Chapter 19 | In Our Beginning, God Created Again . . .

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Fourth Gospel 1:1)

Before Yeshua became the express image of the invisible God in the visible flesh, as the Logos he is the manifestation of the thought, word, and actions of God. All things were created through him and for him.[1]

As we saw previously,[2] the Logos of God, Yeshua the Christ, is the living expression of the nature, purpose, and will of God.[3] Not only was his role established before the creation of the physical universe, he was instrumental in the first creation; even the unseen realm was created through him. He is the author of the will of God and will complete what he has started because all things in heaven and on earth are bound to him.

Similarly, the physical creation is an expression of the will and purpose of God to bring about the creation of many glorious sons and daughters in the image and likeness of Christ.

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. (Genesis 1:26a)

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

 

Just as God was made known by all he manifested in the unseen realm by those who dwell in that realm, so also is God made known by all he manifests in the physical/natural realm by those who dwell in this realm.[4] It’s not that the natural realm, made incomplete, imperfect, and perishable, was made only for redemption. It was made this way by God willingly in faith, and redemption becomes a necessary part of the ongoing creation story. To be the full imagers of Christ, must we not first be shown to be faithful to his will and purpose as Yeshua was to the Father’s will and purpose? Should our path from the mist and the dust-to-glory be any less challenging than Christ’s path from glory-to-dust-to-glory?

 

In overcoming the perishable, and the sin and condemnation associated with it, does Christ not show that his righteous judgment leads to life eternal not only for himself but for all those who will receive the gift of grace and commit to the obedience of faith? In this and for this purpose, he is Lord of the living and the dead.[5] This same righteous judgment rendered upon the realm that is seen is also rendered upon the realm that is unseen.

 

By leading his chosen children of the dust into the obedience of faith and victory over the world, the fruit of Christ’s righteous justice in the physical realm instructs those in the unseen realm. Just as the father’s grace and mercy, poured out upon the returning prodigal son, serves as instruction and even judgment for the elder son dwelling in the father’s house, the same can be said for the work of God in Christ on our behalf and for their instruction.

Subjected to Futility

It’s because his righteous justice leads to life that God was willing to subject his physical creation to futility. According to the revelation given to Paul, it was not subjected in futility but in hope.[6]

I’ve observed several ways in which this occurred in the creation of the natural realm, the second creation;

• Futility existed in the physical creation before Adam and Eve’s disobedience occurred, and it continues still today.
• Futility exists in what Adam and Eve are; incomplete, imperfect, and mortal (perishable).
• Futility exists in what Adam and Eve did and in what we do.

Order from Chaos

One of the significant insights regarding God’s creative work in the natural realm, as described in Genesis 1 and shared by Traditionalists and Reformers alike, is the power God exercises to bring order out of chaos. The wisdom, knowledge, and power necessary to assemble all the chaotic elements contained within the visible universe and shape them into a cohesive and functioning whole is one reason we recognize the role of Creator, and esteem the God of the Bible as supreme among the elohim. Where our respective viewpoints diverge is in relation to the degree at which God subdued the chaotic elements and whether it initially resulted in a perfect world suitable for a perfect and righteous humanity who fell a great fall.[7] For many, it is this fall then that becomes the source of chaos and evil in the cosmos.[8] This is the prevailing view of modern theological thought.

 

Yet I and others contend there is an existence of the chaotic within the context of God’s physical creation that existed before Adam and Eve made their choice. This view is contrasted against those who assume that God is obliged to create only the perfect and complete. One scripture that seems to misguide many interpreters, resulting in conflicted and contradictory perspectives on the nature of creation, is God’s claim in Genesis 1:31a:

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

 

Many stumble in their understanding of God’s work with humanity by assuming God’s claim of very good is to be applied to the object of his creation. Some extrapolate this even further assuming a perfect creation from which humanity then fell. An equally valid approach is to view the claim from the Creator’s perspective and his purpose for which he exercises his solemn power to bring order out of chaos. Not even chaos exists on its own. God’s expression of goodness toward his creation, when seen as very good for achieving the purpose for which he created it, sheds much more light on the process and methods used to achieve the completion of it. This applies directly to his ongoing creation of humanity as well; leading his children (the physical/mortal) into the new creation in Christ (the heavenly/immortal). Ultimately, this doesn’t reflect poorly on him, but is for his glory, at first in the physical realm, then later in the spiritual realm.

