Five
Reasons for Worshiping the God
of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob
Part
1
.Worship
Him who made the Heavens, the Earth, the
sea
and the
springs of water. (Revelation
14:7)
The
expression I believe in God,
has different meanings for different
people because there are many Gods.
Jehovah is not Allah and Jesus is not
Shiva, Vishnu, or Shakti (Hindu Gods).
Even within Christianity, Catholics, and
Protestants have very different views
about God. Therefore, the
phrase I believe in God is
just a catch-all phrase.
Belief
in God or the absence
of God really does matter. Beliefs
shape behavior and behaviors have
consequences. Currently, the radical
Islamic group, ISIS, is waging a brutal
war against so-called non-believers
in the Middle East. ISIS is killing
men, women and children, beheading
non-Muslims and forcing young girls into
sex slavery. ISIS claims that Allah
fully approves of its actions. Do you see
how beliefs shape behavior? When people
believe their identity is concealed, they
are more likely to do things that they
would not otherwise do. Beliefs shape
behavior. With increasing frequency,
people are doing terrible things to one
another. Hatred and violence is rising,
immoral behavior is pandemic, and ethnic
relations are at a breaking point. We
have reached this point because todays
harvest is the result of seeds sown
yesterday. Beliefs shape behavior and mans
behavior has produced the conflicted
environment we now see.
Does
God Exist?
Beliefs about
God can range from total denial to
wholehearted commitment. Because this
wide spectrum exists and space is
limited, this study will focus on the two
aspects of believing in God. The first
aspect will be Does God exist?
and if so, Who is He?
For
authority in spiritual matters, I have
accepted the Bible as Gods Word.
Even though there are other so-called
sacred writings, I accept the Bible based
on five reasons that will be presented in
this study. The Bible declares there is
only one God* who is to be
worshiped. He is unlike all
the other deities called God.
The God of the Bible is the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is called
Jehovah in the Old Testament
and Jesus in the New
Testament. Notice what Jesus says of
Himself: This is what the Lord
says Israels King and
Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am
the first and I am the last; apart from
me there is no God. (Isaiah
44: 6) This declaration in the Old
Testament is amplified in the New
Testament. Jesus said to John,
Do not be afraid. I
am the First and the Last I am the
Living One; I was dead, and behold I am
alive for ever and ever. And I
hold the keys to death and Hades. (Revelation
1: 17, 18)
(*Note: The
Bible teaches tritheism, that God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob actually
consists of three separate and distinct
Gods functioning as one God. The Bible
teaches that the plan of salvation
required the services of three Gods. One
God, Jesus, voluntarily died for our
sins. Another God, the Father, raised
Jesus from the dead. The gospel which
Jesus spoke came directly from the Father
through the ministry of yet a third God,
the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the only
visible member of the Godhead. Jesus is
also our spokesman (The Logos) for the
trinity. Ninety-five percent of the
references in the Old Testament
pertaining to Jehovah/Lord/God/Almighty
pertain to Jesus. Because the Trinity is
united in purpose, plan, and action, to
the casual reader they may appear to be
one God. However, as a husband and wife
become one flesh at marriage, so three
Gods surrendered their rights and
prerogatives to each other in order to
become one unified Trinity. For
additional study on this fascinating
topic, please see The Wake Up Report, December
2012 or go here: https://www.wake-up.org/newsletter-archive/the-wake-up-report/questions-answered-about-the-trinity-dec-2012.html)
The
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is
eternal and changeless. (Genesis 21:33,
Malachi 3:6) He is omniscient. He knows
the very numbers of hairs on each persons
head. (Matthew 10:30) He sees everything
that occurs on Earth: The Lord
looks down from Heaven on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand,
any who seek God. (Psalm 14:
2) For the eyes of the Lord
range throughout Earth to strengthen
those whose hearts are fully committed to
him
(2 Chronicles 16:9)
There is a great deal of confusion about
God, so I ask you to consider five
reasons why I worship and love the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Of course, my
reasons may not be adequate for you, but
I offer these thoughts in hope that they
may help you to know God better. This
month I will share the first two of the
five reasons.
Heaven
and Earth are the Products of Intelligent
Design
My
first reason for loving and
worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob is this: Heaven and Earth are
products of an intelligent designer.
Jesus Himself made them. He is the
Creator of everything that exists. The
Bible says:
This
is what God the Lord says He who
created the heavens and stretched them
out, who spread out the Earth and all
that comes out of it, who gives breath to
its people, and life to those who walk on
it. (Isaiah 42: 5)
For
by Him all things were created: things in
Heaven and on Earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or powers or
rulers or authorities; all things were
created by Him and for Him. (Colossians
1:16)
Even
though the Bible makes these
declarations, we must find support around
us to affirm what the Bible says. The
difference between a symphony and random
notes is that music has a design, while
random notes do not. The Mona Lisa is
separated from random lines and patches
of color because the Mona Lisa has a
design, while random lines and colors do
not. A jet airplane is a marvelous
creation. Jet airplanes do not accidently
or randomly occur without the handiwork
if intelligent designers and builders.
