Cracking the Code—The Human Genome Project in Perspective [Part I] by Bert Thompson, Ph.D.

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Cracking the Code—The Human Genome Project in Perspective [Part I]

by	Bert Thompson, Ph.D.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Immediately after the July issue of Reason and Revelation had gone to the printer, the non-profit Human Genome Project in the United States and its international analogue, the non-profit Human Genome Organization, along with Celera Genomics, a for-profit corporation, announced that working together they had deciphered, for all practical purposes, the genetic code contained in the human genome. We were not able to “stop the presses” on the July issue in order to discuss this momentous feat, but hope that R&R readers will enjoy our two-part series on this amazing scientific accomplishment and its implications for humankind. The reader may find it useful to have on hand the “Genetic Glossary,” since some terms in that glossary are employed here for the first time.]

On Monday, June 26, 2000, the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Great Britain jointly called a press conference that not only received instantaneous, worldwide news coverage, but also captured the attention of people around the globe (see Office of Technology Policy, 2000). As the ambassadors of Japan, Germany, and France watched (along with some of the planet’s most distinguished scientists, who had joined them either in person or via satellite), the two world leaders announced what one science writer called “the greatest intellectual moment in history, bar none!”—the deciphering of the genetic code contained in the entire human genome.

The news media—both popular and scientific—had a field day. The (July 3, 2000) bright red cover of Time magazine screamed in huge, yellow letters—“Cracking the Code!” Upon opening the magazine to read the text of the cover story, the reader was met with an audacious headline in giant type that announced: “The Race Is Over!” The July 3 issue of U.S. News & World Reportcovered the story under the heading, “We’ve Only Just Begun” (Fischer, 2000, 129[1]:47). One week later, in its July 10 issue, U.S. News & World Report assigned its highly touted editor-at-large, David Gergen, to write an editorial that was titled “Collaboration? Very Cool” about the success of the joint effort (2000, 129[2]:64). The July 3 issue of Newsweek contained a feature article, “A Genome Milestone,” discussing the project (Hayden, 2000, 129[1]:51). The June 30 issue of Science, the official organ of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Marshall, 2000, 288:2294-2295), and the June 29 issue of Nature, the official organ of its counterpart in Great Britain, the British Association for the Advancement of Science (Macilwain, 2000, 405:983-984), each devoted in-depth stories to the “cracking of the code.” The July 2000 issue of Scientific American also weighed in (Brown, 2000, 283[1]:50-55), as did numerous other professional journals in countries on almost every continent.

Emotional exhilaration ran high, and descriptive adjectives flowed freely. Professional writers, as well as some of the scientists directly involved in the events that led to the decoding of the human genome, variously described the results as the “holy grail” of biology and “the most important scientific effort that mankind has ever mounted”—and did not hesitate to compare the saga to the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb in the mid-1940s or the Apollo Project that landed men on the moon on July 20, 1969. Time’s cover story authors remarked authoritatively: “It’s impossible to overstate the significance of this achievement” (Golden and Lemonick, 2000, 156[1]:19).

Amidst all the hoopla, important questions are bound to arise. For example, what, exactly, is the human genome? What do scientists mean when they say they have “decoded” it? What do these events mean for mankind—either now or in the future? What are the potential benefits and/or drawbacks associated with such research? When can humanity expect to experience them? Are there any scientific, biblical, ethical, or moral implications to be considered? If so, what are they and how should we handle them? These kinds of questions often accompany the invention and development of major new scientific technologies, and deserve a well-reasoned, informed response.

THE SCIENCE OF GENETICS

One of the newest (and certainly one of the most exciting) sciences is that of genetics. After all, every living thing—plant, animal, or human—is a storehouse of genetic information and therefore is a potential “laboratory” full of scientific knowledge. Genetics had its origin in 1865 as the result of studies performed by an Augustinian monk, Gregor Mendel, whose accomplishments certainly are worthy of recognition. Philosopher Richard von Mises stated, in fact, that Mendel’s work “plays in genetics a role comparable to that of Newton’s laws in mechanics” (1968, p. 243).

Gregor Mendel died in 1884, never realizing that eventually he would be known as the “father of modern genetics” (see Considine, 1976, p. 1155). Many scientists since have added to the knowledge he provided in regard to this important new science. For example, in 1902, German embryologist Theodor Boveri, and in 1904, American cytologist W.S. Sutton, building on the work of another German embryologist, Wilhelm Roux, documented that what Mendel had referred to as Anlagen (genes?) were distributed throughout the body in the nucleus of every cell in sausage-shaped bodies that Roux called “chromosomes” (from the Greek meaning “color body,” because early geneticists had to stain them with brightly colored dyes in order to view them under a microscope).

The effort to locate a gene, determine what it does, and discover how it functions was launched in 1906 when American scientist Thomas H. Morgan began his famous studies on the chromosomes of fruit flies. That same year, at a meeting of the Royal Horticultural Society, English biologist William Bateson suggested the term “genetics” as the name for this new science (see Asimov, 1972, p. 516). In 1908, Morgan identified “invisible heredity units” (that later would come to be known as genes) as being associated with portions of chromosomes. Then, in 1909, Danish botanist Wilhelm Johannsen coined the term “gene” (from the Greek for “giving birth to”) as the name for these “heredity units”—a term still in use today (see Bishop and Waldholz, 1999, p. 23). [Johannsen also coined the two terms “genotype” and “phenotype” to describe an individual’s inner genetic make-up, and the outward expression of that make-up, respectively.]

