hell is described as a place that is completely opposite to the presence of God's goodness and love hell is often presented as a warning meant to teach us the importance of choosing a life aligned with God's ways Jesus himself spoke about hell more than anyone else he described it as a place of weeping and nashing of teeth where the fire never goes out it's a place meant for the devil and his angels but also for those who turn away from God and choose not to follow path of love and righteousness one of the names for
hell that Jesus used is gehenna this was actually the name of a real place outside of Jerusalem where trash was burned the continuous fire and Decay made it a powerful symbol of a place of punishment and separation from God Jesus used stories to teach about the choices we make in life and their Eternal consequences he talked about a rich man who lived only for himself and ended up in Hell a place of Torment after he died unable to cross over to the comforting side where a poor man named Lazarus rested in heaven this story tells
us the reality of hell and the importance of living a life of compassion for others the Apostle Paul also warned about the consequences of rejecting God's love and choosing a path away from God's teachings describing it as never ending destruction away from the presence of the Lord in John's vision of the final judgment the Beast and Satan are thrown into hell described as a lake of fire that represents the second death this is not just physical death but Eternal separation from God who is the source of all life love and happiness God doesn't want anyone
to choose a path that leads to hell he wants everyone to come to repentance which opens the doors to Heaven a place of Eternal joy peace and the presence of God in the Bible angels are special Messengers from God they show up at important times to deliver messages provide guidance or offer protection like when the angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her she would have a special son named Jesus there are many different angels and not all look the same some angels almost look like ordinary people like when angels visited Abraham to tell him about
his future son Isaac or when two angels went to help lot in the city of Sodom they looked like regular men people could talk to them without realizing right away that they were talking to Angels but there are other Angels who look extraordinary far from normal human beings like in Daniel's Vision where he sees an angel who looks like a man dressed in linen with a Bel of pure gold around his waist his body was like a precious gem his face like lightning his eyes like flaming torches his arms and legs like polished bronze or
when Jon had a vision on the island of Patmos where he saw an angel coming down from heaven wrapped in a cloud with a rainbow over his head his face was like the sun and his legs were like fiery pillars this Angel was so bright and Powerful that could barely look into its dazzling light some angels even have several wings like the sarapin seen by the prophet Isaiah it stood above the Throne of God with six wings two that covered their faces two that covered their feet and two with which they flew and the cherubim
seen by the prophet Ezekiel had four wings and many faces a human face a lion on the right side an ox on the left side and an eagle making them look unlike anything on Earth even though these angels might sound a bit scary they often start their messages with do not be afraid they are not here to frighten people they're here to bring good news offer help or protection long ago many cultures believed in a scary monster that lived in the deep dark sea these stories about dragons in the sea were used to show chaos
and destruction the people who wrote the Bible knew these stories well and used them to teach lessons at the beginning of the Bible God creates order by separating Land from the chaotic sea and controls a sea dragon this dragon is linked to the snake that tempted Adam and Eve showing how chaos and death can lead people to ruin themselves the people who wrote the Bible also used dragons to describe violent evil rulers like the pharaoh who Enslaved the Israelites and even Goliath who is described like a dragon because of his giant size and scary armor
the dragons in the Bible represent different dangers but it can be overcome however defeating a dragon is tricky because its power can be tempting someone fighting a dragon might end up using the dragon's power and become like a dragon themselves while the Israelites were in Babylon the Prophet Daniel dreamed of dragons representing evil kingdoms but then someone powerful appears in his dream someone who can beat these monsters Daniel calls him the son of man which is what Jesus calls himself Jesus is facing down these dragon-like challenges in many ways like calming storms resisting temptation healing
sickness and even defeating death but Jesus fights the dragon in an unexpected way instead of fighting back he gives up his life trusting that God will bring something good out of it and he did Jesus's death and Resurrection provide a way to overcome the dragon's power Jesus has shown us a different way and by following him we can overcome the dragon's influence trust in God's power to ultimately defeat evil for good Moses was called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery he confronted Pharaoh with God's command let my people go and God
worked through Moses to bring about 10 plagues on Egypt including turning the Nile River to blood sending swarms of locusts and the death of the firstborn in every Egyptian household Moses parted the Red Sea allowing the Israelites to escape Pharaoh's Army and later received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Si long after Moses the Israelites forgot about God and started worshiping statues so God sent Elijah to remind everyone of God's power Elijah challenged the prophets of a false god named Bal they sacrificed Bulls on Mount Carmel and Elijah called down fire from heaven to
consume his sacrifice proving God's power over the Bal prophets during this time it had not rained for 3 years and everything was scorched and dry but after Elijah's Victory on Mount Carmel he prayed and reigned fell from the sky ending the drought Elijah never died he was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire showing his special place in God's kingdom Elijah had a student named Elisha Elisha performed more recorded miracles than any other prophet he purified a poisoned well multiplied a Widow's oil to save her from death and even raised a boy from
the dead Elisha also healed n commander of the Army from leprosy showcasing God's power to heal and save after Elisha was gone during a dangerous time in Israel's history a new Prophet named Isaiah emerged he had visions of the coming Messiah and spoke of a virgin birth in one of Isaiah's prophecies he sees the suffering servant who would be pierced for our mistakes for telling Jesus's life and sacrifice long after Isaiah's Ministry a new Prophet named Daniel served under several Babylonian and Persian kings interpreting dreams that none could explain Daniel prayed to God every day
