whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.". This of course was John the Baptist talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees when they asked who he was. The function we see the Holy Ghost performing here, is one of purification. We see that the Holy Spirit keeps our minds directed on things of God; offers comfort in times of stress; offers encouragement and helps us to learn; but also the Holy Spirit is influenced by God the Father and God the Son. The image of the Holy Spirit guides the image of God the Father, in the paths of righteousness, which controls the actions of the image of God the Son, who in concert with the image of God the Father direct the actions of the image of the Holy Spirit. All three parts being in perfect balance. So God created man in his own image; trichotomous, that is to say, with a body, soul, and spirit that was perfectly balanced and tuned to do God's will and thus glorify God. God completed it all by giving man the free choice of living forever giving glory to God or choosing to die rather than obey God's will. Three verses in Genesis Chapter 2 tell us this, they are: Genesis 2:9, "And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."; Genesis 2:16-17, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.". Man was not denied access to the tree of life, just the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God had created man in perfect innocence, spirit controlled, and placed him in a perfect environment; but God being a just God gave man a freedom of choice, knowing that no glory can be gained from tyranny. God really wanted man to live for ever glorifying God. We can see this in Revelation 22:19, "And if any man shall take away from the words of 7 ________________________________________________________________________________ the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.". In the end God shall receive all the glory that he should have received in the beginning. Genesis 2:3 says, "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.". I can't prove that Satan took advantage of God's rest period, however careful reading of scripture could lead to that assumption and explain why man did not eat of the tree of life. We will look at that in Chapter 2. 8 ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ |
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