5. Chapter 3 Corruption - What God is revealing in the Fall

Chapter 3

Corruption – What God is revealing in the Fall?

A.   Preparing Adam’s heart

God saw it was good when the cosmic chaos was subdued and stabilised and a new colony had been established for God’s New Creation to develop to its full potential.   But the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him." (Gen 2:18)

What was lacking for Adam was that God wanted a relationship with His vice regent-designated that is of heart-to-heart, spirit-to-spirit and life-to-life and not a mechanical subordinate-superior relationship. Familiarity can breeds contempt or intimacy. The weakness in the former vice regent was familiarity that had bred contempt.

God instituted marriage. Through marriage, God wants to instil familiarity that breeds intimacy by giving Adam his wife Eve. Through good times and bad times, through enjoyment and sufferings, as both husband and wife walk closer with God, they will get closer with each other until they become one in God. Through his intimacy with his wife in the marriage relationship, Adam can appreciate the union of oneness in spirit, soul and body completely and objectively. He would come to know the covenant relationship in God. There is a spiritual bond of mutual love and submission, sacrifice in receiving and giving, affection in honour, adoration and worship and reciprocation in desiring the best for the other party without personal gain. It is like a pair of atoms attracted to each other, pulsating in vibrancy and unshakeable in its union.

Eph 5:32-33

 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. NKJV

1.   The Test and the Fall

God know our heart but we don’t know our own heart. A test (Duet 8:2) allows us to know what our heart is. It convicts and leads us to look at Christ Jesus that ‘we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord’ (2 Cor3:18)

Remember that God had a former vice regent who did not know God’s heart and his own heart. God had given him position, power and prestige to rule over His kingdom but iniquity came in and he became filled with violence and sinned. King Solomon was like this 'anointed cherub who covers' as both of them were basked in the fullness of goodness God had given. Yet the heart was lifted up, corrupting his wisdom and he became defiant to God. The principality who was supposed to be Lucifer ‘The Light Bearer’, now become Satan ‘The Accuser’ and his rebellion caused the Cosmic Chaos. God knew this principality’s heart but he did not know his own heart!

Deut 8:2

2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. NKJV

2.   Life and lifestyle

How easily our heart gets lifted up with the blessings from God. I have always taught pastors and ministers on life and lifestyle. When we were poor and ‘nobody’…we humbly yearned for God in the wilderness. The wilderness period is when the Life is shaped inside us and because of that Life the blessings and promotion of God will follow. Many servants are not careful with the blessings and promotion and allow the new lifestyle to affect them, choking the Life that brought forth all that they have and are enjoying presently. They are familiar with the things of God and are confident of what they already know but without the Life, the lifestyle became a curse and destroyed them eventually. King Solomon, the wisest of the wise digressed to self promotion in building bigger and bigger projects and putting heavy yoke on the people with added taxes. Apostle Paul was very careful to keep the Life and to not be trapped by the popular lifestyle and trends around him…”I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:27). The two most successful ministers in the NT are Jesus and Paul. At their death, one only had a loin cloth and the other lost his head! Success and significance in the Kingdom of God is complete difference from the contemporary trends.

3.   Cognitive knowledge Vs Revelation Knowledge

We would have noted that the same position, power and prestige was given to Adam and Eve over all of God’s creation on earth but with a simple command  ‘do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.’

King Solomon enjoyed the same privileges as Adam and the ‘anointed cherub’ and they all fell when they were most ‘successful’. They knew God better than anyone of us and they fell. Why?

Jesus warned us to ‘abide in Him, for without Him we can do nothing’ (John 15:1-8). Every tree in the Garden of Eden was watered by the river flowing though it (Gen 2:10). It was God who put man whom He has formed in it, God made every tree grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food, and the river went out of Eden to water the garden; God is the Source and Sustainer of life! From the creation of God, knowledge is gained from the creative actions of God (Rom 1:20) but wisdom is gained by knowing the intent of the Creator. Knowledge knows about creation but wisdom knows about the Creator. Knowledge knows about the product, wisdom knows about the Person and the process. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel (Ps 103:7). 