However, jet airplanes are very simple
creations when compared to the human
genome.
The
total length of the human genome contains
more than 3 billion orderly base
pairs. Is the human genome the
work of an Intelligent Designer or is it
the result of 3 billion freakish
accidents that just happened to occur in
perfect order? When I consider the
diversity of plants, animals, fish,
birds, and human beings that live on
Earth, when I consider that each specie
brings a unique contribution to life on
Earth, when I consider that each specie
has its own unique DNA and the ability to
procreate, when I consider all the forms
of life require the simultaneous presence
of perfectly formed DNA, different types
of solutions, and essential
three-dimensional proteins, the evidence
declares this is the work of an
Intelligent Designer. When I consider
Earths orbit around the Sun, I am
impressed that Earths orbit is no
cosmic accident. If Earths distance
from the Sun varied by a mere 10%, life
on Earth could not exist. The winters
would be so cold and the summers would be
so hot that nothing could live. Looking
at the structures of Earth, I
conclude that it defies reason and mocks
reasonableness to claim that life is a
result of billions of freakish accidents
that began with life-less ocean
slime.
If
we take the probability of intelligent
design one step further, we find that
science itself declares the handiwork of
God. It is baffling and ironic that many
scientists deny the existence of God when
science, by definition, involves the
process of discovering and applying the
laws that govern life. Intelligent laws,
like jet airplanes, do not naturally
occur. When we consider the law of
physics that govern the planet, when we
consider the laws of biology that govern
life on this planet, when we consider the
laws governing the behavior of atoms,
when we consider the laws governing
mathematics, thermodynamics, economics,
and the procreation of all living things,
these profound designs point to an
infinity wise Creator. Of course, no one
understands all of the mysteries of Gods
Creation, but there is enough evidence to
convince me that Heaven and Earth are not
a freakish accident. The Bible tells the
truth. Earth and all that is in it is the
handiwork of Jesus, the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. He created Adam and Eve
on the sixth day of Creation.
God
Has Accurately Declared the Future
I
love and worship the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob because He knows and
declares the future with 100% accuracy. Here
are three examples:
- Then
the Lord said to him [Abraham]
Know for certain that your
descendants will be strangers in
a country not their own, and they
will be enslaved and mistreated
four hundred years. But I will
punish the nation they serve as
slaves, and afterward they will
come out with great possessions.
You, however, will go to your
fathers in peace and be buried at
a good old age. In the fourth
generation your descendants will
come back here, for the sin of
the Amorities has not yet reached
its full measure. (Genesis
15: 13-16)
God
gave this prophecy about 500 years
before it was fulfilled in 1437 B.C. When
God delivered Israel out of Egyptian
slavery, the fourth generation returned
to Canaan. The four generations are
counted as Levi, Kohath, Amram, and
Moses.
- God
said to Jeremiah: This
whole country [belonging to
Israel] will become a
desolate wasteland, and these
nations will serve the king of
Babylon seventy years. (Jeremiah
25: 11, insertion mine) With
uncanny accuracy, the captivity
of Israel by the Babylonians
began in 605 B.C. and ended,
right on time, in 536 B.C. The
Bible says: The land [belonging
to Israel] enjoyed its
Sabbath rests; all the time of
its desolation it rested, until
the seventy years were completed
in fulfillment of the word of the
Lord spoken by Jeremiah. (2
Chronicles 36:21)
- Just
before His death in A.D. 30,
Jesus made a startling
prediction: Jesus left
the temple and was walking away
when his disciples came up to him
to call attention to its
buildings. Do you see
all these things? he asked.
I tell you the truth, not
one stone here will be left on
another; everyone will be thrown
down. (Matthew
24: 1,2)
This
prophecy was fulfilled with astonishing
accuracy in A.D. 70 after the Romans set
fire to the temple in Jerusalem. The gold
that adorned the interior of the temple
melted and ran into the joints of the
massive stones that made up the temple.
The Romans devised a system of pulleys
and levers to pull the stones apart to
retrieve the gold.
These
prophecies (and there are many more in
the Bible) demonstrate a profound fact.
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob can
foretell the future with 100% accuracy.
Jesus said, Heaven and Earth
will pass away, but my words will never
pass away. (Matthew 24: 35) No
other God can do this. Jesus said: See,
the former things [I predicted] have
taken place, and new things I declare;
before they spring into being I announce
them to you
.O am God, and there is
no other; I am God, and there is none
like me. I make known the end from the
beginning, from ancient times, what is
still to come. I say: My purpose will
stand, and I will do all that I please [there
is nothing that can stop me]
. (Isaiah
42:9; 46: 9, 10, insertions mine)
Next
month, we will look into the next three
reasons.
Larry Wilson