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Cosmic Conflict--Spiritual Warfare
Preview
This new page
will comprise an attempt to move toward an in-depth look at
what has gone wrong with our universe, what forces counter all
that is right, noble and decent. In other words, how
did the counterpart of God Himself intrude with all the evil,
chaos and death working against the very purpose of the
Creator within His very own
Creation?
We are now
gathering our information and perspective to share with our
website visitors.
We also invite responses from our readers through our
email.
The Original
Culprit
12
How art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer, son of the morning!
how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken
the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the
stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the
most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to
hell, to the sides of the pit. 16 They that see
thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider
thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to
tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17 That
made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities
thereof; that opened not
the house of his prisoners? 18 All the kings of the
nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in
his own house. 19 But thou art cast out of thy
grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of
those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go
down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under
feet. 20 Thou shalt not be joined with them in
burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain
thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the
iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess
the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD
of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and
son, and nephew, saith the LORD. 23 I will also
make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and
I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD
of hosts.
--Isaiah 14:12-23
KJV
This flow can easily
be detected, even
within the good old King James
Version, which, of course, lends itself to a poetic
posture in translating the ancient manuscripts published in
1611 under the edict of good old King Jimmy (King James)! Even within the New
Testament itself Paul, as well as John in Revelation, deals
with this fallen heavenly being known as Lucifer:
13 For such are
false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves
into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be according to their
works.
--II Corinthians
11:13-15 KJV
The
root of the name
Lucifer itself
means light, but
following his rebellion against God during the ancient
prehistoric times, Lucifer ever since bathes himself in the
counterfeit light of deception. He has been identified
within both the Old Testament and the New Testament as the
very originator of lies (John 8:44). To
those who love darkness rather than light, Paul states in the verses quoted that Satan
(Lucifer) in appearance transforms himself into an angel of
light.
Thus,
the inclusion of the above passages of Scriptures places us
within the context and framework for the origination of evil
and rebellion within our world, but there yet remains one more
link to understand the relationship to the fall of humanity
(see Origin of
Evil).
CHAPTER
1
1 In the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth
was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the
face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of
the waters.
3 And God said, Let there
be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the
light, that it was good: and God divided the light from
the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and
the darkness he called Night. And the
evening and
the morning were the first day.
6 And God said, Let there
be a firmament in the
midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the
waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided
the waters which were under the firmament from the
waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the
evening and the morning were the second day.
9 And God said, Let the
waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place,
and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and
the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God
saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let
the earth bring forth grass, the
herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit
after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the
earth: and it was so. 12 And the earth brought
forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and
the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself,
after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were the third
day.
14 And God said, Let there
be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the
day from
the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for
days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in
the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and
it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the
greater light to rule the day, and
the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars
also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the
heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule
over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from
the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth
day.
20 And God said, Let the
waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath
life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open
firmament of heaven. 21 And God created great
whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the
waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every
winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was
good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl
multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the
morning were the fifth day.
24 And God said, Let the
earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle,
and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and
it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth
after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing
that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw
that it was good.
26 And God said, Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in
the image of God created he him; male and female created he
them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto
them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and
subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and
over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that
moveth upon
the earth.
29 And God said, Behold, I
have given you every herb bearing seed,
which is upon the face of all the earth, and every
tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding
seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every
beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every
thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
life, I
have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31 And God saw every thing
that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And
the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
CHAPTER
2
1 Thus the heavens and
the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which
he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his
work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the
seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had
rested from all his work which God created and
made.
4 These are the
generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were
created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the
heavens, 5 And every plant of the field before it
was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew:
for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth,
and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and
watered the whole face of the ground. 7 And the
LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became
a living soul.
8 And the LORD God
planted a garden eastward in
Eden; and there he put the
man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground
made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the
sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst
of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of
Eden to water the garden;
and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that
is it which compasseth the whole
land of
Havilah, where there is
gold; 12 And the gold of that land is good:
there is bdellium and the onyx stone. 13 And
the name of the second river is Gihon: the same
is it that compasseth the whole
land of
Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is
Hiddekel: that is it which goeth
toward the east of
Assyria. And the fourth
river is Euphrates. 15 And the
LORD God took the man, and
put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in
the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die.
18 And the LORD God
said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I
will make him an help meet for
him. 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed
every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and
brought them unto Adam to see
what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every
living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names
to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast
of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet
for him.
