Humanity's Struggles

Humanity’s Struggles

https://artsandculture.google.com/usergallery/bwLioifFCtdWJg Since the creation of mankind, humanity has struggled. It began with the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Despite the plethora of amenities God provided in their beautiful and protective ecosystem, the temptation of Eve eclipsed God’s command. Adam, painfully aware of Eve’s poor decision, irresistibly, decided to join the party. So, he yielded to the forbidden fruit as well. Their decisions created an ignominious failure for the future of humanity. Only the propitiation of Jesus Christ could reverse the promise of death.

Humanity's struggles exacerbated after the beguiling serpent deceived Eve, and Adam acquiesced to Eve's desires. An Archangel with a fiery sword refused them entry into Eden's fertile valleys. Consequently, Adam tilled the rough grounds external to Eden. His life became an agricultural battle with each passing century. He struggled with thorns and weeds

1

competing for space with fruits and vegetables. Eve struggled with childbirth but continued to have desires for her husband. Their firstborn son, Cain, murdered his brother, Abel, and became a fugitive that no one could touch because God placed upon him an unidentified mark with a mandate that whoever slew him would suffer a fate seven times as intense. God asked Cain to leave His presence, and he could no longer live in his parents' home. He was a wanderer until he built the city of Enoch (named after his son) on the periphery of the Tigris River. The citizens of Enoch struggled with their sins, and everyone who lived there perished in the Noachian flood.

The earth grew in population, but spiritual deprivation followed its growth.

God lamented that He created man in His image. So, He prepared the earth for a coming deluge that would eradicate sin and all those who clung to its deadly tentacles. Humanity embraced sin, and God could not eradicate it from the hearts of men despite twelve decades of warnings about an imminent deluged assiduously preached by Noah and his family. Water from the bowels of earth burst upward, and the atmospheric firmament unleashed its torrential storage of water vapor downward. Despite the impending warnings, humanity steadfastly remained sinful. Only eight people survived a world populated by millions perhaps even billions of souls.

Unfortunately, history repeated itself, and the world did not learn from the deluge. Almost nine centuries after the flood, the earth reached another populated milestone, but, once again, the people tenaciously held on to their sins. They forgot the flood and they forgot God. They struggled with the purpose of life. They refused to develop an inkling of knowledge about God. God wanted a nation that would trust Him. God wanted people who wouldn't forget Him. God wanted people who worshipped and praised Him. God wanted people who loved one another.

None of these characteristics described the post-antediluvian culture. But God found faith in Abraham. So, He spoke with Abraham, a trusted servant. He asked him to leave his home in Ur and travel to an unknown land. So, by faith, Abraham followed God’s directive, and he trusted Him.

2

For some inexplicable reason, the world forgets to learn from history. George Santayana made a salient statement. He said that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Well, many have forgotten the past; therefore, they continue to make errors similar to previous historical mistakes. God established his nation through Abraham’s linage and after Israel’s exodus from Egypt circa 1330 BCE when Tutanhamun, the son of Akhenaten, was Pharaoh.

Israel’s first King, Saul, disobeyed God, and God chose David to become the beloved king of Israel. David’s son, Salomon, built altars to other gods to please his 700 wives and 300 concubines. So, God declared that when Salomon dies, He would divide Israel into two kingdoms - the Northern Kingdom (Asher, Dan, Ephraim, Gad, Issachar, Manasseh, Naphtali, Reuben, Simeon, and Zebulun) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah and Benjamin).

For almost six centuries, 25% of the kings were righteous; however, 75% of Israel’s kings were corrupt and led the people into idolatry. This was the primary reason why Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, enslaved Israel and destroyed Jerusalem and its Holy Temple. Israel struggled in captivity. The people suffered immeasurable because they rejected God and worshipped false gods. They lost their treasure of hope, the Ark of the Covenant. The power of God, His Shekinah Glory, hovered over the mercy seat of the Ark. God promised Solomon that the House of the Shekinah Glory would last forever as long as he and his people didn’t worship other gods. Solomon didn’t keep his part of the bargain; therefore, the House of God crumbled, and the people would not see the Ark of the Covenant again for millennia. Even to this day, the location of the Ark is a mystery. We will see the Ark again before Christ returns, and twenty-first-century witnesses will testify to the authenticity of the Exodus because within the Ark’s chambers will be the Ten Commandments written by God’s finger, a sample of manna (that sustained Israel in the wilderness) in a golden pot, and Aaron’s staff.

History is replete with the struggles of humanity. Wars, diseases, enslavements, corruption, poverty, social injustice, greed, avarice, gluttony, lust, hate, envy, and pride replaced love in the

3

hearts of men and women; therefore, humanity struggles within its communities, its homes, its churches, its schools, and its governments. We live in a godless world where idolatry flourishes.

We live in a world where we put material things above God; we put politics above God; we put money above God; we put social status above God; we put ambitions above God; and we put our loyalty into the things of earth rather than in our Creator.

The peoples of the world existed in their diminutive status for six thousand years, and it’s difficult to reverse their unwillingness to elevate their diminutive status. Nevertheless, good people live in this sea of evil. These people are good because they have the hope of Jesus in their hearts. They are good because of His indwelling and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who accentuates their hopes. The hope of Jesus is believing in him as the son of God and His imminent return. God is love, and He loves us so much that He gave us His only begotten son.

If we believe in Him, then we will receive the promise of John 3:16. Since God loves us, then we should reciprocate that love by loving others (even our enemies). Love is an action verb; therefore, we should put love into action as Jesus did by interrupting the continuum of eternity for our salvation. So, are we willing to give up something for love? As God’s children, we have the privilege of sharing His love and precious Words that reflect His righteous character.

Today, the nations of the world have forgotten God. We are rapidly moving toward the time of trouble where the faithful will receive unmitigated persecution. So, let’s watch and be ready for the impending world disaster.

The skeptics say that a world-wide deluge never occurred. The skeptics say the Exodus never happened. The skeptics say that God is dead. What do you say? Are we like the antediluvians?

Are we people without faith? Are we without hope? I can testify to the fact that there is a blessed hope on the horizon.

Like in the days of Noah, the warning buzzard has sounded. Soon and very soon, we will see the King. “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the

4

night” (1 Thessalonians 5:2). “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matthew 25:13).

5