By Manuel Bellina

What were the first words that God spoke to Adam after the fall?

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

3:9 And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou?

This question is important for our present time and for each one of us. Redemption story is one that will continually inspire a depth of love. Sometimes we go back to the beginning and we understand things in a greater light and it is important for us to understand as new born babes to reassess our understanding. God came seeking that which was lost. “We read thee best in him whom came to bear for us the cross of shame, sent by the Father from on high, our life to live, our death to die”. Man has sinned and God saw the recompense of man’s folly. Through this act the very flood gates of woe were put on this world and every day we have this. We don’t have to switch on the news, we don’t even need to stand outside of our doors but we dwell in this body of sin that is marred through the experiences of the woe placed on Adam in his disregard of God’s law. It is very much present every moment of our life with us.

Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

You would think the day Adam ate he would die and if it was left up to us it would be the case but Gods ways are not our ways and we praise the Lord they are not. Dying thou shalt die meaning not that they would die that day, but that death would begin to work in them and that eventually they would die. Adam lived for many hundreds of years but we skip over the simple fact that had not Christ stepped into the breach and took Adams place and promised to die for him in his stead, we may hold that Adam would have died that very day had not Christ then and there become the second Adam to take the burden of sin and it’s guilt upon Himself and pledged His life for the life of the world. This would be in harmony with the scripture given in Revelation 13:8 that Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Only He who was in the bosom of the Father who was equal with God who was God could affect atonement. (the at-one-ment with and for man).

Hebrews 7:26 For such an high priest became us, [who is] holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.

And so it was that Jesus partook not in part but in verity the fullness of our experience yet never having sinned drank in our very condition into His own So that we may be blameless.

Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

We see the very presence of our own experience from our birth we not only sin but we are sin. The Bible declares it. If we were left to judge man under our own mind concept, no one would be born in this world. Time was given to Adam and time is given to us. This was in harmony with Christ stepping into the breach not just of Adam but right into our very present experience. The breach takes place every day of our life but every day of our life Christ steps in and praise the Lord that he does so. Only He who was in the bosom of the Father, who was equal with God, who was God, could affect atonement. (the at-one-ment with and for man)

Hebrews 7:26 For such an high priest became us, [who is] holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;

Christ not only stepped into the breach but he became us.

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin.

That’s personal. So it was that Jesus partook not in part but in verity the fullness of our experience yet never having sinned, he drank in our condition into his own. The cup of woe was placed on his lips he drank and that cup of woe should have been placed upon our heads should it not? He did this so we may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation of whom you shine as lights in the world. That we may be harmless, blameless without rebuke in the midst of a crooked world in which we live. The very essence of the gospel is restoration. To save that which was lost and restore the divine. As such simple things need to be related to us time and time again you may think, why do we need to hear it so much? By beholding we become changed. This transaction of Jesus for our own is the broadest transaction that has ever taken place in the history of eternity. That is not in the Spirit of Prophecy but when I wrote it I understood that revelation. From eternity this transaction has never revealed itself so great in that which has taken place for our own experience. What a transaction, life or death. Not just life but eternal life. Life that has no death. As we behold these simple truth’s they work within us. Apostle Paul describes the highest of all callings of God in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

This scripture describes the experience in this world. Before us is set forth light and many in this world don’t really understand but the unfortunate reality is there are many who do understand. God must place before them as he has done for ourselves the choice set before us – life or death. It took a while of a simple understanding of the realities of eternal life but slowly through perseverance the pieces join up. Can we remember these experiences? We need to take hold of these simple precious truth’s that they may all line up and we find ourselves amongst these truths on the right side. So it is with this thought in mind there is a call of self-examination. The title of this study is relevant to our present need. Where am I standing? Where do my feet lead me towards? Where am I at? Consider your ways. Time has been offered at the closing scenes of this earth’s history. The Holy Spirit influence is withdrawing. Man’s probation is fast ending. There is no time. How often do we hear those words? There is a short bit of time.

The Bible Contains Everything

When I first came to the word of God it was way too much. God brought me to a simple fact that if I place my will in the will of the Father then I shall understand and God in me shall work. It came to that simple truth of the only thing we own is a will, not a flash house or car and the Lord wants us to give him the only thing we own. Are we willing to do that? Perhaps we have many a time in our life where the scriptures declare I die daily placed our will in the hands of our saviour. It is a fearful experience as you are giving up your life. What is life? Sin for a season the Lord declares. Who wants that? Life eternal is the revelations of our Lord Jesus, the very presence that works in us, the angels that pervade our atmosphere and who bless us. What an experience it will be one day to meet these angels and speak to Jesus personally. We know we can do that right now. Through the eye of faith Jesus is there. Do not doubt that. In heaven Jesus will manifest himself to us. At his coming he will manifest his coming to us and right now he does this same thing. Man’s probation is in the closing dregs of his life experience and the Lord says consider thy ways. Is there time to tarry? Quite often I put forth a message and really the message is for myself. I have no time to delay. I praise the Lord that God has given a little bit of time. Maranatha the Lord is coming, do we believe it? We do. Do we know it? There may be some that don’t completely know it or know it but don’t walk in the knowing of it. The Lord is coming very soon.

