THE CREATOR AND THE DESTROYER (PART 1)

THE CREATOR AND THE DESTROYER

by Ozzie Grant

INTRODUCTION

As we begin this article, first and foremost, we would like the reader to understand that we are in no way criticizing  anyone who does not agree with our findings and opinions. If we came across as criticizing or condemning those that don’t see as we do, then we would be denying the existence of  the very spirit of agape love, which we are trying to reveal as being the very essence of God.

At His First Advent, Jesus disclosed, to all who were open to receive it; the ultimate truth about God’s character of agape love. Since then, His revelation of the same is to be understood in a way that it was not understood before our present generation, except for those who did receive it at His First Advent. According to what the Bible teaches, the understanding of God’s true character will come to full fruition and will be lived-out in a distinct group of humanity just before Jesus Christ’s Second Advent.

Adam and Eve were created at the end of the sixth day in the image of God, which is His character of agape love. After they obeyed the serpent they lost that image.

The image of God which was in Adam and Eve when they were created at the end of the sixth day of creation will be replicated on earth once again. When will this become a reality, according to the Bible? We believe this will take place at the end of the six thousand years of sin, from the time Adam and Eve sinned.

Those who believe and live-out God’s character of agape love, which is His image and likeness, will be Jesus’ disciples “indeed.” They will first of all have the truth that God is agape love, and secondly,  give it out to others. In agape love there is not a trace of violence.

We are now living in this momentous time period, which is the end of the sixth thousand years from the time Adam and Eve sinned. Many in our time will have this understanding of God’s character of agape love and will indeed live it out. But many  will not obey what God the Father commanded on the Mount of Transfiguration concerning His Son Jesus Christ. As a result, they will not know God’s character of agape love. Consequently, at the Second Advent of Christ they will remain in darkness by believing the lie that God is a violent Being. Jesus Christ alone can set us free from such a demonic lie. This is why we are to “Hear Him.”

27 For the Son Man will come in the glory of His Father with angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matthew 16:27-28).

1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up to a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ 5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!’ (Matthew 17:1-5).

We have noted below some important correlations, especially for us who are living right now, between the Mount of Transfiguration and the Second Coming; the first being a type, and the second the antitype:

  1. The Mount of Transfiguration is clearly a type of the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, because it took place on the sixth day. As Peter says: “But beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8).
  2. Therefore, the Second Coming will occur approximately 6,000 years after Adam sinned in the Garden.
  3. Moses and Elijah’s presence has very important spiritual significance.
  4. Peter’s desire to build three tabernacles, one for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, is completely disregarded by God the Father, who acknowledges only His Son.
  5. The Father’s command must be unquestionably, unequivocally and uncompromisingly obeyed by all who want to know the truth about His character. He said: “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” And the writer of the Book of Hebrews stated: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2).
  6. We are to hear Jesus alone concerning the truth about God the Father’s character. Not even Moses and Elijah can give us this truth.
  7. The double portion of manna collected on the sixth day in Exodus chapter sixteen was a type. Therefore, it also has an application at the end of the 6ooo years. At this time an exponential understanding of God’s character will be received from all of Jesus’ teachings, who is the Bread of Life. He is the antitype, the fulfillment of the type. He is the true double portion of spiritual food, manna, given on the sixth day, or rather, on the sixth thousandth year.
  8. Jesus Himself stated that Moses did not give the truth about God’s character. Some said to Him: “31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them. Bread from heaven to eat.’ 32 Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ 34 Then they said to Him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always.’ 35 And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst’ (John 6: 31-35).” 
  9. Thus, Moses did not give the message of “life to the world.” Jesus is the “bread of life” who gives the message of “life to the world.”

THE CREATOR

The first words of the Holy Bible, it’s very opening words, tell us something of extreme importance and which we should keep in mind as we read the remainder of the Scriptures: they unmistakably tell us that God is the Creator.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).

