Where did you come from? The answer to this question determines to a large degree the answer to other questions such as:
Why are you here? What is your purpose?
Where are you going?
Genesis 1 begins the story of man. Here God tells us where we came from, how we, and everything else for that matter, got here. You probably know the words…
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…
What follows verse 2 tells of creation with three themes: God said, God saw, and God separated. Everything is organized according to God’s plan, even the days of the week.
God prepares an environment for life, and then he speaks living things into being. It’s beautiful! God said, God saw, and God separated. Then in verse 26 God has a conversation with himself:
Let us make man in our image and after our likeness, and let them have dominion over all other living things. Verse 27 says: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.
Do you believe this? Is this really true, or is it just a legendary mythical account from the fertile imagination of some religious story teller of the past? If it is true, and I believe it is, then you and I are more fearfully and wonderfully made than we can begin to imagine.
Where did you come from? God! But, you didn’t just come from God, you are unique among the creatures God made, you are made to be like Him! This, is what gives us our dignity. This is why it is ok to kill a cow and have hamburger, but to kill a human and have him for dinner is… not ok.
You and I are made in God’s image, after God’s likeness, made to be like God. Did you get that? Don’t yawn. Let it sink in a minute. If you came from God and are made like God, how should I treat you? How should we treat one another? Is it any wonder that the Bible also says, “If you do not love your brother whom you have seen, you cannot love God whom you have not seen.”
Adam and Eve were like God. They were blessed by God. They enjoyed the close company of God’s presence without fear or shame.
In the garden long ago, love was all there was to know. Pure innocent and free, like we were meant to be, long ago.
We came from God. We were made to be like God.
So, what is the problem?
Genesis, again, holds the answer. Chapter 3 tells the story. Everything God made was good, very good. But then things change. There was this tree and this serpent. God had put Adam and Eve in a perfect place, a garden called Eden, where they could eat from any tree except one, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God said to Adam, “Do not eat from it, because in the day you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Adam and Eve are in the garden and the serpent comes along and a strange conversation ensues. He speaks to the woman. Did God say you shall not eat from any tree in the garden? Eve actually answers him. We can eat from the trees in the garden, but God did say, “You shall not eat from the tree that is in the midst of the garden, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” Then the serpent replies, “You will not die. God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Don’t you wish Adam had jumped into action and said, “Liar, liar, pants on fire!”? But no! He just stood there and watched as Eve took the bait.
Now they have two messages, one from God and the other from the serpent. Who will they listen to? God who made them? Or this strange serpent who seems to know so much, and accuses God of lying and withholding something from them?
The serpent’s offer is that they will become like God if they eat. The truth is, they are already like God! He made them to be like him! They can’t become more like God by disobeying God! That’s twisted! Besides, if God is so bad that he lies and withholds good things from them, why do they want to be like him?
But the fruit looks good. There’s a sparkle of delight in it and Eve stops thinking about God’s warning and starts thinking about her own wanting, her desire, her yearning for this new forbidden wisdom. So she decides. She reaches out for it. Was her heart beating faster? Was there excitement of anticipation in her hands? Was she nervous? She took the fruit, ate it, and gave to Adam who was with her, and he ate. And in that moment, the human family fell into sin and separation from God. Their eyes were opened, not in God’s likeness, but in shame and nakedness, fear and sin.
Sin separates us from God. Sin distorts and destroys God’s likeness in us. Listen to what happens next. They see their nakedness and try to cover themselves. Then they hear the sound of God coming… oh no! Not God! Hide! Hide from God! Run to the trees. Get away from his presence! Why? Sin separates us from God. It makes us hide from him.
But it does even more terrible things to us. Listen. Adam and Eve run from God and hide, but God calls to them: Where are you? Adam answers, I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid myself. God replies, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I told you not to eat?
Now. Freeze frame! Here’s Adam’s chance. God’s questions are clearly for Adam’s sake. Will Adam bow, broken and repentant before God? Will he confess his sin and seek God’s forgiveness? No. What if Adam had said, “Lord, forgive me, I ate the fruit, and I didn’t protect the woman you gave me.” I have sinned! What do you suppose God would have done in that case? We will never know.
Instead, listen to Adam’s response: The woman that you gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree and I ate. God, it’s not my fault! It is her fault and by the way, you are the one who gave her to me. Adam attempts to hide behind blame. In doing so he accuses both the woman and God for his sin. Do you hear that? Do you understand what has happened? Adam doesn’t sound like God with these words. He sounds a lot more like the serpent, than God. Sin has turned him into an Accuser. That is what the word Satan means: accuser. Instead of becoming like God, they have become like Satan, God’s enemy.
