Chapter 1, Section 1
Chapter 1, Section 2
You don’t start children in kindergarten by teaching them algebra. Rather, you begin with basic numbers. If you skip the fundamentals, even algebra will be beyond your grasp.
It’s the same way with the Bible. If you neglect the foundations, your biblical understanding will incorporate some unusual ideas, resulting in the  message being confused 
the Bible addresses many different . cookbook with its many diverse recipes.  traditionally, the Bible  broken down into topics, such as God, Angels, Man, . the intention was to create better understanding. But to be careful.  Some people, finding certain similarities between topics, attempt to combine  ideas, often resulting in a distortion of the original meaning. 
It’s like jumping from a pickle recipe to a pie recipe because they both share the initial letter “p.” end with the pie recipe... you will bake the pickles until they are well-browned! he letter “p,”  they make  bizarre food, 
In the Bible, if you unintentionally leap from one topic to another, 

Chapter 1 Section 3
Actually, it’s a collection of books, sixty-six in all. One author, in writing of the Bible’s uniqueness, put it this way:
Here is a book: 

 

   to look at—  without theological jargon.  by far the most  thing about the Bible is that it claims to be God’s own words. 
Often referred to as Scripture, the Bible states that…
"All Scripture is God-breathed..." [2 Timothy 3:16]
 the whole concept of God  Scripture is a study in itself. Just as when one exhales his breath, and that breath comes from his innermost being, so ultimately all Scripture is to be viewed as the very product of God himself. God and his words are inseparable, which is one reason the Bible is often referred to as .
  highly simplified, it can be looked at this way. God told men what he wanted recorded  and those men wrote it down. Most of these men were called . "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets..." [Hebrews 1:1]
Today,  we think of prophets,  those who foretell the future, but in Bible times a prophet was a messenger who passed on God’s words to the people. Sometimes the message had to do with  future events, but more often than not, it was concerned with daily living.
God guided the prophets in such a way, that what was recorded was precisely what he wanted written. At the same time, God allowed the human writer to record —in the prophet’s own unique style, but to do so without error. These men were not free to add their own private thoughts to the message; neither was it something they dreamed up  their own. 
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along… [Peter 1:20,21]
God was not putting his stamp of approval on some literary effort of man. The phrase  is used elsewhere in the Bible in reference to the transporting of a paralyzed man. Just as man could not walk by his own power, so the prophets did not write the  at their own inclination. The Bible is clear on this point—it was message from  beginning to  end.
 the prophets wrote God’s words on a scroll, usually an animal skin or paper made from  plant fiber. were called .
Since the autographs had limited life span, copies were made of the scrolls. But such copies! And all by hand! The writers’ awareness that what was being recorded was God’s own Word resulted in one of the most remarkable jobs ever done. In writing the Hebrew text, …
This was done with both the copy and the original autograph to insure that they were exactly the same.
These scribes were so accurate in their transcription, that when the Dead Sea Scrolls were found , and compared with manuscripts resulting from centuries of copying and recopying to a period of time 1000 years later, there were no significant differences in the text. 
Josephus, a Jewish historian from the first century, summed it up for his people when he stated…
These men were absolutely convinced that to meddle with the text was to tamper with God. We have ample reason to be assured that what we have today is essentially the same as what the prophets wrote.
Truly, the Bible is a unique book by any standard. No wonder the Bible is… 
 as we begin to navigate through the Bible, it may be helpful to know that the Scriptures are divided into --the and  . Historically, the portion was further sub-divided categories: 
 the Law of Moses (sometimes referred to as , )
 the Prophets ( later on a third section called , was sub-divided out of .)
In the Scriptures, the phrase, , is a way of referring to the entire Old Testament--a part which comprises approximately two-thirds of the Bible. The remaining one-third is  the New Testament.
 biblical categories  is not critical. The important thing to  is that the Bible claims to be God's Word--message to mankind. We are told that through its pages we  become acquainted with God . Such a claim should cause even the most  person to pause and consider 
Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm… [Psalm 119:89 NKJV]
Chapter 2, Section 1
The Bible starts with four very profound words: 
 In the beginning God... Genesis 1:1
There are no opening arguments for the existence of God—it's assumed he exists. God is just .
God has been all along. God existed before plants, animals and people, before the earth and the universe. He had no beginning and he'll have no end. God has always been and he will always be. The Bible says that God has existed from everlasting past to everlasting future. God is eternal. 
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth… from everlasting to everlasting you are God. Psalm 90:2
The concept of an eternal God is  difficult for us to grasp. It’s so troublesome to our intellect that often we file it in our cranium under the label . But there are illustrations to help our comprehension. For example, we can compare eternity with the cosmos. 
 most of us can fathom our solar system—the sun surrounded by orbiting planets, . We know it’s vast, but space probes have made the farthest distances seem reachable. But go a step further and begin to measure the universe. to climb into a spaceship and travel at the speed of light, would circle the earth ! How did you enjoy your ? A little brisk, perhaps?  out into space, you would pass the moon in two in four minutes, andPluto in five hours.

Yes, the thought of an eternal God is difficult to grasp, but so is the vastness of our universe. Both are mind-boggling, yet both are real. The Bible speaks emphatically on this point. ...the name of the LORD, the Eternal God. Genesis 21:33
 God has many names or titles, each declaring something about his character. :
 I Am
God said..., “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say...`I AM has sent me to you.’” Exodus 3:14
The closest one can get to an explanation of this statement is this:  or . God exists by his own power. 
We need food, water, air, sleep, light—an endless supply of essential items to live—but not God. He requires nothing, nothing at all! He is the ,  the .
 Lord
No one is like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is mighty in power. Jeremiah 10:6
The name Lord not only highlights God’s eternal self-existent state, but also focuses our attention on his position—a position that is higher than all others. He is Lord of lords.
The Most High
 this name ties in with the name Lord by emphasizing God’s  as a sovereign ruler. 
Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD—that you alone are the Most High over all the earth. 	Psalm 83:18
Just as ancient empires had absolute leaders or sovereigns who reigned over their domains, so God is  King of the universe,  the God  Most High.
Even the word itself emphasizes his position as  supreme ruler. The word means .
The idea of God as  king, conjures up an  of an old man seated on a gold throne, floating somewhere  in the stratosphere.  the Scripture nowhere illustrates God as an old man, but it does refer to God’s throne—not ensconced in a cloud—but rather in a  situated in Heaven. 
The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. Psalm 11:4
God rules from Heaven.  we don’t know much , but the little we do know is incredible.  in greater detail later on, but for now  enough to know that God is the supreme Ruler.
The term  There is no one else like him. He stands alone, the sovereign Lord of all. 
I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. Isaiah 45:5
Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. Isaiah 43:10
There is no hierarchy of gods, with one big God ruling the roost as it were. , 
This is what the LORD says...“I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” Isaiah 44:6
The Bible is emphatic—there is only one God.
 before we leave this subject, we need to understand one last thing. The Bible tells us that God is invisible because he is a spirit. 
God is spirit... John 4:24
 can’t see a spirit because it doesn’t have flesh and bones like we do. But just because you cannot see somebody doesn’t make that person any less real. 
Think of a funeral of a friend who has died. If the casket was open, you may have looked at the body. The body was there, but where was your friend? He was gone; your friend’s spirit was no longer . When we look at someone, we only see their house, the human body— we don’t actually see the real person, the spirit.
  see that the Bible indicates in many different ways that man’s spirit starts at  point in time and then  But God is different; he never had a beginning and  never end. He is the only eternal spirit, living from everlasting past to everlasting future. 

God: he is a He is . He is the I Am— the Self-Existent One. He is the God Most High, the Sovereign Ruler of all.  he is the only God.
And that’s the way it was—...

Chapter 2, Section 2
God’s first creative act is scattered across the pages of the Bible. You can pull together enough information to answer rudimentary questions, but that is where it stops. The Bible  not written to satisfy man’s endless curiosity. It gives basic information on some events, but when it comes to further details, the pages fall silent.  is precisely the case with the subject of spirit beings.
 the Bible calls spirits by many different names—some singular, some plural. We often call them angels, but the Bible uses many terms to define them: cherubim, seraphim, archangels, angels, morning stars—the list goes on. Collectively they are referred to as multitudes, hosts, or stars. they may all have personal names but only a few  are mentioned, such as Gabriel and Michael.
As with God, spirits are invisible, having no bodies of flesh and blood like you and . Even though  can’t see them, they must be everywhere. The Bible indicates that there are...
...thousands upon thousands of angels... Hebrews 12:22
The idiom used to number just those surrounding God’s throne communicates an unfathomable sum.
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne... Revelation 5:11
The angelic beings were created to serve God and  do his pleasure. They are called ministering spirits. 
Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word. Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Psalm 103:20,21
Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve...? Hebrews 1:14
The word is derived from the Greek term, meaning or . Because God created them, they belonged to him and were to do God asked them to do.
 the concept of the creator also being the owner has lost its strength in our industrialized, money-driven economy.  I remember walking through a tribal village in Papua New Guinea.  every item I asked about—“”— elicited a response that designated an owner.  upon inquiring how they knew who the owner was, they looked at me “”  The creator-owner connection was very strong. When I questioned them if it would be all right for me to break a paddle, they were just as emphatic that would not be —unless I wanted to have trouble with the creator-owner. Taking it a step further,  for the owner to break it?" gave a tribal  shrug and a nod : “ .”
God created the angels and so it was not out of place for them to be considered his possessions. And since they belonged to him, they were to do his bidding—as his servants,  messengers. his was not some  ancient form of servitude. There are no parallels here to forced bondage. The angels could have had no better Creator-Owner.
To carry out his directives, God created the angels with great intellect and power. Some of these angelic beings had more capability than others. The angels were without any evil. But they weren’t will which gave them the ability to choose.
 angels share some similarities with man, though man is not nearly as powerful or intelligent. The Bible says that God made man...
...a little lower than the angels... Psalm 8:5 NKJV
Though similar, angels are distinct from man. They never die. They neither marry nor reproduce. Though normally unseen, on certain assignments they make themselves visible. When they talk to man, the language they use is understandable to the hearer.
The most powerful, the most intelligent and the most beautiful spirit ever created was a cherub. His name is translated as , which means shining one or morning star.
...O Lucifer, son of the morning! Isaiah 14:12 NKJV
Lucifer was referred to as an anointed cherub.  the meaning of the word has its origins in the ancient rite of pouring oil on someone or something to set it apart to God for a special task.  this act was considered sacred,  not to be taken lightly. 
You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God...You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created... Ezekiel 28:14,15
It seems that Lucifer’s job kept him in the presence of God at all times. Perhaps he somehow represented the rest of the angels and led them in  worship and praise of their Creator-Owner.  learn more about this anointed cherub later.
The word worship comes from  old English word meaning . The Bible says that all the angels worshiped God. 
You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. Nehemiah 9:6
That is only fitting since God is the Sovereign King and, as such, rightly deserves to have his worth declared. By way of contrast, if I am boasting about a friend’s deeds, someone else  call  into question whether my friend deserves as I’m giving. But the Bible says God is worthy of all praise. 
You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. Revelation 4:11
...you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. Psalm 86:10
God’s creative act had begun. Now, as all the angelic host watched and rejoiced, God embarked on his next great work of art. 
His canvas: the universe
His subject: the whole earth.
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars [spirit beings] sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?” Job 38:4-7
Chapter Three, Section 1
The first book in the Bible is called Genesis.
 Genesis  means . 
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning God created..."  to create  is to exhibit profound power.  even more incredible to realize that God created everything out of nothing. We as humans create, but only with pre-existing material. We paint pictures using oil and canvas. We build houses out of wood, mortar and brick. But when God created, he used nothing.
 to create on such a grand scale with no materials, no blueprints, no tools, takes abilities totally foreign to us. The Bible tells us that creation was possible simply because God is able. God’s power knows no limit. 
Great is our Lord and mighty in power...  Psalm 147:5
He is truly all-powerful.
God not only has the power, but he also has the knowledge. He is all-knowing.
Great is our Lord...his understanding has no limit. Psalm 147:5
God knows everything. He doesn’t need to check with the architect or an engineer for further information. His knowledge is unlimited. In creation, God was not confined to someone else’s blueprint. 
When man is in the process of building or shaping an object, he needs a workplace, such as a shop or  studio. But God needed no workshop in which to fashion his creation, for the Bible tells us that  is 
"Am I only a God nearby," declares the LORD, "and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the LORD. "Do not I fill heaven and earth?" declares the LORD. Jeremiah 23:23,24
Only God possesses this triad of attributes-all-knowing, all-powerful, and present everywhere at one time. And only a faultless combination of these three attributes would be able to create the complex realm in which we live. 
He made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. Jeremiah 51:15
The angelspossess none of these characteristics, even as powerful and  intelligent as they are. And us? We don’t even come close to this sort of ability.
For us to construct even the object takes combined human effort. For example, let’s say we decided to make chair-- in a school auditorium.
For starters we need a great deal about finding the rocks  carry iron ore. 
 right rocks, what’s the next step? The rocks are in the ground!
We need someone to manufacture dynamite. miners who have the expertise to extract the ore safely from the ground.
But you still can’t build a chair with a of iron ore. 
 to be melted down.
Can  build a fire hot enough to melt rocks? 
We need those who know the smelting and alloy process. 
So we found  fellows , but guess what? 
They just poured us a glob of steel.  at this point  to sit on -after it has cooled down, that is! But  to make a chair, it will necessitate having someone who understands how to roll that block into a flat piece of metal, just the right thickness. Then we’ll need to bend the steel and weld it.
Welding?
Sounds like  someone with knowledge in electricity and how to generate it.
As you can see, making a chair is a complicated process. And we haven’t even touched on how to make paint, specifically the kind that will adhere to metal and in the color we want.
And what about the feet ?
 plastic.
 petroleum product? Now let me see. Drilling a well to find oil takes...!???
 all we wanted  was a metal chair.  takes hundreds of people with combined knowledge and allied skills, . 
None of us, human or angelic, can be compared in even the smallest way to God who all things, who has all the power to create from nothing, and is -so that he can place  object he made wherever he chooses. God stands alone.
Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Jeremiah 32:17
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. Isaiah 40:28
The account of this monumental creative act is recorded simply and concisely. The most staggering information is stated in just a few words. For example, the biblical text makes only passing reference to the by which God accomplished his creation. He didn’t use hands or tools.  just spoke the cosmos and all it contained into existence.
And God said, "Let there be light,"... Genesis 1:3
...the universe was formed at God’s command... Hebrews 11:3
Once again, such ability confounds our imagination. We can’t comprehend speaking a metal chair into existence, let alone the  universe! But then, what would  expect from an  God?  when you think about it, you would expect him to be just that powerful. The Bible as fact.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth...Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him. For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm. Psalm 33:6,8,9
So, that’s the way it all started. God spoke light into existence. He named the light , and the darkness he called .  according to the Bible, 
Chapter 3, Section 2
God had begun his creative work. The curtains had been pulled back. As all the angelic host watched, heaven and earth were placed on the stage. With a word, the sovereign  turned on the floodlights. Act One was completed: Day One was finished. Now five more acts of God’s great drama were to follow in the next five days of creation.
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in." [Isaiah 40:21,22]
The Bible compares the earth to a tent. It’s a place , the most unique homestead in the universe. But for  planet to be a suitable dwelling, major construction needed to be done. We see the angels hush. The curtain goes up on Day Two with the creation of the . The expanse? that?  let me explain.
"And God said, 'Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.' So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse 'sky.' And there was evening, and there was morning--the second day." [Genesis 1:6-8]
When God created the world, the earth was covered with water.  on Day Two, we see the first indication that the world as originally created was different from what we now know. The Bible says God took some of the water and placed it high in the heavens. Though some commentators have suggested that this refers simply to the clouds, others have theorized the existence of a transparent canopy of water vapor surrounding the globe.  whether the suggest a canopy or not, there is evidence that the climate was substantially different from what we now know. It seems to have been uniformly tropical. It is known that an atmosphere containing more water vapor would have achieved some sort of . Later on see what may have changed everything to what we now know. Whatever the case, according to the Bible, God created an *expanse, probably synonymous with what we presently call the atmosphere.
At the beginning of Day Three, the water under the expanse still constituted one vast ocean with no visible dry land. Once again, God spoke.
"And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.' And it was so. God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called 'seas.' And God saw that it was good. Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.' And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day." [Genesis 1:9-13]
 Day Three can be divided into two parts. First, we see the dry land appear. Apparently, as the ocean bottom sank, forming huge basins for the water, dry land appeared, rising out of the watery depths. Second, we see the creation of plants and trees. 
"For this is what the LORD says--he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited--he says: 'I am the LORD, and there is no other.'" [Isaiah 45:18]
From the very beginning, God had been preparing the world to be inhabited, and now plant life was created to provide for our physical needs: food to eat, oxygen to breathe and wood for building. 
 on the first day of creation, God had drawn back the curtain of darkness when He spoke light into existence. On the fourth day, God created the light-givers.
"And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.' And it was so.
"God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. 
"And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the fourth day." [Genesis 1:14-19]
 it seems God would create light before He created the sun, we must remember just as easy for God to create the light as it is for him to create the light-givers. 
"I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens... Isaiah 44:24
"God... stretched out the heavens by his understanding." Jeremiah 10:12
"The moon marks off the seasons, and the sun knows when to go down." Psalm 104:19
The sun, moon and stars reveal that the Master Designer is a God of order. Order is the rule of the universe. It ticks with the precision of an atomic clock and, indeed, it is a kind of timekeeper. We write tidal charts years in advance with the confidence that they will be accurate. We launch satellites , certain that they will rendezvous with distant planets at precise moments, just as programmed. The whole planet relies on the regularity of the sunrise and sunset. Without that set , nothing would survive. 
The order observed in the universe is the result of physical laws that govern all things. We can study those laws  various sciences such as astronomy, biology, God established these physical laws to hold the universe together with astonishing precision. 
"…is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17 NASB
laws so much for granted that we never consider what the world would be like without them. But just imagine for a few seconds, at random, every few days-the law of gravity was suspended.  chaos and death would reign. It would be like someone instantly removing all the traffic lights, stop signs and speed limits from our city streets. Those laws are there for a purpose.  Laws define uncompromising boundaries as to how something will function. 
"The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth..." [Psalm 74:16,17]
It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth...almost instinctively we treat these natural laws with great respect. For example,  because we know that to defy the law of gravity will have serious repercussions.  

Unless one’s a daredevil, we avoid flirting with those consequences like we avoid the plague.
These laws--this structure and order-are a reflection of God’s nature.  the way he is. 
On the fifth day, God created the whole kaleidoscope of sea life and birds. 
"And God said, 'Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.' So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 
"God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.' And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day." [Genesis 1:20-23]
The sixth day was the pinnacle of God’s creative act. God began the day by creating the land animals.
"And God said, 'Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.' And it was so.
"God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." [Genesis 1:24,25]
On days three, five and six, it is respectively stated that plants, sea life, birds and animals were to reproduce according to their kind. What does it mean when it says, according to their kind?  simply put, it means that cats give birth to cats, dogs to dogs and elephants to elephants. We don’t need to worry that, when we plant tulip bulbs, cedar trees will sprout. 
Creatures can give rise to different varieties, but still be the same kind. For instance, you can breed various types of dogs and end up with a whole array of canines--poodles to Great Danes--but  still dogs. Nothing new has been added, in fact, each of them contains less genetic information than the mongrel stock from which they were bred. On the other hand, because kinds are fixed,  a farmer need not be concerned about the neighbor’s pig breaking into his pasture and with his son’s pony.  once again,  we see that God embedded in the system physical laws to maintain order 
 as the universe was created, the that...
"God saw that it was good." [Genesis 1:25]
It’s another of those concise statements which is loaded with meaning. When God created, he made things truly good. 
"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless." [Psalm 18:30]
We humans can never make something flawless. What we produce may be quite acceptable, but it will still have defects. But when God created, he made all things without fault. 
The Bible says that God himself is perfect-- without blemish.  we use words like holy and righteous to describe aspects of that perfection. 
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty... [Isaiah 6:3]

"...the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness." [Isaiah 5:16 NASB]
"Splendid and majestic is His work, and His righteousness [His perfection] endures forever." Psalm 111:3 NASB
 take a deeper look at these words as we progress through the Bible.  for now, all we need to know is that the words, holy and righteous,  the Lord’s perfect nature. 
 the absolute holiness of God cannot be over-emphasized. It’s a point that must not be missed in the overall story. It’s a piece that cannot be left out of that puzzle .  keep this in mind as we progress through these lessons.
Perfection is fundamental to God’s character. Because he is perfect, he could only make a perfect creation. Creation has changed, as we  see, but in the beginning it was just right! God said, it was good. It was perfect.
God could have created all plants and animals black and white, but instead he made everything with an endless variety of pigmentation and hues. Not only did he invent color, but  also  eyes  color. 
God  ensured a vast variety of foods taste good. He could have created all  like liver!  some may not mind liver,  people  would have been very disappointed not only created endless flavors, but he also provided us with taste buds able to enjoy the fine nuances of a seemingly endless variety of cooking styles. 
Along with many other things, he gave fragrance to flowers and he created the nose  appreciate a multitude of scents. Everything could have smelled like rotten eggs, but that is not the way God designed it.
God could have limited His creation of plant life to a few kinds. Indeed, just a few would have provided our needs quite adequately. But no, we see an overwhelming variety. It is evident that  is a God who truly cares. The Bible says that he...
"...richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." 1 Timothy 6:17
Not only did God have all the ability and power to create the boundless variety, but that power was combined with loving concern.
He is a God who revealed himself with acts of kindness in the world about us. 
 God is still impressing mankind . For centuries, much has been hidden from man’s view because of our inability to see and understand it. But then, as we developed electron microscopes, atom-smashers, orbiting telescopes and other technology, we were able to peer into some of those hidden areas. And we have not become bored  our discoveries. Rather, the more we discover, the more fascinated we are, the more impressed we become, and the more we are aware of what we do not know.  been there all along, created by an awe-inspiring God.
--before God’s universe was complete; that step was the creation of man and woman.
"…sits enthroned above the circle of the earth..." Isaiah 40:22"...suspends the earth over nothing." Job 26:7"...the sand which is on the seashore..." Genesis 22:17

Chapter 3, Section 3
"For this is what the LORD says--he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited--he says: 'I am the LORD, and there is no other.'" Isaiah 45:18 the sixth day began with the creation of animals.   focus of the story changes. Up to this time, God had been preparing the earth to be inhabited. 
"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:26,27
created man in the God.
Now obviously this doesn’t mean  exact duplicates. None of us are all-knowing, all-powerful, or everywhere present at one time. Nor does the Bible teach that we are little gods. Rather, man is like a mirror  reflects the image of the object but is not the object itself. In a sense, when you look at man, you see many things that  holds in common with God.
First of all, God created man with a mind.  In a sense, God gave us a dab of his intellect. Because we have a mind, we are able to investigate, understand and create,  God . But, although we have an intellect, we are not all-knowing. Indeed,  born into  world with very little knowledge. All our knowing must be learned. God also created man with emotions. The ability to feel is a very important aspect of being human. Without feelings, your response to others would be like that of a robot-cold and calculated. In contrast to an emotionless robot, the Scripture tells us that  is compassionate; he is tender; he feels anger when he sees injustice. God created us with feelings, because he has feelings.
 God also created man with a will. 
The ability to choose separates us from  robots which cannot make independent decisions-they only feed back what is programmed in. ...
"...the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Genesis 2:7
 the words breath of life are often associated with the spirit or  non-material side of man. This is an additional reflection of God’s image, for God  is  Spirit. As we stated before, spirits cannot be seen since they have no bodies. However, in man’s case, God chose to provide a physical house of flesh and bones for man’s spirit to dwell in--a house formed from the dust of the ground. Once formed, the body would have laid there, complete in every way, but entirely lifeless.  it was when God breathed the spirit into man, that the body became alive. Only God can impart life; no person or angel has that ability. Once again, we see that  is completely distinct from all his created beings--He is greater than them all. 
 the first and  only man  God created was named Adam.  man. God then created the woman.
"The LORD God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.'" Genesis 2:18
"So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
"The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. 
The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame." Genesis 2:21–25
These verses have generated heated arguments. Some have understood that when God made woman, he made her a second-class citizen. This is not so. God took woman out of man’s side--to be a companion, not from man’s heel--to be his slave.  Adam gave his wife the name Eve,  life giver.
God took Adam and Eve and placed them in a special garden which he had created for them. The garden was called Eden.We have very little idea of what Eden was like--but . Obviously, God did not create a garden where Adam and Eve were . The garden had an abundance, and everything  could possibly need was adequately provided by God.
God didn’t ask Adam and Eve if they would like to live in Eden-- knew what was best for them.  could act without consulting anyone simply because,  Creator, he was Owner.  He who  also owns the paddle. Right. Okay.
"The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it..." Psalm 24:1
Just as the angels belonged to God because he created them, so man belonged to God because . And just as the angels were given the position of being God’s servants, so God gave man the responsibility of taking care of the earth. 
"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Genesis 2:15
Just because God did not consult with Adam and Eve about placing them in the garden did not mean that they were without choice. God had created man with a will-the ability to choose. However, when it comes to some areas of life, such as love, having the capacity to choose is meaningless unless alternative. So God placed before man a simple option.  two trees.
"...In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Genesis 2:9
The first tree mentioned is the tree of life. If man ate  tree,  he would live forever. No problem.
The second tree, however, came with a warning. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve knew about good, but evil was another matter. They had both been created were innocent of all wrong. Their experience was limited to God’s goodness. The Bible says that if Adam and Eve ate the fruit of this one tree, then not only would they know what was good but also  what was evil.
"And the LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'" Genesis 2:16–17
to defy one of God’s physical laws, such as gravity, has repercussions.  that principle-a broken law has consequences-applies to any of God’s laws or commands.  in this case, God gave man one simple rule. "" the consequence of breaking that command was made just as plain-man would die. We will discuss death in detail later .
This single tree was what distinguished man as a human and not  a robot. There is a big difference between a person who is programmed to say "I will obey you" and someone who does  of  own free will. Having the ability to choose is what gives the word obey meaning and depth. Choice makes a relationship genuine.
 in giving Adam and Eve a choice, God was not intending them to run off and establish their own agenda. Rather, man was created to reflect God’s grandeur--to honor Him.
"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being." [Revelation 4:11]
When a son is obedient to his dad, he honors his dad. So it  between man and God. Man was created with a will so that, by the obedient choices he made, he would honor . Indeed, as  Creator of the universe, God deserves all the honor  man  give him. tremendous benefits.  that when man fits into God’s plan for him,  finds the greatest happiness, the fulfillment and the  reality. So it was for Adam and Eve.
"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'" [Genesis 1:28]
The Bible speaks of God coming in the cool of the evening to walk with man.  Adam and Eve were able to do this,  they were innocent of any sort of evil or wrong-they had a perfection that allowed them to be in God’s company.  Only perfect people can live in the presence of a perfect God. 
The Creator was Adam and Eve’s best friend. This was the relationship Adam and Eve had with God. God lovingly provided for them, and they lovingly obeyed --honoring him.  the way God created things to be.
"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the sixth day." Genesis 1:31
God always finishes what he sets out to do. We may change our minds about our plans, but God never does. 
"...the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations." Psalm 33:11
Creation was done. The Bible tells us that God rested on the seventh day, not because he was tired, but because his creation was complete. It was time to lean back and enjoy!
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
"You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 
"You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!" Psalm 8:3–9

