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The principle of restorationSaturday, December 13, 2008
Psalm 80:7 Then things went awry. The angel Lucifer suggested that Eve must have misunderstood God, and she would be blessed by doing what God told her not to do. Adam agreed with Eve. They did it, and immediately knew they'd been wrong. They were ashamed and hid. God called for them, and they were busted. Albert Brooks has nothing on Genesis chapter 3. The next part of the story describes the history of the world. To the woman God said, "With pain you will give birth to children; your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you." To the man He said, "Cursed is the ground because of you ... it will produce thorns and thistles for you ... by the sweat of your brow you will eat your food." And then the coup de grace: "You will return to the ground, since from it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return." God introduced finitude and death into the eternal universe he created. Now everything was different. This end-of-physical-life turns out to be more a blessing than a curse. Selfish men living forever? How awful would that be? And God assures us over and over that this world is not our home. Our home is eternal, and it is much more like Eden than we can imagine, and that's where he wants us. And of course, that's why he sends Jesus to "crush the serpent's head and strike his heal." Restore us, O God almighty, to the way we were at the beginning, to what You ordained for us before the fall. This restoration is what God's plan has been from the beginning. This is the big picture of God's love, tough though it may be. Lord, give me eyes to see through my convoluted theologies to the truth you have for all of us. |
God made the plants and the animals, and it was good. The animals were male and female. God made man, named him Adam, gave him jobs to do, and then saw he was alone. So he made a female man, named her Eve. They lived together and it was good.