 

Many constrain God to only creating that which is perfect and holy, yet rebellion arose within the unseen realm just as it has in human history. Are Adam and Eve to bear the fault for those events of chaos or evil as well? Certainly not. Because rebellion arose in heaven from the first creation, are we to suppose that God was unaware of the possibility or even likelihood of its occurrence? Given that those in the spirit realm also possess free will and the knowledge of good and evil, is any other outcome realistic? Were Adam and Eve equipped with a similar immortality as the elohim, would this alone be the solution to our nature?

Where humanity is concerned, there is value in having the imperfect and incomplete dwell within a realm that is itself imperfect and perishable. For a pro-active God, the pathway from the one (the natural) to the other (the spiritual) requires maturation and character development not possible when hedged among the walls of Eden. Character doesn’t come merely by instruction, nor is it simply given, but requires the refiners fire. This world with its disorder and order, good and evil, life and death, is that fire.

 

Paul’s advice on seeing the Creator through the creation[9] should remind us that the perishable nature of creation alone speaks against this idea that God is obliged only to create the perfect. It ignores completely any process by which said perfection might be achieved for the benefit of those being perfected.[10]

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)

 

The chaotic aspects of God’s creation have their role and place in the development of human character into the likeness of God. We see this revealed in the Book of Job. Though some take a shallow and two-dimensional perspective with this story,[11] other’s take a deeper, three-dimensional view, revealing the new creation aspects of Job’s encounter with God.[12] One thing the Book of Job reveals is that;

• God is master over chaos;
• That chaos is master over the proud;
• That mankind is subject to both as he learns to be master over the limited realm God has entrusted to him.

 

This aligns perfectly with God subjecting his creation to futility (chaos) in several ways; through the perishable nature of mankind and the natural creation, through the curse of the ground and the serpent, and through those elements of chaos that have always existed as part of the physical realm. A realm that was never intended to be chaos-free until it fulfills its desired purpose for those bearing his image. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 is the answer to the confidence (hope) in which God subjected the whole world to futility – that those who live (in Christ) might no longer live for themselves but for him who died and was raised for their sake.[13]

 

The existence of chaotic elements within the natural realm before the disobedience of Adam and Eve also speaks against this idea of a perfect creation. In the largest context, chaos is a metaphor for God bringing order from disorder.[14] All things are constrained, held together, by God so that this universe and our world can exist.[15] Chaos can be understood as that which is unpredictable, untamed, and free.[16] The unpredictable elements of the natural world, lightning, fire, floods, extreme weather, and natural disasters, are not accounted for in God’s curse upon the ground or upon the serpent. The unpredictable character of creation is a reflection of God himself – untamed.[17] Take, for example, the light which feeds God’s earthly creation. The visible light waves that bring daylight and life to the world represent only a small fraction of the electromagnetic spectrum. The full spectrum includes gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet and infrared rays, along with microwaves; all of which are harmful to life on earth and lead to decay and death. The existence of visible light within creation before Adam is placed within the garden is a prime example of the chaotic elements built into the framework of our realm that God saw as very good for achieving his will and purpose.

