God's Story Of The World

Have you ever felt the pain of losing someone close to you, shame after doing something you regret, or anger after hearing about another child abused? Death, shame, injustice- in all these things something in us seems to cry out, “this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be…” Like a fish out of water, something feels out of place when we both do evil and experience it against us. However, if a fish feels out of place when it’s on dry land, there’s such a place called the sea where it will feel at home again. So also when we feel out of place in a world of evil around us, could it be that we too were made for another kind of world – one where death, evil and shame don’t exist? The Bible says our world used to be this way, and these longings in us are echoes of the home we come from and were made for. Just as a tree needs sunlight, not darkness in order to survive, so we were designed not for evil but for God in order to flourish. These 4 trees tell God’s story of the world according to the Bible – that is, the perfect world we came from, how this world was broken by evil and what God has done to bring it back.

The Tree of Life – Creation

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” -Genesis 1:31

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and everything that God made was very good. When God made humans, however, unlike the animals he created them in his own image to reflect and imitate him in a unique way. Similar to himself, God gave humans artistic abilities to build and create, he gave them a unique authority to rule over all his creation and take care of it just as he cares for the universe. Last of all, and fundamental to God’s nature is that God is love (1 John 4:8); thus, God gave humans a deep capacity to love as he does, in intimate relationship with himself and with each other.

The Bible says the first people God made were Adam and Eve whom he placed in a beautiful garden called Eden to work and care for it. In this garden there was perfect harmony between everything God made- something the Bible calls “shalom”. This shalom is the natural overflow of God’s harmonious nature, resulting in our perfect relationship with each other, with God and with creation. The Bible describes Adam and Eve as being “naked and unashamed”, meaning they were both totally vulnerable and yet completely loved and accepted by God and each other. Shame and evil were totally unknown to Adam and Eve because up to that time they had known nothing other than God’s love as they walked with him in his presence. Everything was as it’s supposed to be.

In the midst of this garden, however, was a special tree called the Tree of Life, and by eating its fruit God would enable Adam and Eve to live forever. God told Adam and Eve they were free to eat of any tree in the Garden, all except for one; that is, the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He warned them that the day they ate of this particular tree, they would surely die.

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – The Fall

“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked” -Genesis 3:7

The fruit of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil promised a new kind of knowledge apart from God and apart from his design for mankind. Allured by its beauty and the desire for this knowledge, Adam and Eve ate the fruit from this tree, casting off God’s reign from their lives. At that very moment, the Bible says “their eyes were opened and they knew that they were naked”, meaning they experienced shame for the very first time. Immediately they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves and tried to hide themselves from God. That day, Adam and Eve gained a new kind of knowledge, but not the kind they hoped for. This knowledge of evil brought shame and strife between all living things, as Adam and Eve instantly started blaming each other and God for what happened. Adam and Eve didn’t physically die that day, but spiritually something else died inside. They were banished from the Garden and cut off from God, the source of life. Slowly but surely the curse of sin began working itself out in their lives, ultimately leading to physical death for themselves and all mankind.

The fact is that some knowledge is not worth knowing… Knowledge of evil, just like the knowledge of drugs is one such knowledge. Before taking the first shot of heroin a person can live completely content without it, but as soon as they experience this new knowledge they become a slave to the drug- they can’t live without it. Often an addict will both crave the drug and hate it at the same time because they know it’s slowly destroying their body; so it is with sin. Its fruit tastes good in the moment, but after swallowing, it leaves you feeling emptier than before with no place to go but to run back for more. Sin is the never-ending quest to fill the emptiness within us and return to God’s “shalom” apart from God. Just as a starving person might steal bread from others to fill their own hungry stomach, so also apart from God we rob dignity from others to make ourselves feel valuable again. Sin leads us to mistreat others and act selfishly toward them in order to fill our own spiritual hunger for meaning and lasting joy. This way of evil, however, is completely contrary to God’s others-focused self-giving nature, as well as to the nature God created us with. When we follow the way of evil we tarnish the image of God in us; like spitting on a picture of your father, so it’s like spitting on a picture of God when we use the gift he’s given us for evil rather than for good. However, our bodies were not made for evil but for God. Only when connected to God our spiritual longings are fully satisfied. Just as a person with a full-stomach is likely to share their bread with others rather than steal, so it is with anyone filled with the life of God. You no longer need to steal in order to be filled; rather, you freely give and love out of the fullness of God’s life within you. This was life before sin entered the world.

Knowledge of evil, however, stripped us of this fullness leaving us spiritual empty and full of shame. And just like Adam and Eve, people strive to cover their “nakedness” and feel valuable again through all forms of pride, religion and self-righteousness. Similarly, people often cover their shame by denying the evil that they do, justifying it, blaming others, or simply trying to ignore it. We may be able to fool others when we cover our shame, but we can’t fool God. He sees into our hearts.

Nevertheless, at the end of this story we see a glimmer of hope as God looks down on Adam and Eve with compassion. After they attempt to make clothes for themselves with fig leaves, God, himself, intervenes and makes better clothes for them; clothing them with the skins of an animal (Genesis 3:21). Just as God clothed Adam and Eve at the beginning, so we see later in the Bible’s story that the only clothing good enough to cover our shame are the clothes that God provides.

