God knows every thought and intent of our heart. We must always be careful about accusing people of having a bad motive because we cannot get inside a person’s head and learn why they did something. The Lord knows the motives for our actions because He knows what goes on in our soul. It may be a puzzle to some folks why God would ask man questions in view of the truth that God knows what is in our mind. God asks a question in Genesis 2:9 that is very interesting. Let’s read verses 8 – 10: “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I wast naked; and I hid myself.”

Of course, God knew where Adam and Eve were. He could plainly see them there among the trees trembling and dreading to face Him. You remember how surprised Nathanael was when Jesus told him that He saw him while he was standing under the fig tree. John 1:48, “Nathanael saith unto him, whence knoweth thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” Don’t play hide and go seek with God. You may hide in a coal mine deep in the earth, but God will tag you out. Nathanael had been a long way off when Jesus saw him under that fig tree, and Nathanael knew that only the Son of God could see a man who was well out of sight.

In the next chapter of John, the last two verses reveal to us that God knows everything that is in man. John 2:24, 25, “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”

Adam and Eve were clearly in the sight of the Creator when He came to walk with them, though they thought they were well hidden. But God’s vision is not limited by such things as wood and skin and bones. It should not come as a surprise to us that God Who knew where they were, would ask them where they were. When God deals with man, God must deal with man with human attributes, or on human terms, for man can never deal with God’s divine attributes. And so, when God talks with man, he must talk with him as a man would. He wrote His Word in man’s language, for man could not read a Bible written in a heavenly language. The Bible, composed of man’s language, must be severely limited in explaining matters that concern Heaven and eternity. Man’s language is proficient in cursing God, and expressing doubts about His love, His grace; His very existence. Man’s language composes eulogies to gods of wood and stone and philosophy. God did not hide things when He gave us His Word in 1611.

Man’s language declares that life and beauty could arise from the soil. Man’s language extols time as a virtual god, and we are made to believe that life could have sprung from dying things. Doesn’t the blooming symphony of spring sing of a Creator? Why is language so devoid of praise to God? Listen as long as you will to the voice of the world, and you find that man does his best to hide truth and righteousness in clamor of vulgarity.

But God must force upon human language that which speaks of eternal matters. In mercy God uses man’s language to beckon man to the reason he was given the power to speak in the first place. God does speak to His minority in heavenly language. Heavenly language is heard by the soul and spirit. The machinery in the physical ear does not pick up sound waves when heavenly language is used. It is the heart strings that move when heavenly language is heard. Only the redeemed ear can hear and understand the language of the Lord. The devout soul communicates with the Lord God

Throughout the Word of God we learn of people being spoken to by the Lord. In Genesis 8:15, “… God spake unto Noah, saying, …”, and proceeded to give him orders to leave the ark. God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses; and all through the Bible, we find instances where God spoke to man.

Poor miserable Hagar, whom Abraham took to wife, and who bare his son, was cast out by Abraham’s other wife, Sarah. Hamar fled into the wilderness to a fountain of water where the angel of the Lord spoke to her, as recorded in Genesis 16:9, “And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: . . .”. Incidentally, note what God said to Hagar as He was speaking to her about her son, Ishmael, in verse 12: “And He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him;. . .”. God prophesied that the descendants of Ishmael would be “. . .wild men. . .”, and today the whole civilized world trembles in the presence of Arabs who commit acts of terror that only wild men could perpetrate.

Of all the creatures on this planet, only humans talk. We call upon the evolutionist in vain to offer some explanation for this fact. At what point in his evolution could man have learned to speak? The evolutionist admits that they do not even know when man became man. The ability to communicate is another evidence of the existence of the human soul. If the eye was beyond the understanding of Darwin, then human speech would also have been beyond the scope of his thought if he had been perceptive enough to have thought about it. “One of the most obvious and unequivocal proofs of the uniqueness of man in contrast to the animals is the ability to communicate in terms of intelligible, abstract, symbolic human language.”¹ The most primitive peoples on Earth speak languages that are very complex, requiring skilled persons many long hours of study to decipher.

Today, God speaks to all men through His written Word. He has revealed to us through His Word all of the most important knowledge man must have to conduct his personal life according to God’s purpose for him, and in the most satisfactory way for himself. Man has created a babel of voices in the many different books that have been labeled “bible,” but in truth there is only one Bible. It is the King James Bible, having on its pages the grandeur of the old English which is Bible language. The other books may be classified as commentaries, or Bible story books, but they are not the divinely sanctioned and preserved Word of God.