Chapter 4, Section 1creation ended with God's stamp of approval. He pronounced it very good. Everything was in order. There was no pain, no disease, no struggle for the survival of the fittest, no discord, and above all, no death. Between God and man there was a unique relationship, a fellowship, a friendship. Eden was the perfect place to live. Everything was very good.But today we have pain and disease and only the fittest survive. At times we wish that verbal discord was our only problem. instead, at any given time, the tyranny of war dominates in many parts of the world. Everything runs down, breaks down or wears out. From every corner of the animal kingdom to all mankind, life involves perpetual struggle. The world is not a very good place. 
So, what happened? 
It all goes back to the garden of Eden. The Bible says of Lucifer...  
"You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you..." Ezekiel 28:13
Lucifer, you will remember, was the most powerful spirit God created. His name means morning star. He belonged to the angelic order called cherubim and was selected,  by God for special responsibilities that took him into God's presence. 
"You were anointed as a guardian...You were on the holy mount of God..." Ezekiel 28:14
Lucifer was perfect. He is described as having incredible beauty and wisdom. 
"You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created..." Ezekiel 28:15
"You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." Ezekiel 28:12
Although Lucifer was the most powerful angel, there is no direct indication that he ruled the other spirit beings.
 when the next event in history occurred is open to debate. It probably took place sometime soon after creation was completed. There may be a difference of opinion over when, but  happened is very clear. The Bible says Lucifer became proud. His beauty and  power went to his head, so to speak. With pride came ambition. Five times Lucifer said, "I will."  a whole study could be done on these I will's, but, in brief, it's enough to  that Lucifer wanted to stage a celestial revolt.
"O morning star, son of the dawn...You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; 'I will raise my throne above the stars [or angels] of God; 'I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 'I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; 'I will make myself like the *Most High.'" Isaiah 14:12–14
Not only did Lucifer want to take over Heaven, but he was resolved to be like the Most High. Lucifer was determined to lead a coup d'état to replace God with himself. Then he would be the leader of all the angels,  and the universe would be his to rule. Lucifer's heart was bursting with prideful ambition.
The only  Lucifer's plan was that God knew all about it . God is all-knowing and  thoughts did not escape him. The Bible says that God hates pride. It's the first on the list of things he detests.  
"These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: a proud look..." Proverbs 6:16,17 NKJV
Lucifer was deliberately going contrary to God's plan for him. We must remember that God did not create angels as robots. They were created with a will. Their choice to serve was an expression of willing submission to the sovereign God. But Lucifer became dissatisfied with being an angel. He had something bigger,  better in mind. He became proud and  chose to rebel. Lucifer despised both his design and his Designer. The dictionary says that to despise means: to regard with contempt; to look down upon; to dislike intensely;  loathe.
 God called Lucifer's attitude sin.
 because God is perfect, he could not tolerate Lucifer's sin as if it did not matter. Perfection, by its very nature, demands the absence of imperfection.  see this truth repeatedly as we  through the Bible. 
God who is right ( righteous), can have no part with wrong.
God's holiness leaves no room for sin.
God who is sinless, cannot tolerate sin in his presence. 
God's response to Lucifer's sin was immediate. He expelled him from his position in Heaven.
"...you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub...Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth..." Ezekiel 28:16,17
Lucifer did not go without a battle. He still was a very strong being and, on top of that, many  other angels  him.  the Bible gives some  precise details  what happened, The text  indicates that one-third of the angels followed became known , the Devil or Satan. Just as God  names , so . "Satan" means  or ;  "Devil" means  or . that followed Satan  were now called demons or evil spirits.
 when God cast the Devil and his demons from Heaven, it was only the first phase in judging these rebellious spirits. The Bible says that God has a place of final punishment, an...
"...eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Matthew 25:41
This location is commonly referred to as the Lake of Fire.  often  Satan and his demons standing waist-deep in flames, conniving and plotting mischief. However, the Bible tells us that Satan is not yet there. He was cast out of Heaven, but not into the Lake of Fire. Later, after many events involving him and his demons, Satan will be forever confined to this place of punishment. Referring to  future time, the Bible says...
"The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire...And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." Revelation 20:10 NKJV

Chapter 4, Section 2
 When God created man, he didn't just place  on earth and walk away. The Bible says that God visited Adam and Eve in the garden, and in the offhand way it's mentioned, one can assume that this was a regular event. On a number of occasions, the Scripture speaks of God taking on the form of a human to show himself to man.  this was obviously one of those times. Adam and Eve were on intimate terms with their Creator-Owner, and God took care of their every need. 
 then Satan slinked into the garden. He did not arrive with a blast of trumpets, announcing who he was and what he was  about. Satan is much too subtle for that. The Bible tells us that Satan is the great deceiver--the devil, . He is incapable of telling uncorrupted truth. 
"...the devil...was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44
 the word lie,  in the original Greek text is  pseudos--a conscious and intentional falsehood. We use the word ourselves. It implies imitation. 
 several years ago, I was reading an article on Satan in a popular news magazine.  The overall rendering  hideous.  according to the Bible, that picture is deceptive to the extreme. The Bible says that...
"...Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." 2 Corinthians 11:14
He comes in all his eye-catching splendor, mimicking God as closely as he can. A better picture of  might have been  young man in a black suit with a clerical collar. Satan loves religion. He closely imitates the truth, but he cannot be trusted, because by his very nature he is an impostor--a counterfeit, a teller of deliberate falsehoods. 
I am sure Satan was quite happy with the red suit, pitchfork-in-hand drawing. It's easier to deceive people if they're wrong  for the wrong thing. He would also have been pleased with other statements in the magazine,  " what better way to deceive than for the Devil to have theologians,  telling people that he  is a myth! 
So Satan arrived in the garden of Eden with all the subtlety he could muster. No trumpets, no fanfare. He came in the embodiment of a snake, a reptile that is often identified with the Devil. The Bible records several incidents of evil spirits living inside both humans and animals, speaking through them or causing them to act abnormally.  On this occasion Satan spoke through the reptile. He addressed Eve.
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God really say, "You must not eat from any tree in the garden?"'" Genesis 3:1
The fact that a snake could speak did not seem to disturb Eve. No doubt every day she discovered a new and fascinating part of God's creation. Perhaps she  thought  this was another one of those new creatures. We don't really know. 
Whatever the case, it is interesting that Satan approached Eve with a question about God. He planted something in her mind that she had never considered--the creature can question the Creator.  the question came in a slightly condescending tone, "Did God really say...?"
"I mean, did God really say that?" 
With his you've-got-to-be-kidding approach, Satan implied that man was rather simple-minded or naive to accept word at face value. 
"Perhaps, God is holding back something good from you. I mean, how do you know? Maybe  isn't as good and  loving as he makes himself out to be."
There was a hint that God wasn't being completely honest, not entirely forthright. Satan passed himself off as being concerned for man, looking out for man's best interests.  The Devil counterfeited God's goodness. His twisted logic questioned God's Word and in questioning, he planted doubt.
In addition, Satan grossly overstated God's prohibition. God had not forbidden eating from every tree.  He had only mentioned one tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But the overstatement produced the desired .
"The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, "You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die."'" Genesis 3:2,3
had told man that he should not eat of the tree, but  When you add to God's Word you always take away something from people to add or subtract from the Bible is the sort of math Satan specializes in. The Devil loves the resulting confusion.  oh so little, but it was all that Satan needed.  a crack had appeared in the dike.
"'You will not surely die,' the serpent said to the woman. 'For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'" Genesis 3:4,5
Not content with questioning God's word, Satan outright denied it. He blatantly called God a liar. Cleverly,  mixed truth with error. It was true that their eyes would be opened and they would know good and evil, but it was false to imply that they would be like God with all his attributes. It was also erroneous to state that they would not die. 
"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." Genesis 3:6
Satan had succeeded. You can almost hear his howl of laughter echoing through the garden.  as usual, Satan did not hang around to help pick up the pieces. He never does. The Bible says...
"...the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8
 leaves the bones-picked clean. He may come across as a great provider--providing pleasure, fun, a good time--but it's only temporary and often  very empty. In reality, Satan never gives. If he imparts anything, it's only gut-wrenching heartache. He's a malicious playmate, a cruel companion.
 over the years some have blamed the woman for this outright disobedience against God's command.  throughout Eve's entire conversation with her husband was with her.  could have prevented his wife from eating the fruit, and  certainly did not have to eat the fruit himself. But they both ate. 
What Adam and Eve did is similar to children playing in the street against their mother's instructions. The disobedient youngsters think they know better than mom what is safe and fun. They are showing that they don't entirely trust their mother's knowledge of safety. They are disregarding her authority. In the same way, Adam and Eve sinned when they felt they knew better than God what was good for them. Their choice made a statement. They didn't quite trust their Creator--they weren't sure  God was telling the truth. 
Adam and Eve had all the reasons in the world to tell the Devil that he was the liar, but they choose to believe Satan instead of God. They disobeyed God's clear instructions, and  joined the Devil's rebellious ranks. The Bible says:
"Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." James 4:4
That's the natural outcome of choosing sides. Adam and Eve had abandoned their friendship with God and joined Satan. They had rejected a pure, perfect world to experiment with a forbidden one.
But such a choice has ramifications. As we saw before,  a broken law has consequences. The Scripture sin's effects are very  costly. Adam and Eve's defiant choice to follow Satan's lies opened a vast gulf in the relationship between God and man. A perfect God could not allow mixed loyalties, half friendships or partial betrayals. Unless there was trust, no relationship could exist. The friendship was over.
"Therefore God gave them...the sinful desires of their hearts...They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things [Satan] rather than the Creator—who is forever praised." Romans 1:24,25
"Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked..." Genesis 3:7
Adam and Eve that something was wrong. were devastated. The Bible says they were afraid and for the first time they realized they were naked. Casting their eyes  for a solution...
"...they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." [Genesis 3:7]
Perhaps they they fixed up their  appearance, God would  notice that things had changed on the inside. They would just gloss things over and pretend that everything was okay.  was man's first attempt to make things right in a world gone wrong. 
There was only one problem with the fig leaf solution: it didn't work. The condemnation remained. Having a good outward appearance did not remedy the inner reality. Feelings of guilt  within. The gulf was still there. 
"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden." [Genesis 3:8]
Only guilty people run and hide- hide from a friend. A barrier, a chasm,  now existed  God and man

Chapter 4, Section 3
Satan had deceived Adam and Eve into thinking that they could be equal with God. That was exactly what the Devil had craved for himself. But God hadn't created man to be governed by his own instincts or ideas.  The important thing God said, and  had said...
"...you must not eat from the tree...for when you eat of it you will surely die." Genesis 2:17
They had eaten, and in an instant everything had changed. it happened just as  said. word had not altered. It never does. 
"Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden." [Genesis 3:8]
It's not recorded what Adam and Eve were thinking as they crouched out of sight in the shrubbery of the garden, listening to the Lord God approaching. They had disobeyed the word of the Lord of the universe, the Holy Sovereign God. What would their Creator-Owner say? What would an almighty, all-powerful God do? 
"Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?'" [Genesis 3:9 NKJV]
What an immense relief! Apparently God didn't know anything had happened. He didn't even know where they were! Like two children who had just raided the cookie jar, they poked their heads out. Their faces were masked with innocence. "Uhh, are you looking for us?" Adam spoke:
"...I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." [Genesis 3:10]
He spoke, but he erred. Like a boy playing hooky from school and then writing his own absentee note signed, "my mom," Adam overlooked the fact that he had never felt fear before, and that his nakedness had never bothered him. Adam had cookie crumbs on his face. God said...
"Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" [Genesis 3:11[
Why was God asking all these questions? Did not an all-knowing God know where Adam and Eve were hiding? And would not God know why they were feeling naked? Was  really so limited that he had to ask the culprits whether they had eaten of the forbidden fruit? The truth of the matter was  God knew exactly what had occurred--but he was asking questions to help Adam and Eve sort out in their minds precisely what had happened. They had disobeyed the Lord! They had trusted Satan instead of God. 
 the Lord's questions also gave Adam and Eve an opportunity to come clean on their own."The man said, 'The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.'" [Genesis 3:12]
Uh-oh! Adam admitted to eating the fruit-sort of-but only because that woman God  created  him the fruit. Adam was a victim! 
"It was all God's fault." 
"If God hadn't created the woman...then  woman wouldn't have given me the fruit, and then I wouldn't have eaten." Well, you can see it very clearly. It was God's fault after all!
"Then the LORD God said to the woman, 'What is this you have done?' The woman said, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.'" [Genesis 3:13]
Aha! So now the truth was out. Neither of them were to blame. It was the snake's fault. Eve was a victim too. And, of course, if God hadn't created  snakes...then she wouldn't have sinned either. God had messed up! 
 God never quizzed the snake. Some comic has said the snake had no leg to stand on anyway. The truth of the matter was that both Adam and Eve had chosen to sin of their own accord. God had given them an opportunity to own up, and they had blown it-they had refused to admit their guilt.
"The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it." "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 
"God I have failed you miserably. I have disobeyed your clear  to not eat of the fruit. I have sinned. Please forgive me."
"Lord God, I too have sinned by disobeying your command. I want to see our relationship restored to what it was. Please tell me how." this initial sin of man had severe consequences on the rest of mankind.  As see, Adam and Eve were acting on behalf of the whole human race. Their sin brought a curse, but God in his also gave a promise. 
"So the LORD God said to the serpent, 'Because you have done this...I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.'" [Genesis 3:14,15]
These sentences deserve a closer . God was not talking about women and snakes having an aversion for each other. The promise had two facets, 
"So the LORD God said to the serpent, [that's the devil] 'Because you [the devil] have done this...I will put enmity between you [the devil] and the woman, and between your offspring [that's the followers of the devil] and her [offspring]; he [that's the offspring of the woman. We now know it's a male.] (he) will crush your head [that's the devil's head], and you [the devil] will strike his [that's the male offspring's] heel.'" [Genesis 3:14,15] the Lord God was saying that he would some day deliver man from Satan. There would be a male child, born of the woman, who would crush Satan's head--a fatal wound.  true, Satan would also hurt the child, but only with a strike at the heel--a temporary injury.
 this was the first of many promises to come about  future offspring of Eve. This male child would be known as The Anointed One, because of the special task given to him by God. The task  God had in mind for this chosen one was to deliver or save mankind from the consequences of sin and the power of Satan. For this reason, he would also be known as The Promised Deliverer. 
This promise of a Deliverer added another name to the list of terms that reveal God's character. He would be known as  or .
"...there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. 'Turn to Me and be saved, all the... earth; For I am God, and there is no other.'" [Isaiah 45:21,22 NASB]as we saw before, sin has its consequences. It always does. Just as defying the law of gravity brings broken bones, so violating God's word has ramifications. God could not condone the sin of Adam and Eve. He  say, "Oh, forget it," "You couldn't help it. We'll pretend it never happened," or, "It was just,  one little sin." No,  The damage was done. Adam and Eve were guilty. One sin brought judgment. One sin brought fear and shame. One sin brought more sin. The earth and everything in it suffered from the curse. The animals, the sea, the bird life, even the very ground was affected. No longer was creation Bible says...
"...that the whole creation groans and labors..." [Romans 8:22 NKJV]
Man would enter the world through the pain of childbirth and leave it by the agonies of death. While on this planet, life would be full of injustice, sweat and misery. God told Adam...
"By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.' [Genesis 3:19]
The thorns and thistles of life, whether real or symbolic, would make man's existence one of pain and struggling to survive. Man had set off a chain reaction of sorrow. But the most bitter consequence of man's sin was the very thing that God had warned them about. It was death.

Chapter 4, Section 4
"And the LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'" [Genesis 2:16–17]
In a very real sense, when Adam and Eve chose to defy God's warning, they tested God to see if he would keep his word. Did God really mean what he said? Would man die? Or was God just,  talking, uttering empty threats-bombast without teeth ?  the Scripture's reply is quite emphatic.  
"...it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail." [Luke 16:17 NASB]
  we don't like talking about death. It's a taboo subject.  I have traveled all over the world visiting some of the most remote people groups on the planet and I have never found a society that enjoyed death. I have stood at many open graves, some in churchyards, some in jungles, but they all shared one common denominator--grief. It is burnt into the human psyche with the branding iron of reality that death means one thing--separation. The loved one has slipped out of our presence to never return. The sense of loss,  separation we feel at that time actually brings us very close to the meaning  Scripture gives the word. In the Bible, death implies some sort of separation. It does not mean annihilation or non-existence.
It is also helpful to understand that death cannot be disassociated from its origin-- came about because of sin.  the Bible speaks of it as a reward or payment for wrongdoing. Just as a person is paid wages for working, so...
"...the wages of sin is death...' [Romans 6:23]
 the Scripture speaks about death in a number of different ways. look at three.
death of the body. 
 physical death is not  hard for us to grasp.  only too well acquainted with it. But we need to understand something more as it relates to Adam and Eve. 
When you cut a leafy branch off a tree, the leaves don't instantly wither and look dead.  In the same way, when God told Adam "for when you eat of it you will surely die," God did not mean that Adam would drop dead as soon as he ate the fruit. Rather, God meant that Adam would be cut off from his source of life, and then, just like a branch, his body would eventually wear out and stop functioning . The body would...
"...die and return to the dust." [Psalm 104:29]
Though the body dies, the spirit goes on living. The Bible  the spirit  immortal.
 death to a relationship. 
 already seen that Adam and Eve friendship with .  But  further.  children, and their children's children-indeed all mankind to this  day-
The relationship between God and man is so thoroughly finished, so profound, so complete, that even though we live physically, God views all mankind as being...
"...dead in your transgressions and sins." [Ephesians 2:1]
there's a dynamic  must not miss. Let me illustrate. 
 spent a significant portion of my life either traveling or living in tropical countries. for a time, my wife and I lived in a house set on low stilts.  on one occasion,  Unfortunately, the vermin expired right under our little bedroom,  initially, we thought  we  no  option   body decay into oblivion.  carcass rotting in the hot, humid climate.  sent a stupefying odor into our bedroom.   rat,  smelled so rank that my wife and I found it impossible to sleep.  we  to another  of the house.  Sleeping in close proximity to that evil-smelling carcass was not to us. We fled. 
 the next morning, my to remedy the situation.  he located a long stick, and reaching deep into  crawl space,  as it got close, back , "Dad!"  "The beast is full of maggots." Oh gag! Well anyway, Andrew took a plastic bag,  grabbing the  by  tail, he pulled  he ran- 
 if that rat had been alive,  been able to sense Andrew's emotions, he would have been aware that Andrew was highly displeased with him--angry.  And if that rat could have  Andrew's thoughts as he was flung far into the woods, he would have heard , "Get out of here!"  The rat could have  said, " how long ?" Andrew would have , "Forever!"
 the dead rat actually illustrates three different ways  God feels about  sin. First, he is angry.  this is not  full of malice or meanness. God is not a hothead who has lost his temper. Rather,  a reflection of God's pure, perfect character. It might best be understood , as a type of righteous indignation.  Just as we were perturbed with the rotten rat, so the Lord is angry about sin. It grieves him. 
Sin went beyond breaking the law; it was an affront to God's entire character.  this reason the Bible says...
"...God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient." [Ephesians 5:6]
Adam and Eve had disobeyed God when they  ignored the Lord's clear instructions. Disobedience against God is a hallmark of sin. 

 secondly, just as the rat drove my wife and me to sleep in another room, and just as Andrew flung that revolting carcass out of his presence, so God has removed himself  sinful men. The Scripture says...
"But your iniquities [sins] have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you..." [Isaiah 59:2]
Sometimes I've heard folks say that God seems, distant, far away. Well, the Bible does say that man is from his Creator. 
"...you were alienated from Godand were enemies..." [Colossians 1:21]
Holiness demands the absence of sin. ... 
"Your eyes [that's God's eyes] are too pure to look on evil; you [or God] cannot tolerate wrong." [Habakkuk 1:13] this brings us to the third point that the dead rat illustrates. Just how long does God feel we should be separated from him?  the answer is pretty clear. Forever! Sin has infinite, it  eternal ramifications.  just like we would not want to live with the rotten rat next week, or ,  God will never allow sin to dwell in his presence.
 this is difficult news . Good news is coming.  for  important to understand that when the Bible speaks of man's relationship with God as being finished, it speaks with intensity. It is truly cut off-it's dead.
death to a future joy, 
The Bible tells us that God is preparing a wonderful home for man after death. It's called Heaven.  Heaven is an incredible place, designed by God for man's future joy. Eternal life is part of the plan. Just being free of sin, suffering and death will be wonderful, 
But just as there is eternal life, so there is eternal death. When the Bible uses the word death, by implication it sometimes refers to the death of God's original plan for mankind. This death is also called the second death, probably because it occurs after physical death. This second death is reserved for those people who will not be in Heaven. Instead, the Bible says they will go to the Lake of Fire, an appalling place that God created specifically for punishing Satan and his demons. 
"Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it...And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. 
"The dead were judged...
"The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." [Revelation 20:11-15]
The Bible speaks of being thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, and of being tormented day and night forever and ever. It will be a place of sorrow, devoid of happiness. The Scriptures talk of worms (literally maggots), of an intense darkness, of all people weeping and gnashing their teeth in extreme anguish, of being parched with thirst, and of remembering this life and of wishing no one to join them. It's a place of lonely suffering, not some buddy-buddy celebration of debauchery.
"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts [such as witchcraft], the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." [Revelation 21:8]
Later   learn more about man's destiny. 
Sin and death now reigned in Adam's  on through the generations by the father. Like begets like. Apples reproduce apples, cats reproduce cats, sinful man reproduces sinful man.
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned." [Romans 5:12]
Because of Adam's sin, all his offspring would inherit his sin nature. And because he died, all his offspring would die.
 we often connect a list of crimes with the word sinner, but the Bible says  more than that.  man has a sin nature,  called Adam's nature.  this nature is  a condition or state of being.  doctor has told a friend of mine that he has a heart condition. that condition reveals itself with symptoms. When he climbs the stairs, he huffs and puffs and his face  changes colors.  on occasion,  a nitroglycerin tablet under his tongue.  the same , we can say that every human  has a condition the symptoms of that  condition are  acts of sin. 
if all this talk  seems morbid, it should be a reminder to us that God  make unpleasant subjects pretty. He tells it like it is. Sin and death are two things  all humans have in common, and we need to know what the Bible says about them. To be told the truth is what one would expect from a perfect God.
In these first few  learned a little of what God is like.  as we progress, we will learn more, but we need to stop and compare a couple of God's characteristics with man's new predicament.
 helpful to understand that just as God established physical laws to govern the universe, so he established spiritual laws govern the relationship between God and man. And just as a knowledge of physics and chemistry make sense of the world around us, so a knowledge of these spiritual laws helps us make sense of life and death.  these spiritual laws are not difficult  to understandat man's situation.
 centuries ago in the Middle East, when one incurred a debt, an official certificate  was drafted so that the parties involved would not forget the amount payable. Those who were unable to pay their debts were considered criminals under the full penalty of the law. In the same way, teaches  that on the moral ledger, our sin incurs a debt. There's a price to be paid. We are faced with 
"...the law of sin and death." [Romans 8:2]
That law says: 
"The soul who sins shall die." Ezekiel 18:20 NKJV]
remains: Are we able to pay that debt?  the answer is  a qualified yes.  since  death exists for eternity, it's hard to call it paid-- the transaction is never completed.  to pay it, we must bear the full consequences of death in all its three-part meaning.  frankly, most thinking people find themselves very reluctant to pay.  the problem is this--we must pay. It's our debt.  mankind is in a  dilemma.
 this dilemma has two facets,  like  opposite sides of the same coin. We have something we don't want-- a sin problem.
We need something that we don't have-- perfection. 

So the question is twofold: How can we get rid of our sin ? And how can we gain a  that is equal to God's righteousness, so that we can be accepted in his presence?
Mankind, by creation, was designed to live in God's presence. But when man disobeyed God,  his whole being changed. He lost  sinless nature  made him acceptable to God.
So,  how can man gain back that perfection which allows him to live with God?  be keeping these questions in mind as we progress through the Bible.
to understand God's situation, we need to look at two different attributes that are part of his character.
Perfectly Just--
 seen that the Lord is a perfect God, entirely without sin. To be sinless also means that God is honest and fair. 
"He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he." [Deuteronomy 32:4]
We would say that God is a good judge because he does not treat one person one way, and another person another way. God enforces his rules equally and fairly. Here on earth a person may hide a crime,  lie about it,  bribe the judge, or  just  not get caught. But with God, no perpetrator will get away with his sin. No one will escape God's  justice. 
"For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." [Ecclesiastes 12:14]
Honesty and fairness are fundamental to God's perfect nature. "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne." [Psalm 89:14 NASB]
 because God is perfect, we can count on him  being absolutely fair. We  like that. But here's the bad news. Perfect justice demands that sin be punished with a penalty equal to the offense.it's indicative of just how seriously God views sin by the penalty assigned to it. As  seen, the Bible says that our sin-debt can only be paid with our death--in all its three-part meaning. 
 good news,   fortunately, the other aspect of God's character comes into the picture.
Perfectly Loving. By his very nature, God loves. 
 a deeper love.  an undeserved love.  this love is often referred to by using the words grace, mercy, kindness, as sinners, we don't deserve God's kindness, yet God loves us with a perfect love in spite of our sin.  because God is perfect, no one could be better than he at demonstrating  grace,  mercy,  
God must enforce our payment of the sin-debt-we must die. But because God is loving, he has no desire to destroy us.
how can God maintain justice and still be loving? 
 to begin with, God judges all on earth or after physical death.  100% consistent on that score.  we all must die.
"Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die." [2 Samuel 14:14a]
...
"...he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him." [2 Samuel 14:14b]
Although God allows our physical bodies to die, he lovingly provides a way whereby we can escape the eternal aspects of the death penalty. At the same time, God makes it possible for us to live in his presence again. So  how does God judge sin and rescue us at the same time? How does God punish sin without punishing us? 
one  thing . The Bible says that pride is what caused Satan to rebel.  we often look at pride as being a good thing, but the Bible says pride is what keeps us from coming to God  help. We are often too proud to humble ourselves and say that we need the Lord. 
"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." [1 Peter 5:5]
After eating  the fruit, the first thing that Adam and Eve did was to clothe themselves in fig leaves. In spite of having these clothes, Adam told God that he felt naked--exposed.  there  a reason for this. The Bible tells us that...
"...The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7]
God was looking right through their feeble attempts to clothe themselves. He could see their hearts.
The Bible tells us that God rejected Adam and Eve's attempts at self-improvement. The fig leaves covered their nakedness, but their hearts were full of sin. He wanted to teach them that man could do nothing, outwardly or inwardly, to remove the sin problem. So, he refused to accept their fig leaf clothes. 
Only God could supply them with clothing that was acceptable to him. God took animals, killed them and...
"The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." Genesis 3:21]
This was a graphic  of the fact that sin brings death. Adam and Eve had never seen death before. the gasping for life,  the shine pass from the animal's eye,  the  made the awful reality of death understandable to them immediately. Animals died in order that they might be clothed.
 although man had sinned, he still lived in the garden and had access to the tree of life.  eating of this tree would mean that man would live forever. So God removed man from the garden.
"And the LORD God said, 'The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. [Genesis 3:22]
"the LORD God said, 'The man has now become like one of us,"
"And the LORD God said, 'The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.' 
So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 
After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life." [Genesis 3:22–24]
 This was an act of mercy. God did not want men to live forever entrapped as sinners. Can you imagine what the world would be like if all the evil men and women down through the ages were still alive today?  by putting man outside of the garden, God allowed the consequences of sin to take toll, namely physical death. But God was thinking beyond the grave. He was thinking of his plan to deliver man from the Second Death, a way to escape the Lake of Fire. 
"Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, "With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man." Later she gave birth to his brother Abel." [Genesis 4:1,2]
Both Cain and Abel were born outside of the garden. Because they had been conceived as a result of Adam's union with Eve, they had Adam's sin condition,   For God to be just, he must enforce his law. Cain and Abel also had to die for their sin. 
But God loved them, so in his mercy he provided a way for them to escape judgment.  that way had two dimensions:
 Cain and Abel were to simply trust God and believe what the Lord said was true. For example, God had promised Adam and Eve that The Deliverer would crush Satan's head and save them from sin's consequences.  was that possible? Was it true? Did God really mean it?  Cain and Abel individually had to decide for themselves whether or not to believe God, 
what it would take to remove sin.   a little startling, so  on to your chair. 
A thorough study of Scripture leads us to the understanding that God apparently and specifically told Cain and Abel to take an animal, kill it and let its blood run out on an altar. the very thought of animal sacrifices strikes most of us as horrible-- repulsive. What conceivable reason would God have for such an instruction?  the Bible says...
"...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." [Hebrews 9:22]
God was saying, , that man's sin-debt, could only be paid death. 
"For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life." [Leviticus 17:11]
 this concept of a blood sacrifice 
substitution:  normally, man would die for his own sin. But now, based on certain future events, God was saying that he would accept an innocent animal's death in man's place--as a substitute. It was a life for a life, the innocent dying in place of the guilty. the law of sin and death being obeyed and justice being fulfilled.

