The Fall (Genesis 3)

Have you thought about the following things: 1) Why does evil or sin exist?  2) Why does suffering or tragedy exist?  3)  Why does a person experience fear, guilt, shame, or depression?  4) Why does a person not want others to see his or her innermost heart?  Why does he or she hide his or his inner heart?  5)  If evil or sin exists, does the world have any hope?  Genesis Chapter 3 explains all these questions.  Therefore, unless one accepts the Bible teaching, he or she will never have any answers to these hard questions.

According to James Montgomery Boice, there have been only two answers to the problem of the existence of evil throughout history.  The first one is the eternity of evil.  That is, evil has existed from the beginning, just as good has existed from the beginning.  Therefore, all life is characterized by this mixture.  But according to Boice, this cannot be an answer at all; it is simply a denial of the problem.  The second one is known as reincarnation.  It is the idea that each of us has had a previous existence, and the existence before that, and another before that, and so on.  The evil we inherit in this life is due to what we have done in those previous incarnations.  But this answer does not ultimately answer to the question since it does not explain why evil existed in the previous existence, and the existence before that, and so on.

Only the Bible clearly tells us that when God created the universe, it was perfect.  But by Adam’s disobedience, sin entered into the world.  By our association with Adam, we were born as sinners.  Modern people may not like the idea that we were born as sinners.  But without accepting this truth, we will never answer all those questions and we will continuously try to solve our problems in our own ways.  It is like a patient denies the root of his or her infection but tries to cure its symptoms by superficial dressings.  As you see in today’s passage, there can be only hope when we accept what happened to mankind in Genesis 3.

Having said that, in a theological terminology, today’s event is called the Fall.  The term indicates that once the world had been perfect but it fell from the perfection.  Look at the last verse in Chapter 2: “The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” (2:25)  The reason they felt no shame was because they had no cause of embarrassment when they stood naked before both God and themselves.  They had done nothing wrong and there was nothing about they could possibly be ashamed or embarrassed.  Their thoughts were pure, and their motives were transparent, and their affections were selfless.  There was nothing they wanted to hide.  It was the state of perfection.  No shame, no guilt, no fear, no desire of running away from God and each other.  There was a perfect relationship.

But look at Chapter 3:1.  “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Suddenly we come upon a creature whose existence has not been hinted until now.  Who is he?  According to Revelation 12:9, the ancient serpent is called the devil or Satan.  Satan, disguised as a serpent, approached Eve and asked the question, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”  It was the first question in the Bible.  In Chapter 2, God gave this command to Adam and Eve: “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”  It was the expression of God’s generous offering.  He gave maximum freedom and dominion to them.  Even the only exception was for them, too.  It reminded them of that they were not God and that they were accountable to him. However, Satan intentionally altered the command of God by asking a question designed to get the woman to express the command in her own words.

 

What was the woman’s reply?  Look at verses 2-3. The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 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.’”  Her own rendition indicates that she knew the command very well.  But it had a slight difference, which becomes crucial.  She did not repeat the statement of God (“You will surely die”) but simply said, “or you will die.”  Seeing her carelessly omitting the word “surely”, Satan capitalized her oversight and told her that God was holding back something.  Look at verses 4-5: “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  He basically said to her, “Eve, it was never really God’s intention to put you to death.  He said this to discourage you from being like God, knowing good and evil.”

 

Here we learn Satan’s tactics in tempting men to rebel against God.  First, he trivializes God’s absolute word.  He minimizes the importance of God’s words.  The Bible says that when we disobey God, we bear the consequence of our disobedience.  But Satan plays down the seriousness of the consequence.  “You will be OK.  Nothing will happen to you.”  But as you see in this chapter, disobeying the command of God brought colossal consequences to Adam and Eve.  They lost the Paradise.  Death came to them.  However, Satan continuously plays down the importance of God’s every word.  If one understands every word of God has eternal consequence of life and death, he or she will have a serious attitude toward the word of God.  But, like Eve, we take the word of God not seriously.  We believe it but with a half-hearted attitude.  Then we are very vulnerable to Satan’s attack   Second, Satan always pictures that God prohibits something because God is not good and, thus, that he cannot be trusted.  He told Eve that God forbade Adam and Eve to eat the tree of the good and evil because he had an ulterior motive.  He is holding back something.  He is hiding something.  He does not want you to become like him.   In a sense, Satan’s statement was factual, but it was a complete misrepresentation of God’s intention for the prohibition.  The reason for the prohibition was not because God did not want men to become like him but because he knew that the prohibition was designed for their good.  Men have fallen into Satan’s tactic of misrepresentation of God’s goodness.  ‘He wants to take away your freedom.’  ‘He wants to enslave you.’  ‘He does not want you to be happy.’  ‘He is afraid of losing his control over you.’  During the sixties, the hippies questioned any kind of restraints.  They espoused free sex.  Of course, sex is a wonderful creation of God, but there is an appropriate time and regulation for such activity.  But Satan twists the prohibition as the impingement of human freedom and made men rebel against the limit set by God.  Third, Satan’s another tactic is to instigate man’s pride.   Look at verse 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.”  “You will be like God,” or “Gaining wisdom like God” was Satan’s powerful weapon in tempting men to rebel against God.  ‘Even God cannot dictate me.’  ‘I am the master of my life.’  ‘I am free from God.’  ‘It is I that calls the shot.’  Men have pursued this fantasy of unbounded freedom and power.  But are we really absolutely free?  We obey even our boss’s command, follow the laws of the nation, and keep the principles of nature.  How much more, then, we have to obey God.  But Satan always tempts us that we can be like God.  Pride is one of Satan’s best weapons.