The most important matters in God’s Word are clearly and plainly stated so that no man can be confused therein: namely, how to be saved, and how to conduct his life according to the basic plan for a child of God still on Earth. Matters of less importance, such as the creation, the history of the Jews, and the last days, are covered less thoroughly, and are therefore more difficult to understand. Translations of Scripture other than the King James, do not make these matters any more understandable.

God speaks to every man through His works. All the calendars on Earth show a seven-day week, speaking of God’s creative work. The heavens reveal the Creator’s triune person. All of the universe speaks of design and direction. The Lord God is the Creator. God calls to all of us, “. . .Where art thou?” “Where are you?” could mean where is a great group of people, such as you Jews. “Where art thou?” is more personal. It means one individual to whom God is speaking. The question is to the individual – every individual. Jehovah knows where you are, just as He knows all about your sins, but He wants you to think about where you are. Are you where you ought to be? He wants to know where your affection is, where your loyalty is.

Where would I want to be when God asks, “… Where art thou?” I would like to answer, “Here, Lord, by the altar.” How can one ever go wrong if he is by the altar? Just as Noah, Abraham, and Jacob built altars where they were, we should build altars where we are. The tool box, the washing machine, the computer, the school desk, the automobile, the bedroom; wherever we tarry a moment, could be an altar. To answer from the altar is an indication that we are ready for whatever task the Master has for us

______

1. Henry M. Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1984), p. 406.

Chained To His Chariot: Paul, A Faithful Servant

Authored by Joseph Kennedy

Chained to His Chariot continues the story of Paul’s life from Illyricum, where The Invalid Warrior ended to his rented house prison in Rome where he is about to be evicted. With old age rapidly overtaking him, the Apostle was aggressive as he was in his youth. Blindness, illness, threats, abuse could no more deter the old man than they could deter the young man. Paul’s life and legacy should be an inspiration to every Saint; and especially to unbelievers.

Publication Date: Sep 10 2008

ISBN/EAN13:144042070X / 9781440420702

Page Count: 148

Binding Type: US Trade Paper

Trim Size:6″ x 9″

Language: English

Color: Full Color/ beautiful images

Related Categories:

Biography & Autobiography / Religious

List price: 24.95  Your price today is $12.oo including postage.  Contact me.

Five verses of Scripture are given in Genesis 2 to describe four rivers which no longer exist, although the name of one of them does still exist.  The surface of the original earth was completely obliterated when the flood engulfed the earth 1656 years after Adam=s creation.  There was no rainfall before the flood, and so how did water get high enough above sea level to form rivers?  The earth as God created it was quite different from the earth we know today.  The hydrological aspects of the earth’s systems are a mystery to us, though we can make some educated guesses about how it operated.

I had the privilege of seeing Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park a few years ago.  While in Yellowstone, I learned that Old Faithful is only one of many geysers in that region.  A geyser is like a an old-timey coffee pot.  A geyser is a very deep narrow hole in the ground.  The hole is like the little tube of the coffee pot which conducts water from the bottom of the pot up to the top.  You put water into a tall pot which has a tray of coffee sitting on the top of a tube, the bottom of which sits on the bottom of the pot.  The bottom end of the tube is welded to a nearly flat, upside-down cone which traps water. When the water is heated to the boiling point, steam shoos it up the tube, and squirts it out on the coffee in the tray on top. 

A geyser works the same way.  Water collects in a great pool deep in the ground.  The heat of the earth gets the water to the boiling point, and when enough steam is generated, it blasts the water collected in the tube high into the air.  With Old Faithful, that happens about every hour.  Old Faithful “percolates.” 

These rivers  in Eden could have  formed in a similar way underneath Eden, and other parts of the earth for that matter.  The cool water in the earth would not have to be warmed but a very little bit to be forced to the surface through great tubes, where the water would form into rivers and meander to the seas.

            And so, without rainfall, the heat of the earth could provide the power to drive a hydrological system.  The mist that went up could not have formed enough water to make these four great rivers. 

Of course, God could have operated the earth by His miraculous power, but the Lord set up the universe to operate by laws of physics – Alaws of nature@ as some call them.  The establishment of these laws was miraculous, but their operation  is not. Sending a rocket into space is no miracle. Every law of physics is obeyed in the process. If you wish to call these laws miracles, then you are free to do that.  There is no doubt that the laws were miraculous creations of the Creator, but after they were set in motion, they operate on their own.  The laws of physics are all interactive, and drive each other.  The law of gravity is always at work.  Nobody can explain it, but it is always there.  But the law of gravity is congruous with the laws of inertia and other laws.

One great river watered the land of Eden and its paradise garden, and then after it flowed out of the garden, it divided into four rivers.  No doubt the river out of Eden flowed into a big lake, and from that lake four rivers flowed out. Let’s read these verses: “And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.  The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.  And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.  And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.  And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria.  And the fourth river is Euphrates.”

