The Temptations of Christ: Loyalty, Self-Sacrifice, Love, and Long-Suffering

Part 2 of:

Jehovah's Characteristics Reflected in Jesus
Matthew 4:1-11

The temptations of Christ reveal the tactics of the devil as well as the characteristics of Jesus. In his first temptation, the devil waited until after Jesus “had fasted for forty days and forty nights” (Matt. 4:2). Satan then tempted Jesus to turn stones into loaves of bread. Satan thus displayed cunning by waiting until Jesus was most vulnerable. Jesus’s long-suffering spirit, however, allowed him to resist the temptation to abuse his authority and perform miracles for such a self-serving purpose. Jesus thus displayed not only a long-suffering attitude, but also a self-sacrificing attitude and a love for others by reserving his power only for the benefit of others.

Satan next tempted Jesus to throw himself off a battlement in order that angels might save him. Why, though, is this a temptation for Christ—how would Jesus benefit from listening to Satan. Picture this scenario in your mind: you have this idea that you are the Son of God, and you must get baptized in order to do his will. You follow through and get baptized. All of a sudden you see what appears to be a dove descending on your head and you hear a voice booming overhead, saying, “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” At the same time, you have memories flooding into your head of a life that you had prior to being born on earth—a life in heaven as God’s only-begotten son, first-born of all creation.

After having such an experience, you might wonder if you have gone completely nuts. You may find that you are continually questioning your own identity and constantly asking yourself, “Am I really who I think I am?” Jesus was human and subject to the same emotions as all humans, so it just may be that Christ’s second temptation was designed for him to find out if he truly was the Son of God. Thankfully, Jesus maintained his integrity and loyalty to Jehovah by refusing to put his God and Father to the test in such a manner.

Finally, Satan tempted Jesus one last time by offering Jesus all the nations of the world in exchange for one act of worship. Satan thus took advantage of Jesus’ love for others, for he knew that Jesus had the power to relieve so much suffering and do much to help mankind and the earth. Imagine if you were given the opportunity to do away with suffering and war and poverty and many other things that malign humanity—would you take it if it meant performing an act of worship to the Devil? Jesus’ resistance of this final temptation showed not only loyalty to and love for his Father, but also true love for humanity. After all, any good that Jesus would have done then would eventually be undone because sin would eventually overtake the earth once more.  Jesus would have given up his only opportunity to save humanity once for all time. Since he successfully resisted the final temptation, he has done much more for us by taking our sins upon himself on the torture stake. For his loyalty, Jesus will now have the privilege of reigning over the earth for a thousand years and restoring creation back to the perfection that his Father had always intended. What a wonderful privilege, both for him, and for us!

Jesus' Baptism: Loyalty

This is the first entry for the series:

Jehovah's Characteristics Reflected in Jesus

Jesus comes to the Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist. Because John “knows that his baptism […] is for those repenting of their sins, but Jesus is sinless” (gt-E, ch 12)¹, he objects with Jesus, stating “I am the one needing to be baptized by you, and are you the one coming to me?” Jesus replies, “Let it be, this time, for in that way it is suitable for us to carry out all that is righteous.” This statement reflects Jesus’ loyalty to Jehovah. In order to “carry out all that is righteous,” Jesus needed to be resolved to do his Father’s will. Jesus’ baptism symbolized that resolve, rather than repentance of sins.—Matthew 3:13-17

Insight on the Scriptures comments on page 249 that Jesus’ insistence on being baptized speaks in harmony with Psalm 40:7-8, which reads

In view of that, I said: “Here I have come,
In the roll of the book it being written about me.
To do your will, O my God, I have delighted,
And your law is written within my inward parts

Footnotes:

¹ Unless otherwise stated, all cited publications on this blog come from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (WTBTS).

Back Again

OK, sorry for being away so long. I'm really gonna try and be more consistent in my posting (although I can't promise anything--life happens). I am attempting to start a series of posts entitled "Jehovah's Characteristics Revealed through Jesus," wherein I plan on analyzing and meditating on stories of Jesus presented in the Gospel accounts. Some material may be original and some will be compiled from the Watchtower Library or other publications. I plan on compiling each post in the series into a separate page with the same name (or not, if I decide at some point that I don't like it). Well, we'll see how it goes. The first one is on Jesus' baptism (I'm reading the Gospels from front to back, so you will likely see updates as I read through new material in the other Gospels).

Why Doesn't God Reveal Himself in an "Obvious" Way?

Sorry I've been away for so long...my life has been kind of busy (both in my secular career and my spiritual life). I've been focusing on a new position at my job as well as my Bible study with Jehovah's Witnesses...I'm slowly but surely working my way toward baptism (one step at a time). One other reason I haven't been posting is because I haven't had much to say recently. Most of what I am/will be posting (besides what's in the "Core Christian Beliefs" link box to the right) are ideas and thoughts that I feel the need to share that are mostly derived from my Bible study, and a lot of what we have been talking about lately are personal issues that I do not feel the need to post on this blog at this time (maybe someday I will share my story--when the time is right, but now is not that time). Anyway, back to the blog...

I often hear the following sentiment from people, "If God would reveal himself in an obvious way, I would believe in him." Another thought that often comes up along the same line of reasoning is that God is malicious or evil if he punishes people for not believing in him when there is no irrefutable scientific evidence of his existence.

So let's start with why I believe in Jehovah, the God of the Bible, because I didn't always. There are two reasons why I believe, one is intellectual, and one is personal, and neither one alone is a strong enough reason for me to believe, but the two together have made a pretty big impact on my life. The intellectual reason is simple--the likelihood of a volume of books such as the Bible, written over the course of thousands of years by dozens of people with varied backgrounds being compiled in such a way as to be able to begin to give a consistent account reality (whether real or imagined), is in my mind, pretty low. If you believe the Bible is fiction, then that likelihood is even lower. However, if the Bible recounts the truth, and its writing and compilation has been guided by a supreme being, now we are entering a region of plausibility. Of course, this reason is hardly water-tight; there are of course ways of manipulating the argument to make it slightly more plausible that God is NOT the author of the Bible. This is where my own personal experiences come in.

