The 42nd Bible Study Meeting 3   This sermon is taken from the evening sermon on July 25, 2010 during the 42nd Bible Study Meeting for All from Home and Abroad.   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.   John 1:1           In the Beginning Let's start from Genesis chapter 1 verse 1.   In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)   We've read several verses that use the expression "in the beginning." In First John chapter 1 verse 1 it says, "That which was from the beginning ... concerning the Word of life." And in John chapter 1 verse 1 it says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."  Now let's take a look at the very first page of the Bible-Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. It says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." In the words recorded by John referring to "In the beginning," the subsequent words describe the ideology and meaning of that word. However, in Genesis chapter 1, we can see some kind of action involved after "In the beginning." It shows that God took some kind of action. For example, it's the difference between describing a man drinking a glass of water as, "The water is in that man's stomach." and "That man drank the water." When people read the passage, "In the beginning was the Word," they imagine some kind of holy image. Because of our religious nature, we may conjure up a scene from a movie where music is playing and some kind of spiritual being appears in the fog when we read this passage. As humans, we have a tendency to use our own religious ideals about God and Jesus, who came into this world to fulfill His will, which the Bible testifies of. So when we read passages from John's Gospel and First John where it says, "In the beginning was the Word," and "That which was from the beginning ... concerning the Word of life," we imagine certain things. These passages are recorded in such a way that it is difficult for us to approach. But in Genesis it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." It describes the work that God performed. It is very easy for us to draw quick conclusions when we read this passage. Since it says that He created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, we might come up with an image of something that we learned in our science class and think, "Yes, there was some kind of big explosion and the universe was formed." The first thing that we need to know precisely is who created the heavens and the earth. It is clearly God the Father who planned the creation of the heavens and the earth, everything in this world, all the things on the earth and in the sky; He is the one who planned and designed everything that exists. But there is also God who carries out God the Father's thoughts into action. We call Him the Son of God, or also, God the Son. When you don't know much about the Bible and read this passage, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," you may simply think: "Yes, it's God who created the heavens and the earth." But we must take a look into this one step further. Who is this God that appears in the Old Testament?   God the Son Who Fulfills the Will of God the Father In the Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament, it says, "In that day a man will look to his Maker." (Isaiah 17:7) The day will come when mankind will see with his own eyes the One who created him. As far as all the Christians are aware of, it is Jesus who will return to this world. But since it says in the Book of Isaiah that "man will look to his Maker," people may be curious and think, "Will God the Father return at that time too?" But that's wrong.The trinity is not an easy concept to understand. But even before we start thinking about the definition of the trinity, we must sincerely think about Jesus who clearly stated, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate ... Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matthew 7:13-14) He talked about the "narrow gate." He also said, "I am the door of the sheep." (John 10:7) Jesus said that He was the door of the sheep where the sheep go in and out.These words are a big task for us. When Jesus said "Enter by the narrow gate," some people think, "I go to church when people of this world are out partying on Christmas day." Or some may think, "I go to church when many people are watching television at home and skip the Sunday service." People think of their own actions. People take the words of the Bible very lightly and interpret it according to their own humanly actions and standards. But that isn't what the Bible is talking about. We have to read the Bible in light of the words of Jesus. We are given the task of discovering the narrow gate that is in the Bible. The way in which we read the Bible should also be according to Jesus' word. Jesus said to enter by the narrow gate and also said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) He even said, "I am the door of the sheep." We must first change the way we view the Bible for us to receive something certain from the Bible. In order to accurately understand the many passages in the Bible, we need some sort of magnifying glass, and it is Jesus who serves that purpose. We are able to understand many things when we look at the Bible through Jesus. We are able to see why Jesus was born into this world, why He had said these things in front of the multitude of Jews and understand why the many incidents in the Old Testament occurred. When we take a look at all these things in light of this one Man named Jesus, the meaning comes alive and approaches us. Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." (John 5:39) If you keep the words of Jesus in your thoughts and take a look at what He said next, you will come across the passage that says, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me." (John 5:46) Then we can think about what the writings of Moses were. The writings of Moses refer to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Jesus said that He appears in the writings of Moses. In Luke's Gospel it says, "And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." (24:27) In the Book of Acts it also says, "persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets." (28:23) The Old Testament is comprised of the writings of Moses and the prophets. And these writings were a record of Jesus. From this perspective, when Moses recorded in the book of Genesis that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," who is this God? We should be curious about this. Let's take a look in Proverbs chapter 8 verse 22.   "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old."   There are two entities that appear here - "LORD" and "me." In Zechariah it says, "Behold, the day of the LORD is coming," (14:1) and in a couple of verses later it says, "And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east." (14:4) It says that on the day of the Lord His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives. In the book of Isaiah it also says, "And in this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees." (25:6) When we read these passages, we think, "Yes, the Lord who will stand on the Mount of Olives is Jesus. And the One providing a feast for everyone with the well-refined wine is definitely Jesus." But in Proverbs where it says, "The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old," it seems that the one referring to himself as "me" is worshipping the LORD. Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (John 14:9) In First Corinthians it also says, "For "He has put all things under His feet.' ... Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him."(15:27-28) God the Father who appears in the Old Testament and the God who accomplishes the thoughts of the Lord God are both often referred to as the Lord and it can get a little confusing. But the passage in Proverbs makes a clear distinction between the two. And in Matthew's Gospel it describes how Jesus, who came into this world, was baptized and as He came up from the water the voice of God the Father came from heaven and was heard. (See Matthew 3:13-17) In the Bible, there is a distinction made between the two quite often. It is impossible for us to understand all of this with our own mental capacity. Jesus has provided a simple answer to this issue. One of His disciples said, "Lord, please show us God the Father." And Jesus said in response, "I have been with you so long, and yet you still ask Me to show you the Father? He who has seen Me has seen the Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father'?" (See John 14:8-9)Whenever the word "God" and "LORD" appears in the Bible, we need to take a close look at it. I'm not saying that you need to interpret it your own way. When you start reading from the Old Testament and continue reading on, you are able to understand the heart and thoughts that God had for the nation of Israel. And when you start reading the New Testament, you are able to see the relationship between the God who appears in the Old Testament and Jesus. In the Old Testament, there is the God who actually appeared before man. He is not Jesus who appears in the New Testament. God appeared before man when Adam first committed a sin; we see that God came to look for Adam in the garden of Eden. God called out to Adam: "Where are you?" And we read that Adam heard the sound of God walking in the garden and hid because he was afraid. (See Genesis 3:8-9) There are people who think this is some kind of spiritual expression. But the voice of God wasn't like a scene from a movie where we hear a voice from heaven calling out, "Where are you Adam?" The Bible clearly states that God was walking in the garden. Why? He was searching for Adam. In the Bible it says, "Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them." (Genesis 3:21) When we read this passage, we think that lightning struck and the animal's skin turned into a custom-tailored outfit that Adam wore.  People may imagine things, but the tunic of skin was definitely not made that way. If God appeared in that manner, then how could Abraham stand in front of God and ask Him not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah? In the Bible it says that three men appeared in front of Abraham. Two of them had left and Abraham stood in front of God. (See Genesis 18:1-22) Also, when Abraham returned from a victorious war, he gave a tenth of the goods that was collected to this one individual. We see in this brief encounter on earth that there was this individual worthy of receiving from Abraham, the father of many nations. (See Genesis chapter 14) In movies nowadays, ghosts and mystical figures have been portrayed in a spiritual way and have mixed it with God and have led people to think of Jesus in a similar way.  They've created images without any distinction between God and ghosts. And our eyes have become dull and accustomed to this. But there is a very clear record of God in the Bible.  Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and discovered that he was naked. And God was walking in the garden of Eden looking for Adam when He said, "Where are you?" God called out to mankind. He is earnestly calling out to us, "Where are you?" When the Israelites disobeyed the law and drifted away from their blessing, God took pity on them and continued to warn them and chastise them and gathered them together. It is this God who came to this earth in the image of a man and clearly said, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning." (John 8:25)As we read earlier in Proverbs, there is this being re

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