What Happened in The Fall

The first three chapters of Genesis lay the foundation for the rest of the Bible. A proper understanding of the relationship between the Creator and His creation is essential for a proper understanding of all Scripture. That relationship is revealed in Genesis 1-3. The first two chapters describe God’s original intent: humans were to be His agents, His vice-regents on the earth. The world God made was perfectly suited for the people He made. It was also a place where Creator and created could have fellowship with few barriers. Chapter three tells what happened when Adam and Eve disregarded God’s authority and tried to become independent. God granted them their independence, and that destroyed the perfect fellowship they had with Him and the rest of creation as well.

The penalty for human rebellion was immediate expulsion from the Garden of Eden and eventual physical death, but that was not all. They soon learned that the perfection God had created in Eden had been removed from their existence. They quickly discovered that not only had they lost their fellowship with God, their relationship with each other and the rest of creation was also damaged. The loss of Eden literally went deep into their inner selves: the prophet Jeremiah would later say that the human heart became deceitful and disastrous and beyond their own understanding. This wide-ranging brokenness explains most of what is recorded from Genesis four all the way to the book of Revelation.

The Bible would have been a very sad tale if not for one thing: God did not give up on His creation. God so loved the world, John 3:16 tells us, that He made a way for His broken people to regain the lost relationship they had forfeited. The way God chose to bring about the reconciliation can be a bit baffling if you don’t understand God’s character. Our human heart asks why God couldn’t just forgive the transgression and restore fellowship if He truly loved the world. That could not happen because even though God is love personified, He is also holy and just. His holiness excludes anything unholy from His presence; His justice demands payment for indiscretion.

God could have simply wiped humans from the face of the earth and started over; He came close in Noah’s time, allowing only eight people to be saved. But the Bible teaches that God had a plan for His creation – a plan He formulated even before He made the earth. This is part of the mystery of the ages Paul refers to in Ephesians. It appears that God’s intention when He created the earth was to demonstrate His love, not just to humans but to all His created beings on earth and in heaven. To satisfy His justice and prove His love, He sacrificed the dearest thing any human can imagine: His Son.

About two thirds of the Bible, what we call the Old Testament, lays the groundwork for God’s plan to redeem His chosen ones. The children of Adam and later, more specifically, the children of Israel were taught how to relate to a holy God – a God who could not tolerate unholiness of any kind. The law given through Moses, and the sacrificial system it included were meant to demonstrate in a visceral way that departure from God’s rules brought costly penalties. All the bloody sacrifices required under the law of Moses prefigured a once-for-all sacrifice that would finally redeem God’s fallen world.

Just as the Mosaic sacrifices had to be perfectly formed, without spot or blemish, God’s ultimate sacrifice would also have to be perfect. The only way that could be accomplished was to bring a perfect human into being who could pay the redemption price on behalf of His peers. Anyone born of Adam inherently had the stain of Adam’s transgression and was therefore not qualified to serve as a perfect sacrifice. For that reason, God used a virgin, Mary, to miraculously bring a human to earth who was not a child of Adam but a child of God Himself. This enabled the Son to do what no other human could do: live a life completely without sin – spotless, without blemish – a perfect human.

On the cross of Calvary, Jesus, the Messiah promised by the prophets, bore all the sin of all the sons of Adam past, present, and future. When He died, Jesus paid the price of redemption for all those sins. Paul calls Jesus the second Adam because whereas Adam failed to be obedient and lost Eden, Jesus was perfectly obedient and regained the lost Paradise. Paul refers to everyone born in Adam as dead men walking because the death penalty given to Adam was passed on to his descendants. The death he is referring to is more than physical death; it is more importantly that broken, dead, fellowship with God and the rest of creation. To escape from that death, a person must resign their position in Adam and realign with a position in Christ.

That is what the Bible asks for when it requires belief in Christ for salvation. The Greek word for belief can also be translated trust. When we trust Jesus, we are putting our trust in Him to deliver us from the death we inherited from Adam. The “everlasting life” promised to believers is the life Adam forfeited when he rebelled against God. When the last of God’s chosen people come to faith in Christ, God will finish His redemptive work, and the perfect world Adam left behind will be recreated as the “new earth” promised in Revelation. After the final judgment of all people, the faithful from all ages will enjoy the restored fellowship Adam lost in the Fall. Earth will once again be God’s Garden, and believers will spend eternity in His presence there.

When you look at salvation this way, it becomes clear why it is not one’s behavior that determines their destiny; it is all about belief/trust in Christ. There are many “good” people who will not find favor with God because they have rejected the only One who can deliver them from death, regardless of whatever good they might do. The Scripture plainly asserts that no one can be good enough to merit God’s favor. This is why salvation is called a gift of God’s unmerited favor or grace. Having said that, I must add that true belief in Christ will spark a desire to please Him which will lead to obedience to His commands. This is why James could say that a believer’s works show their faith, and faith without works is dead.

 Millions of people, many of them calling themselves Christians, believe that their good deeds will earn God’s favor. That is not what the Bible teaches. The entirety of Scripture, cover to cover details God’s plan to bring His chosen people back into fellowship with Him – the fellowship He desired in the Garden of Eden. This is why true Christianity is not about religion: rites, rituals, and rules. True Christianity is about relationship – relationship with the Sovereign Creator God. The worst result of the Fall is the loss of that relationship. The good news (aka the gospel) is that restoration of that relationship is available through Jesus Christ. And the result of the relationship with Christ is the opportunity to spend eternity in God’s presence like He intended in the Garden.