I was at one point pagan and a practitioner of witchcraft for 10 years. In all that time I have experienced some pretty amazing/powerful stuff. However, nothing I have felt during my practice of witchcraft ever came close to what I felt when I called out to Jehovah, the God of the Bible. It didn't happen right away, I felt pulled, very very gently, towards Christianity and towards Jehovah's Witnesses (I, having a grandmother who has a Jehovah's Witness, already knew much about the doctrine). That pull/calling gradually grew over time, and after about a year or two, under circumstances I'd rather not go into at this time, I felt the hand of God (God's Holy Spirit) in me and in my life--and it was an experience that was more powerful than anything else I had felt up to that point, and I've felt that same force in my life ever since then--ever since I responded to that (although not constantly in such a powerful way). Let me be clear that the force of God's Holy Spirit entering into me was a result of my response to God's gentle guidance over the previous year or two--and then something happened and the floodgates opened up as a result of my own readiness to sincerely explore Christianity.

That, by the way, is not the only time I've felt the Holy Spirit in my life in such a powerful way, but again, it is not always that powerful. I've come to see over the years that Jehovah knows when I need comforting, reassurance, or just plain old encouraging--and he provides the help needed in the least spectacular way that will get the job done. Jehovah is not a God who simply uses his power for nothing--he does not boast of his abilities--and that's point number one. If something can be accomplished by more conventional means--Jehovah will utilize that over making a showy display of power.

Now, you might say, well some people need that showy display of power in order to believe. Is that really so? Can you read other people's hearts? Only Jehovah can do that, and he knows what each person needs way better than you or I do. The fact of the matter is, there are people out there who are just too stubborn to follow Jehovah's commandments, even if they got to see first hand the creation of the universe. One such person is known as Satan. Of course, the angels were created before the physical universe (Job 38:4, 7); yet that did not stop the angel later to be known as the "Devil" from sinning. Of course, Satan believes in God-he's even had direct access to him (in the account of Job, Satan even interrupted a meeting in heaven between God and the faithful angels--Job 1:6-12), but what good did that do?

Satan is not the only one who has had access to Jehovah and visible evidence of his power but failed to live up to Jehovah's standards. Adam and Eve talked to God every day, and yet they choose not to listen to him. The Israelites witnessed many miracles at the hands of Moses in the name of Jehovah as he was leading the out of Egypt--not the least of which was the parting of the Red Sea to allow them through and the subsequent engulfment of the Egyptian army as they tried to pass through the same Sea. The Israelites saw the miraculous manna, the 12 plagues on Egypt, Moses getting water from a rock, among others. Yet none of that was enough to impress the importance of obeying Jehovah's commandments, given through Moses, on the minds and hearts of an entire nation.

Now you may say, "well, that wouldn't happen with me--if I saw these miracles, I would believe in God;" however, belief is not enough. Your heart has to be receptive to listening to and obeying Jehovah's commandments in order to gain acceptance into everlasting life. It is not enough to simply believe in God, you need to be humble enough follow Jehovah's way even if you don't agree with it, knowing that Jehovah's wisdom is far superior to yours or even mine-Jehovah's wisdom is the highest wisdom there is--even superior to that of his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

What it comes down to is this, if you are sincere in your search for the truth, then Jehovah will open the way to you--but the decision has to be yours to make--that's the importance of free will. Jehovah is not going to force you to serve him--and this is a loving provision from God. We, as God's creation, have absolutely nothing to give him that we haven't been given BY him--except one thing--our loyalty. Our loyalty to Jehovah is the only thing that truly originates with us that we have to offer God--and that's why it is so precious to him that he would never force us to worship him against our will.

It is an unfortunate thing that Satan has shaped a world in which people love themselves too much to admit that they don't really know anything. The Devil has created an environment that breed pride and love of self and does not allow a person make a sincere search for the truth without being mocked by the world--but again, God knows what's in your heart, and if, somewhere, deep down, despite a person's mocking attitude, they are really just groping for reality, God will find a way to latch on to that and bring out a desire to make that honest search--if that person is willing to let him.

Now, of course, God could simply make a big spectacle in the sky--something that is just beyond any kind of scientific explanation and people were forced to see that Jehovah was the true God. Let's say, for the sake of argument that God did that, and he told people that Jehovah's Witnesses were his people. People would begin to flock to their local kingdom hall saying, "I believe, tell me what to do and I'll do it." What will the response of the other members of the congregations be? Here's a sample of what one dialogue might look like:

Person from the Street (PS): "I believe in Jehovah, what do I have to do?"
Member of the Congregation (MC): "That's great--let's read the Bible, we can start a regular Bible study"
PS: "No, I don't need to read the Bible, I believe, just tell me what I have to do and I'll do it."
MC: "Okay, the first thing you need to do is to get to know Jehovah, and to do that we need to examine the Bible."
PS: "It's okay, you don't have to convert, just tell me what to do."

etc...

This conversation me seem silly, but for the average person who happened to have seen this miraculous sign and now "believes" in Jehovah, this is pretty much the way it would be. It is not enough to believe in Jehovah, you need to obey Jehovah...but if you are merely blindly following a checklist or set of rules...it will get old really quick. The reason is that there is no heart or feeling in the person's obedience...he is simply doing what he is told without any feeling, and his love for worldly pleasure will no doubt win out in the end (Matt. 6:24).

The single most powerful motivator is love...and it is our love for Jehovah that moves us to want to follow his commandments. But, as with human relationships, it is impossible to love Jehovah without first getting to know him, and we do that by examining his word, the Bible. If you do not believe this, consider this scenario. Let's say you are single and you meet someone and after five years, you begin to explore a relationship with that person, and in another year you two are happily married. If I were to ask you if you loved your spouse, you would undoubtedly say "yes." If, however, I asked you if you loved the person who is now your spouse 10 years ago, you would say "no." Why? The reason is, because you didn't know that person 10 years ago. The same thing applies to Jehovah. Our dedication to obeying Jehovah cannot last if we do not love Jehovah, and we cannot love Jehovah without first getting to know Jehovah, and the only way for someone to get to know Jehovah is through his word. Of course, I can pray to Jehovah to guide me if I have a decision to make, and that helps me to get to know Jehovah's will a little better, but to really get to know who Jehovah is and why he is the way he is and why he does the things he does, the only source for that type of intimate knowledge right now is the Bible.

