God foresaw the fall, and predestined through his eternal grace before the world was created, a way to redeem humanity from the illusions of this world. That we are separate from our creator and are doomed by the trappings of this flesh and this world.
Now, when God gave himself, his son Jesus, as the sacrificial lamb slain for sins before the foundation of the world, and faith in God saved the old testament peoples, how would we think it possible that the new testaments sinners unto whom God as Jesus delivered in the flesh the promise, the Gospel, had prior to that insured no one listening to Jesus preach could understand a word of his good news? When God had already insured his blood would cover the sins of the world prior to its creation.
I think people forget that God was the word, the Gospel, itself. In the beginning was the word (God) and the word was with God, and the word was God.
Now, in the context of that scripture in John 1 lets re-read this in Romans 10.
“So faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
And then apply it in a rewrite as we recall John 1. "So faith comes out of hearing and hearing through
the word that
is God as Christ.
When we hold faith in Jesus after hearing the Gospel spoken or taught to us, or we read scripture, the word that is God resonates within us as truth because we are of and from God. We come to God
through Jesus, who was God. Jesus stands at the door and knocks. That door is the barrier, the veil of scripture, which is an illusion of separation, like unto the veil in the holy of hollies temple that separated the common worship area for the people from the sacred space behind it reserved for God's presence or light. That veil in Jerusalem was rent in twain (split apart) when Jesus became what appeared as the last sacrificial unblemished lamb staked to the sin altar so as to pay (propitiation) for the sins of the world.
That illusory separation, that veil, between ourselves and God was wrent in twain when Jesus, that lamb slain before the foundation of the world, died before the eyes of all sinners watching his crucifixion. And then, because the people in that time were well aware of the pains of crucifixion being they were under Roman rule, Jesus defeated the death the flesh would suffer in that instance by resurrecting after three days in a glorified body.
The illusion again revealed for what it was. What would normally be the death of a criminal on the cross, because the cross was reserved for the worst violators of Roman law and to set an example of what happened to law breakers, was not true, did not happen, in the case of Jesus.
He defeated death and lived to continue the ministry he started and for another forty days.
God's omniscience insures there is no thing God cannot know, ever. God died before the eyes of witnesses on that cross and before the eyes of witnesses, the first being a woman, walked the earth again.
The entirety of that truth is its own parable.
The flesh is an illusion. God's creation cannot die because it is of and from God, as was Jesus when he was begat upon Mary. The truth about the good news? You are more than this world leads you to believe!
Be ye holy as God is holy. Remember where you came from and be not afraid of what flesh encounters and suffers at its end.
The Gospel resonates in those who hear it because their sacred origin, of and from God, is brought to our attention in the teaching of that good news that we are of and from God. And if we believe and hold faith in that, we are saved from being what we think is fated for the mere human.
God foresaw his own, which is confused in some teachings who lead people to believe God ordained only select people to receive his grace,for whom the good news would resonate and hearken us to relationship with our source. We would open that door of awareness,
behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone should hear My voice and open the door, then I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me, and be saved from the trappings , the illusion of separation, this world fosters in us as its own form of belief.
What about people who don't accept the gospel and believe? All that exists is of and from God. If people refuse to answer the door because they don't believe anything is there to knock on it in the first place, that is a form of belief too. And as we're told by God, they shall be eternally separated from God. But that doesn't mean they weren't of God and from God just like all else created.
It means they died in their illusion this world means all. And when they die they shall not be with the very power they insisted wasn't there in the first place. But that doesn't mean they're not part of God's creation. Think of it as matter and anti-matter.
They'll die but they will never really be separated from God. Just as they weren't in this life. They'll return to the God who created their soul. They don't need to believe that for God's power and presence to be true. Because God is greater than
we think.
Prologue to the Gospel.
John 1
In the beginning[a] was the Word, and the Word was with God,[b] and the Word was fully God.[c] 2 The Word[d] was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created[e] by him, and apart from him not one thing was created[f] that has been created.[g] 4 In him was life,[h] and the life was the light of mankind.[i] 5 And the light shines on[j] in the darkness,[k] but[l] the darkness has not mastered it.[m]
Ecclesiastes 12
Remember Your Creator in Your Youth
12 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,[a] and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity[b] of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.
If the lost man cannot believe the Gospel, why does the word that is the Gospel, God, tell us so often to seek him? If we're predestined to either be saved or be damned and according to God choosing whom he would save and whom he would let die damned, why does God emplore us to seek him and believe? If we're unable to understand the Gospel, how are we able to begin to search?
God is greater than
we think.
Another and last thing I'll say, if a teaching in the scripture has an AD date for its entry into the New Testament and that date is after Christ and the disciples, it is a teaching of man. Jesus didn't forget to tell us something before he left. He was born to preach first.
The word delivered what he wanted us to know.
Sheol, the grave, death, pre-existed the teaching as pertains to a bottomless pit filled, how does bottomless become full, with fire and brimstone.
That's why the Chronology of the scriptures is important too. God is our consuming fire. Hebrews 12.
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