 

The cosmic radiation that bombards the earth would turn it into a scorched wasteland were it not for the mitigating efforts of God’s design to shield the earth with another unseen force – the earth’s electromagnetic field. Here is another example of what we consider to be chaos being restrained but not eliminated so that our world can exist. This repeatedly occurs within our solar system and throughout the known universe;[18] God doesn’t eliminate chaos, but shows his power to subdue it and produce from it life. From this, we can deduce that because such chaos existed before “the fall,” it was not the cause of chaos in the world.[19] This aligns precisely with God claiming ownership of these elements of futility which existed in the world then and which remain even today.[20] It’s this same understanding which is at the root of Paul’s presuppositions and those found in the Fourth Gospel:

• [P2] Paul introduces the concept of creation being subjected to futility, to share in the corruption (disobedience) to which humanity was likewise subjected.[21] It is through this subjection that God will prove himself and humanity faithful by the completed work of Christ in us to bear the fruit of righteousness leading to eternal life in the kingdom of God. Yeshua the Christ was and always will be the source of hope in which God trusted to complete the new creation; a new creation which arrives through water and fire to bring forth many sons and daughters to both proclaim and to share in his glory.
• [P4] The mystery of God in Christ was initiated before the world began, and was achieved through what Paul calls the fullness of time, which includes our time forward until Christ hands the kingdom over to the Father. This mystery unfolds as part of a process from the natural to the spiritual, originating amongst chaos and disobedience, surviving through death, and overcoming evil in the righteousness of Christ, to arrive at a resurrection of the perishable to imperishable, and the mortal to the immortal; a more than just reward for our faithful walk through the water and the fire.
• [P9/L4] The command of exception brought us under the righteous judgment of God through the disobedience of our first parents. Yet God intended for Yeshua the Christ to become the very sin which condemned us, that he alone might turn that condemnation into hope and life for many. With reconciliation secured through the shedding of his blood unto death, God showed his faithfulness by raising him to eternal life and glory, giving us a glimpse of the eternal inheritance also commanded by God for us.[22] The one command leads to the second death by choice, just as the other command, by choosing to receive the gift of God in Christ, leads to everlasting life.

 

As challenging as such notions can be for us in the natural realm to fully grasp, the apostle Paul had a clearer view of them. When proclaiming on the heels of his discourse in Romans 11 how God can turn the disobedience of Israel and the Gentiles upside down and to the advantage of both, he grasped the role of God in all of it in that God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.(Romans 11:32-36)

 

Futility in the Perishable

As Paul indicates throughout the Book of Romans, Yeshua the Christ is the embodiment of Israel’s destiny now and in the future.[23] Paul expresses this in the largest context in Romans, a context that begins with a faithful remnant in Israel and points to a similar remnant from the Gentiles. Eventually, all Israel and the Gentile nations will be confronted with the kingdom of God on earth. For some authors of the Gospels, Christ embodies Israel’s future by signaling to its past. In Matthew’s Gospel, he begins with the genealogy of Christ starting with the father of Israel, Abraham.[24] Yet, as author and university professor Sean M. McDonough clarifies, the first two words of the Greek text, biblos geneseos, suggests Yeshua’s appearance not only sums up the history for Israel, but for the whole of the human race.[25] Luke completes this thought with his genealogy of my beloved Son by connecting the God-man Yeshua with the human Adam.[26]

 

The summing up of all things in Christ is illustrated further by Matthew’s reference to a previous Scripture[27] – out of Egypt I called my son. Though originally applied to Israel, Matthew sees the connection in Yeshua. The descendents of Israel were called out from a Pharoah who enslaved them and killed their infants, only to later be the instruments of such wickedness themselves.[28] Yeshua too was called out of Egypt, but as a place of hiding because those in his own land sought to kill him, the promised ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Similarly, the fulfillment of the exodus motif is repeated in Christ’s passing through the waters of baptism followed by a forty-day sojourn in the wilderness.[29] Israel’s sojourn was the result of disobedience, but his was one expressing obedience.

 

The disobedience of his son Israel to the given law (command) isn’t all that different than the command given to Adam – a command God knew they would be enticed to break. Yet God would use their disobedience as an instrument of life. In Adam’s seed would come the one by whom the head of the serpent is crushed, thereby exercising authority over and undoing the corruption caused by the unseen realm.[30] Israel’s seed too would be connected to this one who would bring hope to the Gentile nations.[31]Just as Adam’s disobedience opened the doorway of the new creation for all his progeny, likewise Israel’s disobedience opened the way of God’s mercy upon the Gentiles to extend the gift of grace in Christ to them. The fact that God would lead humanity all that time, from the emergence of the first Adam out of the garden to the emergence of the last Adam into the world, shows God’s faithfulness, not his rejection.