21 And the LORD God caused
a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one
of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from
man, made he a
woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam
said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my
flesh: she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave
unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And
they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not
ashamed.
CHAPTER
3
1 Now the serpent was
more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had
made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath
God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat
of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of
the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the
garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall
ye touch it, lest ye die. 4 And the serpent said
unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5 For God
doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, and that it was
pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of
them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves
aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking
in the garden in the cool of the
day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of
the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the LORD God called
unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden,
and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid
myself.
11 And he said, Who told
thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree,
whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest
to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the LORD God said unto the woman, What
is this that thou hast done? And the woman said,
The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14 And the LORD God said
unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art
cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field;
upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the
days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it
shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16 Unto the woman he said,
I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in
sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire
shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 And unto Adam he said,
Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and
hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying,
Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy
sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of
thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it
bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou
taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return.
20 And Adam called his
wife’s name Eve;
because she was the mother of all living.
21 Unto Adam also and to
his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed
them.
22 And the LORD God said,
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:
and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree
of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23 Therefore
the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till
the ground from whence he was taken. 24 So he drove
out the man; and he placed at the east of the
garden of
Eden
Cherubims, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
--Genesis, chapters 1-3 KJV
Also see Adam and
Eve.
Based
on the above passage of Scripture, we have the
springboard for the deception and fall of humanity. We begin with the
Creation with verse 1 of the
book of beginnings, Genesis, chapter 1. In
the beginning God…
May we pause to avail
ourselves of some very dynamic perspectives concerning the
pre-creation dimensions?
Many
questions invade our imaginations: How
did God Himself originate? If God created
time/space continuum, what reality formed the context of the
time/space continuum? What really is meant by
the Hebrew word for God elohiym
(sometimes written
elohim)?
In the first chapter of Genesis God's
description demonstrates an almost finite being, seeing
that He saw that His Creation was good; how do we
reconcile such limited perspective with the Christian concept
of the infinite God?
These are a few of the popular questions we shall herein
deal with briefly, but there must be an understanding
that a vast difference remains between the finite
world and the infinite dimensions, God’s domain
extending endlessly beyond the limits of His Created
Order!
Allow us to take each of the
questions in order:
How did God Himself
originate?
We could easily sidestep this issue
by giving the classic response, God has always
existed, having neither beginning nor ending,
but such conclusion, although factually correct, can scarcely
satisfy the restless, curious mind of some seekers. There indeed needs to
be some link between the infinite and the
finite. Though
the finite always exists within the context of the
infinite, a definite relationship exists. A link
between the temporal and the eternal has been demonstrated in
Jesus Christ, the God/Man (we'll
seek to explore this aspect later).
For now, we should explore the
whole matter of the specific aspects by sorting the
differences and the relationships between what we refer to as
the infinite and the finite.
We have already indicated that the
infinite reflects God’s domain, but perhaps we need
to go a step further.
Even the infinite lies within the context of
God Himself and never the reverse. As a matter of fact
everything remains within the context of God and God Himself
can never be contained within the context of anything. This does not imply
that God is never present within the finite or the
infinite.
God Himself remains eternally omnipresent. That is, God
is everywhere present in instant fashion at every single
moment of all history.
Even beyond that, all time, past, present and
future, remains instantly present before Him.
Let us stretch our imagination to
the very breaking point.
Even existence itself resides within the context of
God. If we
may declare it another way, we may say truthfully, God
Himself gave rise to existence itself. Can God
Himself then exist? Indeed, for God
pervades all His Creation, including existence. Even though God gave
birth to what we refer to as existence and precedes
that existence and that existence originated
in and through Him, that existence remains within the
context of God and never vice versa.
Though much of this train of
thought finds biblical support more within the expressed
nature of the God of the universe than within explicit
declarations within the Scriptures themselves, the character
and nature of these conclusions could never represent a
conclusion less than the God of the Bible. Quite the contrary,
any conclusion we can arrive at falls short of the complete
character of the Almighty, for the finite can never
fully embrace the infinite. But the
Infinite always fully embraces the finite,
which is to say that God fully embraces humanity and never
leaves us to ourselves.
We indeed are never alone in the universe!
