Continuing to Fall

After  the Fall, Scripture continues wit the story of God, man, and God’s work to reclaim, and rebuild, is family.

Mankind chose to walk away from God’s way. And the world broke. And mankind continued to walk away from God. So, the world grew darker. Violence increased and expanded.

Scripture says God looked at the state of the world, and found virtually everything was bad. The only place he found any good was in a man named Noah.

Noah found favor, because he continued to seek relationship with God. Mankind still has the power to choose. Though, polluted, and broken, we can choose to move God’s way, and walk with him, even if we stumble, and stub our toes the whole way.

So, with the possibility of God’s family, and God’s way, being wiped out in a flood of brokenness, and rebellion, God decides that a cleansing, and a reboot, are in order.

So, thousands of miles from the sea, God tells Noah to build a boat. A really big boat.

“Hey, Noah! Wotcha building?”

“You’re building a what?!?!”

Scripture says it took Noah 120 years to build this boat. And each day, he was given the opportunity to explain what he was doing, and why. And each day:

• People though Noah was crazy.
• They rejected what he said.
• They ignored God, and what he said.
• And maybe, they even liked the way things were.

But no one joined Noah. No one agreed things were bad. No one chose to walk God’s way.

So, when the boat was finished, God sent a pair of every kind of animal. And they went into he boat. Then, Noah and his family went into the boat. And God sealed them in safely.

Then, God sent torrential rains which flooded the earth, and destroyed all life … except for what was preserved in the boat.

God reveals his heart in this story. His heart is for preservation. His heart is for people to live out their design, in relationship with him, and other people.

And God spent a lifetime – 120 years – trying to persuade people to change what they followed. He is patient. He is persistent.

And man reveals his heart in this story. Some will realize God’s design is best. And some will pursue that design, which will mean choosing allegiance to him.

And some, even in the face of disaster, and decaying circumstances, will continue to pursue their own way. Which does not work.

The Fall

Of course, things did not stay perfect. One look at the world should convince everyone of that.

The serpent came to the woman, and asked: “Did God really say?” In reality, he calls God a liar. He is saying God is not trustworthy.

The woman listens. And the man does nothing. The woman is convinced, and breaks God’s one, and only, law. And the man listens. And he breaks God’s one, and only, law.

And everything changes. And everything breaks.

God finds out, and brings it to the man and the woman. And they push the blame elsewhere.

All that is bad, broken, or corrupt, follows from this law breaking. And the brokenness pervades all creation.

Relationships are strained. Men and women strive for control. (With men prevailing, because of greater physical strength.) Natural functions, and processes, become difficult and painful.

The fuels of life are still necessary, but no longer satisfy. Because of the labor needed to produce, the physical fuels are less effective. Because of broken relationships, the spiritual fuels are polluted, and therefore, less fulfilling. Community is broken. And the primary relationship between Father and his children is broken. We can see some health, and wholeness, in people, because there is still love, beauty, and community. But these things are polluted. They can only be purified by our relationship with Father. And as it is broken, all other spiritual fuels ae less effective.

The only ray of hope is a sort of obscure promise God gives, that the woman’s offspring will crush the head of the serpent, even though he will be bitten in return.

Creation

God created the universe. The bible says he created part of creation, each day, over several days. He could have created everything at once. But following this process, he established a pattern of work, and rest, within creation.

And God created everything good. “Good” encompasses a lot of things. God made creation pleasing to the senses. Of excellent quality. Beneficial in effect. God is not just a creator. He is a brilliant engineer, a master planner, and a master artist. What he creates provides for the body, the mind, and the soul. And creation perfectly takes care of, and sustains, itself.

Creation was a perfect place. It had all that men needed, or wanted.

On the last day of work, God created man. Then, he created a garden, and put man in it. He put man into a perfect environment. It not only satisfied their physical needs, it satisfied the needs of their inner man. There were physical fuels. And there were spiritual fuels.

In order for people to function optimally, the need both physical and spiritual fuels. The need sufficient protein, vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc. The also need sufficient love, purpose, beauty, community, and meaning.

And the garden had sufficient supply to feed the body. And it had beauty. There was meaningful work in caring for the garden. There was community: first with the Father, and then, with other people. Love, and meaning, came with that community.

Mankind had all that it needed, physically and spiritually. Creation was perfect.