Adam and Eve disobeyed what seemed a minor regulation and brought death upon themselves and our race (Genesis 3). Ananias and Sapphira lied, and for their cunning fell dead on the spot (Acts 5:1-10).
What do we learn from these examples? That God is absolute, and that He holds truth to be inviolable. Men do well to doubt their own opinions, respect each other’s points of view, and seek consensuses on non-moral issues. However, with God there is no room for debate. He does not change. Truth cannot be reinterpreted. To lie, to disobey God, or to sin otherwise inevitably leads to death.
God is sovereign. He answers to no one. He needed no one’s counsel when He brought the worlds into existence. (Job 38) When mankind became wicked, God overthrew the first world with a flood (Genesis 6-8). He brought His Son into the world to die as our Saviour. He decreed that there can be no salvation but by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). He has set a day in which He will bring the world, as we know it, to a fiery end. He will judge every human being that ever lived, and will seal our eternal destiny (Acts 17:31).
God is just. He has given us His Word in black and white. The Bible that is so available to you is His infallible Book. Every effort to contradict or eradicate it has, in the end, discredited its opponents and validated its claims. You may read it, understand it, and stake you eternal salvation upon its most obvious meaning.
Neither Adam and Eve, nor yet Ananias and Sapphira would have had to die. But they chose to test the absolute. They tried to bend the unmovable.
Neither do you or I need to perish. Whether we live or die eternally will depend upon how well we understand and align ourselves with God’s eternal absolutes. Such unchangeables as those we have noticed: 1) God exists, 2) He is truth, 3) sin produces death, 4) only faith in Christ can save us, 5) the Bible is God’s Word, and therefore infallible, 6) the day is coming when God will judge us each by His Word and our deeds.
We may choose–God has given us that privilege–but He will judge. We may doubt, but God cannot lie. Men and women find life, peace, and lasting security when they choose faith and obedience to God. They find grief and everlasting destruction when they ignore God or despise His Word.
Now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Our day of opportunity cannot last forever. In God we live, move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). We are here by His design, we live by His allowance, and we will one day answer His summons. For a life that is full and satisfying, agree with God and live in harmony with His eternal absolutes.
– by Dallas Witmer