Does God really care? Pt. 1

        In our previous two articles we have looked at human history in the light of God being the creator of our universe. From a Christian worldview we have seen that history is really linear, meaning it has a beginning and will climax to a grand finale. We have also seen that history is directed by God according to ‘His own purposes’ as Abraham Lincoln said in his second inaugural address.[1]

        Even though we somewhat understand what is written above, yet in the light of all the evil, mayhem, bloodshed and hurting in our earth perpetuated by governments, leaders, parents, and man’s inhumanity towards his fellowman and the animal kingdom, we cry aloud, DOES GOD REALLY CARE? And how can we know that He cares?! Let us investigate this question by first listening to what God Himself says to us about this.  Later in a subsequent article we will try to ascertain if this world is better off because of how God created man.

        In order to understand whether God cares about our plight on earth, we must first understand the type of beings God made us to be. Knowing what God endowed us with when He made humans in Eden will enable us to know our responsibilities to God, our fellowman and to our environment. A good place to start at would be at the very beginning found in Genesis 1:26-30. The passage reads: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

²⁷ So God created — man in his own image, in the image of God created he — him; male and female created he — them.

²⁸ And God blessed — them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish — the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.

²⁹ And God said, Behold, I have given you — every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and — every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that crepes upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given — every green herb for meat: and it was so.” Genesis 1:26-30

        In verse 26 we have first of all that God made man in their own image and likeness. These two words mean that humans, looking like God in person, had the ability to think, communicate, create, and to have freedom of choice. So our first parents, Adam reflected the Character of God, their creator, by their actions and words.  Under the watchful eye of God man had total freedom to act as he pleased; and if mankind had remained in God and allowed the Holy Spirit to guide him daily, there would have been no sin, evil and mayhem we have experienced in the past and are presently experiencing.  When men, listening to satan, rejected God as their only guide, they now opened their attention and allegiance to satan and his evil angels as well.  And God in His overall wisdom allowed that decision because He gave them the freedom of choice to do so or to remain faith to Him, their Creator, God, and guide.

Here is how one of the most prolific women authors whom many believe was inspired of God put it in a classic book of hers, I could not improve upon her:

     “Every nation that has come upon the stage of action has been permitted to occupy its place on the earth, that it might be seen whether it would fulfil the purpose of “the Watcher and the Holy One.” Prophecy has traced the rise and fall of the world’s great empires–Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each of these, as with nations of less power, history repeated itself. Each had its period of test, each failed, its glory faded, its power departed, and its place was occupied by another.  While the nations rejected God’s principles, and in this rejection wrought their own ruin, it was still manifest that the divine, overruling purpose was working through all their movements.  This lesson is taught in a wonderful symbolic representation given to the prophet Ezekiel during his exile in the land of the Chaldeans. The vision was given at a time when Ezekiel was weighed down with sorrowful memories and troubled forebodings. The land of his fathers was desolate. Jerusalem was depopulated. The prophet himself was a stranger in a land where ambition and cruelty reigned supreme. As on every hand he beheld tyranny and wrong, his soul was distressed, and he mourned day and night. But the symbols presented to him revealed a power above that of earthly rulers.   

     Upon the banks of the river Chebar, Ezekiel beheld a whirlwind seeming to come from the north, “a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber.” A number of wheels, intersecting one another, were moved by four living beings. High above all these “was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.” “And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under their wings.” Ezekiel 1:4, 26; 10:8. The wheels were so complicated in arrangement that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion; but they moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings, sustained and guided by the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, were impelling these wheels; above them, upon the sapphire throne, was the Eternal One; and round about the throne a rainbow, the emblem of divine mercy.  

     As the wheellike complications were under the guidance of the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that sits above the cherubim still guides the affairs of the earth.  The history of nations that one after another have occupied their allotted time and place, unconsciously witnessing to the truth of which they themselves knew not the meaning, speaks to us. To every nation and to every individual of today God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today men and nations are being measured by the plummet in the hand of Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.  

     The history which the great I AM has marked out in His word, uniting link after link in the prophetic chain, from eternity in the past to eternity in the future, tells us where we are today in the procession of the ages, and what may be expected in the time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order.  The final overthrow of all earthly dominions is plainly foretold in the word of truth. In the prophecy uttered when sentence from God was pronounced upon the last king of Israel is given the message:  Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem and take off the crown: . . . exalt him that is low and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him.” Ezekiel 21:26, 27.  The crown removed from Israel passed successively to the kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. God says, “It shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him.”   

     That time is at hand. Today the signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. Before our eyes is fulfilling the Saviour’s prophecy of the events to precede His coming: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. . . . Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.” Matthew 24:6, 7.  The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, men who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed upon the events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place–that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.   

     Angels are now restraining the winds of strife, that they may not blow until the world shall be warned of its coming doom; but a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth; and when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.  The Bible, and the Bible only, gives a correct view of these things. Here are revealed the great final scenes in the history of our world, events that already are casting their shadows before, the sound of their approach causing the earth to tremble and men’s hearts to fail them for fear.  “Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty, and makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof. . . . They have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate. . . . The mirth of tabrets cease, the noise of them that rejoice ends, the joy of the harp ceases.” Isaiah 24:1-18.  “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. . . . The seed is rotten under their clods (earth), the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.” “The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languishes; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.”” Joel 1:15-18, 12.[2]

     From the above passage in the book, Education, with the Bible passages quoted, we understand that, short of divine interposition, everything that happens on this earth is due to human actions. Humans have the choice given them by God to either live and enjoy all the amenities and beauty of planet earth or to destroy this earth and themselves[3].  Humans brought sin and rebellion into earth but God has made a way to reverse that and to restore humans to the divine image.  It’s our choice how we choose.  Next week we will look at this a little more. May God grant you the peace and joy that come from a harmonious relationship with Him.

[1] March 4, 1865, (Lincoln’s Second InauguralAddress – Lincoln Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)).

[2] Ellen G. White, Education, (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Ass., 1952), pp. 177-80.

[3] Revelation 11:18 tells us that Jesus’ coming will prevent man from actually destroying the earth.

If you have any comments or questions please contact Pr. Ron Henderson at ronhende@outlook.com.

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