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The Gospel of God – Part 28

Because God had made a covenant with Abraham, He would not forget His people, even in their darkest hour. He was behind the scenes preparing a man, Moses, who with his brother Aaron, was going to be the long-awaited deliverer.

God judged Pharaoh in a series of devastating plagues culminating in the death of the firstborn in every family. During this time the people of God were waiting safely inside. They had applied the blood of a lamb to each of their homes, so that the angel of death passed over them.  They had marked the occasion by taking a special meal all dressed and ready to move. This was the “Passover”. It was a reminder that the people were delivered by the blood of the lamb. These events are all described in Exodus chapters 12-15.

They left quickly, taking with them the spoils of Egypt. Pharaoh pursued them in haste. The children of Israel were trapped in the desert with the Red Sea ahead of them and the Egyptian army behind them.

God spoke to Moses and told him to advance stretching out his rod in front of him. Remarkably the cloud that had been over them came behind them blotting out the view of the following army. At that moment there was a strong wind and the sea divided making a path right through it. All the children of God safely passed over, may be 1-2 million of them. Then Moses raised his rod again and the sea returned to its normal state with walls of water on each side cascading down drowning the chasing army out of sight. The New Testament tells us that this was God baptising the people in the cloud and in the sea and into Moses.

“For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed though the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea… 1 Corinthians 10:1,2” ESV.

This is an amazing illustration of the great act of God in the Exodus – the coming out – of Egypt. They had been saved by the blood of the lamb and had seen all their enemies destroyed in the sea. This was a true baptism into Moses, a picture here of course of Christ; freed from our enemies by the blood that saves and by baptism into our Head, our Deliverer.

Are we still thinking about the Gospel of God?

What do we learn from these historical accounts?

Are we still thinking about the problem of sin?


The Gospel of God – Part 27

So how did God respond to the dreadfulness of sin?

Before we can start giving some thought to this question we need to very briefly turn back to Abraham. We have already noted that he plays a key part in God’s great purpose and therefore is revealed frequently in the Bible.

God called Abraham out of a totally heathen people by revealing Himself as the God of glory. God made great promises to Abraham saying that He would bless all the families of the earth through his descendants. These promises were made in a covenant that God instituted with Abraham and his seed – his descendants.

“Abraham was justified because he believed God; his faith was counted to him as righteousness” Galatians 3:6.

It put him in right standing with God. This is a central theme in the New Testament.

Abraham had a son, Isaac, and Isaac had a son called Jacob. From Jacob and his wives came twelve more sons, resulting in a large tribal group that came to be known as the twelve tribes of Israel. (Along the way God changed Jacob’s name to Israel.)

His eleventh son, Joseph, was his father’s delight as he came from the love of his life and his marriage to Rachel. Being favoured did not help Joseph however as his brothers took exception to his status and sold him to traders from Egypt.

There, through a series of amazing events, he remarkably rose to become the chancellor of the exchequer, only Pharaoh being above him.

Meanwhile, back in Canaan, where the tribe were living, famine forced them to go down to Egypt for food. There Joseph recognised his brothers and eventually, forgiveness and reconciliation followed, resulting in all the family moving to live in Egypt.

The tribal family grew quickly and after a change in power the new Pharaoh became apprehensive of these people and put them into slavery and bondage.

This dark passage of the children of Israel’s history lasted for 430 years, exactly the time period revealed to Abraham when God instituted the covenant with him.

Where was God now?

How could the seed line be continued?

How would all the promises of God be fulfilled in the face of such impossibility?

Is this how God responds to the dreadfulness of sin?


The Gospel of God – Part 26

The clearest definition of sin in the New Testament is found in Ephesians.

 Ephesians 2:1-3, “And you he made alive, who were once dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others”.

We noted in Part 25 that everyone comes into the world with a nature that is under the judgment of God. We are all children of wrath.  This inherent nature is expressed in our daily walk. Our walk is a term describing the usual pattern, direction and character of our lives. Paul in this text says that our walk, our pattern of life, was according to, or in keeping with, the powers that operate in our fallen world.

The world is under the prince of the power of the air, a title of the devil himself. This spirit works in us, sons of disobedience. In our fallen nature there is power that is destructive to us. We are influenced by it at best, and controlled by it at worst, this formidable opposer to God.  We are given over to the lusts of our flesh, with no fear of God in our eyes. The spirit has power to work in us because we are fundamentally disobedient sons. All of us have an inbuilt bias to sin, until we allow God to put it to death in us. 

Much of our behaviour is because of what we have inherited by birth, but this must not be used as an excuse as we all have committed sin of our own volition.

