God is Love

A large multi-colored bird is standing near the water’s edge. It is one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Suddenly with lightening bolt speed, a hideous monster with long, jagged teeth lunges at the feathered beauty. The alligator’s jaws slam shut — a leg, a wing, and a few feathers dangle outside momentarily. Two chomps, one gulp, and the object of my adoration is gone, descending into a chemical hell filled with digestive acids. I wonder how long the bird remained conscious.

The lovely singer is gone forever, devoured by a vile dragon. I don’t think it was a good trade; the beauty died and the dragon lived. But why? Why does alluring beauty exist in nature alongside repulsive ugliness? What is the meaning of this? Will this cycle exist forever? Is there no hope for a world free of suffering and death? Is there no hope for a time when ugliness will cease to exist and beauty will reign eternal?

The dullness of our senses strikes me every time I see graphic scenes of blood and brutality set against a background of nature’s fantastic beauty and wonderment. Our blurred spiritual vision hinders us so that we do not see the underlying perfection of God’s original creation under attack by an enemy bent on defacing it with suffering, decay and death. We see the present system of nature without recognizing that this arrangement is a temporary anomaly, which is destined to pass away. Listen to the mournful cry of all creation as it longs for redemption from its pain.

“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption . . . For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only [they], but ourselves also . . . even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for . . . the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:21a, 22, 23)

We should view nature as God’s “second Bible.” In its original pristine state, it was a beautiful love letter from the benevolent Creator to His children. But a deceiving enemy long ago began interpolating lies into the original love letter. The enemy dubbed messages of fear and torment over the pages of nature. Savagery obscures portraits of tender love and ugliness often devours beauty. But if we look thoughtfully, we will see countless remnants of the original message of love alongside the blight of decay.

Scripture indicates that God created all nature, including human nature, completely free from any disease causing bacteria or germs. It was because of sin that “death passed upon all men.”(Romans 5:12)God designed the original creation to function by natural laws perfectly and harmoniously. The earth itself apparently had a perfect underground plumbing system. A light dew or mist watered the ground every morning. “There went up a mist from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.”(Genesis 2:6) It was not until God destroyed the earth with a flood more than 1200 years after creation that the underground plumbing system, which the Bible refers to as “the fountains of the great deep were broken up.” (Genesis 7:11)

The earth probably was not tilted on an axis as it is today which would make for much more evenness of temperature worldwide. There would have been little or no extremes of hot or cold in such an environment. There was likely some form of hydro-canopy surrounding the earth to protect the environment from harmful UV rays. “And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament.”(Genesis 1:7) The word “firmament” is Bible terminology for atmosphere. The hydro-canopy above the atmosphere, or “firmament,” may have served as a light diffuser, spreading light over large portions of the globe continually as the earth rotated. This hydro-spheric light diffuser may have consisted of a thin water vapor or perhaps ice crystals. Diffused moonlight may have bathed the nighttime evenly in a very soft ambient light as opposed to the radiant diffusion of brightness during the daytime. Pitch darkness would have been completely unknown with such a hydro-spheric light diffuser above the atmosphere.

Of the following, we can be sure. There were no frozen wastes or barren scorching deserts. There were no overgrown jungles filled with rotting debris, mosquitoes, roaches, noxious weeds and poisonous vermin, no poison ivy. There were no vast oceans, but pleasant meandering rivers, babbling brooks, crystal clear lakes and springs. Decay and death simply did not exist on the earth at that time. “Both thorns and thistles”, the Bible says, sprang forth from the ground as a consequence of sin. The human body was now subject to death and decay. You will “return to the ground” said the Lord to Adam, “For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”(Genesis 3:17-19)

There was no food chainof animals as we observe today in nature. None of the animals subsisted on another’s flesh at the time of the original creation. Every creature living on the face of the planet, including man, subsisted wholly on a diet of fruits, nuts, cereals, and vegetables; and will once again subsist wholly on a plant-based diet, in the earth made new.

“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. 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.”(Genesis 1:29-30)

Of course, those original foods, free from disease and derangement, were certainly far more delicious and delectable than any we grow today; and surely there were fantastic varieties available then that we know nothing of today. This universal plant based diet will once again become the diet of God’s sinless kingdom when He remakes the earth new. Animals will not be killing one another and eating one another’s flesh, and human beings will never again eat the bodies of dead animals. No human or animal will ever die again after the earth is sterilized by fire and recreated fresh and new. The following texts make those facts clear.

“But the day of the Lord will come . . . in the which the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. . . . Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:10-11, 13-14)

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21: 4)

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cocatrice’ den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:6-9)

“For, behold,I create a new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. . . . I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. . . . The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.” (Isaiah 65:17, 19, 25)

As these texts indicate, in the new earth there will be no instinct in the nature of man or animal to kill other living creatures. Originally man was given dominion over the lower animals, and there existed a loving and harmonious relationship between them (See Genesis 1:26-28). There was no such thing as a “wild” animal at that time as the animals simply had no fear of man. However, all of this changed as the curse of sin rested ever more heavily upon nature.

“And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered[.] ” (Genesis 9:2)

Despite the confusing messages we see in nature, we still have sufficient evidence of God’s existence and His love. Rather than numbing ourselves through a constant blur of amusements we could take time and thoughtfully observe these things. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead.”(Romans 1:20a)

Our God desires to make us happy. He is a tender Father who cares for His children, made in His own image. The beautiful and wonderful things of nature testify to this. Spend time in nature looking at the many amazing things that are adapted to your needs. Ponder these things; meditate on them in light of the Bible’s claim that “God is love.”(1^stJohn 4:8, 16) Observe the marvelous gifts in nature so perfectly planned to provide pleasure. Through these gifts, God is revealing Himself to you. He’s telling you something about His interests, His thoughts and feelings; especially His thoughts and feelings for you. He wants to make you happy.

Think of the warm, health giving, purifying sunshine, and the cleansing, refreshing rain. Smell the fragrant air of a summer rose garden or a blossoming orchard in springtime. Listen to the melody of the birds.

A Whippoorwill sings outside my bedroom windows every night. I love to lay there in the dark, alone with God, and listen to my Whippoorwill friend. I love the fresh smelling country air wafting in the windows. These things make my heart glad. They don’t exist by accident. An extremely intelligent, fantastically skilled Designer created them with a loving, exciting purpose in mind.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”(Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV)

God gave you a fantastic array of beautiful colors spread out on nature’s palate, stunningly beautiful hills, valleys and meandering streams. Though now blighted with gross decay these incredible gifts will once again shine in pristine perfection, and remain so for all eternity.

God invented the DNA of powerful, magnificent horses like the Arabian, and shining, beautiful canines like the intelligent, high strung Australian Shepherd. He freely gave us all kinds and ranges of interesting and beautiful sounds to enjoy. He created a world filled with pleasant fragrances, and myriads of tongue tantalizing tastes ranging from sweet to tart, and many other wonderful complexities. His very first gift to his human children was a spectacular garden.

