Tag Archives: Salvation

March 1, 2015 · 10:30

Building the Ark

Noah's Ark Model on display at the Institute for creation Research, Dallas, Texas

Noah’s Ark Model on display at the Institute for Creation Research, Dallas, Texas

 Make thee an ark of gopher wood. (Genesis 6:14)

About five years ago, March 2010, God woke me in the middle of the night and gave me a vision to build a scale model of Noah’s Ark. At the time, I was in the middle of working on my M.C.Ed degree in Biblical apologetics from the School of Biblical Apologetics (SOBA) at the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), and I needed a Master’s project or a thesis in order to fulfill the requirements for the degree. The Noah’s Ark model would fulfill that requirement.

As with Noah, God gave me a “big picture” vision of all the details that would need to go on the model. Part of that vision included donating the completed model to ICR. In the end, I was unable to complete the model in time for graduation, so I fulfilled my requirements by writing a thesis. However, that did not squelch my determination to complete the model and make good on my promise. So the work continued a few hours every night after work and on weekends. My only limitation was my own “wimpyness.” My garage, where I built the Ark, is not climate controlled, so in the summer temperatures were unbearably hot, and in the winter temperatures were numbingly cold. The five-year timeframe was due to those limitations, but in that time, I spent 1379 hours to complete the task.

The importance of my God-given task results from what Peter wrote: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts” (2 Peter 3:3). Scoffers attack anything “Bible,” but one of their favorite targets is the book of Genesis and what it has to say about Creation, the Fall, and the Global Flood. They say stupid things like, “How could all those animals fit inside the Ark?” Sadly, too many Christians, rather than defend God’s Word, take the side of the scoffers. Therefore, this model serves to encourage Christians to trust God’s Word completely and bolster their faith in defending the Word of God.

Large animal pens. Note the dinosaurs.

Large animal pens. Note the dinosaurs.

God said to Noah, “Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark” (Genesis 6:14).  The Hebrew word translated “rooms” is qên and it literally means “nests.” That indicates that these would not be large pens where the animals could move around a lot. Noah, his family, and all the menagerie endured 371 days onboard the Ark.

Genesis 6_14(3)

Small animal cages

  That being the case, it is my opinion that God caused the animals to hibernate during that time, so large spaces were not required for the animals. Furthermore, since the average size the animals was about the size of a small cow, a good majority of the animals were small. In order to represent this, made small animal cages for the second deck.

I tried to represent a variety of “kinds” of animals: clean and unclean, mammals, reptiles (dinosaurs) and birds.

I tried to represent a variety of “kinds” of animals: clean and unclean, mammals, reptiles (dinosaurs) and birds.

Starboard Side of the Ark

Starboard Side of the Ark

God gave Noah the dimensions of the Ark as follows: “And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be Starboard Side of the Ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits” (Genesis 6:15). Based on an 18-inch cubit, that would make the Ark 450 feet long (the length of one and one half football fields), 75 feet wide, and 45 feet tall. My model is 1/60 scale making it 7.5 feet (90 inches) long, 15 inches wide, and 9 inches tall. (Those are inside dimensions.)

The tsôhar

The tsôhar

Noah was also instructed to make a “window” for the Ark. “A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above” (Genesis 6:16). The Hebrew word translated “window” is tsôhar and it literally means a “light” or “double light” as in midday or noon. Only in this passage is it translated “window,” so evidently it was some way to allow outside light into the Ark. Toward the end of the voyage we are told, “And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made” (Genesis 8:6, emphasis mine). In this case, the Hebrew word is challôn and this word does mean “window” and is so translated throughout the Old Testament.

The challôn

The challôn

This tells me that Noah had some leeway in the construction of the Ark and not every detail was strictly dictated by God. This fact gives me confidence in using my “sanctified imagination” in creating the detail for the model not specified in Scripture.  The roof, therefore, features an opening beneath the eave of the main roof extending the length of the Ark on both sides as well as the vent opening above the main roof. These two sets of “windows” would allow for air circulation and ventilation.

The finished roof with “window”

The one and only door

Noah’s instructions also included “the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof” (Genesis 6:16). Unlike the blasphemous “Noah” movie, the Ark had only a single door.

