The divine purposes of God are often hidden from mankind, not only because His thoughts and His ways are far higher than ours, but also because our ability to understand is often limited to our own natural experiences in life. We are however able to gain meaningful insights into His purposes and plans by identifying those areas that the Bible reveals are Sacred, Holy and Precious to God.
This teaching will identify 3 things that God considers very special within the world, so special in fact that His divine purposes and plans are centred around them.
Scripture Reference
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
(Genesis 1:26-28)
3 Things That Are Sacred To God
1. Life
All Life comes from God.
God alone has the ability to create Life and to give the gift of Life to those whom He chooses. Life is Sacred because it comes from God.
2. Marriage
Marriage is God's foundation for Family Life.
God chose Marriage as the way for those to whom He had given life, to fill the earth and subdue it. Marriage is Sacred because God instituted it for mankind.
3. The Church
The Church is the vessel chosen by God to bring the knowledge of salvation to mankind.
Every believer in Jesus Christ has a part to play in sharing the Gospel and living their life in God's service. The Church is Sacred because together it's members are the Body of Christ, of which Jesus Christ is the Head.
1. Life
The Sanctity of Life
The phrase sanctity of life refers to the idea that every human life is sacred, holy, and precious. The sanctity of life is inherent (in-built) because man can never create life without God. Therefore, man has no authority to destroy life.
In religion and ethics, the inviolability (Never to be violated) or sanctity of life, is a principle of implied protection regarding aspects of living being that are said to be holy, sacred, or otherwise of such value that they are not to be violated.
The Sanctity of Life also means the extent to which human life is considered precious in the sight of God, our Creator. The Bible teaches that man was made as part of God's creation and incredibly also made in God's image. Therefore, human life should be valued and considered as sacred and God-given.
More about the word : Sanctity
Life's Value
Life, to some it has little value, and is treated like just another commodity like gold or silver. To these people Life is to be used and traded for whatever dollar value we can get for it. Many of the worst crimes that man commits against his fellow man/woman are based upon a lack of respect for the value of human life.
However for others, it is precious and of incalculable value and worthy of protection at all costs. This teaching will look at how God made human life and it's value in His eyes according to the revelation found in the Bible.
God Knows Our Name
(Exodus 33:17) So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”
(John 10:3) To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
(Luke 10:20) Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”
When God knows my name, it means that I matter to Him. It means He cares about me. It means that what I do and who I am is important to Him. Even within our vast and enormous universe filled with billions of people, I matter to Him because He knows my name. God's children have their names written in heaven, in the Book of Life, and by God's grace have qualified as those who will enjoy eternity with Him.
Born into the World
(John 16:21) A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
All of us when we are born into the world, have arrived with the incredible potential that only human beings has been given by God.
The wonderful joy experienced by parents is life changing for many, as they transition from a married couple and become a family.
God gave men and women together the ability to bring another human being into the world, and the responsibility and honour to raise them.
(Genesis 2:7) And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
(Jeremiah 1:5) “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.
(Psalm 139:13-16)
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me,
Guardian Angels
(Matthew 18:10) “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven
Angels are powerful servants of God that operate in the heavenly realm to fulfil the Will of God. Some of these Angels are assigned as a form of Body Guard that watches over your life and fights demonic forces to help bring you into God's will and purpose for your life.
Glory and Dominion
(Psalm 8:4-6) What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet
When Adam was originally made by God, he was placed in the Garden of Eden and began being trained up by God to run the world. God gave Adam the rulership of this world, which he was called to achieve through being in wonderful daily communion with our Heavenly Father.
Unfortunately when Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan in the Garden, they lost their dominion and Satan usurping it, became the 'Ruler of this World' (John 14:30)
God gave Adam the rulership of this world, which he was called to achieve through being in wonderful daily communion with our Heavenly Father.
The Uniqueness of Every Person
Unique means : being the only one of its kind
There is no one else like you, you are the only one of your kind. God made each of us unique, distinctive and individual. We all have different personalities, different looks, different strengths and weaknesses, all these things play a part in making up who we are as an individual.
We were made by God and given a divine purpose in life, a purpose that He has called us to fulfil as we commune daily with Jesus Christ, our Saviour.
Below are just a few of the many things that make us unique.
Our Fingerprints
Your fingerprints are unique. That means that no one else in the world has the exact same set of ridges and lines that you have on your fingers. Not even identical twins have the same fingerprints. Their uniqueness and lasting quality make fingerprints one of the best ways to identify a person.
Our DNA
The DNA of every human being is different, even the possibility of identical twins having the same DNA is incredibly remote.
Our Voice
The sound of each individual's voice is entirely unique not only because of the actual shape and size of an individual's vocal cords but also due to the size and shape of the rest of that person's body, especially the vocal tract, and the manner in which the speech sounds are
habitually formed and articulated.
Judgement When A Life Is Taken
(Genesis 4:3-5) And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell
(Genesis 4:8) Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him
(Genesis 4:10-12) And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
(Genesis 9:5-6) Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man
God is a God of Justice and as such He rewards those who obey Him and punishes those who commit evil. The reckoning for killing a man is severe because he is not just another creature but the one that was made in God's own image. God commanded that if someone murders a man that their own life is forfeit, so that this evil could be taken away from society.
You Shall Not Kill is one of the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20)
God is a God of Justice and as such He rewards those who obey Him and punishes those who commit evil.
The Cost of Redeeming Our Life
(John 3:16) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
(John 1:4) In Him was life, and the life was the light of men
God placed such a value on human life that He sent His Son to Redeem us by sacrificing His own life and paying the price for our sins against God. The cost that God was willing to pay for our Redemption (To Bring Us Back To God) is an accurate reflection of how precious each life is in His sight, and how much we are loved.
The cost that God was willing to pay for our Redemption (To Bring Us Back To God) is an accurate reflection of how precious each life is in His sight, and how much we are loved.
2. Marriage
Scripture Reference
And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh
(Genesis 2:21-24)
The Sanctity of Marriage
What does it mean that marriage is sacred? Holy Matrimony is another name for sacramental or sacred marriage.
Marriage is a divine institution that can never be broken, even if the husband or wife legally divorce in the civil courts; as long as they are both alive, the Church considers them bound together by God. Marriage is sacred because it's instituted in the Word of God and God made it clear that marriage should always be honoured and treated with respect.