view-from-the-cross

View From The Cross

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Some passages of Scripture are so remarkable it’s almost impossible for a human to deal with them. Psalm 22 is one of these passages.
Psalm 22 is called the “Psalm of the Cross,” because it describes more accurately and minutely the crucifixion of Christ than does any other portion of the Word of God.

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The View from The Cross – Transcript

Some passages of Scripture are so remarkable it’s almost impossible for a human to deal with them. Psalm 22 is one of these passages.
Psalm 22 is called the “Psalm of the Cross,” because it describes more accurately and minutely the crucifixion of Christ than does any other portion of the Word of God.

We know from 2 Timothy 3:16 that All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness, and that includes Psalm 22. And yet, it’s difficult to fully comprehend the enormity of it.

This passage is an emotional rollercoaster ride, like receiving a phone call informing you that you have inherited 20 million dollars and then 10 minutes later receiving another call from your doctor advising that you have only 2 weeks to live.


On the one hand, we see the cross’s glorious consequences for each one of us who believes, while on the other hand, we see the enormous cost and the horror of it.

Psalm 22 is like an x-ray penetrating Our Lord’s thoughts and inner life as He hangs on that terrifying instrument of torture. In it we see the distress of His passion, His very soul is laid bare.

The Gospels record the historical fact of His death and some of the events associated with His crucifixion, but only Psalm 22 reveals His thoughts and His inner cry.

It is a view of the crucifixion of Christ from Christ himself!

We see those beneath His cross and see what went on in His heart and His mind as He hung there.

We look into His soul as He became the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
As He was suspended there between heaven and earth, He became the ladder let down from heaven to this earth so all men and women might have a way to God.

Psalm 22 takes us there onto that cross as He was made sin for us; He who knew no sin … that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Or, as the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:24, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. We are healed from sin because the Son of God died for us!
There’s no doubt that while in Psalm 22 we are on holy ground!

MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?

Psalm 22 opens with the heart-ripping and desperate cry of a man alone and forsaken of God.

Attempts have been made to play down the stark reality and bitter truth that Jesus was forsaken of God. But all the languages the bible was originally written in the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Aramaic are all very clear. In each language, the cry means Jesus was forsaken of God!
Now, this is important. Psalm 22 is a record of His human suffering.

He is hanging there on the cross as a man, or as John 1:29 says, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.
We can look to Hebrews 2:9 to get a greater understanding of this: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels…

He was made a man. But why?
… for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

He left heaven’s glory and became a man. He became a man to reveal God to man, but most of all to redeem man and to destroy the one who had the power of death, the devil, Satan. That’s Hebrews 2:14.
Jesus could not save anyone from eternal death by His life. His teachings while He walked on this earth cannot save. It was His sacrificial death that saves. The death that was foretold all through God’s Word for hundreds of years.
Christ Jesus on the cross is the perfect man.

He had learned to rest upon God, to trust Him in all He did. He said, “I always do the things that please Him” (see John 8:29). But in that desperate hour, He was abandoned of God. There was no place to turn, either on the human plane or on the divine. He had no place to go. The man Christ Jesus was forsaken.
No other person has ever had to experience that. No one. Only He alone.

Why did God forsake Him? Let’s go back to Psalm 22 and verse 3; But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.
On the cross in those last three hours, in the impenetrable supernatural darkness that enveloped the world, the Son of God was made sin.
He was forsaken for a brief moment, but in that very moment “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself”. 2 Corinthians 5:19.
The Lord Jesus Himself said, “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” John 16:32.

The Father was with Him when He was in prison. The Father was with Him when He was being beaten. The Father was with Him when they nailed Him to the cross. But on the cross, He made His soul an offering for sin, and it pleased the Father to bruise Him.

He was Forsaken!

Friends, you and I simply don’t know what it is to be forsaken of God. The vilest human on this earth today is not forsaken of God—anyone can turn to Him. But when Christ took my sin upon Himself, He was forsaken of God!
When Jesus asks, “why you have forsaken me?” it’s not the “why” of impatience, puzzlement, despair or doubt. No, it is the human cry of intense suffering, aggravated by the anguish of His innocent and holy life.

That awful and agonizing cry of His loneliness! He was alone with the sins of the world upon Him. And remember that the pictures and images we associate with Christ on the cross today bear no resemblance to reality. Isaiah 52:14 gives us the true picture.

His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men, friends, they barely recognised him as a human he was so badly disfigured! Isaiah 50:6 says, “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” They ripped His beard from His precious face!

Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning? Says Psalm 22:1.
The word is actually “roaring.”
At His trial He was silent, “As a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” that’s Isaiah 53:7. When they beat Him, He said nothing; when they nailed Him to the cross, He didn’t whimper But when God forsook Him, He roared like a lion. It was a roar of pain. Many times on the farm I’ve been out hunting pigs. When the dogs attack a pig, there’s nothing quite like the shriek of that animal.

I think the shriek of our Lord from the cross resounded through the universe that He created. Now the Creator Himself was suffering! On that cross He cried like a wounded animal, not sounding like a human cry but like a wild, roaring lion.

It was the shriek, the wail of uncomparable despair as our sins were pressed down upon Him.
First He roared like a lion, but then He says, “I am a worm” (Psalm 22:6). What does He mean? Well, He has reached the very lowest place.
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. – Isaiah 53:3
The word used here for “worm” is “tôlāʿ” the coccus worm, which was used by the Hebrews in dyeing all the curtains of the tabernacle scarlet red. When He said, “I am a worm,”

He meant more than that He had reached the lowest level. It was He who had said, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).
There is only one thing that will take the spot of sin out of our life, and that is the blood of Christ. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses from all sin. Only His blood!

FATHER, FORGIVE THEM (LUKE 23:34)

Jesus’ suffering on the cross was intensified by that brutal mob of hardened spectators beneath Him. Looking through His eyes we see what He saw.
All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” – Psalm 22:7-8

Is it so hard to imagine the depravity of the human heart when we see the crowd, including the religious leaders of the day, “Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there” (Matthew 27:36)?

The venom and vileness of the human heart were being poured out like an open sewer as they remained there and ridiculed Him in His death.

Even a poisonous snake, after it has put its fangs into its victim and emitted its poison will slither away in the grass. But not this crowd, and not the human heart in rebellion against God.
Here is where Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
He asked forgiveness for their sin!
We know that the centurion in charge of the execution was saved, along with a whole company of Pharisees. Saul of Tarsus, who would be the great Apostle Paul, was probably in that crowd.

WOMAN, BEHOLD YOUR SON! (JOHN 19:26)

As Jesus looks over the crowd, He sees eyes of pure hatred looking up at Him, but He also sees eyes of love.

He sees His mother with the Apostle John down there. “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother,” according to John’s Gospel.

As Jesus looks at her, He is back in Bethlehem at the time He was born. He says to the Father, But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb, You have been My God. – Psalm 22:9-10.

To His mother, He says, “Woman, behold your son!” The reason for His coming into the world is now being accomplished. This is the most important hour in the history of the world.

Then His attention moves back to those who are doing the crucifying.
Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. – Psalm 22:12

Of the soldiers that were crucifying Him, He says they are like the bulls of Bashan, but He doesn’t stop with that. He is being devoured by wild animals. That’s what His tormentors had become:
They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion – Psalm 22:13.
He is talking about Rome now, comparing them to a roaring lion, for the lion was the picture of Rome. Rome crucified Him.

Notice His condition: I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. – Psalm 22:14
This accurate description is remarkable when you consider that crucifixion was unknown when this psalm was written. The Roman Empire was not even in existence, and it was Rome that instituted execution by crucifixion. Yet here is a vivid picture of a man dying by crucifixion.
“I am poured out like water”—the excessive perspiration of a dying man out in that sun.
“All My bones are out of joint”—the horrible thing about crucifixion was that when a man began to lose blood, his strength ebbed from him, and all his bones slipped out of joint. It was terrible, unbelievable suffering.
Then He says something strange, “My heart is like wax.”
Many doctors have said a ruptured heart would have produced what John meticulously recorded: “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (John 19:34). It seems that Jesus died of a broken heart.

