#2 DEFINITION OF A WORLDVIEW |
• I have been putting something together called ‘The Transforming Story’- which is about the Biblical Worldview-so it is about Worldviews. |
• A Worldview is like a pair of glasses that we interpret the world through. The glasses represent our presuppositions, what we presuppose or assume reality is. We normally do not look AT our glasses; we look THRU them without thinking. |
• In the same way, we look THROUGH the glasses of our assumptions to interpret reality often without thinking. |
• As believers in the Biblical Worldview, it is crucial that we understand the times in which we live, and therefore we need to understand two things: |
• 1.The Biblical Worldview- Creation-Fall-Redemption-Consummation |
• 2. The competing Worldviews we have to live with in our everyday lives. |
#3 SPECTRUM OF WORLDVIEWS |
• In terms Western culture in which we live-If you picture a spectrum, there are Three main Worldviews that have characterised Western Culture for the most part. |
• Of course there are many other offshoots of these main Three but these Three are the major ones. |
• Biblical Theism Deism Secularism |
Deism: God created the universe but left it to run on its own natural laws. God is seen as the Great Clockmaker. This was dominant in the 18th and 19th centuries |
#4 A WORLDVIEW HAS TO ANSWER THESE 4 QUESTIONS |
• Where did the Universe come from/What does it mean to be human? Creation |
• What is wrong with the world? Fall |
• What is the solution to what is wrong with the world? Redemption |
• Where is history going? Consummation |
#6 IN RELATION TO THESE 4 QUESTIONS |
• This spectrum can be likened to a Line that travels DOWNWARD in the history of Western culture. All reality is initially interpreted through the ‘glasses’ of Biblical Theism. |
• Then as belief in a personal Creator God who revealed Himself in Creation (General Revelation) Holy Scripture (Specific Revelation) and the Lord Jesus Christ (Ultimate Revelation) was progressively rejected. God’s Revelation was replaced by Human Reason |
• Interpretations of reality travelled AWAY from God into Deism and Secularism and the many offshoots of Secularism that are part of everyday life today in the 21st century. |
#7 EVERY INDIVIDUAL AND EVERY NATION HAS A STORY |
• The Question is: Which Story is true and corresponds with reality. What a nation believes about the Origin of the Universe and What it means to be human will determine the kind of society that it will build. So a Two Fold Question relates to Origins that every Worldview must answer in a way that is verifiable and corresponds with all reality both the unseen world and the physical world. |
# 9 WHERE DOES THE UNIVERSE COME FROM/WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN? |
• These 4 Key Questions I have just noted are crucial because: Ideas have consequences and bad ideas have victims |
• A WORLDVIEW IS SIMILAR TO A TREE: |
• When you look at a tree, you observe the Trunk, the branches, the leaves and the fruit. But you cannot see the roots of the tree |
# 10 The Roots=Relate to the underlying Beliefs |
• The Trunk=Values |
• The Branches=Behaviour |
• The Fruit=Consequences |
• Obviously if you plant apple seeds, you will eventually get an apple tree. The seeds or the roots are the beliefs that a person holds to in which to interpret the whole of reality |
NEW SECTION: Genesis 1v1
#12 The Biblical Worldview begins in Genesis 1v1 with this categorical statement: |
• ‘IN THE BEGINNING GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH’ |
• And it ends in Revelation 21 & 22 with a NEW HEAVENS & a NEW EARTH. This means that history is linear, and is moving toward its consummation, its end point. |
• THERE ARE 3 WORDS IN THIS VERY 1ST VERSE IF WE ARE TO UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE SCOPE OF REDEMPTIVE HISTORY FROM CREATION TO THE NEW CREATION. |
• Beginning |
• God |
• Created |
#13 In these 3 words we have central affirmation of Biblical Christianity |
• These Three words sets the Biblical Worldview apart from all interpretations of reality including not only the other two Worldviews on the above Spectrum |
• BUT ALL FORMS of Atheism, all forms of Naturalism, Secularism, Humanism, and all other isms that compete for the allegiance of people in our day. |
• It could be argued that this is the most controversial verse in all of Scripture. |
• THE FIRST OF THESE 3 CRUCIAL WORDS IS: ‘BEGINNING’ |
# 16 From the mid 17th century, Western culture changed the Story from God’s Revelation to Human Reason. This is when a worldview called Deism became dominant to the end of the 18th century. Deism believes in God but not the Trinity. God created the Universe and left it to run on natural laws, so God is like the Great Clockmaker and the Universe is like a Big machine. It led to a mechanistic view of life. Miracles do not exist in Deism because they would violate the laws of nature. This led very quickly to the rejection of God altogether. Evolution then took over. So if the Universe is eternal and came together in a Big Bang- |
• Where did the atoms and molecules come from that caused the Big Bang? |
• Where did the laws of physics come from that sustain the physical universe-like gravity? |
• If there was a ‘Big Bang’ that exploded into a vast Universe, WITHOUT A CREATOR |
• We are left with Nothing or Chance as the Cause of the Big Bang. |
• HOW THEN DOES ‘NOTHING’ EXPLODE-BECAUSE ‘NOTHING’ HAS NO BEING? |
