Big-Picture Religion

THE BIG PICTURE! That is what we do not frequently see clearly when religion is

brought up in a discussion. There is, of course, something to be said about the details

of doctrine, prophecy, character, and Biblical faithfulness. But unless the message

is grasped as a wonderful TOTALITY, it is often nothing more than an intellectual

exercise. If we don't see the totality, we likely can't even get profitably interested in

the details.

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So, this month's article is just going to try to tell the story which the Bible presents.

We won't try to document it with specific Biblical texts -- but you may recognize

some Biblical phrases in our summary. We won't try to stress too much in the way

of doctrine, prophecy, or character. We just want to tell the BIG PICTURE. If we

are successful in our attempt, you might just fall in love with the story!

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GOD

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Once upon a time -- it was in the remote ages of the infinite past -- there was only God.

Actually, that was, in a sense, enough! This God is so sufficient in Himself that He need

not have anything or anyone else in existence. While that is hard for us to grasp, it is

important to grasp. God does not lack in any way! He never did. Therefore, He can

do things NOT to satisfy any need He has (because He has none), but because His vast

wisdom dictates that it would be good to do certain things at specific times and in

specific manners.
 

CREATION

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This God had attributes or characteristics which eventually would find their expression

in what we call "creation." Among these attributes was what we call "love." The KIND

of love we are speaking about is a very unique kind of character trait. It has inherent in

it a desire to GIVE -- and to give in such a way as to do nothing that would not be in the

best eternal interests of the recipients.

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But this desire to give is not indiscriminate. It is focused and wise. And, ultimately, it

was to result in God's creating intelligent beings to whom He could GIVE such things

as would delight and profit both Him and His creatures. That brings us to the point in

time when God ceased to be alone. He began a lengthy, complicated, flawless plan for

creating. And He began it by making only one being -- His ONLY DIRECT CREATION.

In the beginning of the creative period, God made ONE BEING. That being is

frequently called "The Logos" in Greek. In English he is called "The Word." That

Greek word, logos, doesn't just mean "word" -- like any specific single word. It means

an entire concept. It means EVERYTHING -- every truth -- concerning a given topic.

It means a whole PLAN. In THIS case, it meant that this first-created being embodied

ALL of God's creative plans, purposes, and character traits. It is most difficult for us to

comprehend this. But it is a truth behind the whole subject of creation.

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In our English language, we have adopted this Greek word, logos, -- usually at the end of

words -- to express the total knowledge behind any subject. For instances: We speak of

BioLOGY when we want to tell of ALL the truths about LIFE (bio). We speak of

GeoLOGY when we wish to tell of ALL the truths we know about the physical earth

(geo). We speak of PsychoLOGY when we want to tell ALL we know about the mind

(psyche). The same is true when we wish to speak of God's first and only direct creation

-- The Logos. This being embodied ALL that God wanted and needed him to know and

to be for what was yet to come. "In the beginning was the PLAN personified" -- all

contained in one magnificent being! Why?

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The reason that The Logos ("The Word") was such a self-contained embodiment of

everything God wanted to accomplish in creation is that The Logos is the being who

created all else that has been created! God, Himself, had no direct hand in the

matter. He was the Director, the Architect, the Author behind the scenes. He gets the

credit, but the Logos did the actual work. EVERYTHING that was made after the

creation of the Logos was made by the powers delegated to the Logos.

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This Logos has another Biblical name, a given name -- not just the descriptive name,

Logos, which tells WHAT he is. His given name, which expresses HOW he functions

throughout the creative process, is "Michael." (He is also known as "The Archangel.")

THAT name was given to him because "Michael" means "One who AS God." In

other words, the Logos became the single individual who spoke and acted for God.

He was the one who did, and yet does, speak and act as the "one, who AS God,"

runs the created universe. Clearly, the importance of this single individual is

MONUMENTAL! All spirit beings and all of humanity -- as well as the lower creatures

and the physical universe -- are the work of his craftsmanship and the charges of his

supervision. Next to God, Himself, there was and is no being so great and exalted.