God also specified three “stories” or decks for the Ark: “with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it” (Genesis 6:16). 

God also specified three “stories” or decks for the Ark: “with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it” (Genesis 6:16).

First story - large animals; Second story - "clean" and small animals; Third story - aviary and storage

First story – large animals; Second story – “clean” and small animals; Third story – aviary and storage

Grain storage (silo)

Grain storage (silo)

Noah was also instructed to carry provisions for his family and for all the animals. “And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them” (Genesis 6:21). All of these things came to mind in building the model as I attempted to represent, to a limited extent, what would have been carried on the Ark.

Lots of hay

Lots of hay

Family gathering area and work spaces

Family gathering area and work spaces

Aviaries, food stores and fill ports for the forward grain silo

Aviaries, food stores and fill ports for the forward grain silo

Family living quarters, aft aviaries and storage

Family living quarters, aft aviaries and storage

Detail showing stone oven, forward starboard side aviary and storage

Detail showing stone oven, forward starboard side aviary and storage

One of six cisterns for water storage - two on each deck, fore and aft

One of six cisterns for water storage – two on each deck, fore and aft

Cistern detail showing baffle for dampening "slosh"

Cistern detail showing baffle for dampening “slosh”

Cistern detail showing water

Cistern detail showing water

The Noah’s Ark model visually represents the Gospel message in the Ark as a “type” of Christ. The Bible tells us that the world had become so corrupt “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart … The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:6, 11). Things have not changed in all the years since that time. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). In His holiness must judge and punish sin, “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Just as God is holy, He is also merciful. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8) and He provided a way of salvation. Noah had 120 years to build the Ark. During that time the Bible tells us that Noah was “a preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5) pleading for all to repent of their sin and find refuge in the Ark for God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The Ark had only one door by which men could enter. Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). God had complete control of the door to Noah’s Ark. When the fountains of the deep burst open and the deluge descended upon the earth, “And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in” (Genesis 7:16). There is still only one way obtain salvation. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). The way of salvation in Noah’s day was the wooden Ark with its single door. Today, the way of salvation is through the wooden cross upon which Jesus died; it is the only way. Eight people were saved on the Ark out of the billions that lived on earth at that time. Jesus said, “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:14, emphasis mine). Today those that place their faith and trust on the cross of Jesus Christ will be saved from eternal death. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). My prayer is that you have found your Ark in Jesus Christ.

See the article in the March 2015 issue of Acts & Facts: http://www.icr.org/article/noahs-ark-model.

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February 1, 2015 · 10:30

It’s Not That Bad

But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.  (Matthew 24:37-39)

Unless you have totally detached yourself from all society, isolated yourself in a cave, or numbed your brain with drugs, you know that the world is in moral decline. We have ejected God from the public square, spurned His law and called what is good evil and what is evil good (Isaiah 5:20). We accept that which is unnatural and hold it up as something to be praised and held in honor. We castigate those who hold firm to their passé morality, and stigmatize them as evil haters. We hail outlaws as heroes and call true heroes cowards. We slaughter our progeny and fearlessly defend the life and welfare of animals. We fight against polluting the planet and think nothing of the moral pollution of our minds. Boy! Are we screwed up!

We hear of wars and rumors of wars. Natural and man-made catastrophes are increasing all over the world, and for the most part, life, for the vast majority of people, goes on as usual. The words of Jesus recorded by Matthew above make me wonder. Just how bad were things at the time of Noah? Genesis records that “it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth … for it repenteth me that I have made them” (Genesis 6:6-7). Things must have been pretty bad for God to take such extreme measures. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth” (Genesis 6:11-12). Is that not what we see today? Mankind is corrupt and the earth is filled with violence. So, why does Christ delay His return? Surely, things are as bad today as they were in the days of Noah.

