Creation and the Gospel of the Kingdom of God
By COGwriter
Is there any connection between the creation and the good news of the kingdom of God?
Yes.
On May 13, 1978, the late Pastor General of the old Worldwide Church of God, Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA), gave a sermon titled Creation and the Gospel.
This article is highly based on that with many quotes, but also with updates.
In this world we see wars and have troubles.
Jesus said:
7 But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows. (Mark 13:7-8)
33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)
Anyhow, we hope for peace for humanity--it is not a vain hope.
Here is a link to a related sermon: Creation and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.
Yet, we know there's not going to be too much immediate hope for a while.
Then is coming the great time of peace when Christ comes back to set up and to restore the government of God on this earth and set up the Kingdom of God.
In his serrmon, HWA wanted to show the difference between the government of God and the Kingdom of God, because they are not synonymous. He said:
Now just by way of a very, very brief announcement, I want to say that in the early days of my conversion, going back 50 years ago up in Oregon (and we were living in Portland, Oregon at the time) I was beginning to fellowship with the Church of God people up there. Now we find various eras of God's Church in the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation, and that was what we call the Sardis Era. You read of it in the beginning of the first several verses of the 3rd chapter of the book of Revelation.
There was a mix-up in the Church. It was divided. And the man who had been the real leader of the Church, Andrew Dugger, had lost out by one vote. They were voting. They still had more Bible truth than any other church on earth; but they had lost a great deal of the original truth, which God has restored through me. And one of the things that was lost was on Church organization. Then Mr. Dugger left and, with another man, went to Salem, West Virginia and organized what he called the Bible form of organization of the Church.
Now we in Oregon knew that it was not the Bible form of organization at all. It was a true misapplication of some of the scriptures. The result is my mind was pretty much mixed up on just what is the form of executive organization in the Church.
That is a thing that was hardest for me to understand, and it took longer for me to come to an understanding than anything else in the Bible. Now it is all clear.
I have made a mistake in the past because of that misunderstanding, although I have always known that God's form is government from the top down. Now this is too big a subject for me to go into in this one sermon, because I have something else that I think takes precedence and is so important I don't want to neglect it.
The Apostle Paul apparently thought it necessary to repeatedly defend his apostolic position. So did HWA who said:
GOD'S APOSTLE
Now let me just say that God has put one apostle in His Church. {When he said this, A.N. Duggar, who also said he had apostolic succession had died.}
You know when John the Baptist sent some messengers to Jesus, when Jesus was on earth, to ask Him whether He was the promised Messiah, Jesus didn't say, "Yes." He didn't say, "No." He said, "You go tell John what you see being done. Tell him the fruits that you see, and he will know."
Well, no man made me an apostle; and men cannot elect an apostle. That would never have the approval of God in a million years. Christ Himself selected me, and laid on me the Great Commission of getting the gospel of the Kingdom of God (which is the good news of the coming government and kingdom of God) to all the world. Now that's why I've had to be away from here and in the capitals of the world for the last several years, a great deal; and again I will have to be.
The Bible says:
28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets ... (1 Corinthians 12:28)
Many do not understand how God works.
With prophets, the Bible says:
5 Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. 6 Then He said,
"Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream. (Numbers 12:5-6)14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. (1 Timothy 4:14, NKJV)
Both of those happened to me.
HWA said:
Now, let me just say that I was never called to get into the college business. God called me to get the message that He sent by Jesus Christ, which is the good news of the coming Kingdom of God. Since it is good news of what is going to happen, it amounts to an announcement. It is not a soul-saving mission to convince people that it's true, or get people to agree. It doesn't make any difference. Whether you agree or you disagree, it's going to happen — because God is going to do it! ... God is going to FORCE this world to have peace and to be happy, and tell people how to really enjoy life for the first time in 6,000 years.
But let's look at what was created over 6,000 years ago.
GOD CREATED ANGELS
God is the Creator. But God also is perfect, holy, and righteous character. God first created angels and put them on the earth. He created angels BEFORE He had created the earth and the physical, material, universe. He put them here to have a part with Him in Creation.
HWA said:
In other words, I wonder if you have seen and we have stores here in this area of unfinished furniture. It is furniture that is made complete except the polishing, or painting, or finishing has not been put on. Now you can buy very fine furniture that way if you can finish it yourself and save a lot of money.