In conclusion, it does not do any good for a person simply to see miracles...that does not change a person's heart. The only thing that can change your heart is you, and that is guaranteed by free will, and the only thing stopping a person from experiencing the type of life-altering experience that I went through is that person's unwillingness to humble themselves in their heart enough to make a sincere and honest search for the truth. However, if a person is humble and there is a willingness to make a sincere search, then rest assured that Jehovah is powerful enough to find a way to get the truth to that person, even if it doesn't happen with a showy display of power.

Cain and Abel's Offerings and Jesus' Sacrifice (2)

Part II: Jesus' Sacrifice
For God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son,
in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed
but have everlasting life - John 3:16

The opening scripture (John 3:16) is probably one of the most popular and oft-cited scriptures among those who claim to be Christian. Before I begin this post, I would point out that this happens to be a particularly appropriate time for the topic that is to be discussed here (although I had not originally planned it that way). The reason is because this is the time of year that Jehovah's Witnesses begin thinking about Christ's sacrifice, and what it means for humanity. Every year, around Nisan 14 on the Jewish Calendar, Jehovah's Witnesses worldwide gather together at their local places of meeting to commemorate Jesus' death and observe the Lord's Evening Meal.

This year, the observance will be held on April 5. If you are inclined to attend, you can get more information at your local Kingdom Hall. If you are unsure of how to contact your local Kingdom Hall, you may be able to have someone come to your door if you visit the JW website at http://www.watchtower.org/ and click "contact us" at the bottom of the page. You may be more likely to get a quicker response if you mention in the e-mail that you are interested in attending the observance of the Lord's Evening Meal.

Also, apparently, Robert King will be hosting an online memorial for those interested. Information on that can be found on his website at http://e-watchman.com/.

This observance was established by Jesus himself (Luke 22:19) and it replaced the Jewish observance of Passover. At 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul likens Jesus to the Passover Lamb to be sacrificed--in this way, the Passover, like the rest of the Mosaic law, had become a "shadow of the good things to come" (Heb. 10:1). In fact, the Bible tells us that the purpose of the Law was "to make transgressions manifest, until the seed [Jesus] should arrive to whom the promise had been made" (Gal 3:19). A little further down, it states, "However, before the faith arrived, we were being guarded under law [emphasis added], [...] Consequently the Law has become out tutor leading to Christ, that we might be declared righteous due to faith. But now that the faith has arrived, we are no longer under a tutor" (Gal. 3:24-25). So, the whole purpose of the law was to teach people of their own sinful nature. In this was, the law is a tutor, and it leads to Christ inasmuch as it was capable of allowing individuals to wipe out individual transgressions through animal sacrifices. This foreshadowed Christ's ability, through his own sacrifice, to wipe out the transgressions of all mankind "once for all time" (Heb. 7:27).

That the Mosaic Law was a shadow of things to come was true in many, many respects, but the ultimate truth foreshadowed by the Passover was Jesus' own sacrifice, which was also foreshadowed when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac and in Abel's sin offering to Jehovah (see Part 1 of this series in the previous post). It is also foreshadowed in the sin offerings that were prescribed to the Israelites, for both sacrifices removed sin. However, unlike a sin offering, which could not return the individual to perfection, Jesus' sacrifice has the power to restore all of humanity to perfection by repurchasing what Adam had lost (for  more information on this, refer to the blog post, Jesus' Death: Why Was Jesus' "Temporary" Sacrifice Sufficient to Buy Back All of Humanity?). God commanded the Israelites that their sacrifices be the "first fruits," or the "firstlings" of the flock (which is to say, that in order for a sacrifice to be acceptable to Jehovah, it had to be the very best that the person had to offer). Even this commandment to sacrifice their very best foreshadowed God's willingness to give mankind his very best--his very own first born son.

With sin offerings, however, notice that Jehovah never commanded the Israelites to torture the animal (this was true of all animal sacrifices). It would not be in Jehovah's nature to request that a living creature be tortured--this was also true of Jesus. It was not God's intention for Jesus to be put up on a stake (Jesus was not put up on a cross--however, this point deserves its own post) and tortured as he was--that was done at Satan's insistence. So why would God allow Satan to have his way with Jesus? As with all things, Jehovah's purpose for this was to vindicate his sovereignty (see "The Problem of Evil: How Can God Be Good If He Allows Evil?"). By allowing Jesus to endure that trial, Jesus' faith answered Satan's challenge a man will not remain faithful to God even unto death: "Skin in behalf of skin, and everything that a man has he will give in behalf of his soul" (Job 2:4) Since Satan insisted that Jesus be put through a torturous ordeal, God allow this evil so that it would vindicate him that much more.

So if Jesus was not originally supposed to be tortured by his opposers, how exactly was he supposed to die? After all, he was perfect, and therefore would live forever if not put to death in some way. Just like the animal sacrifices of old, a priest would have pierced Jesus' heart, resulting in the most humane death possible at the time, and would have presented him as a sacrifice to Jehovah in behalf of mankind. Sadly, Satan's self-serving whims got in the way of this plan, and Jesus' death was a lot more painful than it had to be.

