The Pathway of Adam vs. the Pathway of Christ

There was a pathway I was on for many years. It was a pathway with many bright lights and beautiful things. So much technology and media, so many songs, and movies and events, giant arenas and commercials and billions of dollars in industry.

I walked that path day by day, it was at times beautiful, at times vicious and vulgar. I was swept along by that path. I was controlled by it and consumed by it.

Every once in a while there would be a slight twinkle of something else. An old church building that I walked by. Some random mention of God or the Bible. A little card in my Halloween candy.

But, it was hard to notice. South Park, Beavis and butthead, Michael Jackson, Nickelodeon, Backstreet boys, Puff Daddy, Dave Chapelle, new age mysticism, SNL, weed, pills, Foo Fighter concert, Jay Leno, Korn music video, Star Wars, I built my life around these exciting things in media.

I mocked the old faith I was brought up in, the Catholic mass, the old dry religion, the old myths of the past.



I was on the pathway of destruction. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was.

Yet something inside me that was once so entertained with this whole world, began to feel increasingly empty. As I sat for hours playing videogames and watching videos, I felt sad. I longed for meaning. I longed for something more.

And step by step, my life began to fall apart. The debauchery made me feel gross. The drugs and drink made me feel trapped. The sin life was so very cold. And I felt dissatisfied and angry. Oddly angry. I felt I had been tricked. Deceived.

Little did I know, I was living out a scripture from the word of God, from Romans chapter 5.

It says this, “12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”

I was walking in the pathway of Adam, the pathway of rebellion against God. And it was leading toward disaster. Not only that, the entire world system was built around the pathway of Adam. So it naturally drew me in.

I live in Chicago, and I’ve been making the drive back and forth from Chicago, IL to Gary, IN. Every day I drive past a beautiful church called Progressive Baptist church, a powerful and effective ministry from what I can tell. Seated in a key position, biblical and bold.

Yet towering next to it is the 137 million dollar facility called Guaranteed Rate field where the White Sox play.

That I think exemplifies our situation in the world. The church, the body of Jesus Christ has a powerful voice in the world, yet compared to the thundering lights and billion dollar entities among us, from baseball teams to billionaires to mega corporations, the voice of the church is one voice among many competing voices.

Why is that? It’s because of the pathway of Adam. The pathway of Adam is sin, it’s the default setting for planet Earth.

Any change that is affected to that pathway comes at great effort and cost to many. Have you ever seen the movie The Matrix? In that movie, it took great effort to bring one person out of the matrix and into the real world. Similarly, the entire system is set to keep people lost until they die. When anything other than that happens, it's a miracle of God, and it takes great effort to manifest.

It takes dozens of Christians praying, evangelizing, teaching, and discipling, just for one person to be born again, saved, and sanctified. 

A person who desires to escape the pathway of Adam must be born again. They must leave behind their old life and embrace an entirely new life.

As it says in Romans 5:13-14: “Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law to break. Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come.”

There’s this great illustration of two pathways. It was making the rounds on social media I’d say about a year ago, you can see it above, but it always stuck with me. We get so swept up by this world. And it pulls us along. Little do we realize, we’re being manipulated and pushed down a pathway that is wrong.

As the scripture says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverb 14:12).

That is so true. We are so sure our way is right, but it isn’t. It seems so right. The lights are so bright. The structures so refined. The tower so high. Yet, it’s pathway leads to destruction.

I think we start to realize that, as we see demons in music videos, mockeries of Christ in the Olympics, bizarre displays at the Gotthard tunnel opening ceremony, demonic imagery in movies, and we start to realize, something is wrong here. Modernism isn't just shiny skyscrapers, advanced medical tech, and convenient consumerism, simmering just beneath the surface is a malevolence that is supernatural in nature. 

A good friend of my dad, named Pauli, he had gotten deep into the death metal scene, and he was on a crew for a major musician. They were at a show in the sound booth, and he realized, they were worshipping Satan. And he turned to another guy there and said, "Hey, we can’t be worshipping Satan.” The guy replied, “Hey man, what’s wrong with worshipping Satan?”

At that moment he realized, he was on the wrong path. He began to seek after God. I randomly met him at a bible study, I knew him from my child hood, and he was there, uncertain, but asking questions, wanting to learn more about who God is. Later he got salvation, just before he died of cancer. God's timing is perfect. 

I saw things in the world, demonic things, that led me toward God. Do you know how I first began to realize that God was real? I had seen demons. So I thought well, if there are demons, there must be angels, and if there are angels, then there must be a God.

They try to hide the spiritual from life, make you think everything is material. But it’s not true. We’ve all had experiences of the supernatural. We know it’s real. And we know there are powerful forces behind the events that are happening in our world. We can sense it, we know it’s true. And again, this points us to God.

Adam’s sin led us down this pathway. And we’re caught on this path. Just like the graphic, it’s hard to see it, to see the pathway, and to see the road out, but it’s there.

We slowly discover that there is a savior out there who can deliver us from this evil pathway that leads to disaster. His name is Jesus Christ. They try so hard to smear that name. They try so hard to make us think there is nothing there. Unfortunately many false teachers have brought the way of truth into disrepute (2 Peter 2:2). And much dry dead religion leads us to think, there is nothing there. Many hypocrites who claim Christ make us think there is nothing there. But beyond all of that there is a pure, loving, living Jesus willing to completely save us. 

Adam's sin led to death. Yet what Jesus did for us is very different.

From Romans 5:15: “But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.”

So, we want to leave the pathway of Adam, and jump onto the new pathway of Christ.

But how can this be done? It’s impossible to simply hop over onto the new path. Why? Because my entire old self is dedicated to the road of Adam.

So God desires that I stop. And turn. Simply turn toward Him. And let Him do something huge in my heart. 

God has an operation he wants to do on you. He wants you, in your sin, on the broken path of Adam, to stop, and turn, and cry out to Jesus, and ask Jesus to change you.

And then your old self dies, and a new self is born in Jesus Christ.

So how do you escape the pathway of Adam? Easy, you just have to die.

That’s how radical it is though. You surrender yourself to God, your old self dies, and a new self is born in Christ Jesus.

Verse 16 says, “And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.”

Despite the fact that we are guilty of so many sins, there is hope. Though we’ve actively participated in the pathway of Adam, total forgiveness is available to us. That’s really amazing and wonderful. We would assume that theres no way we can be saved. We’ve sinned so terribly on the pathway of Adam.

Yet God’s grace, his favor, his forgiveness brings us onto the new pathway of Christ.

Wow!

What’s really shocking is that this stuff is real. It’s not a mythology, it’s not a abstract theology, it’s actual, it’s here right now. These truths affect us every day. Either you know about it, or you walk around wondering why you’re miserable, why you feel yucky, why nothing is going right in your life. Or you know the word of God and through that knowledge you build a victorious life on the foundation of Christ. And when something happens you can point to the word and say "Oh yeah, God's word talks about this."

It doesn’t matter if you don’t believe it, it’s still true. We have to make the right choice and decide we’re going to base our lives around what the Bible says. It’s not good enough to keep it on the side, or tag it along with the rest, God has to be first, above anything else.

That’s repentance. That’s a change of pathway. We all need to make sure we're on that right road. 

