The Two Creations
The First Creation
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
And we know through whom this was accomplished.
John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
We can look at creation and say, our Lord and Saviour designed it and built it.
Gen:1:4 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
John 1:4(Speaking of Jesus) In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.
Genesis 1:27-28. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
So – God’s children were created. One day though, Jesus had to take this to a whole new level.
The Second Creation and It’s Significance
The ‘Second Creation’ as I call it, is on a Spiritual level.
John 1:12-13 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
The Bible calls this being born again.
John 3:6-7Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
Jesus had to bring a new way of being born of God. Because . . .
Genesis 2:16-17And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
God gave Adam a choice. Why? Because God did not want puppets.
If people only followed God or Worshipped him because they had to, then that would be a type of empty devotion. It would be more like an employer and employee relationship, with the staff member only doing what they were told because they had to.
Giving mankind freewill was a chance God had to take in order to have a genuine relationship with his creation based on true freedom of choice.
Genesis 3:1-5 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
As we know Eve ate the forbidden fruit and gave some to Adam who ate it too. Hence the fall of mankind.
This encounter between the serpent and Eve reveals a significant way in which Satan will seek to undermine God and his people.
Satan’s Bible Tactic
And I’d like to underline, emphasise and highlight what Satan’s tactic actually is. On the surface this can be seen as merely a playing with words to confuse and deceive an innocent woman. Which it is. But it is also significantly more than just that.
And significantly something we need to recognise and be aware of. Satan’s chief tactic is to seek to render the Word of God ineffective in people’s minds.
And Satan’s aim is to make the Word of God be interpreted and accepted as a lie.
God said, “. . .for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Satan said, “You will not certainly die,”
In other words Satan is saying, “God lied to you”
Now we do know that Adam and Eve did not physically die immediately. But they did immediately die spiritually and eventually experienced physical death. They may never have needed to ever face any death at all but for their disobedience to the Word of God.
The Devil tried manipulating the Word of God to Jesus too . . .
Satan Used His Tactic Against Jesus
Matthew 4 1-11 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Now I don’t know about you, but for me this would not be a temptation. I can’t turn stones into bread.
Satan obviously knew Jesus could do that, otherwise this challenge would not be tempting Jesus. In my understanding, Satan here is actually proving to us that Jesus in the Son of God by offering this temptation.
But what does Satan say?
“If you are the Son of God” If? Satan knew who Jesus was.
This was not so much a question to get Jesus to prove who he was.
It was a question seeking to get Jesus to trust in his own divinity and power instead of remaining obedient to the revealed will of God for his life.
Why was Jesus in the wilderness?
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness” – The Spirit led him there – He was there in the will of God.
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
For Jesus . . . Obedience to the Word of God was more important than food, even though he had not eaten for 40 days.
Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
Again, Satan says, “If you are the Son of God,” “If”
Here Satan is trying to use the Word of God out of context. God does protect his followers. But if I was to jump out of an aeroplane at 40,000 feet without a parachute I should not expect God to catch me just because I want him to or because I believe he can.
That would be using the word of God’s protection out of context. Jesus says it better than me.
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Jesus put the protection of God in context.
He said, ‘It is also written:”
It’s actually an important hermeneutical principle.
Biblical Interpretation
Hermeneutics – the principles of interpretation. (Biblical hermeneutics – to interpret the Bible)
We should not interpret a text in the Bible at the expense of, or out of context with, other texts of the Bible.
By doing so we can potentially make a lie out of the Bible.
Satan was tempting Jesus into a narrow view of one small part of scripture in an attempt to make Jesus respond out of context. He didn’t.
In my mind Jesus responded in the context that the whole of scripture is required to establish any final biblical precedent.
It wasn’t necessarily the case that Satan misquoted a particular scripture, but that he neglected to tell the whole story.
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Proof here that Satan, through the fall of mankind, has gained the rights to and can offer Jesus the kingdoms of the world.
This is probably the most brazen of Satan’s temptations.
No sneaking around here. Satan is blatant in revealing what he really wants.
“. . . bow down and worship me.”
Personally I can never understand or fathom why the created should ever think they should be worshipped at all . . let alone above the creator. Such is the blindness of Satan in this instance.
I suppose after 40 days and nights of fasting and sleeping rough in the desert some of the kingdoms of the world could have appeared very appealing and tempting to Jesus.
Personal comfort and protection is a blessing. But not at the expense of worshipping other than the Living God.
Jesus gives the perfect answer . . .
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
So we can see something of the strategy of Satan in the world.
He wants to take the Word of God and craft it into a lie.
He wants scripture, and therefore God, to be misquoted and misrepresented.
He doesn’t necessarily worry about people getting scripture, just so long as it’s teaching and context is wrong.
He wants to give people what seems to be truth but veiled with his deceptive lies.
Satan’s goal in using the Word of God is to deceive people.
Genesis 3:13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Timothy 2:13-14 For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.
Satan’s simple and yet effective plan. Deceive someone to bring about an action from them that disobeys God known will. Deception is deceiving. In fact for some it is so deceiving it can become a way of life.
2 Timothy 3:13 . . . while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
I’m sure Satan would really enjoy seeing people living a lifestyle of ‘deceiving and being deceived’ and going from ‘bad to worse.’
The Bible Used For Good and Bad
God uses his word for Good.
Satan uses the word of God for Evil.
I don’t have time to go into the various ways God uses his word in a person’s life.
Sufficient for my purpose today is to say that,
God will use his word in a person’s life to reveal sin and unrighteousness so as to lead a person to repentance and a renewed walk with him. He will bring truth and light.
Satan will use God’s word to lead to sin and unrighteousness and to lead a person away from walking with God. He will bring lies and darkness.
