God, who desires all men to be saved. 1Ti 2:1-15

 How did we end 1 Timothy chapter one? With a bang as Paul points out two false teachers within the church. Here is what he said.

“Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”

Read what Paul said to Timothy as he described the details of what these two were doing.

• They were teaching contrary to the truth, teaching strange doctrines.
• As Eugene Peterson's message states, they were occupying themselves and others, with legends, fables, and myths;
• and, they were paying far too much attention to myths and endless genealogies, these genealogies merely give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.

First off, genealogies seemed to be vitally important to the Jewish community, we can see an aspect of this in Matthew's gospel.

Matthew 1:1 THE BOOK of the ancestry (genealogy) of Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the son (descendant) of David, the son (descendant) of Abraham. [Ps. 132:11; Isa. 11:1.] (AMPLIFIED Bible)

The genealogy proved the heritage of Jesus Christ. For example:

Psalms 132:11 NASB The LORD has sworn to David A truth from which He will not turn back: "Of the fruit of your body I will set upon your throne.

This was important to the Jewish community, and in scripture, we are given two different lines, both of which establish Jesus as the son of David, the son of Joseph and Mary, and therefore, the Son of God. (Yes, I took some liberties in saying it this way, and I was trying to make a point about how, for the most part, is that genealogies, for us, are pointless. Consider when Herod was told that an entourage of wise men was coming toward Jerusalem. Having learned that they were looking for a recently born king of the Jews, he called the chief priests and scribes, and asked them, is this true. Because of what Psalms 132:11, and what the other prophets had said, they affirmed that Yahshua, the Messiah, would have been born in Bethlehem, however, we will not accept this child nor worship him. Herod, on the basis of two sets of witnesses, had all the boys in the region, under the age of twelve, killed. What does this say to you about the genealogies?)

But what did Paul say?

He said that these two, Hymenaeus and Alexander, were blaspheming – God.

Based upon what we know (1 Timothy 1:3,4,) where do you see the act of blaspheming?

Let's ignore the genealogies for now, and focus on the other two points.

1. They were teaching contrary to the truth, and or, teaching strange doctrines.
2. The second thing that could be attributed to their blasphemy, would be what Eugene Peterson's message states, they were occupying themselves and others, with legends, fables, and myths.

Having said all this, through and to Timothy, how does pull the young man, and his audience, back on track?

He reiterates what truth is, and thus we start Timothy chapter two.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 NASB First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, (2) for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

Alright, what is an entreaty?

It is the Greek word deēsis and means a petition: - prayer, request, supplication. The dictionary says it is to make an earnest petition or request.

Either I am missing something, or I just can't see the logic of using a fancy word, only to say a moment later, “and prayers, petitions.”

The New Living Translation puts it like this.

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people.

Ask God to help them;

intercede on their behalf,

and give thanks for them.

Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity.

Eugene Peterson's Message conveys 1 Timothy 2:1-2 in this manner.

The first thing I want you to do is pray.

Pray every way you know how,

for everyone you know.

This last portion of Peterson's Message is especially critical today.

Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation.

The next two verses continue the necessity and logic of prayer.

1 Timothy 2:3-4 NET. Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior, (4) since he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Why?

Because he wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:5-6 NET. For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human, (6) who gave himself as a ransom for all, revealing God's purpose at his appointed time.

Absorb these statements for a moment.

• God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.
• There is one God.
• There is one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus.
• Jesus Christ is human.
• Jesus Christ, who gave himself as a ransom for all.
• So that Jesus Christ could reveal God's purpose at His appointed time.

Keep in mind that Paul is writing to Timothy, I suspect to encourage him. In that encouragement he says, the things above, some of the most precise statements about who He is; these statements are a definition of His nature and His character.

When I was 23 I had a dream/vision of Jesus. He laid out my entire life before me. I thought I will never forget this and so I did not write anything down. All I could remember of His being there was that I was filled with joy. Years later, after a horrendous marriage and a loss of everything, including my hope and joy, I was reading in the book of Numbers chapter 12, where it speaks about the attempted mutiny by Aaron and Miriam against Moses. God spoke to Moses and said,

Numbers 12:6 NET. The LORD said, "Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.