McDonough rightly notes how the Fourth Gospel juxtaposes past and present realities. Christ affirms the created order through all his miraculous interventions by way of personal restoration.[32] Yet, what appears as restoration on the surface is in fact an ongoing act of creation, partially hidden by the mystery of God; a new and glorified creation.[33]

 

It was never the purpose of the initial creation that Adam and Eve would dwell forever in Eden. It was always the goal and purpose of God that they attain the glorious life intended for them through the fullness of time. Not by their own hands, but by the arm and power of God in Christ.

An important observation, often overlooked in the miraculous work of Christ, shows the ongoing fulfillment of his purpose on our behalf;

And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:17-19)

 

Yet in all the mercy of God poured out to heal the wound of his people, Christ never removes from the world the very causes of that wounding; hearts will still break, bones will still break, and men will die. But there’s a mystery in the work that God is achieving within this natural realm. God’s purpose, hidden in Yeshua the Christ, is seen in the light of its future fulfillment. It works to our benefit, and natural creation has a part in the birthing process of the seed of Adam into the likeness of Christ. The traditional view says it’s to reclaim what was lost to God in the garden. Christ says it’s to finish what he started in the first Adam.[34] To which idea shall we commit ourselves?

 

McDonough observes and likewise questions the ongoing challenge surrounding the question of redemption and its role in the Creator’s motivation. This is not a new question, and McDonough cites the more current Jonathan Edwards as well as the more distant Irenaeus. Though still unanswered, McDonough rightly concludes that the new creation is the telos of the physical creation. In this, I do agree; the seed or the kernel, started in Adam and Eve, is the basis for the great tree hidden within and brought to life by the Spirit. Life in the physical realm is the kernel for the intended life in the spiritual realm.[35] The one is best achieved through the other.[36]

Redemption not the goal

The concept of redemption can be a stumbling block if it’s viewed as the goal rather than a means to achieve a greater goal. It comes in part from the expectation that God is obliged to create only that which is like himself, perfect, holy, and pure. Though this may be true for the completed work, clearly it was not the case for Adam and Eve since they represented the beginning of that creation process and not its end; flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. When viewed in the larger context of God’s work in Christ from beginning to end, one has to question whether redemption is even an adequate descriptor.

• What has the Creator created that has been lost? What needs to be redeemed? All life is his. Created imperfect, incomplete, and perishable. It is only later that he will complete his creative work through the last Adam.
• What appears to be lost was only temporarily so in the same sense as that of the prodigal son to the father. The wayward son was never lost to the father because of the father’s faithfulness. He was always willing to receive him back to himself. If anything was lost, it was the father to the son and to himself. At the end of his own efforts, the son, recognizing this, repented and returned home.
• The only descendants of Adam and Eve to be lost to the water and the fire to which they’ve been born are those who choose not to return home.

 

Redemption then becomes a necessary part of the creation process, not its goal. It describes in part the means by which the finished creation is to occur. The one was set in place to meet the anticipated need of the other.

• God understood in his wisdom, in his omniscience, and even in his relationship with other created beings that free will and self-determination carry with it the possibility of rebellion and opposition.
• Factor in the natural weakness inherent in the flesh, and you have another strong catalyst for independence and human pride.
• Add to this the need for humanity to obtain the knowledge of good and evil as a context for the maturation of their moral character; a necessary trait for the children of God. Moral character is not a trait that can be given. It must be experienced, developed, and applied personally.
• Redemption then becomes a necessary and core element to ensure a bountiful and fruitful harvest of God’s creative work in Christ our Lord.