When we see the consequences of Adam’s disobeying God’s command, we come to see that Satan blatantly lied and grossly misrepresented God.  Look at verse 7: “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.”  In the past, even though they were naked, they felt no shame.  But now, they realized they were naked, so they covered them with fig leaves.  Why did they suddenly feel ashamed?  Before the fall, there was for them nothing to hide.  But now they had something to hide before God because of their sinful state.  They were aware of their exposed state and felt the need of covering their exposedness.  Look at verse 8.  “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”  Even though the clothes of fig leaves were relatively successful in covering themselves, it was not inadequate to disguise their true selves before God. So they hid from God.

Whether one believes in God or not, he or she has inner secrets (we call skeletons in the closet) that no one, even your parents or spouse, wants to know about.  We try to hide our true self through many masks like fig leaves.  Some hide themselves through projecting false images about themselves.  Politicians and celebrities are experts about that.  Some hide themselves through even denying the existence of God or sin.  Even a boyfriend and a girlfriend, or a husband and a wife slowly open up their hearts, revealing their weaknesses and secrets.  Even so, they, too, do not fully reveal themselves. Another mask of hiding ourselves is living busily so that we may not think about ourselves.  We do this or that, watching TV, shopping, or going party.  We hate to be alone because that makes us think about ourselves.  So we want to hide ourselves in a busy lifestyle so that it may keep us from thinking.

But does our hiding really hide our true self from God?  Look at verses 9-11.  “But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” God called them, “Adam, Eve, where are you?”  Of course, God asked this question not because he did not know where they were.  In verse 13, God also asked the woman, “What is this that you have done?”  Once again, God was asking this question not because he did not know what the woman had done.  God knew what had happened but he wanted them to acknowledge their sins and confess them to him.  But if you read verses 11-13, Adam blamed the woman and eventually God who created the woman.  And the woman blamed the devil.  They were no more a wonderful Adam and perfect Eve any more.  They turned into an ugly couple who shifted blame to each other.

The fact that God called Adam and the woman and that they had to respond to his call tells us that we cannot ultimately hide our sins from him. When my eldest son Tim had a rough relationship with me, he tried to cover his face with his hand.  But covering his face with his hand did not really cover himself.  Likewise, running away from God does not really solve our inner shame.  Or not thinking about our inner problem through busy living also does not remove our inner shame.  God calls us to come before him, “Where are you?”  He wants us not to hide ourselves but to acknowledge our sinful state and come back to him through the forgiveness he provided in Jesus Christ.  We may be running away from him.  But the day is coming when we cannot run away from him anymore and when we must stand before him.  Let us not run away from him but come to him as we are, believing his forgiveness.


If you look through this chapter, even though Satan was successful in tempting men, he did not achieve any goal.  He marred the Paradise but he could not frustrate God’s good plan.  Although evil seems to be strong, it cannot frustrate God’s plan.  Even in this tragedy, we can see the glimpse of hope of redemption and restoration because God’s plan cannot be frustrated.  That’s the power of God.  Even though we are sinners, that does not mean that we are totally hopeless.  Instead, in God, we have a great assurance of redemption and restoration.  Therefore, God calls us, “Where are you?”, not to condemn us, but to redeem us from our sin and restore our relationship with him.

What is Man? (Genesis 1:26-28)

What is man?  Even though the question seems to be not a practical one but a philosophical or academic one, a person’s practical life is determined by his or her view of man.  In this post-modern generation, three kinds of view of man are mostly predominant.  The first is the view that man is nothing but an animal evolved from the low species.  Those who have this view treat man as a sexual and psychological animal with instinct or id.  Therefore, they view man’s life as a survival game.  The second view is that man is just a matter or material.  Bertrand Russell once said that man is simply the outcome of accident collocations of atoms.  According to this view, life has no meaning or no purpose.  It is a collection of random accidents.  Third view is that man is a social and political animal. Those who have this view treat a man as a part of a big society.  Man should be managed by social engineering.  Whether we agree the above views or not, we are constantly influenced by them through media or academia.