• ‘How did Physical matter move? Why did physical matter move? This leads to another question: Why is there even a Universe at all? |
KEY POINT: |
#17 In the beginning Nothing- THEN A BIG BANG FOLLOWED BY BILLIONS OF YEARS OF EVOLUTION. |
• NOTHING + BIG BANG + EVOLUTION BY RANDOM CHANCE |
• QUESTION: HOW DID ‘NOTHING EXPLODE’? |
• WHAT IS THE ‘FRUIT OF THIS TREE’ ? Humanism-Communism & Fascism (20th century the most violent in history)-relativism-paganism-secularism-polytheism- Man becomes the measure of all things. Today Science & Technology assume that our future is to create a hybrid between man and machine called Artificial Intelligence. This is the ultimate ‘fruit’ of Evolution. THIS IS THE STORY WESTERN CULTURE HAS BEEN LIVING IN SINCE THE 18TH CENTURY |
#19 ‘IN THE BEGINNING’ MEANS THAT THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE UNIVERSE DID NOT EXIST. |
Genesis 1v1 states that History has a beginning point in time and that time itself has a beginning. This is inseparable then for our understanding of what it means to be human and the true meaning of human existence. |
Evolution is an idea rooted in Greek philosophy that the Universe does not have a beginning- but rather the Universe IS Eternal and everything goes around and around without a beginning and without an end. |
This is captured in Ecclesiastes that addresses the Pagan notion of Scepticism that is tied to this idea that the Universe is Eternal. This is a cyclical view of history (like reincarnation). So the conclusion is that there is no purposeful beginning and no purposeful end point to existence hence ‘All is Vanity, a chasing after the wind’. So humanity is locked into an eternal cycle of going around in cycles and going nowhere |
But at the very outset of Scripture-there is the affirmation that there is a Beginning-meaning that there was a time when the Universe did not exist. |
• We probably take this for granted but it must not be taken for granted in relation to competing worldviews in our culture today. |
#20 Each Worldview must answer: What caused physical matter to move and why |
• The answer to this question will then answer the twofold question of: |
• Where did the Universe come from and ‘What does it mean to be human’? |
• REMEMBER: IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES & bad Ideas have Victims |
#22 THE SECOND CRUCIAL WORD IN GENESIS 1v1 IS GOD |
This is why the Biblical Worldview does not stop by simply saying ‘In the beginning’. But ‘In the beginning…GOD. So Scripture starts with a categorical proposition that God is the Creator and Author of everything in existence |
To have a beginning means God is beyond the Universe because God has no beginning |
#25 Genesis 1v1-3 and the Trinity |
Genesis 1 doesn’t yet indicate the full significance that the names “Word” and “Spirit” will have for the Trinity. |
• The full significance of these names ‘Word and Spirit’ only comes with the appearance of the Word made flesh and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. (John 1v14; Acts 2) |
#27 These points are essential |
Because when we refer to ‘God’ we cannot just leave it there, because there are countless numbers of definitions of ‘God’ from countless numbers of different religions and philosophies. |
• So we have to unpack who God is based on His revelation. |
#28 In the Beginning God |
• It’s usually assumed that the Father is the one being referenced here with the term ‘God’ which is plural subject with a singular verb. Plural but singular |
• But we also have the presence of the Spirit in verse two…’And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters’. This is an implicit reference to the Trinity in Creation that is more fully revealed in the NT. |
#29 The fuller revelation of the Word and the Spirit in the NT |
• John 1:1-3 echoes Genesis 1v1… ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God’. |
• He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” |
• Acts chapter 2 the pouring out of the Holy Spirit |
#30 The Word was God |
• Jesus is given credit for creating…everything. That’s what verse three plainly states, that all things were made by him and nothing was made apart from him. This means that Jesus was uncreated. |
• In verse 14 of John chapter it says that the Word was made flesh-meaning that God was manifest in the flesh. |
#31 So Where did the Universe come from? |
• Genesis 1v1 states that God, who alone is uncreated and eternal, has formed and given existence to everything outside of Himself. God is Three in One-The Father, Son and Holy Spirit created the Universe ‘out of nothing’. |
• He did this from nothing by the word of his power, and all of it was very good (Genesis 1v31) |
#33 THE THIRD CRUCIAL WORD IN GENESIS 1v1 is CREATED. |
• Scripture introduces God in Action, he is a God of Action- God is doing something and what He is doing is the greatest thing that has ever been done IN TERMS OF ACTIVITY- which is the Creation of the Universe….out of Nothing |
• Everything that man creates is a mediated creativity- meaning that man has to use materials that already exist. |
• But the Scripture presents God as creating the Universe when there is no medium, there are no pre-existent materials to work with-He created out of Nothing- ex nihilo. God alone can bring life out of death and something out of nothing. |
#34 Creation out of Nothing |
