THE SOURCE, STANDARD & TEST OF ALL TRUTH

John 7v16-18:

Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.


What we know and teach about Christ should never be what we think He should be or be like, but simply what the Word says about these things. Even Jesus Himself, in the passage above, clearly said that His teaching about truth wasn't according to what He thought it should be (in that human part of Him), but what it was in truth. Jesus says above, 'It comes from him who sent me.' What we say truth is should always have a source, and that source is the Word:

John 1v1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

6There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.

Jesus Himself, in what He spoke and in His example and acts (His life), showed us the light, which is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The rest of the Bible is that same light and same truth, and so that is the Christian's source, standard and test of all that is truth and true. John knew this full well, as the scripture above says that he was a WITNESS to the light, and a WITNESS to the truth, but not the truth himself, nor did he have any light himself apart from that which was given and learnt from Jesus (/the Word).

We, like John, are only witnesses to the light, not the light ourselves. Yes, we have been given the life of Christ, been made children of Christ, and been imputed with Christ's righteousness, so in that sense, we have been made children of the light, but still we have been grafted into the tree of Christ, and so our source of light, and thus truth, is still Him. We become very much mistaken if we begin to believe that we can start making up what Christ is like in order to fulfil our own desires about how we believe our following after Him should be like. Similarly, we cannot make up what we believe we think Christ should do, or how we believe He should work according to what makes good sense to us, or according to how we interpret His work or His words.

Obviously we will never be perfect here, as we are all sinners, and we all see 'through a glass darkly' on this side of eternity. We will not always get truth right. Sometimes we will misinterpret things or believe something that is erroneous, but the important thing is to always have a heart to want to know the truth as it is in the Word of God. If we do our best to know the Word and check what we believe with the Word, and interpret it as best we can, then that is all that God asks of us. Sometimes we will disagree with each other over minor things in the Word, but God does not upbraid us for this, as long as we don't become disagreeable with each other over non-essential truths, for God wants us to be united and at peace with each other. The important thing is to keep humble about the truth we believe according to what we see in the Word.

Similarly, when it comes to witnessing and evangelising, no matter in what manner or what setting, we must be very careful to faithfully teach the whole truth and whole truths about the way, the truth and the life, which is obviously what Jesus described Himself as being. Jesus is not ok with us picking and choosing what we'd like to reveal about Him, He wants us to reveal Him as He truly is. If we pick and choose, we start to do what the scripture says above:

v18 '...He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.'

If we pick and choose in this manner, we start to evangelise because we have things in mind for ourselves and something to gain for ourselves. This also applies for what we think we may lose. We begin to teach and evangelise based on trying to protect our own honour and our own interests, and this is what Jesus warns about in the above scriptures. Jesus says that those that do this have something false about themselves, for they do not preach Christ for the reason they should, but they do it for human interests. Again, if we are human beings, no one has been perfect in this area, and all have sinned here, and so we have need of being reminded, and often so, about how we should go about teaching and preaching about Christ. To block or curtail truth or to only preach half-truths is to make what we are saying un-truth and to make lies. Jesus never did this in order to be honoured by men or to gain something from them, and neither should we. And he especially didn't care for what He would lose amongst men, as He always had honouring His Father as His number 1 priority. All our needs are met by Christ and He secures those things; He is our protector, our shield and help, why should we fear what man can do to us? Why should we fear loss because of man, when God is our portion and our exceedingly great reward? God looks after the sparrows, and how much more will He look after us! God will look after us, but He is not pleased with us if we become cowardly about the truth (Rev 21v8), and this should be our great concern. Far better for men to be displeased with us, than for God to be!

