THE BOOK OF LOVE: PART FIVE

God's "autobiography" is like all autobiographies: it is written by Someone Who wants His readers to understand Him. While they all tell of the things the author has thought, said, and done, God's is unique in some very important ways. This Author reveals only the truth without bias or embellishment. All others list the author's family heritage, but God has no family tree. And most importantly, God's "autobiography" is focused upon the future of others rather than on His own past. Beginning in Genesis 1:1, God sets the stage for what is to come, and He concludes His writing with Revelation Chapter Twenty-two which speaks of our eternal future (verse five).

Most conservative Bible scholars recognize seven divisions of His revelation to us. Each begins with His instructions, followed by man's failure to obey, and concludes with His judgment. The divisions are:

1. INNOCENCE - Do not eat of one tree - They ate - THE FALL (Gen. 1:1 - 3:7).
2. CONSCIENCE - Do the right thing - They were wicked - THE FLOOD (Gen. 3:7 - 9:6).
3. GOVERNMENT - Fill and rule Earth - They would not disperse - THE SCATTERING (Gen. 9:6 -11:9).
4. THE LAND - Trust in Me - They trusted in Egypt - THE BONDAGE (Gen. 12:1 - Ex. 19:2).
5. THE LAW - Obey - All have sinned - TIMES OF THE GENTILES (Ex. 19:2 - Rev. 19:11).
6. [THE CHURCH - Love others (unity) - Loved themselves (division) - THE CROSS (Acts 2:2 - Rev. 4:1)].
7. THE KINGDOM - Submit - Rebellion - THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT (Rev. 20:1-15).
NOTE: The Church Age is a parenthetical period within the Age of the Law. Following the Rapture of the Church, the remaining seven years of God's judgment on Israel, known as Daniel's Seventieth Week, The Time of Jacob's Trouble, and the Tribulation, will take place.

With each of the periods of man's stewardship of God's revelation (dispensations), the Lord increased man's knowledge of Himself, and He also increased man's accountability. By the end of His "autobiography," God will have done everything He could to bring about righteousness in man. Only the filling of the Holy Spirit worked, but unfortunately Christians "leak" (Rom. 7). His final attempt will have been His return to personally govern with a "rod of iron" (Ps. 2:9; Rev. 2:27; 12:5; 19:15). From the perfect conditions of the Garden of Eden where man made his first decision, to the very presence of Christ ruling in His Kingdom, man's likeness has been like Satan rather than like God. And yet none of it surprised God, nor did it alter His love for us. In the end, He will once again make man as he was intended to be: like Himself (1 Jn. 3:2).

God's Word is definitely THE Book of Love, because only through its message can man comprehend that God is love. His first act with man was to give him someone to love, and although the destiny of those who place their trust in Him will never end, every iota of our timeless eternity will be bathed in God's unfathomable love. He is definitely worthy of our praise!