Chapter One -- Prologue -- In the Beginning
Dear John,
I know many will embark on putting together an account of the things that we have seen fulfilled among us, just as the letters of the law and the prophets were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of our Lord. With this in mind, since I myself was there from the beginning of these fulfilments, I have decided to write an account for you so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been told.
I believe that it was the will of God that I was obliged to stay in Nazareth on account of my health and not continue with you and Peter on this latest journey so I could write my story in peace and solitude without any interruptions. Now I suppose I must start at the very beginning, since it is the very best place to start. So here it is...
In the Beginning of time, God created everything in the heavens above and the earth beneath and said it was very good. Everything was created perfect without fault including man, the only thing uniquely created in God's image with dominion over creation. He had a soul or ability to choose, think, and reason and a spirit to act on will and character rather than mere instinct like all the animals. All creation lived in harmony under the rule of King Adam and Queen Eve. But you know the story: one minute they had it all, but with one bite they sacrificed it all.
The two had eaten from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil -- the one tree in the entire garden God had told them they must not eat. God promised that on the day they ate of it they would surely die. God kept His promise: they died spiritually with their sin and were banished from the garden and the Tree of Life for God cannot live with sin. Their desires were affected and they had a disposition to choose evil over good; they now had a sinful nature with a desire to sin and disobey. Because of their first sin, all men ever since have sinned and not been allowed in God's presence.
God promised to send a conquering seed from the woman that would bring life back to their spirits. He would restore man to that perfect state without sin. God sent prophets to describe in detail how the Saviour was to be born, where He would come from, and who He would be and do. He was promised to be and do so many nearly impossible things (They were not truly impossible, for God is the creator and ruler of natural laws.); many believed the Messiah would never truly come.
Centuries passed since that first sin, and God still had not fulfilled his promise. During this time God's, "chosen people" (they did not always feel chosen by God), from whom the Messiah was to come, had fallen into bondage and captivity time and time again, placing more doubt into man's mind. The idea of God and a Messiah was thought as only a foolish hope or a mere child's tale, and prophets who spoke the truth were mocked and called foolish story tellers. Then a time came when God ceased to send His prophets and no Word from God was heard for centuries, BUT then God happened. And this, my dear reader, is where my story shall truly start.
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