Lastly, in the scripture above (v17), Jesus says that if anyone chooses to do the will of God, they'll find out whether the truth that is being taught them is really true. The reason for this is that they'll find out what the source is; whether it is earthly or heavenly. The difference between the earthly and the heavenly is monumental, for the earthly has no power in it; to change, move or enable us in any sense, while the heavenly is the complete opposite. The heavenly will definitely change and grow us, and will have the power in it to do so. If what we hear is from the Father and from the Son, then we will see that it is pure and that it can be worked out in our lives, and that when it is, it changes not only us, but those we come into contact with as well. The truth is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and so we will see the evidence of this in our lives and through what is worked out in our lives. If there is the fruit, then we have also received the source of truth and truth as it really is. If there is no lasting fruit, then we haven't received the Word correctly or what we have received has much error in it. This doesn't mean we will be perfect, as we will always be sinners on this side of eternity, but it does mean that His grace will be sufficient for us, to keep us following Christ no matter how much we may stumble or fail (Matt 18v21-22). But we always know if we begin to follow our own version of the truth, because we will know that we are following sin and ourselves instead of Christ.

In all our speaking about truth and thus speaking about Jesus, our highest goal and our greatest desire should be to honour Him. The way we do that is to honour the truth of the Word (as scripture says that He is that Word and that light!), and to honour the Word as that highest standard of truth and the blueprint of all that is true. The way we dishonour Christ is to start trusting the thoughts of our heart to be true and the way and thinking of the world to be true, and to start trying to mesh both those things and the Bible together. We, like John, need to be witnesses of the light of the world. We need to point to the light and point back to that as much as we can. When we start making things up, we point to ourselves and to others we believe can be sources of truth (apart from the use of the Word). When we don't know what the Bible says about what we preach and teach, then we are in great danger and so are our listeners. What's more, men will eventually find out that what we've told them isn't true! Not only will that reflect badly on us (and even men may act against us because of it), but what really matters is that it will reflect badly on Christ because of us! Because of us, men will incorrectly blame and walk away from Jesus, and stop following or not even begin to follow His path! The consequences for preaching half-truths and un-truths are therefore monumental! The easy way to guard against this is to teach and preach the Word as it truly is, and so to trust God to protect us and also to bring about what He is intending to through His truth.

THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT AND DREAMS AND VISIONS

Eph 5v18: …Instead, be filled with the Spirit…

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 - Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

Acts 1v4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

12Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walkc from the city. 13When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. 14They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

2 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord[a] in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
18
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.

We know as Christians that we have already been filled with the Spirit, but the Word also says that this is to be something that we should want to happen on a continual basis. The writer of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul, said 'be filled with Spirit' (Eph 5v8). This being filled with the Spirit is in order to be empowered to be able to do God's will (and thus serve), know what that will is, and to actually be directed in that will, and especially that we may be Jesus' witnesses. We know this because this is exactly what happened with the disciples on the day of Pentecost. Furthermore, a major way that God chooses to do this with His people is by giving dreams and visions. Again, we know this because this is exactly what happened at the first outpouring of the Spirit in the New Testament, as visions of tongues of fire appeared on each disciples' head. Peter recognised why this was happening (remembering the passage from the book of Joel), and explained it to the people:

Acts 2v16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
18
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.

From the outpouring of the Spirit and the resultant visions of the tongues of fire, came an opportunity for Peter to witness for the Lord and His death and resurrection, and from there, the Bible tells us, around 3,000 souls were saved (v41) and God continued to add each day to those that were saved (v47). From this we can clearly see just how important, not only the outpouring of the Spirit is, but the outpouring in the form of dreams and visions (and just how much God values these things).

God is willing that all His people would receive dreams and visions. There is no stipulation in the Word which says that people must be prophets in order to receive them. The scripture above says that God will pour out His Spirit on 'all flesh'; so all of His people. Both sons and daughters (v17) will prophesy and both old and young men alike will receive dreams and visions. And those considered small or the least (in mens' eyes) in the Kingdom will receive them: 'And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days'. God is no respecter of persons, and the only reason any man receives dreams or visions is because of the blood of Jesus Christ and His great mercy and grace.