I THIRST! (JOHN 19:28)

As He is hanging there ready to expire, with excessive perspiration pouring from Him, He suffers the agony of thirst.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue clings to My jaws; you have brought Me to the dust of death. –Psalm 22:15.

Down beneath the cross, they hear Him say, “I thirst.”

For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet – Psalm 22:16.
“Dog” was the name for Gentiles. The piercing of His hands and feet is another accurate description of a crucifixion.

I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing, they cast lots – Psalm 22:17-18.

He was crucified naked. It’s difficult for us, in this age of nudity and pornography, to comprehend the great humiliation He suffered by hanging nude on that cross. They had taken His garments and gambled for ownership.

Friends, He went through it all, crucified naked, that you might be clothed with the righteousness of Christ and stand before God throughout the endless ages of eternity.

FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT (LUKE 23:46)

But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. – Psalm 22:19-20.

The word “precious” or “darling” is better translated as “my beloved Son …” (Matthew 3:17).
Jesus is saying, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Save Me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. – Psalm 22:21

The King James Version translates “wild oxen” as “unicorns.” Or a vicious and wild bull that had one horn—uni means one. The thought is one horn.
This is quite amazing because the cross on which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified was probably not the shaped cross we see today.

There is ample evidence that the cross was a single piece of wood, a tree as is meant by the Greek words used for cross, Stauros and Xulon.

It’s a technicality and the symbol of the cross has bought many millions into eternal life for centuries, however, amazingly, this word, Xulon is mentioned in Revelation 22 as the tree of life.
Could it be that the tree on which Jesus died will be there, alive, throughout the endless ages of eternity, to let you and me know what it cost to redeem us? This may be a discussion for another time.

We’ve witnessed the sufferings of Christ, but now there’s a radical shift that turns our focus to the glory that should follow: I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly, I will praise You. – Psalm 22:22

Jesus probably spoke this entire psalm while He was on the cross.
He did not die defeated. When He reached the very end, He said this is the gospel that will be witnessed to. “I will declare Your name to My brethren.” As a result, we see the apostle Peter among the religious leaders, saying to them, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12

TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE (LUKE 23:43)

My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! –Psalm 22:25, 26

The thief on the cross said, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Christ responds, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”

The redeemed will be there to praise, and that includes the thief He took with Him that very same day. Although he was a man unfit to even live down here, according to Rome’s standard, the Lord Jesus makes him fit for heaven by His death on the cross.

IT IS FINISHED! (JOHN 19:30)

There is a seventh word; it is His last. They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this. – Psalm 22:31
“To a people who will be born …” includes you and me, friends.
They shall declare His righteousness—not your righteousness, for God says your righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight. How will they declare His righteousness? “That He has done this.”

Many translate that as, “It is finished,” the last word Jesus spoke on the cross. When He said it, it was but one word—Tetelestai! Finished!

Your redemption is a completed package, and He presents it to you wrapped up with everything in it.

He doesn’t want you to bring your package of goodness along. He doesn’t need that. When He died on the cross, He provided a righteousness that would satisfy a holy God.

All He asks of you is to receive this package, this gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus.

If you reject it, God must treat you as He treated His Son when He cried, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” It will be hell for any man to be forsaken of God. Jesus Christ went through it Himself so you might never have to utter that cry.

Psalm 22 reveals the heart of our Savior as He was made a sin offering on our behalf.

He completed the transaction in triumph.

He offers to us a finished redemption.

We will never be worthy of it, we can’t earn it, we can’t buy it—we must receive it as a gift.

The Lord Jesus Christ did all that was needed to save us.

It is finished!

Finding Easter

Finding Easter

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The real Easter is centered on the day on which all history and indeed all eternity hangs like a hinge.
It’s the day the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in order to save us.
You and I today can’t even conceive what a step it was from heaven’s glory all the way down to this earth. It’s absolutely beyond human comprehension to understand what our Lord really did for us on that day.

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Finding Easter – Transcript

The real Easter is centred on the day on which all history and indeed all eternity hangs like a hinge.
That is the day the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in order to save us.

You and I today can’t even conceive of what a step it was from heaven’s glory all the way down to this earth. It’s absolutely beyond human comprehension to understand what our Lord really did for us on that day.

Traditions

There are many traditions surrounding what is commonly called Easter today.


The early church up until about 325 AD did not celebrate Easter on a specific day instead, it was the focus of everyday life.

The practice of celebrating easter, along with the name itself, appeared after Christianity was made popular, fashionable and then compulsory under the Roman Emperor, Constantine.

During that time, traditions such as Christmas and Easter began to be a part of the Christian community. This coincided with a weakening of the Christian faith as large numbers of people clamoured into the new religion.  Many of the new devotees had little real understanding of the regeneration and the new birth available by the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

The traditions that began to infiltrate Christianity took on the form of the many pagan worship practices that still lingered throughout the Roman empire. These practices were cleverly paralleled to Christianity which made it acceptable to the many new religious followers clamouring for political correctness.

Easter was one of these carefully paralleled traditions. It’s dual-purpose was to give lip service to the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ while clinging to the Roman worship of many gods. It was named after the many breasted goddess of fertility and love, Ishtar or Ashtoreth.

Later more traditions were added such as Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday and Lent.

Passover

Easter obscured the Biblical Jewish Feast of Passover which is the most valid and powerful of all Easter traditions but has been all but erased from the knowledge and understanding of most modern Christians.

The Old Testament of the Bible is the New Testament concealed, while the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
Every picture in the Old Testament reveals the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, hundreds of years later.

The Passover in Exodus chapter 12 is one of these pictures. It tells of when the sacrificial lamb was slain by God’s commandment prior to the children of Israel being delivered from Egypt.

They were told to daub the blood on their doorframes so that when the death angel of God passed through the land to slay every firstborn, the blood would exempt that household from the judgment, the angel “passed over.” The firstborn of the Israelites were spared, the Egyptian firstborn weren’t, and there was great sorrow in Egypt, as you can well imagine.

For those that may stand aghast that God would cause such a thing to happen, I would urge you to reserve your judgment until you have studied the Book of Exodus and the slavery of God’s children.

The Passover lamb was to be sacrificed at the same time every year thereafter until Christ came, fifteen centuries later, in fulfilment of this solemn feast. He was willingly slain on schedule, at Passover, being the sacrificial Lamb that the feast was all about.

Other Easter Pointers

God was constantly teaching the children of God about Himself, their sinfulness and the times that were yet to come.

In Numbers 21:5-7 for instance we learn of judgment against the people for their sin. God sent poisonous serpents into the camp, and people began to die as they were bitten by the serpents. This showed the people their sin, and they came to Moses to confess that sin and ask for God’s mercy.
When Moses prayed for the people, God instructed him to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole so that any person who looked at the serpent on the pole would be healed.

It was an absurd, puzzling and illogical command to think that looking at a bronze image of a serpent on a pole could heal anyone from snakebite, but that’s exactly what God told them to do. The ones who looked by faith despite their own personal thoughts were saved and the ones who scoffed at the ridiculousness of it died.

It wasn’t until 1450 years later when Jesus began His ministry on earth that God’s methodology became clear. Jesus said in John 3:14-15, “ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

At the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the significance of that event became understood.
The pole was a picture of the cross, the serpent was sin and the brass signified judgment. Today, those that look to the death of Christ on that cross where sin was placed upon Him and judged are saved.

God was teaching the people about faith and in addition, painting a picture of what was to come in the future!

Our God truly is amazing. Who can think they can presume to tell God how things should be done.

The Akeda

Another one of these many illustrations from the Old Testament that point to Easter is the offering of Issac by his father Abraham in the event known as the Akeda in Genesis 22.

As we’ve said, the entire Bible points to Jesus, and this is especially true of Genesis 22. Jesus is the key that unlocks this chapter for us. Think about the parallels between this story and the story of Jesus.
Both Isaac and Jesus are “beloved sons” who have been long-awaited and are born in miraculous circumstances (Genesis 22:1).
Both sons carry the wood that is to be the instrument of their deaths on their backs (Genesis 22:6).
In both cases, the father leads the son, and the son follows obediently toward his own death (Genesis 22:3).

The only difference is that in Issacs case God provides a substitute sacrifice, a ram, and Abraham tells Issac that God Himself will provide a lamb in place of Issac and they both go home. (Genesis 22:8).

