THE BIBLE IN LIGHT OF OUR REDEMPTION - BASIC BIBLE COURSE

 THE BIBLE IN LIGHT OF OUR REDEMPTION - BASIC BIBLE COURSE

By E. W. KENYON

CONTENTS

1 "The Reason for Creation"

2 "The Creation of Man"

3 "Man's Treason and Results

4 "The Reign of Spiritual Death"

5 "Man's Need of Righteousness"

6 "Man's Need of a Mediator"

7 "The Promised Incarnation"

8 "The Abrahamic Covenant"

9 "God's Covenant People"

10 "The Deliverance from Egypt"

11 "Covenant People in the Wilderness"

12 "The Law and the Tabernacle"

13 "The Tabernacle" (Continued)

14. "The Priesthood"

15. "Offering"

16. "The Great Day of Atonement"

17 . "Synopsis of Old Testament"

18 "The Incarnation"

19 "The Life of the Incarnate One"

20 "Redemption"

21 "Our Identification with Christ"

22 "God's Two Creations"

23 "The Name of Jesus"

24 "The Word, God's Revelation to Man"

25 "The Present Ministry of Christ"

26 "Healing"

27 "The Lordship of Christ"

28 "The Lordship of Christ"

29 "The Law of the New Creation"

30 "The Love Law"

31 "The Holy Spirit"

32 "The Holy Spirit" (Continued)

33 "The Holy Spirit" (Continued)

34 "The Second Coming of Christ"

35 "The Second Coming of Christ"

36 "Two Kinds of Knowledge"

37 "Man's Need of a Revelation"

     Lesson I

THE REASON FOR CREATION

MAN IS confronted with an unexplained creation of which he, himself, is a part.

This creation and the iron hand of fixed laws that govern it, reveal to man a Master Designer. By that we mean that the Creator designed Creation that it might fulfill a certain purpose, the reason for its existence.

The purpose in creation seems to be to provide a suitable environment for mankind. In fact, if we take human out of creation, creation with its resources and its beauty has no reason for existing. If God created the universe as a home for human, He must have had a reason for creating human. Human, in every age of history, has sought in vain for this reason, the reason for his own existence.

Skepticism was born because human was unable to find a reason for creation. The first tendency of science was to become atheistic and materialistic, giving only a mechanical explanation of the universe. Science can tell you the how, but could not tell you the why. But the Bible can tell you the why. However, today, as scientists are delving more fully into the mysteries and wonders of creation, many of them have become God-conscious. They are  realizing that behind creation there is an intelligent Creator. However, science has not been able to find Him, or His purpose in creation with just Sense Knowledge . . . knowledge derived from the five senses.

Man's ability to know God is due to the fact that God is a spirit, and that man has no contact with Him. In his own spirit nature, man is alienated from God; and every contact that he has with the universe, or reality, he has through his central nervous system and his five senses. Through these five senses (namely, ¹sight, ²hearing, ³touch, ⁴taste and ⁵smell) man has not been able to contact God. He has learned a great deal about physical nature which is indifferent and many times cruel toward human life, but he has not been able to find God personally, or His reason for creating human.

By this we can see that human in himself cannot find God. God must reveal Himself to human, and God has done this very thing. He has given a revelation of Himself to human. He had to give the revelation upon human's level so that human would be able to contact it. We call this "Revelation Knowledge." It is obtained through our recreated spirits from the Word of God.

The second chapter of I Corinthians, which tells us of this revelation, gives us the following illustration (1 Corinthians 2:11): "For who among men knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the spirit of God." Man, limited to his sense knowledge, is unable to know the inner thoughts of a human. There is a veil of flesh that he cannot penetrate with his sense of sight, hearing or touch. However, a human, by the medium of words, may convey his inner thoughts to another.

So God, in His desire for human to know Him, has formulated His inner thoughts and purposes into words, which man can see with his sense of sight, and hear, read or expounded, with his sense of hearing. 1 Corinthians 2:12, 13, "But we receive not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God: that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the spirit teacheth: combining spiritual things with spiritual words."

The Bible is God's revelation to man, and because we have no other channel through which we can know God or contact Him, we turn to that revelation to find out what He has told us of His reason for creating human.