But according to the Bible none of these popular current ideas captures what man is essentially.  The Bible tells us God created man, especially in the image of God, as the crowning work of God’s creative activity.  Unlike our common sense, only the Bible places man in a very special position in this world.  All secular views on man treat man just another entity in nature.  But only the Bible tells us that man occupies a position of very highest significance in the creation order.  It tells us that man was created as the major event of the sixth day of the creation week, as the climax of God’s activity.  In a sense all created things prior to man’s creation were the background for man’s creation.  All the created things prior to man’s creation were created by the formula of the “And God said” and “Let there be.”  But when God created man, he said, “Let us make man in our own image.”  He paused and counseled and deliberated.  And today’s passage tells us that only man was created in the image of God, and that he was granted dominion over God’s creation as God’s steward or vice-regent.

In Psalm 8:3-8, the Psalmist praises God when he understands that God elevated man’s position so highly. 

³ When I consider your heavens,
   the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
   which you have set in place,
⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him,
   the son of man that you care for him?
⁵ You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings^[c]
   and crowned him with glory and honor.
 ⁶ You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
   you put everything under his feet:
⁷ all flocks and herds,
   and the beasts of the field,
⁸ the birds of the air,
   and the fish of the sea,
   all that swim the paths of the seas.

When he contemplates the magnificence of the universe, he knows how great it is.  But God put man above all the nature and universe.  Indeed God views man as his crowing act of creation.  In modern generation, human life is treated so cheap like garbage.  A person’s life can be viewed as dispensable, disposable, and expendable. He or she is viewed as one of 4+ billion people in this world. But only God views man so highly.  Human worth can be found only when one accepts that God created man in the image of God with a special position in this universe.

Look at verse 26.  “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  There have been some sectors from the early church fathers to Catholic theologians that try to distinguish the word “image (selem)” and the word “likeness (demut).” But the Reformers rejected the distinction between the two terms and regarded them as interchangeable words.  Then, what does it mean that God created man in the image of God and in his likeness?  Wayne Grudem says that it simply means that man is like God and represents God.  Therefore, in order to understand what the image of God, he says that we have to find who God is through the Bible.  J. I. Packer lists the five things: Rationality, creativity, dominion, righteousness, and community.  According to Calvin, it is knowledge, righteousness, and holiness.  Reformed scholars have tried to understand the image of God through a “restoration hermeneutic,” determining precisely what it is that fallen man is restored to through Christ.  Obviously, intellectual ability, moral purity, creativity, ability to make moral and ethical decisions, relationship, and desire for God and eternity will be include in the image of God.  By the way I especially like Robert Reymond’s insight.  In his systematic theology book, he says that the image of God should be understood both in terms of entis and also in terms of relationis. The image of God is inherently given, but it is being developed in relationship.  The image of God should be thought of not just as something static and given, but also as something being developed or achieved in relationship, especially loving God and our neighbors.

The image of God endowed in man is a tremendous gift from God. We love to listen to music or enjoy watching movies or viewing arts.  We enjoy all kinds of creative activities.  We cry when we hear so beautiful melodies.  Or look at modern inventions: Automobile, TV, ipod, iphone, airplane, or computer. Several weeks ago, two Jeopardy champions and the computer Watson that IBM team had constructed competed each other.  Even though the computer won, they say that the powerful computer cannot be matched with a human brain.  The computer can process billions of things only in one task but any normal human brain can process them, while doing multiple tasks.  Or see the human spirit that sacrifices one’s life for meaningful things.  Or we laugh at sarcastic banters, humor, and innuendo behind comedies such as Everybody Loves Raymond or SNL.  Or look at mother’s love or love between husband and wife.  You can see the image of God in man.  No one can deny that he or she has been entitled with special abilities that can create, discern, reason, enjoy, feel, love, or decide, unlike animals.

The second part of verse 26 and verse 28 explain why God created man, especially, in the image of God.  Let’s look at verse 26 and 28 again:

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

German theologian Helmut Thielicke says that man’s creation was God’s great decision or his risky decision after serious deliberation.  The reason is that the world will be put into man’s hands and, as a result, the future of the world’s history will be made by him when God entrusted the world to him.  God told man, “Here is the world in front you.  I entrust everything in it to you.  Create a new history according to my plan and for my glory as my representative or my office-bearer.”  Theologians call the relationship between God and man at this as the relationship between God and his vice-regent or that of owner and steward or that of main worker and coworker.  God started the creation work but it was not his main objective.  The creation was his starting point.  He wanted man to join his creation plan as his coworker until his plan would be completed.  God wanted man, who had been created in his image, to fill the earth and create his kingdom on earth until man enters the true rest, which is called, the Holy City in Revelation.  Indeed God’s plan was a risky one because it would be carried out by man.   Like a parent who watches their children’s play or sports game, God’s heart might be anxious, proud, joyful, and fretful.  But he entrusted the world into man’s hands.