Cain and Abel's Offerings and Jesus' Sacrifice (1)

Part I: Cain and Abel
He did not look with any favor upon Cain and his offering. - Genesis 4:5

The Account of Cain and Abel

The Bible account of Cain and Abel tells us that "Abel came to be a herder of sheep, but Cain became a cultivator of the ground" (Gen. 4:2)¹. It also tells us of the offerings of Cain and Abel. It tells us that "Cain proceeded to bring some fruits of the ground as an offering to Jehovah" and that Abel "brought some firstlings of his flock, even their fatty pieces" (Gen. 4:3-4a). Finally, the Bible says, "Now while Jehovah was looking with favor upon Abel and his offering, he did not look with any favor upon Cain and upon his offering" (Gen. 4:4b-5).

So the question is, why did God look with favor upon Abel's offering, but not Cain's. Many explanations abound about the answer the this question. Some say, for example, that it was because Cain's offering was not meat, and therefore not pleasing to God. Other's refer to Hebrew 11:4, which states, "By faith Abel offered God a sacrifice of greater worth than Cain, through which [faith] he had witness borne to him that he was righteous, God bearing witness respecting his gifts," thereby implying that the Cain did not have faith. The first of these two explanations is partly true, and the second is true, but does not really go into detail about what it was that Cain lacked faith in. Other explanations are also offered that are completely off the wall and have little or no Scriptural basis.

So let's take a look at what's really going on here. The first thing we should take note of is the fact that Cain and Abel produced offerings in the first place. How did they know to do this? Remember that this was thousands of years before the Mosaic law was in effect. There was no law (oral or written) and no priests to tell them they should do this. Could it have been their parents that told them to make offering? Even if that were the case, where did their parents get the idea from?

Now, you might be inclined to say that they just did it. After all, many of man's traditions do not come from God. This, however, is not a likely answer, when we take into consideration what God required of the Israelites in terms of offerings under the Mosaic/Levitical law. We must then conclude that the notion of providing an offering must have come directly from God at some point along the line, even before God revealed his laws for Israel to Moses as far back as the time of Cain and Abel. So let's look at the various forms of offerings that were acceptable to Jehovah under the law.

The Various Types of Animal and Grain Offerings

There are many types of offerings described in the Torah (lit. "the Law"--the first five books of the Bible). These include various "meat"offerings, grain offerings, wave offerings, and drink offerings. We will focus on the "meat" offerings and the grain offerings, as these are the ones relevant to the current discussion.

Offerings of meat under the law included burnt offerings, communion (or peace) offerings, sin offerings, and guilt offerings.

Burnt offerings signified acceptance of the sin offering that sometimes accompanied them. Regular times for these offerings included every morning and evening (Ex. 29:38-39; Le 6:8-13; Nu 28:3-8), every Sabbath (Nu 28:9-10), the first day of the month (Nu 10:10) Passover and the Festival of Unfermented Cakes (Le 23:6-8; Nu 28:16-19, 24), the Day of Atonement (Le 16:3, 5, 29-30; Nu 29:7-11), Pentecost (Le 23:16-18; Nu 28:26-31), and each day of the Festival of Booths (Nu 29:12-39). Other times burnt offerings were made were at the consecration of priesthood (Le 8:18-21), at the installation of the Levites (Nu 8:6, 11-12), during the making of covenants (Ex 24:5), along with communion offerings and certain guilt and sin offerings (Le 5:6-7, 10; 16:3, 5), when performing vows (Nu 15:3, 8), and in connection with purifications (Le 12:6-8; 14:2, 30-31; 15:13-15, 30).

Communion offerings were a little bit different. Communion sacrifices took the form of a ceremonial meal in which the participants partook of the food. The priests and worshipers would be present at the meal and an offering would be made as a sacred portion for Jehovah. (Le 7:11-15; 19:5-8) In effect, Jehovah would be represented at the meal along with the priests and worshipers signifying peaceful relations.

Sin offerings were made for various unintentional sins (an Israelites or alien resident who sinned intentionally or deliberately was to be cut off from among his people "because it is Jehovah's word that he has despised"--Nu 15:30-31). Sin offerings took the form of various animal sacrifices from pigeons (the least expensive) to bulls (the most expensive) depending on circumstances and the means of the one making the offering. The details of the circumstances and appropriate sin offerings are laid out in chapter 4 of Leviticus.

Guilt offerings were similar to sin offerings, but differed slightly in that their specific purpose was to satisfy or restore a right that had been violated because of a sin. When a person unwittingly sinned (often through negligence), and the sin resulted in the violation of a right of Jehovah, a right of the nation of Israel, or the right of an individual the person, that person is said to have become guilty, and thus a guilt offering was required to correct it. For instance, if a person kept something he found that had been lost and lied about it (Le 6:2-3), he must first make a confession, and then make full compensation plus one fifth (Le 6:4-5; Nu 5:6-7). If the person died, it would go to the nearest male relative or to the priests if there were no relatives (Nu 5:8). After making compensation, he was then to offer a ram for a guilt offering. Chapters 5 through 7 of Leviticus outline the various details of the circumstances under which a guilt offering was required, and what the appropriate guilt offering was for each circumstance.

Grain offerings were made along with communion offerings, burnt offerings, and sin offerings, and also as firstfruits; at other times they were made independently (Ex 29:40-42; Le 23:10-13, 15-18; Nu 15:8-9, 22-24; 28:9-10, 20, 26-28; chapter 29). These were in recognition of bounty in supplying blessings and prosperity. In other words, grain offerings were offerings of thanks-giving.

Back to Cain and Abel

Since Cain and Abel's offerings mimicked the offerings outlined in the law for the Israelites, there is strong reason to believe that God told Cain and Abel about the requirements for offerings. The fact is that both offerings (Cain's independent grain offering and Abel's animal sacrifice) were acceptable forms of offering to Jehovah, so why didn't Jehovah look with favor upon Cain's offering?

It's not s much what Cain's offering was so much as what it represented (remember that an independent grain offering is a voluntary offering of thanks to Jehovah--an offering that was perfectly acceptable to Jehovah). So let's compare Cain's offering to Abel's offering, and to do that, we must first identify exactly what type of offering Abel's offering was.

