VERNA HARGROVE: Second Step for Christians
Second Step for Christians
In FIRST STEP FOR CHRISTIANS, author Verna Hargrove introduced to you all the Books of the Bible. Now in SECOND STEP FOR CHRISTIANS, you will be introduced to all the major players in the Old Testament, characters to learn from and gain inspiration from.
Order Second Step for Christians here:
One
ETERNAL GOD
“Is anybody there?”
Where is God? There is a vast universe out there. Where did it all come from? Who made it? There is a lot of good in the world. How do we know about good? Evil is everywhere. Why do we think it is evil?
You are entering a study of the Bible that depends on your faith to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that it is true. If you do not believe that, you will be miserable reading this. If you believe this fact along with me, then I do believe you will enjoy this study. Yet whether we believe or not, it is still true.
Here are scriptures to help you look at the big picture from a Bible viewpoint. We hope this will help you understand a little more about our loving Heavenly Father. You will also see who works against God.
The Bible says in Genesis 1: “In the beginning God.”
The Bible says in Genesis 3: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
“The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Up to this point, the new couple in the garden only knew good. They only knew truth. Suddenly, Eve is introduced to a lie from Satan, told through the serpent. She believed the evil tempter and ate the forbidden fruit. Therefore, a life of sin began for all humankind.
Right away in the Bible, we are told there is a God, and he created us. Later in the New Testament John, the apostle said that Jesus was there with God. “In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make,” (John 1:1-3). That is because the one God is a triune being.
We will now take a stroll through the Prophets and see the character of God is elaborated on.
First, we will pick out some scattered verse from Isaiah 51: “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD. The LORD will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. ‘Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of old. Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed might cross over? Who are you that you fear mortal men, the sons of men, who are but grass, that you forget the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. For I am the LORD your God, who churns up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD Almighty is his name. I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand—I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
SATAN
Next, we will see how opposite from God is the evil one. We have seen evidence of Satan in the Garden of Eden. Other place reveal the evil one at work. It also seems that Satan controlled the King of Tyre at the time Ezekiel lived. The prophet Ezekiel said this about Satan in chapter 28: “The word of the LORD came to me: ‘Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘You were the model of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz and emerald, chrysolite, onyx and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and beryl. Your settings and mountings were made of gold; on the day you were created, they were prepared. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. Through your widespread trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.”
Thus enters Satan into the lives of human. Only Jesus can set us free from his influence.