Theologians call God’s mission on man “cultural mandate.”  Man is to use his dominion over the environment sensibly and selflessly, harnessing all its resources and potential for God’s glory.  So from the beginning man is called to create culture and civilization.  He is called to develop, create, manage, explore, study, and research.  In other words, all human activities -- whether they may be science, economy, agriculture, arts, or politics -- are parts of God’s given mandate.  According to this truth, the dualistic view that distinguishes secular works and spiritual works are not biblical.  According to the Bible, all human activities are godly.  Even such mundane works like eating or drinking can be spiritual if they are done for the glory of God.  Even household chores such as cooking, cleaning, arranging furniture can be spiritual.  Or family life such as having sex or raising children can be spiritual.  School study or career can be spiritual if one does for the glory of God.  All artistic expression can be spiritual if the purpose of those activities is for the glory of God.  One theologian says that culture was prior to the fall.

However, as you know well, man fell and sin entered the world.  Man did not rule the nature as God had planned.  Instead man destroyed, abused, and mismanaged because of their greed.  Especially after the Industrial Revolution, man over-explored and developed without consideration for the future.  Fishermen over-fished and some whales become extinct.  Automobiles and factories polluted the world.  Therefore, the cultural mandate was attacked by environmentalists who claimed that the mandate contains a destructive worldview.  However, the mandate was not given to justify to man’s greed to misuse or destroy nature, as depicted in the movie Avatar.  Development, exploration, pursuit of advance of technology and science, or even economy is not evil by itself.  God gave this mandate so that man could create the kingdom of God on earth using all his spiritual, mental, moral abilities.

Culture by itself was not sinful.  But when sin entered the world, culture became the instruments that express man’s sinfulness. Instead of building the kingdom of God, man began to build the kingdom of man.  Man glorified himself and expressed his distorted images.

 

Therefore, Christians used to have three kinds of attitudes toward culture.  First, separation from culture (counter-culture).  Those who view the worldly culture as evil want to separate from it.  To them, godly culture can be developed only in church or Christian community.  Therefore, they avoid any cultural activities such as watching movies so on.  This model is seen in the monastic movement, groups like the Amish Mennonite communities and to some extent the Anabaptists as a whole.  Many Bible verses also support this view, too.  Second, identification with culture. They seek to identify with the culture and take an active role in and among those not professing to follow Jesus; which includes taking roles in government, working and closely associating with those outside the church and essentially working and living before God in every aspect of life, knowing that even the worldly culture given by God.  Many Bible verses also support this view, too.  Third, transformation of culture.  Those who espouse this view believe that the kingdom of God has come through Jesus’ death and resurrection and that, therefore, the structures of life can be converted and changed.  Therefore, church is seen as the social context in which the redeemed reality is realized.  Therefore, those who espouse this view not only preach the gospel and but pray for anti-abortion, or correcting social illness.  Many Bible verses also support this view, too.

Then, what kind of attitude should we as a Christian have toward culture?  I believe, first, we should not view culture by itself as evil.  As I said before, any human activities can be spiritual, such as marrying, studying, having children, or having a career.  If a medical student studies hard to cure men’s sickness, and by that, if he or she wants to glorify God, his or her study will be spiritual.  If a doctor or dentist wants to alleviate men’s suffering for the glory of God, his or her practice will be spiritual.  Or a person wants to have a business so that he or she can support God’s work.  Then his or her economic activities will be spiritual.  If one keeps his or her health by exercise so that he or she can serve God better, then his or her exercise can be spiritual.  Second, I believe that we should not use cultural mandate as a movement.  God gave a cultural mandate for his plan and his purpose and his glory.  But sometimes we can use our mandate as our ideal or goal.  I admire those who participate in anti-abortion movement or social service or politics.  But sometimes we may try to exercise cultural mandate even though God did not warrant it.  Therefore, it is very important to be sensitive toward God’s purpose and his leading through the Bible study and prayer.  Third, our all human activities should be done in the relationship with God and people.  Without love for God and human mankind, human activities can be harmful and toxic.  Fourth, God’s mandate can be done only through the born again Christians.  Therefore, church’s main goal is always to preach the gospel and save the people.

In conclusion, God created man in the image of God to expand the kingdom of God.  He wants us to expand the kingdom of God throughout our utmost efforts.  God hates those who squander their time and talents idly or misuse them for their selfish purpose.  God gave all these wonderful qualities in man so that we may enlarge our intellect and minds and love and care for this world.  Let us be confident that everything we do is in God’s purpose and will.  Whatever we do, let us do it with all our hearts and for his glory.  Then God will accept our efforts and use us to expand his kingdom on earth.

