But there are many other things taught in the Bible as well as this. There are lessons of patience, forbearance, honesty, virtue, truthfulness, love, charity and a thousand other graces of character in the Book of Books.
Starting at the beginning we learn of the creation of the world and man. God had a great purpose in view when He made man “in His own image.” He wanted man to live in a beautiful paradise, with every thing he could wish for at his command, but at the same time He wanted man to be good.
So God gave Adam, the first man, certain commands. Had man obeyed them, all would have gone well. But man disobeyed and was punished, by having “to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow,” that is, by work, and by having to show God that he was worthy of the good things God had offered by being sorry for his sin and showing that sorrow by being righteous.
But man continued to be sinful and God punished him again by sending the flood. Still man was given a chance, because Noah and his family were saved to re-populate the earth. Then, after a while God chose one of Noah’s descendants, Abraham, and made a promise to him and his children and their children. This was the choosing of the Jews.
Next we find God doing all that He could be expected to do in helping the Jews. He saved them from the bondage of the Egyptians and aided them in their wanderings through the wilderness toward the land of Canaan, which He told them would be their own. He gave them the Ten Commandments, the greatest and yet the simplest set of laws ever made, but still man persisted in disobeying.
Through hundreds of years we follow the Jews in the Old Testament as they disobeyed God. God was very patient, but finally he set His face against the Jews and punished them. He delivered them over to their enemies and sent them into captivity, because they had sinned. Then He had pity on them again and sent to them the great prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and the others whose words we read in the Bible. They exhorted the Jews to repentance, and told them what God would do if they were good and what He would do if they were bad. But the Jews did not heed and were further punished by losing their standing as a nation and being placed under the rule of their enemies.
After several hundred years of this, God gave man still another chance. This time He was more generous than ever, because He sent His Son, Jesus, to live among men and to die for them.
We find the story of Jesus’ life and teachings in the New Testament. Always sinless, always good, always thinking of His Father in heaven, always mindful of His human brethren, the Son of God lived His earthly life, and perished on the cross at Calvary, giving His life as an everlasting sacrifice for the redemption of the creatures God had made so many, many ages before “in His own image.”
And then after the death and resurrection of Jesus we are told of the devoted band of apostles, chosen by Jesus Himself, to go out into the world and preach His religion. He set down only two or three rules, but they were great ones. “Believe in me and ye shall have everlasting life,” “Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you,” and “Love me and keep my commandments” were the things He ordered. Never did He turn a repentant sinner away, knowing that His Father would not do so. Thus is God constantly giving men chances to save themselves, as He has done from the time He first put Adam on earth. This, then, is the basic teaching of the Bible: that man always has a chance if he will repent of his sins and obey God’s laws.
I HOPE YOU ARE ABLE TO RECEIVE FROM THIS QUICK REFRESHER.
PASTOR ANDRA HIGGINBOTHAM
EVERLASTING SALVATION CHURCH OF GOD MINISTRIES
PayPal.me/donatetochurch
Church link:
Everlastingsalvationchurchofgod.com