• The Worldview of Western culture today is based on Evolution. This means that the Universe came from Nothing or Chance. But Nothing or Chance has no being, no personality, no power. • Creation of the Universe out of Nothing is the Supreme work that is not just Natural but SUPERNATURAL. Nothing cannot produce something. |
• It takes us beyond the glorious theatre of Nature to not only the beginning of Nature but to the Author and Creator of Nature who creates out of nothing. |
#35 God is both Transcendent and Immanent |
• In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ means that the one true personal infinite Creator God is BOTH Transcendent and Immanent at the same time. |
• This is so crucial to maintain both God’s Transcendence and Immanence, because if you disregard either, you will have departed from the one true God and have another ‘god’. |
#37 The Immanence or the Nearness of God means that God is in Covenant with His creation |
• God did not just ‘speak’ in the beginning and then leave the world to its own devices |
• Creation is not a ‘Clock’ that God wound up and left to run by itself. |
• Creation is essentially a response to the laws of God. |
• This means that God’s relationship with Day & Night, heaven & earth, Male & Female is as much a COVENANT as His relationship with His people. |
#38 God’s laws and ordinances for all Creation then are Covenantal |
Genesis 1v1 was creation ‘out of nothing’ but the subsequent Eight Times ‘LET THERE BE’ is a completing of the unformed, incomplete earth. |
• With the 8x ‘LET THERE BE’ we see a STRUCTURE being formed. |
#39 STRUCTURE- What does this mean? |
• WE CAN OBSERVE THAT A STRUCTURE IS FORMED OUT OF THREE SIGNIFICANT WORDS IN GENESIS 1v2. IN v2 WE ARE GIVEN A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE UNCREATED UNIVERSE THAT IS DESCRIBED IN 3 BASIC NEGATIVES |
• FORMLESSNESS/EMPTINESS/DARKNESS These Three terms combine to encompass and capture Three of the most threatening ideas that there can be to human existence and meaning. |
#40 3 NEGATIVES |
• FORMLESSNESS is really unimaginable because absolute formlessness would be absolute chaos and we could not even recognise chaos as being chaotic without some idea of ‘Form’. |
• VOID OR EMPTINESS is a word we use to describe the worst sensation in our soul when we feel frightened and alone and believe that our lives are empty. We can Imagine an empty house, an empty bed or anything else that is empty. |
• But imagine an empty Universe- no form, nothing. |
• And DARKNESS which is a purely negative term, for Darkness is not so much the presence of something but the absence of something. |
#41 GOD SAID ‘LET THERE BE LIGHT’ |
• IN THE MIDST OF THIS FORMLESSNESS, EMPTINESS AND DARKNESS WE ALSO HAVE IN v2 The Spirit of God … ‘And the Spirit of God was Hovering over the face of the waters’. |
• And we hear for the first time the voice of God….‘Let there be Light’ |
#42 GOD SAID ‘LET THERE BE LIGHT AND THERE WAS LIGHT’ |
And immediately there is Light and A STRUCTURE for God to form His world with trees, vegetation, plants, animals, the sun, moon and stars and ultimately with people. |
So a STRUCTURE is formed, and a setting is established for GOD to scoop His hands into the Dust and prepare a creature for His glory. |
#43 WHAT THEN DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN? |
• IN GENESIS 1 GOD IS LIKE A GLORIOUS ARTIST AS HE PAINTS THE BIG PICTURE OF CREATION. |
• IN GENESIS 2, WE LOOK WITH A MAGNIFYING GLASS AT ONE PARTICULAR ASPECT OF THAT BIG PICTURE. GENESIS 1 & 2 ARE NOT SEPARATE-THEY ARE ONE ACCOUNT IN TWO STAGES AS JESUS CONFIRMED IN MATTHEW 19 |
• EVERYTHING NOW FOCUSES ON THIS ONE PARTICULAR ASPECT: THE HIGHEST PART OF GOD’S CREATION AS THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE CREATES MALE AND FEMALE IN HIS OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS. |
• HE DOES THIS NOT BY SPEAKING THEM INTO EXISTENCE-BUT MOULDING THE FIRST HUMAN WITH HIS OWN HANDS FIRST FROM THE DUST OF THE GR0UND-THEN CREATES THE WOMAN FROM WITHIN THE MAN |
• AND GIVES THEM DOMINION OVER ALL THE EARTH |
#44 The eight fold rhythm that follows in Genesis 1 ‘Let there be’ dramatically changes in v26 in order to grab our: ATTENTION |
#46 GOD CONSULTS HIMSELF WITHIN HIS TRIUNE BEING TO CREATE HUMAN BEINGS IN HIS OWN IMAGE & LIKENESS |
In v26-28 The narrative pauses, as though to emphasise that the next step will be the culmination of all that has gone before. |
This is the only stage in the creative process when God announces His plan ahead of time, when the members of the Trinity consult with one another |
#47 This means that God is RELATIONAL, SOCIAL AND COMMUNAL BEING. |
• God is a Community of THREE PERSONS in mutual love and harmony. It means that God Himself IS A RELATIONSHIP. The TRINITY is the foundation for authentic Community because we are called to reflect WHO GOD IS.
|
#48 The Creation Mandate is Four fold and represents creational law for society and culture. |
• Be Fruitful |
• Multiply and fill the earth |
• Subdue |
• Have Dominion |
#49 BE FRUITFUL & MULTIPLY MEANS TO DEVELOP |
THE SOCIAL WORLD-EXPLORE, BUILD FAMILIES, SCHOOLS, CITIES, GOVERNMENTS, LAWS, INVENT |
• SUBDUE & HAVE DOMINION MEANS TO HARNESS THE NATURAL WORLD-PLANT CROPS, BUILD BRIDGES, DESIGN COMPUTERS, COMPOSE MUSIC. IN SHORT, BUILD & DEVELOP CIVILISATION. DOMINION DOES NOT MEAN TO DOMINATE- |
• TO SUBDUE & HAVE DOMINION MEANS THE SAME AS GENESIS 2v15>TILL & KEEP WHICH MEANS TO: |
• NURTURE, CARE FOR, WATER, DEVELOP THE GARDEN |
