If one were to use one word to describe the Bible, one could call it a 6000-year history of 'war’. It is a book stained with the blood of prophets. When did this war begin and when does it end? 

In the very first verse of the Bible, it is recorded that God is the Creator of heaven, earth and all life (Genesis 1:1). He is spirit (Genesis 1:2) and once dwelled on the earth with all creation through Adam, to whom God had entrusted everything. When Adam listened to the words of the serpent (Genesis 3:22), sin and death came into the world (Romans 6:23). Since that moment roughly 6000 years ago, God, who is life and can not coexist with sin (John 1:4), left the earth (Genesis 6:3) and Satan (who is also spirit and naked to the visible eye) took possession of everything that rightfully belonged to God. The result has been a world of pain, suffering and death.

Since that time roughly 6000 years ago, the spirits and flesh that belong to God - working to rid the world of sin and restore the lifeline that was cut - have been at war with the spirits and flesh that belong to Satan on this earth. God has been doing this by appointing one chosen messenger on the earth to proclaim God's will to the people in every Biblical era.

Nine generations after Adam, God commanded Noah to build an ark, and for roughly 100 years Noah pled with people to board it and save themselves from the impending flood (Genesis 6). But the people scorned this old man and were too busy eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage before the flood came and destroyed them all (Luke 17:27). Which spirit was at work sowing seeds of doubt and pride into their hearts to keep them from boarding the ark and saving their lives? In all, only eight people - Noah’s family - believed in God’s promise and boarded the ark.

God came to Abraham and promised him that his descendants would be slaves in a country not their own and would later come out with great possessions (Genesis 15). To fulfil this promise, God appointed Moses who led 600,000 able-bodied men (over one million people counting women and children) out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan (Exodus 12). After an arduous 40-year journey in the wilderness where God gave the people victory after victory against foreign nations, they reached Canaan but failed to enter it because of the negative reports from ten of the twelve tribe leaders who had scouted the land (Numbers 13). The people's faith in God's promisewas dampened and they even discussed stoning Moses (Numbers 14)! Which spirit was working through them? As a result, God forced the people to wander in the wilderness for a further 40 years where they perished. Their children entered the land under Joshua.

In Canaan, God sent judges to rule over the people. Whenever they obeyed the judge (ruler), there was peace; when they didn't, there was war. At their request, God then gave them kings. But King Solomon led the heart of the people away from the true God through his many false idols and God tore the land of Israel into northern Israel and southern Israel (Judah and Jerusalem), as is recorded in 1Kings11. 2Chronicles documents how quickly the kings of Israel had turned the hearts of their people to God, to then betray God by worshipping false idols. Eventually, God sent the foreign nations of Assyria and Babylon to destroy Israel where its survivors were carried off into exile. Whenever God tried to fulfil His will, the opposing spirit was always at work.

500 years later, God sent prophets (Isaiah-Malachi) to make known to the religious leaders their wrongdoing in forsaking God, and the prophets spoke prophecies about a future Saviour, as can be found recorded in today's Old Testament. Yet virtually every single prophet was imprisoned or killed.

For the next 600 years, these prophecies about a Saviour were spread to all the people and when Jesus Christ came as the fulfilment and reality of this promise, the religious authorities - who had mastered the prophecies of the Old Testament and its 613 laws - prevented the people from going to Jesus, labelled him “demon-possessed” and leader of a 'sect' (Acts 24:5), and ultimately crucified him. What would cause people to commit such evil acts?

Jesus made a final promise recorded in the four Gospels and in the book of Revelation, which is the final book of the Bible. Within it, Jesus promised that a time will come when Satan is captured, locked up and, at the end of 1000 years, will be thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulphur (Revelation 20). Jesus also promised that God will return and death (sin) will be eliminated once and for all (Revelation 21). This is when the war between God and Satan's spirits on the earth will finally come to an end and death will truly be swallowed up by life. Where, O death, is your victory?

★If you want to learn this new promise, have had a long life of faith but have had your prayers yet to be answered, are curious about Revelation, are waiting for Jesus' Second Coming or are curious about the mysteries of human life (birth, old age, sickness and death), you can register for Shincheonji Church of Jesus' online Bible Study Course, delivered by experienced lecturers free of charge⇨http://bit.ly/bible_061102 (English)

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