Related Posts: The Knowledge of Good and Evil; Second Exodus; Necessary Obedience

Selling Heaven on Earth

At the risk of beating a dead horse and losing my readers, I am going to take one more stab at explaining what I believe the Bible says about Heaven. Several years ago, I shared my surprise with my readers that Heaven is nowhere clearly portrayed as the place believers go when they die. (See Why Heaven Matters) The idea was introduced to me by N.T. Wright, a respected Bible scholar, in his book, Surprised By Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church. His premise is based on a broad view of God’s entire plan for His people from Genesis to Revelation. Wright proposes that God never intended to bring His people to Heaven when they die; rather, His plan is to redeem all creation and repopulate it with all those who choose to trust Him during their life on earth. God wants to restore Eden.

Wright supports this idea by suggesting that our present concept of Heaven as a place to go when we die arose during medieval times. This picture has endured, and the real meaning of the word heaven has been lost to most Christians. Jesus and His disciples understood the kingdom of heaven He proclaimed to be an aspect of rulership or dominion, not a specific place. This might be most clearly revealed in Jesus’ statement, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (KJV). He used “kingdom of heaven” and “kingdom of God” interchangeably. God rules heaven (and earth), so heaven is where God rules.

We don’t get much help from the Old Testament defining heaven. The ancients imagined a three-tiered existence. The first “heaven” was what we might call the atmosphere. The second was outer space. The third heaven was the dwelling place of God; it surrounded and encapsulated all creation. Most often, the OT saints spoke of Sheol as the place of the dead. It sometimes appears as the grave itself and other times as the abode of the spirits of those who had passed on. Occasionally, people spoke of being raised from Sheol at some point, but their final destination was not thought of as heaven.

About three hundred years before Christ, the Jews began to mix ideas from their ancestor’s time in Babylon and the Greek philosophers’ teachings about the afterlife. Putting Zoroaster and Aristotle together, they began to imagine an afterlife in an otherworldly place ruled by Yahweh God. By the time Jesus came to earth, the majority party of the Pharisees were convinced that the righteous would be welcomed by God into His dwelling place after their resurrection from the dead. (The Sadducees didn’t believe in a resurrection after death.)

Jesus played into this thinking with many of His parables and teachings. He often spoke of a king coming from a far country to reward His servants. People were praised for setting aside wealth for a future kingdom. He talked about the bosom of Abraham as an afterlife abode. These were familiar concepts He used to make His point. When He told His disciples He was leaving, He couched His explanation in terms they would understand: “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places; but if not, I would have told you, because I am going away to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.”

Although Jesus indicated that He would be going elsewhere, He did not specifically say heaven. The Greek in verse two could be translated (loosely), “There is plenty of room for everyone where my Father is.” In verse four He added, “And you know the way.” They did know the way; they just hadn’t figured out what it meant that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life as He said in His answer to Thomas’ next question in verse six. He meant that the way to have eternal life is to be found in Jesus. It’s not about looking for an escape from Earth and its troubles: it’s about being in Christ. Wherever Jesus Christ is, it is “heaven.”

In the “Lord’s Prayer,” Jesus recommended praying that the Heavenly Father’s will be done, “on earth as it is in heaven.” Once God’s will is perfectly done on earth, it will be “heaven.” I believe as N.T. Wright suggested that it is God’s will that His original plan in Eden be reinstated. The prophetic promise of a “new earth” found in Revelation uses a word for “new” that is specific. It means an earth of a new kind, not new as in later in time. The “newness” of the new earth is that it is a place where righteousness dwells. Because only those who are in Christ can dwell there, it will be a place of righteousness. That would be “heavenly.”

It is hard for me to stop thinking of “heaven” as a place of future hope. But I am convinced it is not a “place” with golden streets and pearly gates. Those are metaphors God used to speak into the mindset of the people at that time. Golden streets and pearly gates just sound weird to me. However, a recreated Earth where everything works as God intended sounds wonderful to me. I plan to keep thinking of a “heavenly place” as my eternal dwelling, but when I say heavenly, I mean Earth perfected with all the graces of Heaven. God’s graces. Heaven on Earth!

If you are still reading, I will now explain why I am pounding this issue. I think that there is an opportunity for evangelism in refining our explanation of what happens after you die. I have heard many Christians say they are unsure how they feel about “heaven” if it means floating on a cloud playing a harp for eternity. How do you make that attractive to an unbeliever? The same goes for streets of gold and pearly gates. Can you honestly sell streets paved in transparent gold (?) and city gates made of one gigantic pearl? (Imagine the size of the oyster !?!) However, if in fact, “heaven” is a recreated Earth where everything works like it was intended in the beginning (Genesis 1-2), the afterlife becomes very attractive.

God created humans to live on His Earth, not in His Heaven. (Read Genesis 1-2) I believe that after the resurrection and judgement, Heaven and Earth will be reunited. That is what God intended in the first place. Adam screwed that up; Jesus fixed it. That is our message. Life on earth kinda sucks now, but if you get on Jesus’ side, you get help for the present and hope for the future. That is a message we can sell.

Related Posts: Why Heaven Matters; Is Heaven a Wonderful Place? Heaven is NOT my Eternal Home