Therefore, if everything within
existence (as well as existence itself) remains within the
context of God. it stands to reason that God can be understood
as the reason for everything and that logic and reason must
center in Who He is to be themselves authentic. Then if God Who has
never had a beginning remains the reason for His Own
existence, then all His creation must be understood to exist
only because of God and Who He is. Beyond that, He then
must be His own reason for existence, since existence itself
remains within the context of God. To understand fully
this marvelous reality, we ourselves would need an infinite
mind.
Yet,
we do certainly have pointers toward the infinite. Let us allow that the
ultimate answers and resolution of every issue resides across
the great divide
which separates the finite from the infinite domain. If the infinite swallows up
the finite such
that the reason for existence as we encounter within the
finite, temporal world can only have authentic
meaning because of the infinite (the nature
of the very Being
of God Himself), a bridge across the great divide must of
necessity take place to resolve our deepest and most divisive
human issues.
Allow us to suppose such bridging of the humongous gap
requires superhuman negotiations.
GREAT NEWS! Such has been
supernaturally accomplished in the God/Man, Jesus Christ. He is the infinite God of the
universe Who became one of us, not within our blemished,
fallen estate, but within genuine, unfallen humanity to
identify with us that He might conjoin us to God through
taking our guilt on Himself at THE CROSS to restore our union
with the living, infinite God. Only within that
perfect, redeemed relationship can we truly understand the
essence of the living God, that within that dimension of
infinity He needs no beginning to be Who He is, for He is the
only reality that by nature needs no beginning. Yet, He gives the
whole universe, including mankind, a beginning through
creation.
Therefore, we can only find meaning to our existence
through the One Who gave us existence and calls us back to
Himself to find our meaning and purpose.
Christ Himself lays credible claim to being the alpha and the omega, the first and the last (Revelation
22:13). All meaning and
purpose resides in Him, from creation itself and always in Him
all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17).
Another way of looking at this link between the
finite and the infinite resides in simply understanding Christ
to be the key, much in the
same way as the significance of the Rosetta stone became the
key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics. In other words, the infinite as
revealed to the limit of our capacity to understand through
Jesus Christ gives us meaning on the finite plane. He is the infinite God
made personable and relevant to us who are earthly, limited to
this time/space continuum.
Just
how can we understand God to be without any origin? Just how could a three
month old child come near understanding the theory of
relativity?
After all, the fullest capacity of the greatest genius
in the universe would scarcely equal a single grain of
sand compared to the vastness of every grain of sand in every
beach and desert in the whole world, where each of those
grains represents vast storages of untapped knowledge. But keep this in mind,
the mere fact that God has no beginning or ending cannot be
contingent upon any person’s ability to understand
it!
If God created time/space
continuum, what reality formed the context of the time/space
continuum?
Since we are finite, physically, emotionally and
psychologically tied in to the fabric of the finite, does it
not follow logically that we seek to get a handle on concepts
by structuring them within the format of our own understanding
as finite creatures? Step beyond our own
world and experiences into the infinite domain, what
faculty do we have even to sense the realities beyond
dimensions we have never developed the senses that could link
us, that could put us in touch with that world totally beyond
us?
In
other words, even the question makes an assumption, that the
time/space
continuum can be framed within the context of a greater
(or more expansive) context. Just to tickle our
imaginations a bit, if such envelope could contain the time/space continuum,
what would be the purpose of the envelope? Would it become a
larger, more expansive, infinite domain in which to house the
infinite expanse of time and space itself? Then, if that were
true, what larger context would house the envelope housing the
time/space
continuum?
Could we not keep going without end in placing each in
a higher context?
But for what purpose?
We
have already established the understanding that by nature God
Himself can be in the context of nothing, but everything lies
within the context of God, the Creator of all things.
Indeed, we have not explained the question other
than allowing it to rest beyond human ability to measure the
infinite. But
then, how could anyone explain the infinite without himself
being infinite?
What really is
meant by the Hebrew word for God elohiym
(sometimes
written elohim)?
Many other Hebrew words
also refer to God,
such as Yahweh
(Jehovah in some
translations), the Hebrew word which for sake of reverence
would never be pronounced by the Hebrew people, for that word
had been revealed to be the very name of God and based on being, the basic
reality upon which all creation originated and rested
and el,
the singular word for God and often in
combination with a distinct characteristic of God, such as el- jireh (God will provide), and
on and on.
