The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2.8-9; 3.1-13, 22-24)

Everything God created was good. That is God’s assessment of His creation. It is VERY good! The word “good” is the repeated word throughout the first chapters of Genesis. Creation is not evil, creation is good. Mankind was the crown of creation, made in God’s image to rule over what God made. God put the first human couple in a garden that He had made for them. Everything they needed was there, including access to God and the source of eternal life. The Tree of Life was there in the middle of the garden of Eden.

But there was another tree there in Eden: The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God had given them one restriction: they were not to eat from that Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This tree becomes crucial to the whole story. In fact, if we understand the meaning of this tree, we will understand the entire Bible. If we understand this tree, we will understand the true nature of reality and the whole meaning of human life on planet earth. It is just that important! The Garden of Eden is about us and our lives. We were there in Eden, in the bodies of Father Adam and Mother Eve, and we are part of the story. All the real issues of life are seen there at the beginning. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was the incarnation of a spiritual reality. Physical objects are often used as spiritual lessons. We can derive three lessons from this Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil:

This tree is a lesson in the difference between good and evil.

Here was the first temptation and the first sin. Here mankind would learn the difference between good and evil and pay a terrible price for that knowledge. This knowledge was not intellectual, but bitter experience.

Because God is Creator, He has the right to set boundaries for His creatures. Furthermore, God has the right to define the meaning of life in His world. One of the great errors of the modern world is in thinking that we get to define what life is all about. We think we get to decide for ourselves what good and evil means.

God was not being an ogre. He had already said they could eat from any other tree in the garden. God has richly and abundantly provided for their needs. There was just one restriction in the middle of a thousand freedoms.

But why have any restrictions? Some think God was creating the problem. In fact, the command does seem rather pointless. Was there something wrong with that tree? Was its fruit poisoned or magical? God was using that tree to create a moral arena with choices that had to be made between two alternatives. The forbidden fruit was something other than God and His will which created a crisis of choice. Every time they saw that tree, they would have to make a choice between God and something else. The tree was an objectification of a moral decision. The word and the will of God was the defining quality of that tree in the garden of Eden. God’s command had nothing behind it other than God Himself. They were not to eat from that tree simply because God said so. Their obedience would have to be completely free of anything other than a desire to obey God because He is God.

What was at stake was their fellowship with God. They could choose uninterrupted fellowship with the Creator or go their own way. There was no arrangement possible where they could get rid of God and keep the things they wanted. You can get rid of God, so to speak, but with Him goes the source of everything good. It is not that we just shouldn’t try to live without God, we cannot live without God. All the things we try to fill our lives with eventually betray us in the end and break our hearts.

This tree is a lesson in the consequences of moral choices.

The true nature of reality is like a road which suddenly diverges, making us choose a path. Somehow people manage to convince themselves that every road is good and eventually leads to the same place in the end. That there is a real choice between good and evil is a rather unpopular notion. Not everyone who chooses the wrong road will perish in the end. It is possible to be put back on the right road. But the choice of ways is always there before us.

God spoke directly to Adam and Eve in Eden. His word was clear enough. The Tempter is right there to encourage them to throw off the fetters of God’s word. The serpent seems to come from nowhere. He just slides into the story without any back story or explanation. But we know something about his character. He is crafty, subtle, deceptive. He just wants to have a discussion. But as soon as he starts to speak, he begins to lie. The serpent lies about God. His strategy is to drive a wedge between man and God, creating alienation and even hostility. To accomplish this the serpent makes Eve doubt the goodness of God. Imagine that you have a close friend. Another friend who is perhaps jealous, suddenly suggest that your friend is only in the relationship to ask you for favors. You may not believe it at first, but the well has been poisoned. You are now going to closely listen to everything your friend says trying to discern his or her intentions. Your trust has been destroyed. That is the serpent’s strategy. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, Eve begins to doubt the goodness of God. Why would a good God withhold something good from them? The forbidden fruit certainly looked good. It promised wisdom. And it would make them like God. Was God a cosmic killjoy who just wanted to dangle these good things in front of their eyes while denying them the full experience?

We see how temptation works: first there is a lie that leads to a thought. Then there is a look at the forbidden thing. With looking comes a desire. Then the hand reaches out and takes the forbidden thing. This process of temptation must be short-circuited at some point or the effect is something like the falling of dominoes. The consequences are unavoidable. In the heat of the moment we seldom stop to seriously reflect on the consequences of our choices. We can find many examples of this in Scripture besides the original sin in Eden. The people of Israel refuse to enter Canaan according to God’s command and end up wandering in the wilderness. Moses becomes angry and strikes the rock instead of speaking as God commanded him and is denied entrance into the Land. King David enjoys a night of passion with Bathsheba, covers his adultery with murder, and then watches his own family implode. We could all give similar testimonies of our own failures and the consequences that followed. At some point we begin to believe that our lives would be better without God interfering with us and we take life in our own hands. Evil is the result of these choices.

The actual transgression does not make a difference, it is the nature of sin that brings the catastrophic result. I recently saw a video of an elephant in a parade, surrounded by a crowd of people. The animal suddenly become angry or afraid and bolted. It threw its rider to the ground and began to trample the people in its path. Nothing could stop it. That one act of disobedience in Eden released a monstrous evil into the world. Or, as the Apostle Paul said, “sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin” (Rom. 5.12). It was the opening of Pandora’s Box.

There are certain laws observed in nature. And there are also spiritual laws. A spiritual law that we learn in Eden is that God is the source of everything good. Without God there is nothing but death.

Sin, and all the evil that comes from sin, is not just a legal issue. There is more to sin than breaking the rules. Sin is personal. Sin is an act of cosmic rebellion against the Creator of heaven and earth. It is the rejection of God and His glory. When we sin, we are rejecting God as God and putting ourselves in the place of God. The original temptation was for man to become as God rather than accepting his place as a creature. That choice is what brought evil into the world.

This tree is a lesson about our critical connection to God.

If God is God, then our relationship to God is not an optional thing, as if we can truly be independent and self-sufficient. We are creatures. We depend on God. Breaking that relationship is a matter of life and death. God is our Creator, not our helper or motivator. There can be no casual approach to God.

The difference between good and evil is absolute because God is absolutely God. We do not discuss the nature of good and evil apart from the nature of God Himself. Good and evil are not abstract concepts. At the center of our lives is a choice to come to God or go our own way. That is the choice between good and evil. We cannot escape the reality of God, even in the daily details of life. We may hide from God, but He will find us out. “No creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account” (Heb. 4.13). Our lives will be eternally defined by what God sees when He casts His gaze upon us. And if that causes us to fear, then we are beginning to be wise and acknowledge the reality of our situation and the monumental choice that is before us everyday of our short lives.

There are any number of ways we can try to avoid God and the reality of this choice between good and evil.  Some people reject the existence of God. Atheism is not nearly as common as we think. But atheism is not as intellectual as we think it to be. The real reason for atheism is moral, not intellectual. If God is not there, then we can have no moral responsibility to obey or submit to Him.

But there are many more people who hide from God in religion. Religion can make us think we are better than we really are. Remember how that Pharisee thanked God that he was not like other men. But God sees through the religious fig leaves we try to cover ourselves with.

In every Age there is an attempt to philosophically redefine the meaning of good and evil. It is called “freedom” the “new morality” or being “progressive”. Behind it all is just the desire to go our own way rather than having to submit to God.

The popular notion that Hell is just a myth is nothing but a disguised attempt to hide from God and redefine the meaning of good and evil. People say they are being merciful or tolerant, but what they are really trying to do is relieve us of the responsibility of choosing between good and evil.

Materialism is an attempt to escape from this moral universe. If we are just biological machines living in a world formed by chance, then good and evil is just a temporary state of mind or social condition without any lasting meaning. The sun will eventually burn out and the earth will freeze to death. End of story. If there is no moral significance to life, then there is no significance to life at all and we should not be lashed to such questions about good and evil as we journey towards oblivion. If there is no real good and evil, no true choice between two diverging paths, nothing touching eternity, then there is no true significance to human life.