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WHY GOD CREATED

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Thus the time came when God's wisdom dictated that it was time to do things which

would bring into existence a physical and a spirit universe. That universe would include

things visible to humans as well as things visible only in the spirit realm. The Logos

was created and commissioned to bring this all about. Once he created spirit beings

(angels), he used them to work with him in making everything else.

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But we, as humans, are most interested in knowing how this all affects us. And we

will shortly concentrate on things from our viewpoint as mankind. But, before we do,

we need to understand where God's priorities were when creation began. FIRST in

God's mind for the outcome of the creative process was ultimately to have an intimate

personal family of His own on His own level of being -- beings which in every respect

will be worthy of being God's constant companions. They will, so to speak, "sit around

His table" with Him.

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This group of beings was planned as God's masterpiece "before the foundation of the

world." But THEY WERE NOT CREATED at that time. They were only conceived in

God's mind as His first creative priority.

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The reason their creation was DELAYED was that they are to possess a quality which

ONLY God possesses. That quality we call "immortality." Immortality in Scripture

DOES NOT just mean that someone keeps on living. It is a far greater concept than

that. It means that the possessor of immortality CANNOT POSSIBLY DIE or even

diminish bodily or mentally under any circumstance. This personal family will be

"just like God" -- without displacing Him. When a being is immortal, he cannot be

terminated. He is not dependent upon external sources for life-continuance -- sources

like food, water, air, time or, most importantly, not even dependent on God's permission

to continue. An immortal being is LIKE GOD. And, until about two millennia ago,

NO ONE except God had this quality of immortality.

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We should all be able to see that this quality cannot be safely bestowed upon ANYONE

unless that being has been proven, beyond all possibility of failure, to have the character

traits which would warrant his continuing eternal existence without the possibility of

termination or character failure. God WILL NOT PERMIT anything to continue existing

which might in any way threaten the eternal peace and order of His universe. This

FIRST-CONCEIVED. first-priority, special creation MUST BE TESTED before it

exists! Now THAT is a true test of God's wisdom and ability! How do you test

something before it exists? We will return to this question shortly.

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LOVE GIVES

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We have already mentioned that God didn't NEED creation. But His inherent attribute

of Love makes Him WANT to GIVE. Giving is impossible unless there are recipients!

THAT is why God eventually created. His magnificent wisdom and love considered

that having other beings to whom He might give perfect and enduring blessings was

the thing to do at this certain point in His plan. God created because "God is Love."

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THE INHERENT PROBLEMS IN CREATING

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For God, creating is not a difficulty. What IS difficult is all of the decisions required in

creating. Only Divine Wisdom could anticipate and solve all of the inherent problems.

Because of God's very nature, He would have no thought of ever creating intelligent

beings who were not free to reason and choose -- to THINK! We can immediately see

the problem here! How does God grant such freedoms and yet ensure a good outcome?

Freedom, by its very nature, has the possibility of rebellion built into it. But God

refused to create robots who could not fail. Robots cannot give or receive love -- and

the giving and receiving of love was the ideal that prompted creation in the first place.

God determined that all of His intelligent beings would have free will -- despite the

problems which would have to be overcome.

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LEARNING THE NECESSARY THINGS

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The only way to create free moral beings who will apply their choices wisely and live

forever is to give them a good education. When intelligent beings UNDERSTAND the

deadly results of poor choices, they will, BY FREE WILL, make good choices. That

should be the case with the vast majority. But God's foreknowledge understood that

ALL might not conform to the needed good choices in the end, and He made provisions

for it.

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What happens if ultimately a few refuse to learn the lessons? What if a few use their

free will to be in rebellion against God and His purposes? It is JUSTICE that the

God who created them would have the power, wisdom, and love to eliminate them.

We call that "DEATH" -- going out of existence. And it is just! Indeed, it would be

UNJUST to allow perpetual rebellion to ruin creation for all others. God never intended

His creation to have any outcome other than blessed success. His intention from the

beginning of the creative process was to give richly to all creation -- but with the single

proviso that, in the end, no single being could create a problem by disobedience. The

"penalty" ultimately for such defiance is death -- total extermination, cessation of

existence. (Only fiends would dream up eternal torture!) The death penalty (oblivion)

for disobedience is manifestly wise considering the disastrous alternatives.