It seems that there have been periods in world history that were far worse than they are today, and Jesus did not return then either. When Jesus spoke these words, He was not referring to the moral condition of the world, but rather the suddenness of the destruction that fell upon them. Note that they were conducting life as usual, “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.” There is nothing particularly sinful in that, but as they carried on life as usual, destruction came on them suddenly, “And [they] knew not until the flood came, and took them all away” (Matthew 24:39). But there may be more to it than they were just carrying on life as usual. The world was violent then and evil was so rampant that God said, “Enough!”

For Christians (and I always feel that I need to qualify that with the adjective “true”) the world does not have to get as bad as in the days of Noah. Paul would remind us, as he did the Christians in Thessalonica, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, emphasis mine). That “falling away” is the Greek word apostasia, which means a “defection from the truth.” We see that happening today, but God still has a remnant. I heard today that the number of “true” Christians, according to Barna, is down to about 7%, but that remnant is still strong. Paul says that the “son of perdition,” a.k.a. “Antichrist,” will not be revealed until “he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way” (2 Thessalonians 2:7, emphasis mine). That word “lets” (“letteth”) is actually two Greek words: katechō meaning “to hold down,” and arti, meaning “suspension.” That “He” is the Holy Spirit who indwells every child of God. When the Bride of Christ is “taken out of the way,” there will be nothing left to restrain evil.

It’s bad now, but it’s not that bad. Christ will call for His Bride at any moment. As in the days of Noah, life will be going on as usual. Then suddenly, millions of people – Christians – will disappear from all over the earth, and the trouble begins. It’s not that bad now, but it’s going to get bad. I hope you are ready!

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January 18, 2015 · 10:30

No Time Like the Present

timeflies

… behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Corinthians 6:2)

We understand time in three phases: past, present, and future. We receive wise counsel not to live in the past while at the same time we are advised to plan for the future. Indeed, even the Apostle Paul exhorts, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Our minds help us in regard to the past by minimizing bad memories and enhancing the good ones. This is healthy for when we latch on to bitter memories, the effects degrade both our physical and mental health. If we focus too much on the future, we can set ourselves up for disappointment, if we fail to accomplish unrealistic goals.

Either dwelling too much on the past or focusing too much on the future can both have negative effects on our lives, so we are encouraged to live in the present. “Take time to smell the roses,” we are told. Recently, this has given me cause to ponder. Just how long is the present that we should dwell therein? A minute? A second? A millisecond? A nanosecond? Time constantly moves forward with no stops. In the blink of an eye, the present becomes the past, while in the same instant we arrive in the future and then that is gone. The question is really an existential one since it deals with our existence and experience. We experience life through our senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, and smell. These all employ our nervous system with the brain and all of its complex network of nerves. So I thought perhaps the present has to do with the speed of nerve impulses. “Scientists have an idea how fast nerves send signals. It varies among different animals and humans, but in general, one can say it is very fast, on the order of 115197 ft/sec (3560 m/sec).”[1] That is amazingly fast, but even at that the nerve impulse itself has a start and stop time, so it too moves from the past into the future with no hesitation.

So, how long is the present? Apparently, the present cannot be measured by time, so this must be a philosophical question. I asked a coworker, whose opinion I value highly, how long he thought the present could be. He said the present does not exist. Similarly, I asked an astrophysicist friend, and he said suggested that it was zero. Both of these answers make sense to me because time is constantly moving forward. I envision standing on the zero point on a line graph that continually moves beneath me from positive to negative-positive being the future and negative being the past. I operate from the zero point as time whizzes by me, but what I do at the zero point – the present – influences the future that comes at me.

I posed the same question to my oldest son. He’s pretty smart in his own right, and he gave me the most provocative response of all. He said, “The present is eternal.” I do not know if he fully understood the ramifications of such a profound statement. For starters, God is eternal, and He identifies Himself to Moses as “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). He is ever-present. We understand that God is unfettered by time, so He is present at every point in time. He is present in the past and in the future simultaneously. That is why He could say to the Prophet Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). God can accurately foretell the future because He exists in the future. He is eternally present.