But elohiym is the plural
word for el. Thus, conceivably, the
word could be translated as gods rather than God, which in reality
the writer quite obviously by context and usage means the one and only
God. Often
this case is strengthened considerably by following the elohiym with a
singular verb.
Then, why did Moses choose to use the plural
form for God?
Several suggestions have
been set forth to account for this usage. One of these
suggestions may readily be dismissed as offensively radical,
based more in forced interpretation
through a predisposition to reduce this biblical account into
an ordinary byproduct of pagan influences on primitive Hebrew
culture. It does
not tally with the overall scheme and principal direction
pursued throughout the entire biblical account within the book
of Genesis. Just
by very remote possibility that such
usage of elohiym
implicitly marked pagan influences, such would have been
purged from the Hebrew Scriptures through utter disgust
without ever becoming a part of the Pentateuch.
One of the
suggestions bases its conclusion on the doctrine of the
Trinity, one God in three persons. No one could seriously
question that God as a triune Being certainly can be
understood to be implicit within words used for God in the Old
Testament, as well as being more specifically set forth within
the New Testament.
However, there remains a serious weakness within this
view. Three Persons in
One God cannot justifiably be referred to
as three gods so that the Hebrew word elohiym
for gods in this case could even make
any reasonable sense at all.
While the question may never be completely
settled, we must contend that plurality of the word does
not suggest more than One God. One way to understand
this comes into play by the Hebrew practice called plurality of majesty,
which within context can be established. As example, an
extremely high mountain peak could be referred to as mountain
peaks. The
context must of necessity indicate only one mountain peak, but
the use of the plural peaks idiomatically
refers to its majesty expressed through height. Since the context of
elohiym is used
with a singular verb, this fact could easily be interpreted
very plausibly to indicate the Hebrew majestic
God.
In the first chapter of Genesis God's
description demonstrates an almost finite being, seeing
that He saw that His Creation was good; how do we
reconcile such limited perspective with the Christian concept
of the infinite
God?
A description of God in human
characteristics has been used on occasions throughout biblical
writings for the purpose of communicating God’s character in
terms easily understood by the readers. This process, called
anthropomorphism, must be deduced from the
context. As for
example, the use of the hand of God
certainly can be understood that such figuratively terminology
provides imagery of God’s presence, for obviously God, being
infinite and of Spirit, does not have the limitation of a
physical body.
While there can be a suggestion of
human emotion within this first chapter of Genesis, there is a
deeper reality reflected. When God saw
His creation and declared it good, He did not draw a
conclusion from what He did, for His knowledge remains
absolute and complete within His infinite disposition. Rather His declaration
communicated to His creatures for future readers that God
declares all that He does good! Hence, we must be
careful how we handle and care for
His creation. This becomes the basis
for good stewardship among God’s human creatures.
Thus, when God
saw, that in and of itself
manifested a perspective from humanity and thus retained an
element of anthropomorphism and, by this
communication, God identified with humanity and
interacted with His creatures through the
Scriptures! Yet,
this first initial entrance into prehistory pointed to the
ultimate anthropomorphism by the birth, life, death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ millenniums later, for Jesus
Himself as God took upon Himself human flesh and fully
identified with humanity as both God and Man.
And when God
declared it good He brought humanity
through the gateway to His purpose, for no matter what,
whatever God does is always good!
But what of the
misunderstanding humanity receives with images of God that
forms in the finite character, thinking of God only in that
limited form?
Question:
Do we insist that our children, the ones
who have not achieved a level to understand as mature adults
do with respect to more complex issues, never receive any
information that they cannot understand fully? Absolutely not; that
would be folly to think in those terms. Children broaden their
abilities to understand more and more as time goes on and they
are exposed to situations they do not immediately
understand.
As for example, children are satisfied
to think of their world to be exactly as they see it. Very early, they may
perceive distant mountains as being much smaller than they
really are.
That’s OK.
They learn as they are able. One day as children
take a journey toward the distant mountains, they begin to
notice how those mountains start to change, to grow taller and
specific peaks begin to strip away from the range. Then will the children
realize more completely just what constitutes mountains. After such
experiences, they will look at the range of mountains from a
distance and know that they are much more than a small ridge a
short distance away.
The same must be true with God’s
children. True,
we will never achieve complete knowledge in this world, but we
can come to understand God on a much higher level as we study
His word and begin to see anthropomorphisms as
useful means of insights into the character and nature of God
much better than we ever could without them. Yet, we must come to
the disposition to understand God to be much beyond our
comprehension each step along the way.
