Genesis 3:6-7 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Adam and Eve had just failed to keep God’s command to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Their act of disobedience separated them from walking closely in step with their Creator. They ran and hid themselves from the One who loved them.
John 3:18-21 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
Because of the sin of Adam the light was hidden from the world that God so loved.
Genesis 3:8-13 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
It is human nature since then to blame others for our failures. In order to ease our shame we replace the truth with ignorance.
Genesis 3:14-17
So the Lord God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 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.”
16 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 for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
17 Then to Adam He said,
“Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.
Part of the curse was that man would rule over the woman. In God’s Kingdom there is no male or female, slave or free, Jew or Gentile. In His kingdom we are freed from the curse. Where the Redeemer is there is freedom. In Jesus we are all equal! The Father sees Him and His righteousness and not ours.
Galatians 3:16-18 16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Only to Abraham were the promises given that in the seed of Jesus Christ and the seed of a woman salvation would come to the world. Jesus, all God-all man, would redeem all those who trust in Him.
Galatians 4:4-7 when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
All of God’s promises began and will end with Israel. He will protect them from those who choose to destroy them. Jesus in His birth, death and resurrection put an end to Satan and his hordes who only want to kill, steal and destroy our faith in Jesus to overcome sin and death. It was finished in His resurrection. Satan lost his control.
Genesis 6:5-11Then 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. 6 And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 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.” 8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. 9 This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.
But Noah found grace in the eyes of His creator. Through Noah’s faith in Him the world was saved from extinction. Through Noah and his seed would come the Savior of the world and Israel’s King.
2 Peter 3:4-7 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. 7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
It is inherent in mankind to dismiss the flood and the results of it. They will choose to remain in darkness and not in the light. Carla
Paul’s gospel to the Corinthians centered on the physical death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God who became human yet never sinned (Galatians 1:6–10). Paul had started the Corinthian church; the gospel that the Corinthians had originally received came from him (2:2). Paul did not originate the proclamation of Jesus that he delivered to the Corinthians; he simply gave the Corinthians what he himself had received. He viewed himself as a link in a long chain of witnesses to the truth of the death and resurrection of Christ. Christ died for our sins: Christ’s death dealt decisively with our sins. He suffered in our place to endure the just wrath of God against us. Christ lived and died in accordance with the prophecies about Him in the Old Testament (Psalms 16:10; Isaiah 53:8–10). The Resurrection verifies the fact that Christ’s death paid the full price for sin. The Greek term translated rose here is in the perfect tense, emphasizing the ongoing effects of this historical event. Christ is a risen Savior today. The NKJV Study Bible
The scoffers (or mockers) point to the fact that Christ has not yet returned as evidence for their understanding of the world. In the scoffers’ view, God is not going to intervene and judge (Jeremiah 17:15 and Malachi 2:17). It seems that the false teachers have taken advantage of Peter and the apostles’ unfulfilled claim that Christ will come again soon. Using this as leverage, they may have argued that the community of believers should be organized according to their teachings. Scoffers are claiming that Jesus’ return will not come to pass because, in their limited perspective, things have essentially been the same since creation. Peter counters the argument of the scoffers by claiming that the world came into being by God’s word (Genesis 1:3 and Hebrews 11:3) and God has continued to speak since that time. Peter uses the example of God sending the flood (in response to humanity’s great wickedness) to show that contrary to the scoffers’ beliefs, things have indeed changed since creation (Genesis 9–11). If God once created and destroyed the world by His word, then His promised judgment will surely come to pass. After the flood, God promised that He would never again judge the world by water (Genesis 9:11). As with the judgment of the flood, the focus of the future judgment is not creation itself; it is human sin. Also like the flood, in the future judgment the ungodly will be destroyed while those deemed godly will be spared (2 Peter 2:5, 9). The scoffers will not be tolerated forever; they will experience judgment. Faithlife Study Bible
Luke 24:36–44 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit…
Luke 24:33–34So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
Isaiah 53:1–12 Who has believed our report?And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,And as a root out of dry ground.He has no form or comeliness;And when we see Him,There is no beauty that we should desire Him…
1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
Mark 16:14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.
A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year old grandson. The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating an adventure. Food fell off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass, milk spilled onto the tablecloth.
It didn't take long for the son and daughter-in-law to become irritated with the mess. "We must do something," the son decided. "I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor." So, the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed their dinners together.
Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. The only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a piece of silverware, or spilled his food.
The four-year-old watched it all in silence. One evening before supper, the father noticed his son sitting on the floor, playing with a piece of wood. He asked his son sweetly, "What are you making?" Brightly, the boy responded, "Oh Daddy, I am making a bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in, when you get old." The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.
The next night, Grandfather joined them at the family table.
“I once was blind, but now I see.”
Yes. Either there is real transformation, or there is not. The power to surrender the constraint that comes with wooden bowls, and small tables in the corner.
Without thinking, it’s easy to dismiss someone, to label and categorize, making our world about those who are in, and those who are out.
And we need to decide whether or not we are playing church.
Either we believe in real transformation, or we do not.
Either we believe in grace, or we do not.
Either we believe in hope, or we do not.
Either we believe that love is the way, or we do not.
This transformation cannot be orchestrated or coerced or predicated on shame. It can however, be embraced, and celebrated, and shared. Sabbath Moments
“The community of believers was of one mind and one heart. None of them claimed anything as their own; rather, everything was held in common.” Acts 4:32
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