Although Abel's offering was an animal sacrifice, it was clearly not a communion offering, Abel was not sitting down with other worshipers and priests in a formal meal to symbolize peace. This leaves us with the possibility that it was a burnt offering, a sin offering, or a guilt offering. There is no indication that the offering was made as a part of a regular procedure of during any type of festival (and it was certainly not made during the installation of the Levitical priests), and it was not made along with a sin offering or a guilt offering. Therefore Abel's offering could not have been a burnt offering. The two remaining choices are that Abel's offering was a sin offering or a guilt offering. Either of these two options have the same implications.

In order to fully appreciate the final conclusion, think about Adam and Eve. Do you, personally, feel any type of special connection with either Adam or Eve? Do you feel close to either of those two people? I know I don't. But now imagine that you are Cain or Abel, and Adam and Eve are your parents. Do you think if this was your situation, you feelings towards Adam and Eve, as your parents, might be a bit different? Cain and Abel both naturally felt an emotional bond between themselves and their parents (as well they should).

With this in mind, now consider what Abel's offering implied. Remember that Abel's sacrifice was either a sin or a guilt offering. Either way, it implied that Abel was imperfect and needed an animal sacrifice to repent for his sin (remember, this was before Christ's sacrifice). But where did Abel's sin come from? Of course, it came from his parents. And in some sense, Adam and Eve are all of our parents, but for Cain and Abel, Adam and Even were literally their father and mother. In other words, by offering up an animal sacrifice, Abel was implying that his parents had done something they should not have done, and thus caused sin to be passed down from them to their children. Apparently, Cain's emotions and loyalty to his parents made him unwilling to make such an implication through his actions. So, while Cain's grain offering of thanks giving was by itself a perfectly valid offering, God did not look with favor upon it because it spoke to his attitude towards God's laws. He allowed his loyalty to his parents overshadow an offering that, once made, rightly belonged to Jehovah.

Footnotes

¹ Note that all Bible quotes in the blog from now on will be taken from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures unless otherwise noted.

The Problem of Evil: How Can God Be Good If He Allows Evil?

"How can we say that Jehovah is good if he allows evil to exist but is able to stop it?" This is one of the most important questions in Christian theology, and the one to which most Christians do not have an decent answer. Most people try to skim over this question or write it off be claiming "free will." While the concept of free will does have an important role in the answer to this question, it is clearly not sufficient to answer the question on its own. It is an attempt to answer this question once and for all in a satisfying way that motivated the essay (that I authored) upon which this blog is based. The ultimate purpose of this blog is to make that answer available to as many people as possible.

The answer to this question is intimately tied into God's purpose for humanity and the Earth. What is that purpose? To answer that, we have to think back to the beginning. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, but he did more than that. He created a small pocket of paradise on earth and called it the Garden of Eden, and he created man and woman and placed them in the garden and told them to be fruitful and to cover the earth and subdue it (thus spreading the paradisaical garden until it covered the entire earth) and to have in subjection the animals of the earth. He also told them that in the day they ate from the tree in the middle of the garden, they would die. Does this mean that if they had not eaten from the tree that they would still be alive? Yes! God's original purpose for mankind was to live forever in paradise on earth.

It is not reasonable to believe that God's purpose for the earth has changed. To believe that would be to believe that a rebellious angel could force God to change his plans. While it is true that Satan has postponed God's purpose for the earth and mankind, that postponement will not be indefinite. So, why was God's purpose postponed at all? This is because when Satan convinced Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, he did much more than get humans to rebel against God; he called into question God's sovereignty, or right to rule over his own creation. Satan was basically saying that he had a way that was better than God's rule. He also was insinuating that God was holding something back from his creation.

Notice the full name of the tree in the middle of the garden, it wasn't simply the Tree of Knowledge, it was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. When Satan tempted Eve to eat from the tree, he told her that by disallowing her to eat from it that God was holding back the knowledge of right and wrong because he knew that when Eve ate from the tree she would become like God, knowing right from wrong. This did happen--in a symbolic way. The tree itself did not have magical powers that imbued special knowledge upon Eve. Instead, once Eve ate from it, the tree symbolized Eve's own determination to decide for herself what was right and wrong, rather than obeying God and being humble enough to allow him to show her what was best for her. Instead of respecting God's right to rule over her as her creator, she undermined his authority by making the willful decision to decide for herself what was right and wrong; the same applied to Adam. Therefore, the devil, Adam, and Eve all stepped into a position that rightly belonged to Jehovah when they decided to rule themselves.

Thus began sin and wickedness in the world. So why didn't God just destroy the rebels and start over? The problem is, that would not have actually solved anything. At the same time this was happening, there wee still plenty of faithful angels in heaven, waiting to see what God's reaction would be. If he had simply wiped the rebels out of existence and started again, what message would that have sent to the other angels? Might not some begin to think that maybe Satan was right, and God was hiding something? Atheists are fond of saying "might does not make right," in other words, just because God has the power to do anything he pleases does not mean that any action he takes is necessarily good. The angels probably agree with that human sentiment.

God's solution, rather than wiping them out, was to allow Satan to make his case, that God's creation could rule itself without his interference; and what a horrible job mankind has done of ruling itself. Not a single government in human history has been able to eliminate even those elements which are at least theoretically controllable, such as poverty and crime, let alone sickness, natural disasters, death, and a myriad of other problems that plague mankind--all elements that Jehovah has the ability to eliminate if we choose to submit to him. But why has God allowed this to go on for so long? Jehovah, in his infinite wisdom, has allowed Satan enough time to fully complete this experiment, so that when it is over there will be no room for doubt. Over the millenia, nearly every form of government has been tried out (from limited totalitarianism, theocracies, and dictatorships to socialism, democracy, and republicanism), and all of them have failed miserably in eliminating mankind's problems. One form of government yet remains--one single, totalitarian government with global reach and unlimited authority and resources; such a government is currently being engineered. The pending total economic collapse and the resulting chaos that would breed fertile ground for what some have termed a "New World Order" is not a result of mankind's ineptness at ruling itself, but has been designed by the Devil himself, and there's a much more fear-inspiring reason for it than simply so that Satan can prove his point.