“And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 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 a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first [was] Pison: that [was] it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where [there was] gold; And the gold of that land [was] good: there [was] bdellium and the onyx stone. . . . And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”(Genesis 2:8-9a, 10-12, 15)

Our Father gave us eyes, ears, noses, nerves, finger tips, taste buds, and emotions to take in and gain exquisite pleasure from these things. He brings gladness to us through these simple gifts. But He didn’t stop there; He gave us so much more. He created family, intimate bonds with other human beings, made like us, in His own image.

“And the LORD God said, [It is] not good that the man should be alone. . . . And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” (Genesis 2:18a, 21-25)

“So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply.”(Genesis 1:27-28a)

God made a world of order with a purpose to please us. He designed His whole creation to operate harmoniously within the boundaries of natural laws that He in his Omniscient wisdom set in place. “God is Love!”(1^stJohn 4:8, 16).

Though God lavished us with all this evidence of His authorship and love, a vile, devious, supernatural enemy has blinded our minds, causing us to misunderstand what God is like.

Is there an enemy? The Bible says there is. Has the enemy planted corrupting seeds in a once perfect creation? The Bible says he has. According to Scripture, rebellion against the government of God first broke out in heaven itself. “And there was war in heaven.”(Revelation 12:7)

Lucifer, the powerful angel who served as first-minister near God’s throne in heaven, rose up against God’s gracious, reasonable authority. Using flattery and intrigue, Lucifer convinced one third of the angels to join his treacherous insurgence. Open warfare broke out in heaven and Lucifer, along with his traitorous followers, was defeated. Loyal angels hurled the rebels out of heaven.

How, we might wonder, could Lucifer convince a third of God’s angelic children in heaven to rebel against Him? Surely, it is a mystery. “God is love” personified. (1^st John 4:8-16) He clearly, as Creator, has jurisdictional authority over angels. Nevertheless, perfect angels, living in the perfect environment of heaven, under the mild sway of their perfect, all wise and loving Father somehow were deceived into believing lies about Him. They were convinced to rebel against Him and began a treacherous smear campaign against His reputation. That campaign of lies, transferred to earth is still as fierce as ever. God describes Lucifer, his privilege and rebellion in the following words,

“Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone [was] thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so]: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou [wast] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”(Ezekiel 28:12b-15)

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”(Isaiah 14:12-14)

Apparently, Lucifer, being a covering cherub, so gloriously adorned and highly privileged had a tremendous influence over the rest of the angels. They must have loved him, looked up to him, adored him and implicitly trusted him. How else could he have been able to manipulate them into rebelling against their wonderful Creator-Father?

Have you ever been betrayed? Have you ever had a trusted friend or loved one treacherously turn on you, betray sacred trusts, seek to smear your name, take advantage of you, steal your possessions or even desire your death? If so, you can understand something of the horrific pain and deep sorrow the rebellion in heaven surely brought to the heart of God. Not even a faulty sinful human being like you or me deserves to be betrayed and slandered. Certainly, our perfect God didn’t deserve it!

Lucifer’s rejection of God’s government was causeless. By rebelling without a just cause, Lucifer seared his conscience; he became worthless and incurable. That once noble being became monstrously evil. He became a demon — a supernatural being who emanates an evil influence or spirit. Therefore, Lucifer’s name was changed. He is now Satan, the Serpent, and the Great Dragon. (See Revelation 12:7-9)

Lucifer had an admirable and honorable name and title before his rebellion. Lucifer means Light-bearer — Son-of-the-morning, or Morning star. (See Isaiah 14:12) But his new name and titles since his fall have reprehensible meanings.

(1) Satan = adversary

(2) Devil = slanderer

(3) Serpent = clever deceiver

(4) Dragon = monstrous character

All of the rebellious angels have these negative characteristics in common with their leader.

The rebels planted seeds of discontent towards God’s government that the loyal beings of the universe could not fully comprehend. Therefore, God did not immediately execute Satan and his horde of traitors; instead, He granted them time to fully develop the bitter fruit of their deviant form of government for all to see. God speak™ Bible Guide 3, Real Drama in the theater of the Universe develops this concept of the earth as a universal stage, a lesson book for the intelligent beings of God’s vast realm of jurisdiction. (See 1^st Corinthians 4:9b; Job 1:6-2:6)

Even if your concept of God’s intelligent creation is limited to men and angels you must concede that the holy angelic ministers have an incredibly vast expanse to oversee. The universe is so enormous as to literally be beyond human comprehension. The loyal angels range far and wide in the administration of their duties for the government of God. (See Psalm 104:1-4; Daniel 7:10; Revelation 5:11-13)

God foresaw that humans would join the rebellion. He knew that, under those circumstances, a complete multi-generational demonstration of the ruinous effect of sin was the only way to safeguard the intelligent beings He had created from ever entertaining thoughts of rebellion again. That is why He has allowed 6,000 years of sin and suffering on this beleaguered world.

But God has everything under control and always has. I’m laughing as I write this because it is so evident, so simple! When the time is right, every person who has ever lived will live again. All things will be set right. Those whom He can trust with eternal life will freely receive it. And all those that cannot be trusted will be judged and destroyed, permanently. They will “perish.” It is just as simple as that!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”(John 3:16)

“There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”(Acts 24:15b)

“He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”(Reveloation 21:7-8)

“Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.”(Revelation 20:6a)

“Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken [it].”(Isaiah 1:16-20)

“If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. “(Matthew 19:17)

“Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”(Revelation 22:14)

These promises greatly encourage me. I’m sure that all the pain, all the suffering, all the sorrows and heartaches of this life, all the horrors and tragedies, wars, betrayals, murders, rapes, acts of extreme cruelty, starvations, horrible diseases, deformities and heartless abuses will fade away in our memories. All things will be new and wonderful.

When that glorious tomorrow gets here, it won’t be tomorrow any more — it will be today! We can greedily indulge a burnout phase of selfish “cake-eating” now and lose eternal life in “paradise” or we can patiently, obediently, faithfully learn God’s way and spend never-ending ages eating the fabulously delicious true “CAKE-OF-GOD” forever. (Revelation 2:7b) We’ll eat from a vast magnificent wedding cake unlike any trivial thing we’ve ever tasted in this paltry, passing old world.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son [and daughter].”(Revelation 21:1-7)

“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:16-17)

“For since the beginning of the world [men] have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, [what] he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” (Isaiah 64:4)

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”(1^stCorinthians 2:9-10)

Okay, let’s look again at the first rebels. Sure, God could have killed the angelic traitors immediately, thereby causing His intelligent creation to obey Him out of raw fear. But He wants heartfelt obedience based on respect and love for Him and appreciation for the principles of His government. There will not be any fawning, timeserving hypocrites among the citizens of the realm of light. No politics! The eternal Father wants true believers, true loyalists to populate his glorious kingdom. The wise and sovereign God will have nothing short of that.