Conclusion

When we look back at what happened in Eden, we see ourselves. We see all the wrong choices we have made. We too have been rebellious. We wanted to be the Master. We have tried to cover for ourselves, to hide from God, and maybe even blamed someone else for our evil actions.

But God did not abandon mankind in Eden, and He has not abandoned us. His mercy and goodness are evident everywhere we look in this world. God has been patient with us. He has provided for our needs even when we were sinful and hiding from Him. Even His stern discipline was designed for our ultimate salvation.

God gave a promise there is Eden that one day a man would be born who would defeat evil (Gen. 3.15). And so, into this story came the Son of God. He became like one of us and was tempted. The Devil tempted Jesus to take matters into His own hands and go for what He wanted for Himself. But Jesus refused to do His own will and chose to submit to the will of His Father. He is the Second Adam, the beginning of the New Creation. He came so that we could be made new creatures fit for the New Creation that is coming.

When they had taken from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, their access to the Tree of Life was blocked. The next time the Tree of Life shows up is in the book of Revelation in the New Earth. The Seed of the Woman promised in Genesis came and bruised the serpent’s head. He died on that evil tree so that we can have access to the Tree of Life. When He comes again all evil will be banished and the world remade. And we will again eat from the Tree of Life in the paradise of God.

This world is not paradise. We still must go out and face evil. The serpent is still slithering around, spreading his lies. And we often find that our own desires are contrary to what we know to be good. Everyday we must say no to the world, the flesh and the Devil. We do these things knowing that the power of Christ is at work in us.

Developing a Christian Worldview: Transformed by Redemption (Part 2)

In the previous lesson, we talked about the important link between the Kingdom of God and God’s plan to redeem creation. When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He preached that the Kingdom of God had come to earth. He then demonstrated the power of the Kingdom through many miraculous signs. These displays of Kingdom power and authority were meant to show that God’s Kingdom was breaking through. Just like the Allies made a beachhead at the D-Day invasion that signaled the beginning of the end of the Second World War, the ministry of Jesus signaled the beginning of the Kingdom of God and the redemption of all creation.

In this lesson, we will continue to explore the meaning of redemption by looking at how the ministry of Jesus was the beginning of the end of Satan’s kingdom. Satan had to be defeated and his power over humanity broken if we were going to be set free from all the effects of sin and death. We will then discuss what redemption means for humanity, or what God has in mind for redeemed people. But everything always begins and ends with Jesus. There is no talking about redemption without talking about the Redeemer! It was Jesus who defeated the Devil. And Jesus is the beginning of the redeemed humanity. No matter which aspect of redemption we are talking about, it all depends on Jesus. Christians see the world differently because we see who Jesus is and what He came to do. Christianity means coming to know, to love, and to follow a person. In the process, our view of everything else is transformed.

The Defeat of Satan

The Gospels record the ministry of Jesus. As soon as Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan River, He went out into the wilderness and was tempted by the Devil. The result of this temptation was the utter defeat of Satan. For the first time in the history of the world, Satan’s temptations of a human being were unsuccessful. This was just the beginning of Christ’s ministry. Satan’s kingdom would continue to experience defeat after defeat. The Kingdom of Darkness that had ruled the world was being shaken to its core. The final defeat of Satan’s kingdom is still to come. In the New Creation, Satan and all his allies will be permanently excluded. But the coming of Christ into the world was the beginning of the end of Satan’s dominion over creation. This fact is a major aspect of the message of the four Gospels that tell the story of Christ’s earthly life. The second coming of Christ will be a mop-up operation as the decisive battle was fought and won by Jesus, who is now reigning victoriously in Heaven with His Father.

Jesus Himself explained what He was doing to the Devil’s kingdom. Jesus’ earthly ministry was like binding a strongman to then rob his house (Matt. 12.28-29; Mk. 3.27; Lk. 11.20-22). Satan is obviously not equal to God. There is no Dualism in the Bible. However, the Bible is very clear that Satan did effectively establish a rival kingdom on earth in order to challenge the purpose of God. From the very beginning, Satan directed his attacks at those God had made in His image and placed over the creation. When the door was opened, Satan came in and set up his operation. Satan effectively turned humanity against God, spreading his own rebellion from heaven to the earth. God Himself had told the serpent in the Eden that a human being would eventually defeat him (Gen. 3.15).

The Gospels seem to be showing us the fulfillment of God’s promise about the seed of the woman crushing the serpent’s head.  Jesus had come to rob Satan’s house. Just like a dangerous animal is put on a chain to limit the damage it can cause, Jesus had come to bind the Devil, limit his power, and then take back what had been stolen. A famous preacher named Gardner Taylor once said in a sermon that the Bible is about a God who is out to get back what rightfully belongs to Him. The Devil was an interloper who had taken over what God had made. The Son of God had landed on earth to take it back.

During His ministry, Jesus exercised power over every aspect of the Kingdom of Darkness (Matt. 12.28; Lk. 8.28; 13.16; Acts 10.38). All of Jesus’ miracles clearly demonstrated who was really in charge. The unclean spirits, or demons, immediately recognized who Jesus was and had to submit to His commands. The possession of people by evil spirits was a forceful display of Satan’s domination over human life. Jesus expelled the demons from the bodies and minds of their victims, giving an awesome display of Satan’s demise. A greater power than Satan had arrived and even the mere presence of Jesus was usually enough to send the demons into hysterics. Everywhere Jesus went He almost effortlessly beat back the Kingdom of Darkness, using only the authority of His word. Wherever Jesus goes, the Kingdom of Darkness is defeated. This truth is powerfully shown in C.S. Lewis’ Narnia stories. When Aslan comes to Narnia to release it from the control of the White Witch, all it takes to break her evil spell that always made it Winter, but never Christmas, is the presence of the great lion. When Aslan comes to Narnia, it is Spring again! There can be no doubt about Jesus’ victory and Satan’s defeat. “Satan has done his worst, but Christ has bested him” (Al Wolters).

Because Satan has been so soundly defeated, there is nothing that can stop the redemption of all creation. Anyone can be saved from Satan’s dominion and brought into the Kingdom of God (Col. 1.13). Jesus came to rob the Devil’s house, which means we were rescued! The Devil was holding us captive in his house until Jesus came to bind the Devil and rob his house. 

How did Jesus do that? Jesus rescued us from Satan’s dominion by taking away the Devil’s tools. The only way to completely weaken the Devil was to remove sin and its effects. This means that the point at which the Devil was rendered powerless was when Jesus died. It was at the cross that the serpent’s head was crushed. By sacrificing Himself, the power of sin was broken which made it impossible for Satan to hold us in his grip. Sin is what kept us under Satan’s dominion. By releasing us from the power of sin, Jesus has also released us from Satan’s dominion. Jesus simply removed the doors of Satan’s house so that the prisoners can walk out and be free! 

So complete was Jesus’ mastery over the Kingdom of Darkness, even the disciples could be sent out with authority do the same damage to Satan’s kingdom that Jesus had done! Christ’s victory over Satan becomes our victory as well. When Jesus rose from the dead, He gave instructions to His disciples about going out into the world and preaching the Gospel. He reminded them that He had been given all authority. Their effectiveness doing many of the same things that Jesus had done was because Satan had been defeated and bound. Everything that happened in the book of Acts could take place because of Satan’s defeat at the hands of Christ. The very existence of the Church in the world is proof that Jesus beat the Devil! Satan is a defeated enemy. We can participate in the Devil’s defeat as we wrestle against him and his remaining Powers of Darkness. And we do so with hope and confidence in the victory of Jesus over Satan.

