Please join us as we discover how God Uses Everyday Things, Even a Pool Table, To Teach Us About Him.
Supporting Scriptures for "Someone Must Die:" Genesis 2:7,17 Genesis 3:22-23 2 Timothy 1:9-10
In our last study, we began to see a relationship between the historical account of the "Creation" story and the "Death and Resurrection (Life) of Jesus." In the creation story, God (represented by the white cue ball) tells Adam and his wife (represented by the "1" and "2" balls) not to eat the fruit (represented by the cue chalk) from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or he will die. But the serpant (represented by the black "8" ball) approaches Adam's wife in the garden (represented by the ball rack) and convinces her to question God's instruction and eat the fruit anyway. She ate and gave some to Adam also and as a result they were striped by sin (represented by the "9" and "10" ball) and suffered the consequences of sin. However, through Adam and Eve's decendants came the birth of Jesus (represented by the red "3" ball) who will begin to unravel the mystery of death and life so that we may gain an understanding of God's plan for each of us since the beginning of time.
Let's remember from the creation story that God told Adam that he would die if he ate the fruit from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." But do you think that God wanted And to die? NO! God created man to live!
Remember, God breathed life into man. But God must be true to His Word. Someone had to die because someone ate the fruit off of the tree that God had said not to eat from and so God began preparing a plan where someone would die in man's place.
Now while we are pondering who that someone might be, let's remember why Adam and the woman were kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
Adam and the woman were kicked out of the Garden of Eden so that they would not eat from the "Tree of Life" and live forever. God did not kick Adam and the woman out of the garden because He did not want them to live forever, He kicked them out because He did not want them to live forever in their sinful state.
So ever since man sinned, God has been planning and preparing a way for someone to die in our place and take our consequence of sin so that we can once again have the opportunity to live eternally with Him.
"SOMEONE MUST DIE"
STUDY QUESTIONS:
Question 1
God told Adam that death would result if he ate from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." Given the description of God in Deuteronomy 32:4, did God have any other option than to follow through with the consequence of death after Adam ate from the tree?
Deuteronomy 32:4 - "He is the Rock; His work is perfect. Everything He does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright He is!"
Question 2
The following verses give us insights into God's plan. List some specific aspects about God's plan.
Luke 9:30-31 - "Then two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Jesus. They were glorious to see. And they were speaking of how he was about to fulfill God's plan by dying in Jerusalem."
Luke 22:22 - "For I, the Son of Man, must die since it is part of God's plan. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer!"
Acts 2:23 - "But you followed God's prearranged plan. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to the cross and murdered him."
Acts 4:27-28 - "That is what has happened here in this city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. In fact, everything they did occurred according to your eternal will and plan."
Romans 8:3 - "The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving His Son as a sacrifice for our sins."
Ephesians 1:5 - "His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure."
Ephesians 1:9-10 - "God's secret plan has now been revealed to us; it is a plan centered on Christ, designed long ago according to his good pleasure. And this is his plan: At the right time he will ring everything together under the authority of Christ - everything in heaven and on earth."
Colossians 2:2-3 - "My goal is that they will be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have full confidence because they have complete understanding of God's secret plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
2 Timothy 1:9 - "It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began - to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus."
Question 3
What is God's desire for man?
Ezekiel 33:11 - "As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live. Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! Why should you die?"
Question 4
God protected man from eating from the "Tree of Life" by banishing Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden. From Revelation 2:7, where will God plant another "Tree of Life" and who will be invited to eat from it?
Revelation 2:7 - "Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Everyone who is victorious will eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God."
Question 5
When man separates himself from God, what does God do?
2 Samuel 14:14 - "All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. That is why God tries to bring us back when we have been separated from Him. He does not sweep away the lives of those He cares about - and neither should you!"
Romans 2:4 - "Don't you realize how kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Or don't you care? Can't you see how kind He has been in giving you time to turn from your sin?"
Question 6
God's plan since man sinned at creation has been to offer man a way to escape the consequence of death. How can man triumph over sin and death so that he may live?
Romans 5:17 - "The sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over us, but all who receive God's wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ."