In the past when days were difficult and our forefathers grew up in hardship, they had little knowledge but they had virtue. In the days ahead, hardship is less and knowledge abundant but people will not have much virtue. The revelation knowledge of God is shut to those who rely on cognitive and rational knowledge. They think they know but they don’t know!

Dan 12:4

4 "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase."

God is still commanding us not to eat of the Tree of knowledge of good and evil but to be partaker of the Tree of Life because ‘the truth was lost because of an intellectual arrogance that rejected  divine revelation and tried to discover truth with the human mind alone.’[1]

4.   Be 'Like God' or 'God like'

Eve was tempted because of the desire to be like God. Man wanted to be ‘like God’ but Jesus wanted to be ‘God like’. I recalled a phrase I read some years ago…'In the beginning God created man in His image but after the Fall, man created God in his image' and that was the root of the Fall, the desire to be like God. The desire seems noble but the root of it is self independence from God.

The divine order when He created man was firstly to be in His image (Gen 1:26-27) and then to be according to His Likeness (v.26 c.f. v.28). To be His image is to be His Representation. It is God-like or godliness in His nature, ways and wisdom whereas His Likeness, which is His Expression, is to be like-God.

To be ‘like God’ places its focus on the ability and capability of God. God is able to rule, to judge, to create, to have prominence, position, power and prestige. He is the first and He is above all things. He is righteous and He executes justice and these are all the 'good' that attracts mankind to be like God. These 'good' of the ability and capability of God can be attained by man but without the Source and Sustainer of Life in his heart, all these 'good' of God can easily deceive man into thinking he is doing good but yet its root is death because it is soulish[2]. Man can know what and how God does it but not why He did it. For example in executing righteousness, many immature Christians are actually judging in self righteousness, thinking they are doing God a great favour but instead it is self deception and self justification. Many are like Uzzah (meaning strength) put their hand ‘to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled’ (1 Chron.13:9), not knowing the God of the ark is not afraid to be dirty in mud when He took the form of man in Christ Jesus!

5.   Right or Righteous

It is always the 'good' and not the evil that deceives us because there is a difference between right and righteous. You can be right and still not righteous and that is the reason why the strength of sin is the law and Apostle Paul in his immaturity was also deceived (1Cor 15: 56 c.f. Rom 7:11). Knowing the Letter of the Law without the Life or the Spirit of the Law will kill.  This is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The fruit of its ‘good’ is soulish and its root is death! Peter was rebuked by Jesus even though he was well meaning (Matt 16:22-23). It is so important we walk intimately in obedience with the Holy Spirit and be diligent to present yourself in approval to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15-16).

'The anointed Cherub who covers' had all of these 'good things ‘of God. He was like God but iniquity ate him from the inside out. He knew everything of the creation the Creator had established. He wanted to do what God can do. It was the 'good' desire that deceived, poisoned and killed him.

Brokenness is a very necessary virtue as one gets promoted in God. In studying the life of Jesus, he didn't seem to be too keen in wanting to be like God. On the contrary he was always pressing to be more God-like (c.f. John 8:12).

To be God-like places its focus on the nature and character of God, on His ways and wisdom. God has prominence but He is secured in His identity. Jesus was able to wash his disciples' feet while on the other hand he can command legions of angels (John 13:3-4). God is righteousness and He is the rightful judge but yet Jesus did not condemn the woman accused of adultery but exhort her to follow the Light in him (John 8:11-12). Jesus was God-like and therefore has the Life within him to be like God. The root is Life giving. Jesus has the Life and the Spirit of the Law Giver. The Church is caught fighting between Law and Grace, arguing on legalism and licentious but the spirit and intent behind the Law is redemptive love, channel through the Fear of God and the Love of God. Thus Jesus was able to fulfil everything in the Law because he has the life or the spirit or the essence of the Law Giver of the Law, who is God the Father Himself. This is the Tree of Life.

