BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Like all of God's perfect creatures, Lucifer had been given a will. But instead of submitting that will to God, Lucifer was the first being ever to cross wills with the Father. This passage in Isaiah reveals five “I wills" of Lucifer. He led a rebellion against God with the goal of taking over the throne of God. Jesus tells us what happened to the would-be usurper: “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven" (Luke 10:18). God was so angry that He removed the Light from the earth where Lucifer's domain had been and it became tohu v'bohu—a mess, a disaster, an uninhabitable wasteland without form and void. “Let Us Make Man....” In the vast intervening span of time, I wonder what the angels thought about the one dark spot in God's perfect Creation. Did they talk about it? Did they just ignore it? For they definitely were watching when things began to change, when the Holy Spirit began to hover over the dark waters of planet Earth. They heard God's first words, “Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3). Light! He wasn't talking about the sun and moon. They didn't come forth until the fourth day. No, God was talking about the Light of Himself. He was saying, in essence, 'I am returning Light and life to earth. I removed Myself from that place, but I am going to work there again. I am going to bring it to My planned purpose. Earth will be filled with My glory as the waters cover the sea!' And so began God's workweek with the new order of things. He separated the waters. He called forth the plant life out from the earth. He created a new order of animal life. Instead of dinosaurs, He created elephants and giraffes and such. He set the moon, the sun, and the stars, etc. The first day...the second day...the third day...the fourth day...the fifth day.... And then the sixth day! The most thrilling day of all! With all creation watching, God stepped to center stage and made a declaration which rocked all creation as it reverberated from the regions of glory to the regions of the damned. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26). At such astounding words, one angel stepped forward and voiced a question other angels surely had (Hebrews 2:6 reveals this to be the question of an angel), “What is man?" Psalm 8 records the angel's questions just after he had observed God at work in Creation. “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" (verses 3-4). In other words, I've just watched You create the heavens and they are such a work! But I have one question. What is a man? What is man that You, O, great Creator, have him in Your mind? And then it is recorded that the angel said, “And the son of man, that thou visitest him?" (verse 4). Imagine the angelic astonishment at God's relationship with this new creature called man. After all, they'd always had to go to God to present themselves before His holy throne. But here is a creature God prizes so highly He goes down to earth and visits him every day. ***** article continues on next page ***** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * “The future of this nation is not in the hands of the politicians. "There isn’t a politician anywhere who is wise enough to guide this country safely through the challenges and threats it is facing these days. Only God can do it. And it is prayer, not politics, that brings His power and wisdom on the scene.” —Kenneth Copeland * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BVOV : 11

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