Come and See: an exploration of the God of the Bible and his message

The church age does not go on indefinitely. Rather, it will end suddenly when Jesus removes all church-age believers in a single moment. Then, as prophesied in the Old Testament, Jesus will turn His attention back to unrepentant, national Israel. God had already talked about what it would take in the future to make the rebellious people of Israel repent and come to national faith in their Jewish Messiah. God will orchestrate a time of terrible punishment and suffering to get Israel’s attention. This is the seven-year period known as the “time of trouble for Jacob”, otherwise called the Tribulation. We go through a summary of the details that God provides about this future period, how there will be supernatural catastrophes, wars, hyperinflation, famine and a reshaping of the planet. God will permit Satan to raise a man known as the False Christ, or Antichrist, who will force the people of the world to submit to his one-world government and worship him. This False Christ will be assisted by another Satan-raised person known as the false prophet. But Jesus is the One directing the Tribulation and He will come to judge all the rebellious Jews, Gentiles, the Antichrist and the false prophet. It will be this catastrophic time that brings many Tribulation-age Jews and Gentiles to faith in Christ. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-22-How-the-World-Ends-Part-2.pdf

Does the church age continue without end? What does the Bible tell us? Scripture tells us that the church age will not go on forever but will end suddenly, without warning, when Jesus comes in the air to call to Him all who belong to Him, that is, those who have put their faith in Him. On that future day, believers who are alive on the earth will be taken up to meet Jesus in the air. Then along with church-age believers who have already passed away, all church-age believers will be given new, immortal resurrection bodies. They will go to be with Jesus in heaven and there, they will receive a review of their lives. Jesus will reward each believer according to the works each has done during their time on earth as believers. These rewards are regarding the future roles and lives in the coming Kingdom of God. The Bible tells us the key criterion of evaluation is the motive or attitude behind every work done. Each believer will be rewarded and assigned their future roles and responsibilities in the coming Kingdom. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-21-How-the-World-Ends-Part-1.pdf

What happens when someone trusts in Jesus for salvation? We explore what the Bible says. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, God can declare a believer as righteous. And God births new spiritual life through the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit indwells permanently; and the Holy Spirit seals a believer, guaranteeing eternal life. We then examine why believers still fail, disobey and do evil. That’s because there are three aspects to salvation: there is the one-time justification (saved from the penalty of sin); the on-going sanctification (saved from the power of sin); and the future glorification (saved from the presence of sin). God secures justification and glorification, and while the Holy Spirit leads the sanctification process, it requires the cooperation of the believer. This means the believer can stumble, be disobedient and fail. This is why the Bible talks about being filled with the Spirit, grieving the Holy Spirit and quenching the Holy Spirit. These are all sanctification issues. We also discuss the realities of the church age: how there will be fake believers, failed believers, false teachers and Satan’s continued attacks on the church. So while the “invisible” church is made up of true believers, the “visible church” is a mix of real, false and failed believers, as well as false teachers. That’s why churchgoers often experience a mix of loving people and people who behave in unloving ways. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-20-The-Present-Age-Part-2.pdf

Before we examine what the present age is about, we go back to the gospel accounts to witness what Jesus offered the Jewish people when he first came. He was the Messiah, the Son of David, the King whom the people of Israel were waiting for. Jesus offered the people of Israel their Kingdom. Some of the Jews trusted Jesus but the majority rejected him. So Jesus delayed the return of the Kingdom and instead, introduced an interim period. This interim period is the church age and a future tribulation period for Israel that will bring the Jews to national repentance. Then Jesus told his disciples to wait for God the Father and him to send the Holy Spirit to live in believers. Ten days after Jesus ascended, on the morning of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit arrived dramatically with three simultaneous miracles. The disciples realised the Holy Spirit had come. And now, the church age had begun. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-19-The-Present-Age-Part-1.pdf

Why did Jesus die, how did He die and what happened after He died? These are all questions we will examine in this lesson. We examine the eyewitness accounts, the gospels, to see why the Jewish people and their leaders rejected the Messiah they had. been waiting for. We read through the account of Jesus being tried, found innocent, but still being sentenced to death on a cross. We examine all the unusual things that occurred on the day Jesus died and then what happened three days later. His disciples met a resurrected Jesus! We examine what the Bible says about the immortal, resurrection body, how it is completely different from the mortal body. And we examine why the resurrection is important, why it shows that what God is saying about the future is true. This is why so many people try so hard to deny the reality of Jesus’ resurrection event for if it really happened in history, then what God is saying about the future is true. We also examine how a person can personally benefit from Christ’s death and resurrection by putting their faith in Christ for salvation. Such a person will have their sin problem taken care of and will have reconciliation with the Creator-God. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-18-The-Saviours-Work-Part-2.pdf