Life continued with its twists and turns. The hope was restored one day, many years later, when I went to a prophecy conference. Sitting in the audience, the speaker that night pointed at me, and said, you have gone through three destructive phases in your life. God is saying to you, the destruction is done, and nothing will impact you in that manner again. There were other things said, but I do not remember them all. What I remember is that I felt like God loved and cared about me. This prophetic word did not speak to what I saw in Numbers 12:6, and I wondered what God had in store for me as time progressed. I never wanted to be a pastor, as I could not endure the responsibility of other people's lives. It has been years, and I post almost everything I write to the internet. But about two years ago the dream came true as I became the leader of a small Bible Study group.

The point is, that God has a plan and that will be fulfilled in His timeline.

Paul, when he was Saul, may not have seen teaching direction coming, because he had been aligning himself to be a Pharisee, not a teacher of God's grace and mercy, but here it is.

1 Timothy 2:7 NET. For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle -- I am telling the truth; I am not lying -- and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

When you read about Paul's life in the book of Acts what you see is a Jewish follower of Christ going to synagogues with every turn. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily, as Paul did what he knew best, and he preached Jesus from the Tanakh. In the course of teaching and preaching, Gentiles began to join the ranks. However, it was not until the harassment from the Jews escalated that we see Paul saying,

“It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. (Acts 13:46b NLT)

To be honest, for me, most of the rest of this chapter has become nothing less than an entanglement. Maybe what Paul preaches here is a command from God, if so then rebellion on the part of some, has over time, made it impossible to enforce.

1 Timothy 2:8-15 NLT  In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.  (9)  And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes.  (10)  For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.  (11)  Women should learn quietly and submissively.  (12)  I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.  (13)  For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve.  (14)  And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result.  (15)  But women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.

• “In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.”

Starting with verse nine, Paul speaks to women. Now there might be a relational issue, but it is NOT often that you see women dressing so gaudy.

• “And I want women to be modest in their appearance. They should wear decent and appropriate clothing and not draw attention to themselves by the way they fix their hair or by wearing gold or pearls or expensive clothes.  (10)  For women who claim to be devoted to God should make themselves attractive by the good things they do.  (11)  Women should learn quietly and submissively.

Verses twelve through fifteen are unusual, to say the least. Having been cast aside and practically made slaves, women have fought back, demanding respect. I agree a male and female lumberjack should get the same pay. But I do struggle with this idea of women teaching men. Perhaps someone like Joyce Meyers could shut me up.

• “I do not let women teach men or have authority over them. Let them listen quietly.  (13)  For God made Adam first, and afterward, he made Eve.  (14)  And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result.  (15)  But women will be saved through childbearing, assuming they continue to live in faith, love, holiness, and modesty.

Paul's reason may not seem logical to most, and, if you think about it, Adam was standing right there, listening to everything the serpent was saying to his woman. For this to make sense, you may have to go back to the creation of man.

In Genesis 1:26-30, it appears that God made man and woman, but there is more definition to come; and it is possible that this is nothing than a spiritual state, not so different from the angels. The biggest clue we have to understand this creation scenario comes from verse 27, which reads:

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:27 NASB

John's gospel tells us this:

"God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." John 4:24 NASB

So the initial creation of both the male and female was a spirit, just as every aspect of the trinity.

Genesis 1:26-30 NASB Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." (27) God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. (28) God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (29) Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; (30) and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so.

Our second introduction to creation comes from Genesis chapter two.

Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. (Genesis 2:7-8 NASB)

Here, we do not see the woman, so where is she?

Not formed yet.

And where does God put the man?

Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17 NASB)

God placed the man in the garden, told the man about the tree, and gave him the only set of instructions necessary.

It quickly became obvious that something was missing, companionship, so God made animals. Well, that was not the answer, and so He makes a woman.

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The LORD God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:21-22 NASB)

So where was the woman when passed out instructions?

Not formed yet.

So who then told the woman not to eat from the tree in the center of the garden?

The one person, who had previously been given dominion and the command to subdue the earth and all in it, Adam.

“God blessed them: God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air and every living creature that crawls on the earth."(Genesis 1:28 CJB)

To the legalistic, who read this and assume that the “them” would be the man and the woman. How quickly we forget that the earth is also filled with animals and flying things, all, like the serpent, had the ability to communicate and had no fear of man. (Oh, yes, this is a very scriptural thing.)