The physical location of the gene, therefore, has been known only since the beginning of this century. Shortly thereafter, it became clear that almost every biochemical characteristic in all living creatures was determined by genes. In 1911, scientists produced the first chromosome maps. In the 1940s, O.T. Avery showed that traits could be passed from one bacterium to another by a chemical known as DNA (see Avery, et al., 1944, 79:137-158). The eminent taxonomist of Harvard, Ernst Mayr, wrote concerning this event: “A new era in developmental genetics was opened when Avery demonstrated that DNA was the carrier of the genetic information” (1997, p. 166). By 1941, two Americans, George W. Beadle and Edward L. Tatum, had discovered that the genes’ function was to produce proteins—which serve both as structural components of all living matter and as enzymes that assist in the infinite variety of chemical reactions that make life possible. Yet, as Bishop and Waldholz noted:

Despite these remarkable discoveries, the exact nature of the genes remained a mystery. No one knew what a gene looked like, how it worked, or how the cell managed to replicate its genes in order to pass a complement on to its offspring. By the 1940s, however, a series of discoveries began suggesting that the genes were composed of an acid found in the nuclei of cells. This nucleic acid was rich in a sugar called deoxyribose and hence was known as deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA (1999, p. 23).

The still-new science of genetics was advanced greatly by the discovery, in 1953, of the chemical code within cells that provides the genetic instructions. It was in that year that James D. Watson of the United States, and Francis H.C. Crick of Great Britain, published their landmark paper about the composition and helical structure of DNA (1953, 171:737-738). Nine years later, in 1962, they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology for their stellar achievement in elucidating the structure of DNA (a subject about which I will have more to say later in this article, as well as in part two of this series). British geneticist, E.B. Ford, in his book, Understanding Genetics, provided an insightful summary when he wrote:

What then keeps...living things in general “on the right lines”? Why are there not pairs of sparrows, for instance, that beget robins, or some other species of bird: why indeed birds at all? Something must be handed on from parent to offspring which ensures conformity, not complete but in a high degree, and prevents such extreme departures. What is it, how does it work, what rules does it obey and why does it apparently allow only limited variation? Genetics is the science that endeavours to answer these questions, and much else besides. It is the study of organic inheritance and variation, if we must use more formal language (1979, p. 13).

A LOOK AT THE WORKINGS OF THE CELL

As scientists have studied what Dr. Ford called “organic inheritance and variation,” we have come to realize that the basic unit of life is the cell. Genes, chromosomes, nucleic acids, and the chemicals that compose them are found within the cells of every living organism on Earth. It is quite appropriate, therefore, that an investigation into matters such as those being discussed here should begin with an examination of the structure and nature of the cell.

Anatomist Ernst Haeckel, Charles Darwin’s chief supporter in Germany in the mid-nineteenth century, once summarized his personal feelings about the “simple” nature of the cell when he wrote that it contained merely “homogeneous globules of plasm” that were

composed chiefly of carbon with an admixture of hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur. These component parts properly united produce the soul and body of the animated world, and suitably nursed became man. With this single argument the mystery of the universe is explained, the Deity annulled, and a new era of infinite knowledge ushered in (1905, p. 111).

Voilà! As easy as that, simple “homogeneous globules of plasm” nursed man into existence, animated his body, dispelled the necessity of a Creator, and ushered in a new era of “infinite knowledge.” In the end, however, Haeckel’s simplistic, naturalistic concept turned out to be little more than wishful thinking. As Lester and Hefley put it:

We once thought that the cell, the basic unit of life, was a simple bag of protoplasm. Then we learned that each cell in any life form is a teeming micro-universe of compartments, structures, and chemical agents—and each human being has billions of cells... (1998, pp. 30-31).

Billions of cells indeed! In the section he authored on the topic of “life” for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the late astronomer Carl Sagan observed that a single human being is composed of what he referred to as an “ambulatory collection of 10¹⁴ cells” (1997, 22:965). He then noted: “The information content of a simple cell has been established as around 10¹² bits, comparable to about a hundred million pages of the Encyclopaedia Britannica” (22:966). Evolutionist Richard Dawkins acknowledged that the cell’s nucleus “contains a digitally coded database larger, in information content, than all 30 volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica put together. And this figure is for each cell, not all the cells of a body put together” (1986, pp. 17-18, emp. in orig.). Dr. Sagan estimated that if a person were to count every letter in every word in every book of the world’s largest library (approximately 10 million volumes), the total number of letters would be 10¹², which suggests that the “simple cell” contains the information equivalent of the world’s largest library (1974, 10:894)! Stephen C. Meyer suggested:

Since the late 1950s advances in molecular biology and biochemistry have revolutionized our understanding of the miniature world within the cell. Modern molecular biology has revealed that living cells—the fundamental units of life—possess the ability to store, edit and transmit information and to use information to regulate their most fundamental metabolic processes. Far from characterizing cells as simple “homogeneous globules of plasm,” as did Ernst Haeckel and other nineteenth-century biologists, modern biologists now describe cells as, among other things, “distributive real-time computers” and complex information processing systems (1998, pp. 113-114).

So much for the “simple” cell being a little lump of albuminous combination of carbon, as Haeckel once put it.

Figure 1 — Simplified representation of a typical eukaryotic cell as rendered by Gabriela Weaver of Colorado University at Denver. Used by permission of Dr. Weaver and The Food Zone.

Cells are filled with a variety of organelles such as ribosomes (which aid in protein production), Golgi bodies (which package proteins), the endoplasmic reticulum (the transport system of the cell), mitochondria (which manufacture energy), vacuoles (which aid in intracellular cleaning processes), etc. Furthermore, cells are absolute marvels of design when it comes to reproducing themselves. Cellular reproduction consists of at least two important functions—duplication of the cell’s complement of genetic material and cleavage of the cell’s cytoplasmic matrix into two distinct yet separate parts. However, not all cells reproduce in the same manner.