The Renewal of the Image of God

The first stage of the coming of God’s Kingdom was the incarnation. The Son of God was to come into the world as a human being. A man had to redeem man. Remember that man was created in the image of God, which meant that mankind was to be God’s representative on earth and rule creation under God. But when man rebelled against God that image was marred and distorted. Sinful man does not perfectly represent God’s will on earth. God’s plan of redemption included the restoration of the Divine image in man. Redeemed men will properly image God. It is not possible for a single man or woman to completely image God. This image will be reproduced in a whole body of redeemed people. The renewal of the Divine image required a second Adam who would inaugurate the new humanity. This new humanity would be transformed and empowered by the Spirit to reflect the Divine image once again.

The Second Adam

Humanity fell in Adam. This is something difficult for modern people to understand because of our individualism. But it is possible for a single person to represent a whole body of people who stand in solidarity with him. This is called federal headship. Adam is the federal head of humanity. All of Adam’s people are like him. To be human means to be like Adam, our federal head. Just as Adam was disobedient to God and died as a result, all of Adam’s children are likewise sinners who suffer death. We bear the likeness of our federal head. If God was going to redeem mankind this situation had to be reversed. There had to be a second federal head in which the image of God could be renewed. There had to be a second Adam. Christ is the Second Adam (Rom. 5.12-19). Christ is the federal head for another body of people in which the Divine image is restored and perfected. Where Adam failed and fell, Jesus succeeded. Redeemed humanity began with Jesus. So, we see why it was necessary for Jesus to live a perfect life that was pleasing to God in every way. He was showing us what the new humanity looks like.

Jesus is the perfect image of God (Col. 1.15; Heb. 1.3; 2 Cor. 4.4-6). The Son of God has always shared perfect unity with God the Father, but Jesus perfectly imaged God as a man on earth. This was the necessary ingredient for the redemption of humanity. For humanity to be redeemed there had to be a man who perfectly imaged God on earth. The Son of God could not have redeemed us by remaining in heaven. The new federal head had to be a human being to redeem human beings. As much as we need to stress the deity of Christ, we must not let go of His humanity. It was His humanity that redeemed us. The Word becoming flesh is the point of redemption. So, now there is on record a man who perfectly imaged God on earth. This accomplishment paved the way for the creation of a new, redeemed humanity.

The New Humanity

The Church is the New Humanity. (We are using the term “Church” here in the broadest possible meaning; the Church is not just a local congregation meeting together for worship, but all those who are in Christ.) All those who are in Christ, or who stand in solidarity with Christ rather than with Adam, are members of the New Humanity. People who are in Christ have made a critical transition from being under Adam’s federal headship to being under Christ’s federal headship. In the world today there are two humanities: one that belongs to Adam and one that belongs to Christ. One is fallen and one is being redeemed. Adam’s humanity is doomed to die. Christ’s humanity is destined for eternal life. The only humans who have hope for a future are those under Christ’s federal headship. Everyone in Adam is obsolete and destined for the eternal scrapheap. At some point, we must resign from Adam’s headship and join ourselves to Christ. This transition from likeness to Adam to likeness to Christ is what redemption/salvation is all about.

Christ is only the first of a new humanity. We shall bear His image (Rom. 8.29; 1 Cor. 15.49; Heb. 2.10-11; 1 Jn. 3.2). God’s goal in redemption is to make millions and millions of copies of His Son. This is really the whole goal of Christianity. Everything that we do is to contribute to that goal. All the religious activities and denominational structures in the world mean absolutely nothing unless people are being made more like Christ. That is God’s purpose and there can be no deviation from it. All those in Christ will be like Christ and nothing in this world can stop that from happening. There is no possibility that God’s plan of redemption might fail. That train has already left the station and the destination is certain. The Church’s business is to assist or partner with God in the process of making more and more people more and more like Jesus. The whole plan of redemption has now been revealed. We know what God is up to and we can either get on board or be left at the station.

God is redeeming a body of people who will bear the image of His Son. Christianity is not individualistic. We image God together. There is no way that each of us can individually reflect the Divine image. It will take a community to do that. This is a difficult lesson for those so influenced by Western Individualism. We are taught from a very early age that we must be individuals and that everything we need is within ourselves. This way of thinking is contrary to the Gospel. We need to belong to a community to be complete individuals. God’s original plan for humanity was to be a community and this is also true of the redeemed humanity.

It is a serious mistake that reflects a misunderstanding of the Gospel for people who claim to be Christians who remove themselves from the community of believers. Obviously, the Church in the world has not yet been perfected. But human failures do not negate the Divine purpose. The fact that we are still in a state of imperfection means we need a community to help us address those imperfections and weaknesses. And we must also still face the hostility of the unredeemed world. Christians are people being redeemed out of a world that remains hostile to God. We live in a state of warfare and the New Testament often uses military metaphors to describe the Christian life. “We must struggle together in discerning how to respond as authentic Christians to the secular culture in which we live – this culture with its deeply ingrained, often distorting effects on human life” (Walsh & Middleton).

We need community because we are still growing in His likeness (Eph. 4.13). Christian community facilitates growth. The whole point of the Christian life is to grow up into Christlikeness, which is a process that never stops while we are still in this world. God has given us several concrete ways to grow in Christ. The spiritual disciplines of fellowship, worship, Scripture, and service are ways that we can actively pursue likeness to Christ. Christians are not going to perfectly reflect the image of Christ, at least not yet. But there should be growth in a certain direction. Often this growth seems slow and accompanied by many setbacks as the flesh or the old man still hinders us. Sanctification is a process by which the old ways are put to death and a new kind of life takes the wheel. There will be times of failure and sin. But when we do fail, we confess our sins and we continue working on conforming our lives to Christ. This is not legalism. We are not earning salvation we are working out the practical implications of our salvation. The legalist works out of fear of punishment. The believer in Christ works out of love for Christ and a desire to be like Him. There is no better witness to the world than a community of people who are striving together to be more like Christ. Of course, the world hated Christ and it will also hate those who are like Christ. But the ministry of the Church is to image Christ in the world. All we have to offer is Christ. If we image Christ, then those who want Christ will see His likeness in believers and be drawn to Christ.

The Power of the Spirit

Christianity is not moralism. There is a real, spiritual presence and power that is actively transforming believers into the image of Christ. When Jesus was preparing to give His life on the cross, He prepared His disciples to be without His physical presence. Jesus was going to give His life, rise from the dead, and then return to be with the Father in Heaven. But the disciples were not going to be left alone. Jesus was going to send another helper from heaven to be with the believers. That Divine Helper was the Holy Spirit who came to the Church on the Day of Pentecost. Pentecost was a significant stage in redemptive history. The gift of the indwelling Spirit had not been offered under the Old Covenant. But in the New Covenant, which was put into effect when Jesus died, the Holy Spirit is now given to all believers (Acts 2.17-18; 38). 

In some mysterious way, the Holy Spirit dwells in us and is with us always. He is the source of power for the Christian life. The Christian's life is lived in the power of the Spirit like a sailboat is made to move by positioning its sails to catch the wind. The New Covenant is marked by a transformation by the Spirit (Jer. 31.33; 2 Cor. 3.8-9, 18). We are not left to try to reform our own lives. While our participation is certainly required, it is the power of the Spirit that makes us new and facilitates growth in Christlikeness. The Law was only an external demand to change our behavior. The Spirit is a transformational power. It is the Spirit that creates the New Man after the likeness of Christ (Eph. 4.24; Col. 3.10). It becomes the believer’s responsibility to live constantly under the influence of this new man rather than the old man of sin. When we need help understanding how to please God in every situation and every aspect of life, it is the Spirit who gives wisdom for our living (Eph. 1.17; Col. 1.9-10). Of course, we have the Scriptures to give us wisdom and guidance. But the Scripture usually gives us principles rather than specific instructions for every life-situation. That is why we need the Spirit as well as the guidance of the Scriptures. The Spirit will always work in harmony with the Scriptures to light our path in the darkness of this present, evil world. 

