Posts by John

Genesis Two portrays the kingdom of God in its original harmony. God creates man in his own image and places him in His kingdom, a garden-temple, in which Adam offers priestly service to God by extending the garden-temple throughout creation through order and beauty and dominion in the worship of God. God graciously gives Adam a wife with whom he partners in his priestly duties of extending the kingdom of God. All is in harmony, God with man, man with the world, and man with woman.

There is only one restriction in the Garden/temple – ‘to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” God lovingly protected humanity from the experiential knowledge of evil. The only way to know evil experientially was to do evil by rebelling against God and eating of the forbidden tree. Adam knew that good and evil existed because of the nature of the tree. He has only experienced good up to this point and need not experience evil, unless he rebels.

Again we are reminded as we read that this harmony has been replaced with struggle. There now exists a tension in man’s relationship with God, with the world, and with other human beings. We know not only the existence of evil, we know the experience of evil, and it has ruined us.

The harmonious world that once was is broken and cries out for a redeemer – One who can defeat the evil that disrupts the harmony of God’s creation, a redeemer who can restore humankind to the priestly work of extending order and beauty and dominion in the worship of God.

Perhaps nowhere is this loss of harmony seen more clearly than in the city. The brokenness of man’s relationship with the world is seen vividly in the plague of poverty, blighted, trash ridden neighborhoods, polluted rivers and streams, poor air quality, diminishing open space, etc. Also, the brokenness of human relationships is seen in the prevalence of divorce, single parent homes, homelessness, economic oppression, racism, and violence. But, most evident is the spirit of rebellion against God. Like Adam city-dwellers often choose the experience of evil rather than worshipful obedience to the Creator God. Rather than do the priestly work of serving and worshiping God, through extending the beauty and order of the Kingdom of God, we choose rather to idolize the created world or rape it for our own selfish purposes.

In Genesis One we find our Redeemer-King creating and forming a world to be inhabited and ruled by those made in His image. Creation was a gracious blessing and generous gift to humankind. All was perfect; all was glorious.  But, as we read Genesis one, we realize that the harmonious world conditions therein no longer exist. Our hearts are not in unison with God’s repeated summary, “all is good.” Instead our hearts cry out because of the brokenness within our lives and within the created world. 

Though Genesis One provides for us the origin of God’s World, it does not do so in order to generate scientific debate but to provoke spiritual desire. Genesis One exposes us to the good that once was and creates in us a desire to regain what was lost and to know the One who brought such a majestic universe into existence. The subsequent biblical and secular history of humankind, as well as our own personal history, reveals the utter powerlessness of men and women to regain what has been lost. Consequently, we long for a Redeemer-King who can rescue, rule, and restore. Ultimately He is the one who says, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev 21:5).

So Genesis One is an integral part of the gospel story, telling us that the world, as it is, is not what God intended, and causing us to anticipate One who would restore the world and us to an even greater enjoyment of God’s gracious gift and generous blessing.

T he urban centers of this world can no longer be called ‘good.’ There is no Eden in Philadelphia, Yet living with an awareness of the good that has been lost, city-dwellers seek to find Eden or build it themselves. Their efforts are noble but futile. This is not our world. It is still His. He is the Creator and He alone is wise and powerful enough to restore what is lost and repair what we have broken.  God chooses to begin that restoration in the hearts and lives of those who have rebelled against Him. This is the first step back —  to recognize that this is His world, we have ruined it and are ruined ourselves, and we need to be restored to Him first. Our hearts cry for the One who can do that!