:
The relationship  be restored. Man would still die physically, but the eternal consequences would no longer apply.  from God forever in the Lake of Fire.
with God's instructions clear in our minds, we'll now return to the story of Cain and Abel and  see what happens.
"Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock." [Genesis 4:2–4]
 Cain and Abel both brought sacrifices to the Lord. they were both bringing sacrifices, there was a disparity. 
Abel brought an animal which could be killed and  blood shed. That was good-- what God had said to do. But Cain brought garden produce. Vegetables do not shed blood. Cain was offering a sacrifice, but it was the wrong one. He had come up with his own version of the fig leaves.
"The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor." [Genesis 4:4,5]
God rejected Cain's sacrifice. Cain  erred in two ways. 
First , his actions revealed that he didn't trust God. Secondly, Cain failed by doing things his own way. God doesn't accept personal ideas on how to get right with him.  man  have the best intentions in the world, but sincerity is not enough--it does not bridge the gap. Cain was doing his own thing. He felt he knew better than God what was right.
 on the other hand, Abel offered the kind of sacrifice that God had commanded--an innocent animal that would die and shed blood. Abel deserved to die for his own sin, but God in his mercy allowed  animal to die in his place as a substitute. As Abel placed his sacrifice before the Lord, he was trusting God to keep his word--to send a Deliverer--to somehow save him from sin's awful penalty.  doubtful if Abel knew how The Deliverer would accomplish  role, but  clear that Abel was trusting God with the solution to sin.
"...by faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings..." [Hebrews 11:4]
As Abel approached God in faith, his sacrifice provided an atonement-covering for  sin. When God looked at Abel, he did not see his sin. In a sense, God overlooked it. In God's eyes, Abel was righteous or perfect, and could now be accepted in His presence.
As for Cain, he wasn't happy with God . 
"...Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
"Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.'" [Genesis 4:5–7]
God gently tried to show Cain that he was headed for trouble, that his sin nature would destroy him. He pointed out to Cain that he too would be accepted if he came the same way Abel had come.  There is no record of Cain  replying. He  was sulking .
"Now Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let's go out to the field.' And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
"Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?'" [Genesis 4:8,9]
God  everything; he knew exactly what had . He was giving Cain a chance to come clean. But just like Adam and Eve, Cain's words revealed his heart.  
"Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?''
"'I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?'
"'What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.'" [Genesis 4:8-10]Sin cannot be . Cain had murdered his  brother and to wrangle his way out of a confession. God put his finger on Cain -You did it!  there is no record of Cain ever expressing remorse for his actions. God could have destroyed him , but in his mercy, He  him to another region. The human race had gotten off to a scandalous start. 
"Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, 'God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.'
"Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD." [Genesis 4:25,26]
Seth was born with a sin nature, he trusted God just like Abel. It was through Seth and his descendants that God would send The Savior. God was keeping his promise "After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived 930 years, and then he died." [Genesis 5:4,5]"Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written...in the book of life." [Revelation 21:27]"...in righteousness I will see your face...I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness." [Psalm 17:15]"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." [Revelation 21:3]"[God] will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!'" [Revelation 21:4,5]"...you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." [Psalm 16:11]"And he...showed me the holy city, Jerusalem,...having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels..." [Revelation 21:10-12 NASB]
"And in the daytime (for there shall be no night there) its gates shall never be closed..." [Revelation 21:25 NASB]
"And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass." [Revelation 21:21 NASB]
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal flowing from the throne of God..." [Revelation 22:1]"They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever." [Revelation 22:5]
"...I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." [Psalm 23:6]"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." Corinthians 2:9Chapter 5, Section 3
Many people view the Bible as a constant sequence of stunning miracles. actually miracles were very much the exception. Centuries would pass before anything earthshaking would happen. At this point in our story, the Bible records that no less than ten generations passed before the next big event unfolded in world history. Each one of those generations  a long life span during which the population of the world increased dramatically. 
Hundreds and hundreds of years passed, but God  not  His commitment to send The Promised Deliverer. Each generation had those who believed God. Though the population of the world  by leaps and bounds, the number who  trusted God did not increase at the same rate. The Bible records that all but a few turned their backs on him. 
Mankind had not only rejected God but was intent on following Satan with all the gusto man could muster. The Bible says:
"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 
"Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. [Genesis 6:5,11,12]
If you consider some of the nations of the world whose  news fills our TV screens with accounts of anarchy, war, violence and rape, then you have an idea of what it must have been like. The Scripture says that man's thoughts were consumed with evil continually. Perversion and chaos reigned. The world had become a deadly  live.
In addition, the Bible declares that the society of that day  focused on living for self. What God said wasn't important anymore.  Man had scorned God's plan  a philosophy of life that excluded any desire to seek after God . Man wasn't even attempting to bridge  gap "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 
"Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. 
"Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
"Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 
"They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." [Romans 1:21–32]
The Bible says that at this time in history, man had sold his soul to sin. But as  seen before, sin has its consequences. It always does. Just as defying the law of gravity results in bruises and broken bones, so ignoring God's word has  ramifications. God could not condone the sin. The Bible says God was grieved by it all. 
"So the LORD said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--'" [Genesis 6:7]
Man may have had a philosophy of life that excluded God, but God still held man accountable for his  behavior.
 The  
"Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD...Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God." [Genesis 6:8–10 ]
Though Noah was a good-living man, the Bible makes it plain that he still was a sinner. According to the law of sin and death, Noah had to die for that sin. But the Bible also indicates that Noah brought an animal sacrifice to God, evidence that he recognized the need to have an innocent substitute pay  death penalty for him. Noah  Lord would somehow save him from sin's consequences. The Scripture says that because Noah trusted God, the Lord looked upon him as being righteous. Noah had a right relationship with the Lord, indicated by the words, "...he walked with God."
"So God said to Noah, 'I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in it and coat it with pitch inside and out.'" [Genesis 6:13,14]
God told Noah to build an ark--a  boat.  this was no rowboat. It was a large ship, similar to modern ocean-going freighters. It had several decks, a built-in ventilation system and a door--only one door.  vessel was built of wood  covered with a coat of tree pitch,  a common means in past centuries of sealing a ship.  the Ark remained the largest vessel ever built until its size and ratio were almost duplicated in 1844 by the ship Great Britain. The dimensions of the Ark are still considered ideal for a large stable boat. It was not built for speed, only to preserve life. God told Noah:
"'I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.
"'But I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark--you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you. 
"'You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive. You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.'
"Noah did everything just as God commanded him." [Genesis 6:17–22]

 the Bible tells us that before the Flood people lived to be hundreds of years old. Various theories have been suggested as to why this was so, but no reason is given in the Bible.  simply stated as fact. considering the long time people lived, 120 years for building the ark was well within the usual life span. After the Flood,  life shortened  considerably so that a man of 90 years was  old.
"The LORD then said to Noah, 'Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.' [Genesis 7:1]
"On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark.
"They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. 
"Then the LORD shut him in." [Genesis 7:13–16]
The ark took seven days to load.  with a few exceptions, of each kind on board.  even allowing for extinct kinds, the ship had adequate  to house them  only an estimated 60% of the vessel. The remaining space probably carried feed. taking the young of large  may have been another space saver. To save on food, some may have hibernated.  God was quite able to  them in any way  he chose.
 the loading was completed, God shut them in. When judgment came and the waters began to rise, no amount of banging on the ark could move Noah to open the hatch. Nor did Noah and his family need fear that the door might be torn open in the pounding deluge. They were perfectly safe because God had shut the door-the one and only door to safety. He had shut in those who  believed and  shut out the rebellious.
 God is gracious. He had given mankind 120 years to turn from their sinful ways and take advantage of his mercy.  Now their time was up. Judgment came, just as it would. Man sometimes threatens and never delivers, but God always keeps His Word.
"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, on the seventeenth day of the second month--on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights." [Genesis 7:11,12]
Cartoons have been drawn,  an old man on a little houseboat, surrounded by animals, all getting soaked to the skin by a rain squall.  those efforts to illustrate the story are  in error. You would have been crazy--and dead-- outside in the storm that burst upon the earth. The Hebrew word to describe this event means   in the Bible, that word is  solely to describe this Flood. No other  close to equaling . Though many of the things that happened in the cataclysm can be explained by natural science, we must remember that an all-powerful God could create the Flood circumstances and the attending catastrophic results without any limitations.
 the rain lasted for 40 days,  water continued to flow out of  underground fountains for 150 days.
"For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered." [Genesis 7:17–19]
"Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; men and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark." [Genesis 7:22,23]
"But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. The water receded steadily from the earth." [Genesis 8:1–3]
It is believed that prior to the Flood, the mountains were not as high as they are . Today, if you were able to take the surface of the globe and smooth it out, the water would cover the earth to a depth of approximately two miles, or three kilometers. The Bible says that after the Flood, the mountains we see today rose up and the valleys sank down, ocean basins. 
"The waters were standing above the mountains. At Your rebuke they fled...The mountains rose; the valleys sank down to the place which You established for them. You set a boundary that they may not pass over, so that they will not return to cover the earth." [Psalm 104:6–9 NASB ]
Noah and his family were in the boat for 371 days before God opened the door and let them out. Long before that day, the waters had receded, and the ark had lodged in a mountainous region. When they left the ark, the ground was not only dry but producing again. It was a very different planet  from before. It was the earth on which we now live. 
"Then God said to Noah, 'Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and their wives. Bring out every kind of living creature that is with you--the birds, the animals, and all the creatures that move along the ground--so they can multiply on the earth and be fruitful and increase in number upon it.'
"So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives.
"Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma... [Genesis 8:15–18,20,21]
The first thing  Noah did after leaving the ark was to build an altar and  offer an innocent animal as a blood sacrifice to God.  sacrifice did not remove the sin, but it did picture what was necessary to pay the penalty--death. It was evidence that Noah had confidence in God, believing that the Lord would keep his word, and somehow save him and his family from the consequences of sin. God was pleased.
"Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.'" [Genesis 9:1]
"'I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you...Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.'
"And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you...I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.'" [Genesis 9:9,11–13]
God promised  destroy the earth with a it rained, the rainbow would be a reminder of that promise. thousands of years have passed since the Flood, God has kept his Word. 
"The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth." [Genesis 9:18,19]
Man now had a fresh start.
"Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died." [Genesis 9:29]

Chapter 5, Section 4
The tenth chapter of the book of Genesis is often called "The Table of Nations." it tells us where the major ethnic groups came from, beginning with Noah's three sons. The chapter ends with this verse:
"These are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood." [Genesis 10:32]
Once again, centuries of time passed and the population of the  increased. Our story now moves on to what historians call the cradle of civilization: ancient Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq.
"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 
"They said to each other, 'Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.'" [Genesis 11:1–4]
After the Flood, God had told man to...
"Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth." [Genesis 9:1]
But now man was not only trying to change the agenda,  of his own.
First : Man felt that everyone should stay in one place and build a big city. This was in direct disobedience to God's As you can see, man has a problem with obedience. Have you ever wondered why you don't need to teach little children to disobey Mom and Dad?
It comes very naturally because defiance is natural to the human heart.  Basically,  as want to be told what to do. We prefer to do our own thing. This was the problem with the people of Babel. 
: Along with the city, man wanted to build a tower to bring honor to . ...
"...make a name for ourselves..." [Genesis 11:4 ]
Once again, man was functioning  of the Most High God.
 Babel is the first incident of an organized religion recorded in the Bible. Babel, or what became known as Babylon, is often used in the Scripture as an example of man's religious efforts.  the people, in trying to  their own way God.  It didn't work. There is only one way to God- God's way.
 a good definition for the word religion is this: man's efforts to reach God.  , by nature, very religious, . He is constantly searching for or creating new ways to find God. It's a hopeless pursuit. We will see that  says that is LOST-- cannot find his way .
In contrast to religion,  the Bible teaches  that the only true way to God was provided by  himself when, in his mercy, he reached down to man and provided man with a way to escape the punishment for sin, escaped God's notice. God was fully aware of what was going on. 
"But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. The LORD said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.'" [Genesis 11:5,6]
God knew what history has  to be true, that with a common language, man's progress in technology is much faster.  The more advanced and comfortable things are, the less man feels he needs God. Though God had given man a free will, he did not want man to live independently of him. 
 the story  speaks for itself . God took action to confront man's defiance. God said...
"'Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.'
"So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city." [Genesis 11:7,8]
When God scattered them, he gave them new languages.  He did a thorough job. 
the city the people were building didn't disappear, but it did take on a name. It means confusion. 
"That is why it was called Babel--because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. 
"From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth." [Genesis 11:9]
After the confusion of languages at Babel, many generations passed before the Bible  records  in history. All through these passing years  did not forget his promise to send a Deliverer. Though the majority of people lived with little thought of God, each generation  those who believed his . One such couple was Abram and Sarai. 
"Now Sarai was barren; she had no children." [Genesis 11:30]
Abram's home town was the city of Ur, just south of Babel. However, following  instructions, he  left home and moved to Haran . It was here that God spoke to him a second time. 
"The LORD had said to Abram, 'Leave your country,...and go to the land I will show you.' So Abram left, as the LORD had told him...Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran." [Genesis 12:1,4]
For Abram this was a big step. He couldn't consult an  research the  discuss plans with a travel agent. He didn't even know where he was going! God had not told him. As he traveled,  have to  God to lead him one day at a time. His unknown destination was Canaan, which is modern-day Israel.
"So they came to the land of Canaan. And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him." [Genesis 12:5,7 NKJV]
Because Abram believed God to be his Savior from sin's consequences, he offered a blood sacrifice on an altar as an atonement-covering for his sin. Although the animal offerings were only a picture of what was needed for sin to be removed, Abram's sacrifice was clear evidence that he recognized the need to have a substitute pay the death penalty for him. He was trusting God just as Abel, Noah and all the other righteous people had done in the ages past.
 Abram lived a semi-nomadic life,  called him a hebrew, a name which carried the connotation of a wanderer,  the one from beyond. Because Abram spent a lot of time in one area, the local town took on the name Hebron, . From this time on, Abram and his descendants were referred to as Hebrews.
God also gave Abram four specific promises. 
I will make you into a great nation... 
I will make your name great...
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse...
...all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." [Genesis 12:2,3]
God's first promise  was good news. In order to become a great nation, he would have to father children. , since he had no offspring,  but God had promised, so it must be. 
 last promise,  hinged on the first, and was a direct reference to The Deliverer. God was telling Abram that one of his descendants would be The Anointed One, and that He would be a blessing to everyone.  the Bible says Abram believed God and rejoiced at " the thought of seeing" the day of The Deliverer's arrival.
"After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.'
But Abram said, 'O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless...?'
God...took him outside and said, 'Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them.' Then he said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.'
Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." [Genesis 15:1,2,5,6]
 This last sentence is loaded with meaning.  words that have far-reaching implications. They are the words righteousness, credited and belief; commit an entire session to it. 
 we saw earlier that the word righteousness is used in reference to God's perfection; that he is flawless,  holy,  pure,  clean,  totally without blemish or sin. 
, carries the thought of settling a monetary account through a payment. has common usage today in our financial world. We like seeing money credited to our bank account,  we've been on the receiving end,  But what does the Bible mean when it says, 
"Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." [Genesis 15:6]
Remember that Certificate of Debt that every human has as a result of sin? Well, Abram had one too. It was like God was saying "Abram, because you are trusting me, I'm going to make an advance payment on your sin account. And my righteousness, it will not only take care of your sin-debt, but it will fully provide you with all the perfection  to live with me in Heaven. You can consider your sin-debt as paid." 
 the Bible says  Abram had such confidence in God keeping his word, that he...
"...was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." [Hebrews 11:10]
 Although Abram's body would eventually die, Abram would not experience the horrific penalty associated with the second death. He knew he would live forever with God in Heaven.
 earlier on we asked that two-sides-of-the-same-coin question, "How can we get rid of our sin and gain a  righteousness  equal to God's righteousness so  we can be accepted in his presence?"  for Abram, the answer was simple: trust the Lord, believe his promises, and God will provide 
Chapter 6, Section 2
can be easily misunderstood.  we need to understand some things about it as  in the Bible. 
The words or concepts of belief, faith, trust and confidence are often used interchangeably. 
 true belief, true faith, is built on fact, not  feelings.  when you sit in a chair, hold you up.  because  wonderful feeling or overwhelming passion about chairs. Rather, you that the chair  substantial, and based on that fact, you  yourself upon .  Abram's faith rested on fact- God's promise.  a matter of simple arithmetic.
God said, "You will have a son."
 the Creator God is all-powerful and tells the truth.
Abram will have a son. 
 not the amount of faith you have, but in whom you are placing your trust. Abram's faith may have wavered at times, but his confidence was firmly placed in God.
 True biblical belief does not stop with mental assent to the facts. If it did, it would not be genuine faith.
 Abram,  belief went beyond  agreement. He staked his life, his reputation, and his actions on it. Because he believed, he was obedient to God and traveled to a foreign . Because he believed, he offered sacrifices, trusting God to save him from sin's consequences. 
 it's important to understand that Abram's obedience wasn't  attempt to prove to God or to others . Rather, because he trusted God, the natural result was that he did the things God wanted him to do.  So when we read the words, "Abram believed the LORD..." we need to be thinking of all  implied. 
 because of Abram's faith, God changed his name to Abraham, which means father of many, and Sarai became Sarah,  princess.  it was God's way of saying  he would keep his promise,  they were both past childbearing age.

Chapter 6, Section 3
"Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him." [Genesis 21:1–3]
God had kept his promise to Abraham and Sarah, even in their old age. He always keeps his word and he delights in doing the impossible.
"Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, 'Abraham!' 
"'Here I am,' he replied. 
"Then God said, 'Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.' 
"Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, 'Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.' 
"Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, 'Father?' 
"'Yes, my son?' Abraham replied. 
"'The fire and wood are here,' Isaac said, 'but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?' 
"Abraham answered, 'God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.' And the two of them went on together. 
"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, 'Abraham! Abraham!' 
"'Here I am,' he replied. 
"'Do not lay a hand on the boy,' he said. 'Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.'" [Genesis 22:1–12]
This is a most profound story. At first glance it appears that God is endorsing child sacrifice! .
The setting is simple. God asked Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him on an altar-to put him to death. This is no idle request.  reminded Abraham that this was his only son. His memory hardly needed the assistance. For years he had waited for this child, and Isaac was the very son that God had promised would be the father of countless descendants.  had been very specific about that and it was obvious that a dead son could have no offspring!
God's request must have bewildered Abraham. In all probability he had witnessed the human sacrifices practiced by  nations of  day and knew it was a common form of appeasing their gods. Yet God's command to sacrifice Isaac went against everything  Abraham knew about the Creator. God, in his love, had promised Isaac as a descendant that would bear many children. There was no earthly way to harmonize God's previous promise with His present command. How could God be so inconsistent? And yet Abraham had learned that  was utterly trustworthy, so he did just as God requested. Calling his son, he saddled the family donkey and, taking the trappings for sacrifice-making, he set off to  bidding. His heart must have been torn with anguish! Being obedient was an immense step for Abraham, but that step showed his absolute faith in God's goodness.
 the Bible does not leave us guessing Abraham's thoughts. It tells us that Abraham clung to God's promise, convinced that even if he sacrificed Isaac,  would raise him from the dead. 
"By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice...Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and...receive Isaac back from death." [Hebrews 11:17,19]
The Bible says that God was testing Abraham's faith.   this ultimate test of offering his own son revealed to Abraham, and to us, his genuine confidence in the Lord. 
 Abraham and Isaac, along with two other young men, headed off to the mountains of Moriah.  when they got nearer, Abraham and Isaac went on alone with Isaac carrying the wood. Somewhere along the way Isaac queried his father. No doubt, Isaac had witnessed many sacrifices and it didn't take a college degree for him to realize that one of the essentials was missing-the sacrifice itself. Where was the lamb? 
"'The fire and wood are here,' Isaac said, 'but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?'" [Genesis 22:7]
One can't help but wonder if Isaac was thinking about the prevalence of child sacrifice in neighboring religions. He, too, was trusting  and in no small way! When his father replied that God Himself would provide the lamb, Isaac went on willingly. It says they went together.
 God showed them the exact place to erect the altar on one of the mountains of Moriah.  many years later, the Jewish temple would be built on Mount Moriah, perhaps on the same site  Isaac was  offered. 
"When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood." [Genesis 22:9]
Isaac was no infant. The Hebrew word translated boy was used of young males all the way up to military age. He was certainly old enough to put up a fight and, in spite of the fact that Abraham was not a young man, there is no record of a struggle. It is obvious that Isaac willingly submitted to his father, an act which showed implicit confidence in his dad, whom he knew to be a follower of God's Word. 
 once bound on the altar, Isaac was helpless. He was under direct and specific orders from God to be slain. There was no way he could save himself. The Bible says  Abraham stretched out his arm and took  knife. You can see the old man's hand shake. His jaw sags. His heart is about to break. This is his only son! The strain of the moment is incredible. Slowly  is raised and in the somber light of the day, the glints. Deliberately, the mind commits itself to the plunge ...and then God intervened.  Angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven 
"Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." [Genesis 22:12 NKJV]
 have been tears. You can see Dad and son weeping in overwhelming relief. God had intervened. The sentence of death was gone!-- at least for Isaac it was gone. But  still was a death. 
The Bible says that God provided . It was caught in the thicket by its horns.
"Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns." [Genesis 22:13]
Entangled in this way, the  could not injure itself in  to be freed. 
"He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son." [Genesis 22:13]

There was death all right, but it was the ram's death instead of Isaac's. Isaac went free because  ram died. God had provided a substitute. This event so imprinted itself on Abraham's mind that he named the mountain as a reminder of what God is like.
"So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, 'On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.'" [Genesis 22:14]
...
"...Savior in time of distress..." [Jeremiah 14:8 NASB]
 the story ends with God reaffirming his promise to Abraham. His offspring would be many--the whole nation of Israel. Included in God's promise was the fact that The Anointed One would be one of the descendants of Abraham and Isaac. It was said that He,  would be a blessing to all people. 
"I swear by myself," declares the LORD..."through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me." [Genesis 22:16,18]
God's request  a once in a lifetime--once in the history of man sort of request. God wanted to communicate certain truths not only to Abraham, but also to us--truths having to do with judgment, faith, and deliverance through a substitute. 
Just as Isaac was under God's direct order to die, so all mankind is under the sentence of death. Isaac could not save himself. But Abraham ,  somehow  his loving God would make the difference. And God did intervene. He provided a way of escape through a Just as Abel had offered a sacrifice  in his place, so the ram had died in Isaac's place. And just as God had viewed Abel's sacrifice as acceptable, so God saw fit to provide a ram as an acceptable sacrifice in Isaac's .  It was God's idea. It was man coming to God in God's way, believing that His Word was true. Chapter 7, Secion 1
God had promised both Abraham and Isaac that The Deliverer would be one of their descendants. Both  these men lived long lives and died.
Isaac had two sons: Esau and Jacob. Esau was like Cain, patterning his life around his own ideas, doing his own thing. On the other hand, Jacob  and because of that,  considered him righteous. Jacob often came to God offering  on an altar. 
"So Jacob...built an altar there...because there God appeared to him." [Genesis 35:6,7 NKJV]
 believed the principles found in God's Word, that...
"...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." [Hebrews 9:22]
his name was changed to Israel, which means God prevails. Today the nation of Israel, which descends directly from Jacob, has named itself after this man.
God also renewed his promise with Jacob, the same promise made to Abraham and Isaac. The Lord told Jacob...
"I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac...All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring." [Genesis 28:13,14]
 God was saying that one of Jacob's descendants would be a blessing to every nation --a reference to The Promised Deliverer.
twelve sons from whom descended twelve tribes . Before Jacob died, he  his son Judah  that it would be through his tribe that The  Deliverer would come. 
 Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,  lived semi-nomadic lives in Canaan what we Israel.  in the final years of Jacob's life, famine hit the country and he, along with his sons , moved into Egypt. At  time, this ragtag band numbered only seventy souls. Egypt received and treated them well. 
Three hundred and fifty years later they were still in Egypt, but by then  estimated that there  two and a half million Israelites. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had indeed become a great nation, but .  been promised the land of Canaan, not Egypt. However,  had told Jacob long before the seventy had fled the famine in Canaan...
"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." [Genesis 28:15]

"'Look, he said to his people, 'the Israelites have become much too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.'
"So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh." [Exodus 1:9–11]Not only were the Israelites enslaved, they were slaves condemned to hard labor. 
"But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields..." [Exodus 1:12–14]
But God had not forgotten his promises. The Bible says...
"God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them." [Exodus 2:24,25]
 the time had come for the  to leave .  the Lord had his man in place, an Israelite named Moses.
 Moses had been born in Egypt to Israelite parents.  at birth, he was condemned to die.  providentially, he was rescued and raised as a member of Pharaoh's household with access to the best education in the land.  as an adult, he murdered an Egyptian in defense of an Israelite, and then  fled for his life  into the desert.  it was here  that he became a shepherd, and for the next forty years  learned to lead sheep.  it was an education designed by God, ...
"Now Moses...led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up." [Exodus 3:1,2]
One can't help but think that Moses stood staring at  bush for some time. He must have been perplexed.  Wouldn't his wife be glad to hear  this--a wood that burned yet wasn't consumed would make great fuel for her kitchen stove! 
"So Moses thought, 'I will go over and see this strange sight--why the bush does not burn up.'
When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, 'Moses! Moses!'" [Exodus 3:3,4]
A talking tree no less! One can imagine Moses looking around ,  all in a sweat, hoping no one was listening.  what would  look like,  carrying on a conversation with a shrub?!
"And Moses said, 'Here I am.'
"'Do not come any closer,' God said. 'Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.' Then he said, 'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.'" [Exodus 3:4–6]
Moses' blood must have chilled.  about the eternal Most High God. He knew Creator-Owner of all  living.  was  holy God who  separated himself from  mankind because of their sin. Moses himself was a sinner--a murderer.
"Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. 
"The LORD said, 'I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.
"'So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.'" [Exodus 3:6,7,10]
Moses must have sighed with relief. God was not coming to judge , but to give him a job. But there was a problem. Moses was a shepherd and the task looked formidable. Who was he anyway? People wouldn't put reams of confidence in a fellow who said he  to a bramble bush.
"Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"
"God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: "I AM has sent me to you."'" [Exodus 3:13,14]
I AM means the self-existent one, the God who exists by his own power. 
"God also said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites, ""The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.
"This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. 
"Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--appeared to me and said: "I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into...a land flowing with milk and honey."' 
The elders of Israel will listen to you." [Exodus 3:15–18]Though Moses struggled with misgivings, he also knew that when God made a promise, he  kept His Word. So Moses packed his bags and headed back to Egypt, back to Pharaoh and the Israelite slaves. On the way, he met his brother Aaron whom God had sent to be his spokesman. 
"Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites, and Aaron told them everything the LORD had said to Moses. 
"...and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped." [Exodus 4:29,30,31]
 it happened just the said it would. The people believed and worshiped the Lord. God was keeping his .

