In our humanity, we are wired
with many questions of who we are and what this life is all about. And
even so when we come to faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we still
are hard pressed to find the answers to the same questions. We read the pages
of the Bible and read of all the wonders and amazing stories of faith and great
triumphs, yet we compare it to our current lives and we seem to notice a big
difference. I was one who had a hard time
understanding how a pre-existant, self-existant, all knowing, all powerful,
omni-present, and loving God would have me on this earth to just pass the time!
I never quite understood how such an amazing God could create me with so much
intimacy and just place me here on earth to do some good work just to rescue me
in the end from the very thing that he is sending me to do!! Seriously, have
you thought about that?! Why would the Lord fill
the Bible up to drip such amazing hope and love just to take all the Christians
away? What does that prove?! How can something with so much freedom be
limited as we tend to believe we are?
The Bible says that we are
the apex of His genius. What makes us so different than all other
creation is that God created us with something to live for. Adam was given a mandate…a responsibility…and that
responsibility means there is something to do…and that “something to do” is a
purpose filled life. You see angels were created to worship in the
Heavenly places, animals were created to roam the earth, and Adam (man) was
created to subdue all creation and have dominion over it all. Unlike angels,
man had a choice…free will! That choice was simple; walk with God or walk away
from God.
In Eden, it was perfect, every single thing.
Adam walked with God in all His goodness. Everything that was there was FOR
Adam! God wanted to share it…with Adam! He never created it for any other
reason than to share it. If we were created with no choice, no free will,
nothing would be rewarding for God. Nothing would choose Him. His loving heart
for relationship would be very unsatisfied! So that “everything” was the
greatest gift Adam could possibly receive. There was never anything he could do
to earn it. It wasn’t a reward fro his hard
work…it was an inheritance! Be fruitful and multiply is what the Lord
said for Adam to do. Have it all!
But then the greatest tragedy
happened…at least that’s what I’ve been told all these years! Eve ate of
the fruit of the tree, the only thing that was forbidden in all creation. Adam
just stood by and watched, silently, being deceived by the one who would steal
the inheritance that was clearly Adam’s.
We often look at the
Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as this thing that God was selfishly holding
back for himself. But hold on, let’s take a closer look at it…
God created everything in the earth and called it GOOD,
right? If everything He had made was good, then there was nothing bad, or
‘evil’. And if there was nothing evil in the earth, then there would be nothing
to separate Adam from God and ultimately nothing to prove the FREE WILL! The Tree was placed in the garden as the SIGN of the
FREE WILL! If there was no option to choose, Adam would be nothing
greater than the animals that roamed the earth.
And so, back to the ‘fall’…Adam’s in quite the predicament
now. The intimacy of Eden gone, the Inheritance lost and a life to
live still as the apex and pinnacle point of God’s beautiful creation. Is
the plot lost?! Is there a point to life now?! Satan (who rebelled against God
and was able to convince 1/3 of the angels to join him) thought he had thwarted
God’s plan. We so often mis-interpret
this part of the story because we think this grand battle is between good and
evil, between God and Satan. Well, that
doesn’t make any sense when you look at the fact that God CREATED satan.
Satan was an angel, God can smite Satan anytime he wants to. Why do we think
Satan has all of this power when he clearly doesn’t?! The battle is between man
and Satan…Satan was able to deceive Eve and Adam out of their inheritance. He
had control of this earth. Genesis 3:14-15 says that Satan is cursed and that
there will be enmity between him and the man (woman in context). God put that enmity there, not satan, HA!!
And so, with the plot lost and Satan laughing at his
victory, God says to hold on a minute…”look
down the line of history a bit…I have a second Adam”…and His name is CHRIST!! That’s right, God had a plan. Not a back-up plan, but
THE PLAN still in motion! Incredible stuff, eh? Now how do we know this?
Because God prophesies it in verse 15 (Genesis) when he says that the serpant
(satan) will bruise his head, and the woman (Christ) will bruise his heel. Now, that’s victory! The lost restored!
So then, what does this have
to do with me today?! Well, as Christ went to the grave (after Satan
thought he had a second victory), he resurrected and conquered death! That
prophesy fulfilled, Christ defeated Satan. Christ brought LIFE to this world.
He created a way for us to be restored. Christ took all the sin of each and
every person in the world upon himself and was that sacrifice to atone for all
that has separated us from God. The LIFE that was won is all that is needed to
walk a free life from death. In Christ (belief in him as that sacrifice for us)
we share in that victory! The inheritance is
restored through Jesus Christ. There is nothing we could possibly have
done then or do now. That original charge of dominion over the earth is up to
us now to grab it. Christ did what no human could do! In this kingdom, the Kingdom
of God, we have the
responsibility back to take this inheritance. We have no excuses now. There is NOTHING separating you from God and
grabbing his blessed inheritance except for you not taking it!! Just to give
you an idea of this inheritance…it’s 7 BILLION!! That’s right, 7 billion hearts
and lives for you to gain, the nations!
So, what is God’s
point in all of this?! He’s looking for a partner! He’s looking for someone to
love, and bless! His greatest expression of that is to share His inheritance
with us! He wants us to live in Eden,
without having to do anything to deserve it. He wants His bride (the church) to
partner with Him (Christ)! So let’s go claim our inheritance, shall we!!
Always remember, if there was no need for salvation,
there would be no need for a savior! What a blessed LOVE story we find
ourselves wrapped up in! All we have to
do is show up!!