The scripture says, “17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

We leave the road of death, the road of destruction and move to the road of life. And if you walk that road, you will live in triumph over sin through Jesus.

How is all this possible? This is a miracle. This is huge. But how could it happen? Was it because we really sat down and figured it out? And we jumped over to the new path? No.

It’s because God sent Jesus and Jesus triumphed over sin and death.

As it says in the word, (18-19) “Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.”

Adam disobeyed God. I wasn’t there. But it affected me. Because I’m a descendant of Adam and Eve. Their sin affected my life. I can’t change that. It’s a simple reality of human history, if my dad and grandpa made a lot of money I inherit lots of nice things. If my dad or granddad was poor and an alcoholic, I inherit nothing. Is it fair? I don’t know, it just is what it is. Same with Adam. Does it seem fair that I inherit Adam’s sin nature? It doesn’t. But it simply is what it is. Is it fair that I was born in the United States and someone else was born in some area of India or China where millions starve to death? It isn’t fair. But in the end it’s the reality. Similarly, if the population of the United States decides to honor God, then things will go well for the country and I'll be blessed. But, if the population of the USA begin to choose evil, then I'll face the consequences right along with them. It's a group responsibility. We're part of the human race, all the way back to Adam. So we face the results of their choices, whether good or bad. We turn up our noses at it because we're so radically individualistic in the west that we think the actions of our ancestors should have no affect on our lives for good or ill, but that isn't how reality works. 

In any case, Jesus made the way for us to escape this broken reality. Jesus lived the holy life we couldn’t live. He setup a new pathway. He created this new road. And now we walk on it. If we want it. But we can also say no.

Here’s the thing too. We can say yes to God, be born again, join the new pathway, but twenty years from now maybe we start to say no to God. And eventually we slowly start to transfer ourselves back to the old road of destruction. I’ve seen it happen. We want to make sure we keep choosing Christ in the future. Through faith we will.

So to sum it all up Romans 5:20-21 says, “God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

We keep getting mention of “the law” in these scriptures from Romans 5. Many of you I’m sure were raised that way. Follow the ten commandments and try to be a good person and then you’ll go to heaven instead of hell.

But that is actually wrong. We’ve talked about wrong pathways. That’s just another wrong road that doesn’t lead to heaven. Trying to be a good person is not the answer. The entire purpose of the ten commandments was to draw us toward the cross, so we’d realize, I can’t follow these without Jesus inside my heart.



Admitting you’ve sinned against God is the answer. Admitting you can’t follow the law of yourself is the answer. And humbly accepting Jesus Christ as your savior is the answer. Because Jesus died for your sins. But you have to receive that sacrifice, and let Jesus change you into a new person. The old can’t inherit eternal life, only the new person can.

Let God change you into a new person. Invite Jesus into your heart today. Let go of trying to be good. Admit you can’t. Accept Jesus as your savior. Let Jesus reign in you, change you, and make you born again. Then, with Jesus as your savior, God as your Father, and the Holy Spirit in your heart, you will find new power within to obey the commands of God that once seemed impossible to follow. 

And you’ll come onto the new road. This new road is not like the old. The old was very flashy, very bright, exciting, mysterious. Yet as it went on, increasingly gray and empty. 

This new road with God is beautiful and mysterious yes, but it’s also challenging at times. It becomes more and more glorious as time goes, yet we also face all sort of trials and difficulties along the way.

And it will run contrary to the viewpoints of the world. It’s just so different to be part of God’s kingdom. We want to learn more and more how to walk on this new road because it is very different.

So to understand the new rules that we must live by, we must study God’s word carefully, and know His kingdom system, which is what Jesus taught in the parables. And we’re going to be getting into that more in the future.

We know how life worked on the path of Adam. It was all about pleasure, fun, excitement, money, power, parties, events, and getting more stuff. But it’s so different on the pathway of Christ.

The pathway of Christ is about love, service, humility, faith, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and ministering to the lost world around us.

So, what pathway will you choose? Many choose the pathway of Adam, and they go on into the gray tunnel, until they slowly die inside. Yet there is a great opportunity in that gray death, because out of it God can bring life. Oddly enough, in the deepest emptiness of the gray road of disaster, is paradoxically also the greatest opportunity for us to sense our need for Jesus Christ and a new pathway. 

God will bring you throughout your life around again and again to the open door of Jesus. One day, you can choose to walk through it, or you may choose to reject it. Yet the offer is open, as long as you're breathing. Choose Christ today, because our time is running out on this finite Earth. Soon Jesus will return, and make a new heavens and new Earth. 

Review of Main Points:

1. The pathway of this world seems right, yet it leads to disaster

2. The megaphone of the world is loud, yet the voice of God grows louder when we feel the emptiness of this life

3. Sometimes the best evidence for the reality of God is all the demonic activity in the world & our supernatural experiences

4. To escape the pathway of Adam we repent and die to our old selves

5. Adam’s sin brought condemnation to all, because all have sinned

6. The crucifixion of Jesus brings forgiveness to all who will receive it

7. Saying yes to Jesus starts today, but must continue into the future

8. The ten commandments remind us that we can’t be good without Jesus within us

9. Finding salvation means humbly admitting our sins, admitting we can’t do life with God, and inviting Jesus to be our savior

10. The new pathway of Christ is about love, service, humility, faith, prayer, fellowship with other believers, and ministering to the lost world around us.

Dead Ends become Open Doors: Paradox is the Rule of Life

There is something resplendent in the dark and cold. 

It's like a cold winter night. The snow muffles all sound, so an incredible silence takes over. It should be dark but it isn't, not really.

There is a pale orange light that shines across the horizon, all night and into the morning. 

There is something bizarrely paradoxical about dead ends. 

There was a dead end behind my house growing up. I would walk back there at night, through the woods, pushing wet branches aside, to the road running behind our house. And I would stop and stare into the darkness, at the dead end. 

The road came to an end, old house to the left, old farm to the right. Mass of trees at the turn around, dead end. But if you walked back into the trees, there was a series of trails beyond the dead end, that led to a frozen pond. 

I remember in front of my house, growing up, there was a big farmers field where my sister and I would fly kites in the summer. At the edge of the field was a great forest. I used to imagine that I would walk into that forest in the depth of night, and discover a vast wonderland between the trunks.  

One thing is common in life, dry, dark, dead ends. Empty places. Moments where everything seems lost. It feels through and through at that moment, that nothing could ever possibly change the situation. 

By all appearances, it's impossible. And time and again, just as consistently as I meet those empty places, fight against them, try every single thing to escape them, they are not what they appear.

Solid, they are not. But they seem unbreakable. So I set up camp, build my tent out of branches, and live there. Yet just as consistently as I meet them, they are not as they appear! 

They are a lie, you might say. Or at least, as permanent and powerful as they seem, there are doors that lead through them. But I don't sense that at the time. 

So I build a house, set up a fortress, prepare my one man grave yard.  I dig the pit, shovel full of mud, one after another, weeping cold tears, preparing my eulogy. I lay down flat in the grave, well prepared, and invite God to throw the dirt upon me.

As I lay dying in the pit, and I've given up all hope, and I've resigned myself to forever sleep, then a shimmering light grows from the darkness. By then I wish it wouldn't. The light is an intrusion to my well prepared sermon. 