Well, in a sense, that is the way God created the earth and the other planets around the world. He put the angels here to finish it, to build it up, to glorify it, to make it more and more beautiful. In order to do that, as I explained last night, He put His government over those angels. And to do that, He sat a super-archangel (one of the three top ones that He's ever created) on a throne to administer the government of God. But that {1} super-angel did not administer the government of God. Rather he led his people into the very opposite; Instead of building up, tearing down; Instead of light and truth, darkness and error. And instead of love, it was vanity and all of the things that we call human nature (which do, incidentally, come from the Devil and not from God) — vanity, lust, and greed, envy and jealousy, a spirit of competition and strife and violence and tearing down.
The Apostle Peter wrote that "God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down" (2 Peter 2:4)--and they became demons.
And the archangel Lucifer has had his name changed from Lucifer, which means shining star of the dawn (which he is not any longer); and God has named him what he now is — Satan, which means adversary, competitor, rival, or the one working against you. That's what Satan is doing.
Before going further, consider that the angels did not have physical needs. Yet they rebelled.
And Adam and Eve, who we will get to later, also rebelled yet they had everything they physically needed.
And since them, all have rebelled as, "all have sinned" (Romans 3:23).
Now various social advocates have indicated that if people had all their physical needs met, they would be nicer, not tend to be involved in crime, etc. Yet, throughout history, even wealthy humans who have all their physical needs met have sinned and rebelled against God.
The solution to the world's problems is not wealth redistribution, though some of that is biblical, but the government of God and the coming Kingdom of God.
CHOOSING GODLY CHARACTER
The one most necessary things for true peace and prosperity is holy, righteous, perfect spiritual character. The angels were made of spirit, not of matter.
HWA said:
But there's one thing...God cannot just create as it is and as a finished work of creation, and that is that kind of character. That must be participated in. Of course, it has to come from God; but the angels had to make the decision, and man has to make the decision. And it's like God said before Israel. He said, "I have set before you light and darkness, truth and error, God's way of love and the other way of hate, and jealousy, and envy." And He said, "CHOOSE!" Humans have to choose. He said, "Choose God's way."
Notice what God told the children of Israel:
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice ... (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
Now, of course, God is not forcing people to obey Him. We are creatures of free choice. And character can only be built by those who have made that choice, and who have then opened their minds and their hearts to God to put His love, His Holy Spirit, His character within them. Now unless you have come to that point, unless you have repented of the way of this world — the way of vanity, lust and greed, jealousy and envy, and competition and strife — you are not on the way to that kind of character.
Many of the angels went the wrong way.
As did all humans (Romans 3:23)--except Jesus (Hebrews 4:15).
God knew this would happen, so, Jesus was " the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8).
Jesus to lead the way and become our Saviour. Jesus was the word that became flesh:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
... 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14)
Over 2,000 years ago, Jesus was made flesh and dwelt among us. In other words, it was Jesus Christ; and God then became His Father. He had been with God for all eternity. There never was a time when they did not exist. Now don't try to understand that, because your minds can't understand it; but nevertheless you can't imagine it any other way either.
Here are some related scriptures:
17 then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it. (Ecclesiastes 8:17)
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
26 Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him; Nor can the number of His years be discovered (Job 36:26).
5 He does great things which we cannot comprehend. (Job 37:5)
18 Known to God from eternity are all His works (Acts 15:18).
Thus it is clear that God knows all His works from eternity, but that there are some things that humans simply cannot fully understand (see also Where Did God Come From?).
You can't imagine anything else. Where did God come from if He hasn't always existed? But He did always exist.
CHAOS AND CONFUSION
Anyway, the angels failed and did not go ahead; and the result is (we read it in the 2nd verse of Genesis 1):The Bible teaches:
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
But there was part of that Creation that He did not finish at that time, and like the unfinished furniture; and the angels were intended to finish it, they didn't.
As it turns out, there was a gap of time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2.
This view is known by names such as the gap theory, gap creationism, ruin-restoration creationism, and restoration creationism.
Now notice what the KJV translation of Genesis 1:2 states:
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2, KJV)
Because the NKJV also kept about the same translation, many have been confused about what Genesis 1:2 really teaches.Without form and void comes from the Hebrew words, tohu and bohu, which really means chaotic, in confusion, waste and empty or deteriorated. And that was the thing that had come to the earth. It was covered by water. It was in darkness. The sun was no longer shining. Lucifer had been a bringer of light, but he had turned to darkness. And even the sun was not shining.
Notice the word translated "was" in the KJV (as well as many other English translations). The word “was” is a translation of the Hebrew verb transliterated as hayah.
היה hāyah, "be." ... as a change of state, "become." This is applied to what had a previous existence, but undergoes some change in its properties or relations; as מלח גציב ותהי vatehı̂y netsı̂yb melach, "and she became" a pillar of salt Genesis 19:26. (Barnes Notes on the Bible)
The word hayah is translated “became” or “become” 133 times in the Old Testament. Thus, became, instead of was, makes sense.