Today, we now know that the lamb which God provided was Jesus, His Son, Who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John 1:29.

He was the Passover Lamb without spot or blemish of Who it was promised for thousands of years would sacrifice Himself, willingly, to pay the price for sin that brings with it the judgement of eternal death.
By looking to Him and Him alone and realising our own complete inability to pay for our own sin we exchange the death penaly for eternal life.

As pagan based as the names relating to Easter are, what it portrays is still the most incredible, powerful and wondrous event in the history of humanity and is the answer to all who are heavy laden and in need of rest and peace.

So, in the New Testament, Passover and Easter are tied together.

The Passover becomes a reality

It is the portrayal of Jesus as He enters Jerusalem and gathers his disciples to celebrate the Passover meal, known by Christians as the Last Supper.

Soon, He’s arrested, tried in an illegal trial and executed on the cross, dying just before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. Then, on Sunday morning, his followers are astounded to find Him appearing to them as one alive, not dead.

Imagine what it was like for those that came to the tomb, only to discover the stone rolled away and the body of Jesus missing. Not only did they discover His body was missing, they were also greeted by an angel who told them that Jesus was alive. He had been dead for three days and was now alive? It sounds preposterous!
Yet, this is the story of Easter. A story about a man who claimed to be God and the One fulfilling every ancient prophecy about the coming Messiah. He was crucified and died on a wooden cross. His dead body was placed in a tomb that was sealed with a heavy stone and guarded by Roman soldiers to prevent His body from being stolen.

He’s Alive!

Then three days after his death, He came back to life. The stone of the tomb was rolled away, and Jesus walked out alive and well. (Matt. 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20).

The Bible tells us that hundreds of people witnessed the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:1-7). Those people told others what they had witnessed. Then the people who heard them tell their story decided to tell others what they had heard.
Every year for the past 2000 years the story known as Easter has continued to be told. It is either the greatest story ever told, or the best lie ever told.

The Lie

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day wanted people to believe it was a lie.

While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day. (Matt. 28:11-15)

Because of the religious leaders, some people in Jesus’ day believed the Easter story to be a lie. And throughout the centuries to follow, many others have done their part to discredit the Easter story. Even today, many teach that the Bible is untrustworthy and the account of the resurrection is false.

No Ressurection – No Easter!

If the resurrection of Jesus did not occur, then there is no reason to celebrate Easter.

To put it simply, if Jesus did not rise from the dead, then we cannot be forgiven of our sins and we cannot escape spiritual death. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” You have sinned. I have sinned. Every person in this world has sinned. We all fall short of being perfect like God is perfect (Matt. 5:48). And there is a penalty for our sin: death. Physical death and spiritual death. None of us can escape physical death. But, if the Bible is true, then we can escape spiritual death.

The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We can escape death

We can escape spiritual death through Jesus Christ! Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live…”(John 11:25).

The Apostle Paul wrote these words to Timothy, “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” (2 Tim. 1:8-10 )

Paul told Timothy that we can have eternal life if we embrace the gospel. Paul defined the gospel in 1 Corinthians 15 as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Thus, for us to escape spiritual death, three things must be true about Jesus: His death, His burial, and His resurrection. If none of those are true, then we cannot have eternal life.

I can only tell you what the Bible says. You must make your own decision about what you believe. You must answer the question: Is Easter the greatest story ever told or is it the best lie ever told? Do you believe the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus really happened? Or do you believe it is a lie like millions of others over the past 2000 years?

If you believe it happened, then you are just one step away from eternal life. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:9,”…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. “

To believe in the resurrection of Jesus is important but the Bible says we must confess our belief to God. We say to God, with a sincere heartfelt confession, that I acknowledge that I am a sinner and that the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the only act that is good enough in the eyes of God to pardon my sin and grant me an eternal relationship with Him.

You might be asking: how do I do this? Simply read or hear the story, examine it and believe it’s truth.

In The Beginning

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The evidence that all humanity sees every day in the heavens and the earth screams of an Almighty Creator and that evidence is so loud that it takes an enormous amount of willful blindness to believe that random chance could have designed and created it.

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In The Beginning – Transcript

I’ve never believed that all life evolved from nothing!
To me, the unimaginable complexity of every life form could never have been the result of random chance.
For many years I would debate those who believed that in the beginning there was absolutely nothing, then it exploded and all life as we know it evolved from that chaotic explosion.


In my later years, I avoid those debates as they are largely futile. I came to realise that most people in the “civilized” world today CHOOSE to be blind to the existence of God. No matter what logic, competent analysis, self-evident truth, or scientific argument you put forward to the willfully blind, they will not see.

All Evidence

An honest seeker of the truth will look at ALL evidence, not just that which seems to fit their belief. But honest searchers are more and more rare in today’s world.

The evidence that all humanity sees every day in the heavens and the earth screams of an Almighty Creator and that evidence is so loud that it takes an enormous amount of willful blindness to believe that random chance could have designed and created it. The best that random chance can ever do is form shapes, such as the side of a cliff carved from the weather, but never a design. It is even less likely to create a highly complex life system that needs every part to pop into existence fully completed and working at the same time for that system to work at all. Add to that the countless other systems required to support that one system such as night and day, tides, sunlight, rain, oxygen, CO2, cell regeneration, food and waste systems and the whole idea of a gradual evolution becomes insanely absurd.

Even the honest searcher of truth will encounter what seems like an impossible idea, that there is a God who created everything in the universe, including the universe itself. I believe there are reasons for this.

Traps We Fall Into

Firstly, we fall into an error that will prevent us ever really understanding God.

The error is that we see God as we see ourselves. We compare Him and His qualities to a human. When we relate this comparison to creation, we tend to think of a being that is like a very intelligent man. He’s very old and wise and has spent many hours in his laboratory designing each life system. When we look at God from this perspective, the belief that He created all life is clearly a ridiculous impossibility. I am convinced that many evolution leaning people, along with many professing Christians, see God in this way, even though unconsciously. The reality is much different. God explains Himself to us in His Word, the Bible, as being so far above man and all the rest of His creation that even through the eons of eternity we will never fully grasp His power, His might, His wisdom, and His love for us.

Secondly, we have become victims of our education and the all-powerful information media of today.

These institutions have been highly successful in convincing us that evolution and the gradual appearance of all life from nothing is a scientifically proven fact. Moreover, if a person dares to think outside these boundaries they are alienated and cast into the realm of the deranged. How could anyone argue with the SCIENCE? However, the greatest scandal of the modern world is that the evolution of life from nothing is NOT a scientifically proven fact, not by any means. Just because almost all schools educate our children in this belief and just because David Attenborough says it’s so while commenting on in his remarkable photographic images does NOT make it fact.

For a renowned scientist to believe that there is no God and that the universe itself is responsible for its own creation from nothing, he must hold a deep-seated religious belief. His science has never revealed even a spark of how matter and energy emerged from nothing and then became so intelligent that it formed itself into the impossibly complex system we see everywhere. He will interpret what he sees through his microscope and through his calculations from his foundational belief like anybody else. For a scientist to be totally impartial when analysing what he sees is just as hard as for anyone else. Most scientists, teachers and media workers are as much chained to their foundational belief, and those of their employers, as the rest of society.

There is also a fact that is very much hidden from the majority today; that is that there is a huge, and growing, number of scientists who do not accept the popular beliefs of this world. For a great many scientists what they see in their research is the evidence of the works of a mighty Creator.

Thirdly, for most humans the idea of being accountable to God is an abominable idea. The very thought that we are not in complete control of our destiny is unacceptable.  To be answerable to someone or something who will judge us one day is very difficult for man and his free will.

Belief Is A Choice

Each one of us must consciously choose to accept and trust in either the confusing lie of evolution or the plainly visible evidence that points to Almighty God who created all things by the power of His Word.

To really trust in someone or something, we need to know that our trust is not in vain, that we are not trusting in something that will fail and bring us down with it.

The foundation that our faith is built on must be solid rock not shifting sand.

So, how we be sure that the One in whom we have placed our faith is worthy of that trust?

How can we KNOW beyond a doubt that God is both willing and able to fulfill that which He has promised?

