"Man has become like one of us"

 

“Behold the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil”. ~ Gen. 3:22

 

Before the fall of Adam and Eve, man only knew about good but he knew nothing about evil.  Before the fall nobody would have known about forgiveness because nobody needed to be forgiven.  Nobody would have known about mercy because nobody needed mercy.  Nobody knew about compassion which is love for those who are suffering, because before the fall there was no suffering.

God used evil for good when He used the fall to allow mankind to see these aspects of His character and to know Him better. 

 

And more importantly, when man sees these aspects in God’s character, man adopts them for himself.  When we see God as a God of forgiveness we become forgiving.  When we see His mercy, we become merciful.  We learn the difference between good and evil every day when we are faced with choices between good and evil and experience the repercussions of making wrong choices. Not only do we see the aspects of God more clearly but we become more like Him. 

 

God drove our fore-parents out and placed a flaming sword at each end of the garden to guard the tree of life.  The flaming sword represents God’s word -- and the Spirit of God is represented with fire.  So a flaming sword represents both the Spirit and the Word of God.  God’s plan was to use the flaming sword of His Word and His Spirit to lead man back to Him.

 

The tree of life was in the center of the Garden of Eden and represented the key to immortality. What it represents today is still the key to immortality .   On the highest level, it represents Jesus Christ.  2000 years ago He hung on a tree and it became a tree of life for those who believe.

 

May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you today.

 

 

God says to judge sin, but clean yourself up first.

 

 

God is all-knowing and all- wise. With our carnal nature, it is easy for us to see faults and failings in others but much more difficult to see those failings in ourselves.

So He gives us commands in Scripture, such as, to not be unequally yoked with the unrighteous. To not keep company with sinners. To recognize false prophets by their fruit. And other commands like that. So we have to make some judgments about those in the Church and determine those who are outside the Church. But being so wise, he throws us a curve by telling us that before we approach someone else about their sin we first have to rid our own selves of that same sin.

 

God doesn't tell us to ignore those who are living in sin, or to remain silent, because by our silence we are condoning sin. Saint Paul says, "Knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death , not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." ~Romans 1:32  Sin is sin. 

 

This verse is saying that if we are silent about sin it means we condone it.  And if we condone a sin when we see it, we make ourselves a party to that sin.  If we hear a lie and don't speak up, we are as guilty as the one telling the lie.

 

However, our duty to speak up is a two edged sword because in the next verse Paul says, "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man for in whatever you condone in another you condemn in yourself. ~Rom. 2:1"  

 God is so wise!  He tells us we have to correct a brother but first we have to fix oursleves. He gives us an easy command by telling us to correct a brother or sister, but he couples it with the more difficult command to first examine ourselves and clean ourselves up first.

 

This is the same message Jesus gave us when He said, "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; . . . And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?  . . .  First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck out of your brothers brother's eye.  ~Matt.7:1-3-5

 

We see in that verse, that Jesus did not tell us NOT to remove a splinter in a brother's eye.  He only tells us to remove the one in our eye first so we can see clearly to help the other person. 

Many in the Church have twisted that to mean we should never call anyone else on their willful sin. That is what many in the Church these days like to do - water down the Word of God and change it into what they want it to say.

 

We have to recognize that this push for tolerance and unity is a trick from Satan, pushing the world toward the new world order.  The antichrist will rise to power  to become the head of that new world order. 

 

This is all the beginnings of that prophecy.  The devil and his minions are trying to decive as many as posible, and lead them away from God's Word so they will go along with the antichrist rather than stand against him.  And lose their soul in the process.

 

This is only more proof that we are already living in the last days.  And we must stand strong in God's truth and the truth of His written Word.

 

Saint Jude tells us, "Certain men have crept in, ungodly men, who turn the grace of God into licentousness (a license to sin). Jude 1:4 Then Jude also tells us, "On some have compassion, making a distinction, (a judgment).  But others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh." Jude 1:22-23 

 

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you today. 

 

A faithful servant.