God Revealed Himself in the Cross of Jesus Christ

Modern philosophers are debating on the topic of the hiddenness of God and the problem of evil.  They argue that even if God exists, it is not clear to most of people that God exists, what God’s nature is, and what God’s will is.  Why does God not reveal himself fully and demonstrate his presence so that anyone can believe him without doubt?  Why does it seem that he is hidden and his ways is not clearly revealed?  The problem of God’s hiddenness is similar to the problem of evil.  If God is loving, all-knowing, and omnipotent, why does he allow evil and sufferings to exist?  Why does he allow his children to go through rejections and sufferings?

If you read the Bible, even the men of God like Isaiah or Habakkuk, who had firmly believed in God, had the similar questions.  Look at Isaiah 40:27:

      Why do you say, O Jacob,
       and complain, O Israel,
       "My way is hidden from the LORD;
       my cause is disregarded by my God"?

 Also Isaiah 49:4:

      But I said, "I have labored to no purpose;
       I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing.
       Yet what is due me is in the LORD's hand,
       and my reward is with my God."

Habakkuk debates with God: How can a just God ignore injustice?  Why does God allow the wicked to prosper?  If God is in control, why does evil so often win?  Why is he silent while the ungodly world seems to prevail?

I have also been thinking about these things a lot.  If God exists, why does he not actively reveal himself so that people may believe him?  For example, when a travelling preacher comes to the Oval, he is usually surrounded with young students, who hurl insults and derision at him.  Isn't it so wonderful to see if God vindicated his servant through showing some miracles?  Why does God use a seemingly foolish way to reach out sinners?  1 Corinthians 1:21 says: God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached, that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Why was Jesus born not as a Roman emperor but as a baby from a poor country stock?  Why did he powerless die on the cross instead of revealing himself as Son of God with power and glory?

As you know, when children who grew up in Christian home enter college, they realize that being a Christian is not the most attractive or desirable thing among young people.  When they enter the career world, they realize also that the majority of people are not really interested in Christianity.  My question is: Why didn’t God make his ways of reaching people more attractive?  Why does he not use military power or political system or powerful institutions so that people may see that who is in charge in this universe?  Instead, he works in the means of the seeming humble of way of spreading his gospel through nameless and ordinary Christians like you and me.

It is so puzzling.  Recently I have to write my portion of the daily devotion material for CMI from Luke’s Gospel.  I found out that King Herod Antipas was very curious about seeing Jesus.  Finally, he got a chance when Pilate sent Jesus to him.  Pilate tried to evade trying Jesus when the Jewish religious leaders pressured him to do so.  When he knew Jesus was from Galilee, he promptly sent him to Herod who was in Jerusalem at that time because Galilee was under his jurisdiction.  Herod expected something great from Jesus.  He wanted to see Jesus perform some miracle and to hear marvelous things from him.  But Jesus was silent before him.  What he saw from Jesus was just an ordinary Galilee country man who powerlessly stood before him.  He could see no majesty, glory, attraction, fascination, or appeal from him.  Finally he regarded Jesus as a joke.   He ridiculed him.  He, secure in his position as king, strong with the power of his soldiers, concluded that Jesus was nothing but a pitiful person.

When Jesus hung on the cross, the people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”  Even the one of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”  If I borrow modern terms, they might have said to Jesus, “You loser!”

Why does God use the seemingly powerless Savior to save sinners?  As you know, cross is the symbol of Christianity.  If you go to any church, it is located on the most prominent place.  If you look at the top of a church building, cross is located at the steeple of the church.  Now cross is so familiar with us that we don’t view it with any feeling of disgust, revulsion, or aversion. Ladies wear a necklace with a cross-shaped pendant without being conscious of shame or ridicule associated with it.  However, in the first century cross was the first thing you want to avoid at any cost.  It was the symbol of shame and horrible crime and cruel execution. Think this in modern terms.  If a church mounts an electric chair on the wall as the symbol of what they believe, you will definitely avoid such church, saying it believes a very strange thing, and you might immediately conclude that it is a cult.  Or if you wear a necklace with an electric chair shaped pendant, your boyfriend or husband will shudder in disgust, “Please take it away.  It is so unattractive.”

If God is all-powerful, why does he not use more ostentatious and showy ways to reveal himself?  God’s way of revealing himself has been a stumbling block throughout history.  Some rejected God and even denied his existence.  On the other hand, some believed in God but their faith was challenged by what they had seen and experienced.

In Luke’s Gospel Chapter 24, you will find the two disciples who were dejectedly walking toward Emmaus.  They thought God had forsaken them and that their Messiah was dead.  The two disciples had hoped that Jesus was the one who was going to redeem Israel.  But when he died on the cross, their hope was crushed. In their disappointment and dejection, they thought everything was finished and their future was gloomy.  What they did not realize is that Jesus was standing right there beside them when they thought God had forsaken them.  The way through which the risen Jesus helped them was to teach them the Bible and explained to them that Christ had to die to save sinners.  In a sense Jesus was telling them that that was the way God designed to redeem humanity.