One of the greatest testimonies to the solidness of our God is His signature in nature. Everything in nature has God’s signature on it.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps. 19:1). It is impossible to live on earth without recognising God, as all of nature testifies to His existence.

The Voice of Heaven

The earth and the heavens have a voice.

“Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard” (Ps. 19:1-3).

That voice screams out to every person in a language that is universal so everyone can clearly hear and understand it. We cannot understand life by human wisdom, or from books, education, or worldly knowledge or even science. However, we can see God’s unique and beautiful signature in our lives and in the world in which we live by hearing that voice of His creation.

In Romans 1 :18 – 20 We have a very stern message; God’s anger is revealed from heaven against all the sin and evil of the people whose evil ways prevent the truth from being known.

God punishes them, because what can be known about God is plain to them, for God himself made it plain.

Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made. So those people have no excuse at all!

In Colossians 1:15 – 17 We see Jesus Christ as God the Creator. Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things.

For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him.

Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place.

Isaiah 40:26 tells us to look up to the skies. Who created all those stars? Who created all those “armies” in the sky? Who knows every star by name? He is very strong and powerful, so not one of these stars is lost.

I urge you to set aside all your preconceptions and watch the amazing video below. Then ask yourself in complete honesty, “Can there be any other explanation than GOD!”

Free Downloadable Book – The Seal of God

The Trinity Explained

Who Is Jesus?

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The answer to this question, Who Is Jesus, is what separates every religion, cult, and new-age human philosophy from Christianity. A Christian is simply a follower of Christ, The Jew’s Messiah, The soon-coming King, The Redeemer of Man, and The Saviour and most of The Son of God – God in the flesh!

“Speed Slider”

Who Is Jesus? – Transcript

The answer to this question, Who Is Jesus, is what separates every religion, cult, and new-age human philosophy from Christianity. A Christian is simply a follower of Christ, The Mesiah, The soon coming King, The Redeemer od Man, The Saviour.

A Christian has the unshakeable belief that Jesus is God.

Every other belief in the world, without exception, believes He is not.

Some religions say He was just another human prophet, others that He was a created angel. Some say He was Satan’s brother; others say he is one of many gods. Teacher, do-gooder, rabbi – the list goes on and on – but never God.

Of course, the most common religion of today, Atheism, believes He never existed at all.

The Christian Belief

We, as Christians, believe that He is God, Who created the universe, and us, and that He was able to enter into humanity by becoming a man while remaining fully God.

He is one of the three “parts” or “personalities’ of what we know as “The Godhead”. God is a unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One God in three manifestations.

How this could be is a mystery locked in the incredible power and glory of God. God makes it very clear to us in His Word  (the Bible) Who He is, but He doesn’t give us details that are impossible for us to grasp.

Countless volumes have been written trying to fully explain the triune nature of God. They all fail to fully explain it in a way that our limited minds can grasp. Hey, we can’t even explain the information process of DNA which is common to every living thing. How could we fully explain the trinity?

We Are Created In His Image

We can see a little more into the nature of God when we understand how God created us. We are created in His image.

We ourselves are three parts in one.
We areSpirit (the “real” us, the eternal part that never ceases to exist. It is the part of us that is “made new” when we accept Jesus Chris as our Lord and Saviour.)
We have a Soul (the emotions, thoughts, feelings and desires), which will also never ceases to exist. The Soul is not made new instantly when we come to God but is constantly changing as we learn more about God and begin to trust Him with the details of our lives.
We have a Body (our earthly flesh which will die but will one day be resurrected in a glorified state the same as the body of Jesus after His resurrection).

In the future, God willing, I hope to present some discussion on how we can undeniably prove for ourselves that Jesus is Who He says He is. But that isn’t the purpose of this piece.

A Child Is Born – A Son Is Given

When Jesus took on the form of humanity in the little town of Bethlehem 2000 years ago, he was born a child. However, He was given as a son.

The book of Isaiah tells us in chapter 9 verse 6,

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

And, probably the most familiar bible verse of all time,

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The “child” was born in Bethlehem, but the “Son” was “from everlasting.”

The incarnation of our Lord, the promised Messiah who would take away the sin of the world, is the awesome wonder of our lifetime.

That the Creator Himself chose to enter His creation to undertake a mission that would lead to His horrific torture and death on our behalf strains the imagination of any thoughtful person. It is staggering in the extreme!

The “Son is given” occurred at Golgotha outside Jerusalem on a Roman cross 33 years after the “child was born”. This was a fulfill­ment of the promise given on the day man fell into sin. It was planned before the foundation of the Earth.

Easter

Although, as a secular society we have degraded Easter into an unrecognisable party holiday, it was once the very peak of the ceremonial year for the Christian. It was the celebra­tion of the empty tomb that vali­dated that Jesus Christ was indeed the long-promised Redeemer who would sacrifice Himself for the sin of man and rise again on the third day, defeating death and the grave and making the way by which every fallen human can get back to a full relationship with God.

His story is a love story written in blood on a wooden cross that was erected in Judea two thou­sand years ago.

So, Who is Jesus Christ?

Let’s see what the Word of God says.

He is the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:2, Mark 15:2 and others)
He is the King of Israel (Mark 15:32 and others)
But He’s also
King of all the Ages; (1 Timothy 1:17)
King of Heaven; (Daniel 4:37)
King of Glory; (Psalm 24:10)
King of Kings; (Revelation 17:14)
and Lord of Lords. (Revelation 17:14)

He is
a prophet before Moses;
a priest after Melchizedek;
a champion like Joshua;
an offering in place of Isaac;
a king from the line of David;
a counsellor above Solomon;
beloved, rejected, and exalted like Joseph;
The Heavens declare His glory, and the firmament shows His handiwork.
He is, was, and always will be. He is the first and the last, the Alpha and Omega, the Aleph and the Tau, the A and the Z;
He is the “I AM that I AM” (Exodus 3:14) that spoke to Moses on Mt Sinai, the voice of the burning bush, the Captain of the Lord’s Host, the conqueror of Jericho
He is our Kinsman-Redeemer and He is our Avenger of Blood;
He is our City of Refuge;
He was crucified on a cross of wood, yet He made the hill on which it stood.
By Him were all things made that were made; without Him was not anything made that was made; (John 1:3)
By Him, all things are held together!
In Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily; He is very God of very God.
He became the first fruits of them that slept.
He has many names, among them is Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.
He is our Performing High Priest; Our Personal Prophet; Our Reigning King.
He is enduringly strong; entirely sincere; eternally steadfast;
He is sovereignly powerful; immortally graceful; impartially merciful;
He stands alone in Himself:
He’s unique, pre-eminent, supreme, unparalleled:
He’s the loftiest idea in literature;
He’s the highest personality in philosophy;
He’s the fundamental doctrine of theology;
He’s the supreme problem in “higher criticism”!
He’s the Son of God!
There is no means of measuring his limitless love:
It was written in blood, on that wooden cross erected in Judea 2,000 years ago.
He was born of a woman so that we could be born of God;
He humbled Himself so that we could be lifted; (Philippians 2:8)
He became a servant so that we could be made joint-heirs; (Philippians 2:7)
He suffered rejection so that we could become His friends;
He denied Himself so that we could freely receive all things;
He gave Himself so that He could bless us in every way.
He is available to the tempted and the tried; Blesses the young; Cleanses the lepers; Defends the feeble; Delivers the captives; Discharges the debtors; Forgives the sinners; Franchises the meek; Guards the besieged; Heals the sick; Provides strength to the weak; Regards the aged; Rewards the diligent; Serves the unfortunate; Sympathizes and He saves!
His reign is righteous; (Jeremiah 23:6)
His promises are certain; (Numbers 23:19)
His goodness is limitless;
His light is matchless;
His love never changes; (Hebrews 13:8)
His grace is sufficient; (2 Corinthians 12:9)
His mercy is everlasting;
His word is enough;
His yoke is easy and
His burden is light! (Matthew 11:28-30)
He’s indescribable;
He’s incomprehensible;
He’s irresistible; (Philippians 2:9-11)
He’s invincible! (Colossians 1:15, 18-20)
The Heaven of heavens cannot contain Him; Man cannot explain Him.
The Pharisees couldn’t stand Him but soon learned that they couldn’t stop Him;
They railroaded Him through six illegal trials,  and yet the witnesses couldn’t agree against Him and the personal representative of the ruler of the world couldn’t find any fault with Him;
Herod couldn’t kill Him, death couldn’t handle Him, and the grave couldn’t hold Him!
He has always been and always will be; He had no predecessor and will have no successor;
You can’t impeach Him or vote Him out and He isn’t going to resign!
His name is above every name; That at the name of Yeshua, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess That Jesus Christ is Lord!
His is the kingdom, and the power,  and the glory, forever, and ever, Amen!