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Now, how was God to ensure that these objectives could successfully be accomplished?

How could God successfully instruct all intelligent beings? Intelligent beings can learn

by information, by observation, and by experience. Experience is ultimately the best

teacher. In the end, God will have used all three available means of instructing His

intelligent creation -- information, observation, and experience. But it will take a while.

Learning is a process -- especially so for beings who have free will. And to learn about

disobedience and its results, disobedience HAD TO OCCUR somewhere.

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When angels were created, God could not very well have used them as examples

for the instruction of the whole universe of intelligent beings because, for instance,

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MANKIND CANNOT SEE any of the disobedience which might occur in the invisible

spirit world. Mankind couldn't learn from observing angelic disobedience. Therefore,

God intended that the first visible intelligent creation, mankind, would be the example

of the results of disobedience for all beings everywhere to learn from at any time. But

that meant that mankind WOULD HAVE TO BE disobedient or rebellious.

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God would NOT create the disobedience! He doesn't do things like that! He simply

knew that free will would automatically produce disobedience until the lessons were

learned. He, therefore, PERMITTED EVIL -- a horrible thing, but with a priceless

and foolproof result. God KNEW that man would disobey. There was NOTHING that

God could do about that without taking away free will. And God warned man that

disobedience would result in death -- extinction. THAT punishment had to be made

clear to all. The future of the universe depends on it. Nevertheless, Adam and Eve both

disobeyed, and their progeny have inherited the death sentence and have been dying

ever since. Adam had no life genetically to pass on to his descendants. His life rights

had been terminated. But his descendants HAVE BEEN LEARNING (while dying!) ever

since! And THAT is the point. The "permission of evil" is having the desired effect -- TEACHING.

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Humanity cannot escape concluding that we don't like the way things are! We don't

like dying, illness, inequalities, poverty, war, natural disasters, etc. Deep down we all

unconsciously have been being taught what rebellion means. THAT will lead to our

being able to energetically choose obedience and life when it is soon offered again. And

all the angels have also watched, witnessed, and learned the lessons. While they haven't

been dying if they've been disobedient, they know that they WILL die eventually if

they've not learned the lessons from observing mankind.

THE RANSOM

In God's perfect wisdom, He calculated a way of getting mankind out of the death

sentence which man has been experiencing for over 6000 years. But God CANNOT

deny His attributes, one of which is Justice. When God condemned Adam to death, He

could not just say, "That's okay, Adam. You made a mistake, but we'll just forget about

it and try again." We would have very little respect for a God whose Justice wasn't firm

and absolute. It would make Him untrustworthy. It would, among other things, make a

death-penalty threat rather hollow. The seriousness of disobedience and its results

would be diluted. But God had planned "a way out" which maintains justice while it

uses love to solve the problem. And, once again, the solution is no more pleasant than is

the "permission of evil." But it IS magnificent!

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There is a wonderful peculiarity about humans that makes them the perfect ones to

experience the death sentence with the possibility of a release from it. Humanity is able

to procreate. No other intelligent beings have that capacity -- by design! Because of

this, the death penalty from father Adam can be passed genetically to his descendants

who will learn from it -- even though they are not responsible for it. He lost the right to

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pass down continuing life. We are all born dying. But the descendants don't carry the

responsibility for the sin that brought on the death penalty -- nor for their own inherited

imperfections. Thus, God only need to arrange to "take away the SIN (singular) of

the world" -- Adam's sin -- one life for one life as an offset. While the rest of the race

experiences the effects of the death sentence, they DON'T have their sins imputed to

them. They are NOT dying for what THEY are doing! They die because they inherit the

lack of life-rights passed via procreation to them from their father, Adam. Nevertheless,

they are born in imperfection and live lives of deterioration.

God knew that the only way to release Adam from the sentence -- which requires the

death of a perfect man -- was to have someone else substitute himself for the original

offender. Justice demands one perfect human life forever as payment for the original

disobedience. But there WAS NO OTHER PERFECT MAN in existence who could offer

to pay the price. No imperfect man could "give a ransom for his brother."