While God gives dreams and visions at times which are completely unlooked for, He usually gives such things by the method we see in the passages above. Jesus specifically told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem (Acts 1v4) until they had received the promise of the Father. This waiting involved prayer: 14They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.' When God gives us the promise of His Spirit, He desires us to respond by showing a desire for that very thing via asking for it in prayer:

Matt 7v7“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

9“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

In asking in prayer, we align ourselves to receive what God has for us and this readies us to receive it. There would be no point for God to give us dreams and visions if we wouldn't even recognise a dream or vision when we got one. Similarly, if we couldn't discern whether a dream or vision is from God, it would also be in vain for God to give us such a thing.

In asking we also ready our hearts and minds to receive such things in the right way. We should desire to receive such things in order to serve God and His people, not in order to build up our pride:

James 4v2: Yet[a]you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.

In asking we should remind ourselves about the reason that God gives us such things, and that is to glorify Jesus and make Him known. We should also ask that God use such things in the way that He wants to use them, for often we are unaware of exactly how He will use them and what ends He has in mind: Luke 22v42: '...nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.' 2 Cor 4v8: '...we are perplexed, but not in despair…' 1 Cor 13v12: 'For now we see through a glade, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.' Often, when light (truth and revelation) is received, simply shining (sharing to all) that revelation and truth is all we need to do: Matt 10v27: 'What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.' But there are also times when we need to be particularly wise with when, where, to whom and in what manner we share the dreams and visions God gives us because God will have a specific will for these things.

Furthermore, in the asking, God actually works on our own hearts and our own spiritual lives. In times of specific waiting and asking we naturally spend more time with the Lord, and this then leads to God stirring up our heart for Him in other areas of our spiritual walk. God expands our prayer life so that we begin praying more for others, and we also become more mindful for His Kingdom and will in general. We also find ourselves becoming more spiritually minded and mindful of spiritual things as we think on the will of God and the things that God is doing in our lives, the lives of others and in the world in general. God also uses the time we wait in order to have us die to ourselves so that we can receive dreams and visions in the right way. None of us are perfect at this, and often times we fail, but God is patient with us and He is gracious with us. God also often needs to purify our motives and our desires (as to the reason why we are asking for such things), and He does so by having us wait on Him in prayer and in waiting on Him in general (His Word, worship etc). And often God will often allow us to be very weak in ourselves, so that we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are not strong in ourselves or pure in ourselves, no matter how much grace we may receive in getting dreams and visions. When God took Paul to heaven, afterwards the Lord gave Paul a thorn in the flesh to keep Paul from becoming conceited.

It is quite important for us to have a good biblical understanding about dreams and visions. God very much wants us to know why these things are given, how He's given them before and understanding as to the types of revelations He gives in this form. The more we know about them via His Word, the more we come to understand, not only about dreams and visions, but the God who gives them. If we haven't before, it is very important that we get a good biblical knowledge about how the Spirit has poured out such things in the past, and how God has used such things to glorify Jesus and build His Kingdom.

It is of vital importance that we pray and ask for dreams and visions by using the Word of God. The Father always listens to the Son (the Son always interceding for us) and we know that Jesus Himself is the Word of God. When we pray using the Word, we pray according to the heart of God. What is more, the Word is always living and active and sharper than any two edged sword- the Word will never fail in its purpose! Whereas we are often weak and sometimes perplexed, the Word is always strong and always clear. Quote those scriptures which promise the outpouring of His Spirit, especially in the form of Him giving dreams and visions. And quote those which promise that if we ask, we shall receive. Some of the scriptures I've used in prayer in the past are the Matthew 7v7 + v9 scripture and the Acts 2 scripture I've put above and the one I've put below (there are others, but I'll try and post them another time):

John 16v13: But when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.