Chapter 7, Section 3
It was one thing for Moses and Aaron to convince the leaders of Israel that God had spoken , but the whole effort of selling Pharaoh on the idea conjured up a quagmire of nightmarish problems. 
Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: "Let my people go..."' 
Pharaoh said, 'Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.'" [Exodus 5:1,2]
Well, Pharaoh was right on one account--he did not know the LORD. Egypt venerated a plethora of gods--the sun-god, the god of storms, the Nile River--even Pharaoh was a god. Each god was represented by a different symbol: the vulture, the frog, the scorpion, and so on. The Egyptians worshiped the creation rather than the Creator. Not only was Pharaoh ignorant of the true God, he was closed to the whole idea of becoming acquainted. For him to worship the Creator would mean a considerable loss of power and status, and letting the Israelites go,  be hard on the economy--a major loss of free labor. Pharaoh was adamantly opposed to such an idea.
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh...I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them...with mighty acts of judgment." [Exodus 6:1,6]
God told Moses that He would bring judgments on Egypt in the form of plagues. Only under these conditions would Pharaoh let the Israelites go.  disconcerting. If God brought plagues on Egypt, what would Pharaoh do in retaliation?  encouraged the Israelites by reminding them of his promise to  forefathers. 
"I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God...And I will bring you to the land I swore [or pledged] with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD." [Exodus 6:7,8]
God said  the Israelites would be his people. This did not mean that only the people of Israel could follow the true God, but it did mean that  was making it easier for the different nations of the earth to know just what God was like and how he related to man. All that the world would need to do is look at Israel and they would see a full-color, surround-sound, living lesson  how God dealt with mankind! 
 bring plagues on Egypt in order to deliver Israel. ...
"Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians." [Exodus 6:7]
 lesson to be learned...
"And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it." [Exodus 7:5]
God was going to teach both nations the same thing: that He alone is God.  Pharaoh  have nothing to do with Moses and Aaron. So God told them:
"Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him...Then say to him, 'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go...But until now you have not listened.' 
"This is what the LORD says: 'By this you will know that I am the LORD:...I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.'" [Exodus 7:15-18]
And that's exactly what happened. God struck right at the heart of the Egyptian religion by making one of their gods, the Nile, turn to blood. God made their god stink. He made the river abhorrent to them! But...
"...Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron...and did not take even this to heart." [Exodus 7:22,23]
And so a cycle began. God would warn Pharaoh to let the Israelites go; Pharaoh would say NO; and God would bring a plague, each one targeting another of the Egyptian gods. 
First the Nile was turned to blood.
Then God sent a scourge of frogs--in every nook and cranny. In food, in beds--everywhere.
This was followed by swarms of aggressive gnats.
Flies supplanted the gnats.
Then an epidemic struck the cattle--they all died.
After that, the people were tormented with festering boils.
Then a massive hail storm ravaged their crops.
What the hail left behind was devoured by a horde of locusts.
Finally, the true God struck at the false god, the sun, with a curse of darkness so thick it could be felt.
In all, God sent ten plagues--the last and  most devastating was yet to come. God spoke to Moses and Aaron:
"Now the LORD had said to Moses, 'I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.'
"This is what the LORD says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill...'" [Exodus 11:1,4,5]
 indeed, falling on Egyptians and Israelites alike if they did not follow God's instructions.  God as a just God, was bringing judgment on sin, but as a God of ,  mercifully  a way of escape. 
Take a lamb...
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, "...on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household." [Exodus 12:1,3]
 a male, without blemish. It couldn't be deformed or defective in any way. God was asking for a perfect lamb. 
"The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats." [Exodus 12:5]
 kill the lamb at the appointed time. 
 "Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight." [Exodus 12:6]
pply  to the door posts and  the lintel.
"Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs." [Exodus 12:7]
 inside the house  until morning. 
"Not one of you shall go out the door of his house until morning." [Exodus 12:22]
bones.
"It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones." [Exodus 12:46]
 "I will pass over," and judgment would not come upon that household.
"On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn--both men and animals--and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
"The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt." [Exodus 12:12,13]
When God came in judgment to kill the firstborn, He would pass over every house where the blood was applied. "The Israelites did just what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron." [Exodus 12:28]
Their obedience was outward evidence that they were  trust in God's word you can imagine what would have happened if a fellow had reasoned to himself: "This is ridiculous, killing  best lamb. I have an old cripple,  do."
Or, if one called to his friends, "Hey guys, it's a beautiful night . Let's have our party outside." 
Or, if another said, "No way am I going to mess up my door posts with  blood--gross! I'll dump it on the ground outside the back door."
 would God have passed over? Obviously not. They may have done it with the but they   be doing their own --just like Cain, and the people of Noah's day.  would judge them along with the Egyptians. 
On the other hand, what if an Egyptian happened by, and  heard that God was going to send a final plague? And that Egyptian got to thinking: "You know, our gods are false. The Israelites worship the only true God. I want that God to be my God. What does  require of me?" And then that same Egyptian, putting his faith solely in God's , followed the instructions for the Passover. Would God pass over his house that night? Would he escape punishment? Yes, he would--because coming to God in God's way. His faith would be honored by God who would extend to him grace and mercy. 
"At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 
"Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead. 
"During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me." 
"The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. "For otherwise," they said, "we will all die!" 
"And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of Egypt... [Exodus 12:29–33,51]
 God had been gracious with Pharaoh. He had given him many chances to let the Israelites go, but to refuse, God said he would judge the  did just that. God is not like us. We may threaten to discipline our children, but often we never follow through. But God always keeps His Word. The Egyptians were judged.
On the other hand, the Israelites experienced  because they believed . When he came in judgment, wherever he saw the blood applied, he passed over . The firstborn lived--but only because  lamb died.  It had been this way from the very beginning. God had accepted Abel's sacrifice as a death payment in Abel's place. When Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice, the ram died in Isaac's place. Now with the Passover, the lamb died in the place of the firstborn. 
These substitutionary sacrifices were visible statements of each person's trust in God as their Savior. Because they believed the Lord, they obeyed him.
"This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD--a lasting ordinance." [Exodus 12:14]
 And so the Israelites were freed from their bondage and thrust out of the land by their former masters. God had kept his promise--it happened just the way he had said it would.
Chapter 8, Section 1
The Israelites were a disheveled crowd as they started off on their long journey. The Egyptians sped their departure by loading them down with valuables and, with no time to pack in an orderly fashion, they left in a mighty rush, driving their livestock before them. Multiply those factors with their approximate number--2 ½ million--and you have confusion! Moses was  leader, but how do you yell, "This way!" to such a multitude?  even the best gawkers and rubberneckers  couldn't  spot Moses! God solved the dilemma.
"By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night." [Exodus 13:21]
With a trailblazing beacon,  able to organize themselves immediately. All they had to do was  look ahead and follow the special could even travel at night, courtesy of God's  pillar of fire. This was crowd-control on a grand scale! 
"When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, 'If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.' So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle." [Exodus 13:17,18]God was watching out for the Israelites. He led them out into the Sinai wilderness where virtually no one lived.  this desolate wasteland was devoid of enemies, but there was also very little food. So the people let loose with a massive grumble session.
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death." [Exodus 16:2,3]
the people complained and even wanted to return to slavery. Their cynical attitude towards God's provision was saddening, for the Lord had shown vigilant care for them and he wasn't about to abandon them. They should have asked God for food, for he wanted to be their provider. But no, they grumbled!
The LORD said to Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, `At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'" 
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. 
Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat."  Exodus 16:11–15
God provided them with meat and bread and they didn't even have to work for it. Every day the bread was available to be gathered and every day they would be reminded: it is God who . They must have felt a little embarrassed for having griped in the first place. God was teaching the Israelites yet another lesson.
 the bread had a purpose greater than food. God said ... 
"In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions." Exodus 16:4b
God told Moses to tell the people to gather only as much bread as they could eat in one day. It was an easy instruction , 
However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them. Exodus 16:20
 it was a simple lesson,  no one was hurt, but through it the people learned that  meant what he said. and  was  to be trusted. Disobedience was fraught with hazards. 
"The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. So they quarreled with Moses and said, 'Give us water to drink...Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?'
"Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." [Exodus 17:1-4]
So much for learning from past mistakes. The people were back in the grumble and gripe mode, only this time it had to do with water.
"The LORD answered Moses, 'Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff...I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.'
"So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel." [Exodus 17:5,6]
On occasion you see an artist's rendition of this  miracle. Moses is portrayed as standing by a rock holding his staff, and a little stream of water about the size you'd expect  kitchen faucet is spurting onto the ground. The truth of the matter is ,  must have been quite a gush. There was a vast throng of thirsty people to water, plus all their livestock. This was not a trickle, but a mighty torrent! The Bible says:
"He opened the rock, and water gushed out; like a river it flowed in the desert." [Psalms 105:41]
Again, the Lord provided for the people's needs even though they really didn't deserve it. God, as their Creator-Owner, could have cracked the whip; told them to sit up and behave themselves. After all, sin does have consequences. But God was patient and gentle. He showed them grace-- undeserved kindness. As a sinner, man does not deserve God's gracious love, but God cares for man in spite of his sin. 

Chapter 8, Section 2
 had said that the Israelites were His people, and as such, they were to be an example to the rest of the world of God's relationship to man and man's relationship to God. But the Israelites had a lot to learn about the Lord. God's process of revealing himself  was continuing, and the next major revelation of his character was about to begin.
"In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there...in front of the mountain. 
"Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, 'This is what you are to say to...the people of Israel: "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.'" [Exodus 19:1–6]
In simple terms God was saying, "If you obey me, then you will be accepted by me, and you will be a statement to all the other nations of what I am like." The one condition--the big catch phrase was , "if you obey me, then ..."
So far the Israelites had a miserable track record. They  gathered more bread than they needed, even when the Lord clearly told them not to. They  grumbled rather than trusted. An honest response to God's words would have gone like this: "God, we are failures at following your word. You are holy and we are sinful. If you are looking for us to be holy priests--if you are going to accept us on the basis of how well we obey You--we're in trouble!" 
But when Moses gathered all the people together and asked them how they felt about God's declaration, he received an enthusiastic green light.
"The people all responded together, 'We will do everything the LORD has said.' So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD." [Exodus 19:8]
They all echoed with  "Sure God, anything you ask us is fine.  make great priests. Holiness is no problem either.  make the best holy nation  ever seen. We can do it!" Well, maybe that is a little exaggerated, but you get the idea. The truth of the matter was that man, at this time, could not fully understand holiness or righteousness, so God was going to spell it out in  detail.
The lesson started with some visual aids.
"And the LORD said to Moses, 'Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.'" [Exodus 19:10-11]
"Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, 'Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.'" [Exodus 19:12]
"On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
"Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him." [Exodus 19:16–19]
God's final visual aids were frighteningly impressive--thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, the blast of a loud trumpet, smoke,  all the people shook! As sinful , man had good reason to tremble in the presence of a holy God.  was getting his point across.
In the next few minutes,  would make a quantum leap in the available knowledge of what God was like. God was about to define  It was like God was saying, "You have seen with your own eyes that I am a God who cares for you. Now I have never done this before--I've never laid things out so clearly before--but if you will obey the ten rules that  you, then you will be a holy people--a special people with a special relationship, belonging just to me. other nations will be able to see that fact." 
Then  spoke:
Rule # 1
"I am the LORD your God...You shall have no other gods before Me." [Exodus 20:2-3]
 anyone or anything else. The reason given was clear:
"I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God." [Isaiah 45:5]
There was only one God to be honored.  it wasn't a matter of trusting a god, it had to be the God-- true God.  those who desired to be righteous,  must only worship the Lord. 
 Rule # 2 
"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them…" [Exodus 20:4-5]
The first rule said  we should not worship another god. second command  man an image or  idol of any god, or false. God didn't even want mankind bowing down to  images, icons, or pictures which represented himself. Since  is a spirit, there is no need for man to form a physical image of him. No man-made image is worthy of worship--only the true God is. 
"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols." [Isaiah 42:8]
Another of God's requirements for holiness--to be accepted by the Creator God--was that one must not worship any image or picture of him or his creation.
Rule # 3
"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." [Exodus 20:7]
 always be respected. As  Sovereign God, even his name is not to be used lightly. As the Judge of all the earth, he deserves reverence. As King, he is worthy of our utmost honor. Rule #3  clear. To be , one must also esteem the Most High God. Rule #4
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work…" [Exodus 20:8-10]
God was telling the Israelites that they were to keep the seventh day, Saturday, as a rest day. This special day would show the rest of the world that God had established a  distinct relationship with them. The Bible says: 
"Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.'" [Exodus 31:13]
God wanted the Israelites to know that to be holy they must honor the Sabbath as a special sign of distinction.
Rule #5
"Honor your father and your mother…" [Exodus 20:12]
In this command, God said that children should esteem their parents. God says that the normal family should be a place of peace, not hostility. Children are to be respectful and obedient.  in this context, parents are assumed to be looking out for the best interests of their family.
God was telling all children that holiness demands that they have an honorable relationship with their parents. Rule # 6
"You shall not murder." [Exodus 20:13]
God had given life to  it was wrong  to take the life of another. But  had more than the action of murder in mind. He was also targeting the intent behind the action.
The Bible tells us that ...
"God...judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
… Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." [Hebrews 4:12-13]
Because God looks on the heart, he interprets murder on a much broader plane than we do.  considers certain types of anger as murder. 
"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment...anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell." [Matthew 5:21–22]
To meet God's standard of , one must not lose his temper, or be angry without just cause. 
Rule #7
"You shall not commit adultery." [Exodus 20:14]
God was saying that the only acceptable time to have sex is after  married, and the only rightful person is your marriage partner. 
But then  goes one step further. Because he looks at the heart, he knows when someone has sinful thoughts. 
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." [Matthew 5:27-28]
To look at someone to whom you are not married with the desire to have sex, means you have broken this law. To be holy means one must have a pure mind as well as pure actions. 
Rule #8
"You shall not steal." [Exodus 20:15]
God does not want anyone to take things that belong to others. God is the one who gives  person the right to own property. To steal is to disobey the Lord, and  one who has stolen cannot be considered . 
Rule #9
"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." [Exodus 20:16]
Man should always be honest, for God will have no part in deceitfulness. Earlier we saw that Satan is a liar, that by his very nature he is deceitful. But God is the direct opposite. Truth comes from God's nature--it's his very essence. He is the ...
...God, who does not lie... [Titus 1:2]
When  tells us something, we can count on it being true, because ...
… it is impossible for God to lie... [Hebrews 6:18]
Because God is true, to him all lying is a defiant slap in the face. Satan is the father of lies, and anyone who tells a lie is following Satan's agenda. False accusations, slander, libel, gossip--all of these are sinful according to  law.
Rule #10
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." [Exodus 20:17]
Man must not envy  possessions, their abilities, their looks, or whatever they may have.
had said, "I will be like the Most High," coveting God's position. To covet, to be greedy or jealous, is sin and totally unacceptable to . 
 concluded. God had them stone,  change. what the Lord considered to be sin. One of the biblical writers reflecting on this truth wrote ...
"… Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.'" [Romans 7:7]
But questions remained. Just how strict was God about following these rules? ? What did God expect?

 The might be thought  vague unless one knows how and when the rules  to be obeyed. there any exceptions? Suppose a person had committed adultery sometime in the past. Would God hold that against him forever? 
 to begin with, God tells us that to be accepted by him, we must keep all ten of the commandments--every one of them!
"Again I declare to every man...that he is obligated to obey the whole law." [Galatians 5:3]
We can't  No, God is very specific. We are required to obey all of them.  not only that, but ...
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." [James 2:10]
 if we disobey just one command-- ONCE-- God cannot accept The Lord is utterly perfect in his holiness, and he can only accept those who are perfect in their righteousness. Man's righteousness must equal God's righteousness or the relationship cannot be restored.
 not only must we keep the whole holds us accountable for all sin, even the sin of which we are not aware.
"If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, even though he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held responsible." [Leviticus 5:17]
On one occasion I was teaching this to a young couple. As I reached this point in the lesson, the fellow banged his fist on the table and  swore. ( his girlfriend pointed out to him that  just laws by misusing God's name. )  he said, "God is not fair!  "there is, if this is the only way  I can be accepted by God, he's made it impossible. There is no way  I can keep that list of rules perfectly!"  very evident.
 God knew that man could not keep this list of rules flawlessly. It was no surprise to him. His intention in giving the Ten Commandments is clear. 
"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says...that every mouth may be stopped [silenced], and all the world may become guilty [accountable] before God." [Romans 3:19 NKJV]
This verse is saying two things:
 silences those who say their lives are good enough to be accepted by God. No one can  study  without sensing their sinfulness. 
 the ten commands show us that we are indeed law-breakers.  In the beginning man had been God's friend, innocent of all evil. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God's instructions, God laid aside the mantle of friendship and  donned the magistrate's cloak. Now, instead of God being a friend of man, He was a judge, summoning man to the courtroom bench. No lawyer rose to defend man's cause. None could. No advocate, no matter how clever, could lead the court into thinking that the condemned was anything but what he was. There  hung jury. No bribes. The perfect Judge spoke. The verdict was in. Man was GUILTY of breaking God's Law. 
"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." [Romans 3:20]
The purpose of the ten laws  to make us aware or conscious that we are sinners, . It shows us God's holiness and our sinfulness. It's a simple measure of  right and  wrong. The Ten Commandments are like a thermometer--it can show us that we are sick, but it does not contribute to making us better.
In many ways, the Ten Commandments are to us as a mirror is to a dirty face. If you are alone, you can't tell whether or not your face is clean. Someone could point at you and say, "Your face is filthy," but you could deny it outright and say, "My face isn't dirty--I  see anything!" and you might truly believe But if given a mirror, you could see that your face was indeed grimy and you would no longer be able to deny the fact. Your mouth would be silenced. You would  guilty of having a dirty face.
It's the same way with .  did not really know what sin was until God gave us the Law. Just as the mirror exposed the dirt, so the ten rules made us aware of  sin. 
 the ten commands were not given as a list of rules to keep in order  right with God. That wasn't the Law's purpose. It would be like trying to rub the dirt off your face with a mirror! Mirrors are designed for reflecting, not cleaning. In fact, there's a good chance that, in the process of trying to clean yourself with the mirror, you would smudge the glass, thus hampering its ability to give a clear reflection. People who try to be accepted by God by keeping the Ten Commandments modify or minimize the commands so  not look so bad. 
  another way of looking at this. Remember how we compared our view of a , maggot-infested rat  God's viewpoint on sin? Well, trying to please the Lord --it doesn't make it any more appealing to us.  still rotten, .  in the same way, keeping the Ten Commandments doesn't make us any more acceptable to God. We're still sinners. 
 this brings us back to the reason for the ten . God gave the Law ...
"...so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful." [Romans 7:13]
 God wants us to see all sin, big or small, the way he sees it--utterly sinful, totally destructive, grossly offensive, thoroughly repulsive, appalling, malignant, filthy. He wants us to comprehend that his purity far exceeds any righteousness we might achieve on our own. He wants us to understand that even at the best times, our goodness is not equal to his holiness. It doesn't even come close.
this man could have boasted that God loved him  than another, because he thought himself to be a better person. But with the giving of the Law, God was bringing everyone to the point of realizing that ...
"Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." [Psalm 51:5]
Now, not only could man know his true sinfulness, but he could catch a glimpse of the Lord's perfection. God's holiness--his righteousness--was beyond man's reach, unattainable. The chasm caused by sin was wider than man expected. Because no one could keep the Law perfectly, the Law could not bridge the gap.
undoubtedly reflects the thinking of many people today. The Bible says that the Israelites shook with fear, but probably the great majority were only terrified by the thunder and  lightning. They were caught up in the externals, alarmed only by the tremendous display of power. As for the ten rules, they missed the point--they felt they could obey them just fine. So do many people today. They focus on obeying the commands and miss their purpose. On the other hand, there were those Israelites who had just gained a deep awareness of God's righteousness. They now knew what God meant when He said holiness equals sinlessness. They feared too, but for another reason. They knew they could never keep such a set of laws perfectly.
for whatever reason, the Bible says the Israelites trembled."They stood at a distance and said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.'" [Exodus 20:19]"The LORD said to Moses, 'Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.'" [Exodus 24:12]
The Ten Commandments were now in force and the Israelites were  accountable to keep them as a moral standard. But for those who were honest with themselves, they now knew that  If they were going to be accepted by God, they would have to come another way.
"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." [Isaiah 64:6]
Chapter 9, Section 1
As we said in the last , no doubt there were those Israelites who thought they could be acceptable to God by keeping the Ten Commandments. Foolishly, they had chosen a path that led into a spiritual wilderness. On the other hand, there were others who were  ready for God to show them the only way to acceptance.
 taking the broad scope of Scripture, let's speculate for a moment. If God was writing a lesson plan to teach man exactly what he must do to be right or righteous with him, how would he have started? Just what would have been his first point? 
man swimming across a river was caught in the swift-flowing current. Floundering, he called for help!  people were watching but none were capable of helping the drowning man, except one strong swimmer.
Those on the bank kept urging this likely rescuer to go to the drowning man's assistance. But he . He stood watching while the struggle for survival became more and more desperate. Finally, when the man became utterly exhausted, the strong swimmer dived into the water and pulled him ashore.
When the people criticized the rescuer for waiting so long, he said, "The drowning man would never have allowed me to help him while he had any strength of his own. I could only save him when he gave up trying to help himself."
the first step to approaching God is to realize  you are a helpless sinner, incapable of saving yourselves from the eternal consequences of sin.
 had presented his lesson this way, you could almost  the Israelites  out in frustration, "But God,  already made that point. We know that!"
 we could presume that God would reply, "Yes, I know, but that is the very point I want you to understand. The first step to acceptance by me is to realize that you are a helpless sinner. I  only rescue,  those 
lesson may be imaginary, but the application is  fact .  consistently . Now let's go a step further.
The LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.
Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them." Exodus 25:1,2,8
The Israelites were to build a sanctuary, a sacred place called the Tabernacle, where God could live among them.
 he needed a house. Rather, God was creating an elaborate visual aid.  as we study,  slowly gain an understanding of its full meaning. It's  important piece of the puzzle.
It  began with God asking for voluntary contributions for a building project. He only wanted people to give willingly, from the heart. There were no appeals or arm-twisting. What each one gave was up to him. However, God made one thing clear: 
"Make this Tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you." [Exodus 25:9]
The Tabernacle could be disassembled and moved. The tent-like portion had solid walls with rug-like coverings  the roof.  It was divided into two parts: one-third Holy of the other two-thirds forming The Holy Place. A heavy curtain, sometimes veil, separated the two areas. 
The Veil blocked all outside light from entering the Holy of Holies.
"The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place." [Exodus 26:33b]
The Tabernacle was completed with an external courtyard which, in turn, was surrounded by a fence approximately seven feet, or 2 meters, in height. Access to the entire compound  through gate. 
There were seven primary pieces of furniture  inside the tent and outside in the courtyard. "There, above the [atonement] cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites." [Exodus 25:22]
was placed squarely before the curtain, The Holy of Holies.  incense was offered on  as the Israelites gathered outside to pray. The scent wafting  the sky was  of prayers going up to God.
The size of the lampstand was not defined by God, but we  know its shape. It had a main shaft branching into seven arms. The fact that it was made of pure gold undoubtedly limited its size.
used for ceremonial washing, signified that man must be pure when he approached God.
 It was quite large. made of wood overlaid with bronze, having four horns on the corners. ...
"Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons... so they may serve me as priests." [Exodus 28:1]
God asked Moses to appoint Aaron and his sons as priests in the Tabernacle. appointed as the High Priest. God set these men apart from the others, not because they were special in themselves, but because  wanted the people to respect His priests were specially trained to perform God's instructions  and  as custodians, taking care of  as the nomadic Israelites moved from one place to another. 
 entire structure was finished nine months after the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai.
"Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the LORD had commanded. [Exodus 39:43]
"So the Tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year." [Exodus 40:17]
 the Tabernacle  completed, 
"Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting ...
"Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the Tabernacle." [Exodus 40:34,35]
 with the Tabernacle in place, it was time to implement this large visual aid. God said to Moses ...
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When any of you brings an offering to the LORD, bring as your offering an animal from either the herd or the flock ...'" [Leviticus 1:2]
 God was telling man to bring a sacrifice to the Tabernacle. It had to be 
"...from the herd..." [Leviticus 1:3]
It could be a sheep, goat or bullock, but it could not be any other animal such as a pig, . They were to 
"...offer a male..." [Leviticus 1:3]
 it was to be 
"...without defect..." [Leviticus 1:3]
There could be no disease nor lameness.
"...He must present it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting so that it will be acceptable to the LORD..." [Leviticus 1:3]
 the sacrifice was to be offered just inside the on the Brazen Altar, on this particular altar here.  acknowledging oneself as a helpless sinner, approaching God. the individual bringing  was ...
"...to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it [would] be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him..." [Leviticus 1:4]
 on the head of the , the  was "...A righteous God and a Savior..." [Isaiah 45:21 NASB]"...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." [Hebrews 9:22]"For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life." [Leviticus 17:11]"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." [Romans 4:3]
"But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance." [Hebrews 9:7]"The LORD said to Moses: 'Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.'" [Leviticus 16:2]  "The LORD said to Moses, 'Speak to the Israelites and get twelve staffs from them, one from the leader of each of their ancestral tribes. Write the name of each man on his staff. On the staff of Levi write Aaron's name... Place them in the Tent of Meeting in front of the Testimony, [which is the Ark of the Covenant] where I meet with you.'" [Numbers 17:1-4]
"'The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.' So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron's staff was among them. Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the Tent of the Testimony. The next day Moses entered the Tent of the Testimony and saw that Aaron's staff, which represented the house of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds." [Numbers 17:5-8]"The LORD said to Moses, 'Put back Aaron's staff in front of the Testimony, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious.'" [Numbers 17:10]"This ark contained the gold jar of manna [bread], Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant [the Ten Commandments]" [Hebrews 9:4]"...into the second [room of the tabernacle], only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people" [Hebrews 9:7]
"He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will make atonement for the... uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites, whatever their sins have been." [Leviticus 16:15-16]