Now the question arises: What will God ultimately do with the devil? We’ve touched on this briefly already, but let’s focus more intently for a few moments. Many Christians believe that God will torment the devil and unrepentant people in hell forever, eternity without end. That superstitious notion is not taught in the Bible.

Please take a few minutes and think this through. The devil invented sin. (See 1^st John 3:8) Certainly, God is not going to allow the devil, His archenemy to continue sinning forever. (See Ezekiel 28:18-19) That fact alone tells us that the torments of hell will be a judicial act, which will take place in the future, and then will end with the permanent eradication of the devil. God speak™ Bible Guide 5, Hell: When, Where, for How Long? easily clears-up any misinterpretation of Revelation 20:10 and proves from the Bible that hell is a future event that will take place on the earth’s surface and in its atmosphere. It will accomplish it judicial, punitive, sterilizing purpose and then end. (See 2^ndPeter 3:4-14; Revelation 20:11-15; 21:1-5)

God will not allow disobedience to remain permanently in His eternal kingdom; therefore, any one who remains unrepentant forfeits the privilege to dwell there. But that poses a conundrum because the day is coming when God’s kingdom will be the only government in the entire universe. According to Daniel 2:26-44 and many other passages in Scripture, all other governments will eventually end.

God cannot allow rebels to live in His kingdom because they would continually disrupt the peace and tranquility of loyal citizens. The rebels would corrupt that society and bring the same sorrow and suffering into it that we experience in this present temporal age.

Since there is no room for sin in God’s kingdom, and since there won’t be any other place for incorrigible rebels to go, they will forfeit life — they will face judicial punishment for their rebellion. That punishment will end with their complete obliteration. God will literally blot them out; they will cease to exist forever.

God makes it very clear what will happen to anyone not willing to abide by the constitution of His eternal kingdom of love. He will destroy them; they will perish. (See John 3:16; Mark 12:9; 1^stCorinthians 3:17; Hebrews 2:14; Psalm 37:20; Ezekiel 28:18-19)

If those Bible texts alone aren’t enough to convince us, then let’s look at this from another perspective. What possible reason could God have for allowing sin and incorrigible sinners to continue to exist for all eternity without end? Surely He has the power to end the existence of both sin and sinners if He so chooses. And why would God allow suffering to go on and on for all eternity without end? Surely He has the power to end all suffering if He so chooses.

Would viewing the sufferers in hell from time to time sufficiently terrify the dwellers in heaven so as to keep them in line? Terrorism might make some people “obey” rules out of raw fear, but will it produce love and loyalty in their hearts? Will terrorism draw the hearts of sinners to repent and love the God they once hated and hate the sin they once loved? Hardly!

Fear is not the primary ingredient in any relationship that requires loyalty and faithfulness. The Bible tells us “God is love.”(1^st John 4:8) “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth [crucified in your place for your sins], will draw all [people] unto me” said Jesus. (John 12:32) Even in ancient “Old Testament” times, it was not the fear of God that drew loyal followers to Him, but a revelation of His love. “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, [saying], Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” (Jeremiah 31:3) So the beauty of God, His ways, His laws, His love, attract us, they lure us, they draw us to Him as loyal followers.

Healthy respect or “fear” does have a rightful place in our relationship with our Creator. The sorrows, sufferings, heartaches and diseases that affect our lives are a powerful inducement to search for a solution to pain and the eventual death that awaits us. Furthermore, God’s warning of a second eternal death to the unrepentant should grab our attention and cause us to think and search for answers to our dilemma.

So we either try to numb our fears with passing pleasure and the world’s futile philosophies, or we persistently search till we find Christ. As we behold Christ, His loving-kindness exerts a strong pull on our hearts. Unless we resist that powerful magnet of love, we will surrender to the appeal of His matchless charms and will become a loyal supporter of His kingdom. God will even forgive a betrayer if that person becomes sorry enough to repent and seek to make restitution and live faithfully.

God knows that true, deep, trusting, abiding love is the only glue that can bind hearts together in unbreakable, everlasting bonds. When we see that, we will also see that every teaching about the nature and destiny of the human soul must reveal God’s love. Love is the fundamental principle of God’s government and laws.

“Love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if [there be] any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [is] the fulfilling of the law.”(Romans 13:8-10)

Lucifer became Satan when he rejected the principle of love that under-girds the government of God’s kingdom and replaced it with a selfish me-first attitude. That corrupt principle is deeply rooted in fallen human nature. Selfishness (lawlessness from God’s perspective) pervades our economics, our sports, our television programs, fashions, dietary habits, movies, and music. Frankly, selfishness pervades almost every facet of life on this planet in rebellion. Since the Fall, it has been the primary motivating factor of every unregenerate human heart. Certainly, Satan is “the god of this world.”(2^ndCorinthians 4:4a)

All who do not renounce this selfishness and learn to love will ultimately be destroyed as unfit subjects of Christ’s kingdom. They will not fit into a world of unselfish love. Nevertheless, despite their just destruction in the fires of hell they will not suffer for all eternity without end. Their suffering will ultimately end and they will no longer exist.

Perhaps the greatest reason that the sufferings of hell will not last forever is the fact that God suffers with His creation. Love and suffering are inseparable so long as sin exists. Have you ever loved someone who lied to you, spoke harshly to you or even betrayed your love? Did that experience bring pain to your heart? Did it wound you deeply? Why did it hurt so much? Would it have hurt so deeply if you had not loved that person?

Perhaps you have done something that brought pain to someone that you love very much. Perhaps you saw pain in their eyes or etched on their face. Did you suffer heartache and remorse when you realized how much pain you had caused the one you deeply loved?

Millions of people in this world are suffering. Perhaps you feel sorry for them. But are you in deep anguish over their suffering? Probably not, because you don’t know them intimately. God is love and He knows every one of us intimately. He suffers with His creation. Every hurt suffered by one of His creatures pierces His own heart.

The mental pain of Christ at Calvary was so great that He hardly even noticed the physical. You and I have the power to relieve suffering in the heart of God. How so? When we see the pain, we can choose to never again say or do that thing, which has brought Him such suffering. When we see the pain we have caused to others we can choose to never again say or do the things that caused the pain. This is the cure for sin.