If you have a desire for such things, be encouraged to ask God for them and to wait till He gives them to you. This is often very hard to do. In my experience, sometimes I've only had to wait a very short time, and at other times I've had to wait quite a while for them. When I first asked God for dreams and visions I didn't receive them for quite some time, but eventually they did come. I would encourage everyone to ask for dreams and visions, whether you have a desire for them or not, quite simply because God said He would pour such things out in the last days, and these are the last days! It's also clear from that Acts passage that it is God's desire for His people that they ask for and serve with such things- the Word says, 1 Cor 14v1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. … 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. God is wanting to encourage and edify His people with such things, and He is wanting to use us to do just this! We also know that prophecy teaches, instructs, encourages and warns; all things which the Word of God always provides for us, and prophecy does exactly the same thing. But the key has been and always will be for us to ask God for these things in prayer and then to wait for them.

NO MATTER WHAT WAY YOU LOOK AT IT

In regards to sharing the truth, not wanting to offend others is always a good thing, and a good motive to have. But when shining the truth, it's important to realise that offence will come. That doesn't mean that we seek to offend or that we are pleased when offence comes, but it means that we accept the truth that the Word reveals in regard to how men will react when the truth is preached:

2 Cor 2v14 Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. 15 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not, as so many,[b] peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.

This also applies to what area of truth we share. Make no mistake about it, EVERY PART OF THE TRUTH will either be an aroma of death or an aroma of life, depending on who accepts it or rejects it. What we as Christians deem 'easier to accept' is just as much an aroma of death to those that reject it, and what we regard as 'hard to accept' is just as much an aroma of life to those that accept it and have themselves been chosen. A clear example of this is seen in the fact that Paul was persecuted by the Jews, not because of preaching about judgment but because of the Good News of the Gospel. Similarly, when Peter preached a message that involved telling his hearers that they were 'wicked' and that they were responsible for crucifying Christ, his hearers took it very well, reacting in a way that showed how much they understood that Christ and His message was an aroma of life:

Acts 2v23:

This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.

v37:

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"

We often believe that any message of sin, conviction or judgment, will drive men away from Christ, because it is hard for our natural selves to accept it:

John 6:
v60: On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching, who can accept it?"

But Jesus, three verses on in this passage, makes a point of saying just how different the flesh (our natural understand) are to all things Spirit based:

v63: The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.

The only way any truth can ever be accepted by men is if Jesus opens the eyes' of mens' hearts and moves their hearts to accept Him. And thankfully this has nothing to do with just what we deem easy or hard to hear. There is no ability that humankind has and no intelligence and no emotion that can open the gateway of their own hearts. There is only the Spirit that can do that, through what God has ordained via the sharing of the truth.

And whatever truth we share at any one time, there will always be elements of what we deem easy and hard to hear mixed together (try as some might to separate them, it is impossible). An example of this is seen in the sharing of the Gospel, for without sin, grace isn't needed, and mercy and forgiveness is only needed if first we are first made aware that judgment hangs over us and awaits us if we don't accept Him. It is Good News that there is a heaven that men can go to, and part of that Good News is that we are being saved from Hell (the value of the message is found in not simply what we are saved into, but saved from).

For me personally, it was the entire message of the Gospel that drew me to Christ, a message that is overflowing with truths of grace and judgment. The message of the Gospel is incomplete without the truths of sin, conviction and judgment. I needed to not only know that I was a sinner, but that I would be judged if I didn't trust in Christ being judged in my place. It made me love and Christ and respect Him in my life to know that not only was life provided me through Jesus' death and resurrection, but that I had been saved through wrath through Him as well. It was never just one truth or one part of the truth that led me to Christ and made me love Him, but it was all of them.

The Spirit of God is able to make the message of grace and judgment lovely to its hearers, because they are made lovely via the power of Christ to reveal Himself as He truly is, not who mankind would like Him to be (otherwise they will believe in a Christ and God of their own imaginations- a false Christ, a Christ who doesn't exist and who has no power to save from anything). Christians must not seek to make Christ acceptable to others through selecting certain truths at the expense of others, and even if they do this, it will be in vain, for any truth contains the reality of both grace and judgment; for all truth is based upon and emanates from the cross of Christ, and all truth can be understood by being traced back to that act, and via the context of that act.