Speaking in general terms, there are two basic types of cells found in organisms that procreate sexually. First, there are somatic (body) cells that contain a full complement (the diploid number) of genes. Second, there are germ (egg and sperm) cells that contain half the complement (the haploid number) of genes. Likely, the reason that germ cells (gametes) contain only half the normal genetic content is fairly obvious. Since the genetic material in the two gametes is combined during procreation in order to form a zygote (which will develop first into an embryo, then into a fetus, and eventually into the neonate), in order to ensure that the zygote has the normal, standard chromosome number the gametes always must contain exactly half that necessary number. As Weisz and Keogh explained in their widely used textbook, Elements of Biology:

One consequence of every sexual process is that a zygote formed from two gametes possesses twice the number of chromosomes present in a single gamete. An adult organism developing from such a zygote would consist of cells having a doubled chromosome number. If the next generation is again produced sexually, the chromosome number would quadruple, and this process of progressive doubling would continue indefinitely through successive generations. Such events do not happen, and chromosome numbers do stay constant from one life cycle to the next (1977, p. 331).

Why is it, though, that chromosome numbers “do stay constant from one life cycle to the next?” The answer, of course, has to do with the two different types of cellular division. All somatic cells reproduce by the process known as mitosis. Most cells in sexually reproducing organisms possess a nucleus that contains a preset number of chromosomes. In mitosis, cell division is “a mathematically precise doubling of the chromosomes and their genes. The two chromosome sets so produced then become separated and become part of two newly formed nuclei” so that “the net result of cell division is the formation of two cells that match each other and the parent cell precisely in their gene contents and that contain approximately equal amounts and types of all other components” (Weisz and Keogh, 1977, pp. 322,325). Thus, mitosis carefully maintains a constant diploid chromosome number during cellular division. For example, in human somatic cells, there are 46 chromosomes. During mitosis, from the original “parent” cell two new “daughter” cells are produced, each of which then contains 46 chromosomes.

Germ cells, on the other hand, reproduce by a process known as meiosis. During this type of cellular division, the diploid chromosome number is halved (“meiosis” derives from the Greek meaning to split or divide). So, to use the example of the human, the diploid chromosome complement of 46 is reduced to 23 in each one of the newly formed cells. As Weisz and Keogh observed: “Meiosis occurs in every life cycle that includes a sexual process—in other words, more or less universally.... It is the function of meiosis to counteract the chromosome-doubling effect of fertilization by reducing a doubled chromosome number to half. The unreduced doubled chromosome number, before meiosis, is called the diploid number; the reduced number, after meiosis, is the haploid number” (p. 331, emp. in orig.). In his book, The Panda’s Thumb, evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould discussed the marvel of meiosis.

Meiosis, the splitting of chromosome pairs in the formation of sex cells, represents one of the great triumphs of good engineering in biology. Sexual reproduction cannot work unless eggs and sperm each contain precisely half the genetic information of normal body cells. The union of two halves by fertilization restores the full amount of genetic information.... This halving, or “reduction division,” occurs during meiosis when the chromosomes line up in pairs and pull apart, one member of each pair moving to each of the sex cells. Our admiration for the precision of meiosis can only increase when we learn that cells of some ferns contain more than 600 pairs of chromosomes and that, in most cases, meiosis splits each pair without error (1980, p. 160).

And it is not just meiosis that works in most instances without error. Evolutionist John Gribbin admitted, for example, that “...once a fertilized, single human cell begins to develop, the original plans are faithfully copied each time the cell divides (a process called mitosis) so that every one of the thousand million million cells in my body, and in yours, contains a perfect replica of the original plans for the whole body” (1981, p. 193, emp. added, parenthetical comment in orig.).

Regarding the “perfect replica” produced in cellular division, the late United Nations scientist A.E. Wilder-Smith observed:

The Nobel laureate, F.H. Crick has said that if one were to translate the coded information on one human cell into book form, one would require one thousand volumes each of five hundred pages to do so. And yet the mechanism of a cell can copy faithfully at cell division all this information of one thousand volumes each of five hundred pages in just twenty minutes (1976, p. 258).

Information scientist Werner Gitt remarked:

The DNA is structured in such a way that it can be replicated every time a cell divides in two. Each of the two daughter cells has to have identically the same genetic information after the division and copying process. This replication is so precise that it can be compared to 280 clerks copying the entire Bible sequentially each one from the previous one, with at most a single letter being transposed erroneously in the entire copying process.... One cell division lasts from 20 to 80 minutes, and during this time the entire molecular library, equivalent to one thousand books, is copied correctly (1997, p. 90).

But as great an engineering triumph as cellular division and reproduction are, they represent only a small part of the story regarding the marvelous design built into each living cell. As Wilder-Smith also noted, the continued construction and metabolism of a cell are “dependent upon its internal ‘handwriting’ in the genetic code. Everything, even life itself, is regulated from a biological viewpoint by the information contained in this genetic code. All syntheses are directed by this information” (1976, p. 254).

Since all living things are storehouses of genetic information (i.e., within the genetic code), and since it is this cellular code that regulates life and directs its synthesis, the importance of the study of this code hardly can be overstated.

