Genesis 2:17 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.
(That is the word of God, which the LORD gave to Adam, at the very beginning.
However, at the end of the creation, on day 6, the LORD saw everything that he had made, and it was very good.
There was no sickness, no pain, no violence, no sorrow, no death - there was no sin.)
(The power of the word of God created everything, and it was all very good.
But to break the word of God unleashed another opposite kind of power which destroys - called sin.
Most of creation can't go against the word of God: sun, moon, rivers, trees, and flowers are always what they're supposed to be.
We're supposed to be what the LORD, by his word, made us to be, but men and angels have the power to break the word of God.)
(So, when Adam chose to break the word of God, something different & horrible came out of his heart into the world.
That was sin - it wasn't there before - it came about when Adam chose to actually break the word of God.
The LORD's creation was very good - he absolutely didn't create sickness, pain, sorrow, or death.
None of those things even existed before sin came - these were the immediate effects of the entrance of sin into the world.
Their eyes were opened, they knew they were naked, there was fear, the ground was cursed, thorns & thistles began to come forth.
And the worst of all that sin brought into the world, was death:)
Romans 5:12 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:
(Sin goes in the opposite direction of everything good, wonderful, pure, lovely, and holy, that the LORD actually is.
For one, the LORD gives life, but sin brings forth death:)
Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death;
Ezekiel 18:20a The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
James 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
(Sin began to malign both men and beasts, and many beasts became savage, killing and eating each other.
The LORD warned Cain that sin was just waiting for him:)
Genesis 4:7b and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
(Cain chose to not do well, and sin came out of his heart, and he murdered his brother Abel.)
Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
(Bitterness, jealousy, hatred, violence, cruelty, and covetousness began to manifest, coming from the hearts of men.
Sin began to completely fill the world, and each and every sin broke the LORD's heart:)
Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6b and it grieved him at his heart.
(Sin is not a spirit, nor any kind of being, and it was never created by the LORD.
The LORD allowed men and angels to bring forth sin out of nothing, a perversion of how the LORD brought forth creation.
Sin manifests the very opposites of the attributes of God.
Whereas the LORD is good, holy, pure, righteous, just, full of compassion, merciful and gracious.
But sin is bad, unholy, impure, unrighteous, unjust, cruel, and evil.)
(God is love, but sin is hate, and that's why the flesh hates the LORD; our flesh hates him so much, we'd kill him if we could.
And that's why when he was here in the flesh, they cried, “Crucify him, crucify him!”.
If we were there, then, we would have been scourging the skin off his back, driving nails into his hands, mocking him, and spitting on him.)
(Sin is at war with God, and by sin we are enemies of God - Sin is like the "anti" of the word of God.
Like there is matter and antimatter, pasta & ante pasta :^) - No, seriously, sin really is like the "anti-word of God".
By the word of God, the LORD created everything, by the word of God light was brought forth, by the word of God we receive faith,
and by believing the word of God in the gospel, Jesus saves us.
But sin destroys everything, sin brings darkness, sin blinds the heart in unbelief, and sin has damned every person born into this world.)
(Adam brought sin into the world, but Lucifer brought sin into heaven from his heart, becoming the devil, and other angels followed him.
Now, in his sin, the devil drives men, by the sin in their own hearts, through temptation, into greater and worse sin:)
John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
I John 2:11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
Proverbs 8:36 But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
(Sin in the hearts of men and angels is the enemy of God, it hates the LORD with all its fury,
and wants to attempt to destroy God and everything that he has created.
Its very existence, and all its hideous thoughts of the heart, and the actions that proceed from that, grieves the LORD sorely,
viscously assaulting his holiness, his love, and his tender Spirit - our sin so greatly hurts the LORD:)
Psalm 25:19 Consider mine enemies; for they are many; and they hate me with cruel hatred.
Psalm 55:3d and in wrath they hate me.
