Christian's Handbook 4

Handbook 4 highlights God's appointed times and appointed works while emphasizing their importance and urgency for His people throughout their generations.

An Appointment From the Beginning

Handbook 4: Article 5 - Part 1: Time and the Works of God: An Introduction

"Who" is assigned this appointed work, to make Jesus' enemies a footstool for His feet? Who is this 'one' in whom God put all things on earth under his feet?

The Assignment

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness and let him rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth... And God blessed them; and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it... And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good."

Genesis 1:26, 28, 31

How did God equip man to do His work?

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness...'"

"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers,
The moon and the stars, which Thou hast appointed;
What is man that Thou dost remember him?
And the son of man that Thou dost care for him?

Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels
And dost crown him with glory and majesty!
Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet..."

Psalm 8:3-8

According to Our Likeness

God crowned man "with His glory and majesty..."

"For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subjected to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

But we do see... Jesus..."

Hebrews 2:8, 9

The First Instructions for the Work

"Then God said...'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it...'"

Genesis 1:26, 28

"And the Lord commanded the man saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat from it, for in the day that you eat you shall surely die.'"

Genesis 2:16, 17

Consider:

It has been widely believed that at the moment of disobedience, Adam, representing all mankind, died in his "spirit". But Scripture tells us that in the beginning man was not created a living spirit but a living soul.

"Then the Lord God formed man from the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."

Genesis 2:7

Man was flesh (body), he was soul (mind, emotion, intellect, etc.), not yet fully equipped to do God's work. But that he had been given the assignment and granted the grace and the "potential" or possibility to bear the image and likeness of God, is clearly stated.

Again:

"Who is man that Thou dost remember him...
And dost crown him with glory and majesty!
Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet..."

Isaiah 8:4-6

For Adam and Eve at their creation every blessing was granted to them. God so loved them that He gave... His fellowship. His provision for their every need He supplied in the garden, even the tree of life was there for them.

"...(He) graciously and helpfully cared for and visited and looked after him."

But they did not "believe" His Word to them, they bought the Lie!

"For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and beasts and birds and reptiles...

For they exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator, who is blessed unto the ages."

Romans 1:21-23, 25

"And God drove man out from the garden lest he eat of the tree of life. There was no longer any reflection of the likeness of God in him, the reflection of glory and majesty of God. And man although his body and soul were still intact, was dead in his trespasses and sin, and he who was to rule and subdue the earth was now ruled by 'the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience.'"

Ephesians 2:1, 2

And man was "dead in his trespasses and sins..."

However, Romans 11:29 tells us that the "gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for Me with all your heart.'"

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Man at Creation "Crowned with Glory and Majesty":

"...you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

Matthew 5:48

"For we are God's handiwork, recreated in Christ Jesus, that we may do the good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us, taking paths which he prepared ahead of time) that we should walk in them."

Ephesians 2:10

Ponder these Scriptures:

"Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence.

Through which things He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

2 Peter 1:2-4

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him, in love."

Ephesians 1:3, 4

"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Philippians 1:6

"The Lord will accomplish what concerns me;
Thy lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting.
Do not forsake the works of Thy hands."

Psalm 138:8

"Because He Is, I Can Become"
(Handbook 3, Article 40)

The Divine Original, Man's Only Hope of Glory

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

In Him was life; and the life was the light of men...

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of an only (or unique) one, full of grace and truth...

For of His fullness we all received and grace upon grace."

John 1:1-4, 14, 16

"He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -- all things have been created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might have first place in everything. "For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself...

I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God... that I might make full the word of God... that is the mystery of God which has been hidden from the past ages and generations that now has be manifested to His holy ones... which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

Colossians 1:15-19, 25-27

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so lead your life in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him... For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete (or full), and He is the head of all rule and authority..."

Colossians 2:6, 7, 9, 10

"And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man complete (or perfect) in Christ..."

Colossians 1:28

"...that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."

Colossians 2:2, 3

A Definition, "Crowned with Glory and Majesty"

"Arise, shine; for your light has come,
And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness will cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will rise upon you,
And His glory will appear upon you..."

Isaiah 60:1, 2

"Awake, awake, utter a song!
Arise...
Then survivors came down to the nobles;
The people of God came down as warriors...
There were great resolves of heart...
There were great searchings of heart...
The leaders led in Israel...
The people volunteered, bless the Lord...

Thus let all Thine enemies perish, O Lord;
But let those who love Him, be like the rising of the sun in its might."

Excerpt: Judges 5


« LastNext »

  1. Revelation and Beyond: A Journey in the Midst of the Years
  2. God and Time
  3. God and Appointed Times
  4. The "Greater Works" and the First Century Church
  5. An Appointment From the Beginning
  6. Working the Works of God
  7. Reviewing the "Order of Things"
  8. God's Workman, a Portrait
  9. The Revelation Revisited

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