Before or shortly after God created man Satan rebelled against God. This rebellion spread from heaven to the earth. Through a serpent Satan convinced Adam and Eve God was not being truthful when He forbid them to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. This rebellion did not surprise God. It happened exactly as He had foreknown. The question that has been asked is, "How could man rebel against God’s absolute authority?
When God created man, He gave man the ability to make decisions. He was given the ability to submit to the authority of God or rebel against God’s authority. The ability to submit to God’s authority is meaningless if there is not the ability to say no. Adam and Eve said no. This ability to say no is taken away from man when it is suggested it was God’s will Adam and Eve rebel against Him. If this is true then we do not have the ability to say yes. Our decisions have been made for us and there is no changing them. If it is not
God’s will Adam and Eve rebel against Him then He permitted the rebellion to happen. By permitting the rebellion to happen it became possible for the rebel to change his course of action.
The revolt against God by Adam and Eve seems like a small act of disobedience. While it may appear as a small act of disobedience the consequences of the act was no small thing. It was the source of the murder of Abel by his brother Cain. It spread throughoutthe world like a wildfire until it came to the point where God saw “every imagination of the thoughts of man was only evil continually. God said He will destroy all flesh. How could God be just if He destroyed all flesh (mankind) for doing something He willed man to do?
Could God just forgive man and forget the rebellion? There are several reasons why God couldn’t do this. If He just forgave man and let him continue in the lifestyle he was in God would go back on His word. God said death was the penalty for disobedience. This
involves more than physical death. It involves eternal separation from God. Someone had to pay the penalty.
If God set the penalty aside it would undermine His integrity, this would make everything God says and does questionable. No matter how much God loves man and desires to forgive him, His love could not nullify the penalty. Justice must be served.
Why did God create living beings whom He knew would rebel against Him and be doomed to eternal punishment? Why couldn’t God, being all-powerful keep Adam and Eve and their descendants from disobeying Him? Atheists claim “If God is too weak to stop evil and suffering, then He isn’t God. If He is powerful enough to stop evil and suffering and doesn’t do it He is a monster and the evil and suffering in the world proves
God doesn’t existence.”
Lets put this claim up against everyday experiences. God has given us the intelligence to come to our own conclusions. We have the ability to make choices. What are we told in these two facts? Without the intelli-gence to come to our conclusions and the ability to
make decisions we could not love God or one another. It is not God or even Satan who causes evil and suffering in the world. It is the conclusions we come to and the decisions we make. For God to override our conclusions and decisions He must turn us into robots
programmed to live meaningless lives in a meaningless world. This would not bring glory to God and we could not glorify Him. We could not voluntarily worship,love or obey God.
If God forced us to bring glory to Him, glorify Him, worship, love, and obey Him the choice would not be ours, it would be His. It is God’s will we bring glory to Him, we glorify Him, worship, love, and obey Him. But He does not force us to do His will, He persuades us in love and mercy. Love is not motivated by force or fear. True worship is not motivated by force or fear. True love is not motivated by force or fear. Obedience is not motivated by force or fear. The
motivation behind these is God’s love and mercy.
Merely forgiving Adam and Eve for their rebellion would not have solved the basic problem. Giving them a new start in life would have made no difference. The rebellion would occur over and over as often as God forgave. Creating another Adam and Eve would only result in the same failure. The human race that existed had to be delivered from the penalty of sin. But how? God must provide a Redeemer.
In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman and under the Law. He died upon a Roman cross and paid the debt. The death sentence was car-ried out and from that day there is no need for man to provide a sin offering. God has provided the Lamb
that takes away the sin of the world. All we need to do is accept that Lamb.
