When we look around at one another, it's getting harder and harder to find anyone kind and good. Evil, in all its twisted forms and accompanying pain and death, is commonplace and rampant--in distant countries, in our own homes, schools, communities, our workplace, in our government; and most frightening, in our own lives. Aren't our heads spinning from the speedy morphing of morality and normalcy? The Divine Design & Broken Mankind: the two models are as far apart as the east is from the west. What happened?
In the beginning...
Life for the first man and woman was very different. Their early days portray life for us the way their Maker intended. Nature was at rest, and so was Man. There was nothing broken, nothing missing. Perfect was all of His creation. Let’s meet the Artist.
GOD just appears on the page in Genesis, chapter one. There's no introduction of Him--His background, His credentials, His character nor His intentions. We have a pronouncement: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Everything, out of nothing...
The Creator's canvas lay before Him, void and covered in deep waters; yet in His mind's eye, His Creation is a finished work. Poised to create, this Artist doesn't take into His hand objects from a nearby supply of ready materials. No. The Genesis account clearly establishes that His tools are His authority and His power: "Then God said...and it was so."
Day One of His work: He speaks, and light breaks into darkness. He separates the light from the darkness. He called the light Day; and He noted, the light was good. The darkness He called Night.
Day Two of His work: He spoke, and the deep water separates, with an expanse between them. He calls the expanse above, Heaven.
Day Three of His work: He spoke again, and the waters under the expanse gathered together and dry land appeared. He called the dry land Earth. God concluded that His work was good. He spoke again, and vegetation of every kind sprang up from the earth. He looked again at His work; it was good.
Day Four of His work: God spoke into existence the two great lights in the expanse of the heavens: the sun and the moon, and also the stars. Again, He called His work, good.
Day Five of His work: God said, let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds of every kind fly above the earth. He then blessed them, and called His work, good.
Day Six of His work: God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so, and God called His work good.
The Genesis account then reveals to us His Master Plan, His Divine Design, for His most marvelous creation: Mankind.
"Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."
God (Genesis 1:26, 27)
God then blessed the man and the woman. On this sixth day, The Artist looked at everything He had made, and His summation was, "Behold, it was very good." There was nothing broken, nothing missing. Perfect was all of His creation. Can you sense God's great satisfaction with all of His creation?
The first man and woman were invisibly, yet indelibly stamped by their Creator:
"Made in the image of God"
No distinction could rank higher than that. Their extreme value and position in God's eyes came with the highest privilege: The Creator of all walked in the beautiful garden in the cool of the day to spend time with the man and woman in His masterful creation. (Genesis 2:8)
"What happened to God's perfect creation?"
Evil incarnate finds opportunity...
An enemy lurked in the beautiful garden that Adam and Even called home. God's foe, the serpent of old, also called Lucifer, the Devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world, had been cast out of heaven and down to earth because of high treason against God. (Revelation 12:7-12)
He had tried to exalt himself in the heavens to be worshiped, like God. The serpent hated God. He had lost his fight with God, so he set his fury on the objects of God's love, the woman and the man. He came to Eve, portraying himself as an advocate, an ally to her. The serpent insinuated to Eve that God was holding out on her and Adam. His goal was to convince Eve to question God's character and His goodness, to the end when they would disobey God, to their own destruction.
God placed a tree in the beautiful garden. It was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told Adam that they could eat of every other tree in the garden; but if they ate from this tree, they would "surely die."
Seizing opportunity to beguile Eve, the serpent stirred desire in Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. He said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 2:4, 5, emphasis added) Wait a minute! The creation account says that God created Adam and Eve in His own image. They weren't God, but they were already like God. Eve couldn't see The Liar's deception: if you disobey God, then you can become what you already are!
Life or Death?
Eve had two choices:
- She could trust God's relationship with them and His word to she and Adam; or
- She could believe this creature--that God was holding out on them.
Eve plucked the fruit from the tree, ate of it, and gave it to Adam, who also willingly ate of it. Immediately, their eyes were opened and they knew their nakedness. Prior to their disobedience, their nakedness was their beautiful created form, covered in their Creator's glory. Now, shame and fear covered them.
When their loving Creator came to spend time with them, they hid themselves. Evil found its entrance into God's most beloved creation. Like the mythical Pandora's Box, all manner of evil would come upon mankind, and from mankind. Death spread to nature, including all the wondrous animals that God had created.
The serpent had said, if you eat the fruit from the forbidden tree, you can become like God. In truth, as soon as Adam and Eve disobeyed God, the first man and woman became like the wicked, treasonous creature, who had recruited one-third of the angelic host to worship him as god. Their disobedient nature became our own DNA. Evil lives in the heart of every man, woman and child.
But there is Hope for mankind!
God cursed the serpent in the garden that day. He also spoke of a future day when the offspring of the woman would crush Satan. This was a foretelling of God's plan to redeem His precious creation, man.
Phase One is complete! God sent His Son, Jesus, from heaven to earth, to carry the weight of all mankind's sins in His own body, and to die in our place.
One of the most beautiful Scriptures in the Bible lays out the path back to God, the path of restoration back to our Creator.
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God." John 3:16-18
The penalty for our disobedience has been paid. But once again, every man, woman, and child has a choice to make: it is the choice to receive--or reject--God's gracious gift, His Son's life, offered up as a ransom paid for our redemption. In Jesus, "The Divine Design & Broken Mankind" meet.
Phase Two is the coming Day when God says to Jesus, go get my redeemed ones. Jesus will descend from the clouds to retrieve all those who have exchanged their brokenness for restoration that comes only through faith in His death and resurrection.
Dear friend,
If you are burdened beneath the weight of your brokenness, you can bring it all to God in prayer. Run to Him. You are not TOO BROKEN for God. He sees where you've been and where you are now, and He wants you in spite of it all. Dare to trust that He loves you VERY MUCH. Pour out your heart to Him.
"Dear God, I know that I am broken. I feel like every part of me is broken beyond repair. I believe You are my Creator. I want to know You and Your Son, Jesus, who came to redeem me from my broken mess, to bring me into the right relationship with You. Jesus, I believe that You took the punishment for MY SIN. Thank you for loving me that much. I give you my life, all of it---my past, my present, and my future. Show me the way out of my pain, and I'll gratefully walk with You. I know You've heard my prayer, and I know You will be with me every day. Thank you, MY God. Amen."
Author's Note: Thank you for reading, "The Divine Design & Broken Mankind." We're all broken, living in a broken world. The only security is to have a viable walk with the Living God. My personal walk with Him brings satisfaction, peace, and joy that is Infinitely Beyond what I could ever imagine. In my storms, He is my refuge and strength. I hope you find Him to be this amazing God to you. And if you do know Him, press on to know Him more.