²⁵He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" ²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Like the two disciples, when we hold on to our own view of God’s way, we will be blind to God’s presence and his way of working just because his way seems to be unattractive or even absurd to our own eyes even if he is with us right now.

But God’s seemingly foolish way brought salvation to humanity.  Look at 1 Corinthians 1:18.  It says: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  And God was pleased to work through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Indeed, God’s way is so different from our thought.  Isaiah 55:8-9 say:
 ⁸ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
       neither are your ways my ways,"
       declares the LORD.

 ⁹ "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
       so are my ways higher than your ways
       and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Not like our thoughts and minds, God revealed himself in the cross of Jesus Christ.  How could the Almighty God, who can create and destroy all things, and who created this universe with his Sovereign power, lower himself even to the point of death on the cross?  Who thought about this kind of God?  Therefore, the Jews in Jesus’ times never accepted him as the Messiah.  They could not accept such a weak Messiah who helplessly died on the cross.  Isaiah 53:1-2 prophesied about this:

¹ Who has believed our message
       and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

 ² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
       and like a root out of dry ground.
       He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
       nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

If God reveals himself in such a humble way as he did in Jesus Christ, could you recognize him?  You may assume that if God appears right now, he will surely appear at least in the St. Peter’s Basilica or the gorgeous churches in Europe, fit for his majesty and glory.  However, if he reveals himself in your ordinary life, could you recognize his presence and his way?  The reason we cannot see God’s presence in our lives is due to our own view about God and his ways.  In a sense, God has never been hidden.  Actually he had revealed himself all the time and did fully in the cross of Jesus Christ.  The only reason we think God is hidden is because we insist on our own view of God.  If everything goes well with me, then God is with me.  Otherwise, I doubt his existence.  That’s our idea about God.

God is not hidden.  He fully revealed himself in the cross of Jesus Christ.  He revealed that how much he loves sinners and that his deepest desire is to save them from sin and death.  If you want to see God’s love toward you, look at God who was revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ.  Your difficult situations may deceive you.  They may make you think God does not care for you.  The disciples who were walking to Emmaus thought God had forsaken them.  But the risen Jesus opened their spiritual eyes so that they might see how much God was looking after them, even to the point of sending his Son to the cross.   When you feel any love from God because of your difficult situations, look at the cross and open your spiritual eyes.  God never deserted you and will not do so.

   "Never will I leave you;
      never will I forsake you." ⁶So we say with confidence,
   "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
      What can man do to me? (Hebrews 13:5, 6)

How can I be sure of this?  It is because God revealed himself as such a God in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Even though I cannot say more in detail, I want you to know that God’s power, glory, and majesty were fully revealed in the cross of Jesus Christ than anything he had done, even the creation.

The prophet Habakkuk had a lot of question with God.  But in the end, he concludes:

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud
       and there are no grapes on the vines,
       though the olive crop fails
       and the fields produce no food,
       though there are no sheep in the pen
       and no cattle in the stalls,

 ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
       I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The prophet was determined to live not by sight but by faith.

When life deceives you or does not treat well, come to the cross of Jesus Christ.  And listen to what God has done for you and is doing for you with his utmost love.  God is not dead.  Or it is not that he does not exist.  Look at God, who triumphed over evil, through the cross of Jesus Christ.  Our God is not a weak or powerless God.  You may not see his awesome power in your own eyes right now but he revealed his majesty and power in the cross of Jesus Christ.  I pray that the humble way of the cross may not deceive you.  But have a great pride in the cross of Jesus Christ.  Cling to the cross and live by faith.

The Greatness of God (Genesis 1)

One of the greatest tragedies in our life is that we don’t know God much.  We know about so many things such as iphone, or facebook, or Charlie Sheen, or Lady Gaga.  But we neither know about God nor know him personally when he is the most important being in the whole universe.  Honestly speaking, even though I delivered the message about Genesis Chapter 1 two Sundays ago, I don’t feel much about the majestic nature of creation.  God created the universe.  That’s it.  And no more.  Then I come back to my daily busy routine and he remains as an only small part of my life.  But if you and I sit down and meditate on what God did during the Creation even in a minute, we will surely agree that the Creation was not a small event.  Let’s pretend that we were so lucky that God showed us what had happened in the Creation even in a small scale. Even so that will be an awe-inspiring experience in scale, sound, vividness, and size.  The reason I am saying “even in a small scale” is because if we had witnessed the Creation, we could not have borne the gigantic nature of the Creation and survived.  Think about it.  The whole universe was in a chaos state.  Suddenly a blazing light was created by God’s command.  Then with a gigantic sound, louder than the Niagara Falls, the waters were separated and a great expanse was created.  Then the great universe was created one by one.  According to modern scientific knowledge, there are millions stars in number and the size of universe is billions light years in distance.  Think that, in front of your own eyes, planets, stars, super nova, and galaxies were created one by one.  And all kinds of animal plants, fish, birds, and animals were created in front of your own eyes.  In other words, the Creation displays God’s majesty, glory, and greatness.