Yet it keeps growing, a splinter in my fetter. If I close my eyes, maybe it will go away. But it blazes behind my eyelids, refusing to be ignored. The impossible becomes possible. The unshakable rules of reality are summarily countermanded. I can't explain it. I don't believe it. I think to myself, I must be dreaming. This can't be real. 

Never-the-less a repair team gathers to restore me. Medics gather around me patching up my wounds, a real cutting edge team, go to work. The dead end collapses in a pile of trunks, dirt, and branches, washed away by a mighty flood, and an open path, bright golden green and dry cuts through, and I walk into a new day, bright and radiant as could be this side of heaven. 

This is the rule of reality this side of heaven. Dead ends break forth to open roads. Graves are trap doors to underground monasteries. Death is the road to awe. Paradox is the rule. Trust no dead end. They are not real, a lie, or at least, there is a power beyond us, God, who breaks the rules of reality, and turns dead ends into open doors. 

The 2 Cyclical Realities of Prevenient Grace & Sanctification

The appeal made by the Holy Spirit to each human on Earth is cyclical. A pattern repeats over and over, through an increasingly severe process of prevenient grace that draws us to Christ. But the fudge factor and the massive variable in entire system God has set up is the free will factor.  This factor is explosive in it's ability to gum up even the most simple equations within the universal system.  It's the equation that just refuses to be balanced or understood. And it affects what we perceive as injustice in the system, though it is simply a highly unfortunate side effect of free will.  

The cycle is often experienced as summer, fall, winter, spring.  Summer of excitement, celebration, sin, and chaos, experienced in all the highest highs available in evil and self-destruction. Then comes fall, when the highs of sin go from celebration and excitement to increasing levels of pain, confusion, remorse, and sorrow. Then comes the winter. A frozen tundra of emptiness and chaos.  Then comes the spring, after the lowest low, rebirth comes, new growth, new hope, and from there the cycle repeats. 

This cycle seems to be perpetuated by God through the Earth system to draw people to realize their need for Christ, and to come to Christ.  This can occur in any of the regions of the cycle.  It can occur in the bright beautiful summer when we notice the beauty of God's creation, or in the fall, as we realize the pleasure has turned destructive.  It can often occur in the winter, when we realize the utter emptiness that sin has brought us into. And it can occur in the spring, when the rebirth period begins, we realize the source of it is Christ, and turn to Christ.

The angelic messengers of the Lord seem to have some function in all this. How they impact the cycle exactly I don't know. Demons have a function as well, they seem to attempt to keep the human in the cycle perpetually, boxing Christ out of it, so they continously repeat the cycle unaware of Christ, or scornful of Christ, until death. 

The saints have a part to play as well, being instruments of God to break those cycles through battle in prayer, and in loving people lost in the cycle, and in of course witnessing for Christ to that person.

But once again, the fudge factor is free will. No one can force another person to receive Christ. And perhaps the most universal aspect of human nature is our own infinite stubbornness. Often we would rather charge through the very gates of hell itself than admit we were wrong, or needed to change direction.  

It's similar to a situation in which a family views an alcoholic or drug addicted family member slowly destroying themselves. The family is absolutely powerless to stop this person. They can grab them, shake them, lock them in the room, hide them away from society, but nothing can stop them from drinking and drugging to the darkest end, ultimately it's their choice.  

That's the sacred choice God has given us.  The beauty of free will is that we choose our own destiny. The terror of free will is that most do not choose Christ, and instead they choose death. 

The cycle repeats over and over, until we turn to Christ, or we don't. Many I see near the end of their lives, and they remain in the repeating loop, unable to quite turn to Christ, or more so, unwilling. Many, deceived by demonic powers, and caught up in traps as well. Many, already turned over to the sins they love, unaware of the judgment awaiting them in the life ahead. 

Once someone does turn to Christ, and gives their lives to Christ, and is born again, and receives the Holy Spirit, we begin a new process, called the process of sanctification.  Through this process we are slowly conformed into the likeness in character to Christ himself.  This process can often at times we cyclical as well, as we repeat "trials" until we accomplish them properly and learn from them.  Often times Christians can be caught up and stuck in the cyclical process of sanctification as well, unwilling to go deeper, unwilling to learn a vital truth. And they become stuck in the cyclical reality as well. This is troubling, but not particularly surprising.

For the Christian who continues to grow, trials continue, fiery trials, and difficulties, as well as joys, and blessings, and good times, and beautiful moments.  And slowly that Christian is brought into maturity.  

The goal of the first cyclical reality is to bring non-believers to realize their need for Christ and make a free will decision to turn to Jesus through the grace of God.  The goal of the second cyclical reality of sanctification is for the believer to come to maturity, achieving victory over the flesh, the world, and the devil. Over the flesh in that they've overcome sin in their lives, over the world in that they no longer live for the world or by the world's ways, and the devil, in that the devil has attempted to deceive them and drive them away from Christ, but has failed, and their love and devotion for Christ has been proven through fiery trials and temptations. And a believer who loses those 3 battles will not have eternal life, but will receive damnation, as they have not overcome the flesh, the world, or the devil.  Luke-warm Christians will be spit from the mouth of Christ.  Hard to misinterpret that statement. 

Calvin's Approach to Salvation: Do we have free will or are we robots?

Calvin essentially viewed salvation as a work done completely by God. The believer really has no part to play in salvation, and rightly so, for this is true salvation in Christ. Yet from this Calvinist perspective, the believer doesn't even have to be willing to be saved, essentially God will force them to be saved if it's in his will for them to be saved. And the believer doesn't need to respond in faith, faith is given to the believer. The believer essentially doesn't respond at all. God forces it upon them.

Basically Calvin believed that everyone is predetermined before they are even born to heaven or hell. Calvin had a very strong view in regard to the sovereignty of God. He essentially believed that whatever God decrees is what will happen. There is no free will involved. There are several problems with this approach to salvation.

First, if you're asserting that God ordained the fall, and that God ordains some to heaven and some to hell, that makes God the author and originator of evil. That's a rather big problem, when considering the moral character of God.  

Secondly, when you remove free will you remove any need to respond to the gospel. Essentially Calvin reduces the human race to robots.  How does Calvin explain our own responsibility if we're foreordained to heaven or hell? There would be no basis for personal responsibility for sin.  

Thirdly, when you suggest predestination in all things you remove the impotence to evangelism, if people are foreordained to heaven or hell, then there is no reason to evangelize. They will get saved somehow if God wants them to.  

Fourthly, when you remove the need for perseverance and simply suggest all will persevere because God will force them to, you neglect the very real reality of falling away. Thus you encourage complacency in the body by rejecting the possibility of apostasy/falling away. Believers then falsely think they can never lose their salvation, promoting spiritual laziness, or even departing the church altogether, given the fact that it can't be lost. 

Fifthly, why would the Bible constantly tell us to "choose now whom we will obey" (Joshua 24:14-15) and constantly call us to "obey God in all things" (John 14:15)? If all is foreordained by God, there would be no need for any commands, because God would simply force it to happen.

I know, I'm taking these ideas to their logical conclusions. Most Calvinists don't believe these logical conclusions. Yet they remain logical conclusions that prove the ideology is systemically contradictory. Determinism seems the logical conclusion of God decreeing some to salvation and some to hell.

