Life's Brief Existence
- A Mystery?
WAS MAN CREATED TO DIE?
by Ed Stevens
How can it be that in the same Book, the Bible, we find that man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26, 27), and find also the statement in Job 11:12, "Vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt."? Also in Job 14:1, 2 it is said that "Man that is born of a woman IS OF FEW DAYS, and full of trouble. He cometh forth as a flower and is CUT DOWN: he fleeth as a shadow and CONTINUETH NOT." Did God create man to bloom, wither and die in a brief, empty, earthly existence? Even if the foolish and impossible theories of organic or theistic evolution be accepted, here, too, it must be admitted that man's short existence is purposeless and without reason.
Our only sure and TRUE source of information on the origin of man, giving also a logical explanation of the above mentioned enigma, is the Book that has satisfied and blessed millions of truth-seekers, THE BIBLE. When God is left out no purpose or reason can possibly be seen in the very brief existence of man upon this earth. This life is as a split second of time compared with the eternity man MIGHT have lived if the catastrophe of the fall of man had not occurred. When one accepts God's divine, clear revelation concerning the existence of all things, especially that wonderfully made and endowed creature, MAN, then purpose and reason in a God-planned life on this earth shine out abundantly clear. Also, we can then discover that God has all along graciously provided opportunity during this earthly life to "lay hold on ETERNAL LIFE", so that a glorious, eternal FUTURE purpose for man AFTER DEATH can yet be definitely realized. Thank God for this!
It is an incontrovertible fact that all life must and does have an antecedent, i.e., life can only come from life! It is equally true that the eternal life God offers can only come from Him whom God's Word declares to be, "The WORD of life", "THE LIFE", "that ETERNAL LIFE", and that "all things were made by HIM", THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, and "for Him". He "made man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Gen. 2:7. Just as He "created the earth not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited" (Isa. 45:18), so He also created man not to have a life span "as a shadow", "as a breath", "as a hand-breadth" (Bible terms), but that his life might CONTINUE forever with God-planned purpose and reason.
SATANIC OPPOSITION
A noted English philosopher sourly made the observation that man comes out of darkness, lives a short while and goes out into darkness again. Yes, for the "natural man" it is a dark enigma, but all can b2 fully clarified by reading and BELIEVING THE BIBLE! For the BELIEVER man's brief, death-terminated life ceases to be a mystery. We read in Psalm 8 that God created man "a little lower than the angels" and "crowned him with glory and honor, and made him to have dominion over the works of God's hands, and put all things under his feet". Does this not show that originally there was real purpose and reason for man's existence on earth? Of course, there was! God did NOT create man to DIE! Please get this! Created perfect in every respect. He was placed in a perfect environment, but continuance therein depended upon man being obedient and submissive to his Creator in all things, at all times. Here we are compelled to believe in the existence of a powerful fallen angel, "that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world", the enemy of God and man. Revelation 12:9. He it was who made havoc and wreckage of the purpose and reason God had for man to live before Him, by tempting Eve and Adam (Adam through Eve, I Tim. 2:14) to DISOBEY God in eating of the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. Gen. 3:1-7. Thus man fell from his high estate and DEATH, both spiritual and physical, about which he had been warned, came to him. Small fragments of man's original estate can be seen in man possessing God-consciousness, ability to tame wild beasts, genius displayed in scientific achievements, etc. BUT DEATH shortly terminates his life! That this is proud man's greatest humiliation and constant frustration, all must agree. God's just decree must needs hang over the human race: "It is appointed unto man once to DIE, and AFTER THIS COMETH JUDGMENT." Hebrews 9:27, R.V. We repeat,. when God's TRUTH is rejected nothing under heaven can explain for an unbeliever the mystery of man's brief appearance and disappearance!
RESTORATION THROUGH BELIEVING
Why not BELIEVE GOD, believe His Word that "by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and DEATH BY SIN; and so DEATH passed upon ALL MEN, for that all have sinned" (in Adam and because of Adam's fall). Romans 5:12. BELIEVE God's Word that LIFE, ETERNAL LIFE, can instantly be received IN and THROUGH CHRIST, "the second Man from heaven", "the last Adam". I Cor. 1:45, 47. BELIEVE "the gospel of the GRACE of God"; "How that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS, according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen" thereafter by witnesses. Acts 20:24; I Cor. 15:1-3. This is THE GOSPEL wherein believers "STAND; by which ye ARE SAVED." No behavior-works are required; they come AFTERWARDS in a saved state, "that we should WALK in them" before God and the world. Gal. 2:16, 21; 3:21, 22; Eph. 2:8-10; Titus 3:5; Romans 4:1-5; John 5:24.
BELIEVE this good news, friend, with a penitent heart, and you will be INSTANTLY SAVED! and instantly, spiritually "translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son" (Colossians 1:13) and be restored again into a ;wonderful purpose God thus has for all believers. As a born-again child of God you will be placed by Him in "the household of God", into the "family" of God. You will be placed BY HIM in the TRUE CHURCH "which is Christ's body and that ETERNALLY! John 3:3-7; Ephesians 2:19; 3:15; Acts 2:47; 5:14. And listen to this! "And if children then HEIRS; HEIRS OF GOD, and joint heirs WITH CHRIST; if so be that we suffer with him [disdained and hated by the world], that we may also be glorified together." Romans 8:7.
Be saved TODAY! DEATH may come any moment, ending all hope of salvation! Proverbs 29:1; 11:7; Psalm 49:19; Jude 13; John 3:36. "Behold, NOW is the acceptable time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation!" II Cor. 6:2. "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord [implore mercy on a sinner] shall be SAVED." Romans 10:13.