A journalist, lecturer, and writer named Hendrick Van Loon, on his first visit to the Grand Canyon, exclaimed, “I came an atheist; I leave a believer.”  God created the nature to display his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature.  Through the nature, God wants us to see him and recognize and acknowledge him as our God.  At this point, I am following J. I. Packer’s “Knowing God.”  According to the book, the Bible talks about the following natures of God:

Omnipresence (God is everywhere)

Omniscience (God knows everything)

Omnipotence (God is almighty.  Nothing is impossible with God)

Omnipresence: Psalm 139:7-8:

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

Man is always in God’s presence.  You may hide yourself from people’s sight but not from God’s gaze.

Omniscience: Psalm 139:1-6:

¹ You have searched me, LORD,
   and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
   you, LORD, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
   and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
   too lofty for me to attain.

I can hide my inner heart, my past, my plans from men, but I cannot hide anything from God.  I can deceive people about myself but cannot deceive God who knows my thoughts and hidden desires.

Omnipotence: Ps 139:13-14

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.

God is so almighty that he created you and me in wonderful and mysterious ways.  Why am I talking about all these things about God, quoting from Packer?  My reason is because even though God is such God, we don’t know him much.  In other words, as the book title “Your God Is Too Small,” indicates that we have a very poor notion of God.  As a result, we suffer from insecurity, fear, inferior complex, or identity crisis.  In the past, those who intimately knew this mighty and great God were willing to give their lives in glorifying and serving him because they knew that they were serving this great God.  But since we don’t know this great God much, we are sometimes ashamed to be identified as God-believing people.  We don’t know how great privilege it is to know and serve and praise him even once a week.  Sometimes I am ashamed to be your pastor.  In God’s point of view, how special privilege it is to serve his children with his words and guide them into his truth!  But sometimes I lose that perspective and sometimes it becomes a burden to me.  When I will go to heaven, God will surely rebuke me, “What a fool you were!  Your job was a small one, but it was a very significant one.”

Packer’s book, then, talks about Isaiah 42.  Like us, despairing Christians, who assume the cause of Christ will never prosper again in this nation, the Israelite despaired and became despondent and tired because of the tides of events running after them for a long time.  They lost their own country and exiled to a foreign land.  It was like God had  forgotten them and he was powerless to do anything against the great powers of Babylon or Persia.  Then God asks the Israelite the three questions (See the bold-faced sentences):

²⁵ “To whom will you compare me?
   Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.
²⁶ Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
   Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
   and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
   not one of them is missing.
²⁷ Why do you complain, Jacob?
   Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD;
   my cause is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸ Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
   and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
   and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint.

Because of the hard situations surrounding them, the Israelite forgot that their God is God the Creator who created the heavens and the earth, and that no task is impossible with him.  They did not consider the fact that even great nations like Babylon are like a drop in a bucket, and that even great rulers and princes are reduced to nothing before him.  God tells them that if they want to know how great he is, they should lift up their eyes and looked to the heavens and understand that he brings out the starry host one by one and call their names one by one.  Then God asks them,

Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.

And he tells them that he will never grow tired and weary.   God’s message to the Israelite is the same with us.  When you grow tired and weary in your life of faith, when you are depressed, despairing when the cause of Christ may not prosper again, lift up your eyes and know that your God is an awesome God who created the heavens and the earth.

The truth God is the Creator is the basic tenet of our faith.  We believe that this world is God’s.  Sometimes evil seems to be strong but we know that everything is in God’s hands.  Nothing happens without God’s eternal edict.  Therefore, God is calling us, “Look up me.  Never forget that this world is mine.  I am greater than any human power and evil schemes.”

The second and last point I want to emphasize is Genesis 1:31.  At the end of each stage of creation, God saw that what he had done was “good.”  Then at the end of the six days of creation, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”  God was extremely pleased in the creation that he had made just as he had purposed to do.  This truth reveals that 1) God created the universe with his purpose and meaning, and that 2) the purpose of the creation was for his glory, in other words, God created the universe for his glory.  When God created the universe out of nothing, he created it, in his wisdom, for something.