Finally, we know that there is much more about redemption to come. It is the Spirit that is the pledge of the future inheritance (2 Cor. 1.22; 5.5; Eph. 1.13; 4.30). In other words, the work of the Spirit in our lives now is just the beginning or a little foretaste of future glory. The process of redemption begins in this world. But when we see Jesus, we will be like Him completely and the plan of redemption will be finished. When all of God’s people stand before Him transformed into the image of Christ, that will be what the New Testament calls “glory.” That eternal “weight of glory” is the goal of redemption that all of God’s people are looking forward to with hope and eager anticipation.

Developing a Christian Worldview: Transformed by Redemption (Part 1)

The second component of the Christian worldview is acknowledging the Fall. God’s good creation was soon subjected to sin and all its effects. There is no part of creation that was left unsullied by sin. And if the story ended there then there would be a reason for despair. But the Biblical story does not end there. The Bible, and therefore the Biblical worldview, offers hope while still being realistic about the human condition. God has overcome sin and all its consequences. The answer to the human condition is not something devised by mankind. Our only hope was for someone to come from heaven to earth to redeem God’s fallen creation. This great redemption has been accomplished in Christ, is now being proclaimed in the Gospel, and will be consummated in the future when Christ returns to renew the earth.

Perhaps the most important lesson to learn about God’s redemption is that it is cosmic in scope. God is going to restore the whole of creation, not just some part of it, and not just the souls of men and women. Redemption means a return to an original state of goodness and wholeness that existed before the Fall. We are not talking about replacing the creation but renewing it.

Redemptive History Unfolds

The account of the Fall gives the first clue to God’s redemptive purpose (See Gen. 3.15). The promise was given by God that Satan would be defeated by a human being who would eventually be born. The Bible identifies that person as Jesus Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary during the reign of Caesar Augustus in the little town of Bethlehem. In the person of Jesus, the God of creation would enter the fallen creation to redeem it. The story of the Bible is history, not philosophy or mythology.

But the Redeemer did not enter the world immediately after Adam and Eve had sinned. God prepared the world for the coming of His Son. This took many centuries and some important developments that give us the context for redemption. The Old Testament is the backstory to the coming of the Redeemer. God would form a new nation through whom the Redeemer would come. This special nation that God Himself created was the people of Israel. This special community began with the calling of a single man named Abram and a promise that God made to Him (Gen. 12.3). Israel became a nation while being enslaved in Egypt. God redeemed them from slavery and brought them into a land that He set aside for them. The redemption of Israel from slavery and their placement in a special land was all a picture of the cosmic redemption that was coming through Christ. The history of Israel is a long and difficult story that is filled with human failure. But through all of it, God never deserted the promises that He had made about redemption. Although there was a clue given in Eden about redemption, the promise God made to Abram is really the beginning of God’s plan and becomes the main storyline of the rest of the Bible. Jesus is both the seed of the woman promised in Eden and the seed of Abraham. Through Jesus, Satan would be defeated and the entire world blessed.

One of the ways to understand the unfolding of redemptive history is to look at the various covenants that God made. Redemption is covenantal because God never did anything without making a covenant. Many theological thinkers have said that understanding covenant is the key to understanding the entire Bible, and this may be true. God has always related to mankind and revealed His will through a covenant. Some theologians have taught that there is really a single covenant of redemption that began in Genesis 3.15 with the promise about the seed of the woman. However, this tends to downplay the important differences between the covenants that God made and the special role each covenant had in God’s plan of redemption. To be sure, there was always a single plan of redemption. But there were several different covenants within that single plan.

The covenant with creation was made after the Flood (See Gen. 8.2-9.17). In this covenant, God promises never to destroy the earth with another flood and the stage is set for the unfolding of redemptive history. The world will eventually end, but not with a catastrophic flood, and not before God has completed His plan of redemption.

The covenant with Abram (See Gen. 12.3) is arguably the most important covenant in Scripture. The same covenant promises were repeated to Isaac and then to Jacob. It should be noted that this promise provided for the formation of Israel, but the blessing that was promised would be cosmic and not limited to just Israel.

The covenant of the Law was made with Israel through Moses. This covenant involved the revelation of God’s Law to Israel and the statement of Israel’s special purpose as a holy nation. This covenant was neatly summarized by the commandments (See Deuteronomy 5).

God promised that He would one day make a new covenant that would replace the covenant of Law made at Mount Sinai (Jer. 31-31-34). This new covenant would be very different from the covenant of Law and would involve the recreation of the people’s hearts and minds. This new covenant is the fulfillment of the covenant promises that God made to Abraham (See Gal. 3) and was sealed by the blood of Christ; the final, cosmic sacrifice for sin.

The Meaning of Redemption

In Scripture, there are several words that teach us about God’s plan to restore His fallen creation. All these words imply a return to an original state of goodness and wholeness that had been lost (Al Wolters). For example, the word “redemption” literally means to buy and set free. A person who had once been free and was then enslaved could be redeemed and given freedom again.

There are several other words in scripture that describe God’s restoration of creation. Reconciliation means to make peace. Reconciliation is needed to restore a relationship that was interrupted by disharmony, alienation, and enmity. When the reason for the alienation is removed, the peace and fellowship are restored. Renewal means to make something new again that had fallen into disrepair and brokenness. The thing that is made new can then be used as it was intended in the first place. Salvation is a medical term that means to heal from sickness. A person who is ill receives treatment and is saved from the disease that resulted in pain, handicap, and eventual death. Regeneration means to bring life and utility where there was once death, corruption, and atrophy.

All these words describe was God is doing for His fallen Creation. He is making it new and whole again. He is not throwing it away and starting over but salvaging what has been wrecked. The restoration or redemption of creation began when Jesus came into the world and it will be finished when He returns. Just as God took many centuries to prepare the world for the coming of Christ the first time, there will be a gap of time between the beginning of redemption and the culmination of God’s recreation of the world. It is important to understand that redemption does not mean replacement or that something completely new and different is being introduced. Instead, we understand that “grace restores nature” (Al Wolters) and returns the world to what God intended it to be. This does not mean that we will return to the Garden of Eden. There is no doubt that the process of redemption will mean an upgrade and greater glory.

Through Christ God has already, at least in principle, reconciled all things to Himself (Col. 1.20). In other words, wherever sin has gone, redemption can go. Everything may now be redeemed and reconciled to God because Christ’s work has been complete and thorough. Christ has been victorious. There is no part of the world today where there is not at least the possibility of recovery from sin’s effects. Therefore, Christians are always hopeful about the world. We know what sin has done but we also know what Christ has done. The good news of Christ’s victory does not produce Christians who want to hide in a bunker or escape the world in a secret rapture. The “doom and gloom” mentality is produced by a limited view of Christ’s victory over sin and Satan.

The Coming of the Kingdom

“The restoration of creation and the coming of the Kingdom of God are the same” (Al Wolters). To be clear, the final victory of Christ is going to come only when He returns to earth from heaven. We do not want to have a view of redemption that leaves out our hope for the future and the completion of God’s plan of redemption. What we see is that the Kingdom of God is coming in two stages. The first stage was the coming of Christ into the world as a man to offer Himself as a sacrifice for sin and then to rise from the dead and ascend into heaven. The second stage is the coming of Christ from heaven back to earth where He will put away all remnants of evil and regenerate the earth itself. The Church exists in the now and the not yet of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom has come, but there is more to come. Let’s look at each stage in the coming of the Kingdom.

Stage One: Incarnation

The Kingdom could not come to earth until the King arrived. God had always reigned over the earth from His throne in Heaven. But now the Son of God was coming to earth to reclaim His disputed territory. The Gospel accounts are very much like a king who goes into a region that had experienced rebellion and disorder to reestablish his authority there and restore order. The kingdom comes when the king arrives on the scene. The incarnation is when the Son of God became a man and came into the world Himself to establish God’s Kingdom on earth.