Revelation 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

Behold I come quickly the Lord says. Apostle Paul declares this;

1 Corinthians 16:22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

Accursed at the coming of the day of the Lord in the clouds – this is a fearful scripture and this will be a fearful experience. Consider your ways. Time is short. There is no time to dilly dally.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.

This Scripture is perhaps one of the greatest in its broadest sense. Fear God and keep his commandments. It is easy to fear God. We have a very fearful God and his judgements may come upon my head if I do not keep the Ten Commandments. We have a different God than this, an ever present helper is our God.

Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether [it be] good, or whether [it be] evil.

God will record every secret thing whether it be good or evil.

Hebrews 4:13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things [are] naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

God forbid that at this important hour we should be so engrossed with other matters as to give no time to serious, candid, critical self-examination! Let things of minor consequence be put in the background, and let us now bring to the front the things which concern our eternal interests. . . . {LHU 15.2}

Time is now, consider your ways.

Haggai 1:2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.

1:3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

1:4 [Is it] time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house [lie] waste?

1:5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

1:6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages [to put it] into a bag with holes.

Can we find ourselves in that scripture? I know I can. The message comes to me to consider my ways as I hope it does for each one of you even the children. Children have dire consequences at every act of disobedience. Every activity of our life is a path to life or death. This experience of the Jews in the building and restoration of the temple is for us today. This was a time of wonderful opportunity of the Jews.

This was a time of wonderful opportunity for the Jews. The highest agencies of heaven were working on the hearts of kings, and it was for the people of God to labor with the utmost activity to carry out the decree of Cyrus. They should have spared no effort to restore the temple and its services, and to re-establish themselves in their Judean homes. But in the day of God’s power many proved unwilling. The opposition of their enemies was strong and determined, and gradually the builders lost heart. Some could not forget the scene at the laying of the cornerstone, when many had given expression to their lack of confidence in the enterprise. And as the Samaritans grew more bold, many of the Jews questioned whether, after all, the time had come to rebuild. The feeling soon became widespread. Many of the workmen, discouraged and disheartened, returned to their homes to take up the ordinary pursuits of life. {PK 572.1}

Can we see the parallel of our own experience? As this was a wonderful opportunity for the Jews, is it not for ourselves? We live on the brink of the Lords coming. We are very close to that fearful and blessed time when Michael shall stand. The Lord is coming.

Isaiah 58:12 And [they that shall be] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

The Sabbath day, this day when the sun went down, the start of this beautiful blessed day until the sun going down again is a very precious time for God’s people. The Sabbath day will come to the fore very soon along with the righteousness of Christ. Opposition will be strong and determined. His enemies will be of his household. There will be many enemies. Maybe we are sensing right now that very fact and not just out of our families but so called friends and work colleagues. Maybe we are sensing it right now in our life.

Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

How close is this? He that endures to the end the same shall be saved. It is not time to take up the ordinary pursuits of life. It is not time to build houses or to place our money into the coffers of this world. It is not time for these. Each one of us knows that God is working for their good. We must give account at that great and dreadful day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do we have time to become discouraged? We know that discouragement becomes a player in the hands of the enemy. The seed of doubt plays in our life but we must recognise it as the seed of the enemy, the implanting of Satan himself. As doubt comes through the strength of the Lord, shut it down. Shut it out brothers and sisters. If we dwell on that on doubt, it will work its baleful results. Shut it out. We can do it through the strength of our Lord Jesus Christ. When it comes, its first intimation, recognise it there and then that it is not of your own mind but Satan is seeking to plant in the soil that he may gain his harvest. Fear God and keep his commandments, this is the whole duty of man.

A proper fear of God, in believing His threatenings, works the peaceable fruits of righteousness, by causing the trembling soul to flee to Jesus. Many ought to have this spirit today, and turn to the Lord with humble contrition, for the Lord has not given so many terrible threatenings, pronounced so severe judgments in His Word, simply to have them recorded, but He means what He says. One says, “Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law,” Paul says, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (RH Oct. 21, 1890). {6BC 1100.8}

Here is our work. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men.