The Real Christmas

The Real Christmas

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The real Christmas story is simple: Mankind is desperately in need of rescuing, and someone has come to rescue us.

“Speed Slider”

The Real Christmas – Transcript

The commercialism and hype around Christmas create an excitement for young and old alike and it’s a season most of us look forward to. The fake snow, holly, the foreign fir trees, warm fires, the legends of Santa all have nothing to do with the real Christmas. All these things are lovely, and they have their place when held in their proper perspective.

However, the real Christmas story is simple: Mankind is desperately in need of rescuing, and someone has come to rescue us.

The only real gift of Christmas, that is waiting to be unwrapped by anyone who desires it, is that a Saviour is born to reconcile man and God! That Saviour is Jesus The Christ, the long predicted Messiah.

The birth of Jesus Christ at Bethlehem has more historical significance than any other single event in history.
His coming made an impact upon the world that is unparalleled.

No other event in history has had such far-reaching results. Even history itself was split into two, before His birth and after BC and AD.

The coming of the Messiah that was foretold in the prophecies of God’s Word for thousands of years was expected by the Jewish nation. What was not expected was the way in which he would come. They expected a great fanfare, and that the Messiah would overthrow the Roman oppressors who ruled Israel.

That he came in the utmost humility, born of lowly birth in a stable out back of an inn was unacceptable to the Jewish hierarchy of the day, as it is to this day.

What About December 25th?

December 25th is a highly unlikely date for the real Christmas.

The date was introduced to Christianity by Constantine in 336 probably in celebration of pagan winter solstice worship.

The most likely date put forward by some of the best bible scholars is 29th September 2BC.
We do know that the birth of Christ was not celebrated by the early church at all.

Where The Story Begins

To get the real story we need to travel back to the dawn of humanity, to the garden of Eden where the first humans lived a perfect life in perfect union with God.

This perfect harmony between man and God was severed when the first humans chose to disobey God and rebel against His perfect Word. They chose to believe the lie presented to them by God’s enemy, Satan. They believed they could be like God. You can read about it in Genesis chapters 2 and 3.

The perfect harmony man enjoyed up to that point and the authority and the influence that the first humans had over this world and all God’s creation ceased.

They fell into a state called death.
Not the death of the body although that was now inevitable even though it was not intended to be, but death spiritually. That death was the eternal separation from God.

Because of sin, God could no longer stand within their presence, and they lost the precious relationship and oneness with God.
No longer could they walk and talk with God and enjoy the wonder of His company.
Sin affected every fibre of the human being. It not only destroyed man’s relationship with God but alienated humans from other humans.

Adams reaction to God’s question was to blame it all on Both God and his wife, Eve. The very nature of mankind changed from good to evil.

In Genesis 3:12 we read; The man said, “The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree, so I ate it.”

See, it was the woman’s fault because she gave him the fruit, but it was also God’s fault because He put the woman there with him in the first place.

Eve also tried to pass the blame. “The serpent tricked me”, she said Everybody else is to blame but me! How often we hear that today.

However, the accusations from the first humans about whose fault it was could not change the destiny of every single human being that would come from them. Each and every one would be born with the sin nature that was now the natural state of man.

Then, in Genesis 3:15, we have the first hope given by God to mankind that He would make a way to repair that relationship with Himself that was now destroyed.

“And I will put enmity (hostility and hatred) between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

Notice not the man’s seed, but the woman’s seed!
Does the woman have the seed of the birth process? No! Only in One case in all history was a child born from the seed of a woman.

That child was born 2000 years ago in Bethlehem of Judea and is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour that God promised in Genesis 3:15.

He would circumvent the seed of the man and the resulting sin nature. God, the Holy Spirit, Himself would plant His seed supernaturally inside the womb of a virgin to bring into the world the Messiah who was fully man but without sin. Fully man and fully God.

This was God’s first indication of the cross of Christ. Just under 4000 years later this prophecy along with hundreds of others became a reality.
In Isaiah 7:14 we read:
Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign; Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Immanuel means God with us.
And in Isaiah 9:6 we are told of the destiny of Christ:
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9:7 tells that in addition he will rule forever with peace and justice on His natural father’s throne (King David)

When the time arrived for the saviour to be born, to take on humanity and begin the mission He was destined to before the foundation of the world, a series of miraculous events unfolded.

The Two Christmas Babies

The real Christmas is a story of not one but two miraculously conceived babies.

In the Gospel of Luke, we read about an older couple named Zacharias and his wife Elisabeth. They were a godly couple, but they couldn’t have children, even though they desperately wanted them.

While praying in the temple one day God broke His silence and sent the angel Gabriel with His first communication with mankind in 400 years.

Gabriel told Zacharias that he and Elizabeth would have a son whose whole purpose in life would be to introduce the Messiah, (the Christ), and prepare the way for Him.

Zacharias’ son would be the last Old Testament prophet, the voice for God, crying out in the wilderness. This child would be John the Baptist.

Zacharias didn’t believe the angel. Because of his unbelief the angel messenger told him he wouldn’t be able to speak a word until his child was born. He was struck dumb.

A little while later, Elisabeth, Zacharias’ wife, confirmed God’s message and told her husband she was pregnant.

A few months later in a town called Nazareth three days walk away, the same angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary.

She was just a young girl, engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, who was in the family line of David. This is very important because Old Testament prophecies pointed to this family line. Gabriel told Mary she had been chosen to bring the long promised Redeemer into the world.

In Luke 1:26-29 we read – Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

Then in Luke 1:30-31 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son and shall call His name Jesus.”

Then the angel gave her important information about this miracle baby.

Jesus would be in the family line of David to fulfill all of the prophecies that spoke of a king who would rule a kingdom and sit on the throne of David.

In Luke 1:32-33 The angel Gabriel told Mary that this baby would be the ultimate ruler of all. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” – Luke 1:32-33

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” – Luke 1:34-35

Now, Mary knew she was a sinner—that is, she had a sin nature as all of us do—and she sang in Luke 1:39-56 celebrating how God is her Saviour as well.

When Joseph, Mary’s fiancé, learned she was pregnant, of course he wondered who the father was. But God sent an angel once again with a message for Joseph. In a dream, the angel told Joseph to go ahead with the marriage because God had included them in His plan to save the world. In Matthew 1:21 the angel tells Joseph “She will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins”.

Meanwhile, three days walk away, in Zacharias’ home, John the Baptist had arrived. Zacharias still couldn’t speak, so they asked him, “What shall we name the child?” Zacharias, by faith, wrote out the name, “John,” the name

Gabriel told him had already been chosen by God. Then God immediately opened Zacharias’ mouth, and he spoke and praised God (see Luke 1:57-64).

Zacharias took his son into his arms, and he offered another great song of Christmas:
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins.” – Luke 1:76-77.

Nazareth, Bethlehem, and Taxes

All this activity around Jesus’ conception took place in Israel in the city of Nazareth, so how come Jesus’ actual birth was in Bethlehem about 175km away?
At that time the Roman Empire ruled the known world, including the land of Israel.

Caesar Augustus was the emperor and he announced that a census was to be taken, and that everyone had to go to their family’s lineage city to register to be taxed. Joseph and Mary’s lineage or family city was Bethlehem.

As a side note, imagine the disruption to the whole of society and think of what that level of government control must have been like. First a government ruling for a census that was so they could track the forthcoming taxation that was to be introduced.

Nothings change in government, has it?

Sceptics used to argue that Caesar Augustus never ordered such a taxing as the Scripture records. But then the Temple of Augustus in Turkey was excavated between 1926 and 1938, and a copy of the tax bill was discovered. So now we know the exact spot where the decree was made. It is written in Latin, and it says that all the Roman Empire was to be taxed.