THE GENETIC CODE—ITS FUNCTION AND DESIGN

Faithful, accurate cellular division is critically important, of course, because without it life could not continue. But neither could life sustain itself without the existence and continuation of the extremely intricate genetic code contained within each cell. Scientific studies have shown that the hereditary information contained in the code found within the nucleus of the living cell is universal in nature. Regardless of their respective views on origins, all scientists acknowledge this. Evolutionist Richard Dawkins observed: “The genetic code is universal.... The complete word-for-word universality of the genetic dictionary is, for the taxonomist, too much of a good thing” (1986, p. 270). Creationist Darrel Kautz agreed: “It is recognized by molecular biologists that the genetic code is universal, irrespective of how different living things are in their external appearances” (1988, p. 44). Or, as Matt Ridley put it in his 1999 book, Genome:

Wherever you go in the world, whatever animal, plant, bug or blob you look at, if it is alive, it will use the same dictionary and know the same code. All life is one. The genetic code, bar a few tiny local aberrations, mostly for unexplained reasons in the ciliate protozoa, is the same in every creature. We all use exactly the same language.

This means—and religious people might find this a useful argument—that there was only one creation, one single event when life was born.... The unity of life is an empirical fact (pp. 21-22, emp. added).

It is the genetic code which ensures that living things reproduce faithfully “after their kind,” exactly as the principles of genetics state that they should. Such faithful reproduction, of course, is due both to the immense complexity and the intricate design of that code. It is doubtful that anyone cognizant of the facts would speak of the “simple” genetic code. A.G. Cairns-Smith has explained why:

Every organism has in it a store of what is called genetic information.... I will refer to an organism’s genetic information store as its Library.... Where is the Library in such a multicellular organism? The answer is everywhere. With a few exceptions every cell in a multicellular organism has a complete set of all the books in the Library. As such an organism grows, its cells multiply and in the process the complete central Library gets copied again and again.... The human Library has 46 of these cord-like books in it. They are called chromosomes. They are not all of the same size, but an average one has the equivalent of about 20,000 pages.... Man’s Library, for example, consists of a set of construction and service manuals that run to the equivalent of about a million book-pages together (1985, pp. 9,10, emp. in orig.).

Wilder-Smith concurred with such an assessment when he wrote:

Now, when we are confronted with the genetic code, we are astounded at once at its simplicity, complexity and the mass of information contained in it. One cannot avoid being awed at the sheer density of information contained in such a miniaturized space. When one considers that the entire chemical information required to construct a man, elephant, frog, or an orchid was compressed into two minuscule reproductive cells, one can only be astounded. Only a sub-human could not be astounded. The almost inconceivably complex information needed to synthesize a man, plant, or a crocodile from air, sunlight, organic substances, carbon dioxide and minerals is contained in these two tiny cells. If one were to request an engineer to accomplish this feat of information miniaturization, one would be considered fit for the psychiatric line (1976, pp. 257-259, emp. in orig.).

It is no less amazing to learn that even what some would call “simple” cells (e.g., bacteria) have extremely large and complex “libraries” of genetic information stored within them. For example, the bacterium Escherichia coli, which is by no means the “simplest” cell known, is a tiny rod only a thousandth of a millimeter across and about twice as long, yet “it is an indication of the sheer complexity of E. coli that its Library runs to a thousand page-equivalent” (Cairns-Smith, p. 11). Biochemist Michael Behe has suggested that the amount of DNA in a cell “varies roughly with the complexity of the organism” (1998, p. 185). There are notable exceptions, however. Humans, for example, have about 100 times more of the genetic-code-bearing molecule (DNA) than bacteria, yet salamanders, which are amphibians, have 20 times more DNA than humans (see Hitching, 1982, p. 75). Humans have roughly 30 times more DNA than some insects, yet less than half that of certain other insects (see Spetner, 1997, p. 28).

It does not take much convincing, beyond facts such as these, to see that the genetic code is characterized by orderliness, complexity, and adeptness in function. The order and complexity themselves are nothing short of phenomenal. But the function of this code is perhaps its most impressive feature, as Wilder-Smith explained when he suggested that the coded information

...may be compared to a book or to a video or audiotape, with an extra factor coded into it enabling the genetic information, under certain environmental conditions, to read itself and then to execute the information it reads. It resembles, that is, a hypothetical architect’s plan of a house, which plan not only contains the information on how to build the house, but which can, when thrown into the garden, build entirely of its own initiative the house all on its own without the need for contractors or any other outside building agents.... Thus, it is fair to say that the technology exhibited by the genetic code is orders of magnitude higher than any technology man has, until now, developed. What is its secret? The secret lies in its ability to store and to execute incredible magnitudes of conceptual information in the ultimate molecular miniaturization of the information storage and retrieval system of the nucleotides and their sequences (1987, p. 73, emp. in orig.).

This “ability to store and to execute incredible magnitudes of conceptual information” is where DNA comes into play. In their book, The Mystery of Life’s Origin, Thaxton, Bradley, and Olsen discussed the DNA-based genetic code elucidated by Crick and Watson.

According to their now-famous model, hereditary information is transmitted from one generation to the next by means of a simple code resident in the specific sequence of certain constituents of the DNA molecule.... The breakthrough by Crick and Watson was their discovery of the specific key to life’s diversity. It was the extraordinarily complex yet orderly architecture of the DNA molecule. They had discovered that there is in fact a code inscribed in this “coil of life,” bringing a major advance in our understanding of life’s remarkable structure (1984, p. 1).

How important is the “coil of life” represented in the DNA molecule? Wilder-Smith concluded: “The information stored on the DNA-molecule is that which controls totally, as far as we at present know, by its interaction with its environment, the development of all biological organisms” (1987, p. 73). Professor E.H. Andrews summarized how this can be true:

The way the DNA code works is this. The DNA molecule is like a template or pattern for the making of other molecules called “proteins.” ...These proteins then control the growth and activity of the cell which, in turn, controls the growth and activity of the whole organism (1978, p. 28).

