A New Beginning

Greg Laurie: Was Jesus' death on the cross just a plan gone awry? Pastor Greg Laurie says no. It was God's plan from the very beginning. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ was slain from the foundation of the world.

That means that before there was a planet called Earth, a decision was made in the councils of eternity that God would come into our world, walk among us, live a perfect life, die on the cross, and rise again from the dead.

Guest (Male): Sin can have lethal consequences. God had a rescue plan from the very beginning, but that plan required his Son to give his own life so that we could live. Jesus' death wasn't a good plan gone bad. It was God's perfect plan to redeem imperfect man.

Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us how the plan of redemption is the ultimate example of God's love and providence for his children, a love that protects his children.

Greg Laurie: The Bible says that the Lord is a very present help in times of trouble. Jesus said, "I'll never leave you or forsake you." And he also said, "Lo, I am with you even to the end of the age."

One of my favorite passages is when the Lord says in Isaiah 43, "When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you go through the fire of oppression, you'll not be burned up and the flames will not consume you."

And then one of my all-time favorites, Psalm 23. I bet you know this one by memory: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." That's right.

So maybe I'm talking to somebody right now going through a valley, someone going through a storm, someone going through a difficulty. God is with you. Now, we know this intellectually and we know this by faith, and we'll even say it to others, but there are times when our emotions have to catch up with the facts.

And there are times in our life where we might say, "Where is God in all of this?" Maybe you're feeling that right now, but God is there. Take the story of the Israelites at the Red Sea. Man, they were in a rock and a hard place.

Coming toward them was the Egyptian army ready to destroy them. Behind them was the Red Sea. What are they going to do? And so they freaked out and they started getting mad at Moses. And they said, "You know what? It wasn't that bad back in Egypt. At least we were alive. You've brought us out here to die."

And Moses says to them, "Don't be afraid. Stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you, so just stay calm." And then he held up a staff and the Red Sea opened. And then Jesus showed up.

You're going, "Greg, you're confused. We're in the Old Testament. Jesus doesn't show up in the Old Testament." Well, that's my whole point of this series. He shows up a lot in the Old Testament. You see, Jesus is in the Old Testament concealed and he's in the New Testament revealed.

Jesus, being God, is co-eternal, co-equal, and co-existent with the Father. In fact, Jesus was there at creation when God made all things. We read in Colossians 1:16, "By him were all things created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. All things were created through him and for him. He's before all things and in him all things are held together."

Jesus is the creator. It's not like he just showed up in Bethlehem. That's when he entered our world as a man and walked among us as a living, breathing human being, but without sin. But he pre-existed and made many appearances in the Old Testament.

So yes, Jesus showed up because Exodus 14:19 says, "And the angel of the Lord went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. And the pillar of cloud went before them and the Lord caused the Red Sea to collapse on the Egyptian army."

The angel of the Lord. Many commentators believe when you read that phrase in contrast to an angel of the Lord, the angel of the Lord may be what we call a Christophany. A Christophany is an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament.

But we think of Jesus, well, he was born in the manger in Bethlehem and that's a Christmas story, but Jesus was there long before that. Long before there was a birth in Bethlehem, there was a tree. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And there were placed our first parents, Adam and Eve, in a literal paradise. Radiant beauty at every turn, exotic wildlife, the perfect temperature, and best of all, no sin or guilt or the shame that accompanies it.

And the Lord told them to stay away from this tree. "You can enjoy the garden, enjoy everything I've created, but stay away from this tree of the knowledge of good and evil." For God says, "And if you eat of it, you will face sin."

But of course, they listened to the devil, who tempted them there. And they ate of the forbidden fruit. First Eve ate, then she gave to her husband and he ate too. Have you ever eaten something that the moment you put it in your mouth you regretted it? Like See's Candy.

Sometimes people give me See's Candy. I only like the nuts and chews. So please don't give me See's Candy unless it's only nuts and chews. Okay, and even then, please don't. Because then I'll eat the nuts and chews and then there's these other ones. Like, "What is in this?" And you'll bite it and this weird sugary goop comes out. I don't want that.

Sometimes I'll be eating something and I'm enjoying it. I've had my third bite of it and Kathy would be having it as well, and she'll say, "This is rancid." Wait, what? Rancid? You have to use the word rancid? Her smell and taste is much more developed than mine has.

It's rancid. Well, you know, you don't want to eat that thing. The other day she went into the kitchen and came back into the front room and heard a munching sound, but she was being very secretive. "What are you eating?" Well, she was eating pretzels with peanut butter in them. And I love those.

And so she gave me one. And I said, "You're like Eve in the garden. Look, here we go again." And the moment I ate one, I wanted more because there was a time earlier, maybe a couple of years ago, where someone gave us a whole container full of those pretzels filled with peanut butter.

And I started eating them and I couldn't stop. I was just eating them. It was like three-quarters full, half full. It's getting—I thought I have to get rid of these. And I literally—this is bad, it's a waste—I poured them down the toilet and flushed it. I or I would have eaten them all.