JESUS CHRIST THE CREATOR-GOD

Who is the Creator-God of the universe? The answer to this question might seem so obvious to any Bible student, but the truth is, that the enormous ramifications of its answer when it comes to the character of God seem to bypass many a studious Bible scholar. Thus, it is imperative that we understand the implications of the answer, which is found in the New Testament, and that is, that Jesus Christ Himself is the Creator. This fact is stated in various New Testament passages, the first of which we would like to bring to your attention is in the Gospel of John:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of Men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1: 1-5, emphasis added).

Jesus is here clearly pinpointed as being the Creator of all things and the Giver of all life. Jesus was the “light” that shone in the “darkness” of the world.

Before going any further, we must understand the meaning of the Greek words “comprehend” and “comprehended:”

G2638 katalambano, from2596 and 2983; to take eagerly, i.e. seize, possess, etc. (lit. or fig.): – apprehend, attain, come upon, comprehend, find, obtain, perceive, (over) take) Strong’s Concordance.

From this definition the word “darkness” refers to people. It is only people who can take something eagerly, comprehend it, and perceive it. Jesus Christ was giving the people of the world a “light,” a truth, which we did not yet possess—this is how He “shines in the darkness.”

Jesus came to give the world a very specific knowledge: that the Creator-God, who is Himself, is a God whose character is one hundred per cent agape love. Thus, when John says that “the darkness did not comprehend” “the light,” he was using the word “darkness” to refer to those people who reject what Jesus taught and demonstrated about God’s character of agape love. Those who choose to remain in darkness about the true character of God do not take Christ’s light—His revelation of the God of agape love—”eagerly.” They do not “seize” this wonderful knowledge, do not “possess” it, “apprehend” it, “attain” it, “come upon” it and “comprehend it.” And because they reject the truth He gave us about God’s character, they continue to remain in darkness, and will never fully know what it means that “God is love.”

One must ask the question: Why would people reject this “light” that Jesus shared with us? Jesus Himself gives us the answer:

17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God (John 3: 17-21, emphasis added).

Jesus is saying that those who reject His light do so because they prefer to continue believing in a destructive, condemning, and punitive god, since such a god would be more in line with what their own hearts desire.

There are many other references in the New Testament stating that Jesus is the Creator. Note this one from the Book of Acts:

14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out 15 and saying, ‘Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you, that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, 16 who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness’ (Acts 14: 14: 17, emphasis added).

22 Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; 23 for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

                                    TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

   

Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshipped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things (Acts 17: 22-25, emphasis added)

And this one from Colossians:

13 He [God] has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.  17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Colossians 1: 13-17, emphasis added).

And again, another one from the Book of Hebrews:

And: ‘You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands (Hebrew 1: 10).

1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir all of all things, through whom He also made the worlds (Hebrew 1: 1-2, emphasis added). 

Indisputably, from all these passages, Jesus is the Creator of all things. The author of this last verse, whom we believe to be the apostle Paul, makes a sharp contrast between what God spoke in the Old Testament through human beings and what He is speaking to us by His Son in these last days.

Although not written outright, what Paul is saying is that in the Old Testament God spoke through flawed human beings, which is a flawed means of communication. But in these last days, He is speaking to us through His Son, who is none other than the Creator. God’s first channel of communication was through created beings, but the last is through the Creator Himself. Can you start to see the ramifications to our obvious but profound question we posed in the beginning— Who is the Creator-God of the universe?

We must become acutely aware that there is a vast difference between the two channels of communication through which God has revealed Himself to us. One was through imperfect human messengers, and the other through the perfect and sinless Son of God, who was God in the flesh.

Paul himself is a wonderful learning tool for us, because through his life we can see how the two messages given through these two channels can affect us.