The following is the Hebrew transliterated into characters that non-Hebrew readers can recognize:
2 weh’ares haytah tohû wabohû wehošek 'al-penê tehôm werûha elohîm merapet 'al-penê hammayim.
(Genesis 1:2 from Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, edited by Karl Ellinger and Wilhelm Rudolph. Fifth Revised Edition, edited by Adrian Schenker. © 1977 and 1997 Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart. Used by permission. With certain letters in modern form by COGwriter as html would not display certain characters properly)
Here is a somewhat literal translation of it:
2 the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness [is] on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2, Young's Literal Translation)
Here are two more understandable translations of it:
2 But the earth became waste and void, and with darkness on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon on the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2, clarified literal translation)
2 and the earth became without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God-Elōhīm moved upon the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:2, New Messianic Version)
Before going further, notice something else:
18 For thus says the Lord,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited:
"I am the Lord, and there is no other (Isaiah 45:18)
Notice that the earth was NOT created in vain. The word translated as 'vain' above is the same Hebrew word (tohuw) translated as 'without form' in Genesis 1:2 (tohuw). Obviously, then, according to the Bible, something happened between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. It should be noted that this is NOT a gap between day 1 and day 2 as some anti-gap people have written, as day 1 began with Genesis 1:3.
"Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35) and Isaiah 45:18 is clearly in support of the gap-theory position that there must have been a second creation. So does, Psalm 104:30.
Anyway, the Spirit of God was there. Now I'd like to read to you from the 104th Psalm and verse 30:
30 You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth.
Now notice that. God renewed the face of the earth. That's what you read of in Genesis 1:1. Not the original Creation at all! In verse 1: Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens [and it should plural] and the earth. But He put angels here first; and they had turned the wrong way, and turned light into darkness — righteousness into sin. And so now, here was the Spirit: Psalm 104:30 You send forth Your Spirit ...
Here was the Holy Spirit of God over the watery surface. There was no land. It was all water.
Genesis 1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
It looks like the first thing God did related to the renewal was to restore light upon the earth. Now we are not told just how that light was. Because apparently it did not come from the sun because the sun did not shine on the earth until what is mentioned in the 4th day of this 7-day creative week — which is not the original Creation but the renewing of the face of the earth for man.
Before the angels were formed, God was the only One ... God and the Word (who was to become Christ but had not yet become Christ), the only Ones! And you could say it was the God Family — those Two — who would not, and therefore did not, sin. God had to have people that He knew could be relied on never to go the wrong way, to do the job He wanted done. Not only this earth, but the whole vast universe!
HWA said:
This earth was a training ground. If the angels had made good, they would have gone on to Mars and Jupiter and Saturn and then after this solar system, to other planets of our galaxy and then to other galaxies. But they failed! And deterioration, and ... Ah, that word I tried to think of last night; it came to various planets. And that's the condition we find on the moon, and now we find it on Mars.
AFTER HIS KIND
HWA said:
Now God had to do something because He had already formed angels, spirit beings composed of spirit. They are not composed of matter at all. There was apparently no matter and no material universe as we know it when He first created the angels. The angels were already here when He created the material universe and the earth:
As the Bible teaches:
4 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements?
Surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 To what were its foundations fastened?
Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When the morning stars sang together,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7)
But, after the angels sinned, it showed that only God, who had that kind of character and who could be entrusted to go on with the Creation and carry the Creation to its ultimate limit — because, first of all, God is Creator; but He rules over His Creation. And He was the One who is the basic Source of truth, and knowledge, and understanding to those that He creates. A lot of people don't understand that much about God, which is too bad.
Anyway, God now saw that the best way was to reproduce Himself. To do that, He knew it was necessary to make man in His form and His image. God is formed and shaped just like we are. He looks like us except, instead of our pale faces and other colors of faces, God's face shines like the very sun for brightness. It'd probably put your eyes out if you looked straight at it because His face is so bright. It's not the sun but He created the sun. But now God had to create man in His own form and His own image. So He restored the earth, renewed the face of the earth; and then, coming down to verse 24, the 1st chapter of Genesis now:
HWA said:
Genesis 1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind. ...
Genesis 1:24-26 ... after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: at it was so. (25) And [then] God made the beast of the earth after his kind [And so on. And then in verse 26.] (26) And God said, Let us [Not "Me" because God was Elohim, which is a uni-plural name and meant {3} the One that became the Father of Christ, or originally God and the Word. He said, "Let us ... "] make man in our image, after likeness.