Our text here describes that, in our un-regenerate state, we all fulfil the lusts of our flesh and of the mind. Not everyone manifests gross sin. Not all have the opportunity to either commit sin, or be protected from sinning; but all of us have a mind and an imagination that may know no limit to the extent of our sinfulness. All of us are capable, given the right circumstances, of any sin.

Paul goes on in his letter to describe the amazing change that happens when we “learn Christ, when we are taught the truth that we have put off the old man, put on the new and are renewed in the spirit of our mind”.

He contrasts the old manner of life, living and walking like everyone else, in darkness, ignorance, blindness, lewdness, greed, and so forth. He says that this behaviour springs from “the old man” in us – the power of sin that yields fruits of sins. There are numerous manifestations of sin, that are called sins in the Bible, but they come from a single source, the nature of sin itself. 

Ephesians 3:17-24:-

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him, and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness”.


The Gospel of God – Part 25

We need to turn, once again, back to Adam, before we leave him and move on in our study.

Romans 5:12,15,17,18,19 says:-

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death though sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…

For if by one man’s offence many died, much more ……

For if by one man’s offense death reigned through the one…

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men…

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners….”

The terrible consequence of Adam’s sin was that he brought down the whole of humanity with him. I have heard him described as the federal head of the human race.

What happened through, and to, him has resulted in the principle of sin being inherited by every man and woman born into the world. This is called original sin, or as Charles Wesley often says, inbred sin, although Scripture doesn’t use these exact terms.

It is even more starkly stated in 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22 “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive”.

Note the contrasts: in Adam  in Christ.

 This actually is the tone of the New Testament. There is no middle ground, no compromise position, no uncertainty or room for negotiating.

One is either in Adam or in Christ. 

Either in one man or the other Man.

Either alive or dead, lost or found, light or darkness, with or without, old or new, etc.


The Gospel of God – Part 24

Apart from a brief reference to the wonderful man, Enoch, who walked with God, the next man we meet in Genesis is Noah.

In Noah’s day sin and wickedness had increased to such an extent that God sent a world-wide flood to destroy man and begin again.

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and the Lord was grieved in His heart.

So, the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”, Genesis 6:5-8”.

This is the description of sin at its worst. So badly had sin developed in the heart of mankind that “that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually”. What terribleness!

No wonder God had to bring judgement upon all mankind.

In the midst of a such a severe judgement God had prepared Noah, along with his family, and they were safe in the ark. After many months shut in the ark by God Himself, Noah and his family emerged on to a new earth, a new world – a new creation! 

There was a restoration of the original purpose of God for humanity to be in the image of God.

“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man. And as for you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it, Genesis 9:6,7”.

God also set their place in the new creation by establishing a covenant with them; a new creation and a new covenant.

There was also the continuation of the seed line from Noah, through his son Shem, to Abram, the single most dominant figure of the Old Testament, “Genesis 9:18, 10:21, 11:10, 11:26”.


The Gospel of God – Part 23

Once out of Eden it is astonishing and sobering to read how rapidly and seriously sin increased and spread.

Adam and Eve’s firstborn son Cain, killed his brother Abel, in a fit of pique and rage, because his offering was not accepted by God in the way his brothers was. Adam’s eldest son – a murderer! Genesis 4:8.

Cain’s son built the first city, called Enoch, after their firstborn son. Cities are places where sin finds increased expression. Genesis 4:16-26.

Four further generations later we reach Lamech, who was the first man to take two wives.

There was considerable cultural development in these days including farming, musical instruments, and craftsmanship in a variety of metals.

Lamech however was an incredibly violent man who used excessive brutality against minimal provocation, boasting of the people he had murdered.

He was also pleasure seeking and committed to physical and outward beauty. His wives’ names indicate this. Adah means “pleasure, ornament or beauty”; Zillah means “shade” probably referring to a luxurious covering of hair. His daughter’s name was Naamah, which means “loveliness”.

The last account of Adam and Eve was, that through Seth, their eldest son, the line of the promised deliverer would be continued, and so it did.

“And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore him a son and named him Seth – meaning “appointed”. For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed….then began to call on the name of the Lord”. Genesis 4:25,26.


The Gospel of God – Part 22

Genesis 3:20-24 tells us a few more snippets of information. Adam called his wife’s name Eve which means mother of all living. Although I have referred to Eve by name in my comments above, in fact this is the first time she is given that name by Adam.

This implies that the woman takes her name from her husband. Both genders are encompassed in terms like mankind, humanity, etc. This is not merely cultural – albeit a disappearing one in the western world – it is Biblical.

See Genesis 5:2 “He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created”.

Genesis 3:21 is the record of God making tunics of animal skins with which to clothe them. This is, by implication, the first time that there had been blood shed as a sacrifice for sin. It is an incredible thing that God did in His kindness to Adam and Eve. It was clothing for them but it represented much more than that. It was a means of their acceptance by God in spite of their sin. God Himself took the initiative to clothe them by a bloody sacrifice.