CULTIVATE CREATION WHICH IS WHERE WE GET THE WORD CULTURE FROM |
#50 KEY POINT |
• God decreed Creation to DEVEL0P. Therefore, the unfolding of culture and society are integral to creation and its development. This was built into creation from the very beginning. |
• God’s creational ordinances extend to the Structures of society, to the world of the family, education, art, business, commerce, government. In short, in every field of human affairs there is a right and wrong way of doing things. |
• There is nothing in human life that does not belong to the created order. EVERYTHING IS CREATIONAL |
#51 STRUCTURE & DIRECTION |
• THESE 2 IDEAS OF STRUCTURE & DIRECTION GIVE US A GAUGE TO EVALUATE & ASSESS WHERE A CULTURE IS AT IN RELATION TO GOD’S STRUCTURAL NORMS THAT HE HAS ESTABLISHED IN CREATION |
• THE STRUCTURE OF SOMETHING INVOLVES GOD’S CREATIONAL LAWS AND CREATIONAL NORMS THAT HE HAS ORDAINED FOR THEM |
• THERE ARE MANY STRUCTURES IN GOD’S CREATION WITHIN THE WHOLE REALM OF HUMAN AFFAIRS-BOTH PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL STRUCTURES. |
• FOR EXAMPLE: THE STRUCTURES OF FAMILY, MARRIAGE, CHURCH, STATE, EDUCATION, THE ARTS, SCIENCE, BUSINESS ETC ARE STRUCTURES |
#52 MANY STRUCTURES BUT ONLY 2 DIRECTIONS |
• ROMANS 1 and v25 IN PARTICULAR SHOWS US THAT HUMAN BEINGS ARE EITHER ORIENTED TOWARD GOD OR IDOLTARY. IT IS A MATTER OF THE DIRECTION OF THE HEART-WHICH INCLUDES THE MIND |
• THIS VERSE TELLS US THAT FALLEN MAN ‘EXCHANGES THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE AND WORSHIPS AND SERVES THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR’. IT ALSO MEANS THERE IS NO NEUTRAL GROUND- HUMAN BEINGS EITHER WORSHIP THE CREATOR GOD OR THEY WORSHIP CREATION |
• FOR EXAMPLE-GOD’S ORDAINED STRUCTURE FOR MARRIAGE IS STILL THE SAME AS IT WAS AT CREATION |
• BUT THE DIRECTION OF MARRIAGE IS DETERMINED BY THE IDEOLOGY OR THE WORLDVIEW OF HUMAN GOVERNMENT. |
THIS MEANS THAT WHEN A MARRIAGE OR A GOVERNMENT FAILS, IT IS NOT GOD’S STRUCTURAL NORM THAT HAS FAILED, IT IS THE DIRECTION OF THE HEART-BECAUSE OF WORSHIPPING THE CREATURE INSTEAD OF THE CREATOR |
#53 DIRECTION OF CULTURE & WORSHIP |
• CULTURE IS WHAT HUMAN BEINGS DO WITH GOD’S CREATION. THE CREATION MANDATE IN GENESIS 1v26-28 REVEALS AN INSIGHT OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN |
• THE WORD ‘CULT’ FROM THE LATIN MEANS TO WORSHIP. |
• IT MEANS THAT HUMAN CULTURE IS ROOTED IN WORSHIP. |
• ‘CULTURE IS BEST UNDERSTOOD AS RELIGION EXTERNALISED’ (Henry Van Til) |
#54 DIRECTION OF CULTURE CONTINUED |
• THE ORIGINAL PURPOSE FOR ADAM & EVE WAS TO DEVELOP A GOD GLORYFYING CULTURE |
• ‘IF CULTURE IS THE PUBLIC EXPRESSION OF A PEOPLE-AND THE GOSPEL RESTORES HUMAN BEINGS TO TRUE WORSHIP OF THE CREATOR RATHER THAN THE CREATURE- |
• THEN THE GOSPEL RESTORES HUMANKIND TO TRUE CULTURE-WHICH IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD’ (Joe Boot- Founder of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity) |
• THE ESSENCE OF BEING HUMAN THEN IS TO TURN CREATION INTO A GOD GLORYFYING CULTURE-WHICH IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD |
#55 THE GOSPEL RESTORES US TO BEING FULLY HUMAN- WHICH IS TO WORSHIP & SERVE |
• ITS AS IF ADAM & EVE WERE LIKE ROYAL PRIESTS IN GOD’S COSMIC TEMPLE OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN AND CREATION |
• WHAT IT REALLY MEANS TO BE HUMAN IS TO DEVELOP, CARE FOR, NURTURE, CULTIVATE CREATION…TO BE THE KINGDOM OF GOD- |
• ADAM & EVE WERE TO MINISTER THE GOODNESS OF GOD TO ALL CREATION AND TO MEDIATE GOD’S PURPOSE, CARE AND LOVE FOR CREATION TO CREATION. |
• TO DEVELOP AND CARE FOR CREATION AS KINGS AND PRIESTS TO REFLECT THE CHARACTER OF GOD IN HIS LOVE AND GOODNESS TOWARD CREATION WAS OUR ORIGINAL CALLING. |
#56 TRUE WORSHIP |
• TRUE WORSHIP WAS TO BE NOTHING LESS THAN THE CULTIVATION OF GOD’S CREATION INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD |
• EXAMPLE: THE GRAPES GROWING ON A VINE IS CREATION- BUT THE WINE IS CULTURE |
• IN OTHER WORDS WHAT CREATION PRODUCES BY THE IMAGE BEARER OF GOD REVEALS HIS TRUE WORSHIP |
#57 CULTURE IS WORSHIP |
• THIS IS WHAT HUMAN CULTURE WAS MEANT TO BE- BUT EVEN AFTER THE FALL, HUMAN CULTURE STILL MEANS WORSHIP |
• CULTURE IS ‘A STATE OF BEING’ THAT IS BEING CULTIVATED |
• IT IS CULTIVATED & DEVELOPED BY AN INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL CULTIVATION THAT IS HAPPENING ALL THE TIME TO EVERYONE IN RELATION TO THE PREDOMINANT FORM OF WORSHIP. |
#58 CULTURE IS A REFLECTION OF THE CHURCH’S ENGAGEMENT WITH CULTURE |
• IF THIS IS TRUE-THEN THE CONDITION OF HUMAN CULTURES TODAY IS A REFLECTION OF THE FAITHFULNESS OR NOT OF THE WITNESS OF THE GOSPEL TO IMPACT CULTURE OR NOT |
• IF CULTURE IS BEST UNDERSTOOD AS RELIGION EXTERNALISED |
• WITH ANY NATION- THE QUESTION NEEDS TO BE ASKED ‘HOW LONG HAS THE CHURCH BEEN FAITHFUL TO A SUBSTANTIAL WITNESS & ENGAGEMENT WITH THE CULTURE’? |
#59 A MUSTARD SEED GROWS INTO A TREE & A LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENS THE WHOLE LUMP |
• THE MUSTARD SEED OF THE GOSPEL HAD GROWN INTO A LARGE TREE IN WESTERN CULTURE- |
• A QUICK OVERVIEW OF SOME OF THE POSITIVE CONTRIBUTIONS THAT THE GOSPEL HAS HAD ON HISTORY: |
#60 THE GROWTH OF THE MUSTARD SEED |
• HOSPITALS-WHICH BEGAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES |
• UNIVERSITIES WHICH ALSO BEGAN DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. MOST OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST UNIVERSITIES WERE BEGAN BY CHRISTIANS FOR CHRISTIAN PURPOSES |
