Unto the praise of His glory!

Ephesians
{1:12} That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
{1:13} In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise
{1:14} Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

**

You trusted...

...after you heard the word of truth.

You trusted...

...after you heard the gospel of your salvation.

You trusted...

...after you believed you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, our inheritance until redeemed.


Praise be the glory of God, of Salvation in Christ Jesus.

**

Do you believe?

I have to believe that this life isn't all there is to living.

I have to believe that death was never intended.

A silly thought but have you ever seen an underwater television special? The beauty that exists under the sea is absolutely amazing, comparable to the beauty we can find on dry land, some would say even more spectacular.

Who creates a work of beauty only to hide it?

An eccentric perhaps. Someone shy? Someone unable to show it off for other reasons. Alright those are good answers and there are probably many, many hidden works of beauty the majority of people will never see for various reasons, but who creates something on the scale of beauty that exists beneath the vast seas and only does so to hide it from the majority of people? It's not like hiding it from the public and charging admission to see the beauty is a consideration. Making money off the beautiful sight isn't possible for its creator.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is why would God create the magnificence seas with their underwater treasures only to make them inaccessible to man unless they create artificial means of breathing underwater?

I really don't believe God intended for the oceans to be off limits to us. Seriously, I don't. It makes so little sense.

What if... before sin entered the world and death by sin, man was able to naturally breath underwater?

No, I'm not getting all science fiction, spacey on you, I'm just supposing something. I'm not imagining we had gills and flippers or anything. Before death was a reality, then nothing could kill a person, right? If death did not exist then there was no way to die.

Satan didn't take Eve to the ocean and tempt her with the beauty under the water to drown her. He didn't entice her to climb a mountain and jump off so she'd die when she hit the ground. He didn't trap a lion in a pit and lead Eve to fall in it to be devoured. Satan didn't try anything physical in the way that we know people can die to kill Eve. Death didn't exist. No one could die. The access to the tree of life provided a means for people to partake of an eternal life giving fruit. That eternal life meant just that- no death. It didn't mean that Adam and Eve had to sit around in a sterile environment protected from wild beasties or kept from exploring the wonders of creation. They had access to the earth and all that was created in that earth. Adam was charged with naming the animals, I'm sure he didn't go up to a cage and peer in at a lion and say, mmmm...okay you're a lion. The lion was free roaming, not caged, there was no need to fear any animal at all.

Life upon creation was unlike anything we can truly imagine. We know that it was impossible for Adam and Eve to die, the concept of death only existed in that they were told not to eat of the fruit of a single tree or they would die.

Do you think it's unfair that death didn't exist so they had nothing to really make it real to them, this thing called death? No. It wasn't unfair. They were given everything and one restriction, one test if you will to see if they would obey their creator. If they loved their creator and trusted Him enough to take Him at His word. If they would have faith in their creator. They didn't know what death was in the sense they'd seen anything die, they were asked to trust, to believe in their Creator, to believe in God by faith through love. Much the same as we are asked to believe, to have faith in our Creator that by the sacrifice of His only Son, through His grace we are going to receive eternal life. Trusting, believing, loving for no other reason that our Creator, the one who willed us into existence demands it of us for our own good, but does not force it upon us.

Imagine if you will, being able to walk under the sea and interact with the beauty and bountiful life that exists under water. You can probably imagine it more if you've been deep sea diving, but imagine not needing any breathing apparatus to enjoy the wonders that live in the seas. It's really incomprehensible that it would be possible, but without death why wouldn't it have been? And why would God create such wonders for no one to see?

Yes, I sit here and I can't honestly believe that life was meant to be the way it is here and now. That everything was created by accident and this life is all there is to our existence and when it's over we're simply non-existent any longer.


**

You trusted...

...after you heard the word of truth.

You trusted...

...after you heard the gospel of your salvation.

You trusted...

...after you believed you were sealed with the holy spirit of promise, our inheritance until redeemed.


Praise be the glory of God, of Salvation in Christ Jesus.

**

We are each responsible to succeed where Adam and Eve failed. We are each asked to believe, to trust, to have faith in the salvation offered to us through Jesus Christ. As the were asked to trust in God and not partake of the fruit of one tree, we are asked to trust in God and to partake of salvation through Christ, believing in God and His word, His promise. Eve believed Satan when he told her that God lied to them and was hiding something from them, today Satan tries to convince us that there is no eternal life for us, that this life is all we have and if we do believe there might be something that it's too hard to obtain, or he tries the other approach that everyone is guaranteed eternal life no matter what they believe, automatically we all go to heaven and live happily ever after because we're good enough. There are many, many deceptions Satan has put in place to get us to give up our right to redemption through Jesus' sacrifice, to give up on the promises offered. And you know what? He wouldn't try so hard if there really was no eternal life. A life he knows that he'll never partake of, that his plan to deceive and reign in place of God will never happen. He's a loser who wants to take as many down with him as possible, to deny Christ as many believers as he can.

**

When you say if *you'd* been Adam or Eve *you* would have NEVER have fallen for Satan's deception, well, *you* do have that opportunity, the same one in a different format to prove that you believe in God, that you trust in God, that eternal life through the grace of Jesus is real and something to cling to for the promise of redemption to come. You make the choice every day, and sometimes often throughout the day, just as Adam and Eve lived with the forbidden fruit day in and day out making the choice to not go near it, to not partake of it, we have to make a choice. You can start up with excuses about how much harder it is for us and all that, but in the end it's a matter of choice for every single human being.

**

Ephesians
{1:12} That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
{1:13} In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise
{1:14} Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

**

All glory and praise to God our Father, to Jesus Christ His Son, the word of Truth, the gospel of Salvation, seal us with the Holy Spirit of promise, prepare us for that day of redemption, all power, glory, honor, praise, all love to our Father, by the grace of the Son, through the promise of the Spirit.

Amen.

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”- Joshua 24:15