Pour your heart out to God on your knees. Agonize there for hours if need be with your Bible open. Let the tears flow; wail if need be! Stay there until you know that He is bathing you in his love and infusing you with strength to stop doing the thing that hurts Him and the thing that hurts others and the thing that hurts your own soul. The more we invest in something the more precious it becomes to us. Come back to Him every day on your knees. “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”(James 4:10) “Learn from me;” says Jesus, “for I am meek and lowly in heart”(Matthew 28:29b)

Now we must conclude that God is not going to suffer for all eternity without end by viewing children made in His own image writhing in never ending torments. The wrongdoers who refuse to repent will receive their just punishment and “they shall be as though they had not been.”(Obadiah 1:16b) God is going to put a permanent end to sin. There will be no more suffering, no pain in your heart, or anyone else’s heart and no not even in God’s heart.

As we have already noted, God drove Satan and his followers out of heaven because they are unfit for the loving, holy society there. However, God did not immediately destroy the rebels. Instead, He gave them opportunity to find other sympathizers who might unite with them in rebellion. Satan and his army needed a base from which to continue their insurgence against God’s government. Homeless aliens, these powerful extraterrestrial beings were cast to the pristine earth where God gave them a chance (within limited boundaries) to try to convince humans to join them in rebellion.

Parallel Dimensions

Do you believe that supernatural beings exist in an unseen dimension right along side of us? The Bible says they do. In this chapter, we are going to peer into the dramatic scene in the Garden of Eden as a supernatural being, in disguise, tempts Adam and Eve to join him in rebellion against the government of God. Before proceeding with that drama, it will be helpful to demonstrate that the existence of an unseen dimension of supernatural beings is scientifically plausible.¹

Angelic beings have real tangible bodies perhaps of a different nature and substance than any science has yet detected. Both holy and demonic beings exist, side-by-side with us, though we usually do not see them. Sadistic demons are all around us scheming and laboring tirelessly to hurt, tempt and deceive us. But thank God, holy angels regularly come to our aid to protect us against demonic angels and other dangers, although we usually don’t see or feel them.

Lest anyone doubt the existence of solid substances that are transparent or not seen, may I suggest that you walk over to the nearest window and touch it, or perhaps you might thrust your hand into some clear “liquid” water. Glass windows and clear water prove that an unseen “solid” dimension is within the realm of scientific possibility. You can see right through a “solid” window as though it is not even there — but it is there!

We think of a rock as a solid substance according to the common definition of “solid.” But the common idea of “solid” is actually false. A granite boulder and any other so-called “solid” substance on earth is almost entirely empty space. If we could eliminate the empty space in a granite boulder, “all that would remain would be a tiny bit of matter so small as to be invisible even with a high-powered microscope.”²

The fact that there is almost unlimited empty space within matter is a fundamental atomic principle. There is no such thing as a “solid” atom. Each individual atom is actually a “tiny solar system composed of infinitely small particles revolving at tremendous speeds and bound together by enormous forces.”³Atoms are almost entirely empty space, much like our own solar system.

Let’s overlook the powerful forces within atoms for a few minutes and focus on the vast empty space surrounding the tiny particles. Aside from the atomic forces present in atoms, there is no other known scientific reason why you can’t take a so-called “solid rock” and throw it right on through a “solid” window without breaking the window.

Because both the rock and the window are actually made up of almost entirely empty space, the rock would pass through the window without damage to the window. But I don’t advise trying it, because it won’t work — due to the interactive atomic forces in both the rock and window you’ll certainly end up with a pile of shattered glass.

The Bible speaks of walking through walls, but if you were to try it without supernatural help, you wouldn’t get anything for your effort but a few bumps and bruises. Nevertheless, your body would not be prevented from passing through that wall by a collision of particles, but rather a collision of forces. Atom bombs are a product of these powerful forces we have been describing. If it were not for these atomic forces, your body could pass freely back and forth through any wall just as though it were not there.

It is within the realm of scientific possibility that there could be two worlds, coexistent, occupying the same part of space at the same moment of time, each world just as real as the other. . . . One world could pass freely through the other world, neither world being conscious of the existence of the other world, if you’d grant just one thing: atomic forces within the material substance of these two worlds that are not mutually interactive.⁴

You could easily walk through a wall without any resistance from the wall, and without leaving a hole in the wall or injuring yourself, if your atomic structure could be altered so as not to be mutually interactive with the wall. You and the wall would not actually “touch” at all when you passed through it because of the vast amount of space between the actual solid matter in your atoms and the wall’s atoms. You wouldn’t even feel the wall when you walked through it. And, we repeat, the wall wouldn’t show any physical signs that you had walked through it. It is only the atomic forces that prevent two “solid” things from passing right through each other.

So, it is scientifically reasonable to believe that angels, good and demonic, do exist-side-by-side with us in a parallel dimension. It is scientifically possible for them to have bodies that can walk through walls. It is also scientifically plausible that we can live side-by-side with these beings that have celestial bodies, and yet not see or feel them. (See Luke 24:39b; 1^st Corinthians 15:40)Even though their bodily nature or structure may be different in some respects from ours, they are not bodiless ghosts in the classic sense — they either have a structure that is not mutually interactive with our atomic structure, or they have a way to circumvent the atomic forces.

Holy angels often take the physical form of humans in Bible stories and even eat food. They are often referred to as “men” or “the man” in Bible stories because they resemble humans in a glorified state. (See Revelation 21:17; Genesis 18:1-19:17; Daniel 8:15-19; 9:21; 10:18; 12:6-7; Matthew 28:2-4) The important point for us to understand about supernatural spirits is that even though unseen they have powerful influence — that is why the Bible calls them spirits.

Now let’s return to our drama. Satan knew that God had created humans to populate the earth and to hold dominion over it as His legal vicegerents. (See Genesis 1:26-28) The earth could provide the base Satan needed. But first, within the boundaries of the “rules of war” that God had set in place, Satan would have to convince the rightful vicegerents of the earth to turn over their representative authority to him.

If he could once convince them to disobey God and obey him instead, he would effectively take their place as the recognized representative of earth. He would become their ruler. (See Romans 6:16) He would become “the god of this world.” (2^ndCorinthians 4:4a) With that in mind, he carefully laid plans to deceive the human race and cause us to join his rebellion against God.

Satan disguised himself and engaged Eve, the first woman, in conversation. Eve, though created as a physically and mentally mature adult, was nevertheless very inexperienced. The disguised alien had lived for untold ages in the very presence of God. His cosmic knowledge, wisdom, and sophistication placed him at a tremendous advantage as he sought to dupe Eve by using her words and immature logic to his advantage.

The Bible confirms that Satan the Serpent is the father of lies. He invented lying. (See John 8:44) During his conversation with Eve, he told the first lie ever spoken to a human being. Through that deliberate distortion of reality, Satan succeeded in deceiving the parents of the human race into joining him in sin, the breaking of God’s Law. “Sin is the transgression of the law.”(1^stJohn 3:4b)

Now, in our mind’s eye, let’s go hundreds of generations back in time and look at the scene as Satan the Serpent seduces the first woman with the first lie.