That decree was read in every town, at every crossroad of the Roman Empire, and it was what brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.

So, Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth to the Judean town of Bethlehem for the census. They travelled the treacherous road together, even though Mary was far along in her pregnancy.

It was under these conditions with Bethlehem packed with travellers arriving for the census that Mary and Joseph arrived in the town. Public accommodation was full, and Joseph could find no available room for his wife who was due to give birth. In desperation, preparation for the birth was made in a stable with all the smells and sounds of the animals of travellers and the other animals owned by the innkeeper.

Here, under the humblest of circumstances Almighty God, creator of the universe, took on the form of man in the birth of Jesus Christ for the one purpose of saving mankind from eternal destruction.

Jesus is born in “Davids City” the birthplace of His ancestor King David on whose throne He will rule the world.
The “City of David” is also the name for Jerusalem because King David conquered that city and eventually set up his palace and his rule from there. It is eight kilometres from Bethlehem.

The Shepherds

In Luke 2:8 we read that there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
Ever since the days of Abraham, shepherds have kept sheep around Bethlehem. It’s still a common sight today. But one day something very uncommon happened.

An angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the night sky.
In Luke 2:9-12, we see the announcement of that angel.
And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” – Luke 2:9-12

God sent this announcement to the lower strata of society, largely uneducated, and poorly paid people rather than announcing it to the religious hierarchy with great pomp and ceremony in the temple.

To God, position, and power means nothing. It is the heart that’s important to Him. Also, God makes sure we know that Jesus is human. He came into this world just like we did.
He understands us because He came into this world a human being. This also means we can know something about God because He took upon Himself our humanity.

In Luke 2:13-14, we read, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

Notice that if the angels had been praising that there would finally be peace on earth from that time on, they were very wrong. No, it was not peace on earth between nations and cultures they were prising, it was that peace was now possible between man and God.

When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. – Luke 2:15, 16.

God could have entered the world in power and great glory, as He will when He comes to earth the second time. But this first time, He came in the lowliest way possible.

Luke 2:17-18 tells us, Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marvelled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

Because of God’s unexplainable love for us, He had left eternity, left the glory and magnificence of heaven to enter the filth of humanity and eventually die for the payment of our sin.
It is far beyond our ability to fully grasp.

The Emperor and the King

At the time of Christ’s birth, Augustus Caesar was the emperor of the Roman empire which had control over Israel.
Herod “the Great” ruled as king of the Jews under Roman authority. It is this Herod who appears in the account of Jesus’ birth.

Herod secured from Augustus Caesar the title of “King of the Jews.” However, it was not for three years (including a five month’s siege by Roman troops) that he was able to occupy his own capital city which was in a rebellious buffer state situated between two mighty contending empires.

There was the Romans and then there was the Parthian empire who had mounted successive, and successful military campaigns against Rome.

At any time, Herod’s own subjects might conspire in bringing the Parthians to their aid. The Parthians were already planning a revolt against Rome (which was successfully accomplished within two years).

Herod constantly feared conspiracy. He executed his wife when he suspected she was plotting against him. Three of his sons, another wife, and his mother-in-law met the same fate when they too were suspected of conspiracy.

The Wise Men and the Star

In Mattew 2:1-3 we read, Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Their request of Herod regarding the one “who has been born King of the Jews” was an insult to him, a non-Jew who had contrived and bribed his way into that office.

Of course, the familiar Christmas scene of the three wise men in attendance at the manger is only tradition. The bible never mentions the number nor that these men were at the manger just after Jesus’ birth. The inference that there were three men probably comes from the three gifts they bought as stated in Mathew 2:11.

From Matthew 2:16 we see that their visit was well after the stable and the manger, probably from 6 months to 2 years after Jesus’ birth. They visited the young child in a house.

Also, the resulting decision by Herod to murder all children in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas was based on the dates received from the wise men, so they could have visited the young child anywhere up till 2 years old.

There’s no use trying to explain the star on a natural basis. Was it an eastern star? Scripture says, “We have seen his star in the east.”

But it was the wise men who were in the East, not the star. If the star had been in the East when the wise men saw it, they would have ended up in China, because that’s the direction they would have gone. So, it was not an eastern star but a western star, and they travelled west—which is how they came to Jerusalem.
The star was a supernatural occurrence.

When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

It is most unlikely that three men on camels would trouble this powerful king along with the entire population of Jerusalem as is stated in Mathew 2:3.
The sudden appearance of the Magi, probably travelling in force with huge pomp and accompanied by a cavalry escort to ensure their safe passage through the Roman territory, certainly pushed Herod’s paranoia button and the whole population of Jerusalem.

It would easily seem to Herod as if these Magi were attempting to perpetrate a border incident, which could bring swift reprisal from Parthian armies.
After consulting the Magi and his scribes, Herod discovered from the prophecies in the Old Testament that the Promised One, the Messiah, would be born in Bethlehem. Hiding his concern and expressing sincere interest, Herod requested the Magi to keep him informed as to the place where this child was so that he himself might go to Him and worship Him.

After finding the babe and presenting their prophetic gifts, the Magi “being warned in a dream” departed to their own country by a different way, ignoring Herod’s request.

Then, in Mattew 2:16 we read, Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Imagine the horror of the genocide of all children under 2 years old!
However, Just as has happened many times in history Jesus escapes the satanic attempt to destroy Him. Joseph was warned in a dream to take Mary and the child and escape to Egypt.

The Gifts

Let’s look at the gifts the Magi bought to Jesus.

The gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh were prophetic. They speak of our Lord’s offices of king, priest, and saviour.

Gold speaks of His kingship; frankincense was a spice used in the priestly duties, and myrrh was an embalming ointment signifying His death.

In the millennium, He will also receive the gifts of gold and frankincense, but no myrrh. His death was once and for all.
What strange gifts for a child? But not for this Child. Even in His birth, Jesus’ death is there. He was born to die, no less.
In John 1:29, John the Baptist said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

We don’t know exactly how long Mary, Joseph and Jesus stayed in Egypt, but God told them when it was time for them to leave.

Matthew 2:19-23 tells us, “Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.”

Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.

But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.” Archelaus was Herod the Great’s son and was a disastrous ruler.

So, that’s how Joseph and Mary settled in Nazareth, the place where our Lord was brought up and entered the so-called silent years, during which the New Testament tells us of only a single incident when Jesus was 12 years old.

Then there was nothing more for about 18 years until the announcement of John the Baptist: “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

Why He Came

The Christmas story is usually thought to be about a birth, the beginning of life. But it’s really about death. Our death. Jesus Christ was born into this world to destroy our greatest enemy— the enemy that no doctor, no scientist, no world ruler can deal with because death deals with all of them.

When death knocks, they have to put down whatever they are doing.
And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. – Hebrews 9:27

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. . . . For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience, many will be made righteous. – Romans 5:12, 19

Death is the result of sin that entered our world and our nature way back at the beginning of the human family.

We all sinned in Adam—that is, Adam’s sin is made over to you and me. We are all born with it. Just as we have inherited a sin nature, death will come to us.

Until we come to Jesus Christ, we’re eternally separated from God. He alone can make us righteous. Christ came to deal with that sin nature, which no man can deal with.
It’s the last enemy that will be destroyed. As He takes our sin in

His death on the cross, He gives us His righteousness.
Now when you die, you will join Jesus in heaven. Either you have as much right in heaven as Christ has, or you have no right there at all. Your right is His right, for He has made over to you all that He is.

That’s the only thing that can get you and me to heaven.

Over 2000 years ago He took upon Himself our humanity that we might be made righteous and complete in Him.

So that as sin reigned in death, even so, grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 5:21

Using The Bible

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There are many methods available to us today to study the bible, the Word of God to mankind. Even in countries that violently oppose the bible, study tools are available via the internet or on-air broadcasts.

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How to Insult God

How To Insult God

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Contrary to the belief of the masses, science does not explain the origin of life, even though most people think it’s a proven scientific fact that life evolved from the chaotic explosion of – nothing!

“Speed Slider”

How To Insult God – Transcript

Do we know enough?
Have you ever formed an impression on a person only to find that when you got to know them, they were entirely different to your impression?