• LITERACY & EDUCATION FOR THE MASSES |
• CAPITALISM & FREE ENTERPRISE |
#61 GROWTH OF THE MUSTARD SEED CONTINUED |
• GOVERNMENT-IN PARTICULAR PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY |
• CIVIL LIBERTIES; THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY BOTH IN ANTIQUITY AND IN MODERN TIMES |
• MODERN SCIENCE |
• THE ELEVATION OF WOMEN |
• CHARITIES AND THE GOOD SAMARITAN ETHIC |
• THE HIGH REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE BECAUSE ALL HUMANS BEAR THE IMAGE OF GOD |
CONCLUSION
#62 MALE & FEMALE HE CREATED THEM |
• THE CREATIONAL DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN MALE & FEMALE IS FOUNDATIONAL TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN CIVILISATION TO ‘BE FRUITFUL & MULTIPLY, SUBDUE THE EARTH & HAVE DOMINION’ |
• THESE CREATIONAL DISTINCTIONS ARE BINARY DISTINCTIONS MEANING ‘CONSISTING OF TWO PARTS’. |
• Man cannot change the distinction between Day/Night; Heaven/Earth; Sea/Dry Land, |
• BUT Fallen man can change the Male/Female creational distinction |
#63 CREATIONAL BINARY DISTINCTIONS |
• CREATIONAL BINARY DISTINCTIONS AS ALREADY NOTED ARE COVENANTAL BECAUSE THE CREATOR GOD IS IN COVENANT WITH HIS CREATION- |
• MEANING THAT GOD HAS DECREED DAY & NIGHT, HEAVEN AND EARTH, SEA & DRY LAND & ULTMATELY AND ESPECIALLY MALE & FEMALE. |
• THESE DISTINCTIONS ARE NOT ONLY COMPLEMENTARY TO EACH OTHER AND MAINTAIN THE ORDERED RHYTHM OF CREATION |
• BUT GOD CREATED THESE STRUCTURAL CREATIONAL NORMS OUT OF THE DARKNESS, VOID AND FORMLESSNESS OF GENESIS 1v2 IN ORDER TO CREATE STRUCTURE, ORDER AND HARMONY |
#64 CHANGING THE CREATIONAL DISTINCTIONS |
• Man cannot change the distinction between Day/Night; Heaven/Earth; Sea/Dry Land. |
• BUT Fallen man can change the Distinction between MALE & FEMALE |
• The redefining of God’s creational distinctions of Male/Female are directly related to TWO MAJOR THEMES that run throughout the Scriptures: IDENTITY & IDOLATRY |
#65 IDOLATRY: THE SUBVERSION OF OUR TRUE IDENTITY |
AS NOTED, CULTURE MEANS WORSHIP AND REVEALS GOD’S ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE TRULY HUMAN-TO REFLECT HIS CHARACTER BY DEVELOPING CREATION INTO A GOD GLORYFYING CULTURE-AS AN ACT OF WORSHIP- |
REMEMBER THE GRAPES GROWING ON A VINE IS CREATION- BUT THE WINE IS CULTURE- IN OTHER WORDS WINE IS THE FRUIT OF CREATION- |
THE DIRECTION OF HUMAN CULTURE REVEALS WHAT IS REALLY WRONG WITH THE WORLD- AS ROMANS 1v25 PUTS THE PROBLEM IN A NUTSHELL: ‘THEY EXCHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE AND WORSHIPPED AND SERVED THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR’. |
#66 ROMANS 1, THE WRATH OF GOD IN GIVING THEM OVER RESULTS IN A PAGAN CULTURE OF DECAY THAT HATES THE CREATOR GOD |
• ROMANS CHAPTER 1v18-32 REVEALS WHAT HAPPENS TO HUMAN CULTURE IF IT ‘EXCHANGES THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE AND WORSHIPS AND SERVES THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR’. ROMANS 1v25 MEANS THAT THERE IS NOTHING THAT IS NEUTRAL IN CREATION. Human beings and human culture either worships the personal, infinite, eternal Triune Creator God or it worships the creation or something from within creation. |
• THE RESULT IS CULTURAL DECAY. IS THAT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO WESTERN CULTURE TODAY? WE WILL COVER THAT IN CHAPTER 2. |
CHAPTER 2- THE FALL
#68 WHAT ADAM & EVE DID WITH THE WORD OF GOD |
• Genesis 3v2- Eve ‘subtracts’ the Word of God- Her answer to the serpent’s question ‘Has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden’ was ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden’. |
• What did God actually say in Genesis 2v16? |
• ‘And the LORD God commanded the man, saying ‘Of every tree of the garden you may FREELY eat’ |
#69 Eve said ‘WE MAY EAT, SO SHE LEFT OUT THE WORD ‘FREELY’ |
• This is crucial because the word ‘Freely’ says something about the character of God, it says that God is a very liberal generous Father. |
• Just one word subtracted from what God said means that He is not as generous and good as she may have thought because she listened to the Question from the fallen angel Lucifer speaking through the serpent. |
• The issue is: That the Goodness of God is being attacked here. |
#70 EVE ADDED & CHANGED THE WORD OF GOD |
• She continued in 3v3 ‘but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’. |
• What did God actually say in Genesis 3v17? |
• ‘but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat for in the day that you eat of it, YOU SHALL SURELY DIE’. |
• Also God did not say ‘nor shall you touch it’ so she added to God’s Word. The beginning of man-made Legalism |
#71 GOD’S WORD CONTINUES TO BE ATTACKED |
• In Genesis 3v4-5 Lucifer through the serpent continues the attack on the Word of God…’You will not surely die’. |
• God said ‘In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die’. |
The fallen angel Lucifer thru the serpent completely changed and subverted (corrupt) the Word of God |
#72 THE FATHER OF LIES CONTINUES….3v5 |
• ’For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’. |
• They were already like God having been created in His own Image & Likeness |
• The word ‘KNOW’ is more than just intellectual understanding. It involves an experience. |
• For Eve to KNOW GOOD & EVIL as the serpent suggested WOULD BE AN EXPERIENCING OF GOOD AND EVIL. |
• Their eyes were opened but not in the way that the serpent had suggested. Sometimes a half truth is more dangerous that an outright lie |