Unlike God, we are confined by time. We can only experience time at point zero, and that only for the briefest of moments. We experience the future as it passes us by, but our actions in that brief moment affect the unseen consequences that lie ahead. God created us in His image (Genesis 1:26), and as such we are eternal beings. Unlike God, we have a beginning and no end, and again, we exist at point zero. Our actions, therefore, incur eternal consequences. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3), they caused an eternal rift between God and mankind (Genesis 3:22) that affected all of their posterity – you and me. Their offense and our subsequent sins offend an eternal and holy God, and the offense is eternal. Since the offense is eternal, the consequence is also eternal, and therefore must be atoned for eternally. Hell is eternal because the offense is eternal, therefore the punishment must be eternal.

The good news is that God granted a way of escape from the eternal punishment that we all deserve. I AM is present in all of time from creation to re-creation; so that

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. (1 Peter 1:18-21, emphasis mine)

At the perfect time (Galatians 4:4), God stepped out of eternity into our present time in the form of the first, sinless Adam, to offer up Himself as the perfect atoning sacrifice for all of mankind. That sacrifice had the eternal effect of mending the eternal rift between God and mankind.

But the remedy is not universal, and it is not automatic. Each individual must make the choice for himself. Making the right or wrong decision in the present will settle your fate for all eternity. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 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 3:14-16, emphasis mine)

The present is eternal after all. There is no time like the present to change the course of your eternity.

 Notes:

[1] From http://scienceline.ucsb.edu/getkey.php?key=1950, accessed January 16, 2015.

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November 30, 2014 · 10:30

Clothing In Heaven

King Jesus 2

And white robes were given unto every one of them; (Revelation 6:11)

Recently we were reading our daily devotional Days of Praise. The devotional for that day was entitled “Clothing.” In that article, the author, John D. Morris, Ph.D., points out the fact that Adam and Eve were naked when they were created, and only after they sinned did their nakedness become apparent to them. The last book of the Bible informs us that we will be clothed with white robes in heaven – that is, those of us who go to heaven. So the question came up, why are we not naked in heaven the way God created us in the beginning? The Bible tells us that we will be clothed “in fine linen, clean and white,” but it makes no comment about why we are clothed rather than naked. That made me think.

When Adam and Eve sinned, God had to clothe them in skins to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:21). Someone suggested that before they sinned, Adam and Eve were “clothed” in light. The Hebrew word for light is ‘ôr (אור). This reminds me of the time when Moses was in the presence of God for forty days, and his face shone with a light so that the people were afraid of him. He had to veil his face (Exodus 34:29-35) so that the people would not fear him. Then there was the time at the Mount of Transfiguration when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus, and all of them glowed (Matthew 17:1-2). Adam and Eve may have had a similar glow about them. Then when they sinned, they lost that glow so that their nakedness became apparent to them (Genesis 3:7). God then covered them with skins. The Hebrew word for skin is ‛ôr (עור). There may be a play on words here. Note that both Hebrew words are pronounced “or,” but they have different spellings in Hebrew. Before they sinned, they were clothed in אור (light), but after they sinned, God clothed them in עור (skin).

That may be a part of it, but what is of greater importance is that the skins were a covering for their nakedness which represented their sin. The idea of covering conveys the meaning of “atonement.” Throughout Scripture the shedding of innocent blood has always been the requirement for making atonement or the covering of sin.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11, emphasis mine)

The robes given to the saints in heaven are made “white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14). Once again, the innocent blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God (John 1:29), was shed, once for all, to cover our sin.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:13-14, emphasis mine)

Perhaps this is why we wear robes in heaven. The robes will remind us for eternity that Jesus shed His blood to cover (atone for) our sin. Our clothing in heaven is His righteousness, not our own. “He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I [Jesus] will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Revelation 3:5, emphasis mine). “For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked” (2 Corinthians 5:2-3).

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November 2, 2014 · 10:30

Why Satan?

And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.  (Luke 10:18)

Since God is omniscient and knows all things including the future, why would He create Satan knowing full well that he would rebel against Him and bring about the Fall of man? That question does not have a simple answer. I covered much of this in my article “How Thou Hast Fallen,” but perhaps this will answer some questions I did not address there.

