by Karen I Livingston

Created on: October 01, 2008

Let's figure this out, shall we?

Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden and had fellowship with the Creator in the most extraordinary way; a way that all others who would come after them would never know. The Creator placed in the garden two special trees and instructed them not to eat the fruit of one of them; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If they did, they would surely die (Genesis 2:17, NKJV).

Time went by and eventually Adam and Eve made a choice, regardless of the deception involved in the situation, they made a choice to disobey the Creator and the consequence was just as they had been told; they died. Their choice was death.

So, the choice was made and mankind's fate was sealed. Our nature became fallen, sinful and deserving of death. Fate has pursued all of mankind down through the ages and will continue to do so until the Creator says that time is up.

Death was a choice that became the fate of every human being. Death is unavoidable. Evidence supporting the fate of us all surrounds us. From newspaper headlines to graveyards, it is an undeniable reality.

Our Creator is not cruel or savage. This is not the reason we will die or even the reason that some will go to hell. God, the Creator, is just and sovereign. Each of us is deserving of our impending death.

With the birth of Jesus Christ, our fate takes on new character. In Jesus Christ the promise of salvation from eternal destruction is made manifest. Eternal consequence, salvation for Jew and Gentile alike, and new birth becomes front and center in the scope of mankind's existence.

Within each person our Creator put an eternal spirit which will exist beyond life as we know it. Our fate condemns us to death. Mankind's original sin, done by Adam and Eve, separated all of mankind from God. Jesus Christ, however, is the Way to be reconciled back to God. He bridged the gap between God and man. God has given us an occasion to be born again. Not in a fleshly sense, but in spirit. Those who are born again are "sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance" (Ephesians 1:13-14 NKJV). The flesh will still pass away because it is bound to its fate. But after the passing of the flesh of our fate we will receive new bodies (1 Corinthians 15:40 NKJV); eternal bodies. If the condition of the spirit is dead, having not been born again, or if it is alive, having received new life, whichever the case may be, the new body will go to the place that has been prepared for it; either

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