Jeremiah 4:19b I am pained at my very heart;
Jeremiah 10:19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous: but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
Jeremiah 44:4b Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
(Sin cannot be undone, it must be destroyed.
However, sin comes forth from the hearts of men and angels, who have been made to last forever.
Therefore, sin will need to be continuously destroyed, forever - that is what the lake of fire is about:)
Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
(There must be a hell & lake of fire, or else sin will eventually destroy all of God’s creation, in heaven and earth,
leaving no joy, comfort, peace, or love – only sorrow, pain, misery, and hatred.
In there, will be non-stop, unbridled hatred for the LORD, with blasphemy, pictured, by example, with the 5th vial of the tribulation:)
Revelation 16:10b was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11a And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores,
(Apparently, fire is the only thing that can continuously destroy this everlasting fury of evil and hatred, confined forever in the lake of fire.
So, forever, the fury of sin will burn against the LORD, in the hearts of those there, while the wrath of God will burn against that.)
Hebrews 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Revelation 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Mark 9:44 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
Revelation 14:10b and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
11a And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night,
(Jesus did not create death, nor did he create sorrow, pain, or sickness - these came about because of sin.
After the final judgment, Jesus says that he makes all things new: a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem.
But, in the lake of fire, it will only be what sin has brought forth: pain, darkness, loneliness, bitterness, hatred, sorrow, terror & death.
That death won’t be a one-time, single event, and then it’s over for good afterwards.
No! That death will be all the most horrible experiences of dying, yet continuously, forever, without stopping.)
(For the damned, Jesus continuously destroys sin, forever, by fire.
But what about those still alive on the earth, who want to be saved from everlasting fire, what about their sin?)
I John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
(How? When? Where? When Jesus died on the cross in our place, the Father put all our sins upon Jesus, to judge them, there:)
Isaiah 53:6c and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
I Peter 2:24a Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
(For those who trust him to save them from damnation, Jesus takes away their sin:)
John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
(How is all this possible? Jesus was pictured, in advance, doing this, by the of the day of atonement:)
Leviticus 16:7 And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat.
9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering.
10 But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat:
21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness:
22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness.
(That was a picture of the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, where he fulfilled the sacrificed goat, the high priest, and the scapegoat.
First, only the shed blood of Jesus can deal with our sins:)
Romans 3:25a Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,
Romans 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
20a And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself;
I Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
I John 1:7b and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Revelation 1:5b Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
(By his supernatural blood, Jesus propitiated the wrath of the Father against us, and washed us completely from our sins, forever.
Jesus took away our sins from us, and gave us eternal life instead.
In that, he was pictured by the sacrificed goat and the high priest, but where did he take our sins that were placed on him?
In that, he was pictured by the scapegoat, upon whom the sins of the people were placed, and he bore them to a land not inhabited.
When Jesus died upon the cross, he descended into the lower parts of the earth, and left those sins there.
Yet, far better than the picture, he didn't stay there like the scapegoat stayed in the land not inhabited, but rather, Jesus rose from the dead:)
Ephesians 4:9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
Matthew 12:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Acts 2:31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
(Jesus, didn't go there to suffer for our sins, that he did upon the cross, but he is the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.
Like the scapegoat, he bore those sins to a land not inhabited, and left them there.
Later, those sins, will go along with everything else that is down there, into the lake of fire, to burn forever:)
Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
(It may be possible that some of us have not yet trusted Jesus to deliver us from that everlasting fire that we all deserve to go to.
First, we need to know that we have sinned against a holy God, and for that, we are justly damned to the lake of fire forever.
And that our only hope is for the Lamb of God to wash us from our sins by his precious blood.
This change of mind, that we are truly guilty and sorry, as well as turning to Jesus as our only possible hope, is what repentance is.
However, it is necessary for us to trust Jesus to save us, believing that he will instantly & fully do so, the moment we believe.)
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Luke 13:5 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
II Peter 3:9b not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Acts 16:31a And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
I John 1:7b and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.