Although there are different means of communication through which God has chosen to make manifest his truth to the world, there is but one Spirit. And when God had created man from the earth, he breathed his spirit into his nostrils, and man became a living soul, and God called his name Adam and placed him in a garden he had prepared for him to care for and tend to. And God created a mate for Adam, and he called her Eve, the mother of all living.

There was only one commandment given that Adam and Eve were told would lead to their deaths. When that commandment was broken, without even being told, both Adam and his wife knew they were naked and hid themselves among the trees. They were now conscious of good and evil.

Likewise, after Cain slew Able, when the Lord inquired about his whereabouts, Cain replied, “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Although there was no law, Cain did not need to be told he had transgressed. He knew, and therefore, he lied, attempting to cover up his transgression.

When God breathed his breath into the nostrils of the man he made, he placed a part of himself in him—a conscience, which became awakened to the knowledge of good and evil through partaking in sin. Sin only became evident to man after the law was broken. Only then were the eyes of Adam and Eve opened, and they hid themselves, attempting to cover their nakedness.

Once sin entered the world, until the appointed time that the law was given in writing through Moses, man lived according to his conscience, which in itself was a law within.

In time, however, the heart of man was hardened, and the spirit of man prevailed over the conscience. As the world became increasingly corrupt, mankind became hardened against God to the point of being irredeemable. God determined that he would destroy all of humanity off the earth. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and he, along with his other seven family members, were saved.

Afterwards, when men began again to multiply and replenish the earth after the flood, they united. Casting off God, they again rebelled against him at Babel, and God confounded them there and scattered them abroad. Thus, humanity became many nations, languages, and kindreds, worshiping their own chosen gods and walking in their own ways.

But again, this time it was Abvram who found grace in the eyes of the Lord and was separated to fulfill God’s purpose. Because Abvram believed God to the point of being willing to sacrifice his own son, Isaac, an everlasting covenant was given to him, making him the father of many nations. And God put a part of his own name in Avram’s name, changing it to Abraham, meaning “father of a multitude.”

Thus, Abraham became the father of the covenant of faith and was given circumcision as a seal of the covenant. This separated the first age of two millennial days from the second and began the second age of two millennial days until the appearance of the Messiah at the end of the fourth millennial day.

Looking back on these things, we find a pattern. First, sin enters, judgment follows, and then a path to redemption is provided. However, when the path of redemption is forsaken, a greater judgment is imposed, and in some cases, it is final. For the spirit of God will not always strive with man.

From the time Adam was created, the first age of living by conscience lasted two thousand years until Abraham, who lived by faith in obedience to God. Five hundred years later, the law was given in writing to Moses. But before the time of the Torah, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all others who believed lived before God according to conscience.

After Israel went into Egypt, the children of Israel turned from the Lord and began worshiping the gods of the Egyptians. Therefore, they were brought under the bondage of sin and made slaves, and the pharaoh ruled over them. Again, the conscience of man failed and was proven to be impotent in bringing about righteousness. Nevertheless, the grace of God did not fail, and he devised a stronger way to free them from the yoke.

Because conscience alone had shown itself too weak for obedience, Moses was chosen as an intermediary to receive the law directly from God. He then commanded the Children of Israel to write down God’s laws, keep them before their eyes always, and teach them to their children.

By giving the law in writing, sin became exceedingly sinful, to the end that it might have a greater effect upon the hardness of men’s hearts and revive the conscience. However, in time, the law was broken so often that hearts became hardened and there was little conviction. And after being delivered out of Egypt, given a written law and a land of their own, Israel forsook the Lord and turned to the idols of the other nations around them that they had failed to drive out.

Thus, conscience alone had failed to bring man into righteousness. And then the law, which came afterward to convict the conscience, also failed to bring forth obedience.

Again, humanity faced destruction, and in his wrath, God destroyed many great kings and nations. Even his own people were eventually given over to the sword and carried captive out of their land.

Notwithstanding, God, in his foreknowledge, made provision for salvation beyond the law of Moses, and having found David a man after his own heart, God promised him that through his seed at the appointed time, he would send a Savior who would deliver his people and reign in righteousness forever and ever.

Continued in Part 2