Before the Payment on the Cross, and

Created Date: 22-Feb-2020
God's Greatest Problem

Last updated: 63-May-2023
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Sections:
 
1 Before the Cross 2 God Cannot Do These Things
3 God's Greatest Problem    

Before the Cross

Many of us Christians, when we first heard about the scriptures about Enoch and Elijah in the Old Testament being Raptured out of the Earth were very excited.  The mistake is the assumption that they were able to go permanently into Heaven during the Old Testament period before Jesus Christ's payment on the Cross. 

Before the Crucifixion by Jesus Christ, which was the greatest prophetic event in all of history, it was impossible for at least three reasons for anyone to be in the presence of God the Father in Heaven:

  1. Our God is Perfect and cannot allow sinful human beings into His presence in Heaven without the payment for sins because this violates God's Character.  There is no one righteous on their own. 
  2. It is impossible for anyone to go and stay in Heaven, along with getting to be in the presence of God the Father, at the Thrown, when Jesus Christ had not made the payment for sins at the Crucifixion Event.  This is sometimes referred to as the different Dispensations of Salvation, but in all periods in history, Salvation is always through Jesus Christ. 
  3. In the center of the Earth, there is a Lower and Upper Sheol.  The good compartment, Upper Sheol, is also called the Bosom of Abraham in the parable of the Rich man in Luke 16:19-31. 
    (a) The good compartment contained everyone who has Salvation and were awaiting the coming of Jesus Christ to take them into Heaven after the payment of sins at the Crucifixion by Jesus Christ.  
    (b) The Prophet Samuel was called up from Upper Sheol by King Saul in 1 Samuel 28:14-19.
    1 Samuel 28:15 Now Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”

If any human being can go to Heaven and stay there before the payment made on the Cross by Jesus Christ, along with being in God the Father's presence, then Jesus Christ's death on the Cross for the payment of sins was not necessary.  Furthermore, it would mean that a human being can be righteous without Jesus Christ, which we are not.

God Cannot Do These Things

There are several things that God cannot do, which is actually a type-of oxymoron statement, and is sometimes spoken out of reverence to reflect the perfection in God.  There are many lists in books, and on websites, where below is this author's favorite list of primary things that God cannot do, which is a beautiful and loving list of our Awesome God. 

Reviewing the list actually brings Glory to God, along with giving us reassurance, hope, faith, love, peace and so much more.  Understanding these items in the list, leads us to understanding what is God's greatest problem concerning us:

  1. Cannot be stopped, replaced or deceived.
  2. Cannot do anything against His own Character.
  3. Cannot allow His Holy Name to suffer from not fulfilling His Promises, Attributes and Character.
  4. Cannot learn.
  5. Cannot speak anything that is not true.
  6. Cannot make a mistake, and His Word will always be fulfilled.

Here are a few scriptures, of many, that relate to this list:

Proverbs 21:30 No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the LORD.
Daniel 4:35 All the people of the earth are nothing compared to him. He does as he pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?’
Isaiah 43:13 "Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?"
2 Timothy 2:13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.
Ezekiel 36:21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.
Psalm 89:34 I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips.

God's Greatest Problem

This author first heard this from Chuck Missler and it summarizes the predicament of human beings.  Paraphrasing Chuck: "God's greatest problem is how can He allow sinful creatures into His Presence without violating His Character that exercises perfect justice?  The answer required Him making the payment for the sins of mankind."  Yes, the scriptures state this exact same point, but this author believes that all of us have heard the Cross story to many times, become desensitized to it, and have forgotten:

  1. God is Perfect and absolutely requires perfection that we are not capable of doing on our own as human beings until we are changed at the Judgment Seat of Jesus Christ.  God's perfect justice required a payment for sins for each and absolutely everyone.
  2. The Crucifixion was not a tragedy but a perfectly carried out, accomplished, completed and victorious plan that was set out before the foundation of the world by hundreds of prophecies, analogies and patterns. 
  3. The Crucifixion gave every one of every Dispensational era of history, the ability to enter eternity by accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior. 
  4. The Christian's life on Earth will still have consequences of sin, but are subject to Grace and Mercy where both good and bad is part of sowing and reaping along with obtaining future Rewards in Heaven.
Hebrews 2:3 So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?
Ephesians 1:3-6 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

What to read next?

Who are the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11:3?  What is Salvation?  Is it is possible to lose Salvation?  We have eternal life.  Evolution is not real.  When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it.  Rewards in heaven.  Do we Tithe?  What does the 3rd Commandment tell us?  What is Grace and Mercy?  Is there an Age of Accountability?  Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?