To better understand God’s will for modern man, let us be reminded that from the beginning His will, like Himself, has not changed, does not change and will not change. As it is written, “I am the Lord; I change not.” “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.” “In Him there is no shadow (hint) of turning.” He has in the past, does today and will in the future want the very best for man. Whosoever will love Him and prove their love by obeying Him will receive His very best. How does man prove his love for God? Jesus answered the question: “If you love me, keep My commandments (Law). “For this is the love of (for) God, that we keep His commandments. The only thing that matters is “the keeping of the commandments of God” (Jn. 14:15,23/ 1 Jn. 5:3/ 1 Cor. 7:19). Note that these are all New Testament passages. Jesus Himself was not exempt from this rule as He said in John 15:10: “If you (disciples) keep My commandments (then) you shall abide (remain) in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and (therefore) abide in His love.” Note this important fact: JESUS REMAINED IN GOD’S LOVE BY OBEYING HIS WORD/LAW/ COMMANDMENTS/WILL. Note in John 14:15,23 that He equates His commandments (15) and His Words (23). God spoke His words/will/Law/commandments to the Word (fellow God–Jn. 1:1-4,14) Who spoke them to His prophets (2 Tim. 1:21). Upon the Word becoming a man, God spoke to Him (Jesus of Nazareth) through His Holy Spirit (2 Tim. 3:14-16). Jesus then spoke God’s Words to His apostles. He declared in John 7:16; 14:10 that the Words He spoke were given to Him by the Father.  Both the prophets and the apostles recorded Their Words for our instruction–those living at the end of the age (1 Cor. 10:11). The New Covenant Church was founded on the writings of those prophets and the apostles (Eph. 2:20), Jesus Christ being the Cornerstone. Let us return now to the beginning of man’s written history to see how the Godhead, from the beginning, wanted only the best for man.

Let us understand that many years, perhaps thousands or even millions of years transpired between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Beginning in verse 2 we find a once beautiful earth now in a state of “tohu and bohu”–chaotic waste–and covered with water. The planet’s condition was the result of a war that had been waged between God and His angels and Lucifer and his angels. In verse 2 we find the two Members of the Godhead–God and the Word–in the process of re-creating the earth. Over the next seven days God gave the commands and the Word, through the Holy Spirit (Their power) re-created everything just as it had been when God turned it over to Lucifer and one-third of His (God’s) angels for the purpose of caring for it. See Ezekiel 28.

As Genesis 2:26,28 tell us, after its re-creation, God gave the earth to Adam as his own personal possession. He had total dominion over everything on, under and above it as well as the fish of the seas (Gen. 1:26). Adam and Eve were given the Garden of Eden in which to live and the entire world over which to rule. He and Eve were told to multiply and fill the earth with their descendants. There is no indication that they (their descendants) would have anything less than paradise in which to live. MAN WAS TO BE BLESSED WONDERFULLY THROUGHOUT THE FOLLOWING AGES. But man, like the angels, had been given the freedom of choice. God’s premier angel–Lucifer–and one-third of God’s angels had turned away from Him. Given the opportunity, Adam and Eve might do the same, but they had to begiven that choice. As with the angels, obedience to their Creator was commanded. For Adam and Eve there was one overriding rule: they must not eat of a certain tree found in the center of the Garden of Eden–their home base.  L.J.