 

This leaves redemption and the act of salvation as necessary elements of the new creation intended to be achieved later, but they are not its core motivating factors. The fact that the salvific role of Yeshua the Christ was established before the world was made is best reconciled as an expression of Gods wisdom and foreknowledge about the steps necessary to bring each of his children into the maturity of Christ. If we look again at the story of the prodigal son, both sons needed to experience, in an intimate way, the grace of the father if they were to share in his wisdom and maturity. God is well aware of the parameters of his creation; there are no shortcuts to this personal maturity and character development.

Yeshua the Christ, in the flesh, is the embodiment and manifestation of God’s creative desire. All things proceed from the Father, and whether good or evil, will achieve his underlying purpose. That purpose is manifested through, by, and in Christ, the first of the firstfruits of salvation for Adam’s progeny. That purpose is completed when Christ hands the kingdom over to the Father at the end of the age.[37] All the work of God is summed up in Christ, as the apostle Paul illustrates in Colossians 1.[38]

• Christ is the firstborn from the world, not Adam. Adam was a seed yet to come to life.
• All things are created by Christ, that which is seen and unseen. The earth and all that is in it seeks to go beyond the physical realm and into the glorious.[39]
• He will reconcile all things in heaven and on earth through his righteous judgment.
• All things past, present, and future are summed up in Christ – the administration of the fullness of time.

 

In the Godhead, we have the source of all things. Suffice it to say that all things proceed from God’s creative power. Their unfolding history is intended to issue in eschatological praise for the one who created them. According to McDonough, here we have creation, redemption, and eschatology forming a perfect circle for God’s creation project:[40]

• Flowing out from God, through Christ
• Fed and nourished by the Spirit
• And returning to the Father in glory for his glory

 

Christ’s messianic rule in the last days may be seen as the logical fulfillment of his messianic creation of the world in the first days. God desires to join in loving union with the world through the Messiah.[41] What appears to be a simple process connecting creation, redemption, and eschatology is magnified significantly when viewed through the mystery of God. Within this broader context, more facets of God’s work appear along with a much wider scope. One vital facet to be revealed in this cycle (circle) of ongoing creation is the revelation of God in Christ to a remnant first, then to the world as a whole.

God revealed through eschatology

This is manifest first by Christ’s physical incarnation leading to the redemption of the world. That work continues as his spiritual incarnation within the hearts and minds of faithful followers. First among his firstfruits of salvation are those called into Christ as a kingdom of priests, followed later by all Israel during his earthly reign, and lastly to those of the nations and resurrected dead who willingly receive him.

 

This spiritual revelation goes beyond what is revealed about God in the natural creation and leads to a more intimate understanding, the development of trust, a unity of wills, and a shared eternal inheritance. It focuses on the revelation of Yeshua as the Son of God to the world, both visibly and invisibly in power and glory. First, through the invisible work completed in his faithful elect, who will bring praise, glory, and honor visibly to his name. At his visible appearance Yeshua will negate the invisible lie of the Antichrist, the Beast power and the False Prophet. He will also visibly extend grace and the new covenant to Israel and Judah, restoring them visibly before the nations who oppressed them.

In addition, eschatology is insufficient to describe the intended goal behind our initial creation – the new creation in glory. Eschatology includes the turbulence and shaking of the world that precedes the birthing of a new creation in Christ. Yet it too serves to reveal the power and righteousness of God to work for our ultimate good by subduing God’s enemies.[42] It is, then, this initial revelation of the new creation that effectively completes the first of the creation cycles. Through the lens of the mystery of God, it reveals how this cycle will be repeated in order to achieve multiple harvests from the mist and the dust leading to the kingdom of glory, beginning with a faithful remnant.

Perishable Firstfruits harvested

The initial harvest is not of the whole world, but consists only of the firstfruits of salvation; the faithful remnant of Israelite, Jew and Gentile who receive the gift of grace in Christ and continue in the obedience of faith. These are the first to trust in Christ and to be fully received into the kingdom, their eternal inheritance. It occurs when our Lord visibly returns to establish his direct rulership over Israel and the nations, inaugurating his thousand-year reign on earth.[43]

Perishable Israel harvested

This cycle is similarly repeated during Christ’s reign on earth as all Israel becomes the recipient of God’s grace and restoration. They are again set apart as an example to vindicate God’s righteousness amidst the nations of the world. It involves all Israel receiving the new covenant and accompanying Spirit of power and love and of a sound mind.[44] For them, the knowledge of God will increase in Spirit and truth as their own righteousness is replaced by God’s righteousness in Christ.[45] They will finally fulfill their role as an example to the nations, and in the end, it will lead to the same eternal inheritance,[46] but not without a final test of their faith; the eschatology of their age.

