I've wondered before, "God, why don't you just show yourself to us? Why don't you just reveal yourself to the world? I know you're capable. You could show yourself to the whole world in 2 seconds and EVERYONE would know that you are real and that you are God! It would put to end any and all religious debates and wars. And your Word says that you desire that all would come to repentance and to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. That would happen if you would show yourself to people."
It seems so easy.. so simple right? If he would just do that, all the problems in the world would just end right? No more questions.. no more doubts…
But then I think about this, as we are told in the account of Genesis, God created everything that exists, including Adam and Eve. It goes on to say that He walked and talked with them in the cool of the day. Adam and Eve saw and knew God in a way that we cannot until our time on this earth is over. They knew God very well in the way that you are asking about (beyond the shadow of a doubt) and in the way that I was referring to in my previous wonderings.
Yet, even though they knew Him in such a way, satan still deceived them and caused the greatest tragedy that ever happened in history, "The Fall of Man." How could he do such a thing? He deceived them. Yet, it's difficult for me to understand how he could've been successful in doing so when they walked with God, knowing Him beyond the shadow of a doubt. God had told Adam and Eve a very small list of "to do's": Be fruitful and multiply..replenish and subdue the earth, watch and keep the garden, exercise dominion and authority in the earth, and DO NOT EAT OF THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. That's it. Very clear. Yet the serpent came and what did he do when deceiving Eve? He got her to question God's Word; "Did God REALLY say that?… no no no.. He doesn't want you to be like Him knowing both good and evil." Now Eve knew better. She knew what God's Word was because she said, "He has told us that we should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for the day we eat of it, we shall surely die." Even though she knew what God said, she was still deceived because she did not exercise the dominion she was given and say, "NO YOU STUPID SNAKE! I told you GOD said, you shall not eat of that tree! Now you are a liar and I have dominion so you get the heck out of here and don't ever come back!"…. Oh what life would be like right now had that happened.. haha! But we know what did happen.
What am I trying to say?.. What am I getting at? Deception and questioning God's Word is satan's first and most common weapon. He is a liar, always has been since his fall and always will be. The Bible tells us he is the author of all lies. Now, when Adam and Eve believed the lie they empowered the liar. (You believe a lie you empower the liar - Bill Johnson.) They HAD authority and dominion because it was given to them by God. But when they believed the lie and neglected God's Word, they then empowered the liar. They were born of God. They were God's children. When they ate of the fruit, exactly what God said was gonna happen, happened. Did they fall over dead? No. Their spirits died and the downward spiral of death began in their bodies. At that point, they were no longer God's children. They became the devils children. Sounds kind of harsh and drastic right? But it's the truth. Think about it, why did Jesus tell the pharisees in the new testament (who were not saved and hated Jesus) "If you were of my Father you would love me… you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you want to do!" Every person born from Adam and Eve inherited the new family genes, being the sin nature instead of God's divine nature as was originally planned. Everyone from then on out was a child of the devil. Stinks for us.
Enter the need for the miracle that has become a spiritual cliche to many: being "born again!" Why is it that this was the wording that Jesus chose to describe salvation in John chapter 3? Because that was what was necessary. Because of sin, man was separated from God because sin cannot exist in God's presence and neither can death. When they disobeyed God, their spirits died. Now someone had to pay the bill. As it tells us in Romans, the wages (or cost) of sin is death. It also tells us that sin entered the world and death by sin, or death entered the world through sin. All that to say, that's what Jesus was talking about when He told Nicodemus, "You must be born again." In essence He was saying, "You're dead and unless you are born, you can't live, especially not in God's Kingdom."
Forgive me if you're sitting here scratching you're head saying… "Uh.. DUH! Elementary Stephen…"
But here is the catch. Millions of people in the world today, don't understand christianity or receive it because they perceive it as a religious system in which you must be good and if you are then you can receive Jesus and He'll accept you. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Jesus came to pay the bill. Man racked up the bill with sin and the payment was death. God being good and merciful and loving beyond mental comprehension, sent Jesus to pay what man could never pay in his best efforts. The wages of sin: death. The (free) gift of God: eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom 6:23). The greatest tragedy: man being separated from God. The greatest triumph: Jesus paying the price so that broken, hopeless and dying man could once again, have access to God and have the God kind of life; abundant life.
