Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,
Last week’s message was part I of the two-part series addressing why evil is allowed to exist in this world by a loving, omnipotent God? It is a question we’ve all asked, or been asked, at one time or another. As we’re learning, there is a very clear-cut, plain answer to this age-old perplexing question. It is perplexing only to those who have not discovered The Truth.
We learned last week that because of Adam and Eve’s fall, we now have sickness and disease, death and decay, and pain and suffering in this world. And it’s known as the “curse.” There was not yet a means in the earth to make Adam and Eve righteous. Therefore, rather than allow Adam and Eve to physically and spiritually die and be separated from God for all eternity, God postponed judgment. Postponing judgment meant that sin was allowed to continue in this world. As long as there is sin, pain, suffering, and death will continue.
We saw in Genesis 3:15, the first mention of The Gospel in The Scriptures, God had a plan to bring Jesus Christ into the earth, and He would make us the righteousness of God through His redemptive acts. We also see this plan, made before the foundation of the world, in Acts 2:23 and II Corinthians 5:21.
Acts 2:23
Him [Jesus], being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
II Corinthians 5:21
For He [God] hath made Him [Jesus] to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
Now, God stepped in and destroyed all the world except for Noah and his family. He did this for three reasons:
- All of mankind had become totally consumed with wickedness and evil.
Genesis 6:5-6
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.
6 And it repented The LORD that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart.
2.) The flood shortened the life span of man.
Before the flood, the earth was surrounded by a canopy of water which created a global greenhouse. It maintained a warm, uniform temperature all over the earth. There were no cold air masses; thereby, there were no windstorms or air circulation around the earth. And there was no rain, except over the bodies of water from which it evaporated. The earth maintained a comfortable, uniform humidity by means of the daily, local evaporation and condensation in each day and night cycle. In other words, there was dew and fog. This also meant there would be vegetation all over the world. No deserts, no icecaps. This vapor canopy also filtered out much of the dangerous, ultraviolet rays of the sun contributing to greater health and longevity. Because of the conditions of the earth and the water canopy before the flood, man was able to live hundreds of years. Adam lived 930 years, Seth lived 912 years, Enosh lived 905 years, Methuselah lived 969 years, and so on.
Now, what happens when man lives this long with a sin nature? The Scriptures give us the answer. The wicked prey on the innocent.
Psalm 37:32
The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
Isaiah 59:15
Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and The LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment [justice].
There are more verses that speak to man becoming even more evil with time, but you get the picture.
What do we think happed in the time before the flood? The wicked preyed on the innocent until the only innocent left in this world were Noah and his family. Now, knowing what we know, let’s look at Genesis 6:5, again.
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.
Sadly, The Scriptures tell us that EVERY imagination, not some imagination, of the thoughts of man’s heart was ONLY evil CONTINUALLY.
Genesis 6:11-13
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
God stepped in and broke the water canopy of the earth to shorten the life span of man. This was an act of mercy by a loving God to curb the wickedness in the earth.
The flood was not the final judgment. God did not put an end to sin once and for all because Noah and his family survived and maintained that Adamic nature. This nature passed on from generation to generation. God did wipe out all the evil people in the flood, and He shortened the lifespan span of man to curb evil.
- satan was working to destroy the DNA of mankind so The Messiah of Genesis 3:15 could not be born into the earth.
Genesis 6:1-2, 4
1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
I will not delve into this, but this is well known that the “Watchers,” two-hundred angels with a specific mission given them by God to observe mankind in the earth, as a form of divine sentinels, procreated with human women (Genesis 6:2), creating a form of hybrid beings known as the “Nephilim.” “Nephilim” in Hebrew means, “fallen ones.” These beings are described in Genesis 6:4 as “giants” and “mighty men which were of old, men of renown [of amazing, incredible physical and terrible deeds].” One of the purposes of the flood was to destroy the Nephilim before they totally polluted the bloodline of humanity. Without going into greater detail (I’ll leave this to you to study or to a future message), the engineering feats and wonders of the ancient world that science can’t explain, like the pyramids, are explained by the Watchers. They taught mankind forbidden secrets which led to sorcery, astrology, weapons-making, engineering, cosmetics, and other things—knowledge that was considered corrupting.