Thus, the DNA contains the information that allows proteins to be manufactured, and the proteins control cell growth and function, which ultimately are responsible for each organism. The genetic code, as found within the DNA molecule, is vital to life as we know it. In his book, Let Us Make Man, Bruce Anderson referred to it as “the chief executive of the cell in which it resides, giving chemical commands to control everything that keeps the cell alive and functioning” (1980, p. 50). Kautz followed this same line of thinking when he stated:

The information in DNA is sufficient for directing and controlling all the processes which transpire within a cell including diagnosing, repairing, and replicating the cell. Think of an architectural blueprint having the capacity of actually building the structure depicted on the blueprint, of maintaining that structure in good repair, and even replicating it (1988, p. 44).

Likely, many people have not considered the exact terminology with which the genetic code is described in the scientific literature. Lester and Bohlin observed:

The DNA in living cells contains coded information. It is not surprising that so many of the terms used in describing DNA and its functions are language terms. We speak of the genetic code. DNA is transcribed into RNA. RNA is translated into protein.... Such designations are not simply convenient or just anthropomorphisms. They accurately describe the situation (1984, pp. 85-86, emp. in orig.).

Kautz thus concluded:

The information in the DNA molecule had to have been imposed upon it by some outside source just as music is imposed on a cassette tape. The information in DNA is presented in coded form as explained previously, and codes are not known to arise spontaneously.... Further, consider that human beings have learned to store information on clay tablets, stone, papyrus, paper, film, magnetic media such as audio and video cassettes, microchips, etc. Yet human technology has not yet advanced to the point of storing information chemically as it is in the DNA molecule (1988, pp. 44,45, emp. in orig.).

How, then, did this complex chemical code arise? What “outside source” imposed the information on the DNA molecule? And where does the Human Genome Project fit into all of this?

[to be continued]

REFERENCES

Anderson, Bruce L. (1980), Let Us Make Man (Plainfield, NJ: Logos International).

Andrews, E.H. (1978), From Nothing to Nature (Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England: Evangelical Press).

Asimov, Isaac (1972), Isaac Asimov’s Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (New York: Avon).

Avery, O.T., C.M. MacLeod, and M. McCarty (1944), “Studies on the Chemical Nature of the Substance Inducing Transformation of Pneumococcal Types,” Journal of Experimental Medicine, 79:137-158.

Behe, Michael J. (1998), “Intelligent Design Theory as a Tool for Analyzing Biochemical Systems,” Mere Creation, ed. William A. Dembski (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press).

Bishop, Jerry E. and Michael Waldholz (1999), Genome: The Story of the Most Astonishing Scientific Adventure of Our Time—The Attempt to Map All the Genes in the Human Body (Lincoln, NE: toExcel Publishers).

Brown, Kathryn (2000), “The Human Genome Business Today,” Scientific American, 283[1]:50-55, July.

Cairns-Smith, A.G. (1985), Seven Clues to the Origin of Life (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press).

Considine, Douglas M. (1976), Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold), fifth edition.

Dawkins, Richard (1986), The Blind Watchmaker (New York: W.W. Norton).

Fischer, Joannie Schrof (2000), “We’ve Only Just Begun,” U.S. News & World Report, 129[1]:47, July 3.

Ford, E.B. (1979), Understanding Genetics (New York: Pica Press).

Gergen, David (2000), “Collaboration? Very Cool,” U.S. News & World Report, 129[2]:64, July 10.

Gitt, Werner (1997), In the Beginning Was Information (Bielefeld, Germany: Christliche Literatur-Verbreitung).

Golden, Frederic and Michael D. Lemonick (2000), “The Race Is Over,” Time, 156[1]:19-23, July 3.

Gould, Stephen J. (1980), “Dr. Down’s Syndrome,” The Panda’s Thumb (New York: W.W. Norton), pp. 160-176.

Gribbin, John (1981), Genesis: The Origins of Man and the Universe (New York: Delacorte).

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Hayden, Thomas (2000), “A Genome Milestone,” Newsweek, 136[1]:51, July 3.

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Office of Technology Policy—The White House (2000) Remarks by the President—The Entire Human Genome Project, [On-line], http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/OSTP/html/00628_2.html.

Ridley, Matt (1999), Genome: Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters (New York: HarperCollins).

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Spetner, Lee M. (1997), Not By Chance (Brooklyn, NY: Judaica Press).

von Mises, Richard (1968), Positivism (New York: Dover).

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Hate Crimes, Homosexuality, and Preaching the Gospel by Kyle Butt, M.Div.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=1055

Hate Crimes, Homosexuality, and Preaching the Gospel

by	Kyle Butt, M.Div.

In Acts 7, Stephen informed the Jewish leaders of his day that they had killed the Son of God and resisted the Holy Spirit. Stephen’s audience became so infuriated at his preaching that “they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him” (Acts 7:57-58). They simply did not want to listen to what God had to say to them. They wanted God’s mouthpiece silenced.

From the beginning of time, the devil has attempted to silence the Word of God, and dissuade those who hear that Word to ignore the import and moral consequence of it. In today’s society, Satan has continued his attack on God’s divine Word and His righteous requirement for human morality. Of late, it has become increasingly popular for the officials of governments all over the world, including the United States, to support the homosexual lifestyle and to enact legislation to that effect. Despite the facts that homosexuality is not a genetic condition (see Harrub, et al., 2004), and that it is a sinful practice condemned in the Bible as such (see Butt, 2003; Miller, et al., 2004), homosexuality is being lauded as an alternate lifestyle that should enjoy the same privileges as other “inescapable” personal traits such as ethnicity and gender.