Kingdom means authority. To be even more precise, a kingdom is what happens when a king exercises his authority. A kingdom is more than just a geographical area with boundaries, a kingdom is happening when there is a personal act of ruling by a sovereign who exercises authority. There must be more than just words for a kingdom to exist. There must also be a show of force and power. Jesus came to show that the Kingdom of God was coming to earth in power. The Kingdom of God coming to earth in Christ is “the central theme of the whole New Testament revelation” (Herman Ridderbos). The Kingdom is certainly the theme of the Gospels and the ministry of Jesus. Jesus was God’s chosen agent, or Christ, who was sent into the world to establish the Kingdom on earth as in heaven. The earthly ministry of Jesus is often overlooked in favor of the story of His birth and then His atoning death and resurrection. But it was Jesus’ earthly ministry that clearly demonstrated the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Not only did Jesus preach or announce the coming of the Kingdom of God He demonstrated this fact by performing all kinds of miraculous signs that pointed to the inbreaking of the Kingdom. All of Jesus’ miracles were samples of Kingdom power and the restoration of fallen creation. Jesus demonstrated Kingdom power over demons, diseases, natural elements, and even death itself. Wherever Jesus went the kingdom of God was proclaimed and then demonstrated.

After suffering, dying and being raised from the dead, Jesus then ascended into heaven where He has received all authority from God the Father. Christians are people who acknowledge the fact that Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth. The New Testament has much to say about Christ’s ascension into heaven. The Gospels record the physical ascension of Jesus after the resurrection. The rest of the New Testament unpacks the meaning of that event.

The book of Hebrews and the book of Revelation both have much to teach us about Jesus’ ascension and current reign in heaven. Hebrews teaches us that Jesus is our great High Priest who has gone back into heaven to be in the presence of God for us so that all the blessings and benefits of His atonement can be mediated to believers. The book of Revelation shows us that Christ is indeed reigning in Heaven over all the enemies of God who are now directing their evil fury at those who believe in and follow Christ on the earth. But all the efforts of the Dragon and his allies are brought to nothing and Jesus destroys all His enemies in the end while bringing His people safely into the New Creation.

The Bible teaches us that heaven and earth are now two separate realms. But it is helpful for us to think of the universe as a large, two-story house. The earth is the lower level. When Jesus ascended into heaven He just went upstairs. A more Biblical illustration is found in the structure of the Tabernacle and the Temple. Remember that there was a Holy Place and a Holy of Holies. There was a curtain separating those two rooms. When Jesus died, the curtain in the Temple was symbolically ripped apart to announce the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New. When Jesus went back into Heaven, He pierced the actual veil that separated heaven from earth. He is reigning there with the Father, interceding for the saints, until God makes all His enemies His footstool (See Psalm 2; 110; 1 Cor. 15.24-28).

Stage Two: Consummation

Not everyone was healed when Jesus was here on earth because the fullness of the Kingdom was not going to come immediately. There would be an interlude before the final restoration of all things. Jesus will return to consummate His Kingdom, put down all remaining enemies to His reign, and usher in the New Creation. Until He comes again, the two Ages overlap. The Old Order and the New Order of the Kingdom of God are both occupying the world. The creation itself is still subject to the Old Order of sin and death. There is still a rival Kingdom of Darkness that claims the world. It is no wonder the Church must be prepared for persecution and mistreatment in the world. And each individual Christian must wrestle with the World, the Flesh, and the Devil. This situation will not change until the Lord descends from heaven the second time. And we should not confuse the coming of the fullness of the Kingdom with anything other than the coming of Jesus, not even the Church. The Church is herself waiting for the Kingdom. The Church is not just another movement to make the world a better place. Jesus is coming to recreate the world, not make us comfortable in a fallen world.

There is a now and a not yet aspect to the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom has come because Jesus has come. Yet, the people of God are still instructed to pray “Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” A good illustration of this is seen in a little history lesson from the Second World War. When the Allies invaded the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, the war was all but over. As soon as the Allies established a beachhead there in France, it was the beginning of the end for the Third Reich. However, D-Day was only the beginning of the end of the war. There were many fierce battles to be fought as the Allied armies marched toward Germany. So, there was D-Day and then there was V-Day. Likewise, when Jesus came into the world, the Kingdom of God was coming to earth to establish a beachhead. Yet, the cosmic conflict between God’s Kingdom and Satan’s Kingdom rages on. We often see signs of the Kingdom of God advancing in the world. But we can also still see the counterattacks of the Kingdom of Darkness. The New Testament does not teach that the Kingdom of God will slowly grow and take over the world. Rather, the battle lines ebb and flow constantly. Sometimes the kingdom of God makes an advance. But then the Kingdom of Darkness launches a new attack. The only thing that will bring the war to a conclusion is the arrival of the King on the battlefield. The final book of the New Testament, the enigmatic book of Revelation, gives the outlines of this cosmic conflict and its conclusion. The first book of the Bible, Genesis, tells us about the fall of creation. The last book of the Bible shows us the redemption of creation.

We must remember that redemption does not just mean saving the souls of people for some ethereal, spiritual existence somewhere else in the universe. The idea that redemption means permanently leaving this earth to live in a kind of bloodless, bodiless existence in a completely spiritual, ethereal world is more akin to Greek mythology and philosophy than to Biblical revelation. Redemption means the rebirth of this planet where God’s redeemed people will live in His presence forever. Just as God’s people must be born again to enter the Kingdom, the whole creation is destined to be born again. Perhaps because of the lingering errors of dualism and Gnosticism, we tend to ignore what the New Testament is really saying about redemption. The people of God can look forward to having new, redeemed bodies for eternal life in the new, redeemed earth that is saturated with the presence of God. The earth itself will be purged from evil and all the effects of sin. There will be a cosmic renewal. The sin-sick world that we know now will pass away, but it will not be annihilated. It will pass through the fires of God’s judgment and be purged, just like the ancient world was purged by water (See 2 Peter 3). The true, eternal home of the people of God is not some far away, spiritual heaven, but a New Creation (See Rev. 21-22).

Developing a Christian Worldview: Acknowledging the Fall

God has made us His representatives on earth, and we are charged with the care and management of the world God made. We are accountable to the Creator for how we manage what rightfully belongs to Him. God gave us meaningful work to do in His world and we are participating in the ongoing development of creation. The material world is good, and we should never call something evil that God made and called “good.” But now we must acknowledge that something bad has happened to the good world that God created. The Christian worldview acknowledges that there was a great Fall (See Genesis 3.6-24). This Fall and the effects of it reverberate throughout the rest of the Bible. We cannot understand reality unless we understand something about the Fall as recorded in Genesis. Unfortunately, this part of the Bible and the Christian worldview has been hotly debated by Modern critics. The Modern, scientific worldview makes no allowance for a Fall or for the entrance of corruption and death into creation.

Sin and its Effects

Using the word “fall” implies that the world is at a lower state than before so that things are not what the original design intended. When we say that something falls short, we mean that it is clearly not a perfect thing. There is a defect. And while the thing may not be completely ruined or destroyed, there is clearly something wrong. God’s good creation has been marred, warped, and distorted.

When we say that the world is fallen, we are taking for granted that we know something about what it ought to be. We are making a distinction between what is normal and what is abnormal, or between something that is healthy and something that is sick. If we do not have some idea of what a healthy person looks like, then calling someone sick would be meaningless. The funny thing is, nearly everyone has some idea of what the world should be like and that the world is in fact not like that. This is true even of people who do not accept the Biblical worldview. There seems to be some collective, subconscious memory deep in the human soul about a perfect world that has been lost and that we desperately hope might be re-gained somehow. Even when we are not thinking about it, all our human energies are focused to try to regain a little bit of our lost paradise, if even for a moment.