NUMBERS

Often today a lot of Churches and its people are concerned with numbers and 'growth'. While its admirable to want to win souls and to see God's Kingdom grow, it's important for us to embrace a truth that Jesus revealed in the Word:

John 6v37:

'All that the Father gives me will come to me…'

While we are faithful to simply go about Church in a simple yet Godly manner, God will give His people whoever He has chosen and whoever He has led to come to Him, to them. When we are faithful to simply shine the light and to go about fulfilling His commission, God will add whoever He wants to add; sometimes to the congregation, sometimes to other congregations.

Yes, it is great to want to win souls and to have the body of Christ grow in that way, but God's way of growth has always been likened to that of salt and seed being scattered throughout the earth, and wherever that may fall, is a good and sovereignly ordained thing. God doesn't need one place to be huge in terms of numbers, for His Spirit is everywhere and He is at work everywhere, even if it is often unseen or unknown by us. God is as happy with two or three in one place, as He is with a few hundred or a few thousand in another. And He is no more powerful in one place with a few hundred than He is in another with two or three. This should always be obvious and evident to us through what the Lord did with 12 men.

Pastors often get upset and self-righteously angered when people leave their Churches, and yet they often forget that they are not their Churches at all. It is not even their work, and it certainly isn't their right to be overseers of Christians' souls if God is leading them on (they may be caretakers for a while, but that is all they are). Such Pastors need to relax, for it is God who sustains every work and every soul, and it is God who is the Great Overseer and Great Shepherd of every man's soul.

If God allows great numbers in one place, great. If He allows few in another place, that's just as good. Let Him be the one that adds and the one that takes away if that seem good to Him (just like Job said, 'The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away'). Wherever men may be, they are in God's Church and God's body; they have Him as their Shepherd, Apostle and every other gift.

All that God has deemed good to give to men, let them be glad with what they have been entrusted with. Let men only be concerned with how they are going to go about fulfilling their shining of the light of God before men, and His commission, for the sake of His Kingdom, and His Kingdom alone. In this way His ministers won't be concerned with how 'their Church' is going, for they will fully understand that it is not their Church at all, and those they minister to are not their people. They will not need to struggle and strive and to constantly strategise and plan in a fleshly sense, and to be a burden to God's people in terms of always asking and crying out for more money, but they will be able to completely rest in the will of God, and in whatever God has chosen for them and His Church in their place of worship.

THE BRIGHT SIDE

2 Cor 3v18: And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Matt 17v2: As the men watched, Jesus' appearance was transformed so that his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as light.

Looking at the bright side of life is a common expression, and often we are encouraged to do this. Unfortunately however, we live in a darkened world, we experience the flesh on a daily basis, and we have an enemy that is always active- so it's easier said than done, especially when going through hard times. Fortunately though, our Lord overcame the world and overcame tribulation, and so He has provided an empowered way for us to always see the bright side of life.

For us as Christians it all begins with beholding the brightness of His glory. In times of worship and in times where we come aside to focus on Him, we too, along with the disciples that once ascended the hill of the Lord, will see our Lord transfigured before us. What this means is a stirring of our souls for Christ; for love, action, worship and for a life lived for Him in every way. This will mean that when we come down from the mountain, we will have the vision we need to look on the bright side of life; not a naive, silly and shallow thing, for we must fight the good fight of faith, but something which was greatly seen in the life of the Apostle Paul- someone who lived through whatever with the joy of the Lord and with a great rejoicing in the midst of great sorrows.

Too often we simply rely on the flesh in trying to see the bright side of life, and even the bright side of the things of God. Furthermore we try to understand and use the flesh even as the disciples often did to even relate to the Lord. Often the disciples tried to understand what the Lord said and did according to their own understanding and way of seeing things (really just how the world would've viewed what Jesus said and did), and often they got it wrong, or even got rebuked by the Lord because their thinking was way off. It was only when the Holy Spirit came, that Great Helper, that their understanding became clear, for it was only by that power that they saw Jesus, this life and all spiritual things as they really were and in the right manner. So we too, will only see our lives and everything about them in the right manner if we rely on beholding Christ via His Spirit in our lives. Christ is the brightness of God and the glory of this life, and only when we grasp that, will we be able to see 'the bright side' of this life, no matter what we go through.