“The serpent . . . 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 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.” (Genesis 3:1-5)

With his very first lie in the Garden of Eden, Satan began deceiving humanity about what happens to the human soul as a consequence of sin.Satan“said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.”(Genesis 3:4) Eve’s dialogue with the Serpent gives clear evidence that she had received warning. Though Eve had never seen death, we must assume that she understood the concept in theory because God had warned her and her husband that if they broke His law they would die.

“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.”(Genesis 2:16-17)

Please keep in mind that Satan’s access to Adam and Eve was limited to “the tree of knowledge of good and evil” which was “in the midst of the garden” of “Eden”. We may also reasonably assume that if Adam and Eve had resolutely avoided any contact with the tree, God would have eventually removed both it and the tempter from the garden. Satan would not have had an unlimited and never-ending opportunity to tempt and harass our first parents. Once the angels of heaven had all firmly established their decisions either for or against obedience to God Satan and the disloyal angels were booted out. Further temptation of the remaining loyal angels would have been pointless. The same principle would apply to Adam and Eve. A resolute demonstration of loyalty on their part would have signaled that it was time for Satan and the tree of knowledge of good and evil to be dispatched out of the garden.

So long as Adam and Eve avoided that tree and avoided entering into any dialogue with the more sophisticated and experienced Serpent, they would be on safe ground.

God could not have devised a milder test of loyalty. Adam and Eve had been given the entire planet in its pristine unspoiled beauty and overflowing with vast stores of wealth. (See Genesis 1-2) Every tree in the garden was theirs to enjoy. God withheld only one tree from them. They simply had no excuse to go near it. Tragically and inexcusably, Eve did carelessly go too near the tree. She then compounded her problem by naively entering into dialogue with the dazzling tempter.

Picture the riveting drama at the tree as it might have played out. Satan the Serpent engages lovely Eve in dialogue and she becomes an easy prey to his sophisticated deceptions. She yields to the temptation and then, finding her absent husband, becomes a powerful temptress herself. Imagine the devastating astonishment and consternation that Adam must feel as he realizes that his stunningly gorgeous wife, his delicious, intimate lover, his only human companion has incurred the death penalty. Imagine the struggle that must be going on in his mind as he weighs what to do. Adam’s love for Eve is very strong. He realizes that she will die and he can’t bear the thought of being separated from his beautiful, beloved counterpart, so in utter discouragement he resolves to die with her. He seizes the fruit and quickly eats it.

God had given Adam abundant evidence of His love. He could have pleaded in faith to the loving Creator to find a way of rescuing Eve. He could have cried out in his grief and despair to God, imploring that if Eve must die, then he wanted to die with her. Such a heartbroken cry would not have been sin. Many generations later Moses actually modeled this very principle as he pleaded to die with his people if God could not find a way to forgive them. (See Exodus 32:32)

Whatever the details, the Bible succinctly presents the awful truth that both the honorable man and pure woman fell. Satan’s plan was that Adam and Eve should eat from the tree of life, and thereby live forever in sin and disobedience. In that manner, sin would be immortalized. So God sent holy angels to drive them out of the garden, while a security detail of God’s loyal angels were commissioned immediately to prevent access to the tree of life. Mortals doomed to misery, sickness and death now fill the once perfect world that God had so lovingly created.

When Adam and Eve came forth, fresh from the Creator’s hand, there were no corrupt principles within their psyche, not even on a sub conscious level. Guilt and the disobedient desires that produce it were unknown. There was no survival of the fittest mentality. Adam and Eve enjoyed a relationship of complete equality and freedom of individuality. Made in God’s image they each had distinct roles that fit together in harmony without the slightest hint of a power struggle between them. But sin changed all of that! Sinful propensities would cause disputes and disagreements to arise. This painful conflict between intimate lovers contributes to the sum of life's wretchedness in a sinful world.

Now let’s go back for a moment and picture the scene in pristine Eden before the corrupting effects of sin brought decay, deformity and disease to the human body — before guilt and shame degraded human happiness. Created “in the image of God” Adam and Eve were guided by the same principle of love that defines God. The implication of Scripture is that they were clothed in pearlescent garments of light just as the holy angels are. Those beautiful robes made of light adorned their perfectly formed, unblemished bodies just as surely as cloth covers our nakedness and blemishes today. It was undoubtedly not a transparent light, but perhaps an iridescent covering light with a softer shine than satin. Modern science has clearly established that mass (which is what cloth is), and light energy is the same thing in a different state. We also know that light contains within its spectrum all of the colors of the rainbow. Like a pearlescent rainbow, with some colors fixed, and some colors changing according to position, how gloriously iridescent those beautiful robes of light must have seemed to our first parents in Eden, and how very protective, warm, and unbelievably comfortable.

But something happened, something terrible. When they rebelled against the Creator’s authority, they lost their innocence, lost their beautiful robes of light, and for the first time they experienced a sense of nakedness and shame. “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”(Genesis 3:7)Apparently, the light robes faded away when they severed their direct connection with the Light Giver through rebellion.

They not only lost something, they also acquired something in the transaction — something morally noxious which they would pass on to their posterity via DNA. Using the analogy of a garden, seeds of lawlessness (weed seeds, if you will) were first planted within human nature at that awful moment. Adam and Eve then passed on to their posterity the only nature they possessed — a nature corrupted and deranged with the weeds of sin.Those “weeds” have been passed down from one “human garden plot” to the next for the past 6,000 years. In most cases, they are increasing in variety and virility as each generation “cultivates” them.

There are really only three temptations and three sins. All sin falls under one or more of the three following categories, sensualism, materialism, and egotism.

The Bible refers to these as “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.”(1^stJohn 2:16b) They are excessive, inordinate lust for passion, possession, and position.

A teen or young adult might remember these three temptations as Stuff, Fluff, and Puff ☺ ☻.

Eve “saw that the tree was good for food.” This was “lust of the flesh” — passion — sensualism — appetite — fluff. She saw that it was “pleasant to the eyes.” This was “lust of the eyes” — possession — materialism — stuff. And she saw that it was “a tree to be desired to make [one] wise.” This was temptation to “pride of life” — position — egotism — puff. “She took of the fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate”(Genesis 3:6 NKJV)

Jesus, in order to be our perfect human substitute, had to overcome, on all three points of temptation that Adam and Eve had failed on. Consequently, before entering upon public ministry his first act was to fully face and absolutely overcome these three temptations while residing in sin-weakened human flesh and under the most distressing and forbidding circumstances.

“And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

“And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

“And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”(Mark 4:1-12)

So, in the wilderness Christ was tempted on the point of appetite, or passion (“turn these stones to bread”), possessions (“all these things I will give you”), and position (“If you are the Son of God” prove it!)