We know that there is some invisible force in the world that is keeping us from being everything that we want to be. We never seem to be able to fully enjoy life. There may be momentary times of enjoyment, but these do not last and are replaced by moments of pain and suffering. And no matter what we might enjoy in life, we must all come to terms, sooner or later, with our own mortality. 

When all is said and done, we seem to accomplish very little with our lives. We are like a man on a treadmill who works very hard but never actually moves forward. This experience is universal and is captured in Scripture most vividly in the book of Ecclesiastes. That book should be read as a kind of personal commentary on the effects of the Fall. The author of Ecclesiastes uses the word “vanity” many times over to describe life in a fallen world. Because of sin, the world has been subjected to vanity, frustration, or futility. We seem to all be caught in a meaningless cycle that is going nowhere, like a dog chasing his tail. Life on earth has been compared to a giant wheel in the sky that just keeps on endlessly turning. We are born. We suffer in various ways, while perhaps enjoying a few momentary pleasures as well. And then we die, taking nothing with us out of the world. And then another generation is born and the whole cycle repeats. And there is no way out of the cycle! Any thoughtful and observant person can see that these things are true, even without reading the Bible.

However, only the Bible can correctly identify the cause behind the effect. The Fall was caused by sin, or disobedience to God’s commands. Here is where the Biblical worldview becomes controversial and diverges from other worldviews. Other worldviews can identify the effects, but not the underlying cause. And as anyone who tries to solve a problem understands, unless you can correctly identify the underlying cause there can never be a true solution to the problem. Human civilization, even with all its legitimately great achievements, has never been able to solve the underlying problem or even properly identify what the root of the trouble might be. Something is terribly wrong with the world. Something is terribly wrong with human beings.

We see how evil and twisted human society can be. The corruption and injustice are everywhere in the world and we all see it every single day. We can even recognize that our own lives are less than perfect. But only the Biblical world-view and those who accept it as true can identify what is wrong. All evil in the world is the direct result of mankind’s rebellion against the Creator and His will for human life on earth. We have been alienated from God and are suffering all the consequences of that broken relationship. Not only are we alienated or distanced from God we are hostile to God. We do not want God to rule our lives or to interfere with what we want to do.

The Extent of the Fall

We must acknowledge that the Fall has had an impact on every aspect of creation. Nothing is exempt. We would all like to think that perhaps there is some little island of goodness that has remained pristine and unaffected, but this is simply not reality. Reformed theologians coined the term “total depravity” to communicate the fact that there is nothing in all creation that has not been somehow tainted by sin. This can be a hard pill for us to swallow, especially for people who have high ideals and high hopes for a happy and fulfilled life. At some point, the reality of the Fall shatters our dreams for the perfect life. Here we see one of the great practical uses of the Biblical worldview. Adopting the Biblical worldview can keep us from becoming completely bitter and despairing of life. Christians know the world is fallen and that our ultimate source of happiness will never be found in this world. This helps us have realistic expectations for our lives in this world while we wait patiently with hope for the world that is to come. This fallen world must still be redeemed.

The ravages of sin have not just touched human life, the entire cosmos has been affected as well (See Rom. 8.19-22). Sin is like a disease that has spread throughout the entire world. We remember that when God created the world, He gave it into the hands and the dominion of mankind. When mankind fell, his dominion went down with him. Part of what makes our lives so frustrating is the fact that the creation will no longer completely submit to our dominion but is working against us. Instead of growing what we want, it produces thorns and thistles. Only with great exertion, by the sweat of our brows, can we make the created order serve our needs. Nature seems unconcerned with our safety and wellbeing. Unless we take great care and precautions, the natural world will kill us. The sky refused to rain, and we get drought and famine. Or, the clouds will not stop raining and we get a flood. Painful diseases invade our bodies. The animals that Adam once named in Eden now turn on us and injure or kill us. A person who thinks Mother Nature is kind has never stared down a tiger or swam with a shark!

However, the Fall did not obliterate creation and her glory, neither does the Bible identify creation as evil. Evil does not and cannot have the power to undo God’s purpose for the world. God’s will must be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Despite the entrance of sin and death, God did not write off the creation or abandon it. This is one of the great themes of the Bible and is clearly seen in the Genesis account. Even after Adam and Eve had sinned, God patiently sought them out, covered their shameful nakedness, and gave them a promise that the serpent would eventually be defeated (Gen. 3.15). Everything in creation retains a portion of its former glory and goodness, which can never be completely suppressed. Even a fallen world declares the glory of the Creator.

The Appearance of Evil

Christians are often depicted in popular culture as starry-eyed idealists who are out of touch with reality. But this is simply not true. Christians are the only people who really understand the nature of evil in the world. The Bible is completely realistic about evil and its devastating effects, but not to the point of utter despair. Christians are aware of evil, but we are always hopeful in the face of evil because we know that evil is not equal in power to the great, eternal Goodness that is at the center of all things. The pagan philosophy of Dualism teaches and believes that Good and Evil are equal but opposite Powers eternally locked in a struggle for dominance in the universe. But there is a serious fallacy in this kind of thinking.  Evil is distinguished from what is good because it is merely a distortion. The good thing is the ultimate reality. The evil thing is a flawed reflection, a twisted image, a crooked line. To call evil equal with good would be to remove all definitions of good and evil. Evil, therefore, must always be parasitic to the good, not equal to it.

In the New Testament, the term “world” is used to refer to this distortion of God’s good creation. The world is something that has been perverted and should be avoided by Christians (See Rom. 12.2; Col. 2.8; James 1.27; 4.4; 2 Pet. 2.20; 1 Jn. 2.15-17). In Paul’s writings, this term refers to “the totality of unredeemed life dominated by sin outside of Christ” (Herman Ridderbos). In other words, the World is sin-infected creation.

The trouble is that Christians often identify the world only as a certain area of polluted creation, which we call worldly or secular, rather than seeing how sin has permeated every aspect of the creation. We are warned about worldliness not only in certain aspects of creation but anywhere and everywhere it may be found, including our own affections. Sometimes the term “earth” or “earthly” is also used (Col. 3.2, 5; Phil. 3.9) as in direct opposition to the will of our Father who is in Heaven. To be worldly is to be in opposition to God and to His intentions for human life on earth. This opposition to God manifests itself in a thousand different ways, but at the heart of the world is rebellion against God.

Our freedom is found in a right relationship with God and where that right relationship is compromised there is bondage to sin. If we will not serve God, then we will serve sin, which also brings us under the domination of the Kingdom of Darkness that rules the world. Satan exercises control of people who are slaved to sin. The concept of bondage is foreign to the Modern mind, which values independence and autonomy. We are proud of our supposed freedom to be and to do what we want, all while failing to see that our freedom is an illusion. In this world, we must serve somebody. If we are not serving God, then we are serving sin and the Dark Power who rules this present, evil world.

The Sin of Idolatry

In Eden was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God allowed for the possibility of disobedience and for the man and the woman to depart from what He intended them to be. The original sin was a desire to put something other than God at the center of life. It did not matter that this was only a piece of fruit. The type of transgression is not important. The heart of sin is a turning away from God and taking something else in hand instead of His will for our lives. The eating of some forbidden fruit in Eden was the first instance of the sin of idolatry.

The forbidden fruit in Eden was only there to illustrate the nature of sin and to show the two alternatives that human beings must face. We may worship God, or we may worship something other than God. There are only two categories of things that we may worship: The Creator Himself, or some aspect of the creation (See Rom. 1.18-25). If we do not worship the Creator, that does not mean we are choosing not to worship. It only means we are worshiping something that God has made instead of worshiping God. Mankind is instinctively and incurably religious. Everything in creation is sacred and all of life becomes religious where we must choose what we will worship and serve. We will worship God, or we will worship a false god, which is an idol. Our lives will glorify God or express rebellion against God. Sin is idolatry and idols are at the root of our alienation from the Creator. Idolatry is not just one kind of sin but is the root of every other sin.

