I would like to return in part to a subject that we discussed some time ago, in fact, if you think about it in a Scriptural context, it is the very first subject after the creation, what occurred in the garden of Eden. My mind seems to return quite often back to this time, for it is here where everything started, notwithstanding Satan’s fall that we are told about in Ezekiel 28:13-19, and while it is difficult to conceive that this is where sin was born, as it were, in heaven, it remains a fact, but it is its spilling over unto the sons of men that will be the construction of most of our attention today.
If you will notice in Genesis 1:10-25, five times God said of His creation, “It was good,” and then in verse 31 He said that everything that He had made was very good, but now look if you will at Genesis 2:17, where the Lord informs Adam and Eve that they are not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The instructions that God gave to our first parents in Genesis 1:28+29 and 2:15+16 were simple, multiply, replenish, subdue, dress and keep the garden, but then in 2:17 things change, here God tells them in a sense that every single thing that I have created is at your disposal, except this one thing, the fruit of this one tree.
Now of course, we need not discuss at this time what happened, for if our parents had not disobeyed, there would not have been any reason for the Lord to write His Holy Book, the Bible, and so we can consider it a fact that it did happen, and the effects and consequences of this first sin are easily identifiable, simply open your eyes or ears, or look within yourself, sin has permeated nearly all of creation. The question I pose today is related to obedience, would they have sinned without the coercing efforts of Satan, would these first two eventually determine within themselves that the fruit of the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise. (Gen. 3:6) Was it required for Satan to show them these “truths,” these facts, or would they have in their own free will determined in time to eat of the tree themselves.
I point here to 2nd Peter 3:4, “Where is the promise of His coming,” would they, after many, many years determine by themselves without the assistance of our adversary that perhaps God was just making a suggestion, that it had been so very long and it was now the only fruit in the garden that they had not eaten of. In other words, was Satan necessary for the redemptive plan of salvation to become reality.
Think here for a few moments on our Lord Jesus Christ and His three plus years walk beside Judas Iscariot, the man who would betray Him. There is nothing hidden from our Lord, He knew full well before the foundation of the world of Judas, He was not surprised when he accepted His call to follow Him, our Lord walked with the one who would sell Him for thirty pieces of silver, He washed the feet of this man, there was no surprise from Christ when those with torches and staves arrived at the garden that night, being led by a man He had called His friend. So, it should come as no surprise to us that when God Almighty first created Lucifer, the covering cherubim, (Ezek. 28:14) and even before that moment, He knew the consequences not only for all of mankind, but also for His precious Son. All things serve the will of God, yet not all things are in the will of God at this time, this is one of the reasons our Lord taught us to pray “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” (Matt. 6:10) for on earth not all things are in the Fathers will. It is not in His desire that the creation be continually groaning, (Rom. 8:22) for wars, pestilence and plagues to be present, for sinful man to continue in his state of rebellion and disobedience, but for the moment, and that is all that these thousands of years have truly been to the Lord my friends, a moment, He is allowing not only Satan and his demons a type of “free reign,” but also fallen man.
Did God create evil and sin, of course not, did He allow it, yes. And therin is perhaps the most relevant question that man can ever ask of His Holy creator, outside of “What is man that thou art mindful of him,” (Psalm 8:4) why allow any of His creation the choice of the knowledge of good and evil. Were Adam and Eve happy before the fall, were they content to spend eternity in the garden, walking with God Himself nearly every day, where all of their needs and desires were being met, were they in joyful bliss continually, or would they on their own have one day wanted more, for they had free will.
Think now on the most powerful being ever created, the one who was the covering cherubim, the one that even Michael the Archangel would not even bring a railing accusation against, (Jude 1:9) in that very first moment in which he saw himself as what he thought himself to be, and not what God had created him to be. God knew full well the consequences of Lucifer’s actions, and it would go far beyond just the changing of his name, it would cost the Lord the loss of His Precious Son, if even for an infinitesimal moment, an anguish beyond any that we will ever know, it would cause Him to pour out all of His fury and wrath upon Him, unthinkable.
What then, O Lord our God, is man, that thou would even give a thought to him, or even the Holy angels which thou did create, why even the smallest thought to any of your creation when the trinity was in complete bliss and total harmony before anything was created, why create what you do not need. I will not demean the word ‘love’ here, but God did not have so much love that He needed to create souls so that He could “use some of it up,” so that He could express it, He is love itself and the fulfilment of love is expressed completely and wholly within Him. All of creation, all of reality, whether temporal or spiritual, was created for his pleasure, (Rev. 4:11) and yet that creation was not necessary, for within Him is the fulness of joy, He had and never has had a need to express it, for joy resides within Him in all totality.
Why then did Almighty God deem it desirable to create in the first place, He knew the great joy that those souls that would call upon the name of His Son and trust in Him and Him alone for their salvation, yet He also knew that those who would not must suffer a consequence that is unbearable for any to think of. Do you see Christ in your minds eye on the terrible day of the great white throne of judgement, (Rev. 20:11) as one with utter disrespect and wrath pointing in anger to the lost before He casts them into the lake of fire and eternal torment, or one with tears running down His face, sorrow breaking His heart for those that would not heed the call. Why would God put himself through this terrible time, these thousands of years of pride, self-centeredness, sin and rebellion, when He, and He alone is all He needs. Why create that which you do not need.
I do not know, only God knows, pride was found in Lucifer, Eve was deceived, Adam of his own free will chose a path of his own desires, and for these three events, the creator of all mankind, of all that is, had to face the wrath of a loving Father, took the punishment for us, paid a debt He did not owe. Why create what you do not need, especially when so much of it will bring so much sorrow.
I cannot comprehend the depth and power of that love, a love that never had a need to be expressed outside of itself in the first place. How great a love you are loved with, how great a love.