I don’t have time today either to say too much about the part that the World and the Flesh play in Satan’s process of deception.
Just to say . . .
Regarding the Flesh . . .
James 1:13-15When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
(Note: ‘For God cannot be tempted by evil,’ Jesus was tempted in his humanity)
Giving control of our life to the unregenerated part of our nature will lead to sin and death. Death both physical and Spiritual.
Regarding the world . . .
1 John 5:19We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
Satan controls the God rejecting world. Ultimately the world is therefore at enmity with us.
Ultimately God is in control.
I tend to think of it that at the moment there is a type of legal battle going on for the souls of mankind and God’s creation.
The whole creation is like a big court room. All the evidence and witnesses are being heard. The good news is that the judge will be passing his final judgement soon. . . the hammer will come down.
And we know the ultimate outcome is victory for Jesus over all things!
The Age of Deception
Given that . . .
1 Timothy 4:1 says . . . The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
And that . . .
1 Peter 5:8 tells us to . . .Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
And that in the coming future . . .
Revelation 13:14 tells us . . . Because of the signs it was given power to perform on behalf of the first beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth. It ordered them to set up an image in honour of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived.
Deception is clearly the tool of Satan. How do we, the Church of God combat it?
How do we keep ourselves from being deceived?
We’ve heard today how Satan will abuse the word of God for his own ends.
Does that mean we all have to become Theological giants to be able to combat him?
But very few of us are gifted that way. Does that mean we will fail?
And what about teachers in the Church. Can we trust them? Are they false teachers?
Think for a moment . . . Why does God allow deception?
Today we have heard about the evil one tempting Jesus.
What was actually happening?
Through deception, what was actually happening is that Jesus was being tested. Jesus passed the test with flying colours.
Eve was tested by deception and was found wanting.
When people are confronted with deception, whether they know it or not, they are being tested.
What do they really want to hear? What type of message do they want? What do they really believe?
Paul wrote to Timothy . . .
2 Timothy 4:3For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Do these people want to hear the objective truth of God or not? Is sound doctrine wanted?
They will want teachers who teach the type of things their own desires want.
They will gather a great number of teachers around themselves.
Their ears are itching to hear more of what their desires want to hear. I’m not talking about Godly desires but the desires of the flesh – desires of the sin nature.
What Do You Really Want?
When confronted with deception the heart will be tested as to what it really wants to hear.
Do people’s hearts and minds desire God or just the benefits they believe God should give them. So called benefits to feed the flesh.
I look around the modern-day church and I can only say Paul was spot on with what he wrote to Timothy. Sound doctrine is not always easily found.
I read the following from Corrie Ten Boom.
Betsy and I, in the concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and sick.”Yes, the Lord will heal me,”, Betsy said with confidence. She died the next day and I could not understand it. They laid her thin body on the concrete floor along with all the other corpses of the women who died that day.
It was hard for me to understand, to believe that God had a purpose for all that. Yet because of Betsy’s death, today I am traveling all over the world telling people about Jesus.
There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days. Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.
In China, the Christians were told, “Don’t worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured.” Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,
“We have failed. We should have made the people strong for persecution, rather than telling them Jesus would come first. Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution, how to stand when the tribulation comes, – to stand and not faint.”
I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it. We are next. Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus’ sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, “Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation.”
Whether you believe what Corrie Ten Boom said about the Tribulation or Rapture is not my point of discussion here.
The point is, the church, Christians, can be deceived into believing all will be easy for them.
That they don’t need to be strong. They believe God is a big Sugar Daddy . . why he just wants to give them fancy cars, large homes, lots of money, and good times. Many will follow teachers who promise them such things.
They say that money cannot buy you happiness. And I’ll confess at times I told the Lord I believe that . . .however Lord . . . I wouldn’t mind having the chance to find out.. . .I’m glad he chose to discipline such attitudes in me. . . and still needs to at times.
Listen what James says about the rich . . .
James 5:2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
The only thing that can sustain a Christian through times of tribulation are the spiritual resources the Lord provides. Be that through his word, his people, prayer etc
Watch Out!
In Matthew 24 Jesus points deception out to his disciples . . .
24:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
24:4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you.
24:11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
24:24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
Is it any wonder that if Satan will use deception that his disciples will be trained to use it too? Both in the church and in the world.
So how should we be living in the light of possibly being deceived.
Firstly . . . and this is just based on what I do. I ask the Lord to keep me from being deceived. I don’t assume that I’m immune to deception. I pray as in the Lord’s prayer – Deliver me from evil – that is the foundation I have to work from – not just a one off prayer – but often.
Also – In faith we can rely on the Holy Spirt to deliver us from deception.
We don’t have to be a theological genius to overcome deception because the Holy Spirit will teach us what we need to know.
Holy Spirit will remind of what we need to remember.
John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
We can take practical steps each day to stay in step with the Holy Spirit
Eph 5:18-20 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Colossians 3:16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, andsongs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
Seek being filled with the Holy Spirit. How do you do that?
Ask Jesus to do it in you.
You can’t really do it yourself. All you can do is submit your everything to Jesus and allow him to work in you.
Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and songs from the Spirit. How do you do that? You just make a choice to do it. Allow the songs to fill your heart with gratitude to God. Again, do this in faith as you ask Jesus guide you and fill you.
Let the message of the Gospel of Christ resound in your heart. Read about it. Ponder on it. Meditate on all Christ has done for you and for the lost. Let the fullness of that message dwell richly in you.
Exalt the word of God in your heart and in your mind.
Hebrews 10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
He who promises is faithful!!!
1 Thessalonians 5:24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
(2024 © Paul Cummings)