{26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (Genesis 1:26, NKJV)}
So man was created in the image of God, but so there could be reproduction because God was going to reproduce Himself. And He put reproduction in the fish family, the bird family, the animal family, and the human family. And there probably had never been any such thing as reproduction before that time. There's certainly no evidence of it anyway. But now God made man male and female. Verse 27:
Genesis 1:27-28 God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. [And told us to reproduce ... Well now, wait a minute.] (28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, [I want to read this.] Be fruitful, and multiply, and REPLENISH the earth.
{27And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. 28And God blessed them; and God said unto them: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth.’ (Genesis 1:27-28, JPS)}
It had already been "plenished" by angels, and "replenish" means fill it up again. A lot of people read right over that word and never get the meaning. Replenish the earth! Now you take back in Genesis, after the Flood, and you'll find that God said the same thing to Noah — to reproduce and replenish the earth. Fill it up again after all had been destroyed except Noah and his family.
Well, now next I want to come to the creation of man. God spoke to the man He had created, and the woman. It says here in the 7th verse of the 2nd chapter of Genesis:
Genesis 2:7 The [Eternal] God formed the man of the dust of the ground.
BELIEVING GOD
God had formed angels out of spirit, but now He formed man out of the dust of the ground. That was necessary so that, if humans went the wrong way (as the angels did), God had a plan to have Christ come and be born as a human being, to live a perfect life and never bring on Himself the penalty of sin. But then to take our penalty on Himself and die for us, so we could be forgiven if we change our minds, repent, and begin to BELIEVE GOD.
God had instructed this Lucifer, but he didn't believe God; and he turned angels away, so they became demons. Now "The LORD God formed man out of the dust of the ground." Ultimately, after the character of God has been formed in us, we will be changed to immortal spirit beings too; but only after that character has been formed in us in this first life.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:7-9)
HWA said:
Adam had to make a choice. God first talked to him and instructed him. Then He allowed Satan (the former archangel Lucifer) to get to him. And it was to see whom he would believe. Now Adam believed on God all right. That is, he knew that God was the Creator and that God was his Maker. That he knew. But he didn't believe what God said! That's the big point, and that's exactly what people have not been doing ever since.
Very, very few; as a matter of fact, only 120 out of the thousands to whom Jesus talked after He came 6,000 years ago (and 4,000 years after Creation, approximately), there were only ... Let me see, it says 120 wasn't it that were left. You'll find that in the 1st chapter of the book of Acts, where all that really believed what Christ said and believed in Him — had repented and believed and received the Holy Spirit on that day of Pentecost.
So there were the two trees.
Furthermore:
15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
18 And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." (Genesis 2:15-18)
So we see that's when He said it's not good for man to be alone.
HWA said:
GOD INSTRUCTS MAN
But the thing is, after God had talked to Adam and Eve and had thoroughly instructed them ... Now, they were created on the 6th day of this what we call "creation week" but was only a renewing of the face of the earth; and the 6th day ended at sunset. Now undoubtedly that evening, after the sun had set, God talked with them for an hour or two and began explaining things to them. And then the next day until sunset was the Sabbath.
That was the first Sabbath, and God talked to them on that Sabbath day, just as God in the form of Jesus Christ later entered into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. God thoroughly instructed Adam and Eve in the ways of His government and of the possibility (if they chose life, instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil) that they could enter into the Kingdom of God and be BORN of God until they're His absolute children.
Now get this: God is the ruler. Now He is God the Father. The Father is the head of the Family. And even though we can become His children, and even though we can be made immortal and composed of spirit — changed from matter into spirit at the time of the resurrection — authority will always reside in the Father. And the Son as the executive, because He agrees 100% with the Father, will rule the earth. God will be King over all of the universe. And Christ, then, will come back again to this earth and will restore the government of God. And the Kingdom of God IS the Family, born children of God, that have the government of God. So its more than just the government of God, we have to become the very children of God.
Satan then got to Adam through his wife.
REJECTING GOD'S REVELATION
Eve did not believe God, nor did Adam enough. And then Satan came along:
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"
2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1-5)
So, Satan contradicted God and made his pitch. Most reject God's word now.
HWA said:
In this world's education you will not find anything about the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt. You will not find anything about the Flood. They don't teach that in the colleges, or in school. Whatever God has said, they don't believe. They rely on what the human man has written from way back and what they imagine. And mankind has always been like that.
God knew that probably man would go that way. And that's why He provided all in advance, before THE WORLD WAS, for Jesus to give up His great position as the Word of God, the One by whom God created all things, and to come down and to take on the form of a human being and become human so that He could die. ...
I was asked just this morning by one, "Did Christ ever marry?" He was God, and He is going to marry. But He is going to marry the Church after we are made immortal. And if He had married a human woman, ... what would have happened? What would mankind have done to their children? It would never have done.
