The Predicament:
God, who has no beginning and no end, is self-described as The Godhead of three Persons in one Being ~ The Father (Soul: the will, intellect, volition, cognition, emotion, creativity, cognizance, all aspects of Being), The Son (Body: the express image, manifestation, portrayal, seen representation of an unseen Spirit, all aspects personifying Being), The Holy Spirit (Spirit: the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, life-giving, life-sustaining, all aspects of existence and presence of Being). God created all that exists ~ the spirit realm, without time and space, a permanent reality in which all that He made was perfect and complete. Created Beings, the Hosts of Heaven, were given authorities and positions to serve the Living God. To Lucifer, God gave the highest position, that of the Anointed Cherub. But pride was found in him; sin entered into the spirit realm. Lucifer rebelled against Almighty God and declared that he, a created being, would be above the Creator, the Most High who created him! Because of his sin, Lucifer, Son of the Morning, was removed from his position and renamed Satan, the Devil, the Serpent, the Dragon - the Prince of Darkness. All the multitudes of created beings chose their destinies: honor God and remain holy, or follow Satan in his quest to be like the Most High and rule, only to be separated from God ~ for eternity. A time of judgment awaits the angelic hosts who rebelled and left their first estate and original positions.

The Place:
God created the physical realm within time and space, a temporary reality of which all that He made was good and perfect. When God created time and space, He created all that is in the physical realm in six (6) days and rested from His creative work on the 7th day, thereby establishing the framework and parameters of His Plan. When God formed man from the dust of the ground and woman from the form of man, He created and breathed life or lives into them with spirit, with soul, with will and intellect ~ in the image of God (soul, body, spirit)! With His foreknowledge of all things, God prepared a place for HIMSELF to dwell in the form of man: He would become The God-Man. To mankind, Adam & Eve, God gave the highest position in the physical realm: dominion over all the earth. God created a Garden on the earth, to be a place where He would walk and talk with man. God then placed man into the Garden, but He allowed the fallen Archangel, Satan, to enter into its perfection. In the midst of the Garden flowed a river that watered the Garden and two Trees: a Tree of Life and a Tree of Knowledge. God gave man only one law ~ not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge in the midst of the Garden. He did not forbid man to eat of the Tree of Life. Instead of enjoying all that God had given them, man & woman listened to the enticement of the Serpent (embodiment of Satan). They did not discern the Word of God, so first they doubted, and then they discounted, and finally they disobeyed God's command; they had rebelled against God and His Word. The consequence of this rebellion was the immediate death of (1) their spirits by separation from God, (2) their souls by the opening of their understanding to the knowledge of good and evil, and (3) their body by the deterioration and eventual death of their physical beings. Sin had come from the spiritual realm and found a place in the heart of man in the physical realm. By listening to the Serpent, man gave his dominion of the earth to Satan, a legal transfer of authority, making Satan the Prince of this World. Satan, having lost his authority in the Heavenlies, had now gained authority on the earth! God removed man from the Garden and He removed the Garden from the earth. Had man eaten from the Tree of Life after eating from the Tree of Knowledge, they would have been eternally separated from God, as are the fallen Hosts of Heaven. The curse of sin entered into the physical creation and the resulting death came upon the creation and mankind through Adam, the first man.

The Plan:
Before the foundation of the earth, God in His holy and infinite wisdom prepared a way to overcome the curse and consequences of sin that had entered into the spiritual realm and would enter into the physical realm. For this purpose man was created. Only man could pay the penalty of sin through death. Only God could redeem all that was lost. The fallen Hosts of Heaven could not die and they could not be redeemed. But man could be redeemed! Only through mankind's redemption could the spiritual and physical realms be restored. So God's Holiness, Character, and Justice required a consequence: punishment for rebellion, and death for sin. The legal requirement to the problem that began in the Heavenlies was that the fallen Hosts of Heaven would have to be judged and punished. Yet at the same time God prepared a way to offer His mercy and loving kindness to His creation. God's Plan of Redemption had to be a legal exchange ~ Life for death and death for Life! Only man could die. Only God could give Life. The solution to the dilemma was that God had to become man to finalize the exchange: since by one man came death, by only One Man could come Life! Since the life is in the blood, the Blood of that One Man had to be shed to exchange the Life of the Sinless for the death of the sinful! The Way: God the Son was able to conquer the curse of sin and death because He is God, the visible manifestation of the Godhead (The Redeemer)! The Truth: God the Son was willing to become man in order to pay the price of death, both physical and spiritual (The Messiah). The Life: God the Son has the legal right to redeem mankind because He is also The Son of Man (The Kinsman)! God the Father, in and through His Only Begotten Son Jesus (Christ-Messiah-Savior), by the power of His Holy Spirit, gave His sinless eternal life in exchange for the sin and eternal death of mankind; to redeem that which was lost, to restore His personal relationship with mankind ~ this He gives as a free gift to all who believe that Jesus is God come in the flesh and trust in Him and His blood, shed once for all, to redeem them from the curse of sin and death. God provided 'Himself' a Lamb: the sacrifice was sufficient for all, but only those who apply the blood of the Lamb to their hearts to cleanse their sin are reconciled to God ~ by God and through God ~ He did it ALL!

The Purpose:
Before the foundation of the earth, God prepared a way to glorify, sanctify, and justify His Holy Name. The Holiness and Character of God, His Justice and judgment of the fallen Hosts of Heaven, and the destiny of mankind as they choose to follow God and receive His Life or remain in their sin and death, following Satan to share in the same judgment, as well as the destiny of the spiritual and physical creations are at stake in this drama of the ages. God knows the beginning from the end, and the end from the beginning. He is sovereign over all and in all things His purpose will be accomplished! Mankind's history shows God's patience and loving kindness, as well as the Justice of His judgments to all the Hosts of Heaven and all of mankind. In and through the God-Man, the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, individuals and nations will be redeemed, creation will be restored and Messiah will rule and reign from Mount Zion in Jerusalem ~ the place where God created the Garden to walk and talk with man in a personal relationship ~ to complete God's Plan of the Ages. The end of history and God's Plan will bring the final judgment; God will judge the fallen and rule the Holy - judge the lost of mankind and angels, and establish the redeemed of mankind above the Hosts of Heaven. He will destroy the works of the devil and the first heaven and earth tainted by sin and death. Then God will create new heavens and a new earth; He will reestablish His dominion over the spiritual and physical realms, where there will be no sin and death, He will restore redeemed mankind and enjoy personal relationship time without end, and He will glorify and magnify His Holy Name. God's throne, New Jerusalem, will descend from the Heavenlies to the new earth, where God will dwell among men and will be the Light of the Nations. He will be their God and the redeemed will be His people, worshiping the Almighty God forever!