The Greatest Gift

“Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2: 10-11)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

This is the season to celebrate the greatest gift ever given to mankind. The God who made all things left glory and came to be born to a poor Jewish girl. His stepfather was a carpenter who had to travel a great distance on foot with a pregnant wife because of a government decree. They came to their destination and found there was no vacancy. Out of kindness, a person allowed them to use a smelly stable. When God was born he was placed in a feeding trough.

The first people to come to the stable were shepherds. In that time, they were considered the lower element of society. They smelled and were considered no better than thieves. And yet, these were the men summoned by the angels.

To think, God Almighty came in such a way to save our lives from sin and death. What a great gift we have received.

Man's Wisdom vs. God's Wisdom

Over the years, I have been amazed at the things man has discovered. I was working in the computer field when they were huge and took up entire floors of buildings. We went from that to my iPad, which has much more capability than any of the computers I worked with. Unfortunately, man has allowed his acquisition of information to cloud his judgment on his place in the scheme of things.

God told us about this time in Daniel. “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase”. (Dan. 12:4)  God told us that we would travel quickly from place to place and knowledge would increase. God knew thousands of years ago what would occur today, because He is an infinite being. Man is finite. He has a beginning and an end, but God is forever.

Man can learn some finite facts. He can manipulate things that exist, and he has a free will to choose what he will do and whom he will worship. Unfortunately, man’s increase in knowledge has come at a terrible price.

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” (Rom. 1:28)

“Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Tim. 3:7).

Man has debased his knowledge. He thinks because he has learned a few finite facts he understands infinite knowledge. I liken man’s knowledge to a fine wood worker. He can take an expensive piece of wood and tell you all about its characteristics. He can then make it into something beautiful, but no matter how much a man learns about wood, he cannot make an acorn and have it grow into a tree.

I took a lot of chemistry in college. I was taught many things about atoms and atomic theories, but none of my professors could make a proton, a neutron, and an electron and put them together to make a hydrogen atom. Today we have much more knowledge than when I attended college, but no scientist could make a hydrogen atom from scratch. This is the difference between finite knowledge and infinite knowledge.

Man is a created being. He will never know as much as the maker of all things. The pot doesn’t know how the potter made it. Put your trust in the maker of all things.

Is Hell For Real (Part 2)

We have seen that the Bible makes it clear hell is a real place. This brings up a question. If God is a God of love, how could He make such a terrible place?

The answer is both simple and complex. Besides being a God of love, He is also a God who is holy and just. Because He is holy, no sinful thing can come into His presence.  We see how holy God is in Exodus 33:20 – "But He said, 'You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me and live.'"

God warned Adam in the Garden of Eden that if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die. He didn’t believe God’s word. He ate it and died spiritually and physically. Man still doesn’t believe what God says. This is the reason people do not believe hell exists.

 You might say, "But I am a good person. Surely, God would not send me to hell." The answer to that is, what do you mean by “good”? Most people use their measuring stick to determine if they are good. God’s word is God’s measuring stick.

“As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Romans 3:10)

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)

By God’s measuring rod all deserve to go to hell, but God is a God of love. He has made a way for all men to escape their deserved fate.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Without Jesus, you go to your just punishment. When you accept Him as your Lord, He becomes your mediator with a holy God. Because of what He has done for us, we are united with a holy God, and we can enter into His rest.