The Israelites were learning more and more about the Lord.  God was faithfully providing them with food and water. The Bible tells us that God even made their shoes especially durable--they didn't wear out. The Israelites now had  by which to live,  Although observing the Ten Commandments did  with God, it did provide a standard of right living that united the  had also shown his love by providing a way to be accepted--by faith--as evidenced through the blood sacrifice offered  you would think the Israelites would have been eternally grateful for all that the Lord was doing for them. if they were grateful, their outward actions didn't demonstrate it. They began to grumble--again.
in case we should take a self-righteous attitude and think that it was only the Israelites who were hardheaded , we must remember that we are made out of the same flesh and blood.
In a very real sense, the Israelites were functioning as representatives of the entire human race. As such they were becoming much better acquainted with God each year, but the knowledge they gained also brought additional responsibility. The Bible says ... 
"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." [Luke 12:48]
Collectively, the Israelites now knew more about God than all the other nations on earth. 
"They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!'" [Numbers 21:4,5]
These accusations were not true--God,  the Great Provider,  was meeting their needs. But instead of thanking the Lord for his daily care, they accused him of neglect. They ignored God's Law, telling lies and dishonoring his name.
 As  seen before, to break a law has consequences. Just as defying God's law of gravity results in  bones, so violating God's Moral Law has ramifications. 
 in the past, God had repeatedly overlooked   sin--he had been gracious. But the Israelites were no longer beginners in their relationship with their Creator-Owner. They had learned many things about God. They now knew the Ten Commandments and that knowledge made them accountable. God  condone the people's sin and say,  "Oh forget it. we'll pretend it never happened." No, sin  It always does. 
"...the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died." [Numbers 21:6]
From the very beginning, God had said that sin would lead to death-physical , relational  eternal . now that truth was graphically illustrated as many died. 
the Israelites were desperate and  realized that only God could save them . They were helpless.
"The people came to Moses and said, 'We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.'" [Numbers 21:7]
God's purpose in judgment is to  change of attitude--a change of mind.  in the Bible, this change is described by the word repent, .
only during this people repent and be heard by God. After physical death, when the sinner is facing judgment in the Lake of Fire, it is too late to have a change of mind.
 the Israelites,  recognized that they had sinned, so they repented and  asked God to deliver them. They were trusting God again. 
"So Moses prayed for the people.
"The LORD said to Moses, 'Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.'
"So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived." [Numbers 21:7–9]
The serpent on the pole was not some sort of mind-over-matter gimmick. God was simply giving the Israelites an opportunity to demonstrate that they believed Him. When an Israelite was bitten, all he had to do was  turn and look at  bronze serpent  and he would be healed. With that look, the individual expressed his faith in , 
 let's suppose one fellow was bitten and  did not look at the bronze serpent. Instead he told his neighbors, "Old Moses,  really demented. If he thinks looking at that ridiculous snake is going to heal  venomous bite, he's got to be crazy. I don't believe it." such a person would have died, not only because of his snake bite,  he did not believe God. God honors faith, but  judges unbelief.
 important to understand that God holds us responsible for all that we understand of him. We are accountable for what we know. 
Chapter 9, Section 3
 now come to a lesson that compresses centuries of  into just a few .  for those of you  are allergic to history,  be assured that it's a  painless study and, even if you don't understand it all,  pick up needed tidbits of background information, . 
Forty years passed from the time the Israelites left Egypt until the time they entered Canaan. Moses died before he entered the promised country and was replaced by an able general named Joshua.
 after entering the land, it took years before the Israelites were able to fully settle it. The land was divided according to tribes, each tribe equating with, for the most part, one of Jacob's (or Israel's) twelve sons. 
For a period of time the Israelites  God, but then they began to drift from the truth, and ended up  idols. The Lord punished Israel for  false gods by allowing them to be overrun by foreign nations who forced Israel to serve them and  pay tribute. After time the Israelites would repent and call on God to deliver them from their oppressors. God would raise up a leader, called a Judge, and the Israelites would throw  the foreign conquerors. So began a cycle that  last approximately 300 years.  this cycle occurred over and over  again. During this time there were fifteen Judges, 
Of all the nations of the world, Israel was the most fortunate, for God himself was their Leader and King. But as time passed and the Israelites observed other nations, they rejected God and demanded a human king. God granted their request, but their propensity to wander off and  false gods remained.
Israel was to have many kings, but only a few  and . Because of this, the cycle of earlier years continued, only instead of a Judge, they now had a King.
 especially noteworthy. Probably the greatest and  best known of Israel's monarchs was David.  unlike many of the other kings who ruled over Israel, King David truly trusted God. He believed that only God could save him from the consequences of sin. David called the Lord, "my Savior."
King David was also a great Prophet, inspired by God to write down Scripture.  songs, praising God for his love and mercy. David The Promised Deliverer, and God made a pledge to  that The Anointed One would be one of his descendants. King David had a great ambition to replace the portable tabernacle with a permanent structure of a similar design. It would be called the Temple. He wanted to build it in Jerusalem, which had become the capital of the country during his reign. Although David gathered the building materials, it was his son, Solomon, who actually saw the task accomplished.
King Solomon is known for two things: his great wisdom and the Temple he built. This magnificent structure was constructed in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, possibly on the same site where Abraham was prepared to offer Isaac.
After Solomon's death, the nation split in two: the northern ten tribes retained the name Israel, while the southern two tribes became the nation of Judah. This division seemed to be the Israelites' first step towards a semi-permanent distance from God. The northern  tribes led the way. The people,  went through the motions of doing what the Lord said, but their hearts were far from God. 
 God sent prophets, men who not only preached against the wandering morals of the people, but also warned of judgment to come.
Many of these prophets were also prompted by God to write Scripture. Some of them gave specific information about the coming Promised Deliverer.
Generally speaking, the prophets were not well received by the Israelites or their respective kings. There was a reason. The prophets were giving them a message they did not want to hear. For example, the prophet Isaiah told the people ...
"The Lord says: 'These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.'" [Isaiah 29:13]
The majority  the prophets' message and refused to  God. They persecuted and killed them. To complicate matters further, false prophets inspired by Satan churned the spiritual scene. Even though God provided clear instructions to enable his people to discern the difference between truth and error, the false prophets were much more popular, for they were telling the people the very things they wished to hear.
Eventually  did send judgment. The Assyrians invaded the ten northern tribes in 722 BC and took them into captivity. The Bible does not record an organized return of these people to the land of Israel.
tribes continued  as a distinct political entity until 586 BC, when the Babylonians ravished the city of Jerusalem, demolished the great temple of Solomon and took them into exile.
While in exile, the people began to be called Jews, a reference to the fact that most of them were from the tribe of Judah. With the temple no longer available as the center of worship, the Jews introduced the synagogue as a place for social interaction, teaching  of the Scriptures. 
The exile continued for 70 years, but in 536 BC  tribes began to trickle back to their homeland to settle in and around Jerusalem, in the area formerly occupied by the tribe of Judah. The temple was rebuilt, though not in the grandeur of Solomon's day, and the sacrificial system was reinstituted.
 around 400 BC, the biblical record pauses and remains silent for a period centuries. History didn't stand still though. Alexander the Great, the brilliant general of the Greeks, swept through the Middle East   the Jews in the process. His emissaries introduced Greek as the trade language and the Hellenistic culture became a status symbol for centuries to follow.
Some Jews freely embraced the Greek culture, combining it with their beliefs about God. These people were called Sadducees. Though small in number, they were people of wealth and influence. They tended to control the high priest, a position that had come to be bought and sold. Unfortunately, they also denied parts of the Bible as being true. The Sadducees took away from God's Word.
 for about two hundred years, the Jews knuckled under a succession of Greek occupying forces and then in 166 BC they revolted. Judas Maccabeus led the people into a period of autonomy. 
During this time a party of Jewish religious zealots, called Pharisees, came to the forefront. The Pharisees fought  the influence of the Greek culture and clung to the law given to Moses. In their zeal, they created a protective ring of other laws around Moses' law so that none of the real law would be broken. These additional laws became an authority of their own, assuming equal weight with the law of Moses. The Pharisees  added to God's Word.
"Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them... Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you." [Deuteronomy 4:1-2] another significant social force in Jewish life was the Scribes. the human equivalent  photocopiers. Long before the advent of printing presses, these men copied with extreme care the Word of God over and over  again. 
 the Jews' liberty under the Maccabean leadership lasted barely 100 years. The iron heel of Rome crushed the Jews' freedom in 67 BC when General Pompey entered Jerusalem. 
Rome was quite accommodating of the Jewish religion  long as the Jews paid their taxes and did not foment rebellion. The civilized world of the day had entered into an uneasy peace.
 the Roman empire was far too large to be administered effectively from Rome, so local leaders were selected to rule the different regions. In Judea, now a province of Rome, a man named Herod was appointed as a puppet king. He would come to be known as Herod the Great. Cruel beyond belief, Herod was a follower of the Jewish religion in name only. Under Rome's authority,  and his descendants would rule the resentful Jewish world for the next one hundred years. The people yearned for rescue-for one who  give them relief.
More than two thousand years had passed since  Abraham that one of his descendants would be The Promised Deliverer.  the centuries God had those people, sometimes only a few, who believed His Word and were right with him. They had waited in eager anticipation for The Anointed One to come. In these early years of the Roman empire, those who clung tenaciously to God's promises were still waiting to see  fulfilled. The time had come, but they were unaware of it. The stage was now set. The angels of Heaven must have hushed. Satan must have shuddered. Who would this Promised Deliverer be?

Chapter 10, Section 1
Before The Promised Deliverer arrived on the scene, God was going to prepare the Jewish people by sending a special messenger to announce the impending event.  the angels  were  who this select bearer of good tidings might  then news of a different kind leaked through--news having to do with the identity of The Deliverer. It must have left all of heaven gasping. 
"In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah," [Luke 1:5]

"In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah,... his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.
"Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 
"Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. . Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'" [Luke 1:5-17]
The angel had told Zechariah that his son, John, would be the messenger to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. That was news alright, but it was that last tidbit of information that had heaven . God Himself—the Lord—was coming to  earth. HE would be The Promised Deliverer. The news must have stunned Satan.
No doubt Zechariah was floundering  as he tried to absorb . Seeing an angel was unheard of in his day. And the news of Elizabeth having a son at their age was enough to give an old man pause. But then to be informed that the Creator God was coming  as The Promised Deliverer—well,  was simply unbelievable! , Zechariah was familiar with the writings of the prophets. 
Four hundred years before time, the prophet Malachi had written about this event. 
"'See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,' says the LORD Almighty." [Malachi 3:1]
There it was in plain words. Zechariah must have wondered why he had not seen it before. It was obvious! The LORD Almighty had said, “I will send a messenger to prepare the way before me!” God himself would be coming as The Anointed One. Moreover, the angel had said that the messenger who would prepare his way would be the priest’s own son—John. 
Zechariah went home kept his word; it happened just as the angel said it would.
"After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 'The Lord has done this for me,' she said. 'In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.'" [Luke 1:24-25]
But a question must have nagged away at the back of Zechariah’s mind.  just how would the Creator come to earth? Would he come in a golden chariot driving seven white steeds, surrounded with legions of angels all dressed in brilliant light? Would he unseat the Roman rulers— dump Herod off his throne?  the angel had not said.
 The angel made another visit, this time to a young lady by the name of Mary.
"In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee," [Luke 1:26] 

to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary." [Luke 1:26-27
Joseph and Mary were engaged to each other according to their Jewish customs. The Bible says that both Joseph and Mary were direct descendants of King David who had lived 1000 years earlier.
"The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.' 
"Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.'" [Luke 1:28-31]
 she asked a very logical question.
"'How will this be,' Mary asked the angel, 'since I am a virgin?' 
"The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.'" [Luke 1:34-35]
 to be the mother of The Promised Deliverer!  knew the stories well,  way back in the garden of Eden, God had promised Eve that The Promised Deliverer would be her offspring. It did not say their offspring, referring man and woman.  now  the promise was about to be fulfilled, and the child  be born of a virgin—it would be her offspring only. The baby would not have a human father.  to be an insignificant choice of phrasing now carried tremendous weight.
But this little notation in the footsteps of history had greater ramifications. Because the Baby would not be conceived by the seed of the man, the Baby would not be part of Adam’s bloodline. All descendants of Adam had inherited his nature—the sin nature. But Jesus would not be  son of Adam. Rather, he  the Son of God. He would have the nature of the God Most High. No wonder the angel referred to the Baby as the Holy One. The child would be sinless, just as God is sinless. Jesus would be perfect from conception. 
So, God would not be coming with all of Heaven’s pomp and grandeur. Rather, he would arrive on the planet as all mankind had and ever will—as a baby! The angel said...
"'Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.'
"'I am the Lord’s servant,' Mary answered. 'May it be to me as you have said.' Then the angel left her." [Luke 1:36-38]
Mary knew Elizabeth was too old to have a child. Surely if possible for Elizabeth to conceive, then it was just as believable a virgin . Mary chose to trust God.
"When it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son." [Luke 1:57]
John was born just as God had promised. The Bible says it was quite an occasion, and well it should have been, for in that day and age a stigma was attached to those who could not bear children. Zechariah was so thrilled he burst into a speech, a benediction of praise to God. What he had to say was really a mini-tour of the world’s history, punctuated with the repeated promises God had given over the centuries—the promise to send a Deliverer. You can see the elderly Zechariah holding the child high,  his eyes on baby John’s face 
"And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him..." [Luke 1:76]
John would be the messenger who would announce the arrival of The Promised Deliverer to the world.
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." [Isaiah 9:6]"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, [or God’s being]..." [Hebrews 1:3 NASB]"Hewas made visible in human flesh ..." [1 Timothy 3:16 TANT]"In the beginning was the Word... and the Word was God....The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." [John 1:1, 14]
"Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." [1 Timothy 1:15 NASB]

Chapter 10, Section 2
"This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly." [Matthew 1:18]
A Jewish pledge to be married implied a much stronger tie than our western concept of engagement. In almost every sense the couple was considered married. Joseph was called Mary’s husband, and vice versa.  they had not lived together nor had sexual union. According to the customs of that day, to break the engagement a divorce was required.
 Joseph felt. He must have been in . Mary was pregnant and the child  his. To reveal the truth publicly would label Mary for what she must be, an adulteress, unless,  Mary’s preposterous explanation about an angel appearing to her was right. No, that was absurd. The poor girl must be losing her mind. Joseph loved her, but he could not marry a girl who had cheated on him and  was obviously trying to cover it up with an insane story.  what Joseph thought about it all we don’t really know, but we do know that he painfully decided 
"But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.' 
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel'—which means, 'God with us.'" [Matthew 1:19-23]
Joseph could not have heard it any more plainly. Mary was  virgin,  she was going to have a child! The child’s name would be Jesus which means Deliverer or Savior. He would deliver, or save, people from the consequences of their sin. Another of Jesus’ names would be Immanuel, meaning God with us, . Jesus would be God living in human flesh among men. 
The prophet Isaiah had written about this event 700 years before. 
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." [Isaiah 7:14]
So Isaiah had been right! It was happening just as God said it would. But what would everyone think? No matter! There was only one thing to do—he would believe .
"When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son." [Matthew 1:24-25]
"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world." [Luke 2:1]
Caesar needed money, and if the Romans got an accurate census, more people would have to pay taxes.  doubtful that Joseph was  happy. His wife was almost due. Being a carpenter by trade, he’d probably been working on a crib and arranged with  local midwife for a clean, safe place for the baby’s delivery. Now,  he was required to take his wife to Bethlehem, which a thousand years before had been King David’s ancestral home. A seventy mile, kilometers trip with a wife who might give birth any day was not a welcome thought when you had to travel  donkey or on foot. Why did the Romans have to come up with this idea now ? Why not take the census in Joseph’s home town, Nazareth? This was very awkward.  But the Romans weren’t giving people any choice.  have to take Mary to Bethlehem.
"And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn." [Luke 2:3-7]
So Jesus was born in Bethlehem, far from Joseph and Mary’s .  was so crowded that the only place where they could find lodging was in a stable. Jesus’ first crib was a manger, a trough for feeding cattle. As Joseph looked at his wife, it must have seemed like his  plans had all gone wrong. Bethlehem! Of all places! And in a musty stable! But as he looked at the child, sensed that everything was right. Very much right.
"And he gave him the name Jesus." [Matthew 1:25]
"And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' 
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'" [Luke 2:8-14]
The shepherds had been minding their own business, tending their sheep as they always had. Often sheep from their flocks were used in the temple sacrifices in Jerusalem only a few miles north of Bethlehem. Life continued as usual. But now the angels had come, and their whole world was askew. The shepherds must have excitedly queried each other, “Did you hear what I heard? The Christ is the Lord!”
The Greek word Christ is the same as the Hebrew word Messiah.   one. For centuries the name Messiah  to The Promised Deliverer.
Now the angels were saying that The Anointed One—the Messiah,  Christ— was the Lord. He was God Himself. 
"When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'
"So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child..." [Luke 2:15-17]
The shepherds were poor men, not the sort of folks that one would normally expect to be invited to the birth of a King. But there were others on their way to see Jesus.
"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.'" [Matthew 2:1-2]
The Magi were men of status and wealth.  Such men could be expected to visit a king. The king enthroned in Judea at this time was Herod the Great who, no doubt, had been alerted to this rather prestigious company. They could hardly have escaped the notice of the sentries guarding Judea’s borders. Their visit could not have been perceived as a threat as they were not leading armies. All they had was a question: “Where  the newborn King?”
"When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him." [Matthew 2:3]
That single question really rocked Herod. He held his authority as  king  clenched , and he would crush anyone who dared try to wrench it from him. whole city  as well. Herod was known to be cruel to his citizens, especially when he was upset. 
 knew what he might do.  Herod called  his religious advisors.
"When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born." [Matthew 2:4]
You can see an agitated scribe blowing  dust off a small scroll. His fellow sages bend over the papyrus and with rheumy eyes scan the text.  a little rattled. They want Herod to understand said these things. A prophet by the name of Micah had written it over 700 years earlier. A shaky finger points to a well-worn part of the document. Herod disdains to look. A scribe clears his raspy throat and reads:
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting." [Micah 5:2 NKJV]
clearly said that the One to be born had lived from everlasting. Herod must have been ashen. It couldn’t be. Only God was eternal. God would never come to earth as an infant, especially to be born in the backwoods of Bethlehem. He would arrive with trumpets and chariots—in Jerusalem. Aha! Perhaps the scribes were intentionally trying to alarm him, to manipulate him. It wouldn’t hurt to humor them. He would show them what sort of worship new kings could expect. He shooed out  priests...
"Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.' 
"After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh." [Matthew 2:7-11]
These men of wealth and status worshiped Jesus. The law was very specific—only the God Most High was to be worshiped. Joseph and Mary knew the Ten Commandments well and yet they did not intervene. They must have known deep  inside that the Magi were worshiping God—God who had come in human flesh. 
"And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
"When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 'Get up,' he said, 'take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.'
"So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod." [Matthew 2:12-15]
Consistent with what secular history records of him, Herod did make an all-out effort to kill Jesus, but the child remained safe in Egypt. Eventually Herod died, and so Joseph, Mary and Jesus moved back to Nazareth where Joseph worked as a carpenter.
"And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him." [Luke 2:40]

Chapter 10, Section 3
Although Jesus was God himself, he chose to enter the human race as a baby. It must have been quite an experience for Joseph and Mary to raise this child. Jesus was sinless. Even as a youngster, he never became impatient, never talked back or threw a temper tantrum.  little is told of Jesus’ younger years, but one story was recorded about him at the age of twelve. 
"Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover." [Luke 2:41]

When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom." [Luke 2:41-42]
According to Jewish culture, at puberty a boy became a *full member of the religious community. As such, he had all the privileges and responsibilities accorded to a young man. As Joseph and Mary took the customary trip to Jerusalem, Jesus’ coming of age could not have been far from their minds.
With the feast over, everyone headed home.  though we don’t know all the details of the trip, we can imagine how the events unfolded. Probably the folks from Nazareth all traveled together for  company Because the children walked slower, they, along with the women and some of the men, left early in the morning to get a head start. The rest of the men would have stayed behind for last-minute visiting and out to catch up with the rest of the group at dusk.
"After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day." [Luke 2:43-44]
You can picture Mary leaving at sunrise. Jesus was nowhere in sight, but she wasn’t alarmed. Jesus was at the age when he was expected to be a man.  be hanging back with the others as they visited in the temple complex. No doubt he was with Joseph. At the very thought Mary smiled with satisfaction. And what a wonderful young man he was! She was  glad he could take the extra time to listen to the wise men in the temple.
 dusk fell as Joseph arrived at the prearranged spot along with the other men. They’d had a good day too, filled with learning. They had spent  extra time listening to the scholarly men of the temple teach God’s Word; then they had discussed the teaching en route as they hurried to catch up with the women. His only regret was that Jesus hadn’t remained with . After all, he was at  age when he was expected to shoulder the responsibilities of a young man. He could have learned so much. But obviously gone on ahead with Mary and the rest of the children. He must remind Jesus that he was growing up. It wasn’t often that he had to do that. Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember ever reminding Jesus about anything. Then Joseph spotted Mary. Both were all smiles:
“Did you have a good day?”
	“Yeah, great!”
“Did Jesus enjoy himself?”
	“Jesus?” 
The smiles disappeared. “I thought... !”
	“, but I thought... ”
"Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him." [Luke 2:44-45]
The search must have been frantic.  They searched all the places a normal boy might be found. The sweets section of the market was thoroughly checked and local construction sites were turned inside out to see if he had lingered to watch. In desperation Joseph retraced his footsteps. The last he had seen Jesus was in the temple. 
"After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers." [Luke 2:46,47]
Jesus was right where he was supposed to be, doing what both Joseph and Mary had wished him to do. There was only one difference. Instead of being instructed by the temple wise men, Jesus was doing the teaching. No, he wasn’t delivering a lecture—but the penetrating questions, the profoundness of his own understanding, the depth of his answers, did not go unnoticed. Indeed, the temple sages were hanging on to every word. The Bible says the learned men were amazed!  no wonder. They were listening to God Himself. Who wouldn’t be dumbfounded in a discussion with the Creator of the universe?!
 learned men weren’t the only ones speechless.  Joseph and Mary were  and, no doubt, much relieved. They found their tongues quick enough. 
"When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, 'Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.'" [Luke 2:48]
Jesus asked them a question. (You’d sort of expect that  God.)
"'Why were you searching for me?' he asked. 'Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?'" [Luke 2:49]
This wasn’t  sassy retort. Jesus that he was right where a child should be—at home in his Father’s house. But what did he mean by Father? Who was this Father  he was referring to? study this more in the next section. For now, all you need to know is that Jesus used this phrase as a gentle reminder to his earthly parents of who he really was.
"But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." [Luke 2:50-52]

Chapter 10, Section 4Jesus  not  officially  his life’s work, John, the son of Zechariah, to prepare the telling who would listen that The Anointed One had arrived. It created quite a stir.
"In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." [Matthew 3:1]
John was being referred to as the Baptist because he was baptizing people. the ritual of baptism was not uncommon to the Middle Eastern people of that day. It was full of meaning.  today, surrounds this word.
This uncertainty is a result of not having a word in the English language that  translates the Greek word baptizo. The translators resolved the problem by creating the word baptism. That’s okay, but it doesn’t help the average person understand its original meaning. 
 baptism implies identification. A common meaning of the word baptizo originated in the early Greek textile industry. In the process of dying fabric, a piece of cloth was plunged into a vat of dye, whereby it took on the color of the pigment.  The cloth was totally ,  identified with the dye. 
 John taught that the Jews had strayed from the Scripture, embracing man’s ideas. And he said they needed to change their mind about their wandering ways and return to God; in short,  repent.  Jews who were baptized  that they identified (or agreed personally) with his message of repentance, 
"People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 
"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.'" [Matthew 3:5-8]
John the Baptist saw that some in his audience were Pharisees and Sadducees. Remember, they were the ones  added to or took away from .  these two sects did not have much use for each other, but they had one thing in common—they both thought they were a cut above the ordinary. They were proud. John called them a bunch of snakes because they unbearably strict rules on others, but did not practice what they preached. He told them to repent, to have a change of mind.
"Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?'" [Matthew 3:13-14]
John recognized who Jesus was— was God.  did not need to repent of anything because he was perfect, . John knew that he was the one who needed to be baptized, not Jesus.
"Jesus replied, 'Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.' Then John consented." [Matthew 3:15]
Jesus insisted on being baptized because he wanted to be identified with John’s message of righteous living. He wanted to affirm John’s message as being true. 
"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'" [Matthew 3:16-17]
 in a moment,  look at this verse in  depth, but finish the story.
"The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, "A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me."'" [John 1:29-30]
John identified Jesus as The Promised Savior, the one who would take away the sin of the world. He said that Jesus had lived before him—eternally. John said... 
"I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." [John 1:34]
On one occasion, I was teaching a young couple, step by step through the Bible.  upon reading this verse, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”, the lady  came alive!  in an excited, animated voice she ,  
I told her,  “Yes, it does... and when the time comes, it will all fit together in a way  incredible sense.”
"God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...'" [Genesis 1:26 NKJV]
"And the LORD God said, 'The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.'" [Genesis 3:22]
"'Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.' So the LORD scattered them..." [Genesis 11:7]"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." [Luke 1:35]
"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'" [Matthew 3:16-17]

