IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH.
4) The Unchanging Gospel of God.
Throughout the course of history God has been calling back his children to himself, to turn from evil, from Man's own way back to the perfection of our Creator. He has raised up prophets to speak His Word and direct his chosen people. In the Hebrew Scriptures we see how God communicated to the people of Israel giving them the instruction of the Law through Moses, so that they would come through repentance back to the Lord God. The devastating destruction wrought by man in his dominion over Creation since breaking the commandment of God at the beginning, is seen in the curse of disease and death affecting every creature. God has not been ignorant of man's heart and has already made a way to reconcile a fallen Creation to himself - from the very foundation of the world the Lamb of God, the Holy One, the suffering servant, the harmless dove, the one who turned the other cheek, has laid down his life, the Messiah the Saviour of the world was appointed to overcome evil at its root.
The Lord has always been ready to forgive individuals who come by repentance and faith to seek His way out of sin and into holy life. The powerful presentation of innocent death through an animal's sacrifice demonstrates the gravity of God's identification with the suffering Creation which has been broken for the sake of Mankind. After the great Flood that destroyed all life with breath on the dry land as a judgement on a Creation in utter rebellion, the family of the man Noah had been rescued by the decree and provision of God, in a great water-borne vessel of wood, along with the seed of every creature of God. Noah's family departed from this ark to start again and were now given instruction that it would now be possible to eat animal life in addition to vegetation - that certain animals could be killed for their flesh since they could eat and digest fibrous vegetation in a way that man could not, so their flesh could make these nutrients available to man in the absence of sufficient plant food/nutrition.
The Lord had already covered man and woman in skin fitting for this cursed Creation, just like the skin we have covering our bodies today. We have cursed bodies destined for destruction and death. The first violent blood in the Bible record is explicitly the murder of the second son by the first - the very first child born of man and woman was the beginning of murderers. Cain's envy for the simple faithful worship of his brother as compared to his own desire for self-righteous religion led to his brother Abel sacrificing his own life, staying true to the end in the face of evil. Abel had dedicated the new born life of his flock back to its maker. without pride in his own efforts. It was only fitting that when taking the life of these creatures generations later, after the Flood in the time of Noah, that the Lord who gave this life in the first place, and provided nourishment and guidance through life on this earth, should be given what he is owed in total humility - the lifeblood of the beast and by implication (imputation) the life and worship of man.
Man is given clear instructions on seeking the mercy of the living God, and how to be clothed by the living God, ultimately through the victorious death and resurrection of the incarnate Word of God, the Christ. Whether by prophetic faith in the purposes of God being fulfilled in the course of history (looking forward), or by faith in the revelation of God in completed history (looking backward), individuals find salvation only in turning to the living Word of God. The divine legislation of the Torah (Mosaic Law) gives progressive detail for the ordering of a holy society, a nation chosen by God. Yet God knows that man will constantly rebel and disobey the pure truth of God and so there must be a longsuffering view of his plan of salvation. Generation after generation the Lord looks through the evil deeds of man to the triumph of justice and the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Holy Spirit has always been revealing the Word of God to mankind when they have sought God with repentance. As men have returned to the divine revelation they have been able to hear his voice and discern it. And through the Lord Jesus Christ and the completed scripture we likewise return to the Lord from Heaven to seek His Word and not our own. May God help us to listen to and hear HIM. Amen.
5) The desire of God for MERCY as the expression of LOVE.