What made Jesus different from everyone else? Is it that He was God/man? Yes and no.. the real difference is found in the virgin birth. Why was that so important? Because as stated earlier, everyone was born from Adam, therefore receiving the sin nature from their father the devil. Jesus, on the contrary, was not conceived by a man, but by the Holy Spirit as it tells us in Matthew chapter 1. Therefore, Jesus was born of God. And here is the beautiful part, the very same Holy Spirit that conceived Jesus in Mary's womb, is the very same Jesus who conceives life inside of us, birthing God's spirit inside of us once again. Also the very same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus up from the dead. Also the very same Holy Spirit that dwells in us. (Rom 8:11) Romans chapter 8 tells us that NOW, when we've been born again, we have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry "Abba Father" or "Daddy God!" The essence of our new life in Christ is that we are children of God! What a miracle. It's not just a bunch of stupid spiritual cliche's. It is an absolute spiritual truth. When you receive the payment of Jesus and His perfect blood and then allow the Holy Spirit to begin His good work in you, you are at that moment a child of God. 1 John 3:1 tells us that this is really the ultimate understanding of God's love; "Behold, what manner of love is this, that we should be called sons of God!" I can hear him saying that in just utter awe, "Do you see this?! What kind of love is this? That we are children of God?!"
(Once again this is all potentially stuff we've been hearing since childhood Sunday school classes.)
Then going back to Rom 8, it tells us that as we've received the spirit of adoption (God adopting us out of our terrible tragic state) it goes on to say that the Holy Spirit now bears witness with us IN OUR SPIRITS that we are sons (or daughters) of God. There is an inner witness in your spirit that you are a child of God. Is it in your head? NO! None of this makes sense to your head. It never will. That is why the Bible says that He has set eternity in our hearts (Ecc 3:11). Because our heart is capable of receiving what our mind is incapable of understanding. It doesn't make sense… IT MAKES FAITH! Faith is everything to God! Why? Why is He so big on faith? Because it was a lack of believing what He said in Genesis, that caused the original fall. Adam and Eve didn't believe what God said above the liars words. THAT is why God chooses to operate in faith and without "beyond the shadow of a doubt" proofs. He takes pleasure in the lives of those who will simply believe His Word. Think about it, if you told someone something and they didn't believe you but you were telling them the truth and you knew also that it was for their well-being, you would be very upset and frustrated. God wants us to have faith in Him and in His word without having to see it. Hebrews 11:6 tells us "without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God because he who comes to Him must first believe that He is (that He exists) and that He is a rewarder of those who DILIGENTLY seek Him. Jesus told the Pharisees "it is a wicked and adulterous generation that seeks a sign." Why is that? Because that is a generation that does not put it's faith in God's Word.
So many people get "saved" with this idea that "I have to be good and God will save me." Even if they know that Jesus paid the price, they still have that in the back of their mind. It's like cleaning yourself before taking a shower. The purpose of a shower is to get clean. Jesus came to change us from the inside out. Even the concept of salvation being available because you're more qualified than any other is the law and cannot save anyone. You receive Jesus and then you are a child of God, whether you feel like it or not. I'm not married, but I do know that a husband and a wife do not always FEEL in love. There are MANY times where love is a choice within a marriage. Feeling has nothing to do with it. Whether they feel like it or not, they are husband and wife. Those are the days, when love is tested. The days they don't feel like loving each other. It's the same with God. The days we don't FEEL christian, the days we don't FEEL like God is anywhere close… it's those days that we have to tell ourselves, "I am in covenant with God! I am a child of God! Whether or not I feel like it… I AM! Why? Because God's Word says so!" Faith has NOTHING to do with feeling and EVERYTHING to do with what God's Word says.
2 Corinthians chapter 5:10 says, "Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God; bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." We have the same authority and dominion that Adam and Eve had, since we are now children of God, just like they were before the fall. According to that verse in Corinthians, we have the right to cast down thoughts and arguments and ideas that enter our head that do not line up with God's Word. You don't feel God or feel close to God? Cast those thoughts down! And then replace them with what the Word of God says about you! If you've received Jesus and are born again, then YOU ARE a child of God! You ARE righteous, no matter how many mistakes you've made. There is nothing you can do wrong that Jesus can't make right! He's more of a restorer than we are broken. He's more of a healer than we are sick. He's more of a pursuer than we are lost. He is better than we are bad!
This all comes easier with the more of God's Word that you know. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. The more truth you know the less likely you are to be deceived. The more time you spend meditating on the Word of God, when a thought comes that doesn't line up with the truth, you'll know the truth and you can say, "NOPE… that's not what God's Word says. I believe God's Word!"
I hope that helps some! I'll be praying for you. I guess the ultimatum is, You can only know by faith. And that faith pleases God. And when you step out in faith to believe Him and IN Him, then His spirit bears witness with your spirit. I know NOW beyond all shadow of a doubt because I KNOW Him. I have a relationship with Him. I talk with Him and He talks with me. I know His voice. It's not an audible booming voice. It's once again, a inner voice I hear by faith in my spirit. The same way no one can ever convince me that you don't exist, because I know you… No one can convince me that God doesn't exist.. because I know Him.
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