The Earth Is the Reason for the Heavens

Our earth is so small in comparison to the vast number and sizes of the heavenly bodies, that the study of it would be utterly absurd, if it were not for the fact that it is the only planet known to be inhabited by human life.

The first chapter of Genesis reveals that the earth holds a place in the plan and purpose of God that amazes one.

Genesis 1:14-19 declares that the earth is the reason for all the heavenly bodies that swing in their orbits through dark, illimitable space.

Science does not deny the fact that there is not a planet, sun, moon, or star in all this vast universe which does not have its influence upon our earth.

 Our sun is approximately ninety-three million miles away, yet it causes climatic conditions of heat, light, rain and winds, which make this planet capable of sustaining human, animal and vegetable life.

"The little earth ball, with its precious freight of human beings, flies softly around the sun amply protected in its transparent case of atmosphere."

To refer once more to the Scripture: "To let them be for signs and for seasons."

We know that the tides of the oceans and seas are influenced by the heavenly bodies.

 We know that heat and cold, drought and storms, are the direct results of planetary influences. Storms can be predicted for certain localities on this continent by the position and influence of certain planets. We know that frosts and heat waves are predicted months ahead by the sure knowledge of planetary positions.

From these deductions we see clearly that the planets are placed in the heavens to give us seasons, to be signs, and to be continual companions and servants, always ministering to the earth.

The heavens are earth's only perfect timepiece. No watch or clock man has ever made can give us perfect time, but He who knows the path of the stars, knows that every star, sun, or planet will pass a certain given point in the great, unpathed space on schedule time.

The star may not have been seen for thousands of years, but it will appear at the crossroads of the Heavens, not one second ahead, nor one second behind its schedule.

Oh, the wonder of the Architect, the marvel of the Creator, the might of the Sustainer of this great universe. How thrilling it is that this earth of ours, so small that one thousand of them could be lost in the sun, is yet the center and reason for the universe.

The Reason for the Earth Is Man

3

If the earth is the reason for the stellar heavens, what is the reason for the earth?

Genesis 1 gives the account of Creation. Creation consists of a series of acts by God.

 These creative acts culminate in the creation of man. When man was created, God's

creative activity came to a rest.

Man was the goal of the whole creative movement. Science must here agree with the

Biblical account of creation in the placing of man at the summit of creation. He was the

last and the highest of God's works.

The earth has no reason for existing outside of man. Unconscious nature cannot

enjoy its beauty, contemplate, nor use what it has produced.

Only when God placed upon this earth a man created in His image, was there a reason for the vast universe which had been created. God had endowed this man with the capacities to enjoy the beauty of His workmanship, and to utilize its resources.

Isaiah 45:18, "For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, formed it to be inhabited." The Word declares here that God

created this earth to be inhabited by man. In His creative acts He met every need that

man would have in his life upon earth.

Ages on ages He wrought in storing up treasures of all kinds of wealth for his man.

He filled earth's bosom with deposits of iron, copper, silver and gold, and with uncounted varieties of metals, chemicals and forces.

He covered the face of the earth with mountains, valleys, ravines, plateaus and prairies, lovely rivulets, streams and river-, and with many beautifully colored flowers that thrilled with joy the heart of God's man. Fruits and vegetables supplied food for man. The Great Architect of human need and joy knew man's needs, while yet unborn, and in creation's wondrous plan, these needs were met.

Human is the only creature who can enjoy its beauty or use its resources.

The Reason for Human Is the Father-Heart of God

We have seen that the earth is the reason for the stellar universe, and that human is the reason for the earth. Our problem is not yet solved, however. What is the reason for human? Until we know why God desired to create human, we do not know the reason for creation.

Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

The word "God" in the Hebrew is "Elohim." This word is plural, revealing the spirit beings in the Spirit realm at work in creation.

John 1:1-3 and Colossians 1:16 reveal that Christ had a major part in the great acts of creation.

Psalm 104:30 and Genesis 1:2 show the Eternal Spirit's work in creation.

The Godhead lies hidden throughout the Old Testament. Many Jews who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour have testified that one of the factors causing them to realize that Jesus was their Messiah, was that they glimpsed, hidden in the Old Covenant, the Godhead.