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This is where we return to the Logos. He was willing actually to become a human --

experience a change of nature (something unique in all of history) -- and to sacrifice

himself in Adam's place -- a human life for a human life -- a "ransom price." He did. He

was willing to save the creation which he had personally made. What a self-sacrificing

character! Greater love does not exist than to lay down one's life for another. We know

the Logos once he became a man as "Jesus" -- which appropriately means "Savior."

That magnificent FIRST CREATION, God's ONLY directly-created being, creator of

everything created, willingly became a human. When he offered himself as a substitute

(a "ransom") in death for Adam, he functionally released Adam and all of humanity

which came out of Adam. The original man had in him the power and prospect of an

entire race of humans. So did Jesus. Jesus exchanged himself (and the prospective race

he could have fathered) in exchange for Adam and his race, who were all born under the

condemnation of their father, Adam. Justice was satisfied. A re-awakening for Adam

and his race was secured and guaranteed. But they WILL need more than awakening.

They will need a schooling period to remove the vestiges of their tainted lifetimes in

order to return them to full human perfection and to a full relationship with God.

THE NEW CREATION

We might say, "But I see a problem here! Since Jesus didn't stay dead, his coming back

to life makes his sacrifice null and void! He got his life back!" This is a very valid

observation; but it has a stunning answer which will take us back to God's original

intention of having a personal, intimate family of His own on His own level of being --

immortality, the Divine Nature -- "New Creatures" which had never before existed --

and who, of necessity, must be TESTED before they come into existence.

The MAN, Jesus, DID die. And he remains forever dead. Jesus will never again

live as a perfect human being. He sacrificed his perfect humanity as a "ransom" (a

corresponding price) for Adam. But something unique happened -- something that

doesn't violate Justice, but which shows the very heights of Love and inventiveness on

God's part. When Jesus was baptized at age 30, God began in him something that had

never before occurred. Jesus had "begotten" (begun) IN HIM, by the power of God's

spirit, a "New Creature." In other words, God used Jesus' human nature for three and a

half years as the CARRIER, INCUBATOR, or WOMB of a brand-new embryo spirit

being -- NOT the spirit being which Jesus WAS previously, but a new embryo spirit

being with the hope of maturing into A DIVINE BEING -- something Jesus or the Logos

had never been. That which was begotten in Jesus was to be the FIRST of this "New

Creation" of God's personal family which was the priority item on God's creative agenda.

Jesus was faithful, was born as a new Divine being, and he is now "the very image of the

Father's person." Thus, the MAN, Jesus, IS forever dead; but the "New Creature," Jesus,

(a totally new being), was born as the first of his Father's new intimate family -- fully

tested before becoming a Divine being.

Mankind's horrid experiences with the "permission of evil" became the perfect

"testing ground" for the absolute proving of characters which God would eventually

invest with immortality -- characters which would become that personal and intimate

family of His own. IF these embryo "New Creatures" mature successfully and are

PROVEN to have the faithfulness under duress required so that God can be confident

of their eternal compliance with the Will of God, God would then have something which

was tested before it was made! This is why the FIRST creation on God's priority

list (His personal family) could not be created until mankind was made and had

disobeyed. Earth's evils would surely try the mettle of any character. "The permission

of evil" has provided the perfect "proving ground" to test characters BEFORE they are

made into new Divine beings -- as well as to teach all intelligent beings about the results

of disobedience.

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But where does the remainder of this "family" come from? Jesus is only its beginning --

"the firstborn." God had intended that His new intimate family would have, in addition

to the Logos, 144,000 beings.

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Here is the stunning privilege about which it is nearly impossible to speak! God

intends to make the rest of His Divine and personal family out of fallen human beings!

And He set aside an entire age of about 2000 years in length, between the two advents

of Jesus, to accomplish the inviting, begetting, training, and testing of these 144,000

individuals. That averages only about 72 people per year since Jesus' first advent that

God will take from this earth to be His beloved Divine family. It IS a "little flock."

We can thus see a remarkable truth. While God does, indeed, want all of the various

parts of His creative work as valued parts of His universe, ALL OF CREATION was

made in order to provide the development for God's FIRST PRIORITY -- His family.