The glory and majesty of God should ever fill our souls with a holy awe, humbling us in the dust before Him. His condescension, His wide, deep compassion, His tenderness and love, are given us to strengthen our confidence and remove that fear which tendeth unto bondage. {HP 185.4}

To understand what the fear of the Lord is, the only fear should be;

Their only fear should be lest they surrender the truth, and thus betray the trust with which God has honored them. {DA 356.1}

That is a fearful reality. You have the fear of God before you and you will have a trembling.

You have the fear of God before you, and you will have a trembling lest you will depart from the counsels of God. {1SAT 71.3}

The Lord is soon to come. We hear it time and time again. The messages are becoming broader, more loud and more fearful but if we place ourselves in the hands of the divine deliverer, we ought to fear.

Wickedness and rebellion, violence and crime, are filling the world. The cries of the suffering and the oppressed rise to Him for justice. In the place of being softened by the patience and forbearance of God, the wicked are growing stronger in stubborn rebellion. The time in which we live is one of marked depravity. Religious restraint is thrown off, and men reject the law of God. . A more than common contempt is placed upon this holy law. {HP 351.2}

I saw an article yesterday and it stated that the United States had just given another state over to the allowance of same sex marriages. It is the sixth state in America that has done this and the largest one. There are little counties throughout the United States that uphold this law of same sex gay marriages. I was going to work a few days ago and I flicked my radio on to see where the world is at and I heard a discussion on mainstream radio station and this station was exalting the experiences of a man who proposed to another man. The Lord is coming brothers and sisters.

A moment of respite has been graciously given us of God. Every power lent us of Heaven is now to be used in working for those perishing in ignorance.. {Mar 174.5}

The work of the three angel’s messages must swell before the coming of the Lord. We have a work to do and there must be no delay. The truth must be proclaimed in the dark places of the earth.

There must be no delay. The truth must be proclaimed in the dark places of the earth. . . . A great work is to be done, and to those who know the truth for this time, this work has been entrusted. {Mar 174.5}

Psalms 119:126 [It is] time for [thee], LORD, to work: [for] they have made void thy law.

It’s coming very soon and we sense it in our lives. Opposition will come from our own households but hopefully not the household of faith.

God has always wrought in behalf of His truth. The designs of wicked men, the enemies of the church, are subject to His power and His overruling providence. He can move upon the hearts of statesmen; the wrath of the haters of His truth and His people can be turned aside, even as the waters of a river could be turned, if thus He ordered it. Prayer moves the arm of Omnipotence. He who marshals the stars in order in the heavens, whose word controls the waves of the great deep–the same infinite Creator will work in behalf of His people, if they will call upon Him in faith. He will restrain all the forces of darkness until the warning is given to the world and all who will heed it are prepared for His coming. {HP 351.5}

As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure death of wicked Ezekiel 33:11

Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, [As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

We must always remember that God is the master orchestrator of all things. Is there ought to fear when you place your life in the hands of the great one? Only taking your hands out of his is fearful. So it is that God uses the frame of humanity to reach humanity. This is what the Lord is calling for each of us to do, to be his hand men. To be his empty vessels that he may come in and pervade his love not just to him but all mankind. The first four commandments are love for God and the last six are love to man. Naturally it doesn’t take long to realise that I don’t have that sort of love. It is hard enough for me to love my brothers and sisters. God uses the frame of humanity to reach humanity which is why Jesus came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came in the likeness of you and me. He became us the scriptures declared. That is personal. Brethren, God is calling for singleness of purpose.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. {PC 177.5}

Christ is to live in his human agents. The Lord said make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them and so he does this through the at-one-meant of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:26 [Even] the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

1:27 To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Apostle Paul partook of it and it is ours to partake of.

A lawyer came to Christ with the question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Knowing what was in the mind of the lawyer, Christ placed upon him the burden of the answer. “What is written in the law?” he asked. “How readest thou?” I wonder whether you do not need your attention called to this. “How readest thou?” {1888 1753.5}

Matthew 22:35 Then one of them, [which was] a lawyer, asked [him a question], tempting him, and saying,

22:36 Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law?

22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

22:38 This is the first and great commandment.

22:39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Love for God and man and Jesus came to reveal that and work within us to reveal that.

Hebrews 8:10 For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

Love for God and love for man. Naturally we can’t do that. It is a complete impossibility. This is to be cultivated. We understand its cultivations are the workings of the Holy Spirit to crucify the man and crush out his sinful propensities that he may rise to newness of life. Death to the old man. May this be our prayer that the Lord may work in us newness of life. The Bible declares that this can be done. His will be done and may it be done in each one of us.

Amen.