Cain may have headed for the land of Havilah when he fled from the presence of the Lord.  Perhaps Nod and Havilah are either the same, or close together, because the gold found in Havilah would have been a basis for supporting a city, the likes of which Cain built, even as gold is the economic base of man=s cities today.

None of these rivers is known today, except the name Hiddekel (Hid’ – de – kel) is the same name as that given to the Tigris River on ancient Assyrian monuments;¹ and the name “Euphrates,” which is the name of one of the two rivers in the Tigris-Euphrates valley. The great underground reservoirs that would have fed them would have been broken up  when “… all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, …” as recorded in chapter 7 and verse 11.  There are enormous caverns in the earth now, but they are mostly only partially filled.  There is a virtual underground sea in east Tennessee.  There is evidently much more water on the surface of the earth, and in the earth now than there was before the flood, because there was a great amount of water in the canopy that enclosed the earth before the flood.  Most of this additional water is no doubt in the oceans, which are probably much deeper now than before the flood.

Rivers are important to human and animal life on Earth.  I love rivers.  The North Fork of the Holston River in southwest Virginia may be the most beautiful river on Earth.  The Middle Fork of the Holston in North Carolina and east Tennessee is also a very scenic river.  The North Fork of the Holston is pure and as clear as drinking water before it gets to Tennessee.  I spent many hours of my childhood on that river, and what precious memories they are.

We sing of crossing the river when we depart this robe of flesh and go to be with the Lord.  The idea came out of the history of the Jews crossing the Jordan River over into Canaan, the promised land.  That doesn=t picture very well what the saints will do when they go home, because the Jews crossed into Canaan to fight long bloody battles.  When we die, the fight in over.

Some of the old Negro spirituals were based on the thinking of the slaves who heard about a great river to the west.  That, of course, was the Mississippi, and after emancipation, many freed slaves struck west for the Mississippi, thinking it was a river to cross over into the promised land.

Though Alfred Lloyd Tennyson had a line in his poem ,ACrossing the Bar,@ that smacks of evolution, his allusion to “crossing the bar” is like crossing a sea, and he ends his poem with these two familiar lines, AI hope to see my pilot face to face When I have crossed the bar.@ 

We cross neither a river or a sea when we die, and though I cannot speak about the experience of death from experience, as even  Houdini couldn’t after he died, I have some idea that death is quite pleasant for the child of God.  I do not refer to the experience of the body.  The body may suffer agonies of all sorts, and die of shock, but for the soul and spirit, it will be like releasing a caged bird.

My wife fears coming home and finding me dead.  I tell her to pray God that it may be so.  How much better than languishing over my dying body for weeks.

In the garden of Eden, there was a fruit of life, growing on the tree of life.  In the new Paradise, there will also be the tree of life, but there will be a river of life as well.  It=s in Revelation 22:1,2:  “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb.  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”  Will you see this some glorious day, or will you see the blackness of an awful Hell?  Are you sure? 

“There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.”  (Psalm 46:4).

Psalm 105:41: “He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out; they ran in the dry places like a river.”

Daniel 10:4: “And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel; …”

For the best discussion of this subject, refer to pages 88-90 of The Genesis Record: a scientific and devotional commentary on the book of beginnings by Dr. Henry M. Morris, who is well learned in the science of hydrology.  To obtain a copy, call 1 800 628 7640.

  ______

1. Henry M. Morris The Genesis Record (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1991), p. 89.

GENESIS 2:8,9

THE TREE OF LIFE

We must go back to Genesis 2:8,9 at this juncture to cover a subject that we bypassed in our study of the creation week. Let’s read the verses: “And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food: the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Adam’s food would be provided by fruit trees. That would allow him to retain his dignity because he would not have to stoop to pick fruit from the ground, from vines or bushes. Adam was to bow only before God. Adam’s food, like our’s, comes from three sources to remind us of the triune God: energy from the sun, water, and elements from the soil from which man was made. The elements from the earth matched the elements in Adam’s flesh, for he was made from the dust of the earth.

Note that there must have been many trees in the garden for Adam to eat from. These trees bore the most delectable fruit because they were created especially for the nourishment and pleasure of man. All of the nutrients for living forever were in these fruits and the water. The taste must have been something to think about. Sometimes my wife will make a pie of some sort, and it will taste so good I can hardly stand it. I love to watch little infants when they get something strange in their mouth that they don’t like. What faces they can make. It seems that nowadays that everything we like is bad for us.