Subdue – Gk, kâbash meaning to tread down; to conquer, subjugate, subdue, and bring into subjection.

Whether you like the word subdue or not is irrelevant, for the man was to bring his woman into subjection, in this case, to the Word of God. The word dominion has comparable meanings.

We never see Adam dominating, in a negative manner, his woman; and, I suppose that is why Paul's directions toward women in the church are difficult to wrap the mind around.

So when we see the serpent, in chapter three, taunts the woman with “Indeed, has God said,” perhaps you can understand that the challenge/question comes more from the idea that Eve did not hear God speak the word, it came to her from Adam's mouth; and how can I truly know that he would not lie to me in order to control me.

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" (Genesis 3:1 NASB)

Do you see the subtlety and deceptiveness in this transaction?

These were NOT broken people as yet, and therefore Satan has to introduce possibility, probability, doubt; and for Adam, a treasonous motive – the potential that God has not given you all the power that He promised.

Because if, standing there, knowing full well that God did give those instructions, then what kind of evil went through Adam's mind?

New Years day and this is what you preach, the institution of the Lord's supper? Mark 14:22 – 42

Yeah, I know, burning your bridges gives you limited access back across the river, and that, unfortunately, is where some of the humans are, but I have done just that on several occasions. One of the problems this act creates is that I lose access to new material. What do I mean? It is in conversations and or, in listening to a sermon, that the Holy Spirit gives me new stuff to about which to write. This last Sunday morning was one of those.

The sermon title, as listed on the clean note sheet we were handed was "Happy New Year." That makes sense because it was January 01, 2017. However, the scripture passage that I assumed would be the main topic source was Mark 14:22 – 42. This is where Jesus tells the guys, “I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of

The hands of Jesus holding wine cup, symbol of communion

God,” and, where Peter, as Eugene Peterson's Message states, "Even if everyone else is ashamed of you when things fall to pieces, I won't be." I find neither of these scenarios to be motivators for some immediate happiness.

I cannot stand people who through rose colored glasses, try to get you to ignore the pain enveloping you and look to the future goal as your constant source of feelings. If there was a person qualified to do that it would have been Jesus. Seeing as Jesus, the creator of eternity, the one who knows the end from the beginning, was standing there in front of them, and He did not say anything like that then maybe just trying to divert people from their momentary reality is not the answer. He tried to cheer them up knowing full well the anguish He was feeling in his soul, and we see the evidence of that anguish a few minutes later when He takes the three with him into the mount of olives.

Jesus, being greatly distressed said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” And He went a little beyond them and fell to the ground.

New Year's day, and this is what you preach?

We did take Communion this morning, and that being significant could well have played a role in theme, Happy New Year. However, communion was also one of the things we find Jesus doing with the disciples in Mark's gospel, but none of this engendered happiness in them. Jesus, well aware of the forlorn looks on their faces tried to cheer them up a bit with this:

John 16:6-7 NASB "But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7) "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.

But this did not and would not bring hope to their hearts, for none of them understood what was happening. They anticipated Jesus taking a commanding role in overturning the rule of the Romans. So the sorrow and grief filled the faces of every one of them as they were faced with the thought of losing the best thing that ever happened to them. In that moment looking to a future hope, you do not understand borders on the impossible. Where is the happiness in this?

I point this out, and yet pastor spent more time focused on Jeremiah 29:10,11 than anything else. As I read the words of Jeremiah, over and over that morning, the pastor was acting out how excited (and presumably happy) he believed Jeremiah might have felt as he heard these words. That prompted me to make some quick notes so I could do a little background investigation on Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 29:10-11 NASB "For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11) 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

These words, "When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place," may not have had the exciting impact we presume. Why would I say that? While it is possible that Jeremiah understood the threat that Assyria and the Babylonian empire posed; Israel, it would seem, had yet to be taken into Babylonian captivity. Allow me to demonstrate with this timeline.

Jeremiah's-time-frame

As you can see Jeremiah, born before 630 BC, did not experience the reign of Nebuchadnezzar until somewhere around 605 BC, some twenty-five years later.

What then would Jeremiah have had that would have given him "a world view"?