#73 A PROFOUND 4 FOLD ALIENATION |
• They listened to the insinuation that once their eyes were opened by taking of the forbidden tree, that they shall know good and evil, meaning everything that is desirable to be known. |
• His first attack was to the woman’s mind by a question and by entertaining this question ‘Has God said’ it led to |
• the Four Fold Alienation we can observe from v7 to the end of the chapter 3. |
#75 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ALIENATED |
• The state of being alienated is to be withdrawn, or isolated from the objective world, through disassociation, rejection or abandonment. |
• It is basically to be DISCONNECTED from another person or for example a group of people who are discriminated against and pushed to the margins of society and not given any chance to integrate into mainstream society. |
• It is when a person or group does not fit or connect. |
• SIMPLE ANALOGY: WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE |
• OR A FISH OUT OF WATER |
#77 ALIENATION AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE FALL OF MAN |
• THIS FOUR FOLD ALIENATION REVEALS THE ROOT PROBLEM OF ‘WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD’? |
#78 ALIENATION FROM GOD |
• THIS IS THE PRIMARY ALIENATION THAT ALL HUMANS EXPERIENCE: |
• THIS LED TO THE 3 OTHER FORMS OF ALIENATION. |
• This profound alienation of humanity reveals the comprehensive nature of Adam and Eve’s ‘Declaration of Independence’ from the personal infinite Creator God- Genesis 3v1-9 |
#79 INTERNAL ALIENATION |
ALIENATION FROM OURSELVES WITHIN-TO TRULY KNOW OURSELVES WE HAVE TO KNOW GOD- Genesis 3v7-12; 16-19 GENESIS 3v7 The covering of their nakedness with fig leaves is where man-made religion began. |
For it is man attempting to cover and atone for their guilt and sin through their own ideas independent of God. |
The roots of all human psychology also began in 3v7-12-nakedness (exposure) fig leaves=independent man made atoning for sin> fear through knowledge of their nakedness> hiding from God> blaming each other. |
#80 ALIENATION BETWEEN HUMANS- RELATIONAL |
• THERE WAS ENMITY (HOSTILITY, OPPOSITION) BETWEEN THE MAN AND THE WOMAN. |
• THE CONFLICT BETWEEN MAN AND WOMAN WOULD DEVELOP INTO NATIONAL SEEN IN THE ENMITY BETWEEN THE ‘SEED OF THE SERPENT AND THE SEED OF THE WOMAN’. Genesis 3v15-16 |
• BUT GENESIS 3v15 IS WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE FIRST MENTION OF THE GOSPEL. |
#81 ALIENATION WITHIN NATURE/CREATION |
• Genesis 3v17-19 NATURE WOULD BE MARKED BY THORNS AND MAN’S LABOUR WOULD BE ONE OF TOIL BY THE SWEAT OF HIS BROW BUT UNDERPINNED BY A SENSE OF FUTILITY. |
• THESE ARE THE SPIRITUAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL, AND ENVIRONMENTAL ALIENATIONS THAT AFFLICT THE WHOLE HUMAN FAMILY. |
• As Romans 8v20-23 points out- the whole creation groans. All these divisions result from sin and they all distort God’s good purpose in Creation. |
#82 BACK TO GENESIS 1v2 |
• AS I POINTED OUT IN CHAPTER 1-GENESIS 1v2 GIVES US A GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE UNCREATED UNIVERSE THAT IS DESCRIBED IN TERMS OF 3 NEGATIVES: |
• FORMLESSNESS |
• EMPTINESS |
• DARKNESS |
• I MENTIONED THAT THESE 3 TERMS COMBINE TO CAPTURE 3 OF THE MOST THREATENING IDEAS THAT THERE CAN BE TO HUMAN EXISTENCE AND MEANING. |
• THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS 4 FOLD ALIENATION. |
#83 THE TASK OF THE CHRISTIAN IS TO DISCERN STRUCTURE & DIRECTION |
The structure that is formed OUT of the void, the darkness and formlessness has significant practical implications |
for the societal, cultural and personal lives of this creature God created for His glory-Human Beings. |
#84 STRUCTURE & DIRECTION |
• STRUCTURE= REFERS TO THE ORDER OF CREATION, SO STRUCTURE IS ANCHORED IN THE LAW OF CREATION. THESE ARE THE CREATIONAL NORMS THAT PROVIDE A STRONG CREATIONAL FOUNDATION ON WHICH TO BUILD UPON |
• THIS STRUCTURE AFFECTS THE DIRECTION THAT HUMAN BEINGS, AND THEREFORE HUMAN LIFE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE WILL MOVE TOWARD. |
• DIRECTION= TWO TENDENCIES MOVING EITHER TOWARD OR AWAY FROM GOD. |
• AWAY FROM GOD MEANS THE SINFUL DEVIATION THAT ERODES AND DESTROYS THE FOUNDATIONAL, STRUCTURAL AND CREATIONAL NORMS THAT GOD DESIGNED FOR HUMANITY…AND TO ALLOW FOR HUMAN FLOURISHING. |
#85 GOD PLANNED EVERYTHING |
• BEFORE HE BEGAN TO CREATE, GOD BEGAN WITH A FOUNDATION FOR HUMANITY. AFTER CREATING THE WORLD THROUGH HIS WORD ‘LET THERE BE’ HE LAID ANOTHER FOUNDATION. |
• A MAN FOLLOWED BY A WOMAN AND THEN MARRIAGE. |
• FIRST GOD FORMED THE MAN FROM THE DUST OF THE EARTH BY BREATHING INTO HIS NOSTRILS-THIS REVEALS THE INTIMACY OF GOD FOR THIS IMAGE BEARER. |
• HE THEN PUT THE MAN TO SLEEP AND MADE A WOMAN FROM THE MAN’S RIB. |
• GOD THEN BROUGHT THE WOMAN TO THE MAN. |
• THE PRIORITY IN BUILDING IS TO START WITH A STRONG FOUNDATION. GENESIS 2v7, 21-22 |
#86 A MAN, A WOMAN AND MARRIAGE |
• THIS IS HOW THE FOUNDATION FOR HUMAN LIFE WAS TO BE BASED UPON. THE FAMILY IS CREATED BEFORE HUMAN GOVERNMENT. |
• THE MAIN POINT IS THAT THIS WAS GOD’S CREATIONAL STRUCTURE- |
#87 DIRECTION AWAY FROM GOD |
• The reason humans will either travel in a direction TOWARD OR AWAY from the only one true God is because: |
• God BUILT INTO CREATION THE LAW OF REPRODUCING ‘AFTER THEIR KIND’ as Genesis 1 clearly conveys in v21-25 ‘according to its kind’. Animals reproduce after their kind. |
