The Spirit Renewing and Sustaining
After the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden God could have turned His back on humanity, but instead He immediately enacted a plan whereby man could be saved. This is seen in His promise in Genesis 3:15 where He promised that the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. That Seed is a reference to Christ and His victory over satan through His death and resurrection.
Despite man's fall God still loved man and continued to work in creation, sustaining both physical and spiritual life.
Job 34:14-15: "If He should set His heart on it,
If He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
15 All flesh would perish together,
And man would return to dust."
Psalm 104:30: "You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth."
These two scriptures show that God sustains the universe, holds everything together, and renews fallen man through His Spirit. If He were to withdraw His Spirit from humanity then "all flesh would perish," as Job said. In this work the Spirit cooperates with the Son, in whom "all things hold together," as we are told in Colossians 1:17. God has established certain physical and moral principles for life in His world. If we want everything to "to hold together" for us in good relationships and our own well-being, we must follow these principles. His Spirit is in the world to show us the way of life, judging our actions, correcting us, renewing and sustaining those who accept His help.
The first mention of the Spirit after creation is Genesis 6:3 where God says that His Spirit would not always strive with humanity. God's Spirit will not always exhort, judge, instruct and convict humanity with the purpose of restraining evil. We know God's Spirit stopped striving with man in the days of the flood and finally destroyed them. In our day, God's Spirit is continuing to strive with humanity for the purpose of restraining evil but He will not always do so.
Acts 19 tells about the effect of Paul's ministry in Ephesus. Acts 19:23-27 shows that the craftsman who made silver shrines of the goddess Diana were worried about going out of business because people were turing from their idolatry to the gospel preached by Paul. Their concern actually led to a riot in the city.
In the great revival in Wales in 1904, so many people were converted that the taverns were closed, and many of them went out of business altogether. In recent campaigns in Africa many converts have brought back things they have stolen, and the whole atmosphere of the community has been changed. God has promised times of refreshing to the church (Acts 3:19) when people are willing to repent of their sins. God is able to use such times of revival and refreshing to affect the world around us in a positive way, restraining sin and evil in our communities. He can also use the influence of our own individual lives as Christians to affect individuals and families in a positive way. The Holy Spirit restrains evil through the church.
Of course, we also see the reverse effects. In parts of the world where the Christian influence has lost its effect, you see moral standards dropping, crime increasing and suicides becoming more frequent.
How did God restrain evil in the days before the flood? He used the lives and testimonies and preaching of godly men like Enoch and Noah. But they weren't the only ones. Names in Hebrew were often related to the character and nature of the person. In Genesis 5, Seth means "appointed one," and refers back to the promise of Redeemer given in Genesis 3:15. Through His line the Redeemer would come. Enosh means "mortal one," indicating that the wages of sin is death. Mahalalel means "the praise of God," indicating that he called men to worship God. Jared means "One prostrating himself," that is, in prayer. The meaning of the names Cainan and Methuselah are not definitely known. But Cainan may mean "flute player" or "hymn singer," and Methuselah may mean "man sent" or "messenger."
God never leaves himself without a witness even in the most evil of times. Later on God keeps telling Israel that He was faithful in sending prophets to warn both them and the other nations of the world. In the future God will always have a witness. Even during the tribulation judgements of the book of Revelation, there will be two witnesses on the earth who will call people to repentance. (See Revelation 11:3)
They will eventually be killed by the beast that will ascend out of the bottomless pit, but Revelation 11:7 states that they will not be killed until they have finished their testimony which will last three-and-a-half years. Even after they're killed God is going to raise them up after three-and-a-half days and then receive them directly into heaven.
After the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden God could have turned His back on humanity, but instead He immediately enacted a plan whereby man could be saved. This is seen in His promise in Genesis 3:15 where He promised that the Seed of the woman would bruise the head of the serpent. That Seed is a reference to Christ and His victory over satan through His death and resurrection.
Despite man's fall God still loved man and continued to work in creation, sustaining both physical and spiritual life.
Job 34:14-15: "If He should set His heart on it,
If He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
15 All flesh would perish together,
And man would return to dust."
Psalm 104:30: "You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth."
These two scriptures show that God sustains the universe, holds everything together, and renews fallen man through His Spirit. If He were to withdraw His Spirit from humanity then "all flesh would perish," as Job said. In this work the Spirit cooperates with the Son, in whom "all things hold together," as we are told in Colossians 1:17. God has established certain physical and moral principles for life in His world. If we want everything to "to hold together" for us in good relationships and our own well-being, we must follow these principles. His Spirit is in the world to show us the way of life, judging our actions, correcting us, renewing and sustaining those who accept His help.
The first mention of the Spirit after creation is Genesis 6:3 where God says that His Spirit would not always strive with humanity. God's Spirit will not always exhort, judge, instruct and convict humanity with the purpose of restraining evil. We know God's Spirit stopped striving with man in the days of the flood and finally destroyed them. In our day, God's Spirit is continuing to strive with humanity for the purpose of restraining evil but He will not always do so.
Acts 19 tells about the effect of Paul's ministry in Ephesus. Acts 19:23-27 shows that the craftsman who made silver shrines of the goddess Diana were worried about going out of business because people were turing from their idolatry to the gospel preached by Paul. Their concern actually led to a riot in the city.
In the great revival in Wales in 1904, so many people were converted that the taverns were closed, and many of them went out of business altogether. In recent campaigns in Africa many converts have brought back things they have stolen, and the whole atmosphere of the community has been changed. God has promised times of refreshing to the church (Acts 3:19) when people are willing to repent of their sins. God is able to use such times of revival and refreshing to affect the world around us in a positive way, restraining sin and evil in our communities. He can also use the influence of our own individual lives as Christians to affect individuals and families in a positive way. The Holy Spirit restrains evil through the church.
Of course, we also see the reverse effects. In parts of the world where the Christian influence has lost its effect, you see moral standards dropping, crime increasing and suicides becoming more frequent.
How did God restrain evil in the days before the flood? He used the lives and testimonies and preaching of godly men like Enoch and Noah. But they weren't the only ones. Names in Hebrew were often related to the character and nature of the person. In Genesis 5, Seth means "appointed one," and refers back to the promise of Redeemer given in Genesis 3:15. Through His line the Redeemer would come. Enosh means "mortal one," indicating that the wages of sin is death. Mahalalel means "the praise of God," indicating that he called men to worship God. Jared means "One prostrating himself," that is, in prayer. The meaning of the names Cainan and Methuselah are not definitely known. But Cainan may mean "flute player" or "hymn singer," and Methuselah may mean "man sent" or "messenger."
God never leaves himself without a witness even in the most evil of times. Later on God keeps telling Israel that He was faithful in sending prophets to warn both them and the other nations of the world. In the future God will always have a witness. Even during the tribulation judgements of the book of Revelation, there will be two witnesses on the earth who will call people to repentance. (See Revelation 11:3)
They will eventually be killed by the beast that will ascend out of the bottomless pit, but Revelation 11:7 states that they will not be killed until they have finished their testimony which will last three-and-a-half years. Even after they're killed God is going to raise them up after three-and-a-half days and then receive them directly into heaven.