The same goes for places such as towns or cities. It even occurs with opinions that are generally accepted by the majority as facts.

In the fields of medicine and technology this is very common. We are programmed to believe that science is a summary of truth and fact, yet science is not a summary of the truth about everything.

Science is the process of summarising the things we’ve already discovered, and then changing that summary as we acquire new knowledge through observation and experimentation.

Science is never finished. Every discovery leads to more questions, new mysteries, and something else that needs explaining. It’s a case of ‘the more we know, the more we know we know nothing at all’. Just look at the countless scientific discoveries that were once accepted as truth but are now rejected even laughed at.

Contrary to the belief of the masses, science does not explain the origin of life, even though most people think it’s a proven scientific fact that life evolved from the chaotic explosion of – nothing!

All this in the midst of a creation of which a master designer is self evident.

What an insult to God!

Whenever we make a judgement about someone or something from our own human intellect, we usually end up totally wrong. We just do not know enough to make a judgement call.

I must admit that as I get older and look back on my life, I am embarrassed at the times my human powers of deduction have led me to wrong conclusions.

A Persons Words Paint An Accurate Picture

Where people are concerned, we can make more accurate judgements about who and what they are by simply getting to know them better. As we find out more about them our picture of them becomes more real. Most often, the knowledge of who they are comes through the words they speak.

Jesus told us in Matthew 12:34 and Luke 6:45 that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The more a person speaks the more accurate the picture they paint of themselves because they are speaking from the heart, the inner person, or the spirit. What’s in their heart is who they really are.

You want to know someone better? Listen to what they’re saying! However, we’ll need more that a one or two sentence conversation with them. We’ll need to spend the time to really listen and hear all their words. Husbands and wives know each other well through each other’s words over a long period of time so their picture is mostly accurate.

This is no truer than in our knowledge of God.

If we are to know Him and understand His ways, we must hear His words.

God has given us a summary of all the words He’s spoken to man. It’s called the Bible.

It is only by hearing those words that we can know Him.

If, in our human relationships, we only hear one or two sentences of others say, our knowledge of them will be limited. The same applies to God.

If we will only hear the odd verse from the Word that He’s left us, we’ll never know Him and our view of Him will be distorted and incomplete.
The WHOLE Counsel Of God
Therefore, it’s vital to hear His whole Word.

In Acts 20:27 we see that the Apostle Paul taught “the whole counsel of God”.

The whole counsel of God includes some things that are difficult to hear. For example, in both the New and the Old Testament we see God’s wrath and His anger unleashed as in Exodus and many other places. We see supposedly evil men get rewarded and good men get punished. We see God relegating some obedient and Godfearing people to a life of suffering such as Job and we see nations of people destroyed without mercy as in Joshua and many other places.

We hear that we ourselves are dead in sin and deserving of God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:1–3) and the fact that we cannot save ourselves through works (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Sometimes, we hear these words and our human sensibilities rebel. We decide God is unfair, unjust, or even wrong. This is so dangerous because we are, in effect, doing exactly what Satan did when sin was found in him. He deluded himself into believing he knew more than God. He was above God! It’s what Adam and Eve did when they followed Satan’s deception. They believed they could be above God. It’s also what countless others do every day.

We believe we know better than God! When we believe this, we effectively raise ourselves above God.

This is the greatest insult to God.

Do we mere humans know how to create a band of DNA?

We cannot explain the intricate complexity of a butterfly’s wing let alone make one.

We can’t work out why people die of diseases such as cancer or why an innocent child dies yet the problem is NOT with God. It’s with our own limited understanding.

If we don’t understand the why of God’s dealings, it’s not because there’s not a good and sufficient reason. The difficulty is with us and our understanding.

Let me give a very simple example.

The other day I was teaching someone how to do something on the computer. Now, I had worked on this thing for many hours and made many mistakes working on this until I finally worked out a system of how to complete the task. I began teaching this person how to do it. They insisted on trying to shortcut my system and do it their own way and immediately began to run into problems. You see they approached it from their own viewpoint and did not see the difficulties that I had already overcome..

Their way SEEMED right to them, but it caused failure.
It SEEMS Right
There is a way that people think is right, but it leads only to death. Proverbs 14:12

The LORD says, “My thoughts are not like yours. Your ways are not like mine. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8 – 10

Yes, God’s riches are very great! His wisdom and knowledge have no end!  However, No one can explain what God decides. No one can understand his ways. Romans 11:33

As the Scriptures say, “Who can know what is on the Lord’s mind? Who is able to give him advice?” Rom 11:34

The answer to this question is No one! No one knows the mind of the Lord.

Not once did Jesus ask advice while he was on this earth.

“Who has ever given God anything? God owes nothing to anyone.” Rom 11:35

Yes, God made all things. And everything continues through him and for him. To God be the glory forever! Rom 11:36

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremaiah 29:11

Man has tried to be happy without God, and the book of Ecclesiastes shows the absurdity of the attempt. It is King Solomon’s dramatic account of the time he turned from God and looked for satisfaction in the world. Although Solomon had more wealth and more wisdom than any man before or since, his attempt to live life without God made all that he had worthless.

What business have we, with our pinprick of understanding, telling God what He should and should not be doing.

This is God’s universe, and He has the sovereign right to do with it as He pleases. If we disagree with His ways, maybe we need to create our own universe and then we can make our own rules. In the meantime, we are on His turf and He sets the rules.

No, if we are to partake of the glory of God and His perfect plan for us, we must come to Him by faith. But, without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6.

God is Love and in Him is mercy, grace and complete justice but there is also much more to Him.

If we see our Lord Jesus Christ as only a lovey dovey, gentle Jesus, meek and mild who just loves us so much He let’s us do as we please, we are not understanding Him at all. He is also the fearful figure of revenge in the book of Revelation.

Whenever we’re puzzled or discomforted by something in His Word, we should set it aside and ask the Lord to reveal it to us. We always should take the position that since God is perfectly just and knows our needs.

We should never forget one of the most important verses of scripture to a Christian; Romans 8:28, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.

Why God - Heaven Opening

Why God?

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We, as onlookers to the world around us and the lives of those with whom we share this world see struggle, pain and pure evil and we wonder, why God?

“Speed Slider”

Why God? – Transcript

Why God?
Why, if God is good and God is love, is there a hell?
Why, if God is good and God is love, does He permit evil to reign?
Why does God allow innocents such as children to suffer?
Why is there death, sickness, addiction, crime, corruption, poverty and evil in general?
Why, if God exists and is a God of love, grace and mercy, do the very ones who believe in Him often suffer the most?
How does a person watch a deeply loved friend, spouse, child or family member suffer and die and still believe God is real, loving and merciful?


We, as onlookers to the world around us and the lives of those with whom we share this world see struggle, pain and pure evil and we wonder, why God?
Why doesn’t God move in and do something about the evil in the world? If God is good and loving why doesn’t he just do away with all that’s bad and make everything good?
Why doesn’t He just end suffering and pain?
If He truly is all-powerful God could just eradicate evil and we would all live in a wonderful Eutopia.
Aren’t these the most asked question of the human race, Why God?
For most people, the journey from cradle to grave is lived under a cloud of question marks. However most never seek the answer!

Lots of people use these questions as an excuse to reject God. Rather than seek the answer to these questions they use them as some sort of explanation why God is not real.
How often have we heard this; if God is real how come there’s so much evil in the world?
This unanswered question is used as a basis for believing God doesn’t exist.
However, that’s like saying that rain caused a flood which destroyed my house and I don’t understand it so, rain doesn’t exist. It’s quite absurd.

In the oldest book in the Bible, the Book of Job, the question that Job and his friends spend most of the book talking about is why God permitted evil to come to him.

The old Testament prophets asked this question also. They watched as the nation that is God’s chosen people suffered repeatedly at the hands of their enslavers.
Although they tirelessly warned the people of forthcoming slavery unless they turned from their evil, the prophets were horrified at the brutality and the completeness of the conquering of Israel. How could God let this happen to His people?

The prophet, Habakkuk asked precisely that. Why was God permitting evil to manifest itself and run rampant in the nation of Israel? Why does God permit evil? Why would a holy, gracious, good God permit these things to take place?
Habakkuk 1:2-4 says, and I’m reading from the New Living Translation,  How long, O LORD, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.

