After the Resurrection

 After the Resurrection - Nathele Graham - twotug@embarqmail.com Adam chose to sin. Eve made the mistake of chatting with Satan and allowed him to cause her to question God’s truth, but Adam chose to sin. The world has been under the curseof death ever since. We tend to blame God when bad things happen, but God is not to blame. He made a beautiful place for Adam and Eve and provided for all of their needs. Put the blame on Satan. He is a liar and has no love for mankind. God loves us so Satanhates us. “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” 1 Corinthians 15:45. The name Adam simply means man or mankind, and God created him special. He wasn’t made like the angels, nor was he like the animals. “And the LORD God formed man of the dustof the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7. God saw that Adam needed a companion, so He took Eve from Adam’s side. Then, trouble happened. Eve spoke with the serpent, who confused her with liesand she ended up breaking the one rule God had clearly made. She ate from the forbidden fruit. Then, Adam made a choice. He wasn’t befuddled, he knew full well what he was doing. He ate the fruit, and Paradise was lost. He and Eve were no longer allowed tolive in the Garden of Eden. Their children would never know the security of living in God’s Paradise; sin and death would curse humanity through the ages. Although this wasn’t God’s ultimate desire for mankind, this didn’t surprise Him. There was a plan. Thatplan would take many thousands of years to be fulfilled, but it would happen. God would shed His own blood to redeem what Adam lost. First, there had to be guidelines set. We know this as the Law of Moses. This is a detailed set of instructions regarding behavior that pleases God, and tells what to do whena law is broken. Sin is serious and nothing less than blood could cover it. The Law described many sacrifices and how they were to be done. The shedding of blood is ugly, but it’s the only sacrifice that can cover sin. Never does God require the shedding ofhuman blood, only animal blood. Animal blood cannot be a permanent solution. It can only cover the sin, not take the sin away. “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls andof goats should take away sins.” Hebrews 10:3-4. The sacrifices were a temporary solution, to a permanent problem. Jesus would give us the permanent solution. The Law of Moses was a moral guide and one that was to teach God’s ways. Most people instinctively know what is morally correct, or at least some part of the moral laws. Weknow it’s wrong to murder people, even little people in the womb. We know it’s wrong to steal. We know not to have any gods ahead of the One True God. These are things that in today’s terminology, we call “no brainers”. The Law even dives deeper into moralguidance, regarding marriage, sexual purity, having a day of rest, and more. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” Galatians3:24-25. The standards set under the Law were very high, and not humanly possible to keep. That doesn’t mean it’s acceptable to sin. We might be ok by human reckoning, but it’s God we need to please, not our fellow sinful humans. Jesus taught that even thinkinga sinful thought is enough to condemn us. So, the animal sacrifices were an important part of life before the cross. The Apostle Paul wrote many letters and some contain lists of sins. His letter to the Corinthian congregation says “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit thekingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom. of God.” 1 Corinthians6:9-10. The congregation in Corinth was a very corrupt group, and they were very, very tolerant of sin. Christians need to love sinners, but reject the sin embraced by the world.Read through what Paul lists here and if you need to, look up the words in a dictionary, or in a more modern Bible translation. Do you see any of this in your life? If so, you need to change to reflect Christ, not change Christ to reflect your sin. Paul startsthe list by saying the unrighteous won’t inherit the kingdom of God. That pretty much includes all of us. We have no righteousness except through the blood of Christ. He also goes on to say “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified,but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Corinthians 6:11. Things changed after the resurrection. We have a permanent Sacrifice for sins. Notice this verse says “such were”, indicating we aren’t to change Scriptureto condone the sins, but we are to allow Christ to change us. Jesus gave everything for us. He left Heaven and the glory He had there. He stepped into His creation knowing He would be tortured and crucified. That’s love. “For God soloved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believethon him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18. Before the resurrection, there had to be blood sacrifices. Jesus’ shed blood was that final sacrifice. Jesus was fully God and fully human. Because He was conceived by theHoly Spirit and didn’t have a human father, His blood was pure and untainted by sin. After the resurrection, we need faith in the finished work of Jesus as our blood sacrifice to take sin away.. The Apostle Paul was a true missionary. He spread the Gospelof Christ to everyone using words, not gimmicks. “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to thescriptures:” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4. That truly is Good News. What can we do to thank Jesus for what He did for us? We can thank Him by accepting His sacrifice and allowing Him to change our hearts. When we first truly believe the Gospelmessage, we are born-again. Peter was one of the first followers of Christ and we see great changes in him. His letters contain much wisdom. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversationreceived by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believein God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.” 1 Peter 1:18-21. Peter was a man whose life was changed by Christ. Peter was a Jewish fisherman when he first met Jesus. We learn much about Peter’s character and most of us can relate tohim. He was rash in his actions, and usually the first to speak out of turn. He wanted to do right, but when Jesus was arrested and things looked dangerous, Peter denied knowing Him. Still, it was Peter who ran to see the empty tomb, and it was Peter who stoodbefore a crowd on the day of Pentecost and spoke words (not seeker friendly words) that brought 3,000 people to faith. Peter knew God’s truth and after the resurrection, he wasn’t ashamed nor was he afraid to speak out. Before the resurrection, it took faith in the coming Messiah to save a person from eternal death. After the resurrection, it takes faith in the death, burial, and resurrectionof Jesus Christ. Admit you are a sinner and cannot do any works to save yourself. You need Jesus. Trust Him now and allow Him to change your heart. God bless you all, Nathele Graham twotug@embarqmail.com ron@straitandnarrowministry.com Recommended prophecy sites: www.raptureready.com www.prophecyupdate.com www.raptureforums.com All original scripture is “theopneustos” God breathed. If you’d like to be on my mailing list to receive the commentaries just drop me an email and let me know.