6.   Stature and Status

There is a veil separating and blinding those want to be like God. Ambition has a blinding intoxication effect. It requires the ministry of the Spirit, brokenness and discernment as Apostle Paul wrote to the immature church in Corinth (2 Cor. chaps 3-7). There is a subtle deception and attraction to the soul in that many ‘hollow’ ministers (the most eminent apostles as Paul addressed them in 2 Cor.11:5) who go after status, following the ‘like-God paradigm’ whereas those who go after the ‘God-like paradigm’ will grow in stature. Status is given by men and it is a shadow and it can be taken away by men. Stature is given by God and it is a substance and it can never be taken away by men. The like-God will chase after a name but the God-like will be given a name! (c.f. Phil. 2:9-11) That is the basic difference. It is important to have a firm foundation of stature first, and then followed by status.

7.   Of Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve grew in sense knowledge about God but not in the revelation knowledge of God. They knew of God's works and His creation in Eden. They knew of the creation but not yet the Creator in fullness. They have the knowledge of Light but not the spirit of Light. They knew God as their superior and they were His subordinate. They acted upon His instructions. There are churches that are yet to come into the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God (Eph 4:13), that is the knowledge of God that Jesus as the Begotten Son has. Adam and Eve were still undergoing instruction as God matured them and they were in a state of innocence (c.f. John 9:41). Genesis 1 to 3 shows us there are only two possible ways to approach the interpretation of reality – God’s way or the serpent’s. They were deceived by the good of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thinking it will be good if they too can know as God know. It seems good and beneficial to have this power of knowledge but its root is still death because they must have the life of the Creator to use the knowledge of the Creator. Adam and Eve can now have knowledge coupled with the position, power and prestige given to them; they can be like God, perhaps well meaning in their thoughts and intent but they deceived themselves that their newly acquired cognitive sense knowledge will enable them to be like God to serve Him better. They took a short-cut in the maturation process of God. God’s way is that any increase in knowledge must correspond with increase in maturity of His Life or else self righteousness, self justification, self promotion, and self deception will blind them. That is the reason why the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil were there in the Garden, our soulish life and our spirit life contesting for the centre of God’s rule. Today there is an abundance of information on the Internet, coupled with life getting better and lesser hardships but we must understand the ways of God, it is not by our accumulation and acquisition in the soulish but by nurturing and developing in the spiritual the Life or Light in us. The spirit, essence or life of that knowledge must be inside our heart or else the source that drives this knowledge will be replaced by our self in the state of our self justification and self deception. We must walk with God. Jesus exclaimed, “Man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceed from the mouth of God” (Luke 4:4, Duet 8:3).

The immature church in Corinth had no lack of knowledge and spiritual gifts but they lacked the life of Christ and Paul was exhorting them to develop it. They were able to do all the right things but were still empty spiritually in love (1 Cor. 13:1-3).  In 2 Corinthians Paul taught them the ministry of the Spirit and his defence of authentic apostleship. There is always the ‘veil of self’ until we are broken vessels to reveal the treasure within (2 Cor. chap 3 to 5). There was a weakness revealed when Adam and Eve choose to depend on the confidence in cognitive sense Knowledge and their own soulish strength against the revelation knowledge by God and the power of an endless life, which is spiritual. They chose to be living souls apart from the Spirit of God (Gen 2:7). They chose and depended on ‘Self’ instead of God. They choose another source; another input apart from God…God asked them “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” (Gen 3:11). Their hearts were exposed. Adam and Eve impatiently wanted the things of God but not God's process! They wanted to be like God but not God like. Many cities and societies are fast paced with an instant gratification culture. They are not interested in the process but they want quick-fixes. I found a quote by Edgar J. Mohn in Facebook saying “A lie has speed, but truth has endurance’

