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Answer: The fact that God created man within itself would not necessarily tell us a great deal about man because God created everything else, too. But the time, manner and condition in which He created him tells us much about man. There is no other part of the entire creation like unto man. Because God created man last of all we conclude that He was preparing the world He had made with all its living things; animals, herbs, fruit bearing trees, etc., and with the sun, moon, and stars, etc., to light, warm and control the climate and atmosphere of the earth, etc., to be suitable residence for the tenant He was to make and place in it. It was out of special deference to man that He made all the rest.

In Genesis 1:26 we read: "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:..." This was said of none of the other creatures God created but when it came to man He made him an intelligent, reasoning, spiritual, discriminating, free acting agent with the power and right of free choice. Holiness, righteousness, and truth were in his inward parts since he came fresh from the hand of God. All of these things were existent attributes in God and man must possess them also to be in the image and likeness of God.

God is love, but love is an attribute which can never be satisfied without a full return of affection from the object of its love. Hence, man was made with an inherent, built-in capacity for loving God and responding to Him. Man in his creative state fresh from the hand of God was perfectly fitted for an association with God. This was the prime objective God had in creating man that they might associate together and love each other and hold communion and sweet fellowship together. In Genesis 3:8 we read, "And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day:..." It was, no doubt, common practice for God to walk and talk with the man He had made.

It seems also in Genesis 1:26-28 that God had in mind for man to be a kind of general manager and overseer of all the work of God's hands in the earth he was to have dominion over every living thing that moveth upon the earth and was to subdue it verse 28.

In Isaiah 43:7 we read, "Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory,..." Ah! there we have it; created for God's glory.

Man lost all of this image and likeness of God out of his nature through the fall into sin which corrupted the entire human race. Consequently he had to be banished from the presence and fellowship of God. (Genesis 3:22-24.) God still loved man and had the same purpose and objective for him, so He devised a plan of salvation for him and sent Jesus to make an atonement for man's sin and to perfect an arrangement for restoring man back to his creative state in communion and sweet fellowship with God, by the sacrifice of Himself and the shedding of His own blood for our cleansing from sin.

In describing the work and effects of salvation the Apostle Paul said in Colossians 3:10, "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him." He is then restored back into the image and likeness of God. Also Ephesians 4:24 says "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." This puts man right back where he is qualified to associate with God and hold communion and sweet fellowship with Him as at the beginning. In fact we read in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." This is an enlightening text pertaining to the question under consideration. It makes it clear that God ordained before (even from the beginning) that we should walk in good works and be eligible for sweet fellowship with Him.

Again we read in II Corinthians 6:16, "...for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." This text makes it clear again what God's real purpose and objective was in creating man to dwell in them and walk in them and hold sweet fellowship with them. Job 7:17 says, "What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?" And verse 18 says, "And that thou shouldest visit him every morning,...?" This makes it clear that God loves man, has His heart set upon him, and desires to hold communion with him daily.

Then it is evident from these texts and many more that God made man that He might have a being upon whom He could bestow His love and who would be capable of responding to that love and returning it to Him by loving Him with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and thus to glorify God.

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Question: Please explain I Peter 4:12 which reads, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you." Also I Peter 1:6, which says, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations." Please explain in detail about "strange thing happened unto you" what all this implies and "season" how long a time the Bible means when it said "for a season."

Answer: These two texts are closely linked together and are component parts of the general teachings in the Scriptures on the doctrine of God's corrections, chastisements, and preparation of His children for heaven and also for living their lives more to His glory. Trials are a normal part of a Christian life and we should not think them strange when they come. The devil would like to get us to consider them this way. If he can succeed in this, he has gained a great advantage. He would like to have us think that no one else ever had a trial like we are having. That kind of thinking is very devastating to the person who accepts it and it produces a self-pitying, self-sympathizing attitude which is one of the most destructive things to faith and the spiritual experience. I admonish this questioner and everyone else who reads this to resist these kinds of thoughts with all the power God gives you. And if that is not sufficient, humble your heart and earnestly pray that God will add to your faith and increase His power in your soul to be able to resist that kind of thinking until it flees from you. This is one of the most important places where the Christian must fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life.