As we take time to behold Christ, the eyes of our understanding will see and know Christ as He really is, and thus will we see this life as it really is. But if the fruit of our Eden is the flesh, we'll suffer for it; the eyes of our understanding will be darkened, and we will not see things or experience things or Christ in the right way. The fruit of our Eden must be Christ, and then this will be fixed; we will see the brightness of His glory and thus all the brightness of our lives via the Spirit's own good understanding and clear vision of these things.

SUFFERING

Sometimes in life when we go through something that is causing us great suffering we ask the question, 'Why is this happening to me?' A better question to ask ourselves should be, "Why shouldn't this be happening to me?" We too easily forget that in Adam, we all sinned; rejecting God, choosing sin and rebellion and choosing to accept the consequence that would go with it. In Adam, God warned us beforehand when He said, "For in eating it you shall surely die," yet we chose to eat anyway. And so death came into the world in every form, and mankind has since forever suffered because of our choice and because of sin. And we should never try and pass the buck, because make no mistake about it, none of us would've not done what Adam and Eve did, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

God has allowed the world to experience the consequence of its choice, and He has been fully justified in doing so. Apart from the many other reasons the Lord may have for allowing mankind to experience the suffering that we do (and no doubt He would have many), that one reason should be more than enough for us to accept, no matter how painful the reality of it may be. There was a cause for sin, and the effect has been death. In Christ our spiritual lives were salvaged, but our bodies have not yet experienced the fullness of redemption (the resurrected body), and so we must endure till the end.

What should really perplex us is how God allowed His own Son, perfect in every way, to take upon Himself all of our sin; forgiving us completely and finally, and tearing the veil so that we can remain close to Him and in the Holy of Holies, not just now, but for eternity. While in Adam, the Bible tells us, all sinned, in Christ those that believed are made alive. We have been given a life when we deserved death, and we have been given another chance to live in the way that God intended for us. Christ is now this world's true Eden if men will accept Him, and as Christians we have, not only spiritual Eden inside of us, but, the Word says, we have been brought to mount Zion itself:

Heb 12v22But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

Having a perfect physical Eden ended up not satisfying Adam and Eve, and it will not satisfy us either (because Edens don't satisfy apart from Christ, and they don't satisfy if they are leant on in a way that replaces Christ as the centre). They had everything that you could possibly want in the natural, and yet they chose to sin. We could have everything we want in this life, and yet still it wouldn't satisfy us and still we would feel a pull, because of our sinful nature, to turn away from God and to choose sin. While we are on this earth, God is wanting to teach us and train us to be able to live with Him and be satisfied with Him alone. Not easy, yes, but also not impossible. Not something that will be without pain, but not something that will be painful beyond what we can endure by His grace.

So, we must come to accept our lot in life, however hard it may be; for we, by nature, deserve it. Yet we must comfort ourselves that Christ has, in His sovereignty, ensured that all things we experience will be worked together for good. This life that should've just been pain, Christ has redeemed and brought great life from because of the cross. Do not look to get rid of pain, because pain will always be a part of this life. And do not think that without pain, we would be satisfied, for only when Christ is the centre of our life and our Eden, will we be satisfied.

While we as Christians often seek for the physical reality of the presence of God and the perfection that we yearn for (a Godly yearning, but one that will only be completely fulfilled in the life to come), the Lord's main intent for us upon earth now is to know and live in the spiritual reality of that presence; for God is Spirit, and those that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. In this way we learn and will come to know what Christ truly intended for us as humanity; life via the Spirit of God, not by human might, power or perfection or by what they create to be as their Eden (Eden as they see it and as they want it). And we shall one day know the full reality of what God intended for us as well, when all things will be made right again, and we will know what it is like to live in complete perfection.