GOD’S COMMUNICATION TO MAN

Musick-al note # 234
After God created the world and formed man from the dust of the earth, He placed Adam and Eve in a garden called Eden. He visited with them in the evenings and had complete fellowship with them. Adam and Eve transgressed the command of God when they ate the forbidden fruit. Their sin separated them from God resulting in their being driven from the garden and the tree of life.
Before the Law of Moses was given to the Israelites, God made His will known to man through the heads of families. That dispensation of time has been called the Patriarchal Age. These heads of families heard God through oral teaching, visions and dreams. Although most men sought and followed their own desires; some, such as Enoch, walked with God, evidently hearing Him and doing His will. However, the majority became so wicked and violent that every thought and imagination of their hearts was evil. God decided to destroy the world, but Noah was a just and upright man who walked with God. He buillt an ark in obedience to God’s command and his family was saved from the sinful world by the flood. Sin, however, continued as a plague in the lives of men. The last Patriarch was Abraham who lived seventy-five years among the Chaldeans before he was called by the Lord God to leave his father’s house. He was promised a great nation of descendants, a great amount of land (Genesis 15:18-21) and that one of his descendants would be a blessing to all men (Genesis 12:1-3).
Abraham’s grandson, Jacob (Isaac’s son), moved the family to Egypt, where they were later enslaved for four hundred years as they grew into a great nation of people. Delivered from bondage under the leadership of Moses, they received the Law at Sinai, which began the time referred to as the Mosaical Age. Their lack of faith in God caused them to stumble and rebel at the border of the Promised Land. Only two faithful adults (Joshua and Caleb) maintained faith in God and all the others died in the wilderness because of their rebellion. All those under twenty years of age and the children born in the wilderness entered the Promised Land. They were the chosen people of God, they had the covenant, the promises, and the oracles of God, yet they continued to sin and failed to believe God and the Word that He had given to them. They were led by judges, priests and kings but no one was able to keep these people on the path of righteousness. Many prophets were sent to the nation to warn and direct them toward Godly living, but sin increased and men even misdirected the Law of God to serve their own purposes. The prophet Jeremiah said that God would make a new covenant with His people (Jeremiah 31:31-32). The writer of Hebrews stated that God did make a new and better covenant for His people because the first covenant was faulty in that people did not keep first one (Hebrews 8:6-13).
God sent His promised blessing to them – His own Son, the Anointed One – but they rejected Him. Yet thanks be to God, to everyone who does receive Him is given power to become a child of God (John 1:11-12). His exemplary life of teaching was filled with miracles which proved that He was from God. He stated that his message was not his own but that He taught the will of God that men were to follow (John 8:28-29). There are a multitude of other verses in the New Testament that teach us to follow only the teaching of Jesus and his apostles. Hebrews 1:1-2, “In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.” John 20:30-31, “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” There is no other way to get to heaven but by Jesus (John 14:6). Jesus said that men must do more than just call Him ‘Lord’ but that they must also obey His words. Many did good works in His name (Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 6:46) but they were rejected because they did not obey Him. Jesus said that if anyone loves Him (John 14:23-24), they will obey His teaching, but failure to obey would show that they do not really love Him. The Hebrew writer (Hebrews 2:1-2) gave a very stern warning against forgetting the words of Jesus. Peter stated in 2 Peter 1:3 that God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness through Christ Jesus. He also said we were to remember Jesus teachings which He revealed and were given to men by the Apostles (2 Peter 3:1-2).
An individual must always be aware of what is being taught and what they are doing; then be sure to compare those things with Biblical truth, because there are many who would deceive and draw men away from the truth. There are many who declare that they follow the Lord but their teachings are different from the Word of God. John warned in 1 John 4:1 to not believe every teacher but try them because many false prophets have gone out into the world. Paul told Timothy to do his best to be approved by God by correctly handling the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15). This means then that we must continually read and study the Bible to know and to understand its teaching. Jesus said to blindly follow a teacher is not wise because if the one you follow is blind, you will both fall into the pit and be lost (Luke 6:39).
Gordon Musick