Previously, we saw the Jesus performed miraculous signs to show He was Yahweh, the Creator-God. And He had come to earth to be mankind’s Saviour. But what exactly was mankind’s problem? In this lesson, we look at what Scripture says about mankind’s condition. We learn that the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, represented mankind and when they rebelled against Yahweh, they corrupted their nature. Now they had a sin nature and they were cut off from their Creator. This sin nature is passed down to all people, generation after generation. People are born separated from God and face an eternity without God. By default, they are headed for eternal separation or eternal death. People are also unrighteous and unable to live the perfectly righteous life that will be equal to God’s righteousness. This is where the Saviour comes in. Jesus came to earth as a human. Supernaturally, He was born without sin and He lived a completely righteous life. And then He went on to die for mankind. He became the sufficient substitute, able to die on mankind’s behalf, and able to credit or impute His righteousness to mankind. Sinful mankind can appropriate what Jesus did through faith. When people put their trust in Christ for salvation, Jesus’ death will count as theirs and Jesus’ righteousness will be credited to them. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-17-The-Saviours-Work-Part-1.pdf

In this lesson, we learn what Jesus, God’s chosen Saviour is like. Jesus did many miraculous signs because He was showing the people who He was. He did the things that only Yahweh, the Creator-God could do. He created miraculously, He healed people from a distance, He fed thousands of people with a little food, He controlled nature, He raised the dead and He controlled evil spirits. Jesus was making it clear that He was more than just a human—He was God Himself. He wanted people and His disciples to be able to identify who He was, so they would be able to trust Him to take care of mankind’s sin problem and provide eternal life and a relationship with God. We also discuss the question of how do we learn the truth. There are four common sources of truth, but which source is the most trustworthy? To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-16-Gods-Rescue-Plan-Part-2.pdf

In our journey through Scripture so far, we have seen the poor track record of mankind. The people throughout history have not been able to live by God’s righteous standards. History has proven that mankind has real problems with sin. If people had to depend on themselves to become righteous, then no would be able to reconcile with God and enjoy eternal life with Him. But Yahweh had a plan from the beginning. In the garden of Eden when mankind first rebelled, He had given the first pieces of information about His rescue plan. And over the course of history, He gave more information through His prophets. Then finally, He intervened in history by sending the promised Saviour to earth. We'll learn who he is. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-15-Gods-Rescue-Plan-Part-1.pdf

Despite Yahweh’s warnings and punishments according to the Mosaic Covenant, the people of Israel and Judah failed to be faithful and loyal to the God who saved them and loved them. In the end, God used the nation of Assyria to exile the northern kingdom of Israel. Then about 200 years later, He directed the nation of Babylon to exile Judah. While in exile, Yahweh still encouraged His people to repent and be loyal to Him. To give them hope and to help them be clear on what He was going to do, He gave them long-range prophetic information about the future. He promised to make with them a new covenant that would cleanse all of Israel and Judah of their sin and make them faithful and loyal to Him. He would return them to their land and they would enjoy an intimate relationship with Him. In the meantime, He was going to allow Gentile kingdoms to rise to power and dominate the world for a time. He gave this information about the Gentile kingdoms to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in a dream about a statute of a man made up of different metal parts. The statue was eventually destroyed by a rock cut from a mountain, but not by human hands. Daniel, an exiled Jew serving in the Babylon government, explained the vision with Yahweh’s help. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-14-How-Gods-People-Failed-Part-2.pdf

