That the correct or accurate knowledge of God and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ is paramount for salvation is a revealed Truth in the Holy Bible. In John 17:3, it is written, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” This knowledge must be based on God’s revealed Truth in the Holy Bible. In 1 Tim. 2:3-4, it is written, “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”
One of the most fearful aspects of the knowledge of the mysteries about God is the revelation of His divine attribute called Justice. In Psalm 89:14, it is written, “Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.” Also in Psalm 9:16, it is written, “The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth”
As part and parcel of God’s master plan of salvation, He intended that men should know Him, appreciate Him, feel Him, and serve Him diligently with faith and in Truth. Man cannot understand any thing about Him or serve Him except there are evidences pointing to Him. These evidences pointing to Him constitute the reference framework that is called faith. St. Paul wrote in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Also in Hebrews 11:6, it is written, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
In God’s master plan for salvation of mankind, He revealed the awesomeness of His Power and the infiniteness of His wisdom in Creation. There is no sensible being that will look at Creation, its unmistakable orderliness and its majesty and will not confess the awesome wisdom and power of God. It was the Psalmist who wrote, in Psalm 19:1-6, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tebernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.” Read also Pro. 3:19; Jer. 10:2.
God Almighty has four infinite attributes, which he also endowed man with as part of His likeness in man. These are Wisdom, Power, Justice and Love. After manifesting His wisdom and power in creation of everything including man, it was necessary that man should come into awareness with His infinite attribute of Justice. Man cannot comprehend this unless man is a free moral agent, having the ability to decide for himself and be responsible for all his thoughts, words or actions. In Genesis 1:26, it is written, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Man must pass through the school of knowing that God is a God of justice and would not tolerate any disobedience to His laws or guiding rules. Man must also know that total obedience to His rules has a prize. God however knew that man would fall at the instance of Satan the devil, but as a Just and righteous God, He must allow man to make his choice. He did not create man by making him a robot. Man had the option of obeying or disobeying God’s commandment, and allowing His justice to be manifest in the punishment He had prepared for Satan, without becoming a willing tool and accomplice. Man would have learnt Justice from what will happen to Satan, but Adam chose rather to have a personal experience, before learning Justice.
To make man know Him better, God gave him a law. In Genesis 2:16-17, it is written, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 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.” The devil misled the woman when he said that they were ignorant, or unwise, as it is written, “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” [Genesis 3:4-5.] This was a huge deception or lie. The woman, Eve fell for it. St. Paul gave an insight to this when he wrote in 1 Tim. 2:14, “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” The fact or truth is that until they touched that tree of the knowledge of good and evil they were wise. The “wisdom” they now acquired at the instance of Satan the devil was gotten through the folly of – disobedience. It was a tragic error. Wisdom gotten through dubious means or lies is corrupt. Read James – 3:14-17
There are basically two distinct paths to the knowledge of God or what He stands for. Each of these paths has consequences. You can know God by obedience or get to know Him by disobedience. Adam chose the later option. The devil had very bad intentions for man. He co-opted man into his rebellious scheme, but that move made God to make His previously hidden attribute of Justice to become manifest. The narrative in Genesis 3:14-19, tells the whole story, as it is written, “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”
In manifestation of God’s attribute of Justice, He put enmity between His Holy organization or organogram called Zion that would eventually produce the promised seed, Jesus Christ, and Satan’s evil or wicked machinery that has produced their wicked seed embedded in false religions, politics and commerce. The manifestation of justice in creating a big gulf of enmity between Zion and Satan’s wicked organs, made Zion to be glad. In Psalm 97:8, it is written, “Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, OLord.” To pursue his enmity schemes, satan brought out people like Nimrod, Ishmael, Esau, Pharoah etc, all in an attempt to disturb Zion’s seed i.e Christ and his eventual rulership or reign. It was Isaiah the prophet who wrote under inspiration, in Isaiah 1:27, “Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.”
Also as a manifestation of Justice, labour pains and the horrors of child delivery and care came into the life of humans. Women now bring forth children with pains or in travail. Some have even lost lives during childbirth. For example in Genesis 35:16-19, it is written, “And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.”
No where is the manifestation of Justice felt more than in the death penalty that was handed down by Jehovah on Adam and all his children. In Romans 5:12,14, it is written, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.” Also in Psalm 89:48, it is written, “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave?” Adam did not die immediately he willfully broke the commandment of God. He live for 930 years and died. That was within the day of God as it is written, “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” Psalm 90:4. Adam did not just live an uneventful life and dropped dead at 930, for he suffered according to God’s judgment and sentence. He had to pass through the rigors of agricultural schemes to provide food. The animals that he was supposed to have dominion over, became part of his terror. The vegetation brought out hostile ones like thorns and many poisonous plants, and more importantly, diseases and aging as a phenomenon set in, eventually leading to death.
Men have been groping in darkness concerning the origin of suffering, aging, diseases, and eventual death. Just as they refused to accept the concept of a Creator, so also have they rejected the reality that in actual fact death as a phenomenon is an incontrovertible evidence of Justice of God manifested. God’s master plan of Salvation does not end with the wastage of death. He has indeed promised to do something about death. In Hosea 13:14, It is written, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.” In this difficult journey, God’s original intention of making man to live everlastingly in His Kingdom in perfect peace and harmony, has already almost completed the whole plan. He started to reverse this trend when He gave a promise even in His sentence of man. He said in Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel.”