The basic lie in AA, and any other man-made, thus man-centered cult, is that God can be what we conceive Him (or Her) to be.
Yet the end result is that we worship ourselves, and we make terrible gods, facing a world which is bigger than our meager resources, and defies our comprehension.
Consider the very temptation which Satan offered to Eve, and thus Adam:
"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3: 4-5)
Now, they were already like God when God had made them:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." (Genesis 1: 26)
Not only did God make man, but He gave man dominion over the whole earth.
Satan lied to Eve, and when man become conscious of right and wrong, he saw nothing but wrong in himself:
"7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves." (Genesis 3: 7)
To this day, man wants to look at himself and try to fix the imperfections he sees.
Whether covering himself with fig leaves, or offering sacrifices of our labor (like Cain in Genesis 4: 1-11), man wants to make himself right in everything and make everything right for him.
Yet we did not make ourselves:
"3Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture." (Psalm 100: 3)
If He made us, then where do we get the idea that we can conceive Him in our minds?
Now, what is it today, this morning even, which I have learned, in the face of this crucial reality?
We need to understand that He is at work in our lives, even when we do not feel Him or see Him at work with our senses.
Sadly, as I have shared many times before on this blog, I felt that God was with me or not with depending on how I felt, as thought His caring for me depended on my feelings or my thoughts.
Yet even when Adam and Eve sinned against God, God still spoke with them, prophesied redemption, and provided for them:
"And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? " (Genesis 3: 11)
and then
"14And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
"15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." (Genesis 3: 14-15)
How about this?:
"21Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them." (Genesis 3: 21)
Now, critics who seek to justify man instead of God will counter that God was cruel to Adam and Eve because He threw them out of the garden.
What does the Bible actually say?
"22And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." (Genesis 3: 22-24)
If Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of life while dead in sin, filled with the never-ending sense of guilt, shame, and the obsession to do something about it, that existence would have been the most unbearable, the most unimaginable of terrors. Imagine living every day dying, and yet not being able to die? Terrible.
It was the goodness of God which actually sent them forth (the proper rendering for the passage "drove them out") with the intention that He would reconcile man to Himself once again.
And that is exactly what God did, through His Son:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." (2 Corinthians 5: 17-19)
In fact, God had planned for Adam's fall even before He had made Adam to begin with:
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:" (Ephesians 1: 4)
and
"And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Revelation 13:8)
Jesus is the Mediator of a New Covenant for us, too, not just in that He died for our sins, and gave us His life, but that He has ensured that God will always be for us, and we need never fear the reproach of sin or God's wrath for our sin ever again.
Job, who is a picture of man trying to make sense of sin and evil in a fallen world, longed for a mediator when he was facing unspeakable trials:
"33Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
"34Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me. (Job 9: 33-34)
If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:" (Job 33:23)
What Job wanted, we have today in Jesus:
"33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." (Romans 8: 33-34)
and
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" (1 Timothy 2:5)
Consider also this verse:
"And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Hebrews 12: 24)
Jesus is our mediator today; He is our Savior NOW!
"(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)" (2 Corinthians 6: 2)
He is a Savior Now, and He has been at work in our lives, even when we did not understand what He was doing.
For years, I lived in so much pain, trying to understand where God was when so much was falling apart, or seemed so empty in my life.
The fact is that He has been with me since the beginning:
"And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." (John 15: 27)
He has been saving us even when we weren't paying attention:
"My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof." (Psalm 71: 15)
Wow!
"Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." (Psalm 40: 5)
and also
"17How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139:17)
Where do we get this idea that we can conceive of God, let alone understand how good He is?!
For this reason, and many more, we should throw away this silly and evil notion that we can be like God. Why bother? God has manifested an everlasting love to us, and He wants to do everything for us, too!
"31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32)
Also, Jesus declared to His disciples (who would soon become sons of God in Christ):
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
I am learning about this now in greater detail than I had ever understood before. Jesus is a Savior for me now, today, and forever:
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Hebrews 13: 8)
Jesus Christ, our anointed Savior, is still saving today -- and that is something that I cannot fathom or understand.
Still learning!
I am learning about this now in greater detail than I had ever understood before. Jesus is a Savior for me now, today, and forever:
"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." (Hebrews 13: 8)
Jesus Christ, our anointed Savior, is still saving today -- and that is something that I cannot fathom or understand.
Still learning!
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