Writing about his own conversion, Paul declared in no uncertain terms that it was Jesus who had personally taught him the gospel for three years. He then compared it to what he had previously known about God from human messengers. Then, he began sharing what Jesus said to him:   

16 ‘But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well from the Gentiles, [NOTE: BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES], to whom I now send you to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, [BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES], that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me’ (Acts 26:16-18, emphasis added)

As Jesus speaks these words to Paul, it becomes clear that both Jews and Gentiles had a distorted and misleading understanding of God’s character. For this reason, Jesus commissioned Paul “to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God.” Both Jews and Gentiles believed that God is the executor of the wicked. This is a false understanding of God, and is what spiritual “darkness” is, because Jesus, the Creator, never displayed such behavior. This belief is in itself “the power of Satan.” To “turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” is to see Jesus’ light and to reject our false views of God.

What exactly did Jesus mean when He said that both Jew and Gentile “may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me?”

We could answer that with another question: What happens when we believe in Jesus Christ’s revelation of God’s character of agape love? When we believe Jesus’ portrayal of God, then we realize that we have forgiveness of sins “and we have an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in” Jesus, because both of these were ours already as a gift from God—we just didn’t know it! Jesus came to tell us that we are forgiven and that we have an inheritance among those who have faith in this message. Knowing God through Jesus means knowing these things through faith in what He came to tell us.

Paul goes on:

19 ‘Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those [JEWS] in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they [BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES] should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. 21 For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

Paul declared that both Jews and Gentiles needed their eyes opened in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. The Jews, of course, considered Paul’s words as utterly sacrilegious. To hear that they were no different from the Gentiles when it came to knowing God was to them absolutely heretical. It is no wonder that they seized Paul and tried to kill him.

22 Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come – 23 that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles’ (Acts 26: 16-23, emphasis added).

Earlier, in Acts chapter twenty-two, Paul had addressed a Jewish mob in Hebrew—in Jerusalem—saying to them:

1 ‘Brethren and Fathers, hear my defense before you now.’ 2 And when they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they kept all the more silent. Then he said: 3 ‘I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our father’s law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today. 4 I persecuted this way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, 5 as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished. 6 Now it happened, as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. 7 And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ 8 So I answered, ‘Who are you Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ 9 And those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of Him who spoke to Me. 10 So I said what shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Arise and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do.’ 11 And since I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus. 12 Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good testimony with all the Jews who were there, 13 came to me; and he stood and said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And at that same hour I looked up at him. 14 Then he said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. 15 For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. 16 And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’ 17 Now it happened, when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance 18 and saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’ 19 So I said, ‘Lord, you know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed on You. 20 And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ 21 Then He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’ 22 And they listened to him until this word, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live!” 23 Then, as they cried out and [c]tore off their clothes and threw dust into the air, 24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, so that he might know why they shouted so against him. 25 And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?” (Acts 22: 1-25, emphasis added).

The Jews listened to Paul until he told them what Jesus had said: “‘depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles.’” They knew what this meant for them. They, God’s chosen people who had the oracles of God, did not have the truth that Paul had learned from Jesus and was giving it to them.

It is imperative that we know that the people who had the Old Testament did not know the truth about the God of the universe which Jesus had given to Paul. Many Christians today could be in the same situation as the unbelieving Jews of Paul’s time. What do we mean by this?

Jesus taught the Jews the truth about God’s character, which was in stark contrast to the God they knew from the Old Testament. However, they rejected the truth about God’s character of agape love. Why? They didn’t want to believe in the nonviolent God Jesus taught because for them, such teachings were contrary to what they believed the Old Testament taught. They would rather believe in the Old Testament than in Jesus concerning the character of God.

Aren’t we Christians doing the same when we reject Jesus’ revelation of God’s character, choosing instead to believe the Old Testament’s portrayal of Him?

Sharing Christ Jesus was the passion of Paul’s life because of what he had learned from Him personally. His greatest and most fervent desire is reflected in the following texts—just a few of the many he wrote:

“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1Corinthians 2:2).

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us (2Corinthians 1: 20).

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2: 20).

“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 5: 14).

Those of us who catch the light, who “apprehend” it and “seize” it, are to proclaim the transcendent revelation of Jesus, the Creator-God, to all of humanity:

6 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth – to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people – 7 saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water’ (Revelation 14: 6-7, emphasis added).