Yahweh had chosen to work out His plan to save fallen mankind by choosing Abraham and the nation that descended from Him—Israel. He rescued Israel out of Egypt, set them up as a nation, gave them His good law, entered into a contract with them and brought them to the land He had promised to give them. He set up Israel for success. But did the people succeed? Alas, no. Israel did not obey Yahweh completely and the people grew contented with their wealth and ended up abandoning God. Following the terms of the covenant, Yahweh disciplined the people with enemy invasion. When the people cried out for help, He raised up a judge to rescue them. This began a downward spiral for the people did not completely repent and be faithful to God. After a long series of judges that God raised to help them, instead of asking God for help with their rebellious hearts, the people came up with their own solution—they asked for a human king. Yahweh granted their request but structured the kingdom His way. But most of the kings were not loyal to Yahweh and even when He split the kingdom in two—Israel in the north and Judah in the south—the situation did not improve. Eventually, Yahweh enacted the fifth level of discipline in the Mosaic Covenant. He used the Assyrians to exile rebellious Israel and two hundred years later, He used the Babylonians to exile rebellious Judah. God’s people failed in their mission. But God was also showing how fallen mankind could not, on their own, remain loyal to Him. To follow the session, access the notes https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-13-How-Gods-People-Failed-Part-1.pdf

We see more of Yahweh’s character through His interactions with the nations of the world. As the Creator-God of all people, He continues to hold all nations accountable to Him. Four hundred years earlier, when He was signing the Abrahamic Covenant, He told Abraham that He was giving the evil and aggressive Amorites 400 years of grace to repent of their wicked ways. But now, 400 years later, as Yahweh led the descendants of Abraham back towards the land that He had given them, He was going to use the nation of Israel, Abraham’s descendants, as His instrument of punishment on the fully corrupted peoples of the land. As a group, these peoples were known as the Canaanites. God was demonstrating, as He had at the Global Flood and with the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, how gracious He was but also how as the all-righteous God, He would come to judge evil when it went beyond the limits of His grace. He was also using the Canaanite wars as a picture of Final Judgment, where in the future, He would remove all evil from His creation permanently and restore it to the all-good state that He had first created. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-12-God-Taught-About-Himself-Part-2.pdf

Now that Yahweh had given Israel His law, how would anyone know if Israel kept their side of the contract by being obedient to God? Or how would anyone know if God kept His side of the contract to bless them for obedience and punish them for disobedience? In this lesson, we will see that Yahweh put in place “lawyers” or “prosecuting attorneys” for His contract. These “lawyers” were the prophets. The prophets had three roles: they were Yahweh’s lawyers, historians and Scripture writers. God gave the people two tests to properly identify and authenticate His appointed prophets. And false prophets were to be put to death. Did Israel keep the law? Israel almost immediately failed. The people showed that they were rebellious at heart and also self-deceiving. And Yahweh demonstrated how serious He was about His contracts by holding Israel accountable for breaking the contract. He also wanted the people to see that He is a promise keeper and He could be trusted. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-11-God-Taught-About-Himself-Part-1.pdf

Yahweh gave Israel His law at Mount Sinai. The laws were His expectations of how they would live as a righteous nation. If we study the 613 laws we will better understand His character and righteousness. In particular, we will learn how God defines justice. To God, justice is about restitution, that is, to fix a situation so that whatever is damaged or stolen is restored. Through the law, we learn just how serious mankind’s rebellion against Yahweh was. We see the damage to Yahweh’s relationship with mankind and the damage to God’s creation. The seriousness of God’s sentence of eternal death for mankind’s rebellion shows us how terrible the crime was. God’s justice needs to be settled. At the same time, God’s heart is to provide a solution to this problem. And God demonstrates how His solution works through the use of a sufficient substitute who will take the penalty on behalf of guilty mankind. To follow the session, access the notes at https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-10-God-Revealed-His-Standards-Part-2.pdf

Now that Yahweh has rescued Israel out of Egypt, He is going to build them into a proper nation. He meets with the people at Mount Sinai and gives them His law that will shape their nation into a counterculture. The law that Yahweh gives is compact and yet covers all areas of society: from the economy, public health, crime, families, agriculture, the worship of Yahweh and more. Now that God has rescued Israel and made them His people and given them His law, He enters into a contract with them—the Mosaic Covenant, which are His righteous expectations of how His people are to live with Him and each other. The Mosaic Contract is a conditional covenant, where God will bless the nation for national obedience and where God will discipline or curse them for disobedience. He wants Israel to show the world what life with Yahweh is like. To follow the session, access the notes at: https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-09-God-Revealed-His-Standards-Part-1.pdf

