Dont Know Yet
So this semester in Real Women at my local church That.Church, we have been going through a book called Seamless by Angie Smith. It is one of the best devotionals and studies I have ever went through. You see I love to study both history and science, and I love to study biblical history and science together as well (I even got a historical study bible for Christmas thank you baby :)) The whole point of this study is to put the bible in chronological order and to put a little bit of what was happening in the time period along with it to help you better understand it.
The thing I absolutely love about history and science is that every time you study it, every time you look at it, you learn something new. Something you didn't know before even if it is just a little tidbit. So I am not going to give the ending of this book away, what I will say though is that if you haven't read this book, you should. It will not only give you a closer and deeper look into the bible, but it will also send you even closer to Jesus, and if you don't have a relationship with Jesus, I pray it will send you to a place to begin one with Him.
Their are so many places in this book that I would love to point out but for now I would like to point out just one. Just two little bible verses that I have read over and over again in my life but this time when I read them in this book, it changed my whole perspective on how I see God, how I see Jesus, and how I see my relationship with Jesus.
These verses are Ephesians 1:4-5; for He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will. Now then, I want you to stop and just think about these verses for a moment. Let them really sink in. Now then I want you to read these verses again and then read Genesis 1:1-26a. To give you a brief summary of Genesis 1:1-26a it is the creation of the world, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finally ending on day 6 with the creation of us.
Does this change the way you view anything? It should! Before the creation of the world God chose you, He chose me. Before the world was formed, before the sun shined on this earth for the very first day, before the very first drop of water touched the earth, before the very first star shined on this amazing place we call planet earth, you and I were already on God's mind and on His heart. What does this mean? It means this; God did not form you and I with this EARTH in mind, He created this earth with YOU and I in mind. That means that on the 6th day we were not an after thought, but the very first thought, and the reason we were put on this earth last was because God had to make sure that it was perfect for us. That it could withstand us. That no matter what we would ever do to or on this earth, it could and would sustain us, not the other away around. What!!!! Wow!! Wow!! Wow!! Is all I can say. Pretty cool huh?!
Alright lets fast forward into the New Testament and lets start putting together some more pieces of the puzzle now that we know that God created the world for us and that we were on His mind and heart before He ever created it. Lets look at John 8:48-59. Here we see the Jews trying to get Jesus to admit that He is a demon possessed man, but He tells the Jews that if He did that, He would be a liar. He tells the Jews that "I honor my Father and you dishonor me, I am not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it, and He is the judge, very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death" (v.49b-51). At this the Jews came back even louder saying now we know that He is demon possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys Your word will never taste death, are you greater than our father Abraham, he died and so did the prophets, who do you think you are? (v.52-53) Jesus goes on to say that "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing, my father whom you claim as your God is the one who glorifies me though you do not know him, I know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day, he saw it and was glad." (v.54-56) The Jews respond back with "you are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham!" (v.57) and Jesus responds back with "before Abraham was born, I am!" (v.58) Then the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself slipping away form the temple grounds (v.59). Um ok? So two quick questions here: Why are they trying to kill him because of what He said and who is I am? Well turns out they are trying to kill him because no one absolutely no one says I am when talking about God. Those two words are precious to them so therefore they dare not speak them.
To understand more about who I am is lets take a trip back to the Old Testament back to Moses in the book of Exodus chapter 3. In Exodus chapter 3 God is telling Moses to go to Pharaoh and to tell him to let God's people go. Moses said to God "Suppose I go to the Israelite's and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me what is his name? What shall I tell them?" (v.13) God said to Moses "I Am who I Am, this is what you are to say to the Israelite's, I Am has sent me to you." (v.14) God also said Moses "say to the Israelite's the Lord the God of Your fathers - the God of Abraham, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you." (v.15). So looking back up in the previous paragraph who is Jesus saying that He is? Jesus is saying that He is God Himself. Yeah!!!!!
Alright we are almost done lets move one more time back to the New Testament to Luke chapter 23:46 "Jesus called out in a loud voice, Father into Your hands I commit my spirit, and when He said this, He breathed His last." and then in Luke 24:2-3 it says "they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus." So knowing what we know that Jesus is God in the form of a man, does it surprise you that Jesus was capable of doing something like this. It shouldn't because His God! The other question is, does it surprise you that Jesus would die on the cross for you, for me? If so why does that surprise you after everything we have talked about?