There is a great difference between Cognitive Knowledge stored in the head and Revelation Knowledge written in the heart. When Revelation Knowledge is written in the heart, God releases the power to live it; you have the power to enter into it and live it. It is called 'Enabling Grace' to His favoured grace given to you. You have entered into a spiritual dimension. Paul talked about ‘the width and length and depth and height…to know that which passes knowledge’ (Eph 3:19). It is a life, a spiritual power that comes from the Seed that was sown into your heart (see the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13) whereas knowledge in the head is like you enjoying the bread instead of the seed. It meets your temporary gratification. There is nothing within you to live it, there is no living fountain, no endless life flowing within (John 4:13-14; 7:63)

  

2 Cor. 3:2-3

 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. 

The Law is cognitive knowledge. It informs you. You know but you have no power to live it. It requires you to fulfil its requirement and its intention is that in trying to fulfil it, you will surely fail trying. It was meant to be broken. Its purpose is to teach you of your weaknesses, to reveal your sinful heart and spiritual bankruptcy so that you will bow your knees to cry out to God for helps because you are frustrated trying to live it with your human strength. You need brokenness. The danger of the Law is that man uses his own strength to fulfil it and many Christians are of the ‘Roman 7-type’. They know how to use the words of God to cover their nakedness, they know how to behave rightly in church gatherings and they know how to be nice but deep inside they are struggling. There is no inner peace as the Holy Spirit convicts them.

Adam and Eve knew they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings (Gen 3:7). In Matthew 21:19, Jesus cursed the fig tree because it is a picture of human strength trying to fulfil God’s requirement, a religious system of self justification and self righteousness. It works and it appears nice on the outside but internally it is empty, lifeless! It is dead religion with righteousness that is based on compliance with written commandments instead of an endless life of a living relationship with God. “The Letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). It has the form but not the life…the very cause of problem of the old priesthood whom God had rejected.

8.   Reason for the Fall

The key word is ‘contentment’.  We must know that God has already formed Adam and put him into the Garden to serve and guard it and all things needed are given to him. Ambition has a deceptive justification and reasoning. We have to search deep in our heart for the motive between contentment and complacency. Despite given the privilege, prestige, position, and provision, there was the desire for the ‘good, pleasant and the desirable’ which they saw and not seeing they are already in all of it. In Luke 15 the younger son was eager to get the inheritance but Jesus who saw the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and received the inheritance and obtained a more excellent name (Heb 12:2 c.f. 1:4). The 'what' they see with natural eyes are not the things of the Spirit; nor can they know them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor. 2:12-14). The ‘things of the Spirit’ comes from an unshakeable conviction and assurance of who God is in who, what and where you are.  Contentment is a state of tranquillity and assurance in knowing the righteousness of God in His faithfulness to His promise that He will surely bring it to pass in the fullness of time. He who called you is more than able to see you through the process. Don’t complain, don’t doubt and don’t quit. His Promise will surely come to pass in your life after He leads you through His Process by His Providence. The mysteries are not kept away from you but for you. Nevertheless mysteries are also secrets of the Kingdom which are not public knowledge. They are kept for those who passed the clearance levels of His Process. There are many in the churches who desire knowledge without the process. It is sad because there is a need for matured ministers to bring them through.  Many are taught but not many are trained or modelled to apply it. The much needed teaching ministries dispensing more teachings to the young believers, may  transfer  the idea that you can know by retaining information about a subject without the need to apply it. Evidently it adds to the ‘ease and please’ culture in the churches where members seek for easy breads as they do not want to labour with seeds (study Gen 47 – people prefer ‘the ease and please’ this is the basic inclination why people love Egypt, the land of bondage). It provides ‘short cuts’ and ‘quick fixes’ without the process! That is why the Prosperity Gospel, prescribing ‘pleasures without measure’, is so appealing in some churches. There are magic of the world practised in the churches (Acts 19: 19) with preachers peddling the word of God (2 Cor.2:17). Personally I observed churches and even pastors who want the teachings but not the trainings. They want to be informed and relate as a student to the teacher. Rarely a handful would want to be trained and allow their heart to be circumcised to be disciple and allow the right pattern to be formed in them. Parables are given to outsiders but the keys of the Kingdom are given to your disciples.

