Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: HANDIWORK (01/14/21)
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TITLE: The Handiwork of God and Man | Previous Challenge Entry
By Doug Laird
01/21/21 -
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Here on Earth, the overt handiwork of God can be seen in all natural life forms ranging from gigantic, prehistoric dinosaurs down to the tiniest of insects.
With the assistance of telescopes, microscopes, and medical-imaging technology, Man can see the handiwork of God in greater and greater detail.
The overt handiwork of God can be seen His systems that maintain the balance of nature.
To think that something as vast, coordinated, and complicated just happened to come along by chance over the course of time is ridiculous.
While not going as far as attributing creation to a god, many atheistic scientists are willing to concede there was/is some form of intelligent design involved in the creation and the sustaining of the physical universe.
Romans 1: 20 tells us that because of the abundance of such overt evidence, Man is without excuse when it comes to the existence and handiwork of God.
It was the handiwork of God (Luke 1: 35 ) that provided the means (e.g. Heb. 10: 5) of salvation. It was with these means that Jesus finished (John 19: 30) His atoning work on the cross (1John 2: 2).
In the plan of God, it is where the handiwork of God ends that the need for human faith (trust and confidence) begins.
Personal faith in God's handiwork is the link in the chain connecting Fallen Man with eternal life (John 3: 16).
God's handiwork on the cross satisfied the justice of God. The justice of God requires that every sin be accounted for and the debt be paid in full.
With the justice of God being satisfied through the atoning work on cross, God was THEN able to offer salvation to Man without compromising the purity (Habakkuk 1: 13) of His divine nature.
By divine design, there will always be the need of faith to close the gap between what can be verified by human means and much of what the Word of God has to say.
Without faith, Fallen Man will not be able to perceive the unseen (Eph. 4: 30/Titus 3: 5/1John 1: 9/etc.) handiwork of God.
The integrity of our faith is not only the veracity of WHAT we place our trust and confidence in, but to the degree that it has on all that we think, say, and do inside and outside of our local assemblies (James 1: 22).
Sincere and unwavering faith in the wrong things (e.g. Matt. 15: 9) will not produce the desired end result (Matt. 7: 21-23).
This underscores the need to distinguish the difference between the spiritual handiwork of God and the religious handiwork of Man.
For obvious reasons, promoting the handiwork of Man in addition to, or in place of, the handiwork of God has had the endorsement of the devil throughout the course of much of human history (Psalms 96: 5).
Here in the dispensation of the Church Age, religious traditions of men (Matt. 15: 9), false prophets claiming to speak for God (Matt. 7: 15), apostate congregations (1Tim. 4: 1), false gospel messages promoting alternative means of salvation (2Cor. 11: 4), are among the weapons that the devil will use to divide the Church that God designed.
It is the handiwork of God that sustains (Matt. 16: 18) the Church that He designed. The Church that God designed is not necessarily to be found apart from the Church that is the product of Man. Both can be found in the denominationally diverse congregations within the Christian Community at large.
The church that God designed and the Church that Man designed often gathers together under the same roof. Members from each one sit side by side in the pews. They share in many of the same overt activities and rituals.
But when God's handiwork at the Rapture (1Thess. 4: 16, 17) takes place, it will leave many in the Church that Man designed wondering where the Church that God designed has gone.
To be born again is the only requirement for eternal membership in the church that God designed. But discipleship will require much more (James 1: 22).
In closing, consider that God's handiwork is not just to be seen in the grand universal events such as Creation (Gen. 1: 1) or The Flood (Gen. 7: 4), but in the seemingly insignificant details of our everyday lives (Romans 8: 28).
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
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