"Jesus said... 'Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord.'" [Mark 12:29 NKJV]
"You thought that I was just like you..." [Psalm 50:21]"The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us..." [Deuteronomy 29:29]
Chapter 11, Section 1
At the beginning of creation, Lucifer defiantly rebelled against God, grasping after His position. Now God the Son, though still fully God, had set aside all his visible glory and majesty to leave Heaven and come to earth as a human being. Jesus must have appeared very vulnerable to Satan. If he could only entice Jesus to do his bidding, it would be a great victory. From God's perspective, it was time to reveal something more about himself.
"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry." [Matthew 4:1,2]
Jesus had just completed a lengthy time without food. Although  is God, he a real man with real physical needs.
"The tempter came to him and said, 'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.'" [Matthew 4:3]
Satan was suggesting that Jesus do something that everyone would understand, namely, take care of his physical well-being. It also seemed like a prime opportunity for Jesus to prove who He really was. If  was God, then he had created the world simply by speaking it into existence. To turn stones into  bread would be a simple matter.  But there was a catch. To do so, he would be following Satan's orders.
"Jesus answered, 'It is written: "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God."'" [Matthew 4:4]
 responded to Satan by quoting the Bible, God's written Word. He said that it was more important to follow God than to take care of physical needs.  this is a significant statement, as many people are so concerned about this physical life that they ignore their spiritual well-being.
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" [Mark 8:36 NKJV]

"Then the devil took him to the holy city [Jerusalem] and had him stand on the highest point of the temple." [Matthew 4:5]

"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: `He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" [Matthew 4:5,6]
Now the challenge was brazen. "Prove it! Prove  that you are God's Son! If God is truly your Father, then  save you!" 
Satan was quoting a passage found in  Book of Psalms. Satan loves religion and quoting the Bible is a favorite trick of his. The  problem was  Satan was not quoting  accurately. He was selecting only the portion that suited his purposes. He had done this in the garden of Eden and now he was trying it on Jesus.
Once again, Jesus answered Satan's temptation by quoting the He didn't need to prove Himself.
"Jesus answered him, 'It is also written: "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."'" [Matthew 4:7]
"Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 'All this I will give you,' he said, 'if you will bow down and worship me.'" [Matthew 4:8,9]
 Satan was offering Jesus of the world, if Jesus would only worship . After all, wasn't that what Jesus wanted-for people to follow him? What Satan did not mention was if Jesus worshiped , then  would also be serving him. Worship and service always go together. You can't divide the two. But Satan's  didn't work.  again Jesus quoted Scripture:
"Jesus said to him, 'Away from me, Satan! For it is written: "Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only."'
Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him." [Matthew 4:10–11]
Satan had not succeeded in entrapping Jesus in his treacherous web of deceit. Jesus was above reproach, uncompromising in his resistance to temptation.   retreated temporarily,  still determined to destroy Jesus.
 from  perspective, 
"When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake..." [Matthew 4:12,13]
"committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth." [1 Peter 2:22]"who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. But we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin." [Hebrews 4:15]

Chapter 11, Section 2
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 'The time has come,' he said. 'The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!'" [Mark 1:14,15]
Jesus came offering the Jewish people a new identity, a kingdom led by God. Initially, the people must have been somewhat nonplussed by this offer. Here was Jesus, dressed in homespun clothes.  "Wasn't his kin from Nazareth? His father was a carpenter, I believe." And he was . Kings don't walk! A real king would come on a horse--a steed, with chariots and armies--and  ride right up to Herod's palace. A king would issue a challenge, a royal proclamation of independence. You could never read that into Jesus' message even at the best of times. He said repent. What sort of king would say that? the local gossips were having a heyday. Even the most serious  were twitching with laughter. 
But not everyone was scoffing. Repentance was something that happened inwardly, and the heart was the place where intended to begin his rule. For those who actually met Jesus... well, he was different. His words made you pause and think.
"As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 'Come, follow me,' Jesus said, 'and I will make you fishers of men.' At once they left their nets and followed him. 
"When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. 
"They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law." [Mark 1:16-22]
 those who heard Jesus knew there was something very unusual about him. His teaching commanded attention, and no wonder, they were listening to God Himself. But Jesus not only spoke with authority, he also demonstrated it. 
"Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, 'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!'" [Mark 1:23,24]
This was a case of demon possession. One of Satan's angels was living inside this man, with the man's consent. The demon knew who Jesus was, calling him the Holy One of God! 
"'Be quiet!' said Jesus sternly. 'Come out of him!'" [Mark 1:25]
Because demons always twist the truth for their own purposes, Jesus did not want them telling others who he was. Christ himself validated that he was God by ordering the demon out. 
"The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.
"The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, 'What is this? A new teaching--and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.' News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee." [Mark 1:26–28]
Now the tongues were wagging to a different tune. Jesus' incredible power must have made headline news in the local gossip sessions and this was only the beginning! 
"A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.' 
"Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. 'I am willing,' he said. 'Be clean!' Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured." [Mark 1:40–42]
In ancient times, leprosy was a dreaded disease-- horribly mutilating.  The Bible says  Jesus healed all kinds of , where the person was obviously ill or severely crippled. He even raised the dead!
 it's important to understand that Jesus wasn't putting on a show for the entertainment of the local populace. Jesus not only  compassion for the people he , but he was also establishing that both he and his message were from Heaven. No, he didn't need a horse, a chariot, or an army. All he needed to do was  speak. He was Chapter 11, Section 3
"Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said, 'Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him.' 
"In reply Jesus declared, 'I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.'" [John 3:1–3]
Nicodemus was a man of status. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council that advised the Romans.  a Pharisee,  he kept Moses' law meticulously. As a Jew, descended from Abraham, Nicodemus was part of the people chosen to be  own.  had a privileged ancestry; everything was  right about his birth. But Jesus found fault with it and said, "You must be born again." Jesus was supposed to be giving good news--but this was bad news.  besides, how was it possible to be born again?
"'How can a man be born when he is old?' Nicodemus asked. 'Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!'
"Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, "You must be born again."'" [John 3:4–7]
So that was it. Jesus wasn't talking about Nicodemus' birth as an infant--when he was born of water or born of the flesh. The second birth was about a spiritual birth, a spiritual beginning. Well, that was straightforward enough. To go to Heaven you not only needed a physical birth, but you also needed to be born a second time with a spiritual birth. But how could one be born spiritually? Jesus continued:
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." [John 3:14,15]
 Jesus was saying that to be born again, Nicodemus must be like the people of Moses' day. He must first recognize that he was a sinner. Then he needed to have a change of mind about thinking that his birth and status would make him acceptable with God, and instead trust Jesus to provide a way of acceptance. If he put his faith in him, Jesus said that he would provide Nicodemus with eternal life.
 the word believe in this context implies more than intellectual assent. An Israelite could have that Moses' bronze serpent  heal him, but if he did not demonstrate faith in  by looking at the pole, then he would have died. The biblical meaning of the word includes an act of the will, and is synonymous with faith and trust.
The object of one's faith is also important. A number of years ago, someone with a twisted mind placed deadly poison in the capsules of a pain reliever.  Subsequently, several people . Sincerely believing the medicine to be what was advertised, took the medication and died. They were honestly trusting, but inadvertently trusting in the wrong thing. 
A man might devoutly believe that a UFO could save him from his sin, but sincerity based on erroneous belief is meaningless. However, if the object of  faith is God, such trust will have a very different effect. We've seen that God keeps His Word.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." [John 3:16]
Jesus was promising eternal life, not just to Nicodemus, but to whoever believes in him! The angel had instructed Mary and Joseph to name their son Jesus because that name  Deliverer, Savior. And now Jesus was saying he would deliver man from the  of sin-eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire.
"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." [John 3:17]
Jesus had not come to . Rather he had come to save the world from all the tragedy that sin, Satan and death had brought.
"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." [John 3:18]
Jesus said that those who put their faith in him would not be judged as sinners. But those who did not trust in him were already under judgment. There was no middle ground. One could not say, "Ah, I'll think about it," and comfortably  in a gray zone. You had to  to believe, otherwise you  an unbeliever.
Also, you didn't need to wait until death to find out your eternal destiny. Jesus was stating it in black and white terms. A  was under judgment, bound for the Lake of Fire, until  put  trust in Jesus to deliver him. Then he would have eternal life. This was the promise Jesus was making. 
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." [John 5:24
Jesus wasn't ignoring the judgment of sin. He knew that not everyone would trust him. Many would choose not to do so for their own reasons.
"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." [John 3:19-20]
Jesus was talking about spiritual light versus spiritual darkness. He said that many hate the light because light exposes sin.  People don't like being revealed as sinners. They'd rather hide or blame their sin on someone else, just as Adam and Eve did. The Bible says such people prefer darkness. But what is this light? 
"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" [John 8:12]

"A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them." [Mark 2:1–3[ this was a familiar scenario wherever Jesus went. As soon as he put in an appearance, the sick and lame began to arrive. In this case four men brought a paralyzed friend.
"Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on." [Mark 2:4]
 the houses of  time were typically flat-roofed. Stairs led to the top, making it a cool place to relax in the evening. When the four men could not get close to Jesus, they simply went up on the and lowered the paralyzed man down in front of Jesus. I say "simply," but that only applies to getting up on the housetop. Tearing up the roof must have been . You can imagine the dust and chunks of packed earth that rained down on those inside.  of course, Jesus' lesson was interrupted. Everyone stared at the ceiling wondering what was going on,as the faces of the determined men came into view, probably Jesus' audience took to yelling and carrying on: "For crying out loud! Where's your respect?! we're covered in dust!  the house!" But Jesus saw something different.
"When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven.'" [Mark 2:5]
Jesus was first concerned about the inward man, the heart. It was no problem  him to forgive sin. He's God. But some of his audience had trouble accepting that. Though they didn't say anything out loud, their thoughts were hostile.
Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" [Mark 2:6,7]
They were right--only God can forgive sin!
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things?" [Mark 2:8]
Jesus knew what they were reasoning, and he told them so.  you can imagine the Scribes' mortification. They probably reeled back in their minds trying to remember what they had been thinking ten minutes. One thing was certain--Jesus could read their thoughts! But Jesus wasn't trying to impress them. He had a question.
"Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'?"  [Mark 2:9]
A lawyer could not have framed a more difficult question. You can see the Scribes straining their brains. "The man was obviously paralyzed. To restore the crippled limbs to use,  was impossible. Only God could heal such an infirmity. But if Jesus could give life to withered limbs, then that meant he was...no,  that was unthinkable. God would never come to earth and live like Jesus  was a nobody, living on the dusty outskirts of the empire. The audacity to ask such a question! Who did he think he was anyway? God!?" Jesus answered their query without them asking...
"'...But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...' He said to the paralytic, 'I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.' He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, 'We have never seen anything like this!'" [Mark 2:10–12]
The purpose of the miracles was not to create something equivalent to a vaudeville act or a circus side show. The miracles authenticated who Jesus said he was-that he was God.
"Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's booth. 'Follow me,' Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. [Mark 2:13,14]
Levi was a Jew, he worked as a tax collector for the Romans. These money-grubbers gained their shekels from a hidden surcharge on the tax, and often grossly overcharged the people in order to comfortably line their own pockets. They were hated for their corrupt power and for their willingness to work as bloodsuckers for the Romans. Nevertheless, as Jesus passed the tax office, he invited Levi to follow him.
"While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 
"When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the 'sinners' and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: 'Why does he eat with tax collectors and "sinners"?'
"On hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.'" [Mark 2:15–17]
Jesus could only help those who recognized their own sinfulness. 
 Jesus' constant rebukes must have been galling to the Pharisees. They were losing face. Hoping to catch Jesus in some act of blatant sin, they began to keep a close eye on him.
"Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath." [Mark 3:1,2]
According to the Law, no one was to work on the Sabbath. To do such work was to break God's Law and that would be sin. In the Pharisees' minds, work included such things as performing the  service of a doctor. The Law  say it was wrong to heal on this day, but the Pharisees encircled the Ten Commandments with their own list of rules, and those precepts had taken on the authority of Scripture. So they watched to see if Jesus would heal the man, if he would work on the Sabbath. But Jesus was fully aware of the purpose for which God had given the  knowing the Pharisees' scheme to entrap him, could have avoided a confrontation but he didn't back off.
"Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, 'Stand up in front of everyone.'" [Mark 3:3]
You can see Jesus slowly turn and gaze at those who plotted to accuse him. The moment is frozen...
"Then Jesus asked them, 'Which is lawful on the sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?'" [Mark 3:4]
There he went again, asking loaded questions!  the Pharisees were in a huff-seething with anger and resentment. As the religious answer-men, their credibility was being tarnished.
"But they remained silent.
"He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored." [Mark 3:4b–5]
had caught  in the act. 
"Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus." [Mark 3:6]
Normally such an alliance would have been unthinkable. The Herodians were a political party  supported the rule of Herod and the Romans. On the other hand, the Pharisees despised the Romans--but they hated Jesus even more. If they were going to kill him, they would need Rome's help.
The religious leaders had rejected Jesus. As far as they were concerned, he could not be The Promised Deliverer, 
"Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. 
"Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. He appointed twelve--designating them apostles--that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the twelve he appointed:
"Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 
James, son of Zebedee and his brother...
John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder);
Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot and...Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. [Mark 3:7,8,13–19]
From those who followed him, Jesus selected twelve disciples with whom he would spend extra time. They were a mixed lot comprised of a Rome-employed tax collector on one end of the social spectrum and, on the other end, a zealot pledged to overthrow the Romans. Among the remaining were an assortment of fishermen. Only God could have maintained peace between these rugged men! Regardless of their background, these twelve were all committed to following Jesus through thick and thin. That is, all but one.

"Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. The Jewish Passover Feast was near." [John 6:1–4]
"When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, 'Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?'" [John 6:5]
Jesus was asking questions again. 
"He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
"Philip answered him, 'Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!' [John 6:6,7
"Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 'Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?' [John 6:8,9]
Like a small boy hinting to his father, hoping that Jesus could do something.
"Jesus said, 'Have the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish." [John 6:10,11
The biblical account is stated so matter-of-factly that you almost miss what happened. Jesus had just fed a massive crowd with a boy's lunch. This is not a lesson in exponential multiplication. Jesus divided the bread and fish among his twelve disciples, and they apportioned it to five thousand men--the women and children would have been in addition to this number. This was reproduction of an unheard of magnitude, and Jesus wasn't being miserly. they had enough leftovers for each disciple to take a  home.
"When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, 'Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted.' So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
"After the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, 'Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.'" [John 6:12–14]The men who had benefited from this miracle were so impressed that they decided they would forcibly install Jesus as their king. But Jesus wasn't interested in starting an earthly kingdom,  there would be a time for that in the future. For now  was seeking to rule peoples' hearts. 
"Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. 
"When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, 'Rabbi, when did you get here?' 
"Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.'" [John 6:15,25,26]
Well, there you have it. Jesus could see that the people only wanted him to be king so that they could get free food. They weren't interested in the fact that these miracles revealed that he was The Promised Savior.  Jesus said...
"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." [John 6:27]
The food they ate could only sustain life for a . Sooner or later, they would all die. Therefore, Jesus said their all-consuming goal in life should be to pursue that which would give them eternal life. 
"Then they asked him, 'What must we do to do the works God requires?'
"Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.'" [John 6:28,29]
The people wanted to know what sort of work they would have to do to earn everlasting life. Jesus said  to believe; to trust in him to be their Savior.  all. so simple.
"So they asked him, 'What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? '" [John 6:30]
What was that? They were asking Jesus for a sign to prove that he was God, as if feeding five thousand with a boy's lunch wasn't enough?! What they were really asking another free meal, another loaf of bread.
"Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'
'Sir,' they said, 'from now on give us this bread.'
Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.'" [John 6:32-35]

Chapter 12, Section 1
Jesus was a master storyteller, often parables to make a point. A parable is a story that contains one simple message. In this case, he directed the story to those who thought they were right with God because they trusted in themselves.
"To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.'" [Luke 18:9,10]
In the Jewish culture of  day, Pharisees were viewed as meticulous keepers of Moses' law. In contrast, the tax collectors were considered to be crooks. Now here were two people from opposite ends of the moral spectrum, praying in the same place.
"The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'" [Luke 18:11,12]
In patting himself on the back, the Pharisee mentioned only a couple things that he did or  do. His list could have been lengthy. But that didn't matter. The way he prayed showed the attitude of his heart. He was relying on his own right living,  to make himself righteous before God.
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'" [Luke 18:13]
The tax collector was overwhelmed by awareness that he was a sinner and that he desperately needed God's help. He begged God for mercy, asking him to provide a way to escape the rightful punishment for his sin. Jesus continued:
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." [Luke 18:14]
t's interesting that Jesus tied repentance to humility. The Bible makes it very clear that pride is what caused Satan to fall. It is also pride  causes man to hold back from admitting that  a sinner, needing to trust God. The Pharisee was convinced that, if he was diligent  in observing all the Law and performing good deeds, God would be pleased. He was proud to the point that he was blind to his own need. Jesus said:
"Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." [Mark 7:6–8]
Outwardly, the Pharisees went through the motions of appearing righteous, but inwardly, they were sinful. They also undercut the intent of the Ten Commandments by adding their own man-made rules. Jesus said:
"Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down." [Mark 7:13]
The Pharisees believed that their religious observances, their good works and their Jewish birth would make them right with God.
Jesus said that these things do nothing to make a person acceptable, because evil …
"...come[s] from inside and make[s] a man 'unclean.'" [Mark 7:23]
The Bible is clear on this point: good deeds do not earn a right standing with God. Indeed it says …
"...all our righteous acts are like filthy rags..." [Isaiah 64:6]
Sometimes folk view themselves as models of , but the Bible states quite the opposite. It says that all people …
"...are slaves to sin, which leads to death..." [Romans 6:16]
sin has wrapped its chains around the life of every human.
"I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin." [John 8:34]
We often get frustrated because the harder we try to do that which is right, the more we seem to fail. Just as we get one area of life under control, we find ourselves falling short in another. In every way, the sin nature works against our efforts to live right.  it's no wonder New Year resolutions rarely succeed.
In addition,  the Bible speaks of Satan making man his SLAVE.  this  necessarily mean that a person has been dabbling in the occult;  rather, the Devil manipulates man by temptation and pride to accomplish his ends. Indeed, Satan works very hard to convince man that he is inherently good. The Scripture says that people need to …
"...come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will." [2 Timothy 2:26]
Just because man is a slave to sin and Satan, does not justify a devilish lifestyle. God still holds every  responsible for the choices they make. But being slaves does create a dilemma.  the sort of perfection man needs to enter the presence of a perfect God is far beyond man's capability to achieve.
The age-old  still remains. "How can  get rid  sin and gain a  righteousness, equal to God's righteousness so  can be accepted in  presence?"

Often Jesus used common day to day experiences to illustrate spiritual . Jesus began by reminding his listeners of the sort of pen in which sheep were kept.   enclosure was constructed using stones, upon which thorny vines were encouraged to grow. The purpose of these brambles was to dissuade wild animals  thieves from over the wall. The pen had only one entrance. 
During the day, the shepherd would lead his flock out the pasture for grazing. At night, the flock would be returned to the  and the shepherd would sleep in the entrance. No one could enter, the sheep leave without disturbing the guardian. The shepherd's body literally became the  to the pen.
"Therefore Jesus said again, 'I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep.'" [John 10:7]
Jesus compared those who  him as being sheep, safely secured in the sheep pen.
"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved." [John 10:9]
Jesus said that he alone was the gate. It was only through him that one could be saved from the consequences of sin,  It was only through him that one could have eternal life.
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." [John 10:10]
Thieves do not care about the welfare of  sheep.  the Bible calls  false teachers. fabricate a way to earn eternal life--a way that appears good,   still ends in spiritual death.
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." [Proverbs 14:12]
On the other hand, Jesus came to give a full life, a life abundant with joy. 
"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" [John 14:6]Jesus said:  He is the only way to God.
His Word is the only truth.
 eternal life can only be found in Him.
Jesus emphasized that no one can come to God any other way. Just as the shepherd was the only gate to the sheepfold, so Jesus is the only way to God.

Chapter 12, Section 3
"Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. So the sisters sent word to Jesus, 'Lord, the one you love is sick.'" [John 11:1,3]
Lazarus, Mary and Martha were close friends of Jesus who lived a couple of miles from Jerusalem. At the time of this event, Jesus was on the other side of the Jordan River, a full day's journey from Bethany.
"Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days." [John 11:4-6]
Now that doesn't make sense. In this day of quick-response rescue teams, everyone knows that when someone is seriously ill, you don't dawdle. But Jesus stayed where he was for another two days! What was going on in his mind?
Then he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."
"'But Rabbi,' they said, 'a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?'" [John 11:7-8]
"So then he told them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.'
"On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.
"'Lord,' Martha said to Jesus, 'if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.'" [John 11:14–22]
We are not told what Martha thought Jesus might ask God , but one thing is abundantly clear--she had faith in 
"Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.'
"Martha answered, 'I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.'" [John 11:23,24]
Martha wasn't surprised at Jesus' statement. She knew that the Bible says that all people will come back to life, but that would occur at the end of the world when everyone will be judged by God. Until then, a person only dies once.
"Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'" [John 11:25,26]
These were potent words. Jesus told Martha that Lazarus did not have to wait until the day of judgment to be raised back to life. Jesus was the one who gave life, and therefore had the power to restore life to Lazarus at any moment. Did she believe him?
"'Yes, Lord,' she told him, 'I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.'" [John 11:27]
Martha not only believed Jesus; she also affirmed that he was the Christ--the Messiah, God Himself. 
"'Where have you laid him?' he asked. 'Come and see, Lord,' they replied. Jesus wept." [John 11:34,35]
The Bible doesn't tell us why, but that , that experienced human feelings, even though he  was sinless.
"Then the Jews said, 'See how he loved him!'
"But some of them said, 'Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?'
"Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance." [John 11:36–3]
The traditional Jewish burial of  day often involved placing the body in a tomb which, over time, became the last resting place of successive generations. These  were large; you could stand upright in the weeping chamber,  inside, shelves were carved on which to lay the bodies. A  wheel-, weighing several tons, was hewn to tightly seal the entrance. Resting in a trench, this door could be rolled back and forth. When closed, the door rested in a small hollow in front of the entrance, preventing the stone from rolling open. 
"'Take away the stone,' he said.
"'But, Lord,' said Martha, the sister of the dead man, 'by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.'
"Then Jesus said, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?'
"So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.'
"When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
"Jesus said to them, 'Take off the grave clothes and let him go.' [John 11:43,44]
Lazarus was alive! His friends had to unwind  long strips of burial clothes before Lazarus could walk away. There was no doubt that Jesus had performed a tremendous miracle.
"Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
"Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
"'What are we accomplishing?' they asked. 'Here is this man performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.'
"So from that day on they plotted to take his life. [John 11:45–48,5]
Some believed, but others plotted. Not even a resurrection could convince the chief priests and Pharisees. They had too much at stake--their power and their pride. It sort of sounds like Lucifer. No doubt it was!

"...man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment..." [Hebrews 9:27]"As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to the grave does not return. He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more." [Job 7:9,10]

For three years Jesus taught all who would listen. It seems an incredibly brief span of time, considering everything that happened. His teaching ranged from comforting to provoking, from parables to accounts of real people, each suited to the need of the listener. On this occasion, Jesus related the following true story:
"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores."
"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side." [Luke 16:19-22]
For the intent of this study, Abraham's side is equivalent to Heaven and is sometimes referred to as paradise. The man in question here was a different person than the Lazarus  in the last story. This Lazarus went to paradise, not because he was poor, but because he the Lord, 
"The rich man also died and was buried. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.'" [Luke 16:22b–24]
 The rich man  to Hell, not because he was , but because he ignored God and lived only for himself while on earth. He begged Abraham for help.
"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.'" [Luke 16:25,26]
After a person dies, there is no second chance, no opportunity to escape Hell for Heaven. Those who die and are not in a right relationship with God remain separated from him forever. nowhere does the Scripture suggest that one can escape this place of suffering. Even though the rich man cried out for  a measure of relief from his torment and misery, there was none. Mercy can only be received during this lifetime. The rich man continued …
"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'" [Luke 16:27,28]
Even though this man was in terrible agony, he could remember his life  on earth. knew that his five  brothers were not right with God and  wanted them to be warned.
 the  idea of partying with one's friends in Hell is  foreign to the Bible. Those in Hell would not wish it on their worst enemies.
"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.'
"'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" [Luke 16:29–31]
whom Jesus raised from the dead. Yet in spite of this great demonstration of power, many still would not accept . Instead, they plotted to kill . The Bible says that if people refuse to believe God's written Word, then …
"...they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." [Luke 16:31]

Chapter 12, Section 5
"As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 'Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 
"When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.
"Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, 'Hosanna!' 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' 'Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!' 'Hosanna in the highest!'" [Mark 11:1–10]
The word hosanna means save now. The crowd was giving Jesus an impromptu version of a Roman parade normally used to welcome a triumphant conqueror. They were applauding and praising him in hopes that he would oust their Roman oppressors.
Unbeknown to them, they were fulfilling a 500 year old prophecy. The Prophet Zechariah had written that Jesus would receive just such a welcome.
"Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." [Zechariah 9:9]
This is the only time  Jesus ever allowed such a momentous reception on his behalf. He had a reason. Jesus was forcing the hand of those who were out to kill him. He wanted them to act now, without delay.
Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. "But not during the Feast," they said, "or the people may riot." Mark 14:1,2
From the perspective of the shouting crowd, it was time for Jesus to announce that he was the true King of Israel.  But for the religious leaders who were plotting his death, it was an awkward situation. If Jesus needed to be put off the stage, now was the time, but they were afraid of the public reaction. Jesus was obviously very popular.
 the city was crammed with people for the Passover, many of whom were expectantly watching Jesus in the hope that he would evict the Romans,  But as the hours passed with no official proclamation of his kingship,  hero-status was fast fading.
 Jesus,  instructed two  disciples to arrange a room for the Passover.
"When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, 'I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me--one who is eating with me.'
"They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, 'Surely not I?'
"'It is one of the Twelve,' he replied, 'one who dips bread into the bowl with me.'" [Mark 14:13–20]
When Jesus chose his twelve disciples three years earlier, he knew that one was a traitor.
A 1000 years before this time, King David, in speaking of this betrayal, had written from The Savior's perspective …
"Even my close friend, whom I trusted, he who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me." [Psalms 41:9]
The traitor was Judas Iscariot. Though he was treasurer for the disciples, he was also a thief. Apparently, he oiled his ambitions and lined his pockets without the disciples being any the wiser. But Jesus knew, and apparently Satan knew it too.  had been watching for a weak link in Jesus' armor,  a time and place to crush The Promised Savior forever. Now Satan saw his opportunity. Judas was willing. As the Passover bread was being served,  made his move.
"As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
"'What you are about to do, do quickly,' Jesus told him, but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him." [John 13:27,28]
"And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money." [Luke 22:4,5]
This scenario with Judas happened in the middle of the  meal. While the traitor went about his diabolical mission, Jesus continued with the supper. It has great significance.
"While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take it; this is my body.'" [Mark 14:22]
Obviously they weren't eating Jesus' flesh, and yet Jesus was saying that the broken Passover loaf represented his body. The disciples must have been perplexed. Did this have to do with  earlier reference to himself as the Bread of Life?
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.
"'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,' he said to them. 'I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.'" [Mark 14:23–25]
Again the symbolism was similar--Jesus' blood would soon be poured out for many people. We will see the significance of this later on.
"When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives." [Mark 14:26]