Sure, God in His infinite character can never be
embraced completely by any of us, for we will never have an
infinite mind with which to fathom the endless depths of all
that God is.
From here, we see the story of creation unfold, leading to the
climax, the creation of Adam and then Eve. In the movement toward
that crowning event, an interesting, thought-provoking
observation occurs:
As God created the heavens and earth, the earth was
without form and void.
This language may well suggest a state of fallen nature and/or
a condition of judgment
against the created order. Just what could have
gone wrong?
Many suggestions have been
proposed. Some
have deduced that Satan had fallen by that early time and
possessed the earth during the process of creation. However, others point
out that such speculation is flawed since God continued to
declare His creation good; yet, we must
admit that when Satan fell, he brought with him chaos,
darkness and evil.
Then why would
God continue to call His creation good, if that were
the case?
Perhaps a better understanding comes
from the fact that God alone is good and all goodness
originates in Him.
When He uttered the creation into existence, the
creation definitely could not have been an extension of God
Himself, but even though God retains power over His creation,
that creation became a separate entity. The creation is not God Himself; the
universe cannot be the corpus of God. Creation is always
separate from God.
The very fact that creation remains
separate from God provides initially neutrality. Yet, it is good in
that God is the Creator; it has the potential for both good and bad in that God gave
it a separate existence from that of Himself.
The creating of the earth would
consign earth and all therein to chaos and darkness had God
merely flung it into space and divorced Himself from the
process without bringing about direction and purpose. Thus, God’s Spirit
hovered over that momentary chaos. It’s as though the
life and power of God did not halt without bringing light out
of darkness, providing life in defiance of death, purpose and
direction in spite of the lack of immediate completeness. Evidently, creation being
cast into time/space carried with it the elements of that
dimension; its relationship to the time/space continuum
brought with it a process. Thus,
we see the stages of creation, the
days.
Yet, it is possible that before this process Satan
could have fallen through rebellion against God and cast from
heaven, polluting the neutrality stage of
creation.
Thus, he could have influenced creation process from
neutrality to rebellion against God, to maintain the status
quo, which crystallized that rebellion. Hence, death and sin
could have existed beyond the Garden of Eden. No matter
what, Satan could never compete with God as to block God’s
purpose through creation. The best
he could do would be to spread his rebellion, eventually to
enter the Garden of Eden and tempt Eve and through her to
reach
Adam.
Nevertheless, God’s Spirit hovering
over those chaotic waters signified God’s life, His vibrant
presence within His creation, His powerful life-injecting,
energizing, dynamic activation. Through creation, God
continued to move the world toward His purpose of establishing
a stage to introduce His crown upon the scene, Adam and Eve, who would possess
the very image of God within!
In this movement we may extract a very
important and always relevant principle. Status quo must be rejected
in receiving God’s movement by His Holy Spirit through the new creation. God did not create us
to leave us where we are any more than He began to create the
universe just to leave it at some lower level, but He created
us to take us into new avenues, to higher planes and into
deeper relationships with Himself and with others (Philippians
1:6).
The paramount call to
God’s children?
Focus on God in Jesus Christ and get beyond
ourselves!
This urgency rests in the words of Christ to His
disciples (Matthew 16:24-26). To deny self signifies
a focus on principles and aspects far more fulfilling than
preoccupation with self and self-centered goals. As a matter of fact,
these principles and aspects center in a Person, Jesus Christ Himself. Thus, from the
outset God refused to leave us alone, but throughout history
from the time of creation God keeps calling us back to the
importance of breaking out of our nest, out of that status quo
which impedes our journey through this level of
existence.
THEN, it happened;
at the culmination of these six stages (days) of
creation God introduced the first man into the picture. Humanity had made its entrée into the created order,
open and responsive to the Creator as the first man,
Adam. He was soon
followed by Eve, his wife.
Oh, most of us buck the general
consignment of the science mantras who seek to silence any
inkling of light that possibly would counter their official
mandates by lumping all such opposition into the fantasy pit of fairy
tales, but no matter what the truth of creation may be
called, no amount of words and delusional logic will ever
change the power and authority of reality. God will never be swept
under the rug of any or all rebellious humanity.