A.   The Fall in Genesis 3 – What God is revealing?

By allowing The Fall accounts in Genesis 3, God revealed what had happened in the cosmic heavenly and why 'the anointed cherub who covers' failed in his priesthood and the cause of it. The Fall accounts in Genesis 3 serves the dual purposes of testing Adam and Eve to allow them to know their own heart and it gives an account of invisible things in the spiritual realm of His Kingdom; the cause of cosmic chaos and its consequences.

1. The Government - The Divine Order of Headship and Priesthood

Adam was a picture of Headship of God’s authority. Eve was a picture of the Priesthood. God has no problems or prejudices against woman. God highly esteemed woman. Woman is the only creature not made of dust. Woman derives her origin from Man (Gen 2:22) and God fashioned her with the beauty, perfection and the gifting of administration. Eve was to be the vice regent and light bearer of the godly headship in her husband Adam and she is the picture in the physical that God is trying to show us of the image of the invisible ‘anointed cherub who covers' in the office as vice regent’

1 Cor. 11:7-8

7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he (man) is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man.

Prov. 12:4

4 An excellent wife is the crown (or glory) of her husband,

But she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.

God want us to understand the divine pattern and order of headship and priesthood and its proper functions in the divine ordered system in a family.

God has nothing against woman in that she be the first to sin (1 Tim 2:14). Eve was the picture in the natural realm that God used to show the problem of the angelic high priest and priesthood. It was Adam’s failed headship to serve God and guard the Garden that was the problem. Adam was ordered to ‘cultivate and keep’, which means to ‘serve and guard’ the Garden. God commanded this directly to Adam alone.

                 

Eve had not yet been created when God told Adam about the forbidden tree, she has to trust Adam in his headship to rule and protect her and hence God rebuked Adam first after they ate of the forbidden tree. (Gen 2:17). It is so important in a family that the husband functions in godly headship and exercise authority in the love and fear of God. More important in any form of government and authority, godly headship is the paramount requirement.

Through the event of the Fall God is revealing the cause of the cosmic dysfunction. God is trying to communicate that in the creation divine order, the headship must be godly, wise and righteous, conscientious in upholding peace and order, protecting the weak and the innocents, exercising authority and power honourably and fairly, selfless and sacrificial in all its exercise . The priesthood is able to reciprocate with honour, love and submission and in willingness in the bond of security and trust. The dynamic, dimension and the spirit of this bond is in the Holy Trinity .That is the mystery of marriage that Paul talks about!

Eph 5:32-33

 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

The marriage of husband and wife is for the starting of a family, the perpetuation of the divine dynamic, dimension and spirit of bond in the governance of this nucleus family, the basic building block of the Kingdom of God. It is provided by the oneness of the headship and priesthood role and function of the couple. It is for this reason they leave their father and mother to exercise the same pattern of godly headship and priesthood in a respectful relationship initiated by the head of the family in unconditional commitment, service and sacrificial love reciprocal by the wife’s respect, honour, trust and submission. It is foreshadowing of the New Creation union of Christ and the Church, and of God and the first couple Adam and Eve and of the dynamic union in the Godheads of the Holy Trinity. This is the divine order of a union.

1 Cor. 11:10

10 For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

In 1 Cor. 11: 1-16 Paul is not a sexist, favouring the male and being prejudiced against the female. Paul was referring to the divine order of headship and priesthood. He was highlighting the divine role and function in a divine ordered system. There is also a powerful spiritual truth Paul is highlighting. It is in Matthew 6:33 “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” Righteousness is a very powerful unshakeable position lawfully, morally, ethically and spiritually, especially righteousness in the Kingdom of God, all angels good or bad will fear you. Righteousness is an unshakeable position of authority and power to prevail. Righteousness always win and you always win by righteousness!