In fact, in the past few years several nations and states in the United States have passed laws that, in essence, make it a “hate crime” to preach what the Bible says about homosexuality. For instance, in 2003, Ake Green, a Swedish Pentecostal preacher delivered a sermon in which he stated that homosexuality is “abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society.” He went on to describe homosexuals as “perverts, whose sexual drive the Devil has used as his strongest weapon against God” (as quoted in Robinson, 2004). Because of these comments, he was arrested, charged with inciting hatred against homosexuals, and sentenced to serve 30 days in prison.

On April 29, 2004, Canada adopted a bill similar to the one established by Sweden, in which speech against homosexual behavior was added to the list of hate crimes (Robinson, 2004). Sadly, the United States has begun to “follow suit” by adopting comparable legislation in certain states. On December 3, 2003, Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schwiker signed a bill that included homosexuality as a sanctioned lifestyle protected from “hate crimes” (crimes that could technically include preaching from the pulpit against the practice). The Gertrude Stein Club (a non-profit, pro-homosexual group) labeled the bill as “the first piece of pro-gay legislation to become law in Pennsylvania.” In the same article, the club mentioned that 27 other states and the District of Columbia have laws that protect homosexuals against “hate crimes” (“LGBTVictory”). While preachers are assured that these bills were not passed to stifle their freedom of speech, the implications and technical reading of the bills provide for the prosecution of preachers who teach publicly God’s Word concerning the sin of homosexuality. The Swedish trial of Ake Green testifies to that.

Will the New Testament Christians in our nation sit by idly while laws are passed that protect the sin of homosexuality from public condemnation? The great statesman Edmund Burke well said, “All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.” It is high time that we “preach from the housetops” God’s saving message of Christ, and His condemnation of sins such as homosexuality. Today we are free to do that; if we do not seize the day, tomorrow we might be convicted of a “hate crime” for telling a lost world what God requires of them.

REFERENCES

Butt, Kyle (2003), “Homosexuality—Sin, or a Cultural Bad Habit,” [On-line], URL: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2291.

Harrub, Brad and Dave Miller (2004), “ ‘This is the Way God Made Me’—A Scientific Examination of Homosexuality and the Gay Gene,” [On-line], URL: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2553.

Miller, Dave and Brad Harrub (2004), “An Investigation of the Biblical Evidence Against Homosexuality,” [On-line], URL: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/2577.

“LGBT Victory! PA Hate Crime Bill Signed by Governor” (2003), [On-line], URL: http://www.gertrudesteinclub.org/news.htm.

Robinson, B.A. (2004), “Canadian Hate Speech—Sven Robinson’s Private Member’s Bill C-250,” [On-line], URL: http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_hat6.htm.

Does the Holy Spirit Know When Jesus Will Return? by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=1650&b=Matthew

Does the Holy Spirit Know When Jesus Will Return?

by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

One question that various individuals have submitted to Apologetics Press in recent years involves the Second Coming of Christ and the omniscience of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4) and thus omniscient (Psalm 139), why did Jesus say about His return, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32, emp. added)? Why would the “Father alone” (Matthew 24:36, NASB) be aware of the time of Jesus’ Second Coming? Does this awareness exclude the Holy Spirit?

When Jesus came to Earth in the flesh, He willingly “made Himself of no reputation” (Philippians 2:7; He “emptied Himself”—NASB). He moved from the spiritual realm to put on flesh (John 1:14) and voluntarily became subject to such burdens as hunger, thirst, weariness, and pain. Our omnipotent, omniscient, holy God chose to come into this world as a helpless babe Who, for the first time in His eternal existence, “increased in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). While on Earth in the flesh, Jesus was voluntarily in a subordinate position to the Father (cf. Jackson, 1995).

It has been suggested that, similar to how Jesus chose not to know certain information while on Earth, including the date of His return, perhaps the Holy Spirit also willingly restricted Himself to some degree during the first century (see Holding, 2012). Perhaps the special role of the Holy Spirit in the first century in regards to spiritual and miraculous gifts (Acts 2:38; 1 Corinthians 12:7), special revelation (John 14:26; 16:13), divine inspiration (2 Timothy 3:16), intercession (Romans 8:26), etc., is somewhat similar to the role that Christ played. That is, could it be that both God the Son and God the Spirit voluntarily restricted their knowledge on Earth in the first century? And thus, could that be why Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32, emp. added)? Considering that a number of Christians and scholars believe that even God the Father may freely choose to limit His own knowledge of certain things (cf. Brents, 1874, pp. 74-87; Camp, n.d.), many would likely explain Mark 13:32 and Matthew 24:36 by contending that the Holy Spirit freely limited His knowledge for a time regarding Christ’s return.

Given especially the indisputable fact that the Son of God voluntarily chose not to know certain things for a time, it may be possible that the Holy Spirit could choose the same. However, the Holy Spirit Himself revealed through the apostle Paul that He, the Spirit, “searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). Furthermore, there are no explicit statements in Scripture about the Holy Spirit’s willful unawareness of certain things as there are about Jesus (Mark 13:32; cf. Luke 2:52). All one can cite is Jesus’ statement about “only the Father” knowing the date of the Son’s return and conclude that this declaration implies the Spirit of God was unaware of that day. What’s more, in context, Jesus placed much more emphasis on the words “no one knows” than the qualifying statements “not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son.” Jesus wanted His hearers to understand that just as those in Noah’s day “did not know” the day of the Flood (Matthew 24:39, emp. added) and just as the servants in the parable of the servants “do not know when the master of the house is coming” (Mark 13:35, emp. added; Matthew 24:50), so “you do not know what hour the Lord is coming” (Matthew 24:42, emp. added; Mark 13:33). Thus, Jesus taught the all-important central message in these chapters of “watching” and being “ready” for the unknown time of Christ’s return (Matthew 24:36-25:46; Mark 13:32-37). Even though we may learn something of the Messiah’s voluntary, self-imposed emptying of some of His omniscience (Mark 13:32), Jesus’ “purpose was not to define the limits of his theological knowledge, but to indicate that vigilance, not calculation, is required” (Lane, 1974, p. 482)—a lesson that all “end-of-time” false prophets need to learn.