Sin is the declaration of independence from the Creator so that we might choose what we want to worship. The trouble with this is that it flies directly in the face of ultimate reality. The fact is that there is only one, true God. To deny this is to go against the very grain of the universe. We can shake our fist at Heaven and tell God to leave us alone, but life simply will not work without God at the center. An automobile was designed to run on gasoline. If we refuse to fill up the tank, the vehicle will cease to work. Human beings were meant to work a certain way and life falls apart when that design is ignored.

Idolatry has a devastating effect on human beings. We were meant to image God in our dominion over creation. When we turn from God to idols, God’s loving rule is no longer reflected in human society and something else begins to grow up that is perverted and ugly. The early world became so perverted and ugly, God decided to destroy it with a great flood and start over again. It is difficult to say just how corrupt human life can become when people turn away from the living God.

There is a good reason why the commandments of God begin with a warning against idolatry (Ex. 20.3-5). If this commandment is not kept, then everything else in our lives will become distorted as well. If we choose not to worship and serve the Creator, there can be no moral boundaries in our social relationships with other people. We each become our own little god, deciding for ourselves what is right and wrong. The result of this can only be social chaos. One of the ways God judges the world for its idolatry is to withdraw and allow us to suffer the inevitable consequences of our alienation. We cannot ignore God and come away unscathed any more than we can ignore the law of gravity and not get hurt! The way of obedience is life and peace, but the way of disobedience is death (Deut. 30.15-20). According to the Old Testament Wisdom literature, such as Proverbs, to disobey God is to foolishly go against the very laws of the universe, which can only cause self-destruction. Sin brings a curse which ultimately ends in death (Rom. 6.23). We have a very strong inclination to disbelieve this basic Biblical fact. Perhaps we think that God is exaggerating the truth just a bit and that the situation is not really all that dire. Some people tend to think that God is just a cosmic killjoy who is out to ruin all the fun that we might otherwise have in life by giving us unreasonable commands and boundaries.

These thoughts were placed in the mind of Eve at the very first temptation, and the Enemy of our souls still puts these lies in the minds of men and woman today. Satan has convinced the world that it is better not to serve God.

A Cosmic Conflict

With the appearance of the Serpent in Eden, this world became a place of conflict where God makes a claim on humanity and Satan make his counter-claims. We call Satan’s counter-claims temptations. Satan’s true objective is to incite rebellion on earth, as he apparently once did even in Heaven before the creation of the world. Satan has set up a rival kingdom on earth, one of darkness and deception (Col. 1.13), where he is able to exercise his dominion over those who remain alienated from God. Behind the scenes, there is a dark conspiracy of evil as spiritual powers seek to deceive and then to dominate human life on earth. Those with a Biblical worldview have some grasp on the truly cosmic nature of evil. It becomes difficult for the mind to explain some of the evil acts of human history unless we see the demonic source. We should not underestimate the powerful grip Satan exercises over this world.

Satan’s power is limited, and he is certainly not equal to God. But he promotes the distortion of God’s good creation and he incites rebellion against God Himself. He wants people to assert their independence from God, which ultimately destroys human life. God gives life, but Satan takes life. God creates, but Satan perverts and distorts. Satan has always been a liar who presents humanity with a false option. He suggests that we would be happier without God when the truth is that there is no possibility of anything good apart from God. Satan’s greatest power is making us believe in his lies about God.

We now live in a kind of war zone where a cosmic struggle is unfolding. Two rival kingdoms are clashing on earth and we must give allegiance to one or the other. God calls for our obedience and our worship while Satan incites us to go our own way and do our own thing. “There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan” (C.S. Lewis). Because the world listens to Satan, life in the world is frustrating. We struggle and never really get what we want out of life. Our rule over creation has been compromised and subjected to futility. Life does not submit to our will just as we have refused to submit to God’s will. Only when the children of God are fully redeemed will the creation itself become liberated (Rom. 8.19-23).

Developing a Christian Worldview: Based on Creation

The Biblical worldview begins with Creation, not with Jesus. We often make Jesus the leading salvo of our Gospel presentation, but there is no context for redemption in Christ apart from the foundational reality of creation and Creator. When Paul addressed the pagan idolaters in Athens, he began his sermon by talking about creation and Creator (See Acts 17.22-31). With the rising secularism of our own times, it would be wise to learn from Paul’s approach in Athens when sharing the Biblical message.

God has made a covenant with creation, to uphold it until His purpose is complete. God’s faithfulness to His covenant with creation is the backdrop for all His dealings with mankind (Jer. 33.20-21; 25-26). This means that we can trust God.

Creation and Sovereignty

Something that we must avoid from the outset is the unbiblical view called Deism. This is the belief that the universe is like a giant machine that runs by itself according to natural laws while the Creator is uninvolved and perhaps even uninterested in what He made.

The Biblical view is that the God who made the world is also keeping it in order (2 Pet. 3.5, 7). We live in God’s world, which must submit to His sovereign decrees (Psa. 95.3-5; 148.8; 119.91).  Theologically speaking, the concept of creation and sovereignty go together and cannot be separated. God’s care for the world He made has also been described as His providence.

To say that God is Creator is to say that God is sovereign over what He made. In fact, the created world was created, at least in part, to be a stage or a theater for God’s sovereignty to be put on display. The Bible hints at the fact that more than just human eyes are watching what God is doing in the world. God’s work is being done “on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Creation and Law

Scripture uses the term “law” to connect God’s creative will and His sovereign will (Psa. 33.9). Law is not just the specific commandments that God has revealed but is a much broader concept that concerns all of God’s sovereign will for the world and His purpose for human life in it.  Creation is governed and administered by the law of God. God is redeeming His fallen creation by grace, but He is upholding creation, even in its fallen state, by His law.

The Bible also connects God’s law and God’s word (Psa. 148.8; 33.6; 2 Pet. 3.5; Heb. 11.3). God created the world with just a word of command, and God’s word also upholds the world (Psa. 147.18; 148.8; Heb. 1.3). The most important connection between God’s word and creation is Christ Himself (John 1.3; Col. 1.16; Heb. 1.2; 2.10). The Son of God is also upholding the created order with just His word (Col. 1.16-17; Heb. 1.2-3).

The law of God works in the following two ways: 1. Directly, through God’s intervention, and 2. Indirectly, through human involvement (Al Wolters). In the natural world, God’s law is direct. God tells the earth to rotate on its axis, for example, and it does so. If God were to suddenly cease to uphold the natural world everything would return to a state of darkness and chaos. God’s law works indirectly in the world of human society. Human beings have been called upon to work with God in the realm of human affairs and the development of culture and society. So, there are laws that govern the world of nature and there are laws that also govern the world of human interactions.

There is an order in Creation that God ordained, and that God maintains. This created order is good for mankind. We are not to reject things that God created and that remains good and blessed (1 Tim. 4.3-4). For example, marriage and human government are both institutions created by God which are good for mankind (Rom. 13.1-2; 1 Pet. 2.13). Instead of seeing God’s law as a means of enjoying life and blessing, we tend to see God as an unnecessary restriction of our freedom and progress.

The laws of nature can easily be seen in operation. The law of God in the realm of human society is not so neat and tidy. The earth spins on its axis in obedience to the law of God. The natural world never ceases to obey the will of its Creator. But human beings are a different kind of creature. Mankind has been given the responsibility of executing God’s will and He holds us accountable for doing so. Unlike the earth, mankind can choose to ignore and to disobey the law of God. In Western thought, there is a great gulf of separation between the natural law and the social law of God. But the Bible does not separate these categories. The same God who orders creation also orders human life.

At times God intervened directly in human affairs and gave specific commands to specific people. There were also times when God circumvented the normal, natural laws in order to produce a miraculous sign. But God was always consistent with His own nature and character so that we can trust Him to be good, righteous, and faithful all the time.