But Christ, you see, is engaged to the Church of God. And after the Church has by a resurrection or an immediate change from mortal to immortal, from matter into spirit, He is going to marry the Church. And God the Father will be Father over us all. And we will be Husband and wife; and we will bear fruit, but the children will be ... At that time, God will open the doors of salvation to all that live; and they are not open now.
Now let me explain that much right now. Adam followed his wife ... Oh ... the tools of science. The first thing is to reject the knowledge of God and the next thing is observation with measurement and the third thing then is experimentation. Then human reason, and through human reason then based on those things they come to conclusions they do in modern science. That's precisely what Eve did:
The Bible shows:
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6)
In other words, Adam and Eve, like most in the world, rejected the Word of God as the truth and the basic source of knowledge.
Eve seemed to think that she would come to know what is good and evil herself! She would judge (which is basically what the word Laodicea means).
She decided that she did not have to believe what God said was good and what God said was evil. She would decide that herself. And then she took of that tree. Now, when she and Adam took of that tree, they TOOK TO THEMSELVES the creation of knowledge, or decision of the knowledge of what is good and what is evil. Many ever since have tried to decide for themselves what they think sin is.
HWA sometimes questioned Protestant ministers,
"What is sin? Give me a Bible definition." And they won't do it. They may know what it says in I John 3 verse 4, that "Sin is the transgression of the law." But they won't say it, because they try to say the law has been done away.
CHOICE AND CONSEQUENCES
And so it is. Adam had made his choice. In other words, Adam said to God in effect ... And let me just paraphrase it in my own words. In effect, he said: "God, I want you to keep your nose out of my affairs. I will not accept you as my ruler. I reject you as my king, as my ruler. I reject you as my God for salvation. I reject you as a source of knowledge to tell me what is good and what is evil, and I will decide it myself."
And God said, "Well, I've given you the choice." Now, instead of choosing character, he chose the wrong way; and God allowed that. God has not going to force you to choose the right way. Adam was able to choose whatever he pleased, and so are we. But, if you make the wrong choice, you'll never have the character of God. And God is able to take care of that too.
From then in effect God said, "Okay. You have rejected me. You have said you will create your own knowledge. You rejected me as your ruler and my government over you. You have rejected me as a Savior and a God and as the source of knowledge. So now I sentence you and your children after you — THE WHOLE WORLD that will come (and we have all come from Adam) — to 6,000 years of being cutoff from ME. All except the few in the world that I will decide I need to call and choose to do something for me in my service. Them I will call. But otherwise ALL HUMANITY will be cut off from me."
Now you read over here towards the end of the 3rd chapter of Genesis, and I want to take time to just read that:
Genesis 3:22-24 And the [Eternal] God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us [That is, God and the Word.], to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever [Lest he gain eternal life, lest he have salvation.]: (23) Therefore the [Eternal] God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. (24) And he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubim [angels, or super-angels], and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life [lest people get salvation and immortal life].
Here is the NKJV:
22 Then the Lord God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" — 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)
So God took it away. And God said, "I will cut you off from me, and myself off from you." Now let me just explain a little further. 4,000 years later, Jesus Christ said:
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:44)
POPULATION EXPLOSION
God left it that He could choose certain ones. And He has only chosen those He had a job He wanted performed in this 6,000 years. God has left Satan here on the throne until a successor shall have qualified (which Christ did just 2,000 years ago), and then be installed in office (and Christ is coming very soon to be installed in office). But until then Satan is still here. And he is the one who is "the prince of the power of the air" and who is broadcasting through the air. And the spirit in every one of us, our human spirit, picks up the message.
He doesn't broadcast in words. He doesn't broadcast in pictures, like a telecast. He merely broadcasts in attitudes and in, well, certain desires and impulses. And he puts it in human beings from the time they are little children — selfishness, greed, vanity, wanting to "get" instead of "give" and help and serve; and all the things that we call human nature.
HWA said:
Now, we turn over next to the 6th chapter of Genesis. We notice that about 2,000 years have gone by and it's about 1900 and some.
Genesis 6:1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth ...
They did multiply at first. That is, there was a great rapid population growth — a population explosion! We are now at that time once again when there's a population EXPLOSION. Do you know there are 2 or 3 times as many people on earth now as when I was born? That's how fast it's growing. And it will double in; well I don't know, within the lifetime of most of us. I hope that includes me. [And,]"When men began to multiply" as there was a population explosion at the time "on the face of the earth."
Genesis 6:1-2 ... and daughters were born unto them, (2) that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took [to] them [selves] wives of all which they chose.