The creator of everything created this world, the moon, the stars, and the sun for us simply because He loves us.
The thing I absolutely love about history and science is that every time you study it, every time you look at it, you learn something new. Something you didn't know before even if it is just a little tidbit. So I am not going to give the ending of this book away, what I will say though is that if you haven't read this book, you should. It will not only give you a closer and deeper look into the bible, but it will also send you even closer to Jesus, and if you don't have a relationship with Jesus, I pray it will send you to a place to begin one with Him.
Their are so many places in this book that I would love to point out but for now I would like to point out just one. Just two little bible verses that I have read over and over again in my life but this time when I read them in this book, it changed my whole perspective on how I see God, how I see Jesus, and how I see my relationship with Jesus.
These verses are Ephesians 1:4-5; for He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will. Now then, I want you to stop and just think about these verses for a moment. Let them really sink in. Now then I want you to read these verses again and then read Genesis 1:1-26a. To give you a brief summary of Genesis 1:1-26a it is the creation of the world, the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finally ending on day 6 with the creation of us.
Does this change the way you view anything? It should! Before the creation of the world God chose you, He chose me. Before the world was formed, before the sun shined on this earth for the very first day, before the very first drop of water touched the earth, before the very first star shined on this amazing place we call planet earth, you and I were already on God's mind and on His heart. What does this mean? It means this; God did not form you and I with this EARTH in mind, He created this earth with YOU and I in mind. That means that on the 6th day we were not an after thought, but the very first thought, and the reason we were put on this earth last was because God had to make sure that it was perfect for us. That it could withstand us. That no matter what we would ever do to or on this earth, it could and would sustain us, not the other away around. What!!!! Wow!! Wow!! Wow!! Is all I can say. Pretty cool huh?!
Alright lets fast forward into the New Testament and lets start putting together some more pieces of the puzzle now that we know that God created the world for us and that we were on His mind and heart before He ever created it. Lets look at John 8:48-59. Here we see the Jews trying to get Jesus to admit that He is a demon possessed man, but He tells the Jews that if He did that, He would be a liar. He tells the Jews that "I honor my Father and you dishonor me, I am not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it, and He is the judge, very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death" (v.49b-51). At this the Jews came back even louder saying now we know that He is demon possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys Your word will never taste death, are you greater than our father Abraham, he died and so did the prophets, who do you think you are? (v.52-53) Jesus goes on to say that "If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing, my father whom you claim as your God is the one who glorifies me though you do not know him, I know him and obey his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day, he saw it and was glad." (v.54-56) The Jews respond back with "you are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham!" (v.57) and Jesus responds back with "before Abraham was born, I am!" (v.58) Then the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself slipping away form the temple grounds (v.59). Um ok? So two quick questions here: Why are they trying to kill him because of what He said and who is I am? Well turns out they are trying to kill him because no one absolutely no one says I am when talking about God. Those two words are precious to them so therefore they dare not speak them.
To understand more about who I am is lets take a trip back to the Old Testament back to Moses in the book of Exodus chapter 3. In Exodus chapter 3 God is telling Moses to go to Pharaoh and to tell him to let God's people go. Moses said to God "Suppose I go to the Israelite's and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me what is his name? What shall I tell them?" (v.13) God said to Moses "I Am who I Am, this is what you are to say to the Israelite's, I Am has sent me to you." (v.14) God also said Moses "say to the Israelite's the Lord the God of Your fathers - the God of Abraham, the God of Issac, and the God of Jacob - has sent me to you." (v.15). So looking back up in the previous paragraph who is Jesus saying that He is? Jesus is saying that He is God Himself. Yeah!!!!!
Alright we are almost done lets move one more time back to the New Testament to Luke chapter 23:46 "Jesus called out in a loud voice, Father into Your hands I commit my spirit, and when He said this, He breathed His last." and then in Luke 24:2-3 it says "they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus." So knowing what we know that Jesus is God in the form of a man, does it surprise you that Jesus was capable of doing something like this. It shouldn't because His God! The other question is, does it surprise you that Jesus would die on the cross for you, for me? If so why does that surprise you after everything we have talked about?
The creator of everything created this world, the moon, the stars, and the sun for us simply because He loves us.
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