Untitled Sermon (2)

Genesis 3:1 NET

Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”

What Does God Want-Wk 2

In the last chapter the made the point that “God equipped people to image him on earth. He did that by sharing his attributes (his qualities and abilities) with them.”

Dr Heiser goes on to say

“ As wonderful as that was (and is), it’s where things get interesting—and scary. One of God’s qualities is freedom—what we often call free will. If you’ve ever wondered why there’s evil in the world, here’s the Bible’s answer.”

Heiser, Michael S.. What Does God Want? (p. 13). Blind Spot Press. Kindle Edition. 

The Question is a common one for those who are exploring faith. In a lot of religious traditions the blame for this get placed squarely on the shoulders of the Divine Being that we call Satan and while there is a Elohim in the Garden of Eden who rebels against his creator and is determined to destroy the new humans, this event is just the beginning and without an understanding of the Rebellions we miss the entire overarching narrative that is the foundation of the Biblical story.

WHEN GOD MADE HUMANITY AND SHARED HIS ATTRIBUTES HE KNEW WHAT THAT MEANT

This decision was not only made for us but also for his heavenly family as well.

The potential for one of his children to rebel and sin was present, while we are like him, we are not him, so the mis-used and abuse of our power of choice has always been present and at some point one of his children was likely to make a horrible decision.

We see the first of these in our story occur in Gen 3

Let’s discuss our thoughts around the Garden of Eden story and what we’ve been told about this event.

Who rebelled first?

Who understood the consequences?

“One of God’s supernatural children decided to dishonor God’s decision to have a human family by tempting Eve, hoping God would destroy her and Adam. He came to Eve in the form of a serpent (Gen 3:1-7). The Bible refers to the serpent as Satan and the Devil (Rev 12:9). He succeeded in getting Eve to sin, but failed when it came to getting rid of humanity permanently.”

Heiser, Michael S.. What Does God Want? (p. 14). Blind Spot Press. Kindle Edition. 

WHY DOES EVIL EXISIT IN THE WORLD?

“Evil exists in the world because God decided he wanted to create beings like himself.

I don’t mean that God has an evil side. Rather, I mean that God rejected the idea of creating humans as robots or pre-programmed computers made of flesh.”

Heiser, Michael S.. What Does God Want? (p. 14). Blind Spot Press. Kindle Edition. 

IN ORDER FOR US TO BE LIKE GOD, WE NEEDED FREE WILL.

Any love expressed as a child is not authentic if it is pre-programmed.

So, Evil enters into and is propagated in the World when God’s children use the powerful gift of Free Will for Self-gratification, the abuse of other imagers, revenge and the promote the Mirage of Autonomy.

GOD FOREKNOWS THIS WILL OCCUR....HOWEVER HE DID NOT PREDESTINE THIS TO OCCUR.

This is a very important distinction and one that we will address later, but for now we need to know that

“The Bible makes it clear that God saw what was coming and had a plan of forgiveness and salvation in place before the rebellion even happened—from “the foundation of the world” to be precise (Eph 1:4; Heb 9:26-10:7; 1 Pet 1:20). The plan of salvation would ultimately require God becoming a man. We’ll get to that part of the story soon enough.”

Heiser, Michael S.. What Does God Want? (p. 15). Blind Spot Press. Kindle Edition. 

RESULTS OF REBELLION 1

Adam and Eve get expelled from the Garden of God and the effects of their sin extend from themselves to all creation, that present and that which is to come.

The Divine being responsible for the treachery in the Garden is cursed as well and bound to the Earth as the Ruler or Lord of the realm of the Dead (what later becomes know as Hell). A present and future judgement was placed upon him.

WHY NOT SCRAP IT ALL?

To do that he would have to scrap us. Every one of us. Because we all sin. We are all born with sin present in our DNA.

Romans 3:10-12

“All this boils down to an amazing truth: While God knew what making us like him would lead to, the result was preferable to not having a human family at all.”

Heiser, Michael S.. What Does God Want? (p. 16). Blind Spot Press. Kindle Edition. 

THE JUDGEMENT WAS PUBLIC AND STRONG

Isa 14:12-15

Ezek 28:16

REBELLION #2

Gen 6:1-4

2 Peter 2:4

Jude 6

Divine Sons of God make the decision to pro-create their OWN children which made them RIVALS of God their Father.

Rather than have humans as a part of the family, they wanted to have their own bloodline which would serve their desires and plans.

These Fallen Sons of God were judge harshly for their rebellion however the damage to humanity was utter and nearly complete.

Gen 6:5-6

THE FLOOD- STARTING OVER WITH A MAN NAMED NOAH

The damage to humanity was so far reaching that the only way to save humanity was to start over.

“Only one man was said to be righteous in God’s eyes—Noah (Gen 6:9).”

Heiser, Michael S.. What Does God Want? (p. 18). Blind Spot Press. Kindle Edition. 

AFTER THE FLOOD

“After the flood God repeated the original commands he had given to Adam and Eve (“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”; Gen 9:1). God was starting over with them. He made a covenant with Noah that extended to all humankind (Gen 9:8-17). A covenant is a promise or pledge. This covenant was one-sided; it was all about God’s promise to never destroy humanity (Gen 9:11). Amazingly, God still wanted a human family. Not as amazing—but still pretty incredible—the abuse of God’s goodness would continue. A third rebellion followed the flood. This one would frame the rest of the biblical story, and show, again, God’s unconquerable patience and love.”:

Heiser, Michael S.. What Does God Want? (p. 18). Blind Spot Press. Kindle Edition. 

REBELLION #3

The Tower of Babel

You may have heard this story before, but very few actually understand what occured here.

The judgements that happened here sets the stage for the entire Gospel Story.

The World View of the Bible and of Jesus can only be understood if you understand what happened here.

Gen 11:1-4

Gen 11:5-9

Deut 32:8-10

Enter Abraham Stage Right

Abraham

Obeys God

Believes God

Receives the Promises and Covenant of God

Demonstrates Loyalty to God by receiving the Sign of the Covenant and making sure every Man in his household did the same.

“Belief and loyalty are two distinct things. They are related but not interchangeable. The same is true of salvation and discipleship.”

Heiser, Michael S.. What Does God Want? (p. 21). Blind Spot Press. Kindle Edition. 

Abraham is promised a Son, a seed and through this son ALL THE NATIONS of the Earth would be Blessed.

Gen 12:1-9

Gen 15:1-6

Gen 18:1-15

Gen 22:15-18

Gal 3:16-18

Gal 3:26-29