God’s divine order is for the husband to exercise godly headship. He must first be approved for his priestly function before he is able to rule the family in headship. The problems in society are caused basically by man who does not know how to be a good man, a good husband and a good father!  Godly men exercise but do not exert his authority. The wife is the neck supporting the head. The head obeys God and the neck support in the administration of it. If the neck does not support the head and instead wants to turn the head, then dysfunction has occurred and the disruption will cause chaos. Strong headship will prevent or arrest this but if the head is weak and without backbone, there will be chaos. A dysfunctional family is always caused by either or both of this reason. It is very important they must be formed by God before they take on the role and function for the sake of the next generation.

2. The Veil of Self

After Adam and Eve failed in their test, God did not reject or abandon them but they will have to be responsible for the consequence of their choice between blessing and curse. The relationship remained but the fellowship was veiled. It was the very demonstration of God’s longsuffering love, mercy and grace. Adam and Eve were still in Eden but not in the Garden. They were then the governed and not the one governing. They were not expelled and rejected but were to be redeemed. They were still inside the Colony but not in the Temple (the Government). The Cross was the first lesson they learned from God after their transgression in that God covered them with tunics of animal skin, presenting the concept of atonement and blood sacrifice. What is this animal sacrifice about? It is the laying down of the ‘self’ in us.

What is this ‘self’?

What is it? What but the presence of a veil in our hearts? A veil not taken away as the first veil was, but which remains there still shutting out the light and hiding the face of God from us. It is the veil of our fleshly fallen nature living on, unjudged within us, uncrucified and unrepudiated. It is the close- woven veil of the self-life which we have never truly acknowledged, of which we have been secretly ashamed, and which for these reasons we have never brought to the judgment of the cross. It is not too mysterious, this opaque veil, nor is it hard to identify. We have but to look in our own hearts and we shall see it there, sewn and patched and repaired it may be, but there nevertheless, an enemy to our lives and an effective block to our spiritual progress[3].

God was teaching Adam and Eve not to depend on their soulish life and their knowledge acquired but to know He is the Source of Life. They were to nurture and develop the Zoe Life or Spirit Life or God’s type of life, the eternal kind of Life. Through the sacrifice of an animal life, God was teaching them the concept of laying down their life in the spirit of sacrifice, submission and obedience and not to allow the Self or the veil in them to blind themselves. God was teaching them to discard their self will or preference and to abide to God’s prescribed requirement of sacrificing of self life. They were taught to learn obedience. This was a type and shadow in the Old Testament until the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31:33-34 c.f. 3:15-19 was fulfilled in Jesus Christ and  the sending of the Holy Spirit to us.

John 12:24-26

24 Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.  25 He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  26 If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour.

3.   Corruption

It was  Cain, blinded by the veil of self, who took his brother Abel’s life in murder, and who was driven out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden (Gen 4:16).

Cain was expelled from Eden, the Colony of God and became a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth (Gen 4:12). A fugitive runs away from the requirements of the law and a vagabond lives an aimless wandering life. It began inside his heart and the action and consequences followed (iniquity àsins àtransgression).

“Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden” (Gen 4:16)…take note of the phrase ‘on the east of Eden’, meanings Cain distanced further away from God demoting in decline, decay, destruction and death. 

4.  The Cross – Dealing with Iniquity

The relationship between God and Adam and Eve remained but their fellowship now requires a sacrifice on the part of Adam and Eve. It will cost a life to be sacrificed for them to fellowship with God.  It is a process of teaching and training for Adam and Eve to learn to remove the veil of self that prevent them from walking with God. This was to Adam and Eve and their progeny as lesson of sacrifice at the Cross and it was communicated in the Old Testament to the Israelites as type and shadow of sacrifice and finds it reality in Jesus Christ with the spirit of sacrifice.  