Jewish Practices of Passing on Wisdom: Sabbath, Passover, Tisha B'Av, and Sukkot

I recently read a book by Yael Eckstein, the leader of the international fellowship of Christians and Jews called "Generation to Generation." And in so doing, learned a great deal of ancient Jewish practices of passing on the faith from one generation to another.  

The question of how to pass on the faith from one generation to the next has puzzled me recently.  Why? Because it was so common in past generations to pass on wisdom and truth from generation to generation through family time, the church, and youth groups.  But today in our modern world, where children and adults are so completely influenced and molded by news media, entertainment, and the internet, we see the ability to pass on the faith disrupted and even destroyed by media, public education, the college system, Hollywood, and the various forces that push against us to change our beliefs. 

Sometimes I wish there was one perfect guide to passing it on, especially to overcome media interference, but no such lexicon exists. But perhaps we can learn some things from the ancient and current practices that Jews use to pass on the faith to their children. The Jews survived and continued as a unique faith group during near two thousands years of exile in the nations.  So how did they do it? Generation to Generation gives us a look at that. 

1. Shabbat Shalom

But a voice gently whispers... "Slow down."

That must be the voice of God.  Slow down. An overload of information... when a few words focused on intently, can completely reshape reality.  A room full of boxes of textbooks, novels, DVDs, and pen drives, overwhelming.  A single phrase from the one book, For God so loved... Four words.  Repeat them in your mind, and they produce more power and change and wisdom within that a dozen textbooks.  

Simplicity steals something that philosophers and scientists spend volumes chasing. And it seems like an insult to them. God uses the foolish things of this world to make the knowledgeable look silly. 

 Have you rested recently? The candles of sabbath burn for the orthodox jew. They burn quietly I imagine, as a celebration of rest.  And each day approaching the sabbath is simply one day closer to the goal of rest.  

According to the Jews, sabbath is a taste of the world to come. Shabbat Shalom, as they say. And the sabbath prayer was prayed on Friday night once the sun was down, "Come, let us sing praise to the Lord!
    Let us shout praises to the Rock who saves us.
² Come and worship him with songs of thanks.^[a]
    Let us sing happy songs of praise to him."

2. Coach Ma: The Power of 'What?'

Passover, the time when God delivered Israel from slavery. And for the Jew, Passover is all about asking questions, interestingly enough.  Some of us when raising questions were scolded and told not to question. But it's interesting that God actually invites us to ask questions.  He did with Abraham, with Moses,with Job, and with Elijah just to name a few.  Abraham asked the question of God's justice. Moses asked the question of God's help. Job asked the question of God's sovereignty. And Elijah asked the question of God's redemption.

Passover for the Jews is about encouraging their children to ask questions.   

3. Tisha B'av - The power of hope.

It's quite difficult being raised up as a Christian in a secular world increasingly hostile to Christianity. Hopelessness is an increasing phenomenon particularly among the young.  Loss and sorrow can be absolutely debilitating.  

For the Jews, on Tisha B'av, the yearly holiday, the Jews mourn for the destruction of the temple, and all the sorrows of Jewish history. Eckstein wrote, "It may sound strange at first, but it is on Tisha B'Av, the darkest day on the Jewish calendar, that we truly experience hope. Just as it takes the darkest skies to see the brightest stars, it is on this black day that we can experience the greatest light." 

On the night of Tisha B'av Jews read the book of Lamentations, the first words of which mean: "How can it be?"

Eckstein writes, "When we teach our children that this isn't the way the world is supposed to be, we teach them that, indeed, there is always hope; this world will not be broken."

4. Sukkah - a hut of faith

For the Jews, there are two words that express different facits of faith. The first is emunah is believing that God exists and that God runs the world.  The second word bitachon is defined as acting in accordance with belief in God, practicing it.  

In Judaism, faith is all about doing, not so much believing. The holiday of Sukkot is about leaving the comfort of a home and living in a rickety hut for seven days.  Jews do this to celebrate God's protection and provision while they wandered in the wilderness after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt.  It's a reminder to their children, through physically living in a hut, of God's provision and deliverance.  

God provided bread from the sky and water from the rocks, supernaturally providing for the exiles during their trek through the wilderness. Sukkot reminds the Jews, from generation to generation that they can have rock solid faith in God, faith that they can live out, because God really does provide for their needs. 

The River Leading to the Tree of Life

The Danish philosopher, Kierkegaard, tells a parable of a theater where a variety show is proceeding. Each show is more fantastic than the last, and is applauded by the audience. Suddenly the manager comes forward. He apologizes for the interruption, but the theater is on fire, and he begs his patrons to leave in an orderly fashion. The audience think this is the most amusing turn of the evening, and cheer thunderously. The manager again implores them to leave the burning building, and he is again applauded vigorously. At last he can do no more. The fire raced through the whole building and the fun-loving audience with it. "And so," concluded Kierkegaard, "will our age, I sometimes think, go down in fiery destruction to the applause of a crowded house of cheering spectators." -Resource, July/August, 1990.

Sometimes I feel like we are a generation endlessly staring at the screen, watching movies and tv shows, and series, applauding at the entertainment. And the preacher is the one calling out to us like the manager of the movie house, “Run, the house is on fire!” But everyone thinks its part of the show.

How distracted we are, how often we can’t seem to focus clearly on what is actually real. So we entertain ourselves instead.

But the truth is judgment is coming, and this city is destined for destruction. We have to wake up and realize that God will return, and all will be changed. And if we simply live in the ways of the world, we will be destroyed too. We will never live in paradise, if we don’t turn to Jesus. Time is running out.

Jesus said, “7 “Look, I am coming soon! Blessed are those who obey the words of prophecy written in this book.”

We’ve been studying the saga of the return of Jesus at the end of the book of Revelation. Today we consider the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, revelation 22.

Jesus said, “12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

The king of kings is returning soon. And he will reign on the Earth. Last week we talked about the New Heavens and the New Earth, and the New City of Peace. Today we reflect on the tree of life and the river that flows from the throne of God. The river flows through the city of the New Jerusalem. Many cities are built around rivers, rivers are sources of travel, and of electricity and commerce. It seems fitting that the eternal city has a river running through it. It says in Revelation 22:1-6:

“Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit,[a] with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.”

Absolutely astonishing. The tree of life, the fountain of youth you might call it, is there, at the center of the city. The same tree of life that Adam and Eve ate from in the garden of Eden. Wow. Eternal life, to live forever, is the dream of every person who lives isn’t it? As we grow older we wish we could escape death. And there is only one way to have that, Jesus Christ. This river flows from the throne of God, and through the city. The river is the water of life. Who gave us the water of life? Jesus Christ. Jesus is the water of life, that makes us pure.

So apparently we’ll eat from this giant tree of life, each month, twelve different crops of fruit it produced each month. I’m assuming eating from it is what sustains eternal life in our bodies then. Once a month pill, fruit from the tree of life, once a month, to live forever.

And the leaves of the tree of life were used as medicine to heal the nations. I wonder what that means? The New Jerusalem is a picture of a jewish city in a way, a new Jerusalem, perhaps across the New Earth other cities will be developed, of gentiles. I’m not certain. Leaves to heal the nations. Medicine to heal. Fascinating.