and he refused to stop praying because of this Daniel was thrown into a den filled with hungry Lions but God sent an angel and saved him Daniel also had visions of future events including the coming of the Messiah and the end of time these prophets prophets were powerful not because of their Own Strength but because of their deep faith and obedience to God in the beginning God created the world in just 6 days he made the Sun the moon the stars the land and oceans plants animals and finally humans he called everything good but humans
were special because they could talk with God love and make choices God made a beautiful garden for the first humans Adam and Eve they could eat from any tree except one the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil God warned them that eating from this tree would cause bad things to happen but a sneaky snake the cleverest of all the creatures God had made tricked them into eating the fruit when they ate it everything changed they realized they were naked and felt ashamed because they didn't listen pain sadness and death death came into the world
and God sent them out of the garden but God didn't leave them without hope he made a promise one day someone special would come to fix everything and bring them back to him for many many years God's people Waited For This Promise This Promise was passed down through generations by Heroes of Faith like Noah who built a huge boat to save his family and animals from the great flood Abraham who left his home because he trusted God's promise Moses who led God's people out of being slaves in Egypt and David a young boy who defeated
a giant and became a king all these stories had something in common they showed that God always keeps his promises and that he was planning something amazing all the prophets who could speak God's messages told about a coming Messiah a king who would save everyone and his kingdom would last for forever many years later a baby was born in a humble place a stable where animals slept this baby was Jesus the one everyone had been waiting for the hero that was promised long ago from his first breath it was clear he was special angels sang
Shepherds visited and wise men from far away brought gifts Jesus grew up to be a man who did amazing things he healed sick people just by touching them or speaking a word he made blind people see and even calmed storms he told stories that made people think and feel differently about life he showed love to everyone even those who were usually ignored or disliked but not everyone was happy with Jesus some were scared of the change he represented they didn't understand he was the king God had promised and plotted against him Jesus was was betrayed
by a friend and even though he had done nothing wrong he was punished like a criminal Jesus died on a cross a terrible way to die it seemed like hope died with him but 3 Days Later something incredible happened Jesus came back to life this showed that not even death is more powerful than God's love it was the proof that Jesus really was the one God sent to save us and open the way to heaven after Jesus came back to life life he visited his friends to teach them more about God's kingdom then he went
back to Heaven promising to send help that help came as the Holy Spirit guiding us to believe in Jesus so that we can be close to God again in the ancient lands of Mesopotamia there was a man named Jacob Jacob had to leave his home because his brother Esau was very angry and wanted to kill him for stealing His blessings he ran way to a land where his mother's family lived and there he met Rachel laan's Daughter by a well wow Jacob fell in love with Rachel the moment he saw her and cried because he
was so happy he wanted to marry her so much that he promised Rachel's dad laan he would work for him for seven years but laan was a sneaky man and had other plans time passed quickly for Jacob because he loved Rachel so much but on the wedding day 7 years later laan tricked Jacob by giving him Leah Rachel's older sister as his wife instead Jacob didn't realize until the next morning and was very sad and still in love with Rachel laan said to Jacob that he did this because of a rule that the older sister
should get married first he then told Jacob he could also marry Rachel if he worked another seven years Jacob still very much in love with Rachel agreed to work longer even though Jacob felt tricked he did not give up he worked another 7 years to marry Rachel during this time laan tried to make things even harder for Jacob he kept changing how much he would pay him doing it 10 times even so Jacob kept working hard God saw how hard Jacob worked and how laan was not being fair so God blessed Jacob with a big
family and lots of animals making Jacob very rich this made Laban and his sons jealous and angry Jacob realized it was time to leave because he was not safe near laan and his sons anymore he took his family and animals and left laan chased after him because he felt Jacob had taken advantage of him but God told laan in a dream not to hurt Jacob when laan finally caught up instead of fighting they decided to make a promise to each other Not to cause harm they set up a pile of stones to remember their promise
and called it Mis ER and agreed to stay on their own sides of it laan said goodbye to his daughters and grandchildren then Jacob and his family went on their way they never saw each other again in the very beginning when the world was new God made a beautiful garden called Eden here God put Adam and Eve the first two people to take care of it the garden was a perfect Home full of wonderful plants and animals and Adam and Eve could eat the fruit from all the trees EX except one God told them not
to eat from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil one day while Eve was walking in the garden a clever and sneaky serpent spoke to her this wasn't an ordinary serpent because it could talk and it was more cunning than any other animal God had made the serpent asked Eve did God really say You must not eat from any tree in the garden Eve replied we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden but God said you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden and you
must not touch it or you will die the serpent wanting to trick Eve said you will not certainly die for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil Eve looked at the fruit it was beautiful and looked delicious and she liked the idea of being wise like God so she took some of the fruit and ate it she also gave some to Adam who also also ate as soon as they ate the fruit something changed they suddenly felt afraid and hid
when they heard God walking in the garden but God knew what had happened he asked Adam and Eve about it and they admitted eating the fruit but blamed the serpent and each other because of what they did God said things would be harder for them outside the garden they would have to leave Eden and life wouldn't be perfect anymore but God also made them clothes from animal skins showing he still cared for them the serpent was punished too he was thrown out of the garden and cursed to crawl on its belly and be an enemy
to humans from then on