After reading all of this, doesn’t it beg the question of “why doesn’t God say “ENOUGH” and bring judgment upon the earth, putting an end to sin once and for all?”
II Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
“Slack” = Greek word “bradoono” which means “to tarry or delay.”
God is so merciful, loving, compassionate, and kind, He is giving man time to repent.
This is no different than we are as parents. How many times have we threatened our children with punishment for rebellion or disobedience, only to say, “if you do this one more time, I’m going to punish you.” Yet they do it again. And we say, “this is the last time I’m going to tell you.” And they do it again. And we say, “do it just one more time!” Why do we do this? Because we are a loving, compassionate, kind parent, and we don’t want to have to punish them. God is no different.
If you look in the Book of Revelation, you’ll notice that Jesus says He even gave time to Jezebel, the evil wife of the seventh King of Israel, Ahab, to repent. Jezebel was a terribly wicked woman who was a Phoenician princess, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre. Jezebel introduced and aggressively promoted Baal worship, leading to widespread idolatry and persecution of Yahweh’s prophets. Yet, even for someone as evil as Jezebel, Jesus continually spoke to her heart to repent and turn to the God of Israel. Yet, she rejected Him.
We can be assured that God’s patience and longsuffering does come to an end. When Jesus came the first time, He did not bring judgment. Jesus brought salvation.
John 3:17
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
However, when Jesus comes the second time, He is coming to judge. But even this won’t be the final judgment. When Jesus comes back in the Second Coming to start the Millennial Reign, there will be those that make it through the Tribulation and enter the Millennial Reign of Christ Jesus. These people are not “born again” and have an Adamic nature. The raptured Believers (this will be us), the Bride of Christ, will rule and reign over those that come through the Tribulation with the Adamic nature. The Adamic nature means they will still sin. Jesus rules with a rod of iron because He must put down the effects of man with sin. Even though things will largely be perfect during the Millennium, there will still be people and nations that have to be put down by Jesus because of sin. This is God proving that no matter how perfect things may be, if there is any sin, there will be rebellion, death, pain, and suffering.
The Great White Throne Judgment, at the end of the Millennium, is when God will put down sin once and for all. All who have rejected Jesus Christ throughout eternity will be judged here. Sin, the curse, death, and hell will be destroyed.
John 12:47-48
47 And if any man hear My Words [Jesus], and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My Words, hath One that judgeth him: The Word that I have spoken, The Same shall judge him in the last day.
“Judge him in the last day” is the Great White Throne Judgment spoken of by The Holy Spirit through John in Revelation 20:11-15.
Revelation 20:11-15
11 And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
The Great White Throne Judgment is the final judgment, and this is when sin and death are utterly destroyed and removed from eternity. After this, God prepares the new earth and the new heaven and brings to the new earth the Heavenly city of New Jerusalem. And we, the Believers of the Rapture, will rule and reign with Christ Jesus, in New Jerusalem, over all of God’s creation for all eternity.
Our Father and our King Jesus loves us, the Believers, dearly. Every Word of His Word is Truth (John 17:17) and yes and amen unto us (II Corinthians 1:20). This is why we should have no fear because our Father and King have provided victory for us in every situation through Christ Jesus (II Corinthians 2:14). Next week’s message will start a series looking at a man that “was perfect and upright, and one that feared [reverential trust in God’s Word] God, and eschewed [shunned, avoided] evil.” Yet, he suffered incredible destruction, affliction, and loss. We’ll learn about Job, “the greatest of all the men of the east.” We’ll learn The Truth about why he suffered what he did – and God had nothing to do with the suffering.
In Christ Jesus,
Larry