Now "the sons of God" were merely human beings, not angels; because humans reproduce after their kind, and angels can't reproduce at all.
Genesis 6:5-6 And [verse 5] 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. ...
It had come to the place there was only one man that believed God, only one, Noah. Noah was the only one. Noah was the only one who was perfect in his begettal, his generations (plural) — of the original race of Seth, the son of Adam. By that time, of course, there were the various nations. But God did not intend intermarriage between the races, and does not today.
Some human being is going to disagree with that, because people decide on what they want. And I have been a little bit distressed to find that some of the girls on the campus want to date men of the other color, and that should not be — because marriage is a different thing. It should be love the one for another, and no difference whatsoever because of race and other things. But in reproduction we are to reproduce "after our kind." I hope I've made that plain without further explanation.
Genesis 6:5 The [Eternal] saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Here is the NKJV:
1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.
3 And the Lord said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
5 Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." (Genesis 6:1-7)
GOD'S PLAN REVEALED
Now, there was no way to go on and save humanity. The Sabbath and the annual holydays, are called TO TEACH US A LESSON.
HWA said:
The first one, the Passover is the crucified Lamb. And it starts with our being changed from mortal to immortal, and it starts with Christ. The second, the seven days of Unleavened Bread picture our coming out of sin. AND I WANT THAT PREACHED IN THE CHURCH from now on!
And I say that with AUTHORITY, and I say it with POWER. If any of you think that I am senile and too old to carry on the Work of God, I think you are hearing it a little differently right now (because quite a few have suggested that, who are of opposite belief). And I speak with the authority of Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ called me and put me in the seat where I am. I didn't go to men. And it's something no man can do, and no man can put me out. Now then:
Genesis 6:11 The earth was corrupt [verse 11] before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
And, if you know now, God destroyed all the life forms. Some will say, "God isn't fair." Well, if you understand the annual holydays, the 8th day of the Feast of Tabernacles is to open our eyes to the Great White Throne Judgment. That's the time when ALL THOSE PEOPLE that were then destroyed are going to be resurrected and live perhaps a hundred years. The one scripture that has that can be translated another way. But anyway it will be the time that God has in mind, whatever that is — whether it's 10 years or 100.
And then they will have the chance to come to see the truth. God has taken away all chance of salvation from them. Those people were NOT lost. They were NOT condemned, because God had cut them off. Now I want to make that plain. I've said and used the expression that God adopted a hands-off policy. I find that doesn't make it clear enough to people. People then assume that everyone is lost unless they've accepted Christ. THAT IS NOT TRUE! In other words, except those that God has CALLED — no man can come to Christ. They are not lost, neither are they saved. ...
Now then: All of those people that God destroyed in the Flood will be brought back to life just as if ... They don't know anything in the meantime. And it's just like the next split second from the time they drowned and died, that they will wake up in the Great White Throne Judgment, after the thousand-year reign with Christ. And there won't be any Devil around. And God will show them the truth; and then I think most of them will take it, because they'll look back and see what they did. They'll look back and see that the 6,000 years have shown that if we go contrary to God's way, which the world has, it only brings all of the terrible wretchedness that we see in the world today.
There is nothing ...
God said in effect to man (and I didn't complete that a while ago.), to Adam and to the whole world afterwards, "You go form your own governments." They've done it. Look what the governments of man do. They are at war all the time, and someone is plotting to overthrow every one of them. "You go and form your own religions." Look at the religions in the world. And not even those called "Christian" are not the Church of God at all; and do not get their truths out of the Bible, but try to read them into the Bible. I had to learn that 50 years ago, and that was the biggest upset in my mind that I had ever had in all my life. But nevertheless, let me just show you the wonderful justice of God as it is. Anyway,
Genesis 6:12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt ...
And, by the way, that's the word "corruption" that has come from the planets of the whole universe because of what the angels did. And man, when he is finally converted and saved (and there will be BILLIONS of us), that are finally going to be converted and will HAVE THAT HOLY RIGHTEOUS CHARACTER OF GOD. We're going to be sent to the planets all over the universe. That's after the Millennium. This earth will always be God's headquarters. Even God the Father is coming down to this earth. But the whole earth was corrupt:
Genesis 6:12 ... for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
GOD USES A FEW
Well, so that is the way it started. Now God called one man back here, who was righteous and who believed in God — Noah. God saved Noah from the Flood, as a type of saving from the eternal extinction of humanity. However, I want to show you now some things about how God has ruled; and God is the real Ruler, although He is allowing Satan to stay on the throne and to operate.
Now next we come to Abraham. And I would like us to turn now to the 12th chapter of Genesis and read the first verses.
