Friday, May 21, 2010

THE GLORY OF GOD IN "CREATION"

Why do Christians make such a big deal of God as Creator? Apart from the obvious fact that the Bible unequivocally describes God as Creator of all things, God clearly makes Himself known to everyone through what we call "general revelation." That means that everyone everywhere can look at the heavens, look at creation, examine their own consciences, and contemplate providence in their lives, and know that someone much greater than themselves set all of those things in place to draw people to Himself. See Ps. 19:1-6, Acts 14:15-17, 17:24-27, Rom. 1:18-23, 2:14-16.

A big way for Satan to undermine God's revelation of Himself in general revelation is to convince people that God really didn't or couldn't have created or done these things. God must have needed help or perhaps God has nothing to do with it. Random chance over a long enough time must have done these things - despite our knowledge that chance and time tend to confuse and destroy everything (i.e., things in order tend toward disorder, not increasing order and complexity - part of the Second Law of Thermodynamics).

Often, God's work in hearts through general revelation precedes the receptivity of those hearts to God's special revelation of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. If Satan can remove a sense of general revelation in the hearts and minds of people - e.g., educate our natural sense of awe and wonder right out of us - then perhaps he can keep people from Christ. This is one of the reasons that the battle over creation is so important. People who are receptive to a Creator tend to be receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we cannot compromise these principles.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

WHAT HAPPENED ON APRIL 3, AD 33?

One of the really cool things I have learned in Seminary are the specific dates of various events. The specific dates help bring the reality of these events to life - real people doing real things in a real time-frame. I have pasted below a calendar from AD 33 (the most likely year of Jesus' Triumphal Entry, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension, and the Day of Pentacost) in order to help us visualize the actual days of the week in studying the life of Christ and the new church. In Daniel 9:24-26, we are told that from the date of the decree by Cyrus, king of Persia, to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, to the coming of "Messiah the Prince," will be 69 periods of 7 years each (483 years). We know this time period ended either with the Triumphal Entry or the Crucifixion.

The crucifixion took place on April 3, AD 33.

The resurrection took place April 5, AD 33.

The ascension took place May 14, AD 33.

The Day of Pentecost was Sunday, May 24, AD 33.

We know that each of Paul's missionary journeys began in the spring of the year:

1st mission: April AD 48 - September AD 49

2nd mission: April AD 50 - September AD 52

3rd mission: Spring AD 53 - May AD 57