To give you an idea of that reason, the Devil knows his time is short--but I am jumping ahead of the story. Going back to Genesis, a prophecy was issued by God himself at the time of Adam and Eve's rebellion: "And [Jehovah] said unto the serpent [...] I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." This prophecy can be understood by looking at what Paul refers to as the mystery of God (1 Cor. 4:1, KJV).

At 1 Cor. 2:7, he speaks of "the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which god ordained before the world, unto our glory" (KJV). This mystery, which was ordained before the world (or before "the ages" according to the NKJV) was the prophecy that was issued by God to the rebels before governments and human rulership began (depending on the translation, the world sometimes symbolizes the human population of the world or those that dominate the world, i.e., governments, such as when the Bible speaks of a time when the earth was all of one language). So the mystery of God is the prophecy about the serpent (which represents the Devil), a woman, and two seeds borne from each.

To unravel the mystery and identify the woman, we can turn to Mark 4:11, which states, "And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God" (KJV). So the mystery has to do with the kingdom of God, and indeed, the woman is identified as that kingdom (there is reasoning behind that association, but this post is not about that, if I get a request for it in the comments section, I will create another post illustrating the reasoning behind it); the purpose of the millennial rule of the Kingdom of God is to reverse the millenia of destruction and degradation that corruption and sin has reaped  on the Earth and on mankind, and to restore mankind to perfection and the Earth to a paradise, as was God's original purpose. Spear-heading this project would be the seed of the woman, identified in two parts as Jesus Christ, and the 144,000 humans that are to be resurrected into heaven to rule with him in the Kingdom.

The mystery of the bruising of the heel and the bruising of the head becomes apparent with this understanding. God foreordained that Jesus would come to earth, become the baptized Christ, or promised-one, and die for humanity. But he would eventually be resurrected back into heaven. This was the heel wound that the serpent would cause to the seed of the woman. Satan's head wound, however (a head wound being symbolic of something fatal, and not a surface wound such as the heel wound) will come once Jesus finally destroys Satan for good. It should be noted that this will not happen immediately. Revelation speaks of the Devil being thrown into the abyss for a thousand years, corresponding to Christ's thousand-year rule of peace, during which time mankind will be restored to perfection. After that time, Satan and the demons will once again be released for a short time to test people's resolve to stay faithful to Jehovah. At this time, there will be absolutely no excuse for doubting the existence of God or his sovereignty (which, again, is the purpose for why God has allowed evil to continue on for so long). People will be perfect and in the same position Adam and Eve were in when they were tempted by the Devil. After this short period of testing expires, then Satan will be sent to the lake of fire and experience the second death along with all those who rejected Jesus' rule (which he will have authority by God to carry out) during the thousand years.

After all this, everyone lives happily every after, and the outcome of this whole experiment will be that such a test will never have to take place again (Isaiah 25:7). The destruction ad evil that abound as the result of the result of the current rule of humans will stand as a testament forever to what results when when the creation tries to rule itself. This is symbolized in the bible as smoke ascending as a warning signal (like the smoke of a wreckage) at Revelation 19:1-3 and at Revelation 14:11. Therefore, because of the ultimate outcome of this experiment, if anyone every rejects God's rule again after the devil and all rebels have finally been done away with, there will be no room for doubt in anyone's mind that Jehovah has the absolute right and authority to eliminate that person without question.

So when is the government going to be established? Well, the Bible says that no one knows the day or the hour of the return of the Son of Man (Jesus Christ), but when it is established, it will commence the beginning of a period of time referred to as the Great Tribulation. From the moment the kingdom is established, there is a three-and-a-half year period before Armageddon, the final battle between Christ (in his heavenly form as Michael the Archangel), his 144,000 co-rulers and his angelic army, and Satan and the other demons. At the establishment of the kingdom, the Great Dragon (Satan) will be cast out of heaven and thrown to the earth (Rev. 12:9). This will be the beginning of the Great Tribulation because the Devil, in his great anger, will become wrathful (the Bible says woe to the earth and the sea at that time because the Devil is cast down to the earth and knows his time is short--Rev 12:12). That is when Satan will maneuver things into their final position to set up the totalitarian world-wide government spoke of before, and we see the pieces of this outcome falling into place already with increasing unrest in the world as regimes get toppled and governments are forced by the people to step down, and the ever-impending financial collapse (which will surely become a domino affect and devastate all governments of the world). Do not be fooled though--although we see the pieces falling into place for government collapse, the Bible does say that Christ's parousia (or "coming") will occur at a time when the leaders of the world are saying "peace and security" and it will occur at a time when "you" (referring to those who are saying "peace and security") do not think likely.

The final totalitarian government will be the vilest of all governments, not only because of its ultimately totalitarian nature fueled by Satan's wrath, but also because, since God's government will already have been established, Satan's new government (the eighth king of the book of Daniel) will be in direct opposition to Jehovah. It will be an illegal government formed by Satan after God has already established his government. For this reason, anyone giving allegiance to the eighth king will receive the so-called mark of the beast as a sign of their opposition to Jehovah's rule through their support of Satan's government.

