At the beginning of the first book of the Bible, we read where God commanded man to not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). Adam and Eve both ate of that fruit (Gen. 3:6), thus sin had entered the world. As a result of this, “the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken” (Gen. 3:22-23) and thus man was cast out of the beautiful garden of paradise. Sin separated man from God in the garden and has continued to do that in every case since (Isa. 59:1-2; I Pet. 3:12).
At the end of the last book of the Bible, we read, “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations…And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:1-2, 17).
The question for man was how to get back to that paradise that they had lost, including access to the tree of life. Of course, “it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). Solomon pointed out that “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death (Prov. 14:12). The answer has to come from God. We must therefore search the scriptures (John 5:39) and study to show ourselves approved unto God (II Tim. 2:15). The answer is in the scriptures.
The Old Testament does not clearly reveal God’s plan, but it is full of examples and prophesies showing future bits of His plan. Paul wrote, that, “whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). Jesus, Himself, used the writings of those Old Testament prophets to teach concerning himself. Luke wrote, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).
It has been said, “the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed”. There is great truth in that. The apostle Paul said of the gospel of Christ, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17). Peter wrote, “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (I Pet. 1:25). In the New Testament, salvation is revealed to be found in Christ Jesus (II Tim. 2:10), and that salvation in Christ was God’s plan from before there was ever a man on the face of the earth. Paul stated, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Eph. 1:5). Peter said, “Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow”…”Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you” (I Pet. 1:10-11, 20).
The first four books of the New Testament, the four gospel accounts, are for the purpose of bringing us to faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God (John 20:30-31). The fifth book of the New Testament is the book of Acts. It is a history of the establishment of the Lord’s kingdom, the church, and what those of the first century had to do in order to be the children of God and citizens of the Lord’s kingdom. A study of Acts reveals they had to hear the gospel of Christ (Acts 2:47), believe that gospel of Christ (Acts 18:8), repent of their sins (Acts 3:19), confess Christ as the Son of God (Acts 8:37) and be baptized into Christ for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38). At this point, one is a child of God and subject to all the rest of the New Testament which reveals how we are to live as God’s children. Those who obey those first principles and then remain faithful until either they die or the Lord returns, are the ones who will be reunited with the paradise lost as the result of sin. That was and is God’s plan for the salvation of man.
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