Verse 8 tells us that God put the man in the garden, indicating that Eve had not yet been made. God planted a garden eastward in Eden for the food supply of Adam. Evidently, God planted mature plants with fruit on them because the man had to eat that very day. Adam was put into the garden among the most delectable and nourishing fruit. Where did God get the trees? Remember back in verse 11 of chapter 1 that God created plant life on the third day. Remember, too, that even though we cannot fully understand it, that God created a fully working system when He created the cosmos.

They were beautiful in in the garden. There must have been a great number of trees in the garden, and Adam was given access to all of them but one. Adam would have to dress these trees. He was created with all the knowledge and skills he needed to survive happpily, so he knew how to prune trees, and make hoes to hoe potatoes. In verse 15, we’re told that “. . .The LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Think of how man defiles the earth today. The garden of Eden was designed as a place where man could do productive work. There was not the grinding toil that has been the lot of man since the expulsion from the garden. The work was kinder and gentler, giving man enough labor to keep his body in good condition without wearing him out. Work makes sleep better. I feel sorry for people who sit in a computer cubicle all day pressing keys with a telephone resting on their shoulder. I have to work in a similar way. That is not the sort of work that prepares you for a good supper and bed. Many folks have to go to gyms to work out because of the need of the body to work.

Adam would have to have tools to work with, and so God put plenty of ore in the ground for his use. Within a few hundred years, it is recorded, man was making iron and brass – verse 22 of chapter 4. I have a replica of a hammer that might have been made back in those days. If you’re going to dress a garden you must have tools, and Adam was fully capable of making them.

Gold is the first metal mentioned in the Bible. It is spoken of in chapter 2, verse 12. Two precious stones are also mentioned in that verse. Iron is more precious that gold. If a man is marooned on an island, he will choose iron every time over gold. The trees in the garden never felt the pounding of rain or hail. Verse 6 of our chapter 2 tells us that “. . .there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.” This would be good for the trees. There would be no erosion around their roots, but it would be hard for man.

With a mist, or fog, in the air, the best place for man would be inside his house, and Adam and Eve would have to build a house very quickly had they stayed in the garden for any length of time. This mist could have come up after man was in bed, and so not been a hindrance to his enjoying the evenings outside. It might also have condensed very rapidly into dew so that there would be moisture in the air for only a short period during the night. It is most likely that there were no nocturnal animals to be about at night, except perhaps for a few night singing birds. As plant eaters, there would have been no reason whatever for any animals to be abroad during the night.

The tree of life is the most interesting of the trees in the garden, perhaps because we know so little about it. It seems most likely to have had actual fruit with symbolic meaning just as the tree of knowledge of good and evil had. The actual fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was not toxic to man. The reason man would die from eating of the tree of the knowledge was because the tree represented God’s sovereignty over man, and when man ate of that tree, then God pronounced judgment upon him. The tree of life was a real tree with real fruit on it, but it must have been symbolic of God’s provisions for man. Christ is the source of life, and the tree was the symbol. Some may point out that after the fall, the reason God gave for putting them out of the garden was the danger that they would eat of the tree of life and live forever. That’s 3:22. God said that if they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that they would surely die. Perhaps being separated from the tree of life is what the Lord was referring to. Without access to the tree of life, they were doomed. It would take nine centuries for Adam to die, and probably Eve also, but when they disobeyed God, it was simply a matter of time until they actually departed from their body.

A saved man who is obedient has great privileges. James well said that “. . .The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” The Proverbs say that wisdom “. . .is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her:. . .” (3:18). In 11:30 the Proverbs declare that “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” Proverbs 13:12 says that “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”

The tree of life will be restored to man. Revelation 2:7 promises that “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Those who overcome during the tribulation will be allowed to eat of the tree of life which is in Heaven. Will the garden of Eden be there also?

We hear of the tree of life again in Revelation 22:2. “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month? and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations,”. The tree of life probably bare twelve manner of fruit in the garden of Eden, since that would have given variety to fruit that could not be improved upon.

The real tree of life is a barren thing to look upon. It is indeed a ghastly thing to look upon – with revolting blood stains and stiletto splinters. But the rugged cross bears everlasting fruit. As I look through my window at the trees across the street, they look barren and dead. There is no beauty there that they should be desired. But their beauty is hidden. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him;; for we shall see him as he is.” (I John 3:2.)

Be not dejected, brother or sister, the winter is long, and the limbs are barren, but there is life in the root. That tree looks dead in winter, just as we look dead in this present world, but wait for spring, and you shall see what that tree is. It is a living thing of beauty. It is “. . .the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”, and there we shall see it in all its eternal bloom.

Four things are called a “tree of life” in Proverbs: in 3:18 it is wisdom. Wisdom is said to do many good things for a person; in 11:30 it is “The fruit of the righteous . . .”; in 13:12 “. . .when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”: in 15:4 it is “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.”