Chapter 13, Section 1
"They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I pray.' He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,' he said to them. 'Stay here and keep watch.'
"Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. 'Abba, Father,' he said, 'everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.'" [Mark 14:32–36]
Sometimes in emphasizing that Jesus was truly God, it's easy to forget that he was also human. Suffering was not foreign to Jesus- he knew and felt pain. Being God, he knew the future agony he was about to face. He felt overwhelmed with the prospect that faced him. In the intimate language that only a son could have his dear father, Jesus cried out, Abba--Daddy--please find another way. But then he submitted his human will to his heavenly Father and prayed, Your will be done.
Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.
"Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: 'The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.'" [Mark 14:43,44]
"Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want?"
"Jesus of Nazareth," they replied. John 18:4,5
"'I am {he},' Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)" [John 18:5]
The word he does not appear in the original Greek text. It was supplied to help the English rendering flow better, but in this case it distracts from the  of what Jesus said. Jesus answered the question with an emphatic "I AM!" It could be translatedliterally, "I am right now, GOD!" I AM is God's name, it wasn't just anyone saying it; himself . The effect is worth noting.
"When Jesus said, 'I am he,' they drew back and fell to the ground." [John 18:6]
They ; they drew back and fell down. Jesus blew them off their feet with a mini-burst of his majesty. After the stunned group had gotten up and dusted themselves off...
"Again he asked them, 'Who is it you want?'
"And they said, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' [John 18:7]
You can almost sense the crowd's respect and fear, Jesus had unsettled the mob. This was not shaping up to be a typical arrest. Their wall of confidence cracked even more when Jesus revealed that he knew the agreed-upon sign of betrayal.
"...Jesus asked him, 'Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?'" [Luke 22:48]
"Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, 'Rabbi!' and kissed him." [Mark 14:45]
The other eleven disciples were galvanized into action. Simon Peter had a weapon...
"With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear." [Matthew 26:51]
"But Jesus answered, 'No more of this!' And he touched the man's ear and healed him." [Luke 22:51]
What can you say? Even in the midst of all the tension, Jesus was thinking of others; he healed the High Priest's servant. It was a short-sighted effort on Peter's part anyway--zeal without knowledge. On a human level, the disciples were greatly outnumbered.  you can't help admiring Peter's efforts. At least he tried ! But obviously Peter was better with nets than swords. When you aim at the head and get an ear, it tells you something.
Then Jesus asked a question-an uncomfortable question.
"'Am I leading a rebellion,' said Jesus, 'that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I was with you, teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled.'" [Mark 14:48,49]
God's questions always expose a person's true thoughts, and if the rabble had taken a moment to think, they would have realized the inconsistency of their actions. But they were so fixated in their determination to do away with Christ, even another encounter with the miraculous power of this man didn't deter them the least bit.
Fearing for their lives, the disciples fled into the night.
"Then everyone deserted him and fled. Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him." [Mark 14:50; John 18:12]
One can hardly read this without feeling some sense of incongruity. Jesus was only one individual. The detachment sent to arrest him would have numbered between 300 and 600 soldiers. In addition, there were Jewish officials, priests and servants. It was an overkill for sure, but you can't help wondering if deep down inside they felt a poverty of power. They rushed Jesus and bound him. Satan must have chortled with delight.
"They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together." [Mark 14:53]
Temple courts were not held at night. The fact that the Sanhedrin, consisting of seventy-one men, could be assembled so quickly tells you something about the plot.  Their willingness to convene reveals even more. What they were doing was strictly illegal according to their own law. Even for those not familiar with the judicial system of that day, the irregularities of the trial are painfully obvious. No matter. Forget the rules. They wanted Jesus dead.
"The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree.
"Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 'We heard him say, "I will destroy this man-made temple and in three days will build another, not made by man."' Yet even then their testimony did not agree.
"Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, 'Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?' But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer." [Mark 14:55–61]
"Again the high priest asked him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' [Mark 14:61]
The question was black and white: "Are you God or not?"
"I am," said Jesus. "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
"The high priest tore his clothes. 'Why do we need any more witnesses?' he asked. 'You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?'
"They all condemned him as worthy of death." [Mark 14:62–64]
The High Priest, Caiaphas, knew exactly what Jesus had said. Jesus was claiming to be God Himself. Blasphemy was anything that was considered injurious to God's character, and for a mere man to call himself God was sacrilege. But Jesus wasn't a mere man--he was God! However, neither Caiaphas nor the other Jewish leaders believed him. So they condemned Him to die. But there was a problem: the Sanhedrin did not have the authority to pass  death sentence; only the Romans could do that.

Chapter 13, Section 2
Because night courts were illegal, the Sanhedrin met again just after sunrise to go through the legal motions of trying Jesus.  must have been exhausted. He hadn't slept all night, and they had given him a severe beating just to make sure he knew who was in control.
"Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate." [Luke 23:1]
Pontius Pilate, governor of Judea, had all the authority of imperial Rome behind him. Since in most cases the Jewish courts could not impose the death penalty, they needed Roman sanction. Pilate was their man.  the temple leaders knew he was weak-kneed, so a little persuading was in order.
"And they began to accuse him [Jesus], saying, 'We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.'" [Luke 23:2]
Jesus had never prohibited his followers from paying taxes. In fact, Jesus had said quite the opposite. This was a deliberate lie. But with so many legalities having already been ignored, who was keeping track ? On the other hand, it was true that Jesus claimed to be the Messiah!
So Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews?" Luke 23:3a
"Jesus said, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.'" [John 18:36]
Jesus' reign began in the heart. 
"'You are a king, then!' said Pilate.
"Jesus answered, 'You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.'
"'What is truth?' Pilate asked." [John 18:37,38]
People still ask the same question today. But Pilate was in no mood for listening; he didn't even wait for  answer.
"With this he went out again to the Jews and said, 'I find no basis for a charge against him.'" [John 18:38]
Pilate mistrusted the priests. As Roman governor, he knew he was hated by the Jews, and he had reason to believe that the priests did not have Caesar's best interests in mind. The Sanhedrin must have some other motive for wanting Jesus dead.
Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, "I find no basis for a charge against this man."
"But they insisted, 'He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.'
"On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time." [Luke 23:4–7]
Pilate had the authority to hear Jesus' case, but the situation was getting uncomfortable. Jesus was being accused of inciting the people to insurrection. How would he explain to his superiors in Rome if Jesus did provoke a riot? It would be easier to dump the whole sorry mess in Herod's lap. Besides, Herod was no friend of his, so Pilate passed the buck.
 Herod Antipas was  son of Herod the Great. As a puppet of Rome, he had been given jurisdiction over Jesus' home province of Galilee. He  to Jerusalem for the Passover festivities.
"When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle. He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer." [Luke 23:8,9]
Jesus knew that Herod  in determining the truth.  only wished to be entertained by a miracle,  his flagrant disrespect for Jesus' character. Jesus didn't indulge Herod. Instead, he remained quiet.
The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became friends--before this they had been enemies. Luke 23:10–12
Since his arrest, Jesus had five court sessions: three Jewish, two Roman. This sixth trial would be his last. By this time, word had spread throughout the city. No longer were the High Priest and Sanhedrin the only ones accusing Jesus. They had been joined by a fickle multitude, who only a few days before had shouted, "Hosanna," but who now vehemently roared, "Crucify him!" Pilate was in a dilemma. The more he dealt with Jesus, the more convinced he was that there was something uncommon about this man!
"Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, and said to them, 'You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.'" [Luke 23:13–16]
Neither Herod nor Pilate could find anything which the death penalty. Pilate offered a weak-kneed compromise. It had two parts:
 he would Jesus.
 this was no ordinary beating. The whip was comprised of a  stick with leather thongs affixed to one end. Each thong had butterfly-shaped slivers of bone or metal attached to it. The condemned man would have his arms bound and tied above his head to a pole which fully exposed his back to the scourge. As the whip came down, the bone and metal would sink into the flesh. Pulling the whip away virtually stripped the flesh off the back. This type of beating was so severe that the victim died.
By law a scourging could only be given to a convicted prisoner. Pilate himself had just said that Jesus was innocent. Because a Roman flogging was such a horrible ordeal, it can be assumed that Pilate hoped the whipping would appease Jesus' accusers so that they would accept his next offer.
 he would release Jesus:
it was the local Roman custom to release one convicted criminal at the Passover as a gesture of goodwill. Pilate suggested that Jesus be released--after he had been beaten. The crowd was unanimous in their response:
"With one voice they cried out, 'Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!' (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)" [Luke 23:18,19]
"Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. But they kept shouting, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!'
For the third time he spoke to them: 'Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.'" [Luke 23:20–22]
"Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. [John 19:1]
"...there were many who were appalled at him--his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness." [Isaiah 52:14]
 the soldiers were not satisfied with the cruelty of a flogging. They decided to add a little jest.
"The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, 'Hail, king of the Jews!' And they struck him in the face." [John 19:2,3]
Humiliation was not part of Pilate's sentence. A purple robe was normally worn by royalty. The thorns  a cruel parody of an imperial crown. This was mockery at its worst.
700 years before this time, the prophet had written:
He was despised and rejected by men,...and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:3
"Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, 'Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.' When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, 'Here is the man!'" [John 19:4,5]
Deep in his heart, Pilate must have known he was setting aside all justice. No doubt he had hopes that this lacerated, thorn-crowned, bleeding man might evoke some pity. 
"As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, 'Crucify! Crucify!'
"But Pilate answered, 'You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.' [John 19:6]
Pilate knew very well that they could do no such thing. The Jewish courts could not impose the death sentence.
The Jews insisted, "We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God."
"When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. 'Where do you come from?' he asked Jesus..." [John 19:7–9]
Pilate had just heard that Jesus was from Galilee, thus the reason for having sent him to Herod. Now, again, he was asking Jesus where he was from. No doubt he was feeling a little nervous about someone who claimed to be God! The Greeks believed the gods came down from Mount Olympus to fraternize with man. Perhaps Pilate was wondering if Jesus fit that category. Certainly this was no ordinary criminal. Just the way he handled himself in court demonstrated a peace and confidence that was disconcerting. Jesus, where are you really from?
"...Jesus gave him no answer. 'Do you refuse to speak to me?' Pilate said. 'Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?'
"Jesus answered, 'You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. 
"From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jews kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.'
"When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha). It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week..." [John 19:9b–14]
The Day of Preparation was when the Passover lamb was killed.
"'Here is your king,' Pilate said to the Jews.
"But they shouted, 'Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!'
"'Shall I crucify your king?' Pilate asked.
"'We have no king but Caesar,' the chief priests answered. [John 19:14b,15]
"Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.
"So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). Here they crucified him, and with him two others--one on each side and Jesus in the middle." [John 19:16–18]
Crucifixion was a Roman form of capital punishment used only for slaves and criminals of the lowest order. It was a common method of execution, and secular history records hundreds being crucified at . Research has indicated that there were several different 
tree. The victim was simply backed up to a  tree and , in whatever shape the branches flowed. Josephus, the first century Jewish historian, records the Roman soldiers entertaining themselves by crucifying captives in unusual positions.
 a simple post in the ground. nailed over the head.
X-shaped. Basically two logs  at angles. The body was splayed out with hands and feet fixed at four corners.
T-shaped A cross bar the arms were stretched out across the top of the T.
usually reserved for criminals of some notoriety. A certificate disclosing one's crime would be tacked to the topmost  of the cross. This was the type on which Jesus was crucified.
The victim was usually stretched out naked. Hands and feet were held in place by nails driven through the wrist and ankle bones.
1000 years , God had instructed King David to write a complete Psalm about the way Jesus would die. In it, David records God as saying...
"...they have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me." [Psalm 22:16b,17]
This was written long before the Romans  to power, and about 800 years before the Romans adopted crucifixion as one of their official forms of capital punishment.
To this day crucifixion is considered to be the most brutal form of execution. Death  slow. Sometimes it took days. Ultimately, one died of asphyxiation. Hanging on out-stretched arms, the pressure on the diaphragm made it impossible to breathe. One could inhale by lifting oneself up, by pulling on the arms and pushing with the feet to allow room for the diaphragm to work. of course, this pulling and pushing was done against the excruciating restraint of the nails. Death came when exhaustion and shock left one unable to lift the body.
 the nails and tormented gasping for air were not the only sources of anguish. One also suffered from thirst and exposure. People came to stare and, in Jesus' case, to mock.
"Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, 'Do not write "The King of the Jews," but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.'
"Pilate answered, 'What I have written, I have written.' [John 19:19–22 ]
"When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
"'Let's not tear it,' they said to one another. 'Let's decide by lot who will get it.' [John 19:23–24]
Gambling was a distraction from a gory task. As the soldiers sat beneath Jesus' cross, perhaps rolling dice in a helmet, they had no way of knowing they were fulfilling an ancient prophecy.
"This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, 'They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.' So this is what the soldiers did." [John 19:24
The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." Luke 23:35
Ten centuries earlier, King David had written that The Promised Deliverer would be mocked.
"But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads." [Psalm 22:6,7]
Even the words of the ridicule were recorded by David.
"He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." [Psalm 22:8]
"The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, 'If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.'
"One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: 'Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!'
"But the other criminal rebuked him. 'Don't you fear God,' he said, 'since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.'
"Then he said, 'Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.'
"Jesus answered him, 'I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.'" [Luke 23:36,37,39–43]
Jesus assured the thief that as soon as they both died, their spirits would meet in Paradise. Jesus could say this because he knew that this man was trusting in Him to deliver him from the consequences of sin-from eternal punishment.
"It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour...Luke 23:44
"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?'--which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" [Mark 15:34]
Once again, a 1000 years before , King David had written that The Messiah would say just those words.
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" [Psalm 22:1]
It wasn't without reason that Jesus cried this out loud. We will look at its meaning in following .
 the significance of Jesus' final moments on the cross cannot be emphasized enough. The Bible says...
"Jesus called out with a loud voice,...'It is finished...Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' When he had said this, he breathed his last...he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. [Luke 23:46 and John 19:30]
"The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom." [Mark 15:38]
Jesus was dead. It's not hard to imagine the whole realm of evil being ecstatic. Satan and his demons had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. From their perspective, they had killed God. The Promised Deliverer was dead!  a couple things did not sit well with Satan. Why had the temple curtain torn--from top to bottom? And why had Jesus shouted It is finished! with such intensity? 
Remember, the Temple was a permanent replica of the original Tabernacle. The curtain in question separated the Holy Place from the sacred Holy of Holies. It was no small matter for this veil to be torn.
First of all, the Bible says that the curtain shielded the Most Holy Place from man's view. To look behind the curtain was to die. God had told Moses centuries before...
"Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover." Leviticus 16:2
Second, to tear the curtain in any way would have been a monumental task. It is said that the curtain was sixty feet  18  and thirty feet  9 , being the thickness of man's hand--10 
Third, to be torn from the top to the bottom could only mean one thing: God had rent the curtain, not man.
 by Jewish reckoning, Jesus died at the ninth hour, which would have been 3:00 p.m. The temple would have been full of priests performing their sacred duties. This was the time of the evening sacrifice, when a lamb was killed. It was also the Passover. News of the torn curtain could not have been concealed. Too many people were present, and the event was too staggering to be forgotten.
 the significance of this whole incident will be explained in 
 phrase "It is finished" is translated from a single Greek word tetelestai. tetelestai  many different usages, but the following three have significance to the story:
 tetelestai was used by a servant reporting to his or her master upon completing a task.  "The job you gave me is 
 tetelestai was also a familiar term in Greek commercial life. It signified the completion of a transaction when a debt was paid in full. When the final payment was made, one could say "tetelestai," that is, "The debt is finished." Ancient receipts for taxes have been found with tetelestai--paid in full--written across them.
 The selection of a lamb for  sacrifice in the temple was always an important time. The flock would be searched and, upon finding an unblemished lamb, one would say tetelestai--the job was finished.
Quite literally Jesus shouted: "The work you gave me is completed, the debt is paid, the sacrificial lamb is found." The  says  Jesus cried out in a voice, " It is finished."
"The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, 'Surely this was a righteous man.' [Luke 23:47]
It is noteworthy that it was  centurion, an officer in charge of 100 soldiers, who immediately commented upon Jesus' cry. Surely he, a military man, knew the difference between a gasp of defeat and a shout of victory.
"When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. [Luke 23:48,49]
"Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down." [John 19:31]It was Passover week and this day was the climax, when the lamb was to be killed. The chief priests wanted this crucifixion business over and done with, so as not to contaminate the feast. they asked that Jesus' legs be broken. This would mean that the one being crucified could no longer resulting in quick asphyxiation, unless the shock of  bones being broken killed the  first.
"The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: 'Not one of his bones will be broken,' and, as another scripture says, 'They will look on the one they have pierced.'" [John 19:32–37]

Chapter 13, Section 3

"Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there." [John 19:38–42]
"The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment." [Luke 23:55,56]
Though Joseph and Nicodemus were part of the Sanhedrin, it seems they did not reject the evidence that Jesus was truly God. According to their traditional custom, they wrapped Jesus in long burial cloths, intermingled with seventy-five pounds,  of aromatic spices and laid him in a tomb. A large wheel-like stone, weighing  two tons, was rolled across the front of the sepulcher. The women watched and then went home to prepare additional spices for the final burial. It was now Friday night. 
"The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. 'Sir,' they said, 'we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, "After three days I will rise again." So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.'
"'Take a guard,' Pilate answered. "Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.' So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard." [Matthew 27:62–66]
This was no rag-tag band of soldiery that was sent to guard the tomb. A Roman guard consisted of four to sixteen men, each man trained to protect six feet of ground. Together they were capable of defending themselves against an entire battalion. 
Pilate instructed the chief priests and  Pharisees to seal the tomb. Ropes would have been stretched across the large stone door and fixed in place  moist clay. The clay would then be imprinted with a signet ring. Any tampering with the rock would be immediately apparent.
The guard was set in place on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. On Sunday while it was still dark...
"There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men." [Matthew 28:2–4]
It took only a glance for these rough and rugged soldiers to know they were no match for this one angel. The last phrase in  is a first century way of saying they passed out from fear! But they weren't the only ones shaking. The whole realm of evil must have been in chaos. It's not hard to imagine what it was like--Satan in confusion, shouting jumbled orders as demons scrambled in disarray. What a shock! Who would have dreamed that the tomb  be empty. Jesus had obviously come back to life. Impossible! 
"...Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus' body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, 'Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?'
"But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away." [Mark 16:1–4]
Mary Magdalene apparently turned away in shock and dismay at the initial sight of the open tomb. She probably assumed the obvious--Jesus' body had been vandalized. Sobbing, she turned and ran to tell the disciples. But Mary and Salome pushed forward and entered the tomb.
"As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
"'Don't be alarmed,' he said. 'You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him.'" [Mark 16:5,6]
Jesus was alive! The angel said...
"But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'" [Mark 16:7]
"So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
"Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me." [Matthew 28:8–10]
Reading the record, you can sense the confusion and excitement of the early morning news. for those who had seen Jesus die, the report from the elated women was met with a great deal of skepticism. Initially...
"...they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense." [Luke 24:11]
Peter ran to check out the tomb. John ran too, passing Peter on the way, but then waited outside the entrance.
"Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen". [John 20:6,7]
This was not the scene of a plundered grave. The long strips of cloth used to shroud the body were still wrapped as though around a corpse, but they were collapsed--empty! The body had passed right through them. The head napkin was folded too, as  someone had tidied up before leaving. The Bible says Peter saw, but John saw and believed. For John there was no doubt that Jesus was alive! But Peter's head was spinning. He needed time to think.
 it still must have been early morning when Mary Magdalene returned and...
"...stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.
"They asked her, 'Woman, why are you crying?'
"'They have taken my Lord away,' she said, 'and I don't know where they have put him." [John 20:11–13]
The tomb was located in a garden, so perhaps she supposed  angels were gardeners. Mary was so distressed that she did not think to identify the men.  we must remember that Mary was grieving intensely and the entire conversation was carried on through her sobbing.
"At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.
"'Woman,' he said, 'why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?'
"Thinking he was the gardener, she said, 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.'
"Jesus said to her, 'Mary.'" [John 20:14–16]
If one can say a name in such a way that it brings back all the memories of every previous encounter with a loved one, then Jesus did just that. Mary recognized the voice immediately.
She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher). John 20:16
Now she had a different reason to weep. She must have flung her arms around him, perhaps embracing his feet in keeping with the custom of that day.
"Jesus said, 'Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, "I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."'"
"Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: 'I have seen the Lord!' And she told them that he had said these things to her." [John 20:17,18]
While all this was happening, the guards were hunting down the chief priests. There was no way they were going back to face Pilate.
"While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, 'You are to say, "His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep." If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.' So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day." [Matthew 28:11b–15]
It took an immense sum of money to persuade these proud soldiers to say that they had been sleeping. But it wasn't true. Once again you can see the hand of Satan behind it all, rushing around doing damage control. After all, he is the father of lies. It was an anemic effort to save face. No doubt, Satan realized that he was defeated. Jesus, The Anointed One, had crushed Satan's head, just as God had promised way back in the Garden of Eden.
Jesus had come back to life! He was truly alive-physically! For three days his body had laid lifeless in the tomb, separated from his spirit. But then in a dramatic demonstration of supernatural power, Jesus had been resurrected with a new body. 
Jesus had foretold his own death,  during his ministry.
"The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again." [John 10:17,18]
Jesus' death had not been an ordinary one. For mankind, death is a consequence of sin--of breaking God's law. But Jesus had kept the ten commands perfectly. He was sinless, so he did not need to die. According to the law of sin and death, Jesus could have lived forever. So why did he die? Satan hadn't killed Jesus against His will; nor had the Jews or the Romans. Jesus had chosen to die, willingly. But why?  will answer that question.
 the events of that early were just a beginning. Over the next forty days, Jesus appeared to many of those who knew him best. before we leave the resurrection day, there is one more 
Chapter 14, Section 1
"Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. 
"He asked them, 'What are you discussing together as you walk along?'
"They stood still, their faces downcast." [Luke 24:13–17]
These men were not part of the inner circle of disciples, but they too, were followers of Jesus.
"One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, 'Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?'
"'What things?' he asked. 
"'About Jesus of Nazareth,' they replied. 'He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.'" [Luke 24:18–24]
The two disciples gave a brief synopsis of the day. Of course, all of this was no news to Jesus, but he quietly waited for them to finish. He had news for them too.
"He said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." [Luke 24:25–27]
Jesus told them that The Messiah,  had to suffer, die and then come back to life  But Jesus didn't stop there. He went back into the Jewish Scriptures and taught them about himself, starting at the very beginning then  step by step, story by story, through the entire Bible. It must have been quite a lesson. 
"As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly, 'Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.' So he went in to stay with them. 
"When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, 'Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?'" [Luke 24:28–32]
God himself had lit a fire of understanding in their minds. They were excited!
"They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem." [Luke 24:33]
You can imagine  trip back to as these elated men discussed what they would say to the eleven disciples. They had good news! 
There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, 'It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.' Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
"While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." 
"They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." 
"When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, "Do you have anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. 
"He said to them, 'This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.'" [Luke 24:34–44]
Just as he had done earlier with the two men on the road to Emmaus, Jesus used the Bible to explain all the events surrounding his death, burial and resurrection. The Jews divide the Scriptures into three sections--the Law, the Writings (or Psalms) and the Prophets.  Jesus took each of those segments and showed the disciples how it all applied to him. 
"Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, 'This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.'" [Luke 24:45–48]
Jesus said his death, burial and resurrection, must happen to fulfill Scripture. He went on to say this was such good news that it would be told everywhere, beginning at Jerusalem. 
 before we go on with the story we want to stop and go back to the beginning, just as Jesus did with his disciples. We want to see what Jesus said about himself in the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms.
Exactly why did Jesus come to the earth, why did he have to suffer and die, when all along he planned to come back to life?
Why didn't he simply tell people to believe in him and skip the entire crucifixion?
What were these events all about--this death, burial and resurrection?
the last piece of the puzzle is about to be put in place. when you understand this, you will have the whole picture.

Chapter 14 Section 2
To answer this question, "Why did Jesus have to die?"  go back in time, and  start at the very beginning.
Remember  unique friendship that existed between God and man at the  of creation? The Lord  man, not as a robot, but with a will, so that by the obedient choices he made he would honor God, just as an obedient son honors his father.
You will recall that through obedience man enjoyed tremendous benefits from this relationship. the universe,  was committed to Adam and Eve's well-being, walking and talking with them as their friend.
But then Adam and Eve deliberately ignored God's instructions and experimented with forbidden knowledge.  since the events surrounding this incident contain critical elements of the puzzle, the Scripture uses some powerful word pictures to help us understand  what happened.
The Bible says that man felt  he knew better than God what was good for him.  chose his own path, to do his own thing, but that path led  into a spiritual wilderness. Man was LOST. 
Instead of listening to God, man trusted and believed Satan. Man joined Satan's rebellious ranks, thus becoming an ENEMY of God.
But  such a choice had ramifications. The Scripture  teaches us that sin's effects are very costly. 
Because there was no trust, there  no relationship. Immediately, the unique friendship between God and man  ended. Separated by sin, man was estranged from the perfect, holy God. God was no longer close. He seemed remote and distant.
Satan was not the benevolent friend God had been. Rather, the Devil manipulated man with lies to do his satanic will. Man became a SLAVE to  and a slave to 
In choosing his own way, man disobeyed the one command that God had given him.  this wasn't without hurt or harm, whenever you break a law, you also face a consequence.
God took off  mantle of  and  donned a magistrate's cloak. As man's judge, God found man GUILTY of a crime--of breaking his law, of sinning against a holy God.
In essence, God wrote out a verdict, a Certificate of Debt. Man was now a DEBTOR with a price to  the penalty for sin was death. 
Every human being would now DIE physically. The spirit would be separated from the body; the life separated from family and friends. 

