MY TRUTH OR THE TRUTH

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What are our psychologists teaching us about life? The latest is the “identity theory of life“. It is entirely subjective. It emerges from how we feel, what we think, and what we want. It is not beholden to our Creator, to any fixed standard outside of us. It is my truth, not the truth.

What does God tell us about life? he starts with “In the beginning, God...” Then when He has anything to say about human beings, He says, ““Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…

There is a truth outside of us that we cannot escape. It determines what we are and who we are. And yet the world rebels against that truth. Why? The Prince of this World deceived Eve:

“But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5

We want to be God and determine how we will live our lives. We do not want to live according to our Creator’s commandments.

We are made in the image of God. What does that mean? Martyn Isles in his book Who Am I? Solving the identity Puzzle says the following:

“Scripture tells us that the whole of God’s nature may be summarised in that sacred word “holy”. First, it means sinless and perfect. So Adam and Eve were made sinless and perfect. But holiness is also a short way of referring to all of who God is. It includes all aspects of His perfection – all of His character traits. So, God’s character traits were able to be demonstrated by mankind in creation because of their holiness, to radiantly image Him and reflect His glory this includes things like His love, grace, mercy, righteousness, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and so forth. Wow!

God made it possible for us to get right with Him and return to the right relationship. It could only be achieved by Jesus (God the Son) paying the price of our rebellion which was death. Jesus died so that we might live. He rose again from the dead and so will we to eternal life, first to reign with Jesus on this Earth during His Millennial reign, and then after the White Throne judgement, on a new Earth where only the righteous will dwell.

“They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” Revelation 20:5-6

The Millennial Kingdom is next on God’s agenda for mankind. Are you prepared for what is coming? I was not and God narrowed my focus for a while so I could prepare the website http://www.millennialkingdom.net. May I suggest you go take a look and get prepared?

MANKIND AND CREATION’S VASTNESS

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God in His Word reveals why He created human beings. We are meant to be in a relationship with Him.

Genesis 1:27 states: “God created mankind in his own image.”

Psalms 8:1–5 says: “O Lord … What is man that You take thought of him … Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!”

John 3:16 explains God gave humans His son to redeem us out of His love for us.

The vast expanse of space

These texts show that God is human-oriented: human beings are like God, and he values us highly.

“When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands” Psalms 8:3-6

Note the contrast between vv. 3–4 and v. 5. Looking at the stars causes the psalmist to ask why He (God) cares for us. And yet in verse 5, He crowns us with glory and honour. The psalmist is clearly capable of meditating on his own insignificance in the light of the sky, and yet he also acknowledges God’s care for us in the way He made us.

Solomon makes a similar observation, this time concerning God dwelling in the temple he has just built.

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! 1 Kings 8:27

Solomon prayed these words after God had manifested his special presence in the temple (1 Kings 8:10–11), so he wasn’t questioning whether God would care enough to dwell in the temple. Rather, he was marvelling that God would condescend so far and fill the temple with His glory. This is even more evident in the Incarnation, where the eternal Word of God “tabernacles among us” (John 1:14) as the human Jesus of Nazareth.

The vastness of the universe impresses on us God’s sheer immensity. Even the cosmos, as large as it is, can’t contain God! But we’re so small. Little dots on a single speck of a planet floating in some nondescript place in the vast cosmic dark. Does it make God feel immense? Of course, it does!

And yet, we are right at the centre of God’s spiritual concerns. The Incarnation proves that. But this disjunct is precisely what we’d expect of God.

“For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” Isaiah 57:15

God is a God of loving condescension. He voluntarily descends from His transcendent dignity to care for us “mere specks of dust”. What better way for God to create a context for that impression than to create a vast universe in which we’re alone on a tiny speck in the vast cosmic dark? He fills all things, yet concerns himself with us so much that He sends His eternal Son to become one of us to bring us into eternal communion with Him by making it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the eternal Holy Spirit to indwell our spirit.

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Our spirit was always meant to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit, as this verse shows, our spirit is the lamp of the Lord which needs the Holy Spirit to function as God intended.

“The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts.” Proverbs 20:27

Extract from the article “Why did God make such a big universe?” by Shaun Doyle 19th July 2022 http://www.creation.com