Creation and Wisdom

Modern man is rather unique in separating the realm of nature and of mankind. The ancient worldviews all held that there was a natural law that governed all human affairs. The whole burden of ancient wisdom, or philosophy, was to discover the direction in which the grain of the universe was running and go with it. This same kind of thinking is seen in Biblical Wisdom literature, but with the one, true God of Israel as the proper object of worship and obedience (Psa. 147.15-20).

In the Old Testament, the law of God in creation is associated with wisdom. “Wisdom is ethical conformity to God’s creation” (James Fleming). On one hand, is the law of God woven into creation. On the other hand, there is our need for wisdom or conformity to that Divine Order (Prov. 1.22-23; 8.4; 22-23; 27-30; 9.6). The wisdom of God in Creation is available and knowable. All our scientific knowledge of the natural world is made available to us by the Creator and is the basis for human society and civilization. Even our knowledge of agriculture is something that God teaches through the wisdom in creation (Isa. 28.23-29). Discerning this wisdom takes time and reflection as well as teamwork with others.

The wisdom of God in His special revelation of Scripture can help us understand the general revelation in nature. John Calvin compared Scripture with a pair of glasses that bring the world into proper focus. Scripture is a light to our path (Psa. 119.105). We might think of Scripture as a verbal explanation from the engineer who had designed a complex piece of machinery.  

Creation and Mankind

Humans serve God in a unique way by ruling over creation. The Divine image in mankind is linked to our dominion over the creation. The ruling task is that of cultivation, like a farmer or a gardener. This is a communal undertaking as we image God corporately and not just individually. This cultural development is illustrated in its beginning phases in the Genesis account of creation (Gen. 2.4-4.26).

History is the development of man’s dominion over the creation. God does not support mankind’s wanton destruction of creation. We must acknowledge God’s covenantal relationship to the earth and our accountability to God. We are God’s caretakers. We are free to use and to develop but not to destroy nature. Mankind will be held accountable in the end for the stewardship of the world (Matt. 25.14-30). There will be a Day of universal accountability for how we handled God’s stuff. We are merely managers. Everything belongs to God and nothing really belongs to us. We are never free to just live for ourselves, independently from the Creator, though this kind of autonomy is the cornerstone of the modern, secular worldview.

The Creation is revelatory (Psa. 19.1-4) and this “general revelation” is available to everyone (Acts 14.17). Fallen man chooses not to acknowledge this revelation (Rom. 1.18-20), but we cannot escape the moral order God created, which continually presses its demands upon us through the universal witness of conscience (Rom. 2.14-15). Though man is fallen and worships idols rather than the Creator, the law and revelation of God woven into the created order presses in upon the mind of men everywhere and makes them accountable.

While God upholds the Creation, He has given over the care of it into the hands of human beings. God put an image of Himself on earth to care for and develop the Creation. The cultural evolution of Creation is the task of civilization given specifically into the hands of mankind (Gen. 1.28; Psa. 8.6). After God created the world the stage was set, and the drama of human history began. The history of civilization is the opening of the possibilities and the potentialities of creation. The man was placed in the Garden of Eden to care for it (Gen. 2.15).

This was the beginning of human society and civilization in which creation would be developed and cultivated. People would participate with God in the flowering of creation. History is the story of this development. Mankind’s management of the world was always God’s plan. The creation was supposed to grow and mature into something under mankind’s management. This meant that some type of cultural evolution would be required. Eden did not represent the final stage of God’s creation, but only the beginning of the world. Even the New Creation that is envisioned at the end of the Bible will not be a return to Eden but will somehow encompass all of mankind’s cultural achievements, minus the curse of sin and death (Rev. 21-22). In the New Creation, human life will be like the butterfly that develops out of the pupa (Herman Bavinck). Human history began in a garden, but it will end in a city (Al Wolters).

Creation is Good

The Creation was declared by God to be good and we should not take a dim view of the material world because God does not. As C.S. Lewis said, “you do not want to be more spiritual than God.” The ancient heresy of Gnosticism once threatened to take the Biblical view of creation from the early Church, and remnants of Gnostic thinking cling to us today. One of the great errors of nearly every unbiblical worldview is that they tend to single out one aspect of creation and make that the scapegoat for all of humanity’s woes (Al Wolters). We want to shift the blame for our problems to something in creation, which is tantamount to blaming God (Al Wolters).

Creation is a cause for joy and celebration in both mankind and the natural world, which is often personified as praising and obeying the Creator (Psa. 104.24; 139.14). God is worthy to be praised for what He has made. In fact, we need no other reason to praise, worship, and obey Him (Jer. 10.1-16). The creation was meant to give glory to the Creator (Isa. 45.18).

The position of creation towards the Creator is one of complete dependence (Psa. 119.89-91). The fact that we are creatures calls us to humility before God who is the source of everything in the world that is good.

Creation and our Work

We need to revisit a point made earlier in this lesson and find some personal application. I am indebted to Tim Keller and his book Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work for the following insights.

The Protestant Reformation brought a new focus on the importance of so-called secular work. The Reformers began to point out that all work is just as much a calling as being a priest of a monk. The Lutheran tradition has continued to teach that God uses our work to care for the world. People are acting as the hands of God when they do various kinds of work. The Calvinist tradition emphasized that our work is a way of creating a culture that glorifies God and provides for human flourishing. Writers like Abraham Kuyper believed that faithful work comes from operating out of a Christian worldview.

God’s original act of creation is described in Genesis as work. God was doing work at the end of which He rested. God then put the man and the woman in charge of caring for creation and developing its potential (Gen. 2.1-3, 15). There was work before the Fall and the entrance of the curse of sin and death. Work was not itself a curse, though the curse of sin would have an impact on work, along with everything else in creation.

A careful study of the Genesis creation account will show how unique it really is and how it differs greatly from all the other pagan mythologies about creation. According to pagan myths, the world was created as a result of warring deities. The Genesis account reveals the world was made by a loving Craftsman, who had no rivals, and who took pleasure in what He made. The Greek philosophers viewed the early world as a paradise in which both men and the gods did not have to do any work. But this clearly differs from the Genesis account where both men and God had work.

The work of God is shared by mankind under God’s provision and guidance. Human beings were created to work rather than to be idle. A sense of dignity and worth is attached to our work. We cannot live fulfilled lives with having meaningful work, along with times of rest. Work is not to be avoided. We serve God and we serve others through our work. Again, this differs from the ancient pagan view of work. The Greeks thought of physical work as demeaning. The philosophers sought to be as far removed as possible from physical things to engage in the “spiritual” life of contemplation, like the gods themselves. This idea continued through the Middle Ages with the separation of spiritual, sacred work, and secular work. Even in modern times, people tend to divide work into physical and mental, with the more physical trades taking a back seat to the more important work of the mind. There is no such distinction and division of work taught in the Bible.

Work reflects the Divine image in us. Animals live according to their instincts, but mankind was given a special mission and a unique job in creation. All kinds of work are necessary for human flourishing and that means all kinds of work have worth and dignity. When God Himself came into the world in human flesh, He was a carpenter!

According to the Biblical worldview, the physical world matters a great deal and is blessed by God. The idea that being truly spiritual means being removed from physical things is a pagan idea. The doctrine of Creation harmonizes with the doctrine of Incarnation, where God Himself enters the world that He created in order to redeem it. A Christian worldview acknowledged that the material world is good. When we work, we are partnering with God in the care and development of creation. That means every kind of work may be done for the glory of God and as an act of worship and service to mankind. Obviously, there are some activities that are against the law of God and destructive to both the creation and human life. But unless we are engaged in wickedness, we can take pleasure in our work.

Work is an act of cultivating God’s good creation. God put human beings in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it. Mankind was given this mandate. The act of civilization was a Divine command. God still owns the world, but He has given it to mankind to care for and to develop. We take what God has made, since we are not capable of making something from nothing like He is, and we form or rearrange it to create something more than what was there before. The world has potential that mankind must develop through work. All work is another act of creation.