Rather than quickly dismiss the omniscience of the Holy Spirit during a particular period of time in human history, a better explanation exists: expressions such as “no one,” “only,” “except,” “all,” etc. are oftentimes used in a limited sense. Consider what Paul revealed in Romans 3: “Jews and Greeks…are all under sin. As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one…. They have all turned aside… there is none who does good, no, not one” (vss. 9,10,12, emp. added). In this passage, Paul was stressing the fact that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), but he was using these inclusive and exclusive terms (e.g., “all,” “none”) in a somewhat limited sense. Paul was obviously not including Jesus in this passage, as elsewhere he wrote that Jesus “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21; cf. Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 1:19). Neither was he including infants (see Butt, 2003), the mentally challenged, or angels. Who then has sinned? All humans of an accountable mind and age (see Miller, 2003), with the obvious exception being the sinless Son of God.

In John 17:3, Jesus prayed to the Father, saying, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3, emp. added). Are we to believe, as some do (cf. “Is There Only…?” 2009), that Jesus was implying neither He nor the Holy Spirit is divine? Not at all. Rather, when the Bible reveals that there is only one God, one Savior, one Lord, one Creator (Isaiah 44:24; John 1:3), etc., reason and revelation demand that we understand the inspired writers to be excluding everyone and everything—other than the members of the Godhead (see Lyons, 2008). Throughout the Gospel of John, the writer repeatedly referred to Jesus’ deity (1:1,3,23; 4:25; 9:38; 10:30-33; 20:28)—Jesus most certainly was not denying it in John 17:3. Unless the biblical text specifically mentions what a member of the Godhead does not know or do, we should be careful alleging ignorance, limited power, etc.

In Matthew 11:27, Jesus stated: “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (emp. added). Are we to believe that the Spirit of God does not fully comprehend the Son of God or God the Father? After all, Jesus said, “[N]o one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son.” Once again, the terms “no one,” “anyone,” and “except” must be understood in a limited sense. Jesus was in no way suggesting that the Spirit of God, Who “searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:10), does not fully understand the Father as Jesus does. The Son of God was revealing that aside from the “one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27), “no man or angel clearly and fully comprehends the character of the infinite God…. None but God fully knows Him” (Barnes, 1997, emp. in orig.). Once again, Jesus was alluding to His deity. Mere humans cannot truthfully speak in this manner. “The full comprehension and acknowledgment of the Godhead, and the mystery of the Trinity, belong to God alone” (Clarke, 1996). Jesus was and is God. We should no more exclude the Holy Spirit from Jesus’ statement about Himself and God the Father in Matthew 11:27 than we should exclude the Father or the Son from Paul’s statement about the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2:10-11.

CONCLUSION

It is unnecessary to conclude that the Holy Spirit must at one time have given up some of His omniscience because Jesus stated of His return. “[N]o one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” In light of the way in which God and the Bible writers oftentimes used exclusive terms in limited senses, especially as those terms relate to the Godhead, it cannot be proven that Jesus was excluding the Spirit of God in this statement. If we should not exclude Jesus and the Holy Spirit from the God that Jesus praised in John 17:3, and we should not exclude the Holy Spirit from the Divine that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 11:27, it seems entirely unnecessary to infer that in Mark 13:32 and Matthew 24:36 Christ was implying that the Holy Spirit was unaware of the day of His return.

REFERENCES

Barnes, Albert (1997), Barnes’ Notes (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).

Brents, T.W. (1874), The Gospel Plan of Salvation (Bowling Green, KY: Guardian of Truth Foundation, 1987 reprint).

Butt, Kyle (2003), “Do Babies Go to Hell When They Die?” Apologetics Press, http://www.apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=13&article=1201.

Camp, Franklin (no date) “1 Peter 1:1-2,” Redemption Through the Bible (Adamsville, AL: Brother’s).

Clarke, Adam (1996), Adam Clarke’s Commentary (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).

Holding, James (2012), “Mark 13:32 and the Holy Spirit,” Tekton, http://www.tektonics.org/lp/mk1332.html.

“Is There Only One True God?” (2009), Jehovah’s Witnesses Official Web Site, http://www.watchtower.org/e/200602b/article_01.htm.

Jackson, Wayne (1995), “Did Jesus Exist in the Form of God While on Earth?” Reason & Revelation, 15[3]:21-22, March, http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=354.

Lane, William (1974), The Gospel of Mark (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).

Lyons, Eric (2008), “The Only True God,” Apologetics Press, http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=983#.

Miller, Dave (2003), “The Age of Accountability,” Apologetics Press, http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1202.

Is there no hope? by Roy Davison

http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/022-hope.html

Is there no hope?