 

This will be a time of testing and judgment for some of the nations. Recall that during Christ’s thousand-year reign, Satan, who was bound, is loosed again upon the earth to influence humanity and to oppose God.[47] Some of the nations being influenced to rise up include the land of Magog (Meshech and Tubal), Persia, Cush, and Put, Gomer and Beth-Togarmah from the uttermost parts of the north. Though they oppose God and seek to plunder Israel, they will only serve to vindicate God’s holiness in the eyes of Israel and the nations.[48] Yet all this is for the benefit of Israel and the nations, that they would come to know and trust that God alone is Lord in heaven and on earth.[49]

 

Like the shaking of the world before the birth of the firstfruits, so the world will shake again prior to Israel’s birth into the kingdom of God. This harvest of Israel is the end promised to all those who receive the new covenant in Christ and in whom the Spirit of Christ is given as evidence of that assurance. Again, this cycle will bear fruit to the new creation as Israel is welcomed into the glorious kingdom.[50]

Perishable Nations harvested

Yet they are not the last to see the fullness of life in the Spirit. There remains still the nations of the world and the dead who are raised who will likewise come face-to-face with the salvation available in Yeshua the Christ alone. They too will enter into his righteous judgment through the new covenant, and will choose to receive God’s gift of grace or not. For those who choose to receive the gift of grace in Christ, they too must show themselves faithful for a time in the Spirit and knowledge of our Lord. Like all those who’ve remained faithful to our Lord, they too will receive righteousness leading to eternal life.[51]

 

For those who remain unrepentant, they too will be the recipients of God’s righteous judgment that is the second death. As the progeny of Adam and participants of life in the natural realm, they are equal partakers of the knowledge of good and evil and its consequences. They are under the same command as the rest of Adam’s progeny. It is their own unwillingness to repent that leaves them under the condemnation established by God’s command and Adam’s disobedience – in dying, you shall surely die.[52] Without Christ, God’s righteous judgment is fulfilled, and each person who is unrepentant is left to pay the penalty for their own sin themselves;[53] a penalty which is death, the second death.

A Kingdom handed to the Father

In all this, we see the culmination of the work of God in Christ, from creation to new creation. The climactic and final new creation is merely the intended birthing of our first creation into new life; the physical/natural into the spiritual. Our first creation was never meant to be the end state of things, but a necessary step in the process of achieving the final and completed creation signified by the new creation in Christ.

Futility in Free Will

The emergence of Adam and Eve out of dependence and into the full reality of the natural realm was a necessary step to attain the image and likeness of Christ; the author of their physical creation and the finisher of their Spiritual new creation. This is the best of all possible worlds the Godhead could devise to achieve their multi-faceted goals dictated by wisdom, righteousness, mercy and grace (Genesis 1:30). Though some consider this idea a self-evident absurdity in light of the horrific suffering in the world,[54] others defer instead to trust that God alone knows what’s best for his creation; not only within the natural realm of its inception, but especially the intended goal of the new creation in Christ at its culmination.

 

As McDonough observes, Leibnitz recognizes the complexity surrounding the development of the creation. We’re forced to make presumptions and deductions based on our inability to see the infinitely complex as God does, especially in relation to bad acts that may ultimately serve a good purpose. This is especially challenging when considering the sin of Adam.

