The supernatural in the Bible

The Bible is a mix of the supernatural and the natural.  For example,

• God, in a supernatural way, created Adam when He breathed life into a clay form.  Then He supernaturally made Eve out of one of Adam’s ribs.  The natural was created by the Supernatural.  
• The Supernatural Holy Spirit came over natural Mary as a virgin.  She conceived and gave birth to Jesus.  Jesus, the Son of God, Son of Man, was a combination of the Supernatural and natural when he was on earth.  
• God called Abram to go to the land of Canaan.  God promised to give him many descendants who will become a great nation.  Only by the Supernatural God’s promise did Abraham and Sarah have a son at a very old age.  

The natural death of Jesus that lead to the Supernatural Resurrected Body of Christ was perfectly ‘normal’ for God.  In addition this wonderful Jesus sits at the right hand of God in His Resurrected incorruptible body.  For the last two thousand years He has not aged.  He still looks like the Jesus the disciples and His followers knew.  At the Marriage Banquet one day we will see our glorious Savior and He will remain the same eternally thereafter.

Destroy them!

We live in an age where it does not matter what you do now.  If, twenty or thirty years ago you did something wrong, you are still condemned.  You are derided as useless, fit for the garbage heap and a hypocrite.  

Let us look how the God of the Bible handles mistakes. 

#  Abraham is the ancestor of the Jews.  According to the standards of our day he deserves to be denounced because he selfishly put his wife in a predicament with  foreign leaders on two occasions.  He should be dismantled and removed from his position.  Well, not if God has a say.   The Lord called him ‘Abraham my friend.’  Isaiah 41:8

#  God sent Moses to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.  He had fled Egypt 40 years before because he murdered an Egyptian.  In our time he would be shouted down, ‘You murderer!  Out!  We will not listen to you!’  Yet God used Moses to lead His people out of Egypt.  Moses was the leader of the Israelites for 40 years and wrote the first 5 books of the Old Testament. 

#  King David took the wife of one of his trusted supporters.  Later he caused her husband, Uriah, to be killed in war.  In our time he would be derided as a scoundrel and his history should be expunged from the Bible.  Yet God forgave him when he confessed his sins and said about him,  ‘I have found David, son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’  Acts 13:22b  

#  Saul was an educated, devout Jew and Pharisee.  He made it his business to persecute, arrest and even have those who believed in Jesus, killed.  If he lived in our time, he would surely be shouted down as, ‘Persecutor of Christians!  Unfit to live!  Traitor!’  Yet God stopped him in his madness, made him the apostle Paul and gave him back some of his own medicine.  God personally taught him the hidden treasures of His Gospel plan.  Paul wrote 13 of the letters to congregations in the New Testament.   

#  Jesus warned His disciple, Peter, that he would betray Him three times during the Lord’s trial.  Peter did exactly that.  If he lived today, people would denounce him and ‘send him straight to hell.’   What did Jesus do?  He gave Peter the opportunity to repeat three times that he loved him.  The Lord Jesus told Peter, ‘Feed my sheep.…  Follow me!’  John 21:15-29 

Maybe we should learn from God.  We live in a world where people search for the ‘dirty laundry’ of others and parade it for all to see.  Who cares if that person changed?  As long as he can be humiliated and degraded (tear down his monument).  Who cares that Jesus teaches mercy and said, ‘Do not judge, or you too will be judged.’  Matthew 7:1  

The lesson

We will all appear before God to give an account of what we did while on earth.  That means all people, not just some.  Maybe it is wise to leave judgement to God. 

The beginning and end of evil

I have often wondered why the Holy Spirit gave us the Old Testament?  There must be a reason because it is at least 70% of Scripture.  I found the following reasons for the Old Testament very plausible:  

#  The Old Testament reveals the origin of evil.  

• If we ignore the Old Testament we don’t know what the origin of evil is.  So many apologists have to answer questions about why there is evil in the world?    
• There is also a huge amount of information on the growth of evil.
• God only gives us the wonderful news of how He will finally abolish evil at the end of this age, in the book of Revelation.  

#  The Old Testament describes what happens around us.

• We see historical scenario’s of the Old Testament repeated in history and in the daily lives of individuals.  Even countries with their respective leaders follow either good or evil.  
• Yet God never leaves His followers without hope.  He promises a new heaven and earth and tells us what it will be like.  How glorious it is that God clearly reveals the demise of the origin of evil, Satan.  We can look forward to the miracle of eternal life without any evil at all.  There will be only love, peace and harmony.  

#  The Old Testament proves God’s faithfulness.  

People often wonder if they can trust God’s promises?  The following are two of the many examples to show God’s faithfulness to His promises.  

• The Old Testament covers more than 1,000 years of the history of the descendants of Abraham.  God promised Abraham’s descendants the land of Canaan.  They were exiled from their homeland the last time in 70 and 135 AD, but after about 1,800 years they again live in the land Israel.   
• God promised in Genesis 3:15 that the Seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.  Jesus did come, and He did rise victoriously from the grave.  He is currently seated at the right hand of God, waiting for God’s appointed time to come for the second time to wrap up history.  Then the eternal Kingdom of God will be established on earth and will last for ever.  

#  The Old Testament is part of the big picture of the Bible.

• We want to discuss the history of the arch rebel Satan, against God – what he tried to do to thwart God’s plans, and what we can expect in future.  
• We do not do justice to God if we skip the Old Testament and then neglect the book of Revelation.  Both are important to complete the big picture of God’s brilliance.   

Conclusion

The following inspired words by the Holy Spirit are true, 

‘All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness….’ 2 Timothy 3:16

We cannot ignore the Old Testament, because it is part of Scripture.