• Humans obviously produce ‘according to their kind’ BUT NOT JUST BIOLOGICALLY-HUMANS REPRODUCE SPIRITUALLY AS WELL. |
#88 IN ADAM ALL DIE- ROMANS 5v12-21 |
• It is a spiritual reality that the choice that Adam and Eve made in the Garden of Eden to disobey God and listen to the serpent’s lie: |
• ‘you shall be like God knowing Good and Evil’ (Genesis 3v5) MEANS THAT: |
• Human beings would ‘according to their kind’ (Adam & Eve) define Good and Evil for themselves apart from and AWAY from the Creator’s creational norms. |
Romans 1v25 puts this in a nutshell of what fallen human beings automatically do as a result of this 4 Fold Alienation. ‘THEY EXCHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE & WORSHIPPED & SERVED THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR’ |
#89 IDENTITY & IDOLATRY |
• TO ‘EXCHANGE THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE AND WORSHIP & SERVE THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR’…IS THE ESSENCE OF IDOLATRY. |
• THE QUESTION ‘WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD’ RELATES DIRECTLY TO TWO MAIN THEMES THAT RUN THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION: |
• IDENTITY & IDOLATRY: GENESIS 1v26-28 REVEALS OUR TRUE IDENTITY –WE ARE CREATED IN THE IMAGE & LIKENESS OF THE TRIUNE GOD. |
• THE TRAGEDY OF THE FALL IS THAT WE WERE CREATED TO REFLECT THE GLORY OF GOD. BUT INSTEAD WE REPLACED THE GLORY OF GOD FOR IDOLS. THIS IS WHAT IS REALLY WRONG WITH THE WORLD. IDOLATRY SUBVERTED/REPLACED OUR TRUE IDENTITY. |
#90 TO WORSHIP THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR |
• FURTHERMORE THIS ‘EXCHANGE OF THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE’ MEANS THAT TO WORSHIP THE CREATURE RATHER THAN THE CREATOR IS TO BECOME PAGAN. |
• PAGANISM REJECTS THE IDEA OF A CREATOR AND WORSHIPS THE EARTH, NOT JUST THE EARTH BUT ANYTHING FROM WITHIN CREATION. PAGANISM ALSO REJECTS THE DISTINCTIONS THAT THE CREATOR BUILT INTO CREATION. |
• CREATIONAL DISTINCTIONS ARE BUILT INTO CREATION AND WERE DESIGNED TO BE COMPLEMENTARY. |
• THESE CREATIONAL DISTINCTIONS REVEAL THAT NATURE IS CONSISTENT. EG DAY & NIGHT, SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN AND WINTER. |
• THE UNIVERSE OPERATES IN A CONSISTENT WAY- & SCIENCE WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT THIS |
#91 GENESIS 8v22 |
• WE ALL PRESUME THAT THE FUTURE WILL BE LIKE THE PAST IN TERMS OF THE BASIC OPERATION OF NATURE- EG DAY & NIGHT. ALTHOUGH THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO OUR EVERYDAY LIVES- eg FRIDAY CAN BE DIFFERENT TO MONDAY-CONDITIONS CHANGE |
• BUT THE LAW OF GRAVITY WILL WORK EXACTLY THE SAME ON MONDAY AS IT WILL ON FRIDAY. |
• THIS IS WHAT MODERN SCIENCE WAS BASED ON-THE CONSISTENT LAWS OF NATURE. |
#92 MAN BECAME THE ‘MEASURE OF ALL THINGS’ (Protagoras-Philosopher) |
• WESTERN CULTURE BEGAN TO DISMANTLE THE CREATIONAL DISTINCTIONS AND CREATIONAL NORMS-ESPECIALLY FROM THE MID 18TH CENTURY UP UNTIL TODAY. |
• THE RESULT BEING THAT ‘MAN BECAME THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS’. |
• THIS IS BASICALLY CALLED HUMANISM WHICH BEGAN IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN WITH THE SERPENT’S QUESTION: ‘HAS GOD INDEED SAID’ |
#93 WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD? |
• MAN CHOSE TO ‘BE LIKE GOD’ IN THE WRONG WAY. MAN CHOSE TO DEFINE GOOD AND EVIL HIMSELF INDEPENDENT OF GOD. |
• IN SHORT, FALLEN MAN IN HIS PROFOUND STATE OF ALIENATION MOVES AWAY FROM GOD AND CHANGES THE CREATIONAL, STRUCTURAL NORMS FOR HUMAN CIVILISATION. AND AS ROMANS 1 SHOWS, THIS ALWAYS LEADS TO CULTURAL DECAY. |
• IDEAS HAVE CONSEQUENCES AND HUMAN BEINGS IN WESTERN CULTURE REJECTED EVEN THE VERY IDEA THAT THERE IS A CREATOR GOD. |
• FROM THE MID 18TH CENTURY- WESTERN CULTURE BEGAN TO INTERPRET REALITY FROM A ROOM WITHOUT WINDOWS |
• WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? |
#94 A ROOM WITHOUT WINDOWS- |
A ROOM WITHOUT WINDOWS MEANS THAT REALITY IS ONLY PHYSICAL-THERE IS NO TRANSCENDENT/SPIRITUAL REALM |
THIS MEANT A DOWNWARD DIRECTION IN WORLDVIEWS. |
#96 THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL IN WESTERN CULTURE-DIRECTION AWAY FROM GOD
Biblical Theism
Deism
Secularism
#97 WESTERN CULTURE EMERGED OUT OF GRECO-ROMAN CULTURE |
• INCLUDE KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF GRECO-ROMAN CULTURE- SEE SCHAEFFER’S ‘HOW SHALL WE THEN LIVE’? TO DESCRIBE ROMAN CULTURE AND HOW THAT THE WEST IS NOW LIKE THE ROMAN EMPIRE THAT IS DISINTEGRATING AND IMPLODING FROM WITHIN. |
#98 UP UNTIL THE 18TH CENTURY WESTERN CULTURE BELIEVED IN A SPIRITUAL REALM |
• BUT FROM THE MID 18TH CENTURY IN THE PERIOD KNOWN AS ‘THE ENLIGHTENMENT’ THE REALM OF SCIENCE & PHILOSOPHY IN PARTICULAR- BEGAN TO AGGRESIVELY AND INTENTIONALLY ‘EXCHANGE THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE’. |
• THIS VERSE IN ROMANS 1v25 IS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CREATION AND THE FALL OF MAN-SO HUMAN BEINGS HAVE ‘EXCHANGED THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE EVER SINCE THE GARDEN OF EDEN. |
#98 APPLYING THE PROBLEM OF ‘EXCHANGING THE TRUTH OF GOD FOR THE LIE’ TO OUR OWN CULTURE TODAY |
• Relate this to the 2 themes of Identity and Idolatry |
• Relate Idolatry (Romans 1v25) to pagan sexuality. |
• Science and Technology. Eugenics and Genetic manipulation. AI and Technocracy |
• SEE ‘BAAL WORSHIP ANCIENT & MODERN PAPER & ‘NOTHING BEYOND THE FLESH’ PAPER |
CHAPTER 3.