And Kathy comes out, "Where are the pretzels with peanut butter?" "I flushed them down the toilet." "Why?" "Because I'm an addict, that's why." I would have gone into a 12-step program, I know it. You would have found me in a street corner with a paper bag around them eating them still. No, I had to get rid of them.

But you know, our first parents ate of the forbidden fruit and sin entered the world. So God shows up in the garden, as it appears he would do every day. We read that Genesis 3:8, "When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking about in the garden."

Which makes me think this is a Christophany because God is a spirit. And yet we hear that he walked through the garden and that they could hear him walking through the garden. And normally Adam would probably talk to the Lord about his latest discovery.

"Lord, I saw this. What on earth is this unusual plant?" or "This creature. Look at this creature, Lord." or "I saw this other thing." But on this particular occasion, Adam was hiding because he had sinned. And we read in Genesis 3:8, "The man and his wife heard the Lord God walking in the garden and they hid from the Lord God among the trees."

And the Lord called to the man, "Where are you?" And he replied, "I heard you walking in the garden so I hid. And I was afraid because I was naked." So now the Lord confronts him and says to Adam, "Did you eat of the tree I commanded you to not eat of?" Genesis 3:11.

But Adam says, "Yes, but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the pretzel with peanut butter and I ate it." That's from the original language. And the Lord asked the woman, "Why would you do such a thing?" She said, "Well, the serpent tricked me and that's why I ate."

This is the first instance of humans playing the blame game. We still play it today. It's not my fault. It's not my fault. You know, he's a bad teacher. That's why he gives me bad grades. My boss just hates me. That's why I got fired. It had nothing to do with my performance or I don't know how that crazy thing got posted. Someone hacked my account. You know, we never want to take responsibility for what we do.

God says, "Have you eaten of the tree I told you not to eat of? Who told you you were naked?" Was God ignorant and was he looking for information? No. God knows all things. He was looking for confession. He was looking for honesty. He was looking for them to say, "Yes, we sinned."

But instead, Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the devil, no one wants to take responsibility for what they have done. But God is ready with a solution. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ was slain from the foundation of the world. What does that mean?

That means that before there was a planet called Earth, and in that planet a garden called Eden, and in that garden called Eden a couple named Adam and Eve with a tree of the knowledge of good and evil—before any of these things, a decision was made in the councils of eternity that God would come into our world, walk among us, live a perfect life, die on the cross, and rise again from the dead.

He was slain from the foundation of the world. So here now is the first Christmas passage. In other words, the first passage that points to the birth of Jesus. No, it's not Isaiah 9:6 that says, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and you'll call his name Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father."

Nor is it Micah where he says, "You Bethlehem, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you will come forth one whose origins have been from everlasting." No, the first passage pointing to Messiah was a statement made by God to the devil. Genesis 3:15, the Lord says, "There is coming one who will crush your head and you will bruise his heel." Game on, devil. Messiah is coming. He's going to crush you, but you will bruise his heel. So now the devil knows that the Lord is coming.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie with the second half of his message in just a moment.

We love to hear stories of how lives are impacted through Pastor Greg's studies.

Pastor Greg, listening to you every day on my way to work reminds me to focus myself on the Lord so that I may serve him in every way even at work. One morning as I was listening, you mentioned reading the Bible in a year and that sparked my need to do the same. So far I'm halfway through reading the Bible. Thank you, Pastor Greg, and praise God.

Has Pastor Greg heard from you? Why not drop him an email? Send it to greg@harvest.org. That's greg@harvest.org.

Well, today Pastor Greg is bringing us deep spiritual insight centered on the appearances of Christ we see in the Old Testament in his message called "God is Now Here."

Greg Laurie: One more Christophany and then I'll wrap up. Go over to Genesis 22. This is where Jesus intervenes in a powerful picture of what would happen at the cross of Calvary. The story of Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah.

Isaac was born to Abraham and his wife Sarah when they were older people. They never thought they would have a son, but God had promised they would. And they were so thrilled with Isaac. In fact, his very name meant laughter. He was the light of Abraham's life.

That's why it was such a shock when the Lord comes to him in Genesis 22 and we read these words: "One day God asked the incomprehensible. 'Take that son of yours and offer him as a sacrifice.'" And he tested Abraham's faith and said to Abraham, and Abraham said, "Here I am. Take your son, your only son, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice him there as a burnt offering."

Isaac asked his father, "Where is the lamb for the sacrifice?" Abraham prophetically says, Genesis 22:8, "My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering." So the two of them went together. What a powerful story. Abraham and his son Isaac.

Now often in religious art, you see an elderly man, Abraham, bringing a very small boy up to the altar to be sacrificed. Fact of the matter is as we look at where Isaac would have been at this point, he was probably a full-grown young man. A big guy, probably bigger than his dad.

And he might have said to his father, "Father, I am not so sure about this sacrificing me. You're old. Let's sacrifice you." But to the credit of Isaac, he believes the words of his father who says God will provide himself a sacrifice.

Prophetic words, not just God will provide for himself a sacrifice, but God will provide himself a sacrifice. God would be the sacrifice. To the credit of Isaac, he willingly went to this place. And to the credit of Abraham, he did the same.