In contrast, right now, we are under several difficult realities in the world. The law of death is at work, all people grow old, and die. We suffer from various forms of illness and brokenness in our bodies, back pain, arthritis, organ failure. Those realities will no longer exist in this perfect reality.

It continues saying, “No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. 4 And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.”

You know there were moments throughout history where men and women saw God, they saw his throne room, they saw his glory, they saw amazing things. Do you know what the result was each time? They were terrified, shocked, amazed, and horrified by their own sinfulness, as they saw something of a holy God. They cried out, “woe is me, I’m undone.”

But in this new city of God, we will see God face to face, and we won’t cry out in horror or terror because of our sinfulness. We’ll cry out in joy and worship and glory and true love for our maker, because we’re holy there, as he is holy. This city of God is for those who have been washed in the blood of Jesus, and have turned away from sin. And when we’re there, we will be holy as he is holy. There will be no more shame, no more regret, no more horror at our own sinfulness. Instead we’ll rejoice and live in euphoria, in the presence of our infinite creator. When you see something amazing… I mean really amazing. Like your wife giving birth. Like a super moon on a clear night. Like the moment you first met your husband, first met your wife, when you realized your mom and dad loved you for the first time. When you saw a shooting star. When you kissed your wife, or husband for the first time. When you held your child for the first time. When you realized your calling in life for the first time. When you cried with joy at the love of God and His mercy on you. That is what it feels like to be in God’s presence. And so much more. Imagine what God will show us, imagine what time space and glory he will show. Imagine what his infinite form will look like. Imagine how his love will make us feel there. It’s beyond all we could imagine. True peace. True love. True joy. True infinity. True mysteriousness. A serene moment.. a perfect sunset, holding your lovers hand, hugging your best friend, moments before a storm, a balmy summer day, a mysterious winter night… God’s glory.

Verse six says, “ Then the angel said to me, “Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true. The Lord God, who inspires his prophets,[b] has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon.[c]”

This will happen. This is real. The New Universe, The New Planet, the New City, the Tree of Life, and the river of life that leads to it. It’s all real. It will happen. Why do you doubt? God made the world. It’s so obvious to me that God made the world. That Jesus Christ as recorded in the Bible is amazing beyond description. His words are incredible. His parables, what he did, no man could’ve come up with these truths. They are timeless.

Yet how often do we stare blankly at the television, at the smart phone screen, as we see the signs of the times, and the world beginning to crumble, and we simply applaud the entertainment we view. And I’m guilty of this too. I don’t focus on God like I should. Too often I’m glued to computer screens and televisions. And it’s not an evil thing to enjoy entertainment, God made us to enjoy the arts, the arts are a gift from God, music, movies, tv series, but we spend too much time on them. Stop and pray. Stop and read your Bible. Stop and seek God.

What are you really living for? The theatre is on fire, and we must make our escape to Jesus, to a new life, to living in holiness, to following God with our whole hearts, not just some of the time, but all the time. We must make our escape to the tree of life, to the eternal city, and inevitably, to God himself. Which is why we study his word, and why we study the book of Revelation. His word brings life. Jesus said the words I speak to you are life. They bring God’s lifegiving spirit when we read them.

Verses 10-16 say this: 10 Then he instructed me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near. 11 Let the one who is doing evil continue to do evil; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.”

14 Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. 15 Outside the city,(in hell, another eternal place) are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star.”

Which camp are you in? There is no middle ground. Are in the camp of those living righteously in Christ, and those living holy? Or are you in the camp of those living vile, filthy lives? Are you part of those who do evil and harm to others? There is no middle ground. Make your choice. You can choose Jesus right now today. Give your life to him, out loud, right now, wherever you are. Give yourself to Christ, and follow Him with your whole life. It’s not enough to do it once and be done, you’ve got to live it out all your days! Trust in Christ, He will remove your sin and make you a whole new person, with new desires in you heart, and put you to work for his kingdom.

In conclusion today, Verse 17-21: 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. 18 And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. 19 And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book.20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!”Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! 21 May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s holy people. 

What in the World is going on in Modern Christianity?

What in the world is going on here?  What sort of mass madness has taken hold of us over the last 20 years?  It seems like so much has changed.  So much has gone down hill so fast.  So many firm foundations have rotted away.  And so many are coming out to speak about it, including recently Joshua Harris and the song writer from Hillsong.

But this is only the latest evidences of a descending roll from prior unity.  We once generally held to an understanding, throughout Christianity that we're on the same team, we have shared beliefs, and we're going to work, if not together, at least separately toward similar goals.  But we've seen that change a great deal.  We often speak of western Christianity as a conjunction of evangelicalism, mainline protestantism, and Catholicism.  But in the past ten years we've seen the group we affectionately consider to be mainline protestantism, that center-left coalition suddenly wax wildly apostate.  And of course the central issue they've placed at the center of their apostasy, their departure from biblical truth, is the issue of LGBTQ.  That's the direction they went around 2010-2013, and have continued along those lines, for the most part.  There are always exceptions, but there it is.  And we've seen that develop over the last ten years, since the original departure, into a new central ideological framework: social justice ideology, which conjoins critical theory with militant political activism, merging the two under the exceedingly tipsy banner of Christian justice work.  Of course Christian justice work is a wise and good thing, but the ideologies taken, are simply secular social theories, that form the nexus of a political ideology, and a political agenda often referred to as progressivism.  Essentially this path, from my viewpoint, simply turns these churches into outposts for the propagation of progressive ideology dressed up in Christian language.  The social justice mandate becomes the central focus, and Jesus and the gospel are tagged on to the side to give credibility to the social justice warrior gospel of hatred, division, racism masked in fighting against racism, and the tearing down of the larger society due to perceived systemic injustices.  And not only has this new gospel taken hold of mainline protestantism but there are forces within evangelicalism that are being seduced by this battle-cry as well.

Of course this is only one of many problems we face today.  The next concern is of course the well noted and explored reality that evangelicals, mainline protestants and Catholics, though claiming a Christian worldview, do not actually hold particularly Christian worldviews, and do not regularly attend church services either.  The decline of a biblical understanding of the world around us as Christians has led to luke-warm Christianity.  We've seen a decline in church attendance.  And we've seen a message being watered down whether in the pulpit or in the music played in the churches.  Will historians exploring the rubble of what had once been western civilization compare hymns and sermon preached and written a hundred years ago with hymns and sermons prepared today and indicate with shock and surprise that the more recent works are entirely inferior to those produced in the past?  It seems quite possible.  With the advent of internet culture, and the interesting affect of cultural characters rising to the top, we see Christians who gather great popularity, but then later fall in disgrace, or renounce their Christianity, or some aspect of their lifestyle is revealed to not accurately display the logical outworkings of biblical Christianity.  This is not particularly surprising, but it is of note given the influence of these leaders.  We've seen one after another dropping to scandals, including James Macdonald and Bill Hybels.  Perhaps God is revealing these things to us, so that we are not led astray.

It is certain that we are living in the last days. But then again so were Paul and Peter, the end days are simply the recognition that Jesus Christ will return very soon.  And I believe it's more likely than ever that Jesus Christ will return, to rule and reign on this Earth.  We have to live that way.  We have to really live that way.  

