breath follows breath. Every breath, every pulsation of the heart, is an evidence of the care of Him in whom we live and move and have our being. From the smallest insect to man, every living creature is daily dependent upon His providence” E.G.W. (Education, “The Bible as an educator”, “Science and Bible”, pg )

When Samuel anointed Saul as king of Israel, he predicted exactly everything that was going to happen to him in his way back to home. Saul believed God and “God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day” (1 Samuel, 10: 9) Does this divine knowledge about future involve that everything has already been decided and we are not able to alter our future? Sometimes God shows how He wants the future to be. Some other times, He shows how it will happen in case man doesn’t change his attitude. Although God knows what we will choose, that doesn’t cancel our free will.

““For I have set My face against this city for adversity and not for good,” says the Lord. “It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.”” (Jeremiah, 21: 10) “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah” (Isaiah, 13: 19) Prediction about the future of Judah because of their sins: Prediction about the future of Babylon because of their pride:

Death of the Beast In the book of Daniel, God shows our history from ±500 B.C. through our days, and also our future. Daniel 2Daniel 7Daniel 8

THE COSMIC CONFLICT We must study far beyond us in order to understand the history of our world. We are immersed in a conflict that spans over the whole universe; the cosmic conflict between Christ and Satan. Our individual and collective history is undoubtedly affected by those two struggling powers. Satan fights for our perdition, Christ fights for our salvation. Lucifer rebelled against God before the creation of the world (Isaiah, 14: 12-14). That conflict spread to our world and Satan appropriated it because of sin.

In the context of God and history, we can better appreciate the significance of salvation. At the Cross—with the obvious failure of all humans, and thus, human history—is where the world history takes place. The Cross tells us that, by forgiving us and making us His children, God has opened up a new future for us, a future in which we no longer need to drag along with us the enormous guilt of our past or of our personal history. This guilt has been taken away by One who “has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53:4)