Gen 4:3-5

3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. NKJV

Adam and Eve taught their descendants the new requirement of God in the sacrificing of a life in coming near Him. ‘Then men began to call on the name of the Lord’…there was a continuation of godly lineage and Melchizedek the king of Salem and priest of God Most High who appeared before Abraham (Gen 14:18) was from this godly remnant.

Gen 4:25-26

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, "For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed." 26 And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.

5.   The Flood in Genesis 7

The Flood was God pressing the ‘Reset’ button to His colonisation plan on earth. Scholars generally agree that the first eleven chapters of Genesis serve as the introduction to the whole Bible focus upon the widening ruin of man apart from God’s rule. This introductory portion of the Bible, chapter 1-11, can be summarised by four major events: 1) creation (chapters 1-2), the fall (chapters 3-5), the flood (chapter 6-9) and the confusion of mankind (chapter 10-11).

Satan and his rebellious angels or demons are separated and restraint in a specific spiritual realm called ‘the sea’. The dry land on earth that God created was to be a platform, a stage and a contest ring for man to be nurtured and developed into the godly seed of woman that will bruise the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15). The land is allowed to be influenced in a measured manner by heaven (godly angelic influence) and the sea (demonic angelic influence). This is according to God’s purpose and plan for a platform and stage that is influenced by good and evil to train, test and develop the New Creation in Christ.

There was a major outright attempt by demonic forces to contaminate the seeds in man so much so that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and the hope of a godly human seed was gone(Gen. 6:1-7). The Flood was a major spiritual clean-up by godly angelic forces of all the evil contamination on the dry land of earth. Only all that was on the dry land died (Gen. 7:22-24) and the only life not destroyed in the Flood were those living in the sea. God still uses Satan and his demonic forces in His divine wisdom to serve His ultimate goal.

There are several observations in these introductory first eleven chapters of Genesis:

1. God has a clear plan, purpose, process and intention and will not allow His redemption plan and intent for colonisation to be torpedoed. His plan and intent shall never fail!
2. Satan and his demonic forces are used by God to serve His plan and purpose of testing the priestliness and training of kingship in the New Creation. They are never allowed to destroy the New Creation. They are being restrained[4] (2 Thess. 1:7-12).
3. The ‘curse of the ground’ (Gen. 3:17) because of Adam’s weak governance of God’s place is reversed in the Noahic Covenant, in that God will raise up again God’s people in God’s place under God’s rule, i.e. His Kingdom colonisation. The land will be filled with the Kingdom of God.
4. In the fullness of time when the New Creation is fully attained, the ‘sea’ where Satan and his demonic forces are, is no longer restrained but release to flood the sea of mankind who rejected God and are defiant. The full wrath of God will come upon them to utterly destroy all evils.
5. The land will be desolated for a while and a new heaven and new earth will once again be established.
6. Knowing the unshakeable and impregnable plan and purpose of God, we have come to Mount Zion (Heb.12: 22) there is no fear in us who subscribe to God’s process and discipline (discipline is not punishment but putting the right pattern into us) even in the valley of the shadow of death (Heb. 12).
7. When we come into the fullness of knowledge and understanding all the above, we can live and are able to live a life that God cannot, but must blessed. It is called the Favour of God and it is a vast difference from the mercy of God…‘for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust’ (Matt 5:45).

C.Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the Flood in Genesis 6

There is a vast spread of fear among Christians with the speculations of End Time eschatological destructions of the earth. Evil will finally be destroyed but not before the righteous sons of God prevail and ‘shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father (Matt 13:13) and bring His rulership on all the lands of the earth. God and His righteous people on earth are destroying evils when it overruns the land. There is no place for demonic forces on the land. They are to be driven off the lands back to the sea and to be held there waiting for its final judgment. Light shall come upon all the lands on earth. Perhaps an understanding on why Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed and why the Flood came will help us to understand the ways of God clearer.