We came from God, but we have a problem, don’t we. That problem originated here.
Is this true? I tell you, everything else in the Bible deals with what happened here. I tell you, that if this is not true, you might as well trash your Bible, because everyone who knew God in it, including Jesus, believed this to be true. If it is not true, we have no idea where we came from or what our problem is or what the answer is. But if it is true, and it is, God has given us the answer!
So, What is our problem? Sin. How bad is sin? We will see.
After Adam blamed Eve, God asked Eve, what have you done? And Eve blamed the serpent. What can God do? He must keep his own word, or be a liar like the serpent. God responds with appropriate judgments. He pronounces a curse on the serpent, Eve and Adam in turn. But within the curse upon the serpent, God speaks a promise of redemption. Enmity between the serpent and the woman would one day clash. The seed of woman would be bruised on the heel, but the seed of the serpent would be bruised on the head.
Where is the answer? Look at Romans 5:12, then verses 6-10
Let’s go back about 800 years before Jesus Christ came. Isaiah 53. Listen to this:
3 He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
9 And they made His grave with the wicked; But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
Where is the answer to our problems? Jesus is the answer!
Jesus, the seed of woman and the son of God. Jesus is the answer! God so loved the world that he sent Jesus. He gave him as a sacrifice for sin.
Look at the words in Isaiah that describe all that fell on Jesus! List them!
Despised, rejected, man of sorrows, esteemed nothing, smitten, stricken by God, afflicted, acquainted with grief, wounded, bruised, punished, oppressed, cut off from the land of the living… Isaiah runs out of words to describe the terrible things that came on Jesus. This is the price of sin! This is the wages it pays. Oh, the fruit looks pleasing and the flesh wants it bad. But when we sin, we drive another nail into our Lord’s hands and feet.
See him there! Behold the Lamb of God on the cross. See him crucified for you. Dying for us and because of us. Jesus, on the cross takes all our sins upon himself. The sins of the world are gathered and placed on Jesus as he struggled on that tree. Then, while on that cross, God punished Jesus for every sin you and I have committed. God poured out his wrath of judgment for all sin on Jesus there. In agony, Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me!” Jesus paid it all! All to him I owe. He is my salvation, my Savior, my Lord and my God.
Jesus died on the cross for our sins, according to the scriptures. He was buried. And on the third day, Jesus rose from the grave according to the scriptures and he appeared to witnesses who have recorded these things for us in scripture. Jesus is Lord. He has ascended to the Father and has sent the Holy Spirit to lead and guide and empower his church. And listen to me now. Jesus is coming back. Do you know what’s going to happen then? Do you know? Do you want to hear what God says?
2 Thess. 1: 6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you
7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.
8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power
10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
Can you see it? Just think about that with me. Here we are and suddenly it happens! Look up! The roof is torn away from us and there we see it! Blazing fire everywhere in the sky! The whole earth is shaking and then we see HIM! There he is! It is Jesus! Jesus, the Christ! King of kings and Lord of lords, and with him are a host of powerful angels coming, coming, coming!
How do you feel about that? Are you just a little bit nervous? I don’t know about you but that scares me. Have you ever had a dream that Jesus came back and you were not prepared? I’ve had both kinds of dreams. Some when I’m ready and some when I’m not, and even when I’m ready, it’s scary. But what will Jesus do? What does God tell us?
For those of us who are ready it will be wonderful. We will marvel at and be in complete awe of the glorious presence of Jesus in all his splendor and majestic power. We will spend eternity in his amazing presence.
But for those who are unprepared. For all who do not know God nor obey the gospel of Christ, it will be horrible beyond compare. They will finally, totally and completely be hidden from his presence forever in eternal darkness and despair. Shut out from his presence. Vanquished from his glory. The separation will finally be complete, but it will be utter destruction, ultimate condemnation.
We started tonight with the first book of the Bible. Let’s finish with the last. Revelation 21:1f
This is new heaven and new earth… and we see it!
God comes to be with us, live among us, dwell in our midst. God comes here!
Just imagine! You and I are in the presence of the Almighty Father! And then listen! Listen! Hear what happens…
Not only does God come to live with us. He comes to us and comforts us. It will be the most intimate and wonderful experience possible. God comes to you and this is what he does… he wipes away all your tears.
We came from God, we fell from God in sin, God came to us and paid for our sins, if we believe in Jesus and are united with him in his death, burial and resurrection by baptism, and are seeking his face, looking for his kingdom, walking in his ways, God will bring us home through Jesus to glory forever.
Are you ready?