So often in my past I've taken God's instructions, his commands in the scriptures as suggestions, or nice ideas, but didn't really take it particularly seriously.  The time for that is over.  It is time to take God's word seriously, and live it carefully.  We've seen such an antinomianism take over in the churches of our day and age, where it's just "believe in Jesus." And that's all.  One and done. Once saved always saved.  And it's a lie, and a snare, and it's deadly dangerous to those who love Jesus to think in those terms.  We must repent, and believe.  We must give our whole lives and whole hearts to Jesus.  We must live by God's commands, believing in Jesus yes, but also living in holiness, and repenting daily, and paying our tithes diligently, and witnessing about Jesus to our friends and neighbors.  This isn't a game.  And we have to take it seriously.  I take it deathly seriously, because I know what it's like to walk in darkness.  And I've seen a great light.

The theology of our day and age is pathetic, not all of it, but some of it, the foolish concept, in which they try to paint you into a corner, by saying that if you consider anything but believing in Jesus as the message of the Bible then you're trying to "add to your salvation."  It's nonsense, and this sort of false dilemma where repentance it pitted against belief in Jesus is found nowhere in the scriptures.  But to say we must repent, and witness to our faith, and pay our tithes, and live in holiness, are biblical New Testament instructions, they are not "adding works to our salvation."  We are saved by the blood of Jesus. And we wear his righteousness as our perfect white robe.  But we also have duties as Christians that we must fulfill, commands from the scriptures, from the New Testament, and they must be lived out.  And if we don't, we are in danger of the fires of hell.  This is clear in the scriptures. Don't let anyone try to paint you into a corner with the false dilemma of faith vs. repentance.  They are one in the same, united in the equation of salvation, always held together by the scriptures as how we must respond to Jesus.  

So, what is going on after all in modern Christianity? Why so much chaos? I would answer: So what? So what if there is so much trouble in the Christian world of the west?  The same was true 2,000 years ago in the early church. There were constant problems.  So be it.  Let those who are wicked, continue to be wicked, and let those who are faithful, continue to be faithful. We ultimately can't control how others live. But we can control how we live.  We can and should influence people. And we do everyday, when we share our faith (which is much more than just living it out).  It's a good start to live it out, and vital, but we must open our mouths and speak the truth of Jesus.  Often times we try to comfort ourselves in our silence by saying "the way we live speaks for itself."  It does show someone that something is different about you, but you must also share the gospel, the word of Jesus. It is by hearing that people believe and are saved, not by your example alone.  I'm so, so, so tired of the foolish saying falsely attributed to St. Francis Assissi, "Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words."  That is such a foolish saying.  There is no gospel without words.  Jesus was and is the word of life.  As Peter said to Jesus,"To whom would we go? You speak the words of eternal life."  Now imagine if Jesus only did miracles and healed people.  Certainly it would've been impressive, but they wouldn't have had the word of Christ,the words of Jesus that bring life.  They wouldn't know the gospel.  They would just wonder why Jesus did such nice things.  Speak the gospel, live it too, but don't just live it, speak it also. 

Could this time we live in be the great falling away spoken of in the end times? Could it be the time that is spoken of in 2nd Timothy 3:2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy...?" Could it be the time that it says "they went out from us, because they were not of us?" 1st John 2:19. Maybe so. Perhaps these symptoms are universal to the time of the church age, in which we live. But something feels different. Then again I'm sure they felt that way in Nazi Germany during the rise of Hitler. I'm sure they felt that way during the time of Mao Zedung in China's history. I'm sure Richard Wurmbrand thought something similar when communists infiltrated and took over the government of his home country of Romania. Only God knows when the end will come.  But I truly believe it is much sooner than we think.  Jesus Christ will return, I know this for a fact, and I'm working hard to make sure I am ready, and so should you. We must be awaiting his return, with eyes open, carefully considering how we should live, for the days are evil.

Truly the days are evil. We think we're so enlightened in our day and age.  But what will future generations say, when they consider the hundreds of millions of unborn babies murdered quietly in the abortion mills, while we apathetically carry on with our days sipping java and giggling about the latest trends?  Will they ask in classrooms, "But teacher, how could they have been so careless with so many being killed?"  I imagine that they will ask those questions, much like we wonder how so many could follow Hitler into genocide and world war.  And the answer is in part, the common people didn't really know what was going on.  And I don't suppose we do either.  

I've noticed many Christians I know, are more influenced by Netflix than the Bible.  They're more influenced by CNN and MSNBC than Jesus Christ.  They're more prone to consider the latest reality show, or football game than the majesty of God or his coming kingdom.  They're more prone to evangelize for an essential oils pyramid scheme, evangelize for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  More motivated for romance and money, than to live by God's word and live in holiness.  How sad it is to see so many living this way.  We're not as much Christians anymore are we? We're employees, students, movie goers, consumers, and tech-junkies with occasional secondary thoughts and ideas along vaguely Christian lines. Don't be that. Be a real Christian. Be 100% sold out for Jesus, with laser-focus on Jesus, seeing the world in truly Christian terms. 

But I write all these words for one simple purpose, to tell you this: Don't be led astray by them. Don't fall into the trap of thinking you can live with one foot in the world and one foot in Christianity.  Don't ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit telling you to live differently from the world, and even the other people in your church.  Live a truly holy set apart lifestyle, even if people in your church make fun of you. Find others in your town, online, wherever, who hold to the full gospel, to true holiness, to excitement and energy in sharing the gospel and living out what they preach. Give tithes and offerings regularly even if no one else does, off the gross of your income, not the net.  Study the word diligently, not just the feel good verses that modern preachers focus on, and they only ever preach the feel good verses, and never the hard ones, woe to them, they've rejected the word of God, and created an idol that is pleasing to their ears and their hearers ears. Don't let that be you.  

Be different. Be holy. Wait carefully for the return of Jesus. Study the word of God.  Don't give up. Even if every person in your church is a luke-warm apostate with pride flag t-shirts on.  Keep following God fully, even if you have to do it alone. Because ultimately when you stand before God to give an account for your life, it will be between you and God, no one else.  God be with you.  And don't give up. If you're reading these words, you're the only hope of the church in these last days.  I know you have little strength, but you have kept the word of Christ and have not rejected His name.  God has prepared a place for us, and He will make those who mock us, ridicule us, and shame us to fall down at our feet and declare that God has loved us.  Soon the Lord Jesus Christ will come and set up His kingdom, until then, come Lord Jesus. Amen. 

The Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Light: What happened in the Garden?

Let us consider our situation, that which we find ourselves in. We are human beings, living upon the planet Earth, a troubled planet beset by much grief and disaster.  We see goodness, we see evil.  We find ourselves operating in the context of time and space.  And we find that life seems to break down to decisions we make, choices.  Choices are made, and life proceeds on Earth, for better or worse.  We also see that society is fundamentally based on morality.  We find ourselves in a moral universe, a universe where our decisions can be good or bad.  And principles like truth, love, goodness, liberty, equity, and many others are important to society.  And important in individual decisions. 

Let us return to the origins of humanity to begin to understand reality.  Of course we'll be approaching this from a Christian worldview perspective. 