I Corinthians 10:13 says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:..." Then you can be sure that whatever kind of trial or temptation you are having, there are others having that same kind of trial (perhaps many) and there are, no doubt, people living around you who have already overcome that same kind of thing who could be a help to you if you would confide in them. I Peter 5:9 says, "Whom [the devil verse 8] resist steadfast in the faith, KNOWING THAT THE SAME AFFLICTIONS ARE ACCOMPLISHED IN YOUR BRETHREN that are in the world."

Every trial or temptation that our heavenly Father permits to come to us has its special purpose and is a part of God's purging, purifying process in our lives. We may think we are pretty good folks and doing quite well in our Christian lives, but God looks down in the depth of our hearts and sees something there that would not fit in heaven and He could not take us to heaven with, so He goes to work to purge that out of us because He wants us in heaven and the trials that come to us are His process of doing this.

A few select texts from God's Word will confirm all that has been said. Job 23:10, "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Psalms 66:10, "For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried." Isaiah 48:10, "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Malachi 3:3, "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness." I Peter 1:7, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.

Now I would like to add this comment in regard to Malachi 3:3 purging and purifying the SONS OF LEVI. Levi was the head of the Levitical Priesthood in ancient, literal Israel. Only those who were of the tribe of Levi were permitted to administer about the holy things and offer sacrifices and they had to go through a process of ceremonial cleansing before they were eligible. The text in Malachi 3:3 is actually a prophecy of Christ and His work and the effects of His gospel and therefore could have no possible reference to the literal sons of Levi. But Israel after the flesh was a type of Israel after the spirit the New Testament Church (spiritual Israel) in this dispensation. And the sons of Levi (the priesthood of ancient Israel) were a type of the spiritual priesthood (us) in this dispensation. Salvation through faith in Christ makes every redeemed soul a priest unto God. (Revelation 1:6 & 5:10 and I Peter 2:9). Therefore this purging and purifying of Malachi 3:3 is going on in US by the Word of God (the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God) and the operation of the Spirit of God in our hearts and lives.

This brings us to the consideration of the second verse in this question (I Peter 1:6) "...for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations." The key words in this text are the words "IF NEED BE." This is very important in understanding this question and the whole scope of God's dealings with us to purge and purify us and prepare us for heaven. Let us realize that God knows us better than we know ourselves and knows things about us that we never knew we had on hand. Psalms 19:12 says, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults." We are certainly not so constituted as to be able to see ourselves as God sees us until He reveals ourselves to us. And He usually does this by shaping up certain circumstances in our lives and sending some special, peculiar kind of trial to us which will touch the thing He wants to purge out of our lives and bring it out and make it manifest itself.

The reason for this is that our will and consent is involved in all of God's dealings with our souls and our wills cannot possibly act in regard to things we have not seen or do not know about. Hence the text says, "IF NEED BE." It is God who determines when we need a trial and what kind of a trial we need to deal with something in our lives which He sees and maybe we don't.

The season referred to here in this text does not refer to any specified period of time such as a day, a week, a month or a year but just whatever time is necessary to accomplish the purpose of the trial. If we will just humbly, quickly and wholeheartedly submit to God and give Him the full consent of our will for Him to work in us as He sees fit to purge out of us the thing that has surfaced and manifested itself, we can shorten the duration of the trial. Failure to do this will prolong the duration of the trial. So the very best thing any of us can possibly do when a trial or test hits us is to quickly submit ourselves to God without any reservation and give Him a free hand in working His works in us. However, in a more extended sense the "season" here might refer to our entire lives because the working of our own salvation is surely a lifetime job.

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Question: Please explain Matthew 6:13. Why would Jesus teach us to pray, "...Lead us not into temptation,..."? He would never lead us into partaking of temptation and I did not think He would lead us into the presence of temptation. James 1:13 says that God tempteth no man, and then we read where Jesus was led of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. I can't seem to get these scriptures working together, so I would appreciate some explanation on them.

Answer: These scriptures do indeed appear contradictory and baffling on the face of them and this question may be of importance to more people than just this questioner. These scriptures are not contradictory when rightly divided and understood.