Genesis 12:1-2 Now the [Eternal] had said unto Abram [his name was to begin with, but it became Abraham. To Abram] get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: (2) And I will make of thee a great nation [and so on].
Now he just simply said, there's no quibbling, there was no talking back. "Well, do I have to and can I do it tomorrow or next year? Can I go somewhere else?" That's about the way the average human would have resulted. But it says ... Let's see. Well it just says:
Genesis 12:4 So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken.
Abraham went. He didn't quibble. You know, when I first saw 50 years ago that we should keep the annual holy days as well as the seventh day of every week, I didn't know why. I didn't know the meaning of it, and I didn't know the real meaning until 14 years later. I talked to the people in the Church of God up in Oregon, that we call the Sardis Era of the Church now; and they only laughed me to scorn. And for 7 years my wife and I had to keep those annual days alone, by ourselves. But we did. I DIDN'T KNOW WHY. I DIDN'T ASK GOD "WHY?" I didn't say, "I won't do it until You show me why."
God said, "DO IT." I saw it was forever. I saw it was commanded. And that was enough for me. I said, "In due time." I craved understanding, and I wanted to understand it. But I knew that, in His own time, God would give me the understanding as to why and now I know. You've been taught why. You haven't had to wonder. You haven't had to just take it like God said. But I did, and that's the way Abraham did (and Abram, as he was originally called).
Now his sons Isaac and Jacob also followed with God. Jacob, of course, had a little trouble at first and was a supplanter; but finally repented and came back; and then Moses. But 430 years after Abraham, the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt. Now God called Moses. Moses was a ... (I'm not going to take time to read all of the scriptures on all of that, because the time is getting short; and I still have quite a little I want to say.)
God called Moses. Moses was not seeking God. Let me say this. Noah was not seeking God. He was obedient to God and all that but he wasn't seeking salvation or anything. But God called him out and said, "Noah I'm going to use you to preserve human life alive on this earth." God said, "I want you to do something. I want you to build a great ship right here on dry land." And for a hundred years Noah {4} he was building the ship. And he was mocked at, ridiculed by the other people. It seemed so crazy to them. And some of the things God tells us to do do seem crazy to people who don't understand.
Well, anyway, he didn't seek God; but God sought him and called him in this world of Satan's. Then later He called Abraham, and Abraham was not seeking God; but God, it says here, let me read that again, "[Now] the [Eternal] said unto Abram." Abram didn't seek Him. God sought Abram, and called him; and he OBEYED. And he obeyed; he became the father of the faithful (spiritually speaking).
Then later we come to the time of Moses. No I won't go through all of it, but let me just tell you this much. Moses had been over at his father-in-law's place, who was the priest of Midian; and he was returning back toward Egypt. He was walking, and he came across a burning bush. It was just a small bush, but it kept burning. Now he saw it for some time before he had walked up even with it and then he eventually passed it. And finally he turned back to see well what could keep that little bush burning all this time.
And God spoke to him out of the bush and said, "Moses, take your shoes off your feet because the ground whereon you stand is holy ground." God's presence had made that ground holy. God was there, and calling him. Well, Moses was not seeking God. God wasn't trying to get people converted or saved in those years. That's the point I want to get through to you. The others were not lost. They'll come up to the Great White Throne Judgment. But if I've never made that plain before, I hope I'm making it plain now so you can understand it.
There's not injustice with God, in any way at all. But God wanted us to write the lesson. He knew that man would be misled and deceived by Satan, and would live Satan's way. And for 6,000 years of human wretchedness, and human anguish, and suffering and death have proved that only living the way of God is right. Satan teaches people to live just the opposite way. And Satan's churches on this earth try to say God's law is done away. They don't believe in the government of God. That's exactly what has happened.
Now we come a little later to others. God selected Joshua. God selected and chose the; well they are called 'judges' in the Bible or the one translation calls them 'heroes' that rescued Israel when they were taken captive by other nations. And here we have the nations all over the earth.
But in the time of Moses, God made a proposition through Moses to the people. And He said, If you will obey My voice, and do what I tell you, and live My way — I'll make you the greatest nation on earth. I'll make you the richest, the most prosperous. I'll make you the most powerful! So that five of you can chase 100, and 100 of you will put 10,000 others to flight. But if you do not, there is going to be a 2520-year time period when it would be withheld before that kind of blessing came.
God did not promise them any spiritual salvation. Only Moses, who led them out and the prophets that God called — them God gave His Holy Spirit to; but it was not to others. Now later there was David and God chose him. However, David was out tending the sheep. He wasn't seeking God. But God had sent the prophet over to the house of Jesse, and they thought every one of Jesse's sons except David was the one that men had chosen. But God chose David. And so it goes. And it has always been like that. Now God chose the prophets of Israel, but the people stoned and killed many of them.
