OK here we are at the end of this series. I hope you have enjoyed all the splinter extraction. In the end it isn’t important if you agree with me or not. I just pray that God will reveal His true nature to you and you step into the fullness of the knowledge of Him in the love of Jesus. My prayer for you is the same as Paul’s:
Eph 3:17 Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life, providing you with a secure foundation that grows and grows. Then, as your spiritual strength increases, you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences— the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love! How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement, beyond academic knowledge— this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God! (Passion Translation)
So in this medical procedure of lie removal, I want to start with these verses:
Rom 8:19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (ESV)
This will be tough to unpack in it’s entirety in a reasonably short format for a post, so I will cut to the chase.
If you look at a number of translations you will find quite a bit of variance in how these verses are translated. For example the word creation is the same word used here:
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The King James translates the word as creature. I believe we could use the word “mankind” as the creature referenced in the discussion.
Next the word “futility” could read vanity or pursuit of nothing or existence in nothingness or something like that.
Lastly the word “him” in verse 20 does not appear in the original text, it is implied. What the verse says in the original language is that the creation was subjected to the subjection. I think it could mean that the creation was subjected by the consumption of wrong fruit, the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. So if I put it together verse 20 for example would read something like this in the LLT.
Humankind was subject to the endless pursuit of nothingness, not willingly but because it was poisoned by the consumption of bad fruit. (LLT)
I believe this section of scripture is so important to our understanding about what happened in the garden and what we are set free from today.
When Adam and Eve ate from the wrong tree THEY hid in the bushes. They died spiritually to eternal life by their choice to hide. They now had this knowledge of good and evil. Based on their experience and internal conscience they knew that God was perfectly good. They knew that God was completely on the good list and had no part whatsoever in the bad list. They then evaluated their own status based on this new understanding and found that they did not conform to the good list only. They saw stuff that put them on both lists. They became ashamed and fell into condemnation and guilt. They hid in fear of God. They moved away from Him while He pursued them. They stepped away from eternal life, eternal peace, eternal harmony, eternal understanding, eternal purpose…intimate relationship with God. Now they were empty. They were frustrated in futility of an endless pursuit of nothingness, emptiness, vanity and selfishness.
God in His mercy put them out of the garden to free them from immortality and what would have been an eternal existence of sorrow and pain. They would have been doomed to live in a list paradigm always seeing their faults and shortcomings. No matter how hard they tried they would never find themselves uniquely identified by the good list. There would always be bad stuff to make up for.
So after a number of generations of this “death life” of emptiness, God gives them a glimpse of Grace in Noah and Abraham and others. He brings them out of captivity in Egypt into an opportunity for a Grace relationship. Apparently they weren’t ready and still wanted their independence, their “hiding in the bushes” life of death. God gave them the law. Now the law made every bush-escape that much more intense regarding list keeping. Every fault was highlighted and amplified. The expectation is we as humankind would get a hint and discover that fig leaves of self-righteousness and living in the bushes would never work.
Now fast forward to Jesus. God doesn’t require a sacrifice. He desires mercy instead, but He knows WE need a sacrifice. Jesus takes our sin, becomes everything that makes us seek out the bushes and destroys it on the cross. Now we have no more excuses to hide. Before we had no choice but to hide. We could see no way out unless we had a revelation of who God was like Abraham or David or so many others. Even Able had a clear view of God and through faith saw outside the poison of lists and performance. Now all of mankind has a Savior to look to. All of humanity can see a way to the good God we can’t deny. Now all of the creatures can come home to His presence and participate in that original intent, that intimate relationship with our Creator.
Not only that but now we are sons and daughters of Him. He comes to live in us so we will always know His intimacy. We never need to hide in fear. We never need to live in condemnation. The creation has been made a new kind. We have all the knowledge of good and evil, we have the body of Adam, but now we have the mind of Christ. We are free from the bondage of lists and shame. We have a union with God that cannot be separated. Our only part in the whole thing is to believe. We get to see through the cross and discover our amazing Abba Father. We are free from the nature of Adam. We have a choice to see God for who He is or still hide in the bushes. Jesus give us the key, He is the door, He is the gate, He is the path, He is the road, He is the way, He is the truth, He is the eternal life. When we step through the cross and into Him we have our re-connection with eternal life.
All of mankind is groaning for this truth. They may not know what “IT” is but they know they need “IT.” As a child of God we know this truth and the knowledge of this truth has set us free. So last splinter in the series:
Is planet Earth groaning because God cursed it as a result of our disobedience so all of the creation would suffer the consequences of our horrific sin as a human race with Adam leading the charge? NOPE!
Pretty ridiculous question now, right? Splinter removed.
Yay God!
Lance
alancetotheheart 