Wisdom, Redemption and Sin

God's wisdom and redemptive power are attributes of the living, almighty God Who is worthy of praise.  His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways past finding out, yet He has graciously revealed Himself to mankind in the person of Jesus Christ.  He is able to take something intended for evil and use the same thing for eternal good.  Glorious!

Lately I have been studying through the opening chapters of Genesis and considering the fall of mankind into sin and the resulting curse.  Satan was exposed as being a deceiver, liar and murder from the beginning as he coaxed Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in violation of God's command.  Many times as a youth I wondered how life on earth would have been different if sin had not entered into the world.  I can tell you one difference:  without sin in the world God would not have been provided an opportunity to demonstrate His love, grace, mercy, compassion, kindness and goodness.  If everything was always perfect and pain free, grace would not exist and the Gospel would be unnecessary.

Don't get me wrong:  sin entering the world was an absolute catastrophe.  It was a tragedy that could have been prevented if Adam and Eve continued in the fear of God and obedience to Him.  Sin led to separation from the presence of God, multiplied sorrow, conflict, fruitless toil and ultimately death.  These are all bad things, yet God proved Himself a wise redeemer.  To sinners who loved their sin and did not regard Him at all He came down, put on human flesh, walked among us and we beheld His glory.  The glory of God was made manifest in a world of darkness as the Light of the World Jesus Christ, the One who will by His very presence illuminate the new heavens and earth where only righteousness dwells.

God chose sinners--not angels--to be His saints.  Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted, to free slaves to sin from bondage, to exchange beauty for ashes, to give hope to the hopeless and to raise the dead to new life by faith in Him.  The good cannot be seen for how good it is without us first realising how wretched, lost and hopeless we are in ourselves.  There is no need to be washed unless we are filthy; we would not have appreciated an offer of salvation unless we were once irrevocably doomed to destruction.  Without a stark comparison between God and the man created in His image mankind would have assumed we are like Him and can live independently from Him.  But God knew better, knowing all:  thus sin, redemption, forgiveness, salvation and eternal life with God are ours forever by faith in Jesus starting right now.