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1)

¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
   to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
   and by your will they were created
   and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11)

God was so pleased when all the creation he created revealed his glory, wisdom, and power.  Even in this world under sin after the fall, everything reveals God’s glory, either a positive or negative way.  We may wonder whether it is really true that everything in this world reveals God’s glory.  Once the song of a blind Korean pop singer was No. 1 in Korean billboard.  His song’s title, “Why did my mom give birth to me?” Look at genocide, sickness, crime, abnormally-born children, or divorce.  In the movie, “Ben Hur”, Judah Ben Hur sarcastically retorts to his lover Esther: “Children of God?  In that dead valley where we left my mother and sister!”  Sometimes we may wonder: 'God, I know, when you created Adam and Eve, they were in your good purposes.  But how about me?  I was not created by you as you did Adam and Eve.  I was just born by the union of my father and mother.  They did not even design my birth and they had me by the result of one night of passion.  Maybe I was born by accident.'  But we must know what the Bible says.  When God created the universe, every event after the creation was in his plan and purposes.  In other words, subsequently generated plants, animals, and all human beings are in God’s plan, even though they were generated by purely biological means.  Each of us born in a certain parent, in a certain way – character, intelligence, beauty, background, or times.  But God created each of us in a unique way for his specific purpose and plan, and ultimately for his glory.  When Jesus’ disciples met a blind beggar, they asked Jesus, ““Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2)  In other words, they seemed to ask him, “Why was this pathetic man born?”  But Jesus’ answer to them was “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (John 9:3)  As a parent, we want all our children to be smart and successful. But remember that God created each child in a unique way to reveal his glory and to carry out his good purpose in his or her life.  Each person is important to God for eternity.  When one deeply accepts that God is the Creator, he or she can ultimately accept himself and herself as a meaningful creature in this world.

The fact that God created us for his own glory determines the correct answer to the question, “What is our purpose in life?”  In this world, only a few people find their purposes, usually because they have talents to pursue their dreams or ambition to achieve their great goals, such as becoming a great musician or a wealthy businessperson or a world famous scientist.  Even so, later they used to regret that they have spent their whole life for the things that turned out to be vain like chasing after the winds and shadows (Eccl 1:14).  Since God gives anyone the purpose and meaning of life, whether he or she is talented or not, each person has a unique purpose in glorifying God through his or her life.  A person will willingly do this and thus enjoy God through his or her life.  On the other hand, even if a person does not want to serve God willingly, he or she will be subject to glorify God in a way with which God will not be pleased such as the Pharaoh or Judas Iscariot  Therefore, if anyone wants to have a blessed and fulfilled life, it is very important to accept that he or she was born with the specific and unique purpose of revealing God’s glory through his or her life.

In conclusion, it is a very important to believe Genesis 1:1.  (See J.I. Packer's argument against natural theology). The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declared that God is dead.  When you do not believe God is the Creator, life is a string of random chances without meaning.  If there is no God, there is no absolute truth, morality, meaning, or purpose in life.  If that is so, life would be just a joke or a play of game; life would be nothing but a survival of fittest, and only those who are strong and smart would take everything.  Morally twisted people take advantage of this moral nihilism (nothing matters) and try to suck the most juices out of life, cheating and defeating anyone who stands against them on their ways, sometime breaking the hearts of their spouse and children.  But thank God that he created the heavens and the earth.  Because of him, life is not a survival of the fittest any more.  Everyone has a unique value, importance, meaning, and purpose in him.  In his almighty and great nature, God will never grow tired and weary in executing his purpose and plan.  Let us remember that our God is not a small God, but an awesome and great God.  Therefore, God will be so pleased with the person who honors him, believing that he or she was created for a unique purpose, to be God’s blessing to someone in this world in God’s redemptive plan (Eph. 3:9-10, 2:10; Mt 5:3-14), in a good or bad circumstance. 

I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today

I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today

God visited me and rescued me when I was 20. How one-sided and amazing love toward me in Jesus Christ he poured upon me! I remember my heart was burning for loving him and serving him. I made many and many decisions to love him and follow him.

Going through settling down in this new land, raising my children, surviving in this new land, and tightly-controlled church experiences -- going through ups and downs of life, my heart has been drifted from loving him. My heart has been cold and my service to God was nominal.

I don't know how patiently God watched over me and sustained me so far. Praise his goodness and kindness to this poor soul.

Oh, Father in heaven, rekindle the fire in me that once burned my heart when I was young. Please burn and burn any love for the world in me and empty my heart.

Burn, burn, O love, within my heart,
Burn fiercely night and day,
Till all the dross of earthly loves
Is burned, and burned away.
(Frederick W. Faber)

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land;
I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand:
Than to be the king of a vast domain or
be held in sin's dread sway!
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
this world affords today.

I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause;
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than world-wide fame;
I'd rather be true to His holy name:
Than to be the king of a vast domain or
be held in sin's dread sway!
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
this world affords today.

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)

"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:20, 21)

What is life? What is the Christian life? It is to receive Jesus' love and, in return, to love him as your Lord, as the center of your life. How come I completely have forgotten this basic truth of faith. Father, restore my love toward Jesus!