And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1:16, 17 NKJV
In my last two blogs, I focused on the Law – its origin and characteristics. We saw that the Law can be summed up in two primary commandments:
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Matt 22:37-40 NKJV
We discussed the concept of “good”, and found that good can be defined as God’s creation, operating as He originally intended. Let’s contemplate that for a moment. God’s creation operating as He originally intended it. So if Adam had followed God’s one rule, and never eaten the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, all would have continued as good forever. Interesting concept, but obviously not current reality. Adam did indeed sin by breaking that one and only command. And by doing this, he sentenced humanity to a cruel and difficult history throughout the generations. So then – since Adam sinned, two thoughts must examined:
- Creation is obviously not operating as God originally intended.
- And if this is not how God intended creation to operate, has “good” vanished?
Let’s start with Creation. Since Adam fell, and doomed creation, it must be operating outside the original intention of God. Or is it? If God set creation in motion, and designed it to work perfectly in the presence of pure human obedience, then it stands to reason that Adam upset the perfect balance that God created, and shifted creation out of God’s original intention. But before we buy into this thought process, let’s examine the concept of “design”.
Things operate as designed. If designed well, they operate correctly. If designed poorly, then poor performance follows. So when a design operates in a way that differs from the intent of the designer, one of two things has occurred: either the designer has made a mistake in the design, or something has happened to alter the original design – something out of the control of the designer. In either case, a skillful designer would be somewhat surprised by the outcome. So the obvious question: was God surprised that Adam sinned?
More importantly, is God surprised by anything? Well, this is a critical question, and one which really gets to the heart of who GOD is, and what He is capable of. Is it possible to surprise God? Let’s examine some scriptures…
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.
Ps 147:5 NKJV
Known to God from eternity are all His works.
Acts 15:18 NKJV
And:
“Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
‘I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God. And who can proclaim as I do? Then let him declare it and set it in order for Me, since I appointed the ancient people. And the things that are coming and shall come, let them show these to them. Do not fear, nor be afraid; have I not told you from that time, and declared it? You are My witnesses.
Is there a God besides Me? Indeed there is no other Rock; I know not one.'”
Isa 44:6-8 NKJV
These are only three of many passages that declare the perfect and eternal understanding of God. This is a characteristic referred to as “omniscience”. “Omni” means “All”, and “scientia” means “knowledge”. So omniscience means “all knowing”. The Creator is an “all-knowing” God. And importantly, this characteristic is eternal. In other words, God not only knows everything now, but He will know everything tomorrow, and He knew everything yesterday. In fact, He knew everything on the day of creation. He knew how each and every plant was going to grow. He knew where each animal was going to walk. And He knew that Adam was going to eat of the tree of Good and Evil.
So if God had knowledge of Adam’s impending sin on the day of creation, He must have had that same knowledge BEFORE the creation.
Let my readers understand the importance of this statement… God KNEW that Adam was going to sin before He created Adam. As the perfect designer, God was not surprised with the performance of His creation. So if He was not surprised that Adam sinned, then Adam sinned – per plan, and by design! Please note – I did not say nor insinuate that God made Adam sin; no, that was Adam’s decision. But that he sinned was part of God’s plan!
Before we go any further, it’s important to confront a paradox that has existed as long as the Christian church has been in existence – the paradox that: 1) God is glorified by our unrighteousness, 2) He has, in a sense, facilitated our unrighteousness, and 3) yet we are judged for that same unrighteousness. To our mortal, fallen minds, this seems to be incredibly unfair. But let’s dig into this a little bit. First, Paul nips this thought in the bud with his letter to the Romans:
… if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?
Rom 3:5-6 NKJV
So from a Biblical perspective, God is clearly right and just in His judgment of sin. This would be enough to put an end to the question. But God has given us a much more personal reason to put this paradox to rest. Simply put, He gave us an out.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
John 3:16-17 NKJV
God is certainly just in passing judgment on sin and those that commit sin, but the truth is that none need face that judgment because God has paid the penalty for that sin through the death of our Lord on the cross. Now let’s get back to the subject of “good” and God’s perfect plan.
The question on the table is: “Since Adam sinned, and creation was thrust into judgment, is creation operating as God intended?” We have seen that God was not surprised that Adam sinned, and that Adam’s sin must have been part of God’s perfect plan. But Adam’s sin was not good – it was, well, sin. And by definition, sin is evil. And this explains Adam’s response to his own sin, even prior to being confronted by God. Having eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he knew that what he had done was evil, and immediately chose to hide from the face of God.
And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Gen 3:8 NKJV
So the action was not good. Yet it was in God’s plan. How, then, can God’s plan be good when it includes evil? Because God uses evil for His purposes – that is, for good. Moving back to Paul’s letter to the Romans:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Rom 8:28 NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
Many of my readers are probably familiar with this passage. But how many have really meditated on this incredible passage? Not only has “good” not vanished, it has been greatly magnified. Notice the word ALL. This does not just include the positive things in life, it includes ALL things. Including the pain and difficulty in our lives. Including the evil things that happened throughout history. Including Adam’s sin and the fall of mankind. But that makes no sense – Adam’s sin and the fall of mankind work for good? Paul actually touches on this idea earlier in this letter. Let’s take a look:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Rom 8:18-22 NKJV
Notice that Paul describes creation as being subjected to futility not willingly, but “because of Him who subjected it”! And who could possibly subject creation to futility other than the Creator Himself? So God subjected creation to futility. But why would this work for good? Because at the end of the story, creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into liberty. It will ultimately return to God’s desired order. And this is good. Very good! But Paul does not stop there – let’s continue with his letter…
Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Rom 8:23-25 NKJV
So not only does creation look forward to its restoration, so too do we as firstfruits of the Spirit! (We will examine the concept of firstfruits in our next blog…) We were saved in the hope of the redemption of our bodies. And this is called Grace. Grace can be defined as fallen man receiving redemption and riches from God through no effort of his own. And this Grace was part of God’s original plan. In fact, God did not only plan on “Grace” as an overarching concept, He personalized it! Back to Paul’s letter, continuing from Romans 8:28…
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
Rom 8:29-30 NKJV (italics added for emphasis)
I find it very meaningful that Paul does not say “For those He foreknew”; instead, he says “For whom…”. Why? Because I see myself, personally, as a “whom”! This means that God foreknew me. Before when? Before the beginning of time. This follows from God’s omniscience. But He did not just “foreknow” me. He predestined me. To what? To be called. Called to what? To justification (that is, not held accountable for my sins). So if we love God and are called according to His purposes, then we were foreknown and predestined to be called to justification and ultimate glorification. What an Amazing Grace! And this grace is described way back at the beginning – right after the fall. Let’s look at it:
So the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Gen 3:14-15 NKJV
This is the unveiling of Grace. Immediately after the fall. God was not caught unaware by Adam’s sin. He planned for it. He planned by preparing a way of salvation – a way of justification – a way of sanctification and ultimately glorification through Grace – Grace through Jesus Christ, the “Seed of the woman”. Selah.
In my next blog, we will examine the immediate result of God’s introduction of the Law, and those of His initial outpour of Grace. And we will see how these relate to “firstfruits”.
May the Lord richly bless your study of the sacred scriptures!
YouJi
You are teaching me the bible in a whole new way!
Great to see you blogging!
Thank you my friend! Glad to be back!