Solomon, who was rich, powerful and wise, understood that there is no hope in things of this world: “For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow, and without hope” (1 Chronicles 19:15).
After experiencing all worldly advantages, he concludes: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
There are beautiful aspects of life, but life is so fleeting. As Job says: “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope” (Job 7:6).
When Job said this, he had lost everything.
Job had been the richest man in the East (Job 1:3). He had more than ten thousand animals: sheep, camels, oxen and donkeys. On one day he lost them all by fire and raiders, and most of his servants were murdered (Job 1:13-17).
What can be more devastating than the loss of a child? That same day, Job’s seven sons and three daughters were killed by a powerful wind that caused the house where they were to collapse (Job 1:19).
Then, after a while, Job’s whole body was covered with painful boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head (Job 2:7).
The one person who, come what may, should have comforted him, his wife, said to him: “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9).
He was visited by three friends who claimed that these calamities were punishment from God because of hidden sin.
What prospects did Job have? Little wonder that he said: “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished, the grave is ready for me. ... Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it?” (Job 17:1, 15).
What kind of man was Job? Were his so-called friends right when they claimed that he was being punished by God?
No, Job was an upright man. God Himself had testified, “there is none like him on the earth, a blameless man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). The suffering of Job was not a punishment from God but an attack by Satan.
God allowed Job to be purified by suffering, as silver is purged in the fire (compare with Proverbs 17:3 and Isaiah 48:10).
Desiring to know why God allowed him to suffer, Job felt the need for a mediator: “For He is not a man, as I am, that I may answer Him, and that we should go to court together. Nor is there any mediator between us, who may lay his hand on us both” (Job 9:32, 33).
Even though his situation was hopeless, Job entrusted his soul to God who was his only hope.
The light of revelation breaks through dimly at first in the form of a question, and finally shines forth as a mighty declaration of faith.
First the question: “If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, till my change comes. You shall call, and I will answer You; You shall desire the work of Your hands” (Job 14:14, 15).
Then the declaration of faith: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27).
Through this ordeal Job gained insight and a better understanding of God: “I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.” ... “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You” (Job 42:2, 5).
Right before Job proclaimed his faith in his Redeemer, he said: “Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! That they were engraved on a rock with an iron pen and lead, forever” (Job 19:23, 24).
They were written, they were inscribed in a book, countless copies have been reproduced by printing presses, and now his words can be read by millions in the whole world via the Internet.
The faith and perseverance of Job have encouraged countless people through the ages.
Job knew that his Redeemer lives. We also know that man’s Redeemer lives because some 2000 years later, and some 2000 years before our time, the Savior and Mediator for whom Job longed, came from the loving Father to give hope to the hopeless.
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 4:11-14).
Yes, in Christ there is hope.
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:1-5).
Because our Redeemer lives forevermore, we have hope even in suffering. He suffered for us, so we are willing to suffer for Him.
Job was a type of the suffering servant of God, the Christ, of whom we read: “Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
“For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:"Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness -- by whose stripes you were healed” (1 Peter 2:21-24). 
Paul wrote: “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:24-27).
Getting-old does not cause us to lose our hope. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).
Even death does not extinguish our hope. “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:13, 14).

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). Amen.

Roy Davison

The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982, Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers.
Permission for reference use has been granted.

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

Transition to and from holiday by Gary Rose

Very nice poem, with appropriate Scriptures. Worth the time to reflect upon! For me this poem is all about transition; from the now to the forever now! In light of these things, I thought it might enhance an understanding of the poem to list its referenced Scriptures and the last two chapters of the book of Revelation... 

Psalm 90, (WEB)

 ² Before the mountains were born, 
before you had formed the earth and the world, 
even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.  

John, Chapter 1 (WEB)

²⁹ The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  

Romans, Chapter 6 (WEB)

²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Hebrews, Chapter 5 (WEB)

⁹ Having been made perfect, he became to all of those who obey him the author of eternal salvation,

Revelation, Chapter 21 (WEB)

  ¹ I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. ² I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.  ³ I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.” 

  ⁵ He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”   ⁶ He said to me, “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.   ⁷ He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.   ⁸  But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers,  idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” 

  ⁹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb’s bride.”  ¹⁰ He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,  ¹¹ having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal;  ¹² having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.  ¹³ On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.  ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.  ¹⁵ He who spoke with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, its gates, and its walls.  ¹⁶ The city is square, and its length is as great as its width. He measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand twelve stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal.  ¹⁷ Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.  ¹⁸ The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city’s wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;  ²⁰ the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; and the twelfth, amethyst.  ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.  ²² I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. ²³ The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴ The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.  ²⁵ Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there),  ²⁶ and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter.  ²⁷ There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.  

Revelation, Chapter 22 (WEB)

  ¹ He showed me a  river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,  ² in the middle of its street. On this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.  ³ There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will serve him.  ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.  ⁵ There will be no night, and they need no lamp light or sun light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever. 

  ⁶ He said to me, “These words are faithful and true. The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show to his bondservants the things which must happen soon.” 

  ⁷  “Behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” 

  ⁸ Now I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who had shown me these things.  ⁹ He said to me, “See you don’t do it! I am a fellow bondservant with you and with your brothers, the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”  ¹⁰ He said to me, “Don’t seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.  ¹¹ He who acts unjustly, let him act unjustly still. He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him do righteousness still. He who is holy, let him be holy still.” 

  ¹²  “Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to repay to each man according to his work.   ¹³  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.  ¹⁴  Blessed are those who do his commandments,  that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.   ¹⁵  Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.   ¹⁶  I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” 

  ¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.  ¹⁸ I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, may God add to him the plagues which are written in this book.  ¹⁹ If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, may God take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book.  ²⁰ He who testifies these things says, “Yes, I come quickly.” 

Amen! Yes, come, Lord Jesus. 
  ²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints. Amen.  

I know this is a great deal of reading for a brief blog post, but it is worth it!!! Jesus has won, the victory is complete and I believe those of us who follow Jesus will see these things.

And so the transition from an earthly holiday season to a heavenly holiday life has begun!!!! Just think on that for awhile--- WOW!!!!!!