And parenthetically, the dastardly
snubbing of all scientists who even express consideration of
possible intelligent design
or creationism speaks
of the most unscientific approach possible. Very respectable,
credible and well qualified scientists become expelled from the
reputable ranks of the mantras simply because of an open and
questioning mind.
In other words, to “belong” to such ranks requires
every door of possibility to be closed and locked except the door
to preconceived paths of investigations, which procedures keep
these elite sealed in their own little world within their very
own box,
God
provided a perfect environment for Adam and Eve in the Garden
of Eden. Their
responsibilities and privileges included: Attending
their environment as stewards of the LORD and open fellowship
with their Creator, which carried with it a promise of
endless fulfillment.
No credible reason for change from this relationship
with God and with each other could conceivably arise.
Yet,
Adam and Eve served God from an act of will. Why? God placed the
forbidden tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden for one
essential reason.
As long as Adam and Eve had a choice and served God,
their devotion to God expressed authenticity. Love must never be
forced. If it
does become mandatory, it has no way to reflect genuine
expression.
The
same principle must be promoted with children as they develop
within the context of family relationships. Certainly, parents
must provide a genuine role model to share real love and
concern for every child within the family. Such expression of
love opens doors for both development and reciprocation of
love. However, to mandate the
child or children act out love behavior neither promotes the
inception of love nor even a sense of what genuine love really
is!
Thus, in the same fashion God would never enforce
artificial behavior that would fake love. Adam and Eve had the
liberty to continue expressing reciprocal love toward God, but
would they?
Before Adam and Eve could ever embrace love, they
had to have a choice.
If they had no choice, expressions of love could not
prove authentic.
Thus, the very reason for the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil would assure that the first couple on earth
would serve God out of love by choice rather than
serving God because they were unable to do otherwise.
Now,
we all know the outcome.
Satan made sure that he had his shot at God’s prized
creation.
We
may amuse ourselves with such speculation as to why God
allowed Satan into the Garden of Eden, since Satan can do
nothing God would disallow. The book of Job may
shed some light on this.
Satan searches incessantly for ways to discredit God’s
creatures. He
accuses every one of God’s creatures who serves God as being
disingenuous.
Thus, God allowed Satan to test Job.
Hence, God, no doubt, allowed Satan to tempt
Eve. But unlike
Job, Eve failed the test and through Eve Adam also failed the
test. Satan wily
approached Eve with a question: Has God indeed said, “You
shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?
One
very important lesson we could all learn would be to disengage
ourselves from any interaction with Satan or his demons. Christ disengaged
Himself from Satan at every turn by refusing to act on his
conditions.
Christ came back with It is written… to
silence Satan.
But
Eve engaged Satan and also began to question God’s
authority. Her
curiosity became Satan’s tool to prod her to eat of the
forbidden tree and Eve drug Adam down with her.
Both
Eve and Adam displaced God with self. Each became a god (or
as God within each one's own thinking). Each would determine
for self what is good and what is bad.
But each immediately experienced a horrible
consequence. Each
felt absolutely naked. Each felt a need
for hiding self from the reality of guilt and shame. That’s always a
consequence of sin since that fall.
Parenthetically, allow us to refocus on the state
of the world before and following the fall of humanity in Adam
and Eve, and by their nature polluting all mankind from that
moment and throughout all history. We have already noted
the plausibility of a fall in nature during creation. We must also point out
in all fairness that some Christians fail to embrace that
notion, contending that the entire world fell because of God’s
curse regarding the sin of Adam and Eve, that death came into
the world only at the fall of Adam and Eve and that Satan
could not have fallen from heaven until sometime after Adam
and Eve were placed in the garden.
Each
position has certain elements to commend itself to the reader;
thus, we encourage every reader to examine all the evidence
and draw a conclusion with respect to the best light available
to him.
Following the sin of Adam and Eve, God could have
locked up the heavens and allowed humanity to perish in the
ensuing turmoil and destitution. He could have opened
the regions below and allowed judgment to destroy all of
creation. That
would have been the natural course. But God can never be
bound by human sentiments, human misguided notions, or human
anticipations.
God
remains far beyond humanity, though at the same time He
remains active within and throughout all His creation. Hence He did not leave
humanity to its own path. He prophesied the
coming of the Christ (Genesis 3:15). The seed of the woman runs
contrary to the understanding that only the male carries the
seed within himself.
That seed must be given the woman to bear
children.
However, only a virgin mother could deliver a child
without the seed of a man. Thus, such
specification must be a reference to the mother of the
Messiah.
Thus, Jesus was born in fulfillment of that
prophesy, having a virgin mother. As Son of God and Son
of Man, He became the go-between to take
humanity to God and God to humanity. This role landed our
Lord in a position to oppose Satan and enter a cosmic conflict with
him.
Consequently, as Satan confronted the new God/Man,
he came up against God and Man, but the Second Adam as
Man, Jesus Christ, embodied perfect humanity since He had
never sinned nor held sin in the deep inner person. As God, He is
perfectly God and as Man, He is the perfect, untainted
Humanity. Yet,
Christ willingly struggled with Satan on the basis of the
second Adam.
Doing such provided victory for humanity, albeit
perfect humanity for imperfect humanity.
Here
we find a great mystery.
What
fallen humanity cannot do because of sin that separates
everyone from God by an irrevocably vast chasm that can never
be spanned by human efforts, Christ Jesus accomplished at the
Cross; He bridged the gap by becoming our sin and paying the
full price such that we may cross the chasm over His
Cross. Our sins
have been fully paid for and all we now need to do is accept
what Christ did on our behalf. When we confess our
sin through deep sorrow, that price becomes effective in our
own hearts. When
we confess Him as Lord and Savior, Christ takes us across that
chasm of separation and reunites us with God such that we are
no longer alien to Him.
By
this atonement humanity may have access to God through Christ
as the advocate, bringing us into a perfect relationship such
that when the Holy Spirit expresses Himself through our
spirit, we become the voice and action of God Himself. We are no longer
giving credibility to the flesh (carnos).
However, in this life we remain in conflict, for
Satan opposes God.
When God lives through us, Satan seeks to snare us, to
draw us into rebellion against God Himself. If Satan were the guy
with horns and a pitchfork, we could easily resist him. But he projects
himself with an illusion of an angel of light (II Corinthians
11:14-15). Or he
presents lures to appeal to the pleasures and appetites of the
flesh (the carnal nature of the Christian). Or he may well appeal
to the sense of pride to swell the ego of the Christian,
causing him to create problems in the congregation. There remain a
multitude of ways Satan employs to stop or destroy the witness
and effectiveness of the Christian’s life and actions, but
Satan always does such assaults in ways that can appear good
or right when we cease to focus on Jesus.
It
is true; when we keep our focus on Christ, we dwell daily in
His Word and constantly relate ourselves to Him in prayer and
fellowship, when we gear ourselves to testify of His presence
to others in words and deeds, when we give ourselves to
minister to the needs of others, and when we disciple and
mentor others who need encouragement and help—we become
strengthened against the encroachments of Satan.
Even
though we find ourselves in a constant cosmic conflict, God
will be with us and we have recourse to resist the ploys of
Satan and keep ourselves pure before the Lord, Who will give
us ultimate victory when He calls us home!
Even so, a significant number of professing
Christians seek to elevate themselves through religion. Religion looms as a
perfect ego-building infatuation with strict adherence to
religious laws, rituals, activities and deprivations to gain
recognition before some god (often confused with the
Christian God).
By such works they hope to generation enough goodness that their
god will recognize their worthiness and save them in the
end.
However,
religion per se
cannot be the answer.
Religion served a place in the Old Testament through
the law to show that no man can live up to the demands of
God’s perfect law—that everyone has failed in such
efforts.
Although
broadly classified as one of the world’s religions,
Christianity defies such classification, for Christianity
remains unique among the world’s religions. Christianity cannot be
defined along lines of human merit, but along lines of a
perfect relationship with the God of the universe. Human works not only
fall far short, but bear rotten fruits as filthy rags before the
Almighty God who demands absolute perfection to match His
righteous, just, pure and holy nature (Isaiah 64:6). Thus, His
righteousness becomes ours through relationship made
possible by the payment of our debts through the atonement
Jesus made at Calvary.
Hence, we are liberated and find fulfillment through
the relationship that brings transformation (John, chapter 3:
we are born again by the Spirit)!
To conclude the
matter, Satan and all the forces of darkness shuffle concerns
and ideas to portray self value and make self the center of
all. Therefore,
self-works and self-efforts earn recognition
before god. Through this illusion
promoted by the powers of this world system, Satan finds
success in keeping people from the true God of the
universe.
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