To begin with, we cannot fully understand the ways of God or His thoughts. God says:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: (Isaiah 46:9-10)

One of the first things we need to understand about God is that He is omniscient; that is, His knowledge is absolute. God does not “learn;” He innately knows all that there is to know. That’s why evolution is such a stupid idea. First of all it attempts to explain all that there is as having come about by natural causes without God. Even many Christians try to compromise by suggesting that God used evolution to create. Why would God have to use evolution to create, as if He is some kind of mad scientist experimenting in order to get everything to work just right? No, God did not have to “think” about His creation; He knew exactly how to make all things perfectly without needing a blueprint. Not only that, but as expressed in Isaiah 46:10 above, He knows “the end from the beginning” and everything will be accomplished according to His pleasure. Everything God does is for His pleasure and for His glory.

I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. (Isaiah 42:8)

Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. (Isaiah 43:7)

In context, in Isaiah 43:7, God is referring to His bringing back all the Israelites that have been scattered all over the earth to the land of Israel; but notice why He is doing it. It is because He has created them all for His “glory.” In a larger sense, that is true for all of God’s creation; it is all to bring Him glory.

Now, if you have a good handle on that, we can talk about why God created Satan. When God created angels and humans, He gave them a free will so that they are able to choose for themselves whether they want to obey or disobey God. Humans, unlike the angels, were created in the “image of God,” and God gave humans dominion over all of His creation (Genesis 1:26). He did not give angels that kind of authority. In fact, of the angels, the Bible says, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). So God created humans superior to the angels even though, for now, angels have supernatural powers which humans do not possess.

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. (Psalm 8:4-5)

Back to Satan: God did not create Satan as “the evil one” in the beginning. How do we know this? We know this because at the end of creation, God declared everything – all of His creation including all the angels and Satan – as “very good” (Genesis 1:31). We cannot have a “very good” creation, if evil exists. So, at this point, Satan – his name is actually Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12) – had not yet sinned. By sin I mean that he had not yet rebelled against God. Sin is rebellion against God, and it manifests in many different forms, but the root is rebellion against God’s authority. When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden, he told her “ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). We still deal with that same temptation. We want to be gods. We want to decide for ourselves what is good and what is evil, rather than let God be God.

I believe that this is the point where Satan sinned. It started with his pride:

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)

You can see that he had an “I” problem. All of this he “said in his heart,” but it was not sin until he actually acted upon it:

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (James 1:14-15)

The Greek word translated as “lust” is epithumia and it means “a longing” or “desire” especially for something that is forbidden. “Conceived” is the Greek word sullambanō which means “to grasp” or “to seize.” So, it begins in the mind with a strong desire for something that is forbidden and once that desire is seized upon or acted upon, then there is sin, and then sin brings death. Death, in this case is speaking of “spiritual” death, i.e., separation from God. It happens this way for humans just as it happens for angels.

You can see the same pattern in Satan (Lucifer). He started with the desire in his mind to ascend above God. The way he planned to do it was to take God’s most prized creation, man, and cause them to disobey God. Knowing that God would “disown” them, he could then become their god. In many ways, he has accomplished that. When you think of all those pagan gods that people worship, Muslims worship Allah who is none other than Satan himself, and if they don’t worship idols, they worship themselves. Think about the attitude that people are encouraged to have today – “It’s all about ME!”

So, what have we learned? Satan was good in the beginning. Shortly after the creation was complete, he rebelled and was sentenced to “death,” but the sentence has not been carried out yet. Satan still has access to the throne of God (Read Job 1-2). So, since God knows the end from the beginning, why did He allow this? As stated earlier, humans and angels have a free will to obey or disobey God. If God removed that option from us, if He removed our will to love Him or reject Him, there would be no love in that. The Bible says that “God is Love” (1 John 4:8). For love to be love, it cannot be coerced for forced. It must be given willingly of our own volition and choice. Without giving us that option, God could not enjoy the love returned from His creation. He had to allow for, not create, evil.

Knowing “the end from the beginning,” God provided the “tree of Life” – the Lamb of God, “slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). The option remains, choose the Advocate (Jesus Christ), or choose the Accuser (Satan). Why Satan? Without Satan, there would be no choice. Without a choice, there would be no love. Without love, God could not be glorified

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