The writers of the Bible used many illustrations from human experience to portray spiritual truths and I’d like to borrow one from the apostle Paul to further illustrate the necessity of a correct belief and the adherence thereto. In his lifetime Paul had probably witnessed many athletic events in his travels through Greece and Asia Minor.
I believe the Olympic games originated there and he compared the running of a race to our quest for eternal life in God’s kingdom. Now in the running of a race or in the development of any athletic event, there is usually a sponsoring group or an individual who backs the venture and puts up the money or trophies that will be given to the victors. These sponsors in turn set up the conditions and the rules that will govern the event.
Any athlete competing for the awards is given a copy of the rules and he is required to familiarize himself with them and to abide by them and to conduct himself as befits a sportsman. Then at the completion of the contest, the sponsoring group or individual will award the trophies in accordance with the rules originally developed.
Now I’m sure that no athlete would be so presumptuous as to think that he could be even considered for a prize if he deliberately flaunted the authority of the sponsors and proceeded to break the rules that they had set up. It wouldn’t make any difference whether he thought the rules were fair or not ; or whether he thought that he could devise a better way of conducting the event. His personal opinions would not be a factor.
If he were interested in gaining the prize that was offered, he would have no choice but to submit to the rules and to compete accordingly. I feel that everyone would consider this a normal, logical, orderly way of handling such an “affair.”
However this logic is totally disregarded when these principles are applied to the greatest race of all. The Race of Life that we each are running. A race that will end in either life or death. Now with stakes as great as these (Life or Death) it seems that people should be interested in the proper way to run. But most are not! In fact they are not even interested enough to read the rules ; and yet—they expect to win ! What an inversion of logic this is !
The sponsor of this race of life is our Heavenly Father and He has left us a book of rules (the Bible) that He expects us to read. In it He tells us how to run acceptably and recounts the glorious prize that will be given to those who run a worthy race. The same reasoning applies here, as applies to an athletic event.
If we want the prize, we must run according to the conditions that God has determined. Our personal opinions concerning these conditions will not change them. We can’t set up our own standards nor can we disregard the rules, if we are interested in receiving the blessings of God. We have no choice but to submit to His will.
It is He who will grant the great gift of eternal life—it is only He who can determine the requirements to be observed by those who seek it. This is a basic scriptural principle, friends, and salvation depends upon a recognition of this fact. This is illustrated throughout the Bible, and not only in precept but also in the lives of men a n d women whose experiences have been recorded in the Scriptures for our instruction.
It is found in the history of our first parents, Adam and Eve, whom God had placed in the Garden of Eden. God had given them specific instructions regarding their activities and said that they could eat of all the trees of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, warning them that “on the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.”
But they didn’t heed the warning, they disobeyed ; preferring to believe the falsehood of the serpent rather than the Truth of God. They listened to the lie of the serpent who had deluded them with his carnal thoughts saying, “Thou shalt NOT surely die.” And friends, this perverseness of human nature, demonstrated by Adam and Eve, has come down to us today ; for many people still prefer the delusion of the serpent’s lie, “Thou shalt not surely die”, the first sermon that was ever preached on the immortality of the soul ; and notice, it was presented by the serpent and not by God. Yet people prefer to believe that they will never die, a thought that is taught in in pulpits of many churches today, rather than to accept the clear teaching of God’s declaring, “Thou shalt surely die”. This fact is also expressed in the 18th chapter of Ezekiel where we read, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
Now God does not force His truth upon us, Man is a free agent to choose what he will believe, but he is subject to the consequences of his choice.
This was evident in the Garden of Eden, it is also true today. For choosing to believe the serpent rather than God, our first parents were driven from the Garden and sentenced to death ; the effect of which sentence has passed upon all Adam’s descendants down to the present time .
This necessitated (in the mercy of God) His plan of salvation as outlined in the Bible ; His promise to nullify this sentence of death and to give eternal life (not to everyone) but only to those who believe His Word.
The apostle Paul told the Galatians (3 :22)that this promise, by faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to them that BELIEVE. So it is imperative that we take God at His word and believe ONLY those things that He has revealed as Truth. To please God, we must believe His plan for it. “To this man will I look,” is the decree of God through the prophet Isaiah, “even to him that is poor (or humble) and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at My word.” There can be no doubt, that it does matter what you believe about the Bible ; for upon a correct understanding of the Oracles of God hangs the issues of Life and Death. May God bless you in your search for Truth.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One