But that might sound a bit narrow! And it is. The rest of creation will joyfully profit

from the services of God's "New Creation" toward them. For the myriad "Ages to

Come," God's intimate family will work with and distribute creative blessings to all the

remainder of creation. No one will feel (or be) excluded from the enormous number of

nearly uncontainable good things which God has in store once the lessons are learned.

SO, WHAT ABOUT EVERYONE ELSE?

Now we can talk about humanity as a whole. God has an intense love for the human

race -- so much so that "He gave His only-begotten Son" as a ransom sacrifice so that

they will have eternal life in the most idyllic of circumstances on earth. God never did

intend to take the human race to heaven! And the ransom has already guaranteed their

awakening, and it provided for the perfect circumstances for their restoration on earth.

Jesus' second advent is called "the Times of Restitution of all things which God has

spoken by the mouths of all of His holy prophets since the world began."

CLEARLY, the restoration of the race to life and blessings is paramount in God's mind!

ALL of His prophets foretold it. Somewhere near 21 billion people have lived -- even

though only about 8 billion are currently living. God's intention, through the ministry of

the Divine Christ -- the 144,001 -- is to bring back the dead, work with them, as well as

with the living, to have them all enjoy a perfecting period and an eternity of perfection

on a perfected and fruitful earth. This is all called, "the resurrection (a re-standing with

God) of the dead." And it is scheduled!

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God knew how much time was needed for this entire process of teaching all of his

intelligent creatures what they need to know so that their free choices will all be wise

and result in splendid eternal life. God encapsulated the entire "permission of evil"

teaching-experience into a 7000-year span of time. The last 1000-years of it (its

"sabbath") is the period of Jesus' return with his new Divine brethren to earth's

atmosphere (NOT as men!) to work with his fellow "New Creatures" to bring all of

humanity back to perfection. We are already in the early years of that time. They are

not yet the peaceful years because the initial years are designed to clandestinely destroy

the corrupt institutions and practices of mankind BEFORE God says, "BE STILL! And

know that I am God!" That moment, according to prophecy, is right at the doorstep!

THEN personal restoration will begin.

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Meanwhile, God is concluding the selection of His personal family. We know it as

"The Church." It is NOT all of Christianity -- which calls itself "The Church." It is only

the "Little Flock" of super-devoted individuals who are being proven to be worthy of

becoming Divine beings. They are being developed or transformed by "the renewing of

the mind."

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The Greek word for "church" is "ekklesia." It means "a calling out." It is an apt word!

God is calling these people out of the world to become His immortal and Divine Family.

We recall that "before the foundation of the world" God intended to create this group

of individuals for His own family. And He knew He would have to test them BEFORE

THEY ARE "BORN!" He foresaw earth's period of evil as the perfect testing time for

their development. THEY will, with Christ, be the new spiritual rulers of the universe.

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They will be most sympathetic with mankind because they ALL will have been humans!

And their sympathetic rulership (which we call the Kingdom of God on earth) will be the

joy of the universe! It is for good reason that Jesus admonished to pray, "Thy Kingdom

come! Thy will be done IN EARTH." We are virtually on the doorstep of the fulfillment

of that prayer. PEACE to you!

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IN BRIEF

Because of His love, which far transcends anything our finite minds might be able to

imagine, God has designed, and has set in motion, the perfectly-orchestrated processes

that will result in one large, harmonious, and perfect universal family (His "house").

As Jesus proclaimed, God's beloved family will reside in His "house" that contains

many dwelling levels ("mansions"). We can describe it in a very simplified version:

The upper level will be occupied by God's personal family -- His spiritual "task force"

(or government) who are given immortality (the Divine Nature). The middle level is

for God's spiritual "assistants" called "angels" -- and other beings of a similar spiritual

nature, living eternally, but without immortality. The lowest level will be occupied by

billions of humans restored to perfection, living forever on an unblemished and fruitful

earth.

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And THAT is the Big Picture! It may well leave us hungering for the many details --

which have necessarily not been mentioned! But the Big Picture SHOULD excite the

better parts of our hearts and minds. As the old hymn said it, "Tell me the old, old story

of Jesus and his love!" It has been told. Never has anything finer been spoken.

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