You could not ask a father to make a greater sacrifice than to offer up their child. We don't think about the sacrifice that the Father made in sending the Son and watching his Son suffer and die on the cross for our sins.

But then there's the sacrifice of the Son who willingly went and laid his life down. And the hardest part of the crucifixion was not the scourging, as awful as that was. Probably the Roman cat-o'-nine-tails, numerous strands from a whip made out of leather embedded with bits of rock and glass and metal, tearing into the body, lacerating, exposing vital organs, especially after 39 lashes.

Many people did not even survive the scourging, much less the crucifixion. Then, of course, they beat him. They pulled the beard out of his face. They punched him. And then they pounded spikes through his hands and feet. But that was not the worst part of the crucifixion.

Here's a part that was harder than any of that. And this is what Jesus recoiled from in the garden of Gethsemane when Dr. Luke says he sweat as it were great drops of blood. Probably describing a medical condition known as hematidrosis, which is a state that a person finds themselves in when they're under intense stress, they literally perspire blood.

There's blood mixed with their perspiration. Jesus was sweating blood as he thought about it and said, "Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done." What was Jesus recoiling from?

He was recoiling from taking the sin of the world upon himself. He who was holy would bear everything that was unholy. He who was sinless would take upon himself everything that was sinful. All the sin of humanity. My sin's bad enough. Yours makes it even worse.

Imagine the whole human race poured upon him as he died in our place as a substitute. And that is why he cried out, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani," which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" But Jesus was forsaken so I could be forgiven.

He died in my place. He died for you and for me. He came to pay a debt he did not owe because we owed a debt we could not pay. "Take your son," says God, "your only son whom you love." What do we read in John 3:16?

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son." And as Abraham prepared to plunge the knife into his son—and by the way, Abraham believed that God's going to come through for me, and if my son dies, God will raise him from the dead. I'm going to keep trusting God.

He raises that sacrificial knife, he's bringing it down on his son, and suddenly the angel of the Lord shouts, verse 11 of Genesis 22, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he says, "I'm listening." The angel says, "Lay down the knife and don't hurt the boy in any way."

Who was this angel of the Lord? I believe it was Jesus. The angel of the Lord. This is a Christophany. Christ stepped into this perfect picture of what would happen at the cross and stopped it from continuing on. But when Jesus went to the cross for us, there was no last-minute reprieve.

There was no stopping it. He went through with it for us. But let me say this. I know sometimes you feel alone, and you feel abandoned, and you feel afraid, but you don't have to be alone. Christ can come and live inside of you and you'll never be alone again.

And he'll walk with you through your life and give you a better life than you've ever dreamed of for yourself. And most of all, not just a better life in this world, but a better life in the afterlife. The best of all, the hope of heaven.

You don't want to let this opportunity slip by. I already quoted this verse. Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock and if you'll hear my voice and open the door, I will come in." You just need to open the door of your life and say, "Jesus, come in and forgive me of my sin. I want to believe in you now."

So we're going to pray. I'm going to give you an opportunity to have Christ come into your life. Let's all bow our heads and pray. Father, thank you for everyone that's here. Thank you for your love for them and sending your own Son to die on the cross in their place. And now I pray that they will see their need for you and that they will come to you and believe. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie with an important word of prayer today here on A New Beginning. And if you want to make a change in your relationship with the Lord today, Pastor Greg wants to lead you in this word of prayer.

Greg Laurie: Just stop what you're doing and pray this prayer with me. You can pray it out loud if you like. You can pray it in the quietness of your heart if you choose, but pray this prayer. This is a prayer of asking Jesus Christ to come into your life. Pray these words.

Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from that sin now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. Thank you for hearing this prayer and answering this prayer. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

Hey, did you just pray that prayer? If so, I want to congratulate you and be the first to say welcome to the family of God.

Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And listen, we want to help you as you begin to live for the Lord. Pastor Greg would like to send you his New Believer's Bible. It's a special edition of God's Word that'll answer so many of the questions you may have and help you build a solid foundation for your faith.

It's a roadmap for your new journey of faith and we'll send it free of charge. Just ask for the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click "Know God."

You know, Pastor Greg, we hear from people all the time who tell us how these daily studies have impacted their lives. So many have found the Lord and been encouraged through this teaching.

Greg Laurie: That's right.

Guest (Male): And we hope our listeners might pray about making an investment so these studies can continue.

Greg Laurie: It's really true, Dave. And even a little bit helps. You know, people need to hear the gospel so badly. They need to hear the teaching of the Word of God. It changes everything because it changes us. And I'm passionate about it and I'm called to do it and I'm thankful for it.

But I can't do it alone. So I'm going to ask folks that are listening if you think more people need to hear the gospel, if you believe more people need to hear the teaching of the Word of God, then prayerfully consider investing in Harvest Ministries and maybe even become a Harvest Partner, which means you're someone who stands with us every month in your faithful giving and that opens up a lot of new opportunities for us. So thanks for that.

Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And we really are thankful for your partnership. You can reach us anytime day or night at 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or just go online to harvest.org.

Well, next time, Pastor Greg takes us to the story of Jacob and Esau. It's an important study of the value of putting God's will above our own. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.