So, in their darkness moments, being under the judgement of their Creator, hope was extended to them and a way was established in blood, that would be the basis of God’s further relationship with mankind.

This theme will recur in our later studies.

The last few verses in Genesis 3:22-24 record for us God’s final judgement on their sin. They were both sent out of the garden. This was to prevent them for eating of the tree of life and living forever in their fallen state. Expulsion was God’s mercy to them.

“Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever” – therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So, He drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life”.

God’s final punishment was to banish them from the garden that had been their home. They were alienated from Him who had created them.

This too was a mercy for if they had remained in Eden and had taken of the tree of life, they would have lived forever in their sinful state.  The cherubim and the flaming sword turning every way prevented their return.


The Gospel of God – Part 21

The Lord God addresses each in turn, the serpent, Eve, and Adam in that order.

1. God curses the serpent and tells him that he will slither on his stomach for the rest of his days. He will also eat dust all the days of his life.

Adam and Eve must now have seen the serpent, or Satan, in a different light from when he appeared in verse 1.

There is however in these following verses the most amazing promise.

God says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel”, Genesis 3:15.

God announces that Satan will bruise, wound, or hurt the coming Messiah’s heel, foot, but the Messiah would crush, and destroy Satan with a mortal wound. Here is the earliest promise of the complete destruction of Satan, and the total victory of the coming Christ.

Even in the face of the cosmic rebellion God has had His plan of redemption for the human race.

Redemption is a truth we will return to as it is a key Biblical word.

2 “To the woman He said: I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception. In pain You shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you”.

The woman will know a multiplied sorrow, specifically in relation to bringing children into the world.

Suffering has been the lot of women throughout history. Some of it has been relieved as a consequence of the gospel being preached throughout the world. Where the Christian ethic has been taught the lot of women has been improved.

Regarding the woman’s desire for her husband it seems that this has changed as a consequence of the Fall.

This speaks of an inherent challenge in embracing the husband’s role as leader of his home and family. Now the curse on Eve makes it much harder for her to submit and flow with God’s institution of male headship in the home. David Guzic”.

 “So, the rule of love founded in paradise is replaced by struggle, tyranny and domination: Susan T Foh, cited in Boice, in the Blue letter Bible”.

3 Adam listened to the voice of his wife rather than the choosing to obey God, hence he entered into a form of idolatry. So, God said to him;

“Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return”. Genesis 3:17-19”.

Adam had been given stewardship of the ground in the creation mandate. It was to be his work and he found great joy in it.

Here God’s judgement came against his most basic role; his work became a chore, a struggle. It was a constant cycle of keeping on top of things that would spoil the creation.

He was reminded now of his mortality. He was a dying man and ultimately would return to the dust from which he had uniquely been made.


The Gospel of God – Part 20

“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat? Genesis 3:11-13.

This was a huge moment for Adam. How would he respond? Would he be honest, humble, repentant? Sadly not. He abdicated his headship responsibilities again and sought to shift the blame to Eve, his wife. He answers; “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate”.

Not only did Adam fail to take responsibility for his own sin, and his failure as a husband, but remarkably he has a snide comment at God Himself. He even seems to blame God when he says; The woman You gave me to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate”.

The sheer arrogance, pride and disrespect for God is quite amazing! This is breath-taking in the extreme!

God then addresses the woman, “What is this you have done?”. Here is Eve’s opportunity to disassociate from her husband’s sin, and confess her part in her deception; but how does she respond? She blames the serpent! “The serpent deceived me, and I ate”.

The shame and blame game!

How will God Himself respond given this course of events?


The Gospel of God – Part 19

Tragically Adam and Eve compounded their sin by hiding from God. They had lost relationship with Him and were now estranged from Him. They were alienated from Him.

As terrible as that was for them, it was heartbreak for God. He had created them for His pleasure, and given them free will that they might reciprocate His great heart of love for them.

God came calling, “Where are you Adam? Genesis 3:9”. It was not that God did not know where they were. In His omniscience He knew everything. He was not wanting to know where they were geographically, as it were, but rather wanting to know where they were in their heart states before Him. Perhaps – and this is only conjecture – things might have turned out very differently if they had confessed their sin and been honest about what they had done!

God called to Adam first and later addressed Eve as seen in verses 9 and 13. Here is the order of headship seen again. Adam replied that the voice of God, which once they rejoiced to hear, now struck fear into his heart as he became so aware of his nakedness.

The fear of God is an appropriate human response to Him, who in all His splendour and holiness, is Almighty God, who dwells in unapproachable light.

However, where there is no relationship with Him, mankind in all his sinfulness, stands in terror at His presence, his spiritual nakedness exposed.