The first humans are created by God, in a perfect place, a place without disease, war, suffering, or death.  This we see is the natural and proper state of humanity.  Humanity was meant to live on a perfect Earth, created by a loving God, to "work" the Earth, and spread across it, and develop civilization. Not only that, but humanity was tasked with creation, just as God created.  Man was created in God's image, which meant that man was special, humanity was meant to do more than simply exist and live, it was meant to be creative, to paint paintings, design buildings, write books and poetry, to develop technology, to procreate and teach their children, and so on and so forth.  God placed a spark of eternity in the human heart. 

But let's go back before even the creation.  God made the universe from nothing.  He made the galaxies, the stars, and the planets.  But let's go before that.  What was there before God made the universe?  Possibly and probably nothing at all in the sense of matter, energy, gravity, and so on.  Also realize this: Time is a construct of the universe, it's part of the program.  Thus, before the universe, no space, no matter, no time, nothing.  Only God in a state immeasurable by time, because God is not subjected to the concept of time.  Time has no dominion over God.  I imagine God doesn't experience time-passage at all, unless he desires to. 

Therefore before creatio ex nihilio (creation from nothing) there was only God almighty, the intelligent being who is the only fundamental being.  I always have wondered about that: Why would God exist, and not simply not exist?  Where did God come from?  God didn't come from anywhere, He exists outside time, but how does that work, that God has always existed, beyond time, infinitely into the past, present and future?  I can't really say.  It's quite stunning though, to realize that God is the fundamental reality of the universe, or more so, beyond the universe.  He is the fundamental constant of... all that is. 

I had to ask myself: What does that say about the nature of the universe?  Well, I've always approached reality from the mindset of the world, that the universe is fundamentally darkness, and light are the exceptions.  But now I realize from a Christian perspective, light, life, God himself is the fundamental constant of the universe beyond the universe.  Darkness is the exception.

But we aren't really talking about the material universe.  We're talking about that which was before, so instead of 'the universe' we'll refer to it as 'omnia' latin for everything.  So beyond the material and immaterial universe we have a reality, omnia, in which God exists, no, that's wrong, that which is God, and perhaps there is a place that God chooses to dwell, one might call it 'the heavens.'  And there God is. 

How long did God exist in 'the heavens' before he decided to create the universe and humanity?  Once again, we're speaking as if God were limited by time.  Time is a fact of the universe, not necessarily of 'the heavens.'  Though let's assume for the moment that time does pass in some form in this 'heaven' reality.  God created other beings, we know that, they are referred to in the scriptures as "angels" which simply means: "messengers."  God created these messengers at some point, who serve Him and go about doing his work.  We know there are millions of them, possibly more.  And we also know that they share the same gift of free will, choice, that humans have.  Are there other races that God created, other beings, or other forms of life?  There certainly could be, we just don't know. So God created all these beings, why?  It's not really clear to me why God would choose to create.  I suppose God would want to make use of his own talents and creative gifts?  It's hard to say from my perspective, I'm just a created being, created by an infinite God. 

We as humans are his creation.  But we are a bit more than a simple creation, but we are actually imbued with the eternal nature of God and the creative spark to create.  We were set on the Earth to live, to love, to marry, and to populate and live on the Earth. 

And if it ended there, and we were in the present in such a state, I imagine life would be perfect.  We would have populated the Earth, spread cities across the face of the Earth, lived in beautiful harmony with the animals and lived in joyous creative worship with our God who would walk amongst us.  We would marry, create works of art, write music, tend to the various endless gardens of Earth in peace and harmony, all united as a humanity worshipping God in joyous praise.  Oh, how I wish it had gone this way.  This is what God intended for humanity. 

But the sacred gift of choice was also part of the equation.  Humanity could choose to either love God or reject and fight against God. 

The first two humans, Adam and Eve lived in a garden on the newly created Earth. We see they live in a fruit-garden full of animals and God lives there with them and walks around with them in the garden.  It's quite beautiful, actually.  The first humans are allowed to eat from any trees in the garden, but at the center of the garden there is a tree they are not supposed to eat from, called the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  There's the other tree as well, called the tree of life, which they are permitted to eat from as well. 

Why leave this single tree of truth of good and evil at the center of the garden?  I suppose it allowed for choice.  And an easy choice it was, remember, these humans were not subjected to the sinful nature that we struggle with now.  They wouldn't have been tempted to go run to the center of the garden and eat from it, not the same way we are.  Isn't that interesting about our nature?  If someone tells us to 'don't touch that hot stove' we instantly want one thing: to touch the hot stove.  Why on Earth would we want to do that?  It's a state of our fallen nature.  But these first humans had no fallen nature, thus they wouldn't have been exceedingly tempted to run to the middle of the garden and break the one rule they live under. 

But we know that the serpent (Satan) came to Eve in the garden, and tempted her eat from the tree of knowledge.  Why?  Satan was once known as 'Lucifer' which means light bringer, and was probably one of God's most important 'messengers.'  But Lucifer became prideful, and jealous of humanity, and desired to rebel against God, and actually tried to overthrow God.

Isn't that crazy?  That is just some epic, whacky stuff if you ask me. God the infinite being creates these angelic beings, and one of them actually leads a rebellion against him!  That's wild.  We know that one third of the angelic beings joined Lucifer in his rebellion.  Was the rebellion before or after the fall of man?  I assume it was before, since Satan was wanting to tempt the first humans.  But it is possible that the rebellion happened after the fall of man. 

How was Satan able to enter the garden and take the form of the snake to tempt Eve?  Only with the expressed permission of God.  Satan can't do a single thing without God's permission.  Satan apparently wanted dominion over the Earth and humanity, but that was not God's plan.  So perhaps Satan said to God, let me tempt Adam and Eve, and if they choose to rebel against you just as I have, then they will join my rebellion and I will be their god on the Earth. 

Why would God allow this?  God created Adam and Eve, he loved them, lived with them, and instructed them in their ways.  Perhaps God wanted to make sure Adam and Eve truly loved Him, by allowing a situation where their love and obedience would be tested.  I mean there was only one rule.  And think of it, if Adam and Eve pass this test, and reject Satan, then Satan has no authority on Earth, and God can simply destroy these rebellious angels and evil is defeated right there.  Why not just do that and don't allow Satan to tempt Adam and Eve?  Well, I suppose that if God didn't allow the temptation then He could never be certain that evil would be forever eradicated.  It might pop up again in the future of humanity, if they aren't tested as the outset.  Remember that our entire race, all of humanity was 'within' Adam and Eve in a way, when they were first created.  There may be some genetic or spiritual mystery behind this fact, but this much is certain: they represented humanity.

Now at this point many of you must be thinking: How can I believe any of this!?  It all sounds so fantastic! But is it really so fantastic?  Or is it that we were indoctrinated into evolutionary biology, and a naturalistic worldview of reality in public education and college, and thus our minds have been conditioned toward naturalism and conditioned to reject the supernatural?  It's an interesting question.  How much does our indoctrination impact how we view a contrary worldview?  I would suggest that it impacts it a great deal. Remember the sole alternative: Creation of our universe from nothing, which is statistically impossible and not even logically coherent.  Something can't come from nothing.  

So despite having only one temptation before them, Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation and rejected God, and decided that they could redefine good and evil to mean whatever they wanted.  The name of the tree is interesting, 'the knowledge of good and evil.'  But whose knowledge? Humanity believed it was knowledge for them, but perhaps more so it was knowledge for God.  God would discover if humanity would choose good or evil.  And the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was God's knowledge of whether humanity would choose to follow Him or choose to fall.