We continue with the account of Abraham and his family. God grew them into a nation, now called Israel. As God had prophesied to Abraham, Israel becomes trapped as slaves in another country—Egypt. But at the right timing, God intervenes to rescue Israel. He selects one of the Israelites, a man named Moses, to lead the people out. But the Pharaoh of Egypt refuses to comply. He doesn’t acknowledge that the God of his slaves is worthy of his attention. And so begins the battle of Exodus, where Yahweh, the Creator-God of the universe, shows to both Egypt and Israel just who the real God is through a series of plague judgments. And with the final plague judgment, the death of the firstborn, God demonstrates how He is able to provide a sufficient substitute to die in the place of the one under the sentence of death. This event becomes known as the Passover and God uses this event to teach Israel more about how the promised Saviour would save people in the future. To follow the session, access the notes at: https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-08-Gods-Plan-to-Reach-the-World-Part-2.pdf

The people of the world continue to reject God and rebel against Him. But in His love, God continues to intervene in history to give people the opportunity to know Him and believe in Him. Out of all the people of the world at that time, God chooses to work with a man named Abram. God renames him, Abraham, and tells him that He will work out His plan for mankind through him and his family. God then makes a covenant with Abraham, promising him land as a permanent possession, many descendants who will become a nation, and that through him, God will provide a worldwide blessing for all the peoples of the world. Part of that worldwide blessing would be the fulfilment of God’s promise to send the “seed of the woman” to destroy Satan and take care of mankind’s sin problem. We see that Abraham trusts God, obeys Him and follows His instructions. To follow the session, access the notes at: https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-07-Gods-Plan-to-Reach-the-World-Part-1.pdf

We continue to observe what happened after God’s judgment of the global Flood. Yahweh makes a covenant with mankind promising He would never again destroy the earth with a global flood even though mankind’s heart is continuously evil. God allows His character and promise to be scrutinised by entering into a covenant with mankind. He really wants mankind to know Him and trust Him. The post-Fall world is quite different and we observe some differences that have occurred. We also see that God reinstalls the divine institutions and adds a fourth: the divine institution of civil government with the power to exercise capital punishment on murderers. God did this to limit evil in a fallen world. Then God tells the people to go out and fill the earth once more. But the descendants of Noah choose to be rebellious by not obeying God’s instructions to fill the earth. In their rebellion, they build a waterproof tower to reach the heavens. Yahweh judges their rebellion by scattering them through the creation of new languages. In this way, the people of the earth spread out over the re-shaped planet. To follow the session, access the notes at: https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-06-God-Judged-the-Evil-World-Part-2.pdf

After the Fall of mankind, life outside the garden of Eden was a unique time in history. The people were intelligent, resourceful and lived very long lives. They could have chosen to learn from Adam and Eve’s mistake. They could have chosen to believe Yahweh’s promise about the “offspring of the woman” and have a personal relationship with Him. But instead, they chose to live wicked lives and have nothing to do with Him. Eventually, their sin was so great that it exceeded the limit of God’s tolerance. So Yahweh, as Creator-Owner-Ruler of the world, decided to send a global Flood to judge the evil world. Out of all the people in the world, only one man, Noah, and his family believed God’s word about the coming global judgment. To follow the session, access the notes at: https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-05-God-Judged-the-Evil-World-Part-1.pdf

We continue to examine the effects of the rebellion against the Creator by the first man and woman. The Bible calls this rebellion sin and the Bible describes the result of sin, which is death. Scripture describes death in three aspects: death of mankind’s friendship with Yahweh, death of mankind’s physical body and the eternal separation from God, which is called the “second death”. We also examine sin’s consequences on creation. We see that when mankind fell, what mankind was in charge of—nature—also fell. Nature became corrupted. In addition, the divine institutions God put in place were also corrupted. While God had every right as the Creator to judge rebellion, in His mercy, He put in place a rescue plan for mankind. To follow the session, access the notes at: https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-04-Why-There-is-Evil-in-the-World-Part-2.pdf

Today, when we look around us, most people would not call this world “very good”. There are disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes; people suffer from all kinds of health problems, diseases and even terminal illnesses; there are accidents and tragedies, and we have to live with all kinds of evil like murder, theft, abuse and exploitation. Many people live lives filled with much pain, suffering and brokenness. What happened? We will see what the Bible says about what happened to the perfect world that God had created. To follow the session, access the notes at: https://comeandsee.online/s/Lesson-03-Why-There-is-Evil-in-the-World-Part-1.pdf