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The Road to Heaven (Salvation by Jesus Christ)! | In the Beginning: | | Before the world came into existence God was there. Before God spoke the world and all that we know into existence He had a plan. His plan was to create humanity. Our primary purpose was to have fellowship with Him. (Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.) Not just a knowledge of God (or that there is some higher being out there), but a personal relationship with Him. A relationship so close that we would know His voice. Therefore when God created mankind He decided to create us in His image. (Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.) Being created in the image of God does not mean that God looks like us (although He would one day become human) but that we were given some attributes of God. There are two primary attributes of God that have been given to all of mankind 1) eternalness and 2) free will. Every man, woman and child is an eternal being with the ability to make choices. In the beginning all was well. Mankind was placed in the Garden of Eden where there was no toiling, no sorrow, no tears, no pain and no worries. Mankind was given unimaginable freedom with only one stipulation. (Gen 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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 simple rule and we could not even keep it. For one day Satan (The Devil, The Serpent) came to the garden and challenged what God had said. Mankind not only chose to question God (Genesis 3:4-5 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.) but to do what he wanted rather than what God had commanded (Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.) And in that moment what was perfect was now corrupted. Satan’s words to mankind had some truth to them (as they still do today). He told mankind “Ye shall not surely die” and physically he was right. For man kind lived for many more years. But spiritually he was wrong. (Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.) They had disobeyed God and when he came to fellowship with them they hid because they were afraid (Genesis 8-10 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.) Then to make matters worse they began the blame game, “it is not my fault someone else made me do it.” (Genesis 3:12-13 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.) Therefore God mediated His judgment for the sin which was committed. (Genesis 3:16-19 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shalt be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.) In that judgment mankind who was created to never experience physical death would now have to die. His life would be separated into physical and spiritual from this point forward. The physical judgment could not be removed but the spiritual results of the sin (nakedness) would be covered with the shedding of blood. (Genesis Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.) God who is Holy can not and will not remain in the presence of sin (which is disobedience). So God removed man from the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 3:23-24 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.) Yet God still wanted a close personal relationship with mankind. Therefore He came up with a way to cover our sins so that he could fellowship with us. |
| The First Covenant between God and Man: | | |
| The Second Covenant between God and Man: | | |
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