And then we come on down to Christ. And Jesus Christ preached the coming Kingdom of God and how the whole earth then would be freed from Satan and would have peace and would have salvation, and that this character would be built within them. Christ came to live the perfect life, with the kind of character that God wants us to have; and set us an example in that. Christ let Himself be killed, and paid the death penalty in OUR stead! We have inherited the death penalty.
The Work Today
I'll tell you the first scripture that really opened my eyes to the fact that I and the other churches in which I'd been brought up were wrong was Romans 6:23: "The wages of sin is death." I said, "Well, that can't be. I'm an immortal soul. I can't die." Then, the very next part of the same verse: "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Well, I said, "I've already got eternal life. I'm an immortal soul." But the Bible says, "The soul that sins, it shall die." Christ said to Adam, "You are a soul; and if you sin you will die." And I began to realize the truth finally, and that the churches are all wrong about going to heaven and their kind of a hell; and that they are wrong in saying that we are immortal souls, and practically all of their doctrines.
So God showed me those basic things, even during my intensive study of over six months before I was converted and baptized. And I don't know of any leader that is a world leader as God has made me now, or a founder of a religion. And of course I'm not a founder of religion. But I don't know of any that have ever come to it this way as a complete surrender to God, a complete believing what He has SAID. When Christ came and preached to thousands, only 120 believed what He had said after 3 ½ years of the very Master, Jesus Christ Himself, being here on earth.
Jesus did not come on a soul-saving crusade. Never once did He say, "Give your heart unto Me, and I'll give you salvation." He didn't say those things. Those are the things that Billy Graham and the modern Protestants say. The Catholics will say that they give you something at the time you die, and that's going to save you apparently. But those are the ways of the religions of man and not of God, my brethren.
Now the disciples went out teaching what God preached. God brought a messenger, a message from God; I mean God sent a message through Christ. And Christ brought that message, which was the good news that the government of God will be restored; but be restored by the very BORN Family of God. God is doing things in His time and His way, and God's way is PERFECT! But no man would do it that way, and the ways of man would be very imperfect.
Now, if we overcome, and turn from Satan's way unto God's way, and develop His kind of CHARACTER WE will sit with Christ on His throne and rule with Him. But the reason He has called us now, and called those of you who are Philadelphian to back us in getting this gospel of the kingdom of God to the WHOLE WORLD.
The Gospel To The World
Jesus said:
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14)
29 They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. (Luke 13:29)
Those scriptures support the view that multiple languages being used to reach people before Jesus returns–and that is also specifically pointed to in Revelation 7:9,14:
9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, … 14 These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, (Revelation 7:9,14)
Yes, the Bible points to the use of multiple languages being used to reach people before Jesus returns.
While we had the English version of The Gospel of the Kingdom of God booklet translated into a couple of hundred languages in the past, we still want to reach more people in as many languages as we can.
Late yesterday, the Continuing Church of God received 34 additional translations of its English booklet, The Gospel of the Kingdom of God. While all of those are not online yet, this brings the total to an additional 182 languages the Continuing Church of God received in the last six weeks!
Additionally, we are on a dozen AM and FM radio stations in the USA, on AM radio in Europe, Africa, and the Philippines, as well as on two shortwave stations to reach people around the world.
Our videos have been viewed by people in all known countries around the world in English, plus we also have videos as well as radio broadcasts in languages other than English.
The CCOG is serious about fulfilling Matthew 24:14 as it prepares for the short work of Romans 9:28 (see also Preparing for the 'Short Work' and The Famine of the Word). Having made information on The Gospel of the Kingdom of God in more languages than any Church of God has done throughout the entire church age is another step that shows it is going through the "open doors" (cf. Revelation 3:7-13) to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom to the world as a witness.
The good news is that despite problems that humans have caused since their rebellion in Eden to present, God has a loving plan that works.
The Apostle Paul wrote:
9 But as it is written:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
You are to be a crowning part of God's creation.
Throughout eternity you will be able to give love in a unique way to make eternity better for yourself and everyone else.
That is why God created anything--and that is why God created you. For more on that, please see our free online booklet:
The MYSTERY of GOD’s PLAN: Why Did God Create Anything? Why Did God Make You?
Worship the God of creation. Support the work He wants done.
May God bless all of you, and let's carry on. We are going on together to get this job finished that God committed to His Philadelphians to do.
Here is a link to a related sermon: Creation and the Good News of the Kingdom of God.