This catch phrase "world view" came into my hearing several years ago as I began to pay attention to apologetics teachers. Focus on the Family – a radio ministry, has this definition for world view:

A worldview is the framework from which we view reality and make sense of life and the world. "[It's] any ideology, philosophy, theology, movement or religion that provides an overarching approach to understanding God, the world and man's relations to God and the world," says David Noebel, author of Understanding the Times. For example, a 2-year-old believes he's the center of his world, a secular humanist believes that the material world is all that exists, and a Buddhist believes he can be liberated from suffering by self-purification. Someone with a biblical worldview believes his primary reason for existence is to love and serve God.

Lacking nonstop televised news and high-speed international travel we could be surprised to find that Jeremiah believed the world was anything other than flat. Fortunately, news, travel adventures, and history were passed along by mouth (oral history.)

One of the people who lived at the same time as Jeremiah and may have played a huge role in Jeremiah's formation, is Jonah, a man with an intense hatred for the Assyrians, most specifically the Ninevites and their king. Nineveh was the city God had told Jonah to go to with a message of absolute destruction should they not repent. Sadly, as far a Jonah was concerned, they did repent; therefore, God relented - no he did not forget but set aside his judgment temporarily, and they were spared destruction.

Now mind you this is merely a logical speculation but it has potential; and, it is intended to make you think differently about the human side of Godly events.

So again, what did God say to Jeremiah?

Jeremiah 29:10-11 NASB "For thus says the LORD, 'When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11) 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."

What of this though?

"When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place."

To put this in perspective we need to consider the captivity that we were in prior to accepting Christ. Some aspects of this life as I understand it, is:

1. There are wealthy people in the world, and even though there is no apparent Christ in their lives they have little comprehension of captivity. Why is that? In spite of the pain, which is great – although they will never openly tell you that; the pleasures they seek are never enough. They can never be satisfied, and that alone brings them a captivity.
2. Many, followers of Christ, neither have nor will they have anything other than the misery they live in (we see so much of this in third world nations and the Middle East.) Our considerations of this are horribly tainted by the various worlds we live in. I will use myself as an example: Having never lived in a third world nation I have no idea yet (I say this because the global agenda to bring all nations down to the same level) what it is like to scrounge through the trash piles hoping to find something to eat. Because of this I only comprehend the discomfort of others by watching it on television while stuffing my face with cheesy chips. Hopefully, you get my point?

If you had been a captive and received this word as Jeremiah did, you may have had reason to rejoice or be happy. And yet there is that phrase "when seventy years have been completed" to put a damper on your rejoicing and happiness, because, at this point, we have no idea how long Jeremiah had been a captive if that was the case. However, there is another way of looking at this prophecy which says, you will be going into captivity, and it is going to last for seventy years. This conclusion probably brings no joy with it. Let me point out (the prophet) Daniel. It is alleged that he was taken captive at a time when he should have been getting married; the prime of life, so to speak. Once a decision was made as to what to do with him, he would have been castrated – a strong demotivator in your decision to attempt to return to the girl of your dreams. By the time Daniel figured out that Israel only had a short period left in captivity, he was already an old man. Keep in mind that Daniel ascertained this information by reading the scroll/prophecy of Jeremiah. 

Are we captives?

If I accept Christ's life in me, and the understanding that my act of faith moves me immediately into His kingdom and family, then I affirm that I have been released from (Satan's) captivity.

What is the scriptural backing for our being released from captivity?

Revelation 5:9 ESV (b) ... for you were slain, and by your (Jesus) blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,

Acts 20:28 ESV (b) ... the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

In visualizing this ransom scenario - something I constantly do with scripture, I see an old picture from American history of slaves on an auction block. Jesus, having the one resource that meets all the demands, pays the price and sets all civilization free – past, present, and future. And yet it seems we are still captive, while others come off as though they have no clue about what I am saying. People were never meant to be items for trade, and yet, through the act of choice, Adam made us all slaves. In CS Lewis's book, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, the White “witch”/ ice queen refers to all of the humans as “Sons of Adam.” Why? Because the damage it seems was a genetic predisposition to act selfishly.

