The never-ending experiment… (part 4)

Our journey through the “never-ending experiment” has brought us to the profound truth of our original identity and purpose that was perfectly established by God before the world knew brokenness. The entrance of sin, marred God’s image in us that created a barrier between humanity and God. You’ve seen this concept of “good verses evil” presented in countless television series and movies, and while those portrayals may not be entirely false, the true battle goes beyond the physical. On a macro level, you observe those physical wars between individuals, groups, or nations. Yet, on a micro level, the battle within yourself is not physical. It’s spiritual.

A perfect life in a perfect garden took a shift by the man’s, named Adam, disobedience to God from the woman’s, named Eve, deception by the serpent, disguised as Satan. Their act of eating the fruit from the forbidden tree brought both physical and spiritual death to all humanity. As a result, every person born after Adam inherits this sin nature. In Genesis chapter 5, it states, “When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.” Through Adam’s descendants all the way to Noah, we witness humanity’s progression, and though they lived long lives, we are continually reminded of the inherited sin leading to death. However, there is one particular person in this lineage that stands apart from the rest as he did not experience death - Enoch. Enoch had a close relationship with God as he walked with Him, and when he was no more, God took him away.

This inherited sin nature deviates from alignment with God that leads us to operate within a corrupted world where Satan actively flexes his power and influence over the people. Throughout Scripture and evident in the world today, we see people worship false idols, such as gold, silver, wood, stone, money, power, pleasure, and other pursuits that become the focus of our lives, drawing our attention and devotion away from God. There’s also pride, an excessive self-love and arrogance that disregards God’s authority, and rebellion, a defiant opposition to God’s will, as well as other sins.

Consider the dialogue between Eve and the serpent. The serpent said to Eve:

1 “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ 2 The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die .’ 4 ‘You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:1-6).

The serpent began challenging God’s authority and command. He subtly planted a seed of doubt in Eve’s mind. The deception was to make her think that God was withholding from them, despite them being made in the likeness of God and having everything they needed. What they didn’t know was evil, but they didn’t need to know evil because that’s not God’s nature and since they were created in the image of God, they knew all of what was good. Furthermore, it didn’t help that Eve had twisted God’s word, creating an opening for deception leading to the temptation. This is how your identity becomes formed under a cloud of deception, because when you don’t have a firm grasp on the truth, you leave yourself open to believe anything that sounds appealing. Scripture warns us, “…Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan doesn’t appear with horns and the theatrical gimmicks that the world often portrays. His schemes are in a way that imitate God and His ways. The world will tell you that you are created in God’s image, and in that same breathe it’ll show you their god, Satan. This is why you need to utilize those skills — thinking critically, researching, and drawing sound conclusions — to be able to discern what is good because it is this dialogue in the garden and the choice that follows it that sets the stage for the ongoing struggle between good and evil. As Scripture declares, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8)

Once Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened after eating the fruit, soon they heard the sound of God walking in the garden, and hid themselves from His presence. There was dialogue that took place with God and Adam and Eve that resulted in punishment for Adam and Eve along with the serpent and the ground being cursed. God cursed the serpent, stating that for its participation in the Eve’s temptation, it will crawl on its belly and eat dust, then God spoke a prophecy about the ultimate resolution between good and evil (Genesis 3:8-19). God’s redemptive plan centers around a Savior who will restore humanity back to Him. From the first book, Genesis, to the last one, Revelation, Scripture points us to that Savior. Throughout the Old testament, there were several prophets, who have been chosen and called by God to deliver messages to His people about the coming Messiah. Then, keeping His promise, the New Testament unfolds with God coming to earth in the flesh. The Son of God is Jesus, and Scripture testifies that Jesus is God manifested in the flesh. As it says in Scripture, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15). “He” is Jesus and the “invisible God” is our heavenly Father. Invisible meaning our Father is not seen. Thus, Jesus is the image of God our Father, making him God in the flesh. Additionally, we know that Jesus isn’t the first created being in human form, because Adam is according to the Word. However, Jesus was with God in the beginning of creation, which means that he preexisted before all creation. In Christ, all things were created. To study more about this, read the first chapter in the book of Genesis and the first chapter in the Gospel of John. Needless to say, as the Gospel of John confirms: “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known” (John 1:18). In a revealing moment with Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, Jesus confirms this truth. When Philip asks Jesus to reveal to him and to the rest of the disciples the Father, Jesus replies, “Don’t you know, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:8-9). Those who encountered God on earth did so through Jesus Christ. If you want to access God our Father, then you must turn to Jesus for he came to earth to do the will of the Father. In a dialogue that Jesus had with the Jews confirms this will:

“35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day’ (John 6:35-40).

Jesus is the suffering servant and the one through whom life is created. He lived a sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21), ministered to people about the good news of the kingdom of heaven, healed the sick, blind, deaf, and lame; and performed miracles. All of this was leading up to the appointed time of his crucifixion (John 12:23 - 26). Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and the shedding of his blood serves as a propitiation for humanity’s sin that satisfied God’s righteous anger and justice. Jesus came to make right the wrong, and it is faith in him alone that we can be made righteous.

Through this divine act of love and sacrifice, and our humble act of repentance and turning to Christ, our true identity, once marred by sin, is restored to God. In Christ, we are a new creation, made whole and perfect in the sight of God by His grace. We are declared righteous because of our faith in Christ and his finished work on the cross. Earlier, I mentioned about the ongoing struggle between good and evil: the desire to want to do good, because of the good that’s in us and there’s also the urge to sin and a brokenness in character, but a transformation takes place one you confess Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead. This is the beginning of your salvation at which the Holy Spirit lives inside of you. Purifying your heart and mind. You will no longer define yourself by the world’s shifting standards or your own flawed perceptions, because you will be reconciled with God and adopted into His family as a child of God, among brothers and sisters in the faith who are doing the will of the Father. God calls us to be in fellowship with His Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because it is only in him we are saved and are led to live a life of righteousness and in truth, fully submitting ourselves under the authority of Christ. Our identity is hidden in Christ, meaning it is the transformation of being born again that which the spirit of God dwells inside of us fully transforming us into the likeness of Christ because once that happens, our bodies are not our own; it belongs to God. The apostle Paul says:

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:1-2).

This is the ultimate conclusion of the “never-ending experiment” as it is time that we acknowledge that there are only two options: life or death; good or bad; righteousness or wickedness; God or Satan. May you obey the calling of God drawing you to Jesus, leading you to the path of eternal life.

Morgan