When God approached Abraham in Genesis 18 about the situation in Sodom and the impending destruction, there were several issues:

1. The ability to command the children and the household to keep the way of the LORD is gone.
2. The absence of a righteous and holy man, who will dare to do the right things. Lot was righteous but not holy (2 Pet 2:7-8).  Asa and Jehoshaphat were of the same category.
3. Salt that lost its saltiness
4. Evil spread rapidly and innocent lives are destroyed
5. God will put a stop to its spread by destroying the wicked place and driving the demonic power back to its designated place.
6. The land will be desolated for a period of time until the righteous rebuild it
7. The zeal of the LORD will ensure of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end.
8. The cycles will repeat until the Finished Ending when all the dry  land is shinning in the godliness and righteousness of His  Kingdom and all the evil forces driven back into the sea where they awaits the final judgment.

Summary

Iniquity is when our will comes against the will of God. Transgression will have its consequences, hurting our fellowship with God and causing us to backslide further like Cain, who depart and distanced from God to the Land of Nod, which is life of wandering. People of Nod are cut off from God, wandering and their survival instinct leads to all forms of insecurity and the selfishness or sin nature formed in them.  

Romans 1:21-23 talks about the seven stages of human degradation and God gave them up for self destruction (v24-32).

         1)   No fear of God - 'They did not glorify Him as God'

2)   Profane - 'neither were thankful'

3)   Distortion - 'became vain in their imaginations'

4)   Perversion - 'their foolish heart was darkened'

5)   Deception - 'professing to be wise'

6)    Decline - 'they became fools'

7)   Self worship - I am god.

Countries that deny God have plunged into dictatorship, with human rights abuse and freedom oppression and poverty. The entire environment is one of oppression, control, corruption and greed but God by His common grace makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt 5:45-46). God continues to move and influence mankind with good over evil and one era of ideology will end and improvements will flourish again.

Human beings are products of their environment and external influences but righteous men full of the Holy Spirit will co-create new environment with godly atmosphere with new development. With the environment, as systems and conditions improve, human behaviour will also improve and become more civilised. We can see the standard of living gradually improved, the nations coming together to deal with diseases, injustice, poverty and violence. There will be ‘evening’ i.e. period of darkness and difficulties and it will be followed by ‘morning’, a dawning of better changes. Nations will constantly reform to improve by better policies. It will take fortitude, will power and perseverance and long patience to see and make for a better future but it is the right direction.

The environment affects the good nature of human beings, it is very important to provide an atmosphere where dignity is given. Human dignity is the first step toward restoration. The next step is for a person to have a ‘plumb-line’ within to guide and guard his or her life and that is God’s words and the Spirit of Jesus' and they begin the journey in this new life step by step.

Corruption of lives and societies is present but God through His citizens of the Kingdom will continue to influence for justice and deliverance. Corruption will swing to the other end of the pendulum when humans go into indulgence and gratification after life and conditions are very much better. Status, materialism, covetousness will begin to ensnare them. Therefore ‘bad’ problems and ‘good’ problems, there will always be problems but when human dignity is restored and God’s divine instruction for life is concertedly live out and divine wisdom nurtured and attained, then we will have a solid substance that we can transfer to the succeeding generation for ‘connectivity and continuity’. "The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops, but the kind of man the country turns out" quoted Ralph Waldo Emerson. "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, it is the power of salvation!"

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[1] Vishal Mangalwadi, Truth and Transformation, YWAM Publishing, 2009, p.29

[2] Read Rick Joyner’s book ‘There were two Trees in the Garden’, Morning Star Publication

[3] A.W.Tozer, The Pursuit of God, chapter 3 – The Removal of the Veil

[4] The Book of Job: A multi-perspective approach to the problem of evil, the suffering of the righteous, and the justice of God – A Theodicy, by Rob Sheldon (http://www.rbsp.info/rbs/JOB/job.html)