From the days in the Garden of Eden to the present days in America, God demonstrates His unyielding grace to a fallen people. In His great mercy, God waits patiently for man to see the error of his sinful ways and turn back to Him. Without a repentant heart, redemption is not possible; therefore, in order for man to have a right relationship with God it is imperative for man to obey the commands of God. Disobedience, if not remedied will cause separation from God and ultimately spiritual death.
[1] “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (NIV) God then creates man in His image, Adam, and soon after creates his perfect mate, Eve, a woman. [2] “Then God said, “Lets make mankind in our image in our likeness’ God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” (NIV) [3] “God existed eternally before He created the cosmos, and man and woman in it and when God created them God also already dwelt in the eschaton, and in eternity beyond eschaton.” I believe this to be a firm conclusion that the universe and all that live in it were created by God, therefore thwarts all other theories of origin. Adam and Eve decided God’s creation was not good enough for them. They wanted more than the perfect life He gave them. They break the only command God gives them, “…but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (NIV) The plan was perfect until the serpent deceived Eve. The moment Eve bit into the apple from the tree of life, sin was born and the fall of man began which would effect generations to come. The first prophecy of a redemptive Savior is revealed, [4] “And I will put enmity between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” This began a spiritual tug-of-war between God and Satan. This war would live out in the hearts of men in their relationship with God, with one another and within civilization. God created the natural world for the human race to live, thrive and be blessed in. [5] “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; Fill the earth and subdue it…” (NIV) It was God’s perfect plan not only for Adam and Eve to take dominion of the land, but it was also true for the people of ancient Israel, as it is for Americans today. It is God’s will to see His people work and prosper in His creation. As God witnesses His people giving their hearts over to wickedness in the very land He blessed them with He is forced to execute His righteous judgment. God scours the land and brings forth one whose heart is after His own, Noah. Noah began the lineage in which, Jesus, the Savior of the world would be born. [6] “The judgment of the Flood was necessary to rinse the earth of its pervasive evil and to give humanity a fresh start. The Adamic and Noahic covenants are not redemptive or salvific in and of themselves, but God acts redemptively in maintaining these covenants, preserving a godly line through Seth and raising up a righteous covenant mediator in Noah.”
Our human identity is defined by who we are. As a Christian, I find my identity in the person of Jesus Christ. [7] The decisions I make are made up of what I value and what I value is determined by my belief system. Because I value my relationship with Jesus I make decisions that support that value. The lives of Adam and Eve were also found in God, however, when they took their fate into their own hands they fell from the hands of God. They did not value their right relationship with God. The repercussions of their disobedience echo through out history affecting all of mankind. Because I honor my relationship with God, I also honor my relationship with others. [8] “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (NKJV) Noah valued his relationship with God and his obedience to God was born out of his belief system. Because Noah was trustworthy in God’s eyes, God found him to be a choice candidate to carry out what would the beginning of [9] “God’s redemptive program”.
Our relationship with God is directly linked to our relationships with one another. As each of us work together in obedience with God, God’s plan is carried out through out generations. God’s providential plan is accomplished when there is obedience on the part of His people. As we play out our love for God by our actions, deed and in the manor in which we speak, in the same way we are able to demonstrate these character traits toward our neighbors and even our enemies with the hope of winning them over. As God sees our faithfulness to Him, He accredits it as righteousness. [10] “Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” (NIV) God is always looking down on us searching for hearts that are about His business. These are the people He chooses to use according to His plan and His purpose. The earlier portion of Genesis shows God’s unwavering grace and mercy toward a rebellious people in the depth of sin, a wayward nation who lost sight of a loving God. It burdens my heart to learn even Noah failed God in the latter part of his life giving himself over to a less than sober mind. I am reminded how frail and susceptible we all are in our human inadequacies. May the same God who patiently pursued Jacob’s rebellious heart be the God who continues to pull the reigns in on our tinkering curiosities.
Today, the sin of rejecting God continues to bleed out of the hearts of men from the ruins of ancient Israel to the screen doors of our own backyards. America has become Israel’s twin paralleling her defiant nature to the point, I am afraid, of positioning herself on the footstep of God’s ultimate judgment. We see this in the rebuilding of the Tower of Babel as it foreshadows the rebuilding of a tower on Ground Zero. Just as the people in Noah’s day moved further away from God in their pride and rebellion, so is America as she continues to remove God from the very world He created. If sin continues to override an unrepentant heart a spiritual and eternal death is certain.
[1] Genesis 1:1
[2] Genesis 1:26, 31
[3] Niehaus, J. J. (2010). COVENANT AND NARRATIVE, GOD AND TIME. Journal of the
Evangelical Theological Society, 53(3), 535-559. Retrieved from
[4] Genesis 3:15
[5] Genesis 1:28
[6] Yates, G.E. (2015). Biblical theology, vol. 1: The common grace covenants. Journal of the
Evangelical Theological Society, 58(1). 161-163. Retrieved from http://search
proquest.com/docview/1673954156?accountid=12085 (pg. 162)
[7] College and Career Success, 5/e by Marsha Fralick. Copyright 2011 by Kendall Hunt
Publishing Company.
[8] Luke 10:27
[9] Hindson, Edward E, Yates,Gary E. (2012). The essence of the old testament: A survey.
Nashville, Tenn: B & H Academic. (pg. 54)
[10] Genesis 15:6
Bibliography
Hindson, Edward E, Yates,Gary E. (2012). The essence of the old testament: A survey.
Nashville, Tenn: B & H Academic.
Niehaus, J. J. (2010). COVENANT AND NARRATIVE, GOD AND TIME. Journal of the
Evangelical Theological Society, 53(3), 535-559. Retrieved from
Yates, G.E. (2015). Biblical theology, vol. 1: The common grace covenants. Journal of the
Evangelical Theological Society, 58(1). 161-163. Retrieved from http://search
proquest.com/docview/1673954156?accountid=12085
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