Humanity fell.  They succumbed to the temptation, and they were expelled from the garden.  Reality became fallen.  We don't really know what all changed when the infamous fall occurred.  We do know that humanity was cursed to suffer death.  Death had never been a reality, the human body in fact has the capacity to infinitely regenerate itself, but now, for some reason, despite this ability to regenerate itself, our bodies crumble as we get older.  A result of the fall.  We also know that animals suffered under the curse, beginning to kill each other, and feed on each other.  We know creation itself was cursed.  There probably were no seasons before the fall, just an endless sublime perfect day.  But now we see seasons like fall and winter and spring and summer, with various concerns in them that affect humanity.  Humanity would have to work the ground to gain food.  Women would become subservient to men, and child bearing would become increasingly painful.  But these were not the original design for humanity.  

Throughout human history then we live in the results of the fall... and we see God interact in various ways with humanity over our history.  But fundamentally humanity was placed under the dominion of Satan and his demons. 

Do I understand this situation perfectly?  Absolutely not.  I really wish I did.  Because I would love to raise any number of objections to the whole scenario, such as: How are we responsible for the actions of two wayward humans?  Why should we suffer for their mistake?  

The answer is very simple, when anyone calling themselves by the name of Christian does something evil, some of the responsibility falls on us to make amends for what those people did.  We bear a responsibility.  It must be the same with our race.  And even more so, if one person spills ink on the carpet, they may be able to clean it up, but the stain will always be there. If one pilot makes an error, and crashes the plane, not only he dies, but the passengers die as well.  It's just part of community, the decisions of a few will often impact the lives of everyone.  In the same way, when one person sins, it often spreads like wildfire to others.  Think of drug addiction, or sexual immorality.  These things spread rapidly.  

The cost is so high though, isn't it?  It's very difficult. But I do trust God.  I trust that God is good and holy and pure.  There's nothing wrong with trust.  Trust is a very good thing.  Trust covers the rest when we don't overcome every doubt we have.  

The universe we find troubled by the curse brought by humanity.  We find humanity itself cursed, and caught under the dominion of Satan.  We find ourselves in a place where God is shrouded from us, and our natural selves incline toward selfishness, sin, and the desire to create a world without God.  But this world is chaotic without God.  Man can create no utopia apart from God, though man tries, they fail.  We dream of utopia, but utopia is not possible apart from God: How can one build a utopia on a foundation of humanism alone? God created all things. Apart from Him we would build on sand, on a plateau of nothingness.

Now we find ourselves in a situation quite reversed from the garden. Instead of the garden, we are now lost in the fall. We're astray in the wilderness, in a deep dark forest.  We're in a forest of trees, and these trees are full of deadly fruit, this fruit is called sin.  It tastes delicious, but it rots in your stomach and destroys your soul.  Endless forests of sin surround us.  And now, there is only one tree that can save us, one tree that leads back to the garden. It's a shrouded tree, often hard to see and hard to find, indeed it took me years and years in my life to find it, and only then by the grace of God.  

But when God enables our eyes to see it, this tree glows brightly with the light of the world. Our emergency escape hatch from this fallen universe, from this broken tangent reality is this one tree, the tree of light. 

The tree of light is the cross of Jesus Christ, and his atoning sacrifice on the cross. This tree of light, is the light that leads us to the rivers of the water of life, the life pouring out from the side of Jesus Christ.  Indeed, when we take this tree, it gushes forth the waters of the river of life. When we receive the savior upon it, we find the way out of the forest of sin, and we are set upon the river of life, that leads all the way back to the garden, the throne of God, and the new city, in the new heavens, on the new Earth.  That is our ultimate destiny.  

But it takes fleeing from sin, and embracing the new road home, upon the river of the waters of life. Just like Adam and Eve were told not to eat from the tree of knowledge, we are told we must now no longer eat from the trees of sin all around us, but instead we must eat from the tree of light, from Jesus, and eat the fruits of the Spirit that grow on this tree.  Not only that, but we help others lost in the forest, by pointing them toward the tree of light, even if at the moment they cannot see the glory of it's light, but only a dim tree that they don't understand.  

It will be a difficult journey, that much is certain.  We'll have to give up much, much that we've become accustomed to here on Earth.  The river often becomes rough, and at those times we must cry out to God in prayer.  But rest assured, that if we seek Him fully and love Him fully, and trust in Jesus Christ, he will be with us all the way home to glory,  and we will escape this nightmare world gone wrong.  

Our escape is made upon the rushing waters of the river of life, that leads to the very throne of God in the city of New Jerusalem.  Revelation tells us that this river leads directly to the tree of life, the tree that humanity lost access to in the garden.  

This is our situation friends.  We're lost in the forests of the fall.  We live in a fallen tangent reality destined for destruction.  The entire purpose for our lives, before we die and face judgment is to come to find the waters of life, to receive the waters of life, and take our journeys back toward the holiness of God, the city of God, which conforms us to the likeness of Christ.  We become through the work of God in us, more and more how we were in the garden before the fall.  We become more and more holy, more and more like God intended us to be.  

Our situation is that our race is in rebellion against God, and the chaos that resulted is this troubled planet we call Earth.  There are so many distractions.  So much entertainment, pleasure, so much selfish self focused lifestyle to live.  We could get lost in so many ways in this world, and never find that tree of light, and never even draw near it.  But God calls us to the tree of light, to Jesus Christ throughout our lives.  Jesus is our escape from this world, and our doorway, our entry to a new world.  

The new world is simply reality remade the way God intended it to be, with humanity and God at peace.  We are designed to live and love God, and live and love with animals and live and love in creative creativity in the gardens of a beautiful, perfect Earth.  That is our original destiny, that is our future! Yet so many of us are content to simply roll in the mud puddles of sin instead.  And we cling so strongly to those sins, when eternal joy is placed before us. Our destiny is placed before us, and we must have the courage to take hold of it.  We're lost in the wilderness right now.  That is our situation.  We're cut off from the tree of life.  But if we'll turn to Jesus, and eat from the tree of light, we'll begin our journey home to the New Jerusalem, in the new remade universe, upon a new Earth, free from sin, where the river of life will lead us back to the tree of immortality, the tree of life, of which we will eat, and never die, and that river ultimately leads to the throne of our Heavenly Father. Our destiny is to adore Him and be adored by Him. That is our hope, that is our destiny, that is our immortality. Take hold of it, somehow, before time runs out. 

Until next time friends... Amen. Glory to God.  
 

Related Posts:

1. A Rational Inquiry of the Bible: Is it reliable? Is it the Word of God?
2. Does man need God in Western Civilization: Young People are Hungry for the Truth!
3. Real Christianity: Clothing, Buildings, Money, & Extravagance
4. The Information Age & the Christian Worldview: Is God Real? Or is he a Delusion? 
5. Expert Testimony: The Existence of God, the Problem of Evil
6. Christianity in the Public Square: The Apologetics & Philosophy Renaissance
7. The Paradox of Victory through Surrender: Rise Above
8. Expert Testimony: the Demise of Evolution, Complexity in DNA
9. Expert Testimony: Intelligent Design, Archaeology
10. Christian Activism: Can Christianity survive the new cultural attitudes?