Israel, however, did not know who composed the Godhead bodily. Not until Jesus Christ, the Living Word, was manifested in flesh, did man know that the godhead consisted of Holy Spirit's working in Jesus In His ministry of teaching, Jesus Christ revealed the Father-God.

On several occasions in the life of Jesus Christ, the godhood is manifested to human's senses. One time is at the baptism of Jesus, recorded in Matthew 3:13-17.

When Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove, descending upon Christ, while the Father spoke in a voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

Matthew 28:19 reveals the Godhead as being the Father in His Son, and the working of God as Holy Spirit.

From this we can understand that in the beginning the Eternal Spirit created the heavens and the earth.

You see, He was in the beginning a Father-God. In eternity He had a Father-nature.

Father = "Source & Sustainer" 

 We can understand a father's love and desire for children. Our civilization is built around this fact, for the home is the basic unit of society.

Ephesians 3:14-15 reveals that the human father is just a type of the Father-God.

The human father's love exists because in eternity God was essentially a Father-God.

It is natural that the Father-heart of God should long for sons and daughters. This yearning passion took form, and God planned to create a human who would walk with Him as His child.

Ephesians 1:4, 5 (Rotherham), "According as He made choice of us in Him before the founding of the world, that we might be holy and blameless in His presence. In love marking us out beforehand unto Sonship through Jesus Christ for HIMSELF."

Before He created this world, in His dream plan, human was marked out for Sonship. He was to hold the place of a son in the Father-God's love. He was to be the answer to the Father's hunger for children.

Other scriptures that reveal that man was the reason for creation are: Romans 16:25 and 1 Corinthians 2:7. These scriptures reveal that man was chosen for the place of a son first, then God created this universe to be a home for him.

In our Bible Schools we have listed the attributes of God: His Omnipotence, His Omniscience; but we have over looked the fact that He is first the Father-God.

The reason for creation is the Father-heart of God.

A few scriptures that reveal the Father's care for His children are: Matthew 7:11; 6:8; 6:25-32; John 16:27; 17:23; 1 Peter 5:7; Philippians 4:6, 7, 19 and John 14:23.

Matthew 7:11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Matthew 6:8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Matthew 6:25-32 Do Not Worry ²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

Satan has been very subtle in blinding our minds to the Father-nature of God. The average Christian has had no real consciousness of God as being his Father. This ignorance has been due to the fact that our minds have not been renewed by the Word of God. Romans 12:1-2 and Ephesians 4:23. Here we see the importance of the study of the Word (In Greek, LOGOS, the written words). ( Rhema is the spoken words) 

Sense Knowledge has taken the place of the Word of God in our lives. Jesus Christ has been manifested to man's physical senses. 

1 John 1:1, 2, "That which we have handled concerning the Word of Life." Jesus Christ took upon Himself a human body

through which He was manifested to man.

Man's mind derives its knowledge through the senses of the physical body. The

Father has never been manifested to these senses, as He is a Spirit being; therefore

man's mind can form no mental picture of Him.

 When a man has been born again, past sense knowledge of the life of Jesus Christ has taken the place that the Father should have had in his life. Because man could form a mental picture of Christ, he has developed the habit of praying to Christ, praising and worshiping Him alone. The renewing of the man's mind by the Word of God, brings a consciousness of the Father to HIM that revolutionizes his life.

The Attributes of God

In this revelation, the Father nature of God has been revealed to us at creation.

There are two other laws of His being revealed here: one is that He is a Faith God, and the other, that He is Love. Love caused Him to create a universe, and He created it by Faith. He works by Faith in His Word.

In the first chapter of Genesis there are six creative faith statements. Hebrews 11:3 reveals that God created this universe through faith in His Word (Logos; written Words). It was through His spoken Word (rhema) that creation came into being.

Questions

Q1. Give and explain the two kinds of knowledge.

Q2. How has God met man's need of a Revelation?

Q3. What Scripture reveals that the earth is the reason for the heavenly bodies?

Q4. Explain as fully as possible why man is the reason for the earth's existence.

Q5. What is revealed in the word "Elohim"?

Q6. Give several Scriptures that reveal the Father-nature of God.

Q7. What is the reason for man? Explain your answer.

Q8. Why is it that many Christians do not have faith in God and His promises to them as their Heavenly Father?

Q9. Give two attributes of God's nature that are revealed in creation.