Jesus overcame on all three points. It was not necessary for Him to be tempted with every particular sin that every human being has ever been tempted with in order to be our representative and example. He only needed to overcome on the three types of temptation. Everyone is tempted to sensuality in some form but not all are tempted to overeat, adultery, homosexuality, drugs, etc. But the principle is the same and that is what Jesus met when tempted on the point of appetite while starving.

Jesus entered the wilderness in a vastly weaker condition than Adam in Eden, and overcame on every point upon which Adam had failed. His amazing victory in the depressing wilderness was as full and complete as was the absolute failure of Adam in delightful Eden.

Jesus Christ, in the wilderness, faced all of the subtleties and feints of the master deceiver. He undertook the battle already weakened to the point of starvation after enduring six weeks without any food. Yet His suffering had only begun. For the next three and one half years He was constantly hounded by Satan who stretched his demonic efforts and superhuman powers to their utmost limits to make Christ’s life miserable in the hope that He would become discouraged, give up the fight and go home to heaven, leaving us to our certain doom.

Throughout His life, Jesus was the special object of Satan’s hatred. Never has any human being suffered such intense and relentless hounding by demons as Christ suffered. Conceived in an unmarried virgin He spent His entire earthly life sneered at and gossiped about, being referred to as an illegitimate bastard, a terrible stigma in that social culture.

He, the Creator and rightful owner of all things, lived in poverty, and said of Himself:

“Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” (Luke 9:58)

Jesus, Creator of the universe, spent countless nights sleeping on the cold hard ground, and many a morning He awakened wet with dew upon His hair and clothing. He was often hungry, thirsty, weary, and lonely. And yet He never used His divine power, not even once, to ease His heavy burdens or to evade some uncomfortable situation. Many times when His humanity was fainting and dying under extreme stress divinity sustained Him just enough to keep Him conscious and functioning. Thereby His suffering was prolonged and intensified.

His enemies hounded Him constantly seeking any occasion to misconstrue His words so that they might have Him arrested and put to death. Even His dearest friends didn’t understand Him very well, and this made His experience an especially lonely one. His loneliness was intensified beyond our understanding when we consider that He was pure and holy by nature and was surrounded on every side with impurity and defilement. He was very sensitive to the crudeness of sinful humanity and even association with His friends and disciples was, in a certain sense, a painful experience for Him.

But it was that very purity and absolute sinlessness that led Him to endure such contradiction and discomfort without succumbing to the temptation to use His limitless divine power to relieve His own suffering. He was the only person to live His entire life in this world without the slightest taint of disloyalty. (See Luke 6:12)

Just as Christ’s ministry was inaugurated by an intense confrontation with Satan in the wilderness, in like manner it ended with a final struggle of even greater intensity and infinitely greater suffering. The wilderness confrontation was about the terrible power that unholy appetites and desireshave over human nature, but the final struggle was about awful eternal separation from God. His final struggle was about the horrors of hell’s punishment meted out to each unrepentant sinner in proportion to a lifetime of lawless deeds. His earthly ministry began with a baptism of water but ended with a baptism of blood, His own precious blood. At last, He would become the Lamb foretold in Eden.

God gave Adam and Eve delicious foods and ecstatic sexual joy — passion (appetite). He gave them the fantastic possession of this earth in its original perfection and beauty, and the position of dominion as His personal representatives of earth. But since the fall, sin has amalgamated with these three gifts, perverting their expression in humanity.

Satan uses our perverted appetites and passions( “lust of the flesh”)to bring us into a condition of physical and moral weakness, that he may easily overcome us. (Galatians 5:16) He is highly successful in tempting us to indulge appetite, regardless of the result. He well knows that it is impossible for us to discharge our obligations to God while we impair the moral faculties, which God has given us.

The forebrain is the capitol of the soul. If we benumb our spiritual faculties through intemperance of any kind, eternal things are not recognized and understood as they should be, and the voice of God eventually won’t be recognized in our conscience at all.

In our fallen condition, we naturally grasp greedily for material possessions (“lust of the eyes”)Even good things, wife, husband, children, home, good food, and many other normally innocent things are elevated to a position of gods in our lives as a result of our selfish grasping. And the God given desire for a noble position of responsibility and dominion becomes a selfish jostling for position(“pride of life”) in a dog eat dog, survivor mentality. So the stuff, fluff, and puff of life can get us down spiritually if we don’t watch carefully.

Tragically Eve was deceived, and then Adam willingly joined her in rebellion (see 1Timothy 2:14; Genesis 3:6) The Serpent convinced Eve that she was suffering by not having what he claimed the tree of knowledge of good and evil offered, and that the only way to relieve the suffering would be to eat some of the fruit of the tree. The power of all temptation is rooted in a desire to relieve self of the sufferings of want.

The suffering may be real or imagined, but even if only an unjustified sense of suffering conjured up in the imagination it is felt and experienced as though it were real. In that sense, even imagined suffering is “real.” Eve fantasized that she was missing out on some special things that would enhance her happiness. The deceiver convinced her that God was arbitrarily withholding those things from her. She bought into the lie that the forbidden tree had some special magical powers that would relieve her imagined suffering. (See Genesis 3:1-6)

The best practical, working definition of suffering is as follows: Suffering is wanting something you don’t have, or having something you don’t want. Experiment with this concept for a while and you will see that it is a simple and yet profound truth.

Jesus suffered humiliation, hunger, thirst, weakness, loneliness, poverty, fear of loss, and all of the other innocent sufferings common to humanity. He was tempted to use His inherent divine power to relieve His own suffering, an option (an extremely powerful temptation) which the rest of us do not have to endure. This was a powerful test for Him and corresponded with our test to break the divine law in order to bring temporary relief to our sufferings.

The addict suffers because he wants something that he does not have. He thinks that the amusement or narcotic that he is addicted to will make him happy.

The Aids victim suffers because she has something that she doesn’t want — aids! Fear and pain spoil her happiness.

The soap opera addict suffers an imaginary lack when circumstances cause her to miss her favorite program. She goes into “Soap-DTs.” She fantasizes that absorbing herself in the filthy sex tripping, money grasping, ego indulging soap-opera will bring some happiness.

The husband and father with playboy tendencies suffers abnormal stress when family duties get in the way of his lusts. He’s tempted to relieve his warped suffering by sleeping with another man’s wife.

Little Susie, who already wades through a room full of toys, throws a tantrum, in Wal-Mart, when mommy refuses to buy the trivial time-waster she impulsively, “just had to have in order to be happy.”

Jim and Angie imagine themselves to be suffering because they can’t afford as fancy a house and automobiles as their neighbors. So Angie forgoes home schooling her children in lieu of a career with a paycheck.

Randall aspires to a high social position and political power therefore; he spends inordinate amounts of time working on those egocentric goals while neglecting intimacy with his own children. He is bored when spending time with his children and imagines himself suffering deprivation that comes from the lack of life fulfillment.