The word "temptation" has a double meaning which, when understood, will help us to understand the apparent contradiction here. One meaning is, "an inducement to evil." Another meaning is, "try, test, prove, probe." The text in James 1:13, "...God cannot be tempted with evil; neither tempteth he any man," means that He does not tempt men with evil, or endeavor to induce them into evil. In Matthew 26:41, Jesus admonished His disciples to "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation:..." The strong temptation for evil was right at hand and lying just immediately ahead of them. It came upon them and Peter fell grossly into it to the point of denying the Lord Jesus with cursing and swearing. The others fell into it also in a lesser degree than Peter in that they forsook Him and fled. The only one of those twelve who stood with Him that memorable night was John the beloved disciple. This is what is meant by entering into temptation partaking of it or being victimized by it. Then Jesus continued in the last part of Matthew 26:41, to say that "...The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Many who fail to recognize this important truth fell that if they are willing in their spirit to live for God and seek earnestly to please Him in their lives, that somehow God will overlook and consider the frailty of their flesh if they give way and are overcome in the time of temptation. This is not the case. When one is overcome in the time of temptation and victimized by it, and partakes of it, it requires repentance before he can be restored, regardless of how willing his spirit was to live for God. Peter went out and wept bitterly (bitter tears of repentance) when he was struck with the reality of what he had done. When one has a deep sense of the reality and truth of Jesus' words, "...The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak," he will be constantly and continuously seeking to build up himself on this most holy faith (Jude 20) and to be "...strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." (Ephesians 3:16.) This way, when he is enthralled and enveloped with temptation strong and keen, the power of the spirit within will prevail over the weakness of the flesh without, and he will not fall a victim to the temptation. One great comfort that we have, and really the only one that we need, is, "...Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." I John 4:4. As we yield ourselves more and more to the workings of the Spirit of God in our lives, the truth of this statement will be more and more confirmed unto us.

The other meaning of the word which is "to try, test, prove, or probe," means that God tempts us all in this sense. Daniel 12:10 says, "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried;..." God will surely have a tried and proven people to take to heaven. The reason for this is clearly apparent. God, in the beginning, created man in His own image and after His own likeness, which is declared to be "righteousness and true holiness." We all know how man (Adam) failed and committed sin; and as a result of that all his posterity, the whole human race, was plunged into sin (Romans 5:12). We see all around us the appalling effect of this and the ruin of the race which has resulted from sin. Now, in approximately 6,000 years, the world has become almost an unbearable place for a righteous man to live. If this degree of ruin and devastation has been wrought by sin in 6,000 years, pray tell me if you can, the extent of the havoc which would be wrought in that eternal world without an end if anything faulty or evil were to get there. Every person who enters those portals will first be tried to the limit that he may be thoroughly purged from every imperfection and impurity before he is accepted in that company. God is absolutely taking no chances this time.

All of this relates to the text to which the question relates: Matthew 6:13. In this text Jesus taught us to pray, "...Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:..." Adam Clarke says in his commentary on this text that the phrase interpreted here "Lead us not into temptation," means, in the translation from the original Greek text, "Bring us not into sore trial." He also says that several of the primitive Church fathers have added to this the phrase, "which we cannot bear." He further adds that "The word not only implies violent assaults by Satan, but also sorely afflictive circumstances, none of which we have, as yet, grace or fortitude sufficient to bear." Then he says that "Bring us not into," or "Lead us not into," is a "mere Hebraism; God is said to do a thing which He only permits or suffers to be done."

A key text in this connection is found in I Peter 1:6, where it says, "...though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations." The key words are "if need be," and this refers to what has been said before about God testing, trying, purging, and purifying everyone to prepare them for heaven. One of our songs contains these words: "God is sweeping through' the nations, With an awful searching eye; Every spot of imperfection Must be purged, or hope must die." God is the One who determines "if need be." He determines when one needs a trial and what kind of trial it should be. He sees every spot of imperfection about us; even the ones we do not see and realize ourselves. He has decreed that all these things must be purged and His method of purging them is through the trying, testing, proving, and probing experiences of life. He permits only those things in our lives which He sees will accomplish His desired end: the purging and purifying of the soul, and the perfecting of us in the image of His Son, Jesus.

He taught us to pray right along with, "...But deliver us from evil:..." Some render this, "Deliver us from the evil one." We can be sure that in all those trying experiences God sees necessary to subject us to in order to prepare us for heaven, the "evil one," Satan himself, will be on hand to attempt to take advantage of us in the trial and seek to persuade us to cast away our confidence in God or take a wrong attitude toward God, or circumstances, or people connected with our trial. The devil will try to hurt us in some way; but we can be assured that if we keep our trust in God and remain subject and submissive to Him that His grace will be sufficient, and the trial will never be too great for us to bear. This is spelled out in certain terms in I Corinthians 10:13, which you may read as a conclusion.

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