This release is entirely independent of feelings and circumstances and is fully wrapped up in God's promises and His ability to carry them out. Plainly stated, placing our lives in Christ has removed us from captivity, no questions asked. Are there those still trapped in the grasp of Satan's captivity; certainly, but only because their actions caused addictions and habits. We will always be responsible for our actions while we are here on this earth. It is only by God's mercy that we occasionally escape due punishment. To recognize God's mercy and grace in my life brings me great joy and happiness.

Related articles

• God's Love

A conversation in my head.

I am sure I have said these things many times. Sadly, it may have only been a conversation in my head. Before I go blowing off steam at someone I love, I have to ask myself if that was the case; if so, then I feel the need to reiterate. This was the case just recently, as one of the members of our bible study made a comment describing his puzzlement over God’s approach toward man immediately after the fall.

But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" (Genesis 3:9 ESV)

Allow me to recap.

“Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Genesis 3:1-6 KJV)

 Adam was standing right there. He heard everything. He knew what God had told him, and he had no reason whatsoever to doubt God. He had the same relationship with God that Jesus did. It was an intimate communion, like what you see in a good marriage. It was what Enoch had, and if you do your homework, you will find that Enoch walked this earth at the same time as Adam. Prior to the flood, it is not recorded that anyone, other than Able, had that kind of relationship. I guess that Enoch asked Adam what that was like, and Adam told him. Enoch proceeds to live like that, and walks off the earth.

What is the point of my rambling?

Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apron like girdles.

(Genesis 3:7 AMP)

Adam was very much aware of the ramifications of eating the fruit off that tree. Standing there, watching his woman shove something in her mouth that he knows will kill her, what does he think? That we can only imagine. It is a little easier having experienced something rather like that (it is one of the reasons that I started admitting that I am co-dependent.) Death was immediate, but Eve did not drop at his feet, as he expected. He had no idea what just happened on the inside of her. All he understands is that God promised a death and he was going to be alone. (For a man who had the ear of God at a moments notice, it is hard to imagine that Adam would not have had a complete understanding of all things, but maybe you just do not need ask how and why all the time, when your creator withholds nothing from you.)

We do not know how long it took Adam to bite into that fruit, but when he did, the impact was immediate. Death happened immediately from the inside out. We have such struggles with, how could a loving God even consider making a place of eternal torment, in which He would throw people who SIN like Adam did. You realize how horrible and restrictive that is to my life style. God did not make that horrid place for you. It was made for Lucifer/Satan a fallen angel, and all those who follow him. While there is an eternal torment involved, it is really all about separation from God, and that is exactly what Adam experienced the moment that he ate the fruit.

However long he roamed this earth, with his wife, acting as God would, dominating the “wildlife”, he never experienced any of the emotions and pain he was feeling now. What does Adam do? He tries to hide from God. Are you serious? How could you ever hide from God, and what makes you think he does not know where you are. Can you see how much the man has “died” on the inside?

And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." (Genesis 3:8-10 ESV)

 What does God do?

He asks the man where he is as though he does not know, allowing the man to make the move back toward God. I suddenly realized that this is what we see when Jesus sat on the shore cooking fish, and Peter jumped out of the boat to get to him. It was all about showing respect for the man He loved and created. A man who is broken all the way down to his DNA, and will have to be reminded until the day of his redemption that he is loved beyond measure.

Let us go back to that aspect of eternal punishment.

Why on God’s green earth would he make a hell to eternally punish the man he created, and then be willing to put his only Son through an indescribable torture; have him hung openly upon a disgusting cross meant to humiliate, and then put all the sin of the world upon that Son he loves so dearly? Only one reason, if it gives all of mankind the opportunity to restore the man’s broken relationship brought on by the original sin of Adam.

God is still showing respect for the human, YOU. The good is still there crying out for a restoration of your brokenness, a restoration of communion with the one that made you. Once again, hell was not made for you, only for those who follow Satan, their lord. All it takes is for you to choose the life that Jesus offers you. No, you will not be judged for your sins, and by the way, just sitting there in your rocking chair, you are riddled with sin, whether you know it or not. Unfortunately, in the end, it boils down to, what did you do with Jesus.

 

Related articles

• What I Would Have To Deny To Deny Hell
• Delivered From Every Temptation
• Do you want a weeping love?
• Ephesians 2:8-9 - 'not of works'