Because the stench of sin corrupted man's total being, God separated himself from mankind. Man's relationship with God was over--it was DEAD.
 after physical death, there would be a SECOND DEATH. Man would be separated from God  expressions of love.  would be confined in the Lake of Fire,  place that  prepared for Satan and his demons. 
 death in  three  aspects ruled man's life, and he could do nothing about it. Man had no choice as to whether he wanted to die or not. It was a bitter, potent reality that all faced; that all shared; that all who thought soberly, feared. With absolute, utter finality, the Scripture clearly states... 
"...a person shall die for his own sin." [2 Chronicles 25:4]
 these word pictures help us understand just how far removed from God mankind had become as a result of Adam and Eve's sin. Man was faced with that age-old question: How can we get rid of our sin with all its consequences and  gain a  righteousness  equal to God's righteousness so  we can be accepted back  his presence?
 remember how Adam and Eve tried to cover up their sin by clothing themselves in fig leaves? We saw that, though the Lord rejected their efforts, he did not leave them in a lurch. Rather, he...
"...devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him." [2 Samuel 14:14]
The Lord used these events to teach Adam and Eve, as well as us, universal principles that apply to all mankind.
 just as Adam and Eve could not make themselves acceptable to God by fixing up their outward appearance, neither can we be accepted based on our externals. We may impress others with what we are on the outside, but God knows what we are really like.
 we saw that God provided Adam and Eve with a way of acceptance, but on different terms. The Bible says that...
"The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." [Genesis 3:21]
The significance of this little verse would be overlooked if it wasn't for other parts of the Bible explaining it. So what does it mean? What would Jesus have told  disciples?  very simply this: Just as an animal had to die to clothe Adam and Eve in acceptable clothing, so Jesus  to make us acceptable in the presence of God. This was and is God's idea. It's God's way to acceptability.
 as the disciples struggled to comprehend what Jesus was saying, there must have been a torrent of questions.
Why would God  an animal die for Adam and Eve? Why didn't God  clothe them with  of leaves ? And why  Jesus have to die for us?  another way?
 we can  that Jesus continued with the next story, 
Remember how the children of Adam and Eve brought sacrifices to God? Why did they do that?  we saw that the escape route God devised had two dimensions. 
There was an inward aspect-something  they had to work through in their hearts, a choice Cain and Abel each had to make on their own. 
 there was an outward aspect--a visual aid to help them understand what it would take to remove sin.
 remember how we saw that Cain and Abel brought their sacrifices to God? Cain brought vegetables,  his garden but Abel brought the firstborn of his flock. God rejected Cain's sacrifice, but he accepted Abel's. Why? 
 Cain did not believe God. He had his own ideas about how to get rid of sin and be made right with the Lord. 
  the same way , our world is full of people who have their own notions about God and how to please him. It's become fashionable to have a personally tailored theory.  a custom-designed god is in vogue. Cain would have felt right at home 
based on his thinking, Cain did his own thing. He brought a sacrifice that did not illustrate God's way of dealing with the sin problem. Vegetables do not shed blood. Cain ignored the fact that...
"...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." [Hebrews 9:22]
His sacrifice did not provide an atonement-covering for sin. The Bible tells us...
"Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one... his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous" [1 John 3:12]
On the other hand, God accepted Abel's sacrifice.
Abel was trusting the Lord to be his Savior.  God still wants people to trust him.  told repeatedly  the pages of Scripture, to trust the Lord Jesus Christ  Savior. 
 illustrated what Jesus  on the cross.
substitution.  just as an innocent animal died in Abel, so Jesus, innocent of all sin, died in our place, paying the death penalty for us. 
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God" [1 Peter 3:18]

 atonement. in the same way,  Jesus offered himself the ultimate blood sacrifice so  we might have forgiveness of sin. 
The Bible says that the relationship that was broken by disobedience is now restored through Jesus' death on the cross.
"Once you were alienated from God and were enemies... But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death..." [Colossians 1:21-22]
As children of Adam and Eve, we were born into this world as enemies of God but now because of Jesus' physical death on the cross, we are reconciled. We can be friends again. The broken relationship  restored.
 may say, " okay, I can see how,  Jesus' death took care of our sin problem, but how do we gain a  equal to God's righteousness so  we can be accepted back  his presence?" 
 ago, this question has two facets,  like opposite sides of the same coin.  related. You can't divide them. When God took care of  sin problem, he also addressed the lack of righteousness.  understand this more in just a few 
 in the days of Noah, the people  ignored God's Word,  Perhaps they thought the old man was crazy. Whatever the case, they persuaded themselves that life existed only for the here and now. God  withhold his judgment just because they had the wrong philosophy of life. They perished in their foolishness. 
God was saying this: just as the people of Noah's day were judged for their sin, so God will judge all men, regardless of how they think.
"The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'" [Psalm 53:1]
"He who trusts in his own heart is a fool..." [Proverbs 28:26 NKJV]
God will let us ignore him and even reject his way of escape for a time, but eventually we must face the inescapable conclusion: we must pay our sin-debt with our eternal death.
Remember how Noah and his sons were kept safe in the Ark? There was only one boat, and one door to enter  gain refuge from the flood. There was no other option.
In the same way, Jesus Christ is the only way to eternal life. Just as safety could only be found  the Ark, so only in Jesus can we find safety from everlasting punishment.
"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'" [John 14:6]
There is only one way to God. Those who ignore or reject  way face the same fate as those who didn't heed Noah's warnings of the coming flood:  eternal death with all its implications.
The Bible is very explicit. Jesus is the only way to God. 
Remember how we saw that Babel was the first incident of organized religion in the Bible? The people tried to build a tower to reach  we said that a definition for the word religion  this: man's efforts to reach God.  at Babel, man slaved away with brick and tar.  in the same way, religion is a taskmaster that requires constant struggle. It demands ever-increasing efforts to please God,  gods, spirits or idols. 
In contrast to religion, the Bible says that the only true way to God was provided by the Lord himself, when in his mercy,  reached down to man in the person of Jesus Christ. All the work to restore the broken relationship was done by Jesus  on the cross.
 you can almost see the glimmer of excitement in the disciples' eyes as they listened to God's plan through thousands of years of history being fulfilled in Jesus. For centuries, man had looked forward to the day when he would be delivered from judgment of sin. Now that time had come. But Jesus wasn't finished with his explanation. He continued, no doubt, with the story of Abraham and Isaac.

Chapter 14, Section 3
The disciples must have leaned forward as Jesus launched into his explanation of the story of Abraham and Isaac. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son  Isaac  under God's order to die and, in  reality, he deserved to die for he was a sinner. Isaac was bound and placed on the altar--helpless.
What God was saying is this: Just as Isaac was helpless and could not save himself, so all of us are bound by sin and cannot save ourselves from its consequences.
 remember how Abraham  took  knife and prepared to plunge it into Isaac? Abraham was trusting in God's goodness to provide a solution to death.  at the last moment, God called from Heaven and stopped him. Because of Abraham's trust,  provided a substitute sacrifice 
Just as the ram died in Isaac's place, so Jesus died in our place. We should have died and been punished for our sin, but Jesus died and took our punishment on the cross. He is our substitute.
If the ram had not died, then Isaac would have perished. If Jesus had not died, 
 the Bible says that God honored Abraham's faith.
"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." [Romans 4:3]
Remember that Certificate of Debt that every human  has as a result of sin? the Bible says that God credited righteousness to Abraham's account because of his faith. God did that for Abraham because  was looking ahead to what Jesus  would do on the cross. The Bible says that...
"The words 'it was credited to him' were written not for him alone [that is Abraham alone], but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." [Romans 4:23,24]
 down through history, every person  had a Certificate of Debt, a massive sin-debt that each one was accountable to  the only way that  debt could be paid was with one's own eternal death.
But then Jesus came. his death,  completely paid  sin-debt, --past, present and future. That is why Jesus cried, "It is finished."  the debt is paid! 
But the payment made by Jesus is only effective if one believes. The Bible says...
"...God will credit righteousness--for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." [Romans 4:24]
Remember that the word believe, as used in the Bible, has a  fuller meaning than we sometimes give it. 
 the terms faith, belief, trust and confidence all mean essentially the same.
 genuine  faith is built on fact.  "Jesus died in our place for our sin." Faith is not built on feeling forgiven.
 true biblical  belief does not stop with  mental assent to the  It includes a heart trust,  a confidence in the facts expressed by a voluntary act of the will. We choose to believe, , "I believe that Jesus paid my sin-debt."
 all of this would have been good news to the disciples. It should be good news to us as well. The Bible says...
"...everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." [Romans 15:4]

The accounts of Abraham and Isaac were stories that the disciples knew well. although they had heard them since childhood, now they were seeing the whole picture for the first time.  as Jesus spoke, one could have heard a pin drop. Every eye  glued on him, The Promised Savior, now in their midst. Jesus continued. 
Remember  the children of Israel were  slaves in Egypt and God delivered them from Pharaoh with great plagues?  the last plague was the death of the first-born child.  God said that if the Israelites followed his Word, they would be safe from this tragedy. 
Do you recall how the Israelites were to sacrifice a lamb? Well, the Bible tells us that Jesus is our Lamb. 
 it seems hardly a coincidence that, from the time of Jesus' birth, he was identified with these harmless creatures. He was born in a stable, a place where little lambs could be sheltered. His first visitors were shepherds, men who cared for lambs and made sure to no harm. We are told that Bethlehem, his birth city, was commissioned by the high priests as a place to raise lamb sacrifices for use in the Temple. John the Baptist said of Jesus: 
"Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" [John 1:29]
So when we find Jesus identified as the Passover lamb, we shouldn't be surprised. The parallels are stunning.  mention only a few 
Remember how the Passover lamb could have no defect?
 Jesus was sinless.
 the lamb had to be a male.
Jesus was a man.
The Passover lamb was killed, dying in the place of the first-born.
 Jesus died in our place.
 the blood of  lamb  applied  to the door posts and lintel of the house.
 by remaining inside  Only by trusting in what Jesus did on the cross, safety from eternal death.
 when the death angel came, wherever he saw the blood applied, he   over that house. 
 the same way  God provided a way for his judgment to pass over us, and in so doing  came to rest  Jesus 
 because...
"...Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." [1 Corinthians 5:7]
God had specifically told the Israelites that they must not break any bones when they ate the Passover lamb. This was because the lamb was a picture, a foreshadow of Jesus. Jesus' bones were not broken either. When the Roman soldiers...
"...came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs." [John 19:33]
As the disciples sat there, hanging onto every word, listening to Jesus explain the real significance  the Passover, they couldn't help but think of what time of year it was. Jesus had been crucified on the very day the Passover lamb died! They had no way of knowing that the priests had hoped to kill him after the feast was over, but they did know that God's plan had triumphed. Jesus not only died on the right day, but he died at the ninth hour (3:00 P.M.), the very hour the temple lamb was offered--the hour of the evening sacrifice. He died right on schedule, just as the Bible said he would. 
"...Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." [1 Corinthians 5:7]
Remember the Ten Commandments? The Israelites thought that  would be easy to obey them,  Today, many people believe that you can please God by keeping the ten rules, or some modified version of them. But we saw from our study that God expects nothing less than perfect obedience. 
"For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it." [James 2:10]
Trying to keep the Ten Commandments does not restore the broken relationship with God.
"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." [Romans 3:20]
The law reminds us of our age-old, two-sides-of-the-coin dilemma. We have something  we don't want--sin,  and we need something we don't have-- righteousness. the Ten Commandments,  cannot give us a righteousness equal to God's righteousness. 
"But now a righteousness from God, apart from law," [Romans 3:21]

"...now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." [Romans 3:21-22]
Jesus revealed to mankind that there is a type of righteousness totally unrelated to the law, a level of goodness that comes directly from God himself. the Bible says that to obtain this righteousness, all we have to do is believe. It's just that simple. Simple for us, that is, but for God it involved a lot more.
 God's just character could not overlook sin and pretend it happened. Sin  be punished--there had to be  death.  up to this time, man had been offering animal sacrifices as a death payment, but they were only temporary coverings.  Because ... 
"For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." [Hebrews 10:4 NASB]
 another solution?   one man could have died for another but then  would have had to have been both sinless and willing to  no such person  ever existed. every man and woman down  been confronted  personal sin-debt--there was no way they could pay for someone else's. But then  God left Heaven and became a man--a sinless man. In one remarkable act of selfless love, the Scriptures tells us this...
"God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice..." [Romans 3:25]
"He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--" [Romans 3:25]
 God's just nature was  satisfied  the death of Jesus, a death payment for sin. God had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished because he knew that someday Jesus would die for all sin--past, present and future--paying the death penalty in full. Jesus died so God could, ...
"...to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Romans [3:26]
The word justified  was a judicial term used in the courtrooms of Jesus' day.
took off the mantle of and  As judge, God found man guilty of a crime, breaking God's  law, sinning against a holy God. Man stood before a frowning God, accused and convicted as a perpetual, incurable lawbreaker. The sentence was death--eternal death.
But then God from his judgment  and he put back on the mantle of a friend.  God left the lofty heights of  and descended as the God-man, Jesus, to stand with us in front of the bench. He had only one purpose--to take upon himself  for us. he died in our place. "...the law of sin and death." [Romans 8:2]"Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." [John 15:13]Now,  God, judge he sees  clothed in  declares us [bang!] "Righteous 
 JUSTIFIED. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still [condemned] sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." [Romans 5:8,9 NKJV]
But remember: this is only true for those Jesus.  died in their place. The Bible says...
"...that a man is justified by faith..." [Romans 3:28 NKJ]
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ..." [Romans 5:1 KJV]
the Ten Commandments cannot make righteous. 
"Clearly no one is justified before God by the law..." [Galatians 3:11]
But the Law had a purpose. the ten commands are like a  teacher who takes us by the hand,  leads us to the cross, and points out to us our need for a Savior.
"the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." [Galatians 3:24 KJV]
Everyone needs a Savior.  only when  clothed in the righteousness of Christ,  we  experience God's welcoming smile.

Chapter 14, Section 4
You will recall how God instructed Moses to build Tabernacle.  was an elaborate visual aid to help us understand what the Lord was  mend our relationship with him.  remember how God showed his presence among the Israelites with a pillar of cloud by day, and a column of fire by night? that pillar hovered over the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. 
 man approached God in the , the first thing he was had only one entrance,  a reminder that there is only one way to God. Jesus said...
"No one comes to the Father except through me." [John 14:6]
the first piece of furniture  he  was  the Brazen Altar. 

 remember how Moses  to make a lampstand of pure gold to light the Holy Place? This is a picture of Jesus who said...
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." [John 8:12]
Jesus wants to deliver people out of the darkness of sin into the light of eternal life.
Remember how God told Moses to make a table and , each  representing one of the twelve tribes of Israel? Again, this is a picture of Jesus...
"Then Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.'" [John 6:35]
Just as the twelve loaves were a picture of sufficient bread for everyone in Israel, the sins of the whole world. As the bread of life, He offers us eternal life 
"I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life." [John 6:47,48]
how God instructed Moses to hang a thick curtain between the Holy Place and the  Holy of Holies,  Sinful man was barred from entering God's presence.
The Bible says  we are separated from God and  cannot come into his presence because of our sin.  we are ESTRANGED from 
But then Jesus came. The the Tabernacle curtain was a picture of  physical body  When  died on the cross, the curtain was  in two from  top to  bottom. No man could have torn  veil, but God  to illustrate Jesus' body being sacrificed for you and me.  our sin is forgiven and we can  boldly into God's presence. The relationship has been restored.
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body...let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance..." [Hebrews 10:19–22]
"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ." [Ephesians 2:13]
 We  accepted back simply as . The Scripture tells us that we  placed into God's family as full -- we  adopted. 
In the Roman world of Jesus' day, adoption was the legal rite of investing sonship. child  born into a family, automatically recognized  all the rights and privileges of that family.  world where men had wives,  concubines and mistresses,  children by slaves, a child was not a legal heir until invested with sonship  a separate action. once  adopted,  a full member of the family. 
 so it is with us. We, who once were ESTRANGED from God's love, have now become  members of God's family--adopted as SONS.
"Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba [Daddy], Father.' So you are no longer a slave [to sin and Satan], but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." [Galatians 4:6,7]
 in the Holy of Holies that the High Priest brought the blood once a year on the Day of Atonement. "God presented him [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice..." [Romans 3:25]Jesus is our Atonement Cover and,  through his shed blood, we find a way to escape eternal death. Jesus was the final sacrifice. God says...
"Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. " [Hebrews 10:17,18]
With Jesus' death on the cross, the last Lamb had died. Since the beginning of history, it had been God's plan that the way of escape would be provided through Jesus. The lamb sacrifices had only been a picture of what was to come. There was nothing unique about them; they could not take away sin.  because Jesus' blood paid the sin-debt once for all. 
"...we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 
"Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 
"But when this priest [Jesus] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God." [Hebrew 10:10–12]
 God accepted the animals because he was looking forward in history to the time when Jesus would  die as the final sacrifice. When Jesus died, he did more than cover sin for a year. He blotted it out from God's sight forever. on the cross He cried, "It is finished",  the final Lamb  found.
Jesus may have told his disciples many more things about himself that are illustrated in the Tabernacle. is a visual aid of incredible detail, full of  comparisons.  You can be sure that what Jesus did tell them was unforgettable. 
 how the Israelites sinned and God sent the snakes. They cried out for deliverance, so God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and raise it up in the middle of the camp. To be healed, all the people had to do was to LOOK at the  There was nothing else they could do. 
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up [on the cross], that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." [John 3:14–18]
Man is born into this world condemned already. We are like the Israelites who had been bitten by snakes. We are as good as DEAD. We have no relationship with God; our bodies will eventually die and, after death, we will partake of the Second Death, punishment in the Lake of Fire.
But then Jesus enters the picture. He paid the sin-debt with his own death. Jesus  remain dead--he came back to life. if we look to him in faith just as the Israelites looked to  bronze  then he gives us spiritual life. just as he came alive, we become spiritually ALIVE, both now and for eternity. The Bible speaks of this as being born again.
"When you were dead in your sins...God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins. [Colossians 2:13]
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins..." [Ephesians 2:1 NKJV]
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved." [Ephesians 2:4,5]
 once spiritually DEAD, we are now  ALIVE and will dwell forever in Heaven.

Chapter 14, Section 5
As Jesus systematically explained to  disciples the significance of the events recorded in the Scripture, it is probable that he elaborated on even more accounts than we have touched on here. No doubt his disciples had keen interest in the subjects with which they had firsthand experience.
The Bible says...
"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way..." [Isaiah 53:6]
Man chose to go his own way,  path led into a spiritual wilderness. The Bible says that man is LOST.
But then Jesus came looking for us. While on earth he told a parable that describes God's concern.
"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." [Luke 15:3–7]
God could have stayed in Heaven and forever turned his back on mankind, but that isn't what happened. The Bible makes it clear that Jesus took the initiative to seek us out and then, as the good shepherd, went much further.
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." [John 10:11]
That is exactly what Jesus did. He died for us, in our place,  our sin-debt.  love in all its perfection. Yes, God is love,  tremendous cost.  when Jesus was on the cross he cried out, 
"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" [Mark 15:34]
Jesus didn't just die a physical death, there  a spiritual dimension.  sin demands separation. In those desperate hours on the cross, God the Father his Son. It must have wrenched his loving heart but, consistent with his holy nature, God could not look upon Jesus as he took our sin upon himself. The Bible says that the sky grew dark although it was midday. It seems as though the Father did not want the world to see the agony that the Son went through, as Jesus willingly took our sin  himself, became our substitute Lamb, and died.  Jesus stay dead like the prophets of the past. Jesus came back to life to prove that death had no power over Him.  said...
"The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again." [John 10:17–18]
The Romans have been blamed for executing Jesus, and the religious leaders for pressuring them to do it. Over the centuries, the Jews have faced immense persecution on the premise that the whole sorry affair was their fault. Such a perception is completely false. The Bible  clearly that it was Jesus who voluntarily laid down his life. No one forced him to die against his will. It was his choice, motivated by his love for us. The truth of the matter  that the whole world  responsible for nailing Jesus to the cross. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." [Romans 5:8]
The resurrection was a powerful display that God's just nature was satisfied with Jesus' death on our behalf. The payment had been made and  The grave could not hold him in its clutches. He had victory over death! Jesus had broken sin's grip, defeated Satan's power and removed death's terrible finality. 
"Since the children [we humans] have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil--and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." [Hebrews 2:14,15]
An overwhelming feeling of despair must have swept over Satan when Jesus was resurrected. Satan thought that when he enticed Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus, he was the winner. now he had been defeated at his own game. His most powerful tool--death--had lost its sting.
For centuries, man had been a SLAVE to Satan's will. Through blatant lies, imitation of the truth, even the denial of his own existence, Satan manipulated mankind for his own purposes. But even independent of Satan's influence, man could not live a perfect life. Man was a SLAVE to sin.
But then Jesus came and  REDEEMED us. understand its association with ancient slavery.
A wealthy man would go to the slave market to buy a slave. There he would see the captives chained, humbled and broken, each being sold for a given sum. The man would pay the asking price and the slave would become his. So far nothing unusual, but now the story takes an interesting twist. On rare occasions, the new owner would then take his new slave out of the slave market, break off the chains and set him free. When this happened, it was said that the slave had been REDEEMED. 
 That is  what Jesus did for us. We were bound by the chains of sin and Satan in the slave market of life. We were helpless to deliver ourselves. But then Jesus came and  purchased us, paying the price with his own blood. He then took us out of the market, broke off the chains and set us free.
"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life..., but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." [1 Peter 1:18,19]
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us..." [Galatians 3:13]
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace." [Ephesians 1:7]
let's continue with the analogy  Jesus used in describing us as sheep. Remember how  good shepherd would sleep in the entrance of the sheep pen to protect the flock? Jesus said...
"I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved." [John 10:9]
 the pen had only one  Jesus is the only door to eternal life.  no other way 
...Just as there was only one way in which Cain and Abel could approach God; 
... just as there was only one door to safety in Noah's big boat; 
...just as there was only one door to the Tabernacle; 
...and just as there is only one door to  sheep pen, so Jesus is the only way to God. 
 some people believe you can come to God by another religion, perhaps by some combination of many religions, but the Bible allows no room for other ways to God.  this may be viewed as discriminatory in our politically-correct age, but repeatedly, the Bible echoes this theme: Jesus is the only way.
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." [Acts 4:12]
 not like this biblical we can reject it. God  allow us that freedom, but then we must also pay our own debt with our own personal death for eternity. 
as the disciples to Jesus teach from the Law and the Prophets, they must have had premonitions of the consequences of his message. They lived in the Roman Empire. The Romans were tolerant of other religions up to a point, but  that Caesar was a god. The Romans wouldn't object to Jesus being presented as another way to God, but to teach what Jesus taught--that He is the only way-- jeopardize lives.  according to extra-biblical sources, all but one of the eleven original disciples were put to death for this message. They died for what they knew to be true. 
Of all people,  were impeccably religious. 
today, the most common misconception about life is that  can earn  way to Heaven by doing good.  based on that kind of thinking,  they go to church, pray, burn candles, do penance, give to charity,  they will be acceptable to God.  the Bible --anywhere. In fact, it  the opposite. 
The Pharisees were very religious, but Jesus condemned both their lives and their teaching as being misleading.  Jesus said that the only way to God was by faith in  
 we put faith into practice every day.  applying a principle of faith right now. sitting in a chair, you are trusting in the chair to hold you up, without collapsing. It's doubtful that you sat down thinking--"I am going to trust  this chair to be sturdy"--but, nonetheless, you exercised faith in the chair. In a sense, faith in itself is neutral. What is important is this: in what or in whom are you placing your trust? The chair may collapse--but then it's only a chair. However, if you are placing your faith in Jesus having paid your sin-debt, then you can have absolute confidence that he has done just that. He has promised.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." [Ephesians 2:8,9]
The Bible says  we are saved from the consequences of sin through faith in Jesus Christ. This salvation is a gift from God. We  have to earn it by any religious  or good 
Gifts are free. If you work for a gift,  no longer a gift. 
Gifts in the truest sense are undeserved. 
If we feel  we deserve it, then it ceases to be a gift and  becomes an award. The eternal life  God gives us is truly a gift because we don't deserve it in any way.
The Pharisees were convinced that their good deeds would please God. But God says that if he accepted people based on what they themselves did, then people would boast about their goodness. He saves us from judgment, not  how good we are, but on the basis of our faith.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." [Romans 6:23]
By faith, we believe that Jesus died in our place for our sin.
By faith, we believe that Jesus paid our sin-debt. 
By faith, we believe that God's justice was satisfied by that death. We believe that when He looks at us, He no longer sees our sin, but He sees us clothed in Jesus' righteousness.
By faith, we believe that God gives us the gift of eternal life.
It's all faith, but it's not blind faith. 
It's faith that is built on the facts we find in the Bible. 
some people add a spiritual aura to faith. It becomes quantified. You either have a lot of faith or just a little. But that thinking confuses the issue. Putting faith in what Jesus did on the cross for us is similar to a drowning man nodding to his rescuer when the lifesaver says, "Will you trust me to save you?" The size of the nod is immaterial. The point is not the nod at all. The point is that the drowning man is acknowledging and trusting in the lifeguard to rescue him. For the drowning man to later claim that his big nod saved his life would be ludicrous. So it is with us. We are to trust in Jesus to save us from our sin, but the size of our trust,  is not what saves us; it is what Jesus did for us by dying on the cross.
 in continuing the analogy of a drowning man, let me also add that it is important to know that you are drowning. If you think you are floating just fine, you will reject all help. Even if you know you are drowning but are too proud to ask for help, you will drown all the same. Others may see that you are floundering, but they will be unable to help you until you  them. It's the same spiritually. You must see yourself as a helpless sinner before you can be saved from your sin-debt.  the starting point.
 the Bible is full of illustrations of who Jesus Christ is and what he has done.  we can only offer conjecture which of those illustrations Jesus used as he taught  disciples. Undoubtedly, he used most or all of the ones we have touched on. He probably used more. When he  finished teaching,  the room must have been silent. The question which remained for Jesus' disciples is the same which remains for us. In whom are you placing your faith? In yourself, your religion, your ideas, your good works, or in the fact that Jesus died in your place to pay your sin-debt?

Chapter 15, Section 1
In the days immediately following Jesus' resurrection, he spent time with his disciples and ... 
"...showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God." [Acts 1:3]
In the end, Jesus took them back to  familiar ground, just two miles  Jerusalem.
"When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven." [Luke 24:50,51]
"They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven."" [Acts 1:10,11]
The angels said Jesus would come again. If we were to study the Bible further, we would see that it has a lot to say about  future event. Just as God kept his  related to prophecies about his first coming, we can be assured that he will keep his word regarding his second coming. He always does.
 the rest of the Bible records the events surrounding the lives of the disciples who became known as apostles. These followers of Jesus told multitudes of people about him, 
"So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of [temple] priests became obedient to the faith." [Acts 6:7]
Even priests who had been instrumental in Jesus' death believed. But not everyone was convinced and, just as the disciples must have anticipated, there was resistance. One particularly ardent Jesus-hater was a young Pharisee  Saul, who murdered and imprisoned followers of Jesus.
"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 
"'Who are you, Lord?' Saul asked. 
"'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied." [Acts 9:1–5]
This was the beginning of a  remarkable life. Saul changed radically. He stopped killing believers and became one himself. The tables turned and the persecutor became the persecuted. On one occasion, he was stoned with rocks and left for dead. Three times he was beaten with rods; five times whipped; three times shipwrecked (during one of which he floated on the sea for twenty-four hours). All of this occurred as Saul tried to tell others about his own belief that Jesus was The Promised Savior. This Saul was none other than the man we know as Paul the Apostle, who wrote a significant part of the Bible.
over and over again, we have seen throughout the Scriptures that God asked thought-provoking questions. These queries were designed to expose and clarify innermost thoughts so that the  being addressed would have to grapple with reality. Saul, too, was confronted by God and asked a question:
"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" [Acts 9:4]
In a way, God was saying, "Saul, why are you my enemy when you could be my friend?" Saul's reply revealed that he knew exactly who was quizzing him. He said, "Lord.
"But the word of God continued to increase and spread." [Acts 12:24]
"'The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.' Then Agrippa said to Paul, 'Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?'" [Acts 26:26-28]"...sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, 'That's enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.'" [Acts 24:24,25]"...now is the accepted time;...now is the day of salvation." [2 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV]