Once upon a time, a few days after I was born, my dad held me in his arms and declared to everyone around that I would become a civil engineer! This event has happened to many! “My child will be a doctor; this child will win an Olympic gold medal; my child will become a great lawyer…” What if one father looked at his son and said: “My son was born to die!” Wouldn’t that be strange. That would not be normal behaviour for any Father! Why would someone say that?
Hi and welcome to the Seeking in the Chaos podcast. My name is Barney and I am a sculptor. A group of friends, here in this podcast, share our ideas to those who are Seeking for God in this chaotic world. We share our reasons for believing in Jesus.
If you have just found this podcast, we recommend that, after listening to this episode, listen to the 2nd episode and continue on from there. For today’s episode, we are going to continue on the ideas talked about in Episode 3: Banished. Let’s recap that episode: God created a garden and put humans in there. He gave them a choice to depend, trust and learn from Him. The other choice was to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil; which meant they could choose to figure things out on their own terms, but – things won’t go well for them. They would die! Enter the serpent: “No you will not die! You will become like God and know everything!”
The first humans chose to eat that fruit and become gods. In other words, they told God that they were taking over the garden and that they didn’t want God to be around anymore. We know how that ended. God kicked them out of the garden and into the untrimmed and wild world that we now live in.
This is where we will read a little more into the Bible and see what happened just before God threw us all out! I’m going to read from the book of Genesis 3:14-19
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
After this, the first humans were kicked out of the garden! They farmed whatever way they could. They struggled. They had families and went on to form societies and countries and so on! They learnt things by trial and error! Some would call that science! Humans lived as they wished! Society, though it existed, was never perfect! One would say that it was broken right from the start! People began to long for better relationships. Women are made to suffer. Remember the curse given to Eve?
“Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
The humans, who decided to become gods, are now divided against each other. The power struggle changed from Humans vs. God to Man vs. Woman & Brother vs. Brother. While all this was going on, humans longed for peace and unity, for love and stability. Though they seemed to get it, things would always break. These ideals always seemed to elude them! We have written many poems, ancient and modern, talking about the misery of life! There are no guarantees! Harvests are declining! People are falling sick! Remember the curse given to Adam?
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Humans look to supernatural forces to alleviate the problems of this life. Some look to herbal solutions. Some look for a 4 leafed clover. Some look to the stars and say that those movements determine our fates! Religious systems form and multiply! Despite all this: good people die sooner! The wicked live long and they seem to prosper! Everyone eventually dies! Is there any hope?
At the right time, when no one was really searching for God for the right reasons, God decided to enter humanity. Myth became human! God sent his son, Jesus, into this world. Why did he do that? Remember the curses? Let’s look at the curse given to the Serpent in Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Now, why is this curse relevant to us? This was to the Serpent who deceived the first humans! The Bible talks about the promised seed. The One who would come to the earth and set things right! His rule would bring about love, peace and unity. But before that can happen, the serpent’s power or rule has to be broken.
You see, in listening to the Serpent, inadvertently, he became the “god” that humans trusted. They followed his teachings like: “You can define good and evil on your own terms!” Now, to defeat an opposing king, one would not think of dying in the war! That’s crazy! Your goal should be to kill the opposing king and stay alive! So what’s going on here?
I am going to borrow a metaphor from Dr. Frank Turek. (If you are interested, he has a Youtube channel called CrossExamined.) Let’s say that you borrowed my car and crashed it into a wall. You say, “I’m sorry”. I say, “I forgive you”. But who is going to pay to fix the car? Words aren’t going to fix the car!
Similarly, things aren’t set right between God and Humans! God calls all humans as sinners. Let’s see a few Bible verses.
“The one who sins is the one who will die.”
This is to all the descendants of Adam and Eve. Only after making an atonement, i.e., getting forgiveness, could one approach God! You have to remember the history of this battle; Humans vs. God!
“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.”
“In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Based on these verses, we could get forgiveness, but we would turn around and sin again! It was a never ending cycle! How could humans get back to God? What was the way back to the Garden? It lies in the curse to the Serpent. Those who follow the Serpent can’t enter the Garden of God!
God’s plan was that His Son, Jesus, the promised Seed, would come, and the serpent would kill him, but in the process the serpent’s head or power would be crushed! Jesus’ death was our sacrifice, our atonement to God, so that we can be reconciled back to God.
This is the way back into the garden, where God is! Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life! This is the reason why God said that Jesus was born to die! Let’s read Isaiah 53:10-12
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
This was foretold about Jesus, way before He was born! We are forgiven because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. He is our Salvation. He died so that we may have hope and eternal life! However, we can’t just push all humans back into the garden to be with God. That would be termed as Kidnapping! Many still don’t want him! They would still want to kick God out and take over the garden! That is why forgiveness and salvation is only for those who believe, eternal life is for those who believe in Jesus & choose God, not the Serpent!
Christmas symbolizes God entering humanity decisively so that you and I might have hope!
We no longer have to look up to the sky in despair! Are you looking for Hope? Christmas reminds us of Hope. Jesus brings Hope to you and me!
Got Questions?
If you have any questions, please do send an email to us. Our email is at the bottom of the page. We will get back to you with answers. If we are unable to figure that out, we will reach out to Bible scholars and get back to you with the answers. Have a great week and may God bless you!
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