You may argue that such a judgment is unfair because most people will be unaware of the government's symbolic position as opposing God's authority and therefore may be undeserving of receiving such a heavy judgment (the mark of the beast marks those who are to die in this system as a result of God's judgment and will therefore not receive a resurrection). To address this, first note that the Bible describes the governments of the world willingly giving up their sovereignty to this new government. In fact, after the devastation of the collapse of the world's governments (symbolized by the mortal wound of the wild beast in Revelation), the remnants of the governments and the people of the world will be so desperate for a savior, and that savior comes on the scene as what the Bible describes as essentially a resurrected wild beast (most likely it will be some resurrected form of the U.N.). At first this new organization will present itself as the solution to mankind's problems (although the real solution to mankind's problems is the promise of the Kingdom of God). It will most likely argue that the only real way to solve mankind's problems is to establish a government with full authority over the world and unlimited resources. The people, desperate for a solution, will willingly give up their sovereignty to this government. In time, however, the government will become tyrannical and totalitarian. It is at that point when it is obvious that the government is not benevolent that it will demand allegiance to be given it. And those that give allegiance will likely know that they are giving allegiance to an evil system, but one which has unlimited authority and resources and most people in the world will therefore not stand up against it, but rather give in to it. It is at this point that those loyal to God (even to their own death) will stand out from others because they will stand up in the face of death and tell the wild beast, "no" (not only because they know they will be resurrected, but also because they know it is the right thing to do). The fact of the matter is, while most people argue that God's judgments are evil and unfair, those people do not realize that if they are doing what is truly the right thing to do (which in this case includes standing up against a corrupt government), they will survive, even if they don't believe in God, because they will have avoided the mark of the beast by giving in to a corrupt system. Let this stand as a warning to anyone who is faced with a tough choice between doing what is convenient and doing what is right.

That this new government will be in opposition to Jehovah is true in both spirit and action. The Bible tells us that the days will be cut short on account of the saints, and speaks of the blood of the saints being avenged in the day of judgment. In order to reach heaven, one must be born again in the spirit--this means that one must die in physical form. This is understood to be literal. The eighth king will murder the remaining saints, or God's chosen ones, in an attempt to prove his point that no human would be faithful to God all the way to his  own death (this is what the account of Job is all about).

With all this in mind, we arrive at the unmistakable conclusion that the purpose for allowing evil to go on for so long is solely to vindicate God's sovereignty. Now, you might think this is selfish, but in reality, it's not all that different from how many parents raise their children. Parents will often allow their children to make mistakes so that they can learn from them, because we all know that experience is the best teacher. Of course, we would never allow our children to make such a grave mistake that it would risk their very lives, we allow them (usually) to make mistakes for which the benefits outweigh the risks. This is what Jehovah has done. Never for a second have things gotten to a point where they were beyond Jehovah's ability to fix. All the death and pain and suffering and tears that mankind has endured, Jehovah has the power and the will to fix it all. The book of Revelation tells us that God will wipe away mankind's tears and that death and pain will be no more. We will live in a perfect paradise forever, and it even says that the memory of this system will fade away (perhaps not literally, the effects of what happened as a result of mankind's self-rule will stand as a reminder to those who would disobey God, but the emotional scars will be fully healed), because, again, Jehovah has the power and desire to do that for us, which is far more than can be said of ANY government ever established by man.

Jesus' Death: Why Was Jesus' "Temporary" Sacrifice Sufficient to Buy Back All of Humanity?

To answer the question in the title of this post, we need to go back to the Levitical laws, which state that, in God's perfect sense of justice, a requirement is made that "soul will be for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." (Deut. 9:21, NWT--you can compare the KJV, I use the NWT here because it is a little clearer, and it renders nephesh as "soul," whereas the KJV, in this instance, renders it as "life," which is more of a description of the sense in which nephesh is used in this context rather than a direct translation). What this sense of perfect justice is saying is that if something is lost or destroyed, something of equal value must be given to get it back. For instance, if someone destroys your property, you are entitled to get your property back, or at least something of equal value. If the person does not have the means to repay the property, then he will be sentenced to an appropriate punishment by the authorities. In this case, the authority is Jehovah, and as described in his word, the Bible, there is only one punishment for sin--death. In other words, when Adam lost perfection, by sinning, he became liable to death because what he lost was a perfect human existence. Since the only way to buy back that perfect existence is with a perfect existence, and a sinner by definition does not have a perfect existence (and hence does not have the means to buy back what Adam lost), the only option for a sinner is to die. God, however, did have the means to buy back what Adam had lost; furthermore, according to his mercy towards mankind, he provided something of equal value--the perfect human life of his own Son. Jehovah did not have to do that, it was purely a matter of grace (or underserved kindness on the part of God--and love of humanity and loyalty to his Father on the part of Jesus) that the Son as sent to earth to die for us.

The question, however, is, why was Jesus allowed to be resurrected? It would seem, on the outside of it, that is life is for life and soul for soul, once Jesus gave up his perfect life in order to buy back the perfect life Adam lost, he should no longer be entitled to live. In fact, if Jesus had not been resurrected, he would be giving up much more than what necessary to buy back what Adam lost. This is where we also begin to see why Jesus single human life was sufficient to redeem all of humanity. What exactly was it that Adam had given up in the Garden of Eden when he sinned? What he gave up was exactly a single perfect human existence. This is exactly what Jesus offered up as a sacrifice. Although Jesus gave up his perfect human existence does not mean he was no longer entitled to his perfect heavenly existence (although he could never become human again, even if he wanted to--he gave up his right to his human existence when he offered up his human existence as a sacrifice to buy back humanity).

The reason why Jesus' sacrifice of a single human life is sufficient to buy back all of humanity, though, is because rather than purchasing each of perfect human existence, Jesus simply bought back the single perfect human existence that Adam had lost. Since Adam's perfect life has been repurchased by Jesus, we, as his descendants, will now be free to inherit, that perfect life rather than the sin and death we currently inherit from Adam. This does not mean that Adam will be resurrected--he had his chance at perfection already, when he died, he experienced the second death. What it does mean, though, is that the source of our inheritance will no longer be Adamic sin, but Jesus' life-giving sacrifice. Jesus was literally bought us back from Adam, and has essentially adopted us as his children by buying us back from sin and death.

Heaven, Hell, and the Hope of a Resurrection Part 1b: What is Hell? (Gehenna, the Lake of Fire, the Second Death)

Now that we have a clear understanding of the resurrection to come, we can understand the meaning of Gehenna and the concept of "hellfire" that derives from it. Gehenna, the lake of fire, and the second death are all symbols of the same thing. Christ told the pharisees that they were condemned to Gehenna, and others in human history have also been condemned to Gehenna; although the vast majority of the human population die and go, not to Gehenna, but to Hades. So what is Gehenna?

The Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna) was outside the walls of Jerusalem. In the first century, it was used as an incinerator for the filth of Jerusalem. Dead animals and the bodies of executed criminals considered undeserving of a proper burial were thrown into the valley and consumed with fire, and to which sulfur (brimstone) was added to assist with the burning. When bodies were thrown into the valley, those that did not fall all the way into the pit to be consumed by fire, but instead landed on a ledge, their putrefying flesh became infested with the every-present worms and maggots. Living people were not thrown into the valley, so it was not a place of conscious torment.

Matthew 10:28 states, "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell [Gehenna]" (KJV). There is no mention here of torment in Gehenna. Jesus, by referring to destroying the body and soul separately, is emphasizing to be in fear of that which not only kills the body (normal death in this life) but also destroys the soul, completely, meaning that which destroys also the prospect of resurrection back to life. Fire has been used throughout history as a symbol for absolute destruction. If you tear up a piece of paper, for example, you can always reassemble the pieces back together. If you burn up the paper, however, there is no way to reconstruct it, the information that was recorded on it is lost forever (provided it wasn't memorized or recorded elsewhere). This is the real reason for the imagery of hellfire.

Like the information on the piece of paper that was burnt up, the people who are sent to Gehenna are erased from Jehovah's memory, and Jehovah will not recall them during the time of the resurrection. A few select people throughout history have been sent to Gehenna, meaning they died without the prospect of a resurrection--this is what the second death is. The second death basically applies to anyone who dies as a direct result of God's judgment. Because of this, there are not many in human history to whom this applies. This is mainly because Jehovah has set a specific time for the judgment day during which he will judge those still living. (The purpose of Judgment Day and why people will receive the mark of the beast will be covered a bit later in this blog.)

An example of those in history who have died prior to judgment day as a direction result of God's judgments may be many of the people who lived during the time of Noah's flood. Another example is the pharisees whom Jesus condemned to Gehenna. He did this because the pharisees, as supposed leaders in God's temple, were supposed to know and understand God's laws; however, they were hypocritical in their application. Those to whom much is given, much is required--in other words, if you are in the truth, and you know the truth, than you have a responsibility to the truth.

Anyone who has committed the "unforgivable sin," namely, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be sent to Gehenna. This terminology isn't literal. As mentioned before, the Holy Spirit is also called the Finger of God; it's the force Jehovah uses to affect his will. The idea of blaspheming against the holy spirit is to reject the working of God's Holy Spirit in one's life. This is not an ordinary thing; since the vast majority of humans do not get condemned to Gehenna upon death, it is not simply a case of human weakness or imperfection, it's a willful rejection of God's Holy Spirit.

With this understanding of hell, we can make sense of Rev. 20:14, which states, "And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." (KJV) This would not make sense if both Hades and the lake of fire referred to the same literal place. After humanity is restored to perfection, people will no longer be under the penalty of death, so death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is to say, they will be completely annihilated "and there shall be no more death" (Rev. 21:4, KJV).

I'm back

So I have been out for a while. Things have gotten a bit crazy over the holidays, but I've been moved to come back and pick up where I last left off, which was talking about the concept of hell, and I've gone over about half of the story of hell, but as I've said previously, in order to understand the second half of the concept of hell in the Bible, we need to understand about the (future) resurrection, which is the topic of the post that I just created (below).

Heaven, Hell, and the Hope of the Resurrection Part 2: The Resurrection

As you may have guessed from the title of this post, this entry will be concerned with the resurrection. Now I'm sure most, if not all, who read this will, from the outset, assume I am talking about the resurrection of Jesus. I am not. In fact the bible described three resurrections, the first resurrection of course, is that of Jesus. The second two actually involve humans.

Acts 24:15 alludes to a mass resurrection of the dead by saying, "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." (KJV) Now, it has been my premise up to this point (and will continue to be my premise) that the concept of hell in the Bible is not a literal place of torment, and that indeed, when humans die, they cease to exist; that is, there is no afterlife. Most Christians maintain that if you are a good Christian that when you die, you will go to heave In reality, this is not an afterlife, but some Christians will actually be resurrected into heaven--this is the first of the two resurrections involving humans mentioned above, resurrection into heaven. Note that not ALL of God's faithful humans will be resurrected into heaven. The Bible numbers those who will go to heaven at 144,000. These are the ones seen in Revelation standing on heavenly Mount Zion with Jesus. Rev. 20:4-6 says of these ones that they will reign with Christ for a thousand years (they are also the ones whom the Bible refers to as "saints," or "holy ones").

But if there is no hell, then that leaves us with the question of where "the unjust" of Acts 24:15 will be resurrected. It is unreasonable to believe that the unjust will also be resurrected into heaven. That leaves only one place: the physical Universe (or more specifically, Earth). Both the unrighteous and the faithful that did not get selected for heaven will be resurrected on the Earth. These are the subjects over which those who do go to heaven will reign. Incidentally, the thousand-year reign of Christ (along with his 144,000 co-rulers) is exactly what the Kingdom of God is. The Kingdom of God (mentioned in the Lord's prayer) is not some mystical abstract thing which resides only in one's "heart," as some believe, but it is a real and literal government designed to carry out God's purpose for the Earth (which will be discussed later on in this blog).

John 5:28-29 states, "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall com forth; they that have done good, unto a resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [or judgment]." This passage is not referring to judging people based on their actions in this life. When the resurrection takes place, it will take place over a thousand years, corresponding to the reign of Christ--that is one of the purposes of God' Kingdom. Those that are resurrected will be given perfect bodies, like the ones that Adam and his wife had lost when they sinned. Those who have survived Judgment Day, however, will not need to be resurrected, they will already be alive. Their bodies will gradually be returned to perfection over the thousand years. The resurrection of life or judgment, in this new context, is base not on our actions in this system, but our response to Christ's rulership and direction during his millennial reign.

The reason for the resurrection, along with Jehovah's purpose for the Earth will be discussed later in this blog once I get to why it is that Gad has allowed evil to exist for so long--all three topics are intimately tied with one another.