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD?
As the great Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitzhen said ‘We have forgotten God’ that is why this has happened. He was referring to the decline and the disintegration of Western culture. So if we have forgotten God and this is our bottom line root problem and predicament…How to be righteous and acceptable before God |
#101 SACRIFICE- The Answer to our Guilt |
PROPITIATION- The Answer to God’s Wrath |
RECONCILIATION-The Answer to God’s Alienation from us |
REDEMPTION-The Answer to our bondage to sin, the world and the devil |
|
#102 God’s will for us was to be made holy by the Sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all time. |
#103 God did not accept the fig leaves that Adam & Eve covered themselves with as an atonement for their rebellion and sin, so He slew an innocent animal (Genesis 3v21) meaning that blood sacrifice to atone for sin was the only way back into God’s presence. |
This is because man’s ‘righteousness’ apart from God’s own righteousness is not acceptable to Him. God is holy and just. By killing an innocent animal in Genesis 3v21 and clothing them, God ‘propitiated’/turned away or appeased His wrath against Adam and Eve. |
The Sacrifice of a substitute and the shedding of blood is the answer to human guilt inherited from Adam and Eve. Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of our rebellion against the Infinite Holy and Creator God. |
#104 WHAT IS REDEMPTION? To redeem means to ‘buy back’ from out of a condition of slavery that all humanity inherited from the Fall of Adam and Eve. For ‘through one man’s offence judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation’. |
But even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life’. |
As a result of the Fall of man in Eden, human nature is a sinful, rebellious and fallen nature in alienation from God and is therefore in bondage to living from the disposition of self rather than God. |
Human beings then apart from the Last Adam Jesus Christ are in bondage to sin, to the world and to the devil, though they would not admit this or are even aware…’whose minds the god of this age has blinded’ (2 Corinthians 4v4). The world including the whole creation is in bondage (Romans 8v21-22) |
WHAT IS PROPITIATION?
Jesus Christ as the Saviour pays for our moral Guilt against God because the First Adam as the Federal Head of the human race, through the one mans’ offence judgment came to all human beings resulting in condemnation.
In His substitutionary atonement, Jesus Christ has covered us just as God covered Adam & Eve- because man’s righteousness apart from Jesus Christ is not acceptable to the Holy God.
God is a holy God and as a result of Adam and Eve’s rebellion and sin against God, He pronounced judgment while extending mercy at the same time in Genesis 3v14-19. |
The extending of mercy was the redemption that He promised in the Gospel when the serpent’s head would be crushed (Gen 3v15). In the Old Testament, on the great Day of Atonement the high priest carried the blood of the sacrifice he offered for all the people within the veil of the Tabernacle. He sprinkled it on the "mercy-seat," and so made propitiation (Exodus 25:21 ; 30:6). |
In 1 John 2:2 ; 4:10 in the New Testament, Christ is called the "propitiation for our sins". Christ is "the propitiation," because by his becoming our substitute ‘He who knew no sin became sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him’. (2 Corinthians 5v21). Propitiation is the answer to God’s wrath against our sin. |
#108 RECONCILIATION Because of the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ in His sacrificial death |
He has fully satisfied the holy justice of God the Father, and has fulfilled the whole Law on our behalf. |
Colossians 1v20 says ‘And through Him (Jesus) to Reconcile all things to Himself, having made Peace through the Blood of His cross. Through Him I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven’ |
#109 SIN MEANS TO ‘MISS THE MARK’ That ‘mark’ is the Righteousness of God Himself- We cannot therefore be righteous before God in a way that is acceptable to Him, it is impossible. This is because God cannot compromise His own standard which is Himself, because God alone is Righteous and Holy and we are not. |
In short, human beings need an innocent substitute to mediate between them and God, to represent them and to deliver them out of slavery to these three major forces of the world, the flesh (sinful fallen human nature outside of Christ the Last Adam) and the devil. |
WHAT IS THE SOLUTION THEN TO WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE WORLD? |
#110 THE DEATH & RESURRECTION OF JESUS The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ heals the Four Fold Alienation that is rooted in the Garden of Eden, which human nature inherits. He is the Lamb of God who sacrificed Himself to atone for our sin and guilt. |
Alienation between God and us: Because of His sacrifice, His substitutionary atonement that has propitiated the wrath of God against our rebellion in order to reconcile us back to God because His justice has been satisfied, fulfilled the whole Law of God and redeemed us out of slavery to sin, the world and the devil….therefore through this new & living way, His blood has brought us near. |
Internal Alienation: By being reconciled to our Creator who is our Father through the death and resurrection of Jesus, our eyes are opened, and we know by faith that the Universe was made by the Word of God, that the Fall of man explains What is wrong with the world and the Redemption of Christ is the ultimate solution to what is wrong, and that history is heading toward the Judgement seat of Jesus Christ and the New heavens and New earth. |
Alienation between each other: The death and resurrection of Jesus has reconciled us to each other, because the whole law of God is about Love, loving God and loving our neighbour. By clothing us with the Righteousness of the Last Adam Jesus Christ, we become new creations and empowered to serve and love both God and our neighbour. |
Alienation with nature: Colossians 1v15-23 uses the term ‘All things’ six times to explain the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has redeemed and reconciled the whole of creation. The Fall of man is as wide in scope as all of creation. God the Creator became God the Redeemer and we now live in between the ‘Already & Not Yet of the Kingdom of God. The KOG is basically all of creation. When Christ returns all of Creation will be made new. |
|
He became our substitute to take our place because God said ‘You shall surely die’ to Adam if he took of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. We all die because God said Adam would die. We all inherit a corrupt and polluted nature from Adam and Eve and are under the curse of God’s judgment that he sentenced humanity to in Genesis 3v16-19. |
The Ten Commandments known also as the Moral Law reveal God’s holy character. Because of the fallen nature we all inherit and are born with, we cannot obey these Ten Commandments, because |
‘by the law is the knowledge of sin’ (Romans 3v20) |
Comments