God's Plan For Man html

Chapter 3 Human Strengths and Spiritual Weaknesses

Genesis Through Isaiah

The divinely inspired words find life through the fulfillment of human life. Man—created in an order below the angelic, and always subject to evil forces—rises and falls, attempting to fulfill the Divine Will. Strength is recognized in the person who challenges life with a fervent spiritual desire to do what is seemingly impossible. However, weakness is also recognized when pride, an evil tool within a person, attempts to overcome evil without the grace from God. This weakness manifests in the limitations of knowledge, and pride is ineffective in the application. So, even with good intentions a person can be motivated by the wrong spiritual source. Early Hebrew teachers—whose words and lives are preserved as scriptural records—strove for consistencies in the ancient laws and human events that became Judaism, but their weakness did not become obvious. Their steadfast beliefs [weaknesses] assured the denial of a Divine person — both His purpose and mission − even though they thought they were intimately aware of the truth in their belief that a mere man was destined and foretold to be the deliverer [king of the Jews]; their weakness was used against them. The rejection or notion that the Virgin’s Son was the Son of God did not fit their limited understandings. After all, they thought Jesus was a mere man, whose father’s name was Joseph. They considered themselves superior, thinking they were perfectly schooled in the laws of Moses. During that time the only debate about the Messiah was a cursory question as to whether this person was or was not the expected Messiah. The old records recorded in the Old Testament were their only basis for understanding, but in their weakness they thought they were strong. The New Testament, therefore, was the necessary documentation to confirm the Old Testament. But, it recorded the revelation of a deeper truth, spoken to provide clarity for fulfillment of the Old and to provide the basis for the new covenant. Hence, the inspired word of God given to the prophets became the revealed word of God. Over these many years, scholarly minds have delved deep into the words continuing to interpret the precise meanings. The Dead Sea Scrolls have

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