Let’s briefly go back to Eden in our mind’s eye and observe our original mother as she buys into Satan’s sugar-coated false concept of happiness. We will discover that what she actually got was not enhanced happiness, but a corrupted nature with its inherent seeds of unhappiness.

Eve’s Folly

The deceiver told Eve that by eating of the tree she would become “like God.” She forgot that in her sinless state, created in His image, she already was like God! By yielding to temptation she actually became like the Serpent, the very opposite of God! The Serpent then used her to manipulate her magnificent husband into dishonoring himself by committing a disgraceful, inexcusable, brash betrayal of God.

Adam placed his human love for Eve above his love and loyalty to the One who had given her to him. The moment Adam made that choice, sin (lawlessness) wedded itself with human nature. Selfishness, which is the root of all sin, took the place of pure love in human nature. Adam then passed on to his posterity via DNA the only nature that he possessed, a nature corrupted with selfishness.

All of us have been born with inherent selfishness, inherent propensities of disobedience. (See Psalm 51:5 & 58:3) We compound our problem by cultivating bad habits, strengthening our bent toward sin. God commands us to overcome these bad habits. (See 1^stPeter 2:11)

It isn’t enough to do good deeds, to donate money or time to community or church service. Doing good deeds is good and commendable but it doesn’t balance the ledger! (See Luke 17:7-10; Romans 3:10-31; Galatians 6:3; Matthew 7:13-27; 1^stCorinthians 13:1-13) God requires complete surrender of self to Him. Salvation from God is complete; therefore, your surrender to God must be complete.

When everyone obeys God’s Law, each individual cares as much for everyone else’s happiness as he does for his own; the result is paradise, perfect happiness for everyone. But when everyone disobeys the law of love, then each person cares more for himself than for his neighbor. That causes the rivalry, conflict, and unhappiness that we see manifested in families, between lovers, in sports, business, and international relations.

When the Lying Serpent introduced selfishness into the nature of humans, he marred the image of God in human nature. God would not permit a deviant, Satan-like, image of Himself to become immortalized in His children, so He barred us from the tree of life and gave us a temporary probationary life in which to consider changing course. (See Genesis 3:22-24) Our blockage from the tree is a temporary, emergency measure that will ultimately be reversed for every person who returns to loyalty to God. (See Revelation 2:7; 22:2, 14)

Now comes the BIG question. How can you find happiness? The answer is simple. Instead of selfishly pursuing happiness, if you obey God, happiness will find you; happiness will pursue and overtake you!

Moses may be the greatest man that ever lived on this planet excepting Jesus. He had everything the carnal heart could possibly desire, yet he chose to forego it all for a promised kingdom that he believed existed, though no one on earth had ever actually seen it. “By faith Moses . . . [chose]rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.”(Hebrews 11:24-26)

The magnificent palace of Pharaoh and the monarch's throne were held out as an inducement to Moses; but he knew that the sinful pleasures that make men forget God were in its lordly courts. He looked beyond the gorgeous palace, beyond a monarch's crown, to the high honors that will be bestowed on the saints of the Most High in a kingdom untainted by sin. He saw by faith an imperishable crown that the King of heaven would place on the brow of the overcomer. This faith led him to turn away from the lordly ones of earth and join the humble, poor, despised nation that had chosen to obey God rather than to serve sin.⁵

Moses delivered God’s formula for finding happiness to ancient Israel. It’s recorded in Deuteronomy 28. The formula hasn’t changed. It will never change because it is based upon the eternal principles of God’s universal government. God has promised us ultimate happiness if we will follow His happiness formula and “it is impossible for God to lie.” (Hebrews 6:18) Please read God’s formula for happiness from the Bible as Moses delivered it — Deuteronomy 28:1-14

Did you read it? Write out verse 2, on a sheet of paper right now and post it somewhere for encouragement. “And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.” (Deut 28:2). You don’t have to chase happiness, happiness will pursue and overtake you if you will meet God’s condition. What is that condition? Faithful obedience.

With the loss of my beloved family, my injuries, cancer and financial losses, I am suffering a lot right now; but even now, I have the confident hope of eternal life and ultimate happiness. (See Revelation 21:1-5)

God can reverse a lot of our inherited corruption through a process called sanctification. “Sanctify them through thy truth,” says the Lord, “Thy word is truth.” (John 17:17). Personal sanctification naturally bequeaths both character blessings and physical blessings as a legacy from generation to generation through influence and genetic inheritance. God has promised godly parents who obey His lifestyle laws that He will “bless the fruit of thy womb.” (Deuteronomy 7:13).

We see this principle in the breeding of plants and domestic animals. Do you have to order a packet of weed seeds, from a seed catalog, in order to grow weeds in your garden? Of course not! Weeds are already there in the garden plot, naturally. But with God’s help, you can uproot the spiritual weeds from the garden of your heart.

In our selfish pursuit of happiness, we greedily grasp and claw for sensual indulgence — sex without love — pigged out on food — overloaded on feely fluff. A teen might be pressured to introduce herself or himself by “sexting.”⁶ How disgusting and degrading in the eyes of a holy God! My young friend, God will forgive but this is something you can’t undo once done. Even though forgiven, the consequences of foolish choices often remain. Think it through; you can do better. You will do right and be happy doing it when God is in your heart! I promise you. Happiness will chase you and overtake you. You will never regret doing right.

We do the workaholic thing, or even lie, cheat and steal so we can have our toys — the stuff we think will make us happy. But happiness isn’t found in things. Things can bring fleeting pleasure but not deep abiding happiness. The pursuit of pleasure leaves us empty in the end.

We want our egos flattered and stroked. We love being #1, all puffed up shooting our index finger in the air. Like the basketball player violently swinging his elbows as he comes down with a rebound, we’re gonna win no matter who gets hurt in the process — we don’t care!

Like the professed Christian who feed’s her mind daily on filthy soap operas, the carnal mind is so blinded by it’s sinful indulgences that it doesn’t even realize how totally unfit for paradise it is. How does God judge who’s fit for paradise and who isn’t? He looks inside. “For as he [she] thinks in his [her] heart so is he [she].” (Proverbs 23:7).

My young friend you don’t have to insanely try to cram a zillion years worth of pleasure into this short earthly life. If you become friends with God, you’re gonna live for all eternity. Your pleasures will never end. (See Psalm 16:11; 36:7-8) Slow down and smell the roses! Take your pleasures temperately. If you trust Jesus to forgive you and faithfully seek to obey Him, you never die the “second death.” “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” “Blessed and holy [is] he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power.” (Revelation 2:11b; 20:6a)

At the resurrection, it wouldn’t do any good to give brand new bodies to rebellious people because they would immediately begin corrupting their new natures all over again. So God will destroy rebellious people soul and body in the cleansing fires of hell after the judgment. (See Matthew 10:28) They will be tormented mentally and physically for as long as justice demands in each individual case. (See Luke 12:47-49) And then they will become extinct. You don’t wanna go there my young friend, I promise you that. Don’t go there. It will be horrible. And there will be no way of escape.