Habakkuk is telling God that He is refusing to answer his prayers as he cries out in despair amidst the violence among his people. And God is doing nothing and saying nothing.

Jeremiah, the so-called weeping prophet, wrote the little book of Lamentations where he bitterly mourns the destruction of Jerusalem. He had warned of this coming destruction and the slavery of the nation by the Babylonians under the command of King Nebuchadnezzar, but no one would listen.
Jeremiah stands among the ashes weeping.
Lamentations 1:1. Jerusalem, once so full of people, is now deserted. She who was once great among the nations now sits alone like a widow. Once the queen of all the earth, she is now a slave.

The first explanation for the fall of the city comes in Lamentations 1:8;
Jerusalem has sinned greatly, so she has been tossed away like a filthy rag. All who once honoured her now despise her, for they have seen her stripped naked and humiliated. All she can do is groan and hide her face.
Jerusalem has geatly sinned!

Throughout the Bible, we see again and again God warning His people through His prophets, sometimes many decades in advance. Then we see His people failing to acknowledge Him and then destruction finally engulfing them.
We don’t like to hear about the fierce anger of God today. That aspect is often left out of the gospel message in the modern church.
Perhaps we need God as a crutch, a prop of goodness in the middle of an evil world. We seem to need at least some hope that there is still a force for goodness and righteousness, but we fall into a trap.
The trap is that we want that goodness and righteousness based on our own, pitifully inadequate viewpoint of what it really is.
In fact, we want goodness and righteousness without the justice. We hate justice, especially when it’s us being judged. So we try to change God to make Him something He’s not. We try to make Him a good, righteous God full of mercy and grace but who is without justice.
This doesn’t work. We’re making an idol.

God is, for sure, that assurance of good amongst evil, but we need to face up to the fact that God’s righteous includes perfect justice along with His love.
God judges sin, and He is righteous in doing so, however, He never forgets to be merciful. There’s always a way out for God’s people if they’ll come His way.
We can get no comfort from a fairy tale god who doesn’t exist.
The real God is much more wonderous and, in the middle of His fierce wrath and His ultimate justice, we begin to realise an important truth.

God is love and He is merciful and full of grace but, it is because of His character that He must also be the God of perfect justice.
No one, not even the most devout Christian can get God to turn a blind eye to justice.
Can it be any other way?

Look at the dismal failure of our man-ruled court system where more and more the criminal is the victim and is pitied and shown mercy whereas the true victims of crime are left alone to suffer.
Fair go, you can murder someone today and be out of prison in a few years, and you will enjoy many creature comforts and benefits while you’re in there.
As much as we don’t want to hear it, God gets angry. He judges sin.
This is a total necessity for a complete, whole and free universe.
Prisons are required if freedom is to work. Hell is the safeguard of heaven.
A state that doesn’t punish crime is doomed and a God Who tolerates evil without judging it is not a good God.

If God failed to judge evil there would be no security and no peace. The world’s history is a parade of kings, dicatators and governments who punish good and reward evil.
They’ve ruled their subjects with hatred and murder when those subjects didn’t conform to the rulers’s will, even when that will was born from injustice and evil.

We’re living in a universe where there is a God, a living God, a God whose heart goes out in love and yearning over all of us. However, we must never forget that if you turn your back on Him, He will judge you even though He still loves you.
Our God is the righteous God of this universe who judges it from perfect love and with perfect justice.
Hell exists because He is a God of love and a God of righteousness and a God of holiness. The whole universe, including Satan himself, will admit that God is righteous and just in all He does. We dare not trifle with Him.
God does what He does because He is righteous. He cannot shut his eyes to evil. When His own children disobey Him, God must discipline them, even though it breaks His heart.

Jeremiah reveals to us the heart of God: when Jeremiah weeps, God is weeping; when he sorrows, God is sorrowing. When we don’t understand what is happening, the important thing is to trust in knowing that God is righteous in what He does.
He was right in letting Jerusalem be destroyed and in letting the people go into captivity, just as He is right in letting happen whatever will happen in our own lives even though it breaks His heart. It’s just that we struggle understand why.

In the modern church, God is either a religious icon who is only known through statues, paintings and the traditions of man, never taken seriously or counted as relevant in the everyday lives of the churchgoers. Or He is a “nice” God who only exists to be our friend and rich relative who loves us so much He’ll turn a blind eye to our wrongdoings and instead, gives us our every desire.

The real God, the God Who reveals Himself to us in His Word is much different. The real God reveals that it is He who controls the universe, not man and not His enemy, Satan.
The real God was still God amidst the horrors of the millions murdered in Auschwitz and Birkenau, Sobibor and the other 100 Nazi extermination camps.
He was still God during the battle of the Somme, Flanders and Gallipoli.
He was still God in the pogroms of Russia where millions were murdered and tortured and, during Pol Pot’s murder spree which saw approximately 2 million of the Cambodian population murdered.
God was still God during the reign of terror that was the French revolution and the more modern “mini” reigns of terror from serial killers like Jeffery Darmer, Jack the Ripper, and the Yorkshire ripper.
There has never been an economic crash or a death-inducing famine, or a flood or a fire where God was not in control.
Likewise, there is not now nor never has been an inept, corrupt or evil government in power in the earth where God was not in control.
In the godless atheism of the modern-day through the absurdity of evolution that’s passed off as scientific fact, God is in control!

Notice, that God is in control, not His enemy Satan as modern churchgoers often think. Satan could not exist even for one moment if God was not sustaining him. Even this, the ultimate source of evil, is subject to God and His will.
Now, I’m firmly convinced that if God sat me down and tried to explain to me every minute circumstance surrounding this world’s catastrophes, I’d be pathetically unable to understand the complexity of it.
To demonstrate, when I got prostate cancer my brilliant doctor took great pains to explain the treatment we would undergo. There were snippets here and there that I could understand but only if he kept his description reduced to laymen’s terms.
Whenever he strayed even slightly into deeper medical explanations all I could do was look at him blankly. I simply didn’t understand it all.
What I was left with was a choice. I could walk out because I didn’t understand every detail or I could simply put my trust in him, which is what I did. In the operating theatre, even though I was nervous about what was about to happen, and even though I could not understand the complex operation and the radium treatment that followed, I still trusted that doctor. As a result, I have been cancer-free for five years.

Perhaps, the most misunderstood factor in life is the utter devastation and the magnitude of the evil of man’s sinful nature. We have no ability to understand just how completely the fall of man affected every molecule in the universe.

So, in summary, can we answer, “Why God, does evil abound and why does it fall on the innocent? Why me Lord?”
Yes, we can answer but it won’t satisfy the natural mind. Why? Because we simply can’t see the complexity of the circumstance that make up everything that happens in life.

Christians were never promised a rose-covered pathway of health, wealth and happiness in this life. That’s reserved for the next phase, the upgrade.
When we suffer, as we all will, our challenge is to learn that in the middle of our failure to understand why life is still worth living.
More than anything else suffering applies burning coal to our faith.
Do I really believe that God is working all things for my good as He promises in Romans 8:28?
Is my mind made up to trust in God’s plan for my life – even if I don’t understand it?

We’re being educated for eternity, and one of the main lessons concerns the breaking of our arrogance and pride. It’s that pride that is the sole ingredient of sin. It demands to know everything. We need to learn to reject that pride and exchange it for trust.
When we surrender our lives to God’s care, trusting in Him alone for everything we need, we forsake our demand to understand and we become aware of how deeply our understanding differs from God’s.
We simply can’t fully understand everything now but we can trust in His Word. He is in control, and I know, someday soon, He’ll make it all crystal clear to me.
1Corinthians 13:12 says,  “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
We’re left with just one option; we trust Him. Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.  Proverbs 3:5-6.
How do we trust in Him with all our hearts?

We accept and believe that the drama, the catastrophe that has befallen humanity known as sin and the resulting eternal death that it brings has been handled.
It was paid for by the Lord Himself in His death on a cruel cross 2000 years ago and by His burial and His resurrection according to ancient scripture.
We accept Jesus’s promise to us in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

God said it, I believe it, that settles it!