We must distinguish, as Leibnitz says, between God’s antecedent and his consequent volitions. God’s antecedent volition was for an obedient Adam, i.e. He would have preferred an obedient Adam to a disobedient one if he could have chosen simply between alternatives. But he could not. He had to choose between a total state of affairs containing a disobedient Adam and other total states of affairs containing no Adam or an obedient one. As he saw that the former was on the whole better than any of the latter, his consequent volition was for a disobedient Adam. E.g. without a fall there could have been no redemption and perhaps no incarnation. And God may have seen the value of the redemption and the incarnation outweighed the disvalue of the fall.[55]

 

Leibnitz is certainly open to the challenge of seeing the events preceding Eden and those within Eden with some form of cohesiveness necessary for a proactive, omniscient and omnipotent God. He does, however, seem rather unconvinced of God’s consequent volition, suggesting only that God “may have seen the value.” Scripture declares rather that God certainly saw the value in working through a disobedient Adam because it is consistent with the way he acted in fact. Let’s start with the obvious. Considering the apostle Paul’s presupposition, there can be no sin without the law or command:

• It was God who placed the Tree of Knowledge in the midst of the garden.
• It was God who formed in Adam free will and the capacity to sin.
• It was God who gave the secondary command and restriction about the Tree of Knowledge.
• It was God who allowed the influence of the serpent from the unseen realm.
• It was God who acknowledged Adam and Eve’s movement toward our image, after our likeness, as an expression of free will, though it came through disobedience.

 

Clearly, the only discernible conclusion based on the available evidence is God’s initial intention for a disobedient Adam. Whether one finds this acceptable or not is largely dependent on whether one sees the ongoing creation process for the children of God; the natural first, then the spiritual.

 

Leibnitz also touches on the total state of affairs when observing that God’s choice wasn’t one of simply alternatives. It’s this total state of affairs that this book seeks to bring to light; the larger context for the work of God in Christ to lead many sons and daughters from the mist and dust of the earth into the new creation in Christ. My own observations, brought to light by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is that God’s glory and judgment are certainly part of that total state of affairs.

• McDonough also shows how a fundamental aspect of the creative act was to reveal God’s glory.[56] Yeshua the Christ was also motivated to bring glory to God in all he did.[57] It’s also an important aspect for the firstfruits God calls to himself, which he glorifies and they likewise glorify the Son.[58] Clearly, this is not a self-serving glory for any party, but one that benefits the entire creation.

• God’s redemption of humanity and the entire creation, provided through Yeshua, lies within the context of his righteous judgment and abundant grace. This makes redemption an expression of his righteous judgment.

• God’s grace and forbearance are certainly key as well, in that by deciding to accept the disobedient Adam as a means to achieve the obedient, God was also accepting the long-suffering and forbearance required of him in the process. It seems apparent this is what he did in subjecting the world to futility in hope.

• God’s grace and long-suffering are further evident in the God-man Yeshua who set aside his glory and condescended to the dust as the greatest expression of God’s faithfulness and purpose. He will condescend to the earth again, but this time in power and glory to rule the earth and the heavens.

 

These are all expressions of God’s provision at various levels to achieve the final provision of righteousness and eternal life for those firstfruits called to be co-heirs with Christ:

• The natural creation is an expression of provision, and the first command is its goal.[59]
• Redemption, then, together with the future resurrection become an expression of provision to move humanity from the mist and dust into glory; from the perishable to the imperishable.[60]
• The gift of grace in Christ is God’s provision to call his children back into a relationship with the Godhead.
• It unifies God’s calling, by his choice, with our receiving the grace in Christ by our choice into a unity of wills and the obedience of faith.

To me, this is great news and adds to the glory of God being revealed by the Logos and the Spirit. It moves God from a reactive position concerning Adam and Eve’s choice and man’s subsequent history to one of causative and proactive intent; knowing and willing the most effective path necessary for humanity to occupy fully the role of the children of God in the image and likeness of Yeshua the Christ. God’s desire for a fruitful relationship with all his children, sufficient to last an eternity, must be one bound by free will and not coercion. Likewise, the character and maturity necessary to live fruitful lives does not come by fiat, but by adversity and through suffering. This is the example we see in Yeshua the Christ and must likewise follow; putting the cross before the crown.