“‘For behold, the day is coming, Burning like an oven, And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘That will leave them neither root nor branch. But to you who fear my name The Sun of righteousness shall arise With healing in His wings; And you shall go out And grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet On the day that I do this,’ Says the Lord of hosts.”(Malachi 4:1-3)

Some people inherit stronger tendencies to indulge appetite and passion — food addiction — sex addiction — drug and alcohol addiction — extreme, dirty out-of-control feel good fluff!

Others may tend more toward egotism — the desire to dominate — to be number one — to reign superior all puffed up!

And for still others the master passion may be materialism — stuff! The struggles of one are not the struggles of another.

When we violate the laws of God we violate the laws of nature. We and our posterity will suffer the natural consequences. When we corrupt ourselves, we corrupt future generations that receive our DNA.

“The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.” (Numbers 14:18)

Is this “visiting [of] iniquity” an arbitrary curse? No. That is not God’s way. It is a natural consequence of violating the laws of our being as God established them at creation. Parents pass on the natural genetic results of sin (both mental and physical) to their children. But God loves us too much to leave us in this hopelessly lost condition. He values us very much.

What Is Your Value?

Who could estimate the value of your human soul? You can see in the humanity of the divine Son of God His estimate of your value. “How is that so?” You and I, and everyone we know, have separated ourselves from God and incurred the death penalty through violation of the divine law of love. That precious law is a concise transcript of God’s character and the very foundation of His universal government. Our separation and imminent death deeply grieves the Heart of God. He loves us and does not want to destroy us. (See Ezekiel 18:31-32; 33:11; John 3:17; 1^stTimothy 2:3-4; Isaiah 28:21; Matthew 23:27)

God foresaw our calamity and had a response ready. God the Father and His Son covenanted together that the Son would come to earth to live a perfect substitutionary life for us and then pay the death penalty in our place. (See Romans 5:8-10)

Jesus lived a life of absolutely perfect obedience to the law of God’s kingdom, the law of love as transcribed in the Ten Commandments. He accomplished that in sin weakened human flesh after 4,000 years of the degenerating effects of sin on the human body. (See Romans 8:1-4) Jesus then took his humanity and willingly gave it up to die a substitionary death for the entire human race. (See Isaiah 53:6-8; Acts 8:32)

Jesus life of absolute flawless obedience and His death in our place are both absolutely necessary to make forgiveness and redemption available to us should we choose to accept the gift and allow God to write His law of love in our hearts. If Christ had declined to die as our substitute or had he failed to perfectly obey His Father’s Law in any detail we would be doomed, lost for eternity with no hope. God could not merely offer forgiveness. The Law is a transcript of His character. He is an infinitely holy God and the requirements of the infinitely holy law must be met in order for us to regain the life that we had lost through violation of the Law.

As repatriated loyalists, obedient from the heart, we are no longer a threat to God’s government. We are no longer a discordant note in the harmony of God’s perfect Creation. We are fit for heaven and safe to save. It’s that simple! (Matthew 5:8; 13:15; 25:34; Luke 10:27-28; Ephesians 1:2-5; 1^stPeter 1:18-25; John 14:23; Ezekiel 11:19-20; Romans 6:16-18; Hebrews 10:22)

According to the Covenant, the Son would become an embryo in the womb of a woman. He would be born into poverty and spend 33 ½ years in extreme hardship and inexplicable loneliness. He would live His earthly life in faithful, loving, selfless service, perfectly obeying His Father’s Law of love willingly from the heart. He would then suffer and die a humiliating, agonizing death at the hands of the very people He came to rescue. Afterward He would rise back to life forever to retain His human nature wedded to the divine. (Isaiah 53:1-12; Psalm 40:7-8; Hebrews 2:9-18; 10:7-17)

Now, in our imagination let’s go back in time 2,000 years. The time has come for the Son to leave His Father’s house and come on His mission to rescue us. See Him wistfully looking back at His Father as He leaves the joys of Paradise. They have shared their last lingering moments together before the painful parting. As we see God’s precious and only divine Son descending to this dying planet to suffer with us, incarnate in sin-weakened human flesh, we can begin to sense the magnitude of the human soul’s value in the mind of God.

God’s Son was the visible agent in our creation. “All things were made by him.”(John 1:3a) He is the One who marvelously fashioned the first human bodies; He is the One who tenderly bent down to breathe into Adam the breath of life and then wonderfully fashioned Eve from substance taken from Adam’s own flesh to show the delightful bond of union He intended for them. (See Genesis 1:27; 2:7, 18-25)

The Son of God became the Son of man. As we view the omnipotent Creator Himself willingly experiencing human death as our substitute, we can better see the importance and seriousness of our question about the value of the human soul.

As Jesus, the Son of man, neared the end of His earthly sojourn, a terrible soul-shattering consternation overtook His mind; He began to experience an awful feeling of eternal abandonment by His Father. This dreadful feeling of utter rejection and permanent separation was the consequence of taking the accumulated guilt of the entire human race upon His own soul. In that dark hour, it seemed that He would never see His beloved Father again. As a human being wrestling in Gethsemane’s depressing darkness with the ominous cross before Him, our Elder Brother literally sweat blood as He gave expression to His mental agony with the mournful words “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” (Matthew 26:38) We simply cannot fathom sacrificial love of this magnitude and can only stand back and look in awe at the scene as the sins of the whole world began to crush the life out of God’s most-special Son.

With you on His mind and with love for you in His heart, He went willingly to the cross as a lamb to the slaughter. He, the perfect, sinless One became sin and His Father hid His face from Him. “Jesus cried out with a loud voice . . . ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ . . . Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed His last.”(Mark 15:34b, 37 HCSB) “He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us.”(2^ndCorinthians 5:21a HCSB)

Why did He do it? It was “for the joy that was set before him [that He] endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Hebrews 12:2b)

“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom [are] all things and by whom [are] all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”(Heb 2:9-10 NKJV)

Dear friend, He would have endured it all if you had been the only soul He could save. He paid an infinite price, but He will be satisfied with what it has cost Him when He sees you forever safe and happy in His eternal Kingdom.

“He shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:11)

In light of our Creator’s astonishing demonstration of how highly He values us, what a privilege we have of opening the Bible for ourselves. We have the Bible at our very own fingertips! We have the ability, and the time (if it’s important to us) to come and sit at the feet of the divine Teacher Who speaks from His own personal experience. Truly, He is “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.”(Hebrews 4:15b) He knows intimately what it is like to live in “our skin” as one of us; therefore, we can have the utmost confidence in His explanation of who and what we are.

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