Once Upon a time:
Before time was way beyond human imagination heavenly beings lived in the presence of the Great God Almighty Jehovah. They would enjoy the company of each other. Laughter was the order of the day. Joy filled the atmosphere and every angel sang sweet songs of praise to God.
But then one day in the Heart of a the most beautiful archangel jealousy grew and flourished, and burst forth into resentment and hatred. The heavenly atmosphere was corroded and violence filled the air. Lucifer and his cohorts were thrown out of heaven. And there is where our story begins.
Once upon a time in the land of Eden lived a happily married couple. Their love was pure and clean. They used to talk with the angels and have fun with they maker, JEHOVAH. He used to tell them many stories about creation and about the way things worked. They were always fascinated by his stories. God told them about the fruits they could eat and those they should not eat. Let us go to the Bible to find out which fruit they could eat and of which fruit they could not eat. Gen. 2 : 16, 17;
16 ¶And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
One day an evil angel came into the garden. He was jealous of the friendship Adam and Eve, for that was the couple’s name, had with their creator, God. SO he sought to have them distrust God and destroy the relationship with their good friend.
It so happened as Eve was strolling by the ‘Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil’ she heard a sound and when she looked she realized it was a beautiful serpent. Little did she know that the evil angel had taken possession of the beautiful serpent and was using it to speak to her. Let’s go to our bibles to read about the conversation; Gen. 3:1-5
¶Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:1 - 5 (KJV)
And so it was, the Bible tells us that Eve ate of the fruit. It tasted so good that she brought some for her husband and he ate it too.
Suddenly they began to feel different inside. They began to look at each other and became ashamed of each other’s nakedness. So they took fig leaves to hide themselves. Would you believe when their friend, came to converse with them in the Garden that they hid themselves from him. Nevertheless, eventually Adam and Eve did show themselves to God and they were asked to explain what had happened.
God clothed them with the skin from a lamb and put them out of the Garden because they could no longer be trusted to remain there, lest they eat of the Tree of Life. Never in their life time were they to return to the garden.
The story could have ended there but it didn’t.
Before chasing them out of the garden God told them that they would have a child which would redeem them. And this gave them hope.
Their first son was called Cain, and the second Abel. And they hoped that one of them would be the promised redeemer but tragedy struck. Let us turn to Gen. 4:1-8
¶And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. ¶And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. ¶And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. ¶And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. Genesis 4:1 -8 (KJV)
The story could have ended there but it didn’t.
The third son was obedient and godly but as much as their hoped he was not the redeemer. He grew up to produce a very godly family, but he was not the redeemer. Adam spent 930 years speaking to all who would listen about his story: he spoke with Seth 800 years, with Enos 695 years, Cainan 605 years, Mahalaeel 535 years, Jared 470 years, Enoch 308 years, Methuselah 243 years and with Lamech 56 years.
After some time men became very evil. Even Seth descendants were no longer obeying the commandments of God. As God looked down he came to a conclusion that he must do something about it. Gen. 6:5-8
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ¶And 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; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. ¶But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. Genesis 6:5 - 8 (KJV).
So God decided that he was going to destroy the earth and he did. Thus about 2000 years after Adam and Eve left the Garden, instead of a redeemer, God sent a flood.
The story could have ended there but it didn’t.
Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD and he and his family were saved.
Thus it was that Noah’s family repopulated the earth. After a few generations had passed, God called a man named Abram. He promised him that one day he would be the father of a Son from whom a great nation would come. Through this nation the promised redeemer would arise. And indeed Abraham as he later was called did bring forth a devout son, Isaac. And he in turn had two sons, one of them, Jacob, served God.
There came a time when there was a great famine in the land and Jacob and his family went down into Egypt. At that time Jacob’s son Joseph was Governor and he gave to them a lovely piece of land to live on. But eventually Joseph died and the Pharaoh who arose cared nothing for the past. He was afraid of the Hebrews as Jacobs descendant were now called. They had grown to be so many. So he put them into slavery.
The story could have ended here, but it didn’t.
For 430 years the Hebrews toiled in the hot sun. They laboured day and night doing the Egyptians biddings. Many of them forgot the promised believing that the story had come to its conclusion but it hadn’t. After 430 years God called upon a shepherd named Moses. And he used Moses to deliver the Israelites from slavery. Ex. 13: 40,41
Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
What the Israelites had forgotten was what God had told Abraham in Genesis 15:13
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
And so it was after all this time the Israelites were lead out of Egypt. However because of their behavior they took another forty years before they could settled in the land God had promised Abraham in Gen. 15: 17-21
¶And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. Genesis 15:17 - 21 (KJV)
It was a happy time when they arrived. Everyone was determined to serve God under they leader Joshua. The Israelites defeated nation after nation and won the respect and fear of many of them. Years went by and they took kings to themselves so as to be like other nations. However as time passed the kings became corrupt and corrupted the people such that they worshiped false gods and practiced evil habits.
Once again they were taken into captivity by the Babylonians and were removed to the land of Babylon. The temple Solomon had built for them to worship God had been destroyed and the instruments used in it taken to Babylon.
The story could have ended here but it didn’t.
After 70 years, prophesied by the prophet in Jeremiah 29:10
For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
The king of Persia, who had defeated Babylon, allowed the Israelites to return to their homeland and rebuild the temple.
Then one day after over 4000 years or more had passed, the Angel Gabriel appeared to a virgin called Mary in the City of Nazareth in the province of Galilee to tell her that she would bring forth the child redeemer. Lk. 1: 26-33
¶And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Luke 1:26 - 33 (KJV).
Paul tells us in Galations 4:4
But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Jesus grew up taught and was ushered into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. He could of succumbed to these temptations but he did not.
Throughout the Gospel He was tempted to give up on his plan and adopt another:
The multitude wanted to make him king after the feeding of the five thousand St. John 6:15
His brothers sought to influence him:
Jh.7 :3,4: His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest. For thereis no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.
Jesus said unto them: My time is not yet come but your time is always ready.
(So often people want you to do things in their time for they own purpose but you have to know what is the best time to do what you have to do.)
When Peter sought to discouraged him from his task; He quickly rebuked him by telling him-
Get thee behind me Satan, for thou art an offense unto me, for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Matt 16: 23
In the Garden of Gethsemane, he was assaulted by temptations not to do the will of the Father but He persevered.
Even on the Cross the devil tempted him:
He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
But he did not relent, he did not become distracted, he remained focussed. He died on the cross they took him down and buried him in Joseph’s new tomb and they thought all was finished. Satan thought he had won. But the story was not finished.
On the third day he burst the tomb. And later he ascended into heaven and is sitting on the right hand of the father. But the story is not finished.
You and I are here to complete the story. How will you end your chapter. The Bible tells us
Jesus will come again and
those who are in Christ will rise to meet him in the air
It tells us the adversary and those who follow him will be burnt in hell fire
And Christ will reign with those who follow him forever.
Each of us is writing the script of our lives, it does not matter what we are passing through now, we must always remember the story is not yet finished. Only you can determine how it will end.
May it be said of you, at the end of your story that he/she reigned with Christ happily forever and ever Amen.