The Tree of the Cross – Redemption

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” -Romans 6:23

Throughout the Bible’s story mankind turns their back on God, but God never gives up on mankind. Through one man, Abraham, God created the nation of Israel to be a light to the nations, and gave them his law to show people the way back to God. The heart of God’s law was summed up in this: “To love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” and “to love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37) Genuine love for God and for others is the first step in restoring us back to the way we were made to be. However, nobody has ever been able to fully keep this law, as sin leads us to love other things more than God and people; thus, evil has continued on in the world. While God sent many prophets to Israel to teach them the way of God, this ultimately couldn’t save people from their root problem – that is, indwelling sin in their hearts. Consequently, throughout the Bible God continually promised a Messiah, an ultimate Deliverer, who would save people from their sins (Isaiah 53) and restore this world once and for all. But to accomplish this big of a task, this would need to be more than a prophet and more than a man, namely God, himself (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Many years later, around 4 B.C., God fulfilled his promise and sent Jesus Christ to this world. Being the Son of God, he had the authority of God to forgive people of their sins (Luke 5:24) as well as to give life and raise the dead (John 5:21). Furthermore, being fully man, he was able to bear the punishment of people’s sin upon himself before God (Hebrews 2:17), thus, becoming the perfect bridge to reconcile man with God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

It’s hard to imagine a powerful king allowing an evil-doing criminal to feast in his palace; how much more the King of the universe? If, however, the king’s own son were to befriend, forgive and accept this criminal, this king might accept the criminal into his home out of love for his son. So in the same way with us, God gave his own Son, Jesus, so that whoever believes in him would be accepted by God, not because of any good thing he does, but out of God’s own love for his son (John 3:16). Thus, through relationship with Jesus we can be restored to a relationship with God.

After living the perfect life in obedience to God, healing the sick and teaching God’s way of love, Jesus was rejected by the religious authorities, beaten, whipped and nailed to a cross to die. Just like Adam in the garden, mankind by rejecting Jesus, rejected God once again. However this time, God took the ugliness of man’s sin that brought the death of his Son and turned it into the perfect sacrifice that brought life to the world, forgiveness of sins and the power to do away with sin in our hearts once and for all. While hanging on the cross, Jesus cried out several things that demonstrated the work his death accomplished for us on the cross:

“Father forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34) – As he hung on the cross, Jesus looked upon the men who nailed him there and prayed for God to forgive them… When the Bible says that God is love, it doesn’t simply mean the warm feelings you feel toward a sincere friend or family member. God’s love is the kind that has compassion on his enemies, that loves the unlovable and forgives those who spit in his face. Our love has limits but God’s love knows no bounds against the evil done against him, going so far as to send his own son to die on a cross for his enemies so that his enemies might become his family. In the same way, even now, God offers forgiveness to anyone who puts their faith in Jesus, so that they can turn from being enemies of God to his beloved children.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46) – Probably the most difficult moment for Jesus at the cross was not feeling the nails driven through his hands, but feeling the rejection of his Father, as the curse of our sin was put onto him. The rejection Adam experienced from God after he sinned in the garden was now directed wholly at Jesus, so that Adam and the rest of mankind who believe could be accepted by God once again. At the cross Jesus was forsaken by God in our place so that we could have Jesus’ intimate relationship with God; in such a way that God would love us just as he loves his own Son (John 17:23).

“Today, you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43) – In his last hours, a thief hanging on a cross next to Jesus put his faith in him crying out, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus responded to the man saying, “today you will be with me in paradise.” Jesus promised this man, eternal life. But remember who this man was- not a good man, but a convicted thief being judged for his sinful life. Jesus promised this man forgiveness and eternal life not to because he was a good person, but because he trusted in who Jesus was. Like the thief on the cross, we will all eventually die and be judged for our sins, but even now, Jesus promises eternal life to all who call on his name- even to the worst of sinners. Jesus didn’t come to save good people who are already good enough for Heaven. He came to save bad people who have no chance of Heaven, and as savior of the world he is able to bear their punishment and make forgiveness for their sin.

Just like Adam and Eve in the Garden, we often try to make clothes for ourselves to cover our shame. We attempt to cover our sin by doing good works, fasting, praying, giving alms, etc, but none of these pitiful “clothes” can cover our shame before God; only the beautiful work of Jesus. Just as God clothed Adam and Eve in the Garden, so at the cross God clothed our sinful nakedness in the righteousness of his Son.

The New Tree of Life – Restoration

“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new!” -Revelation 21:4-5

Just as spiritual and physical death came to all mankind through Adam, so now eternal life has come to us through Jesus Christ. After dying on the cross, three days later Jesus rose from the dead defeating the power of death for all who believe in him. Those who put their faith in Jesus are now intimately connected to his resurrection, for Jesus says, “because I live, you also will live” (John 14:19). Furthermore, those in Christ no longer need fear death for Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (John 11:25-26)

When Jesus speaks about eternal life, he’s not simply talking about physically living forever; after all, living forever under the curse of sin is no life at all, but eternal misery. The Bible’s understanding of eternal life is much deeper. Jesus defines it this way: “Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life begins with a restored relationship with God, the source of life; and this eternal life, like an indestructible seed planted by God inside you, begins to grow and transform every aspect of your life to live in God’s image again. After physical death, though your body may die because of sin, this seed of life inside you, producing the fully restored you, continues on into Heaven with God.

This miraculous work of God to restore his image within us happens through the gift of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised to send to be with us forever (John 14:16). The Holy Spirit is God’s very own Spirit that gives us new life (Romans 8:11), unites us to God (Romans 8:16), helps us defeat sin (Romans 8:13), and dwells within those who believe to change their hearts into the image of Jesus, following in his way of self-giving love (Romans 8:29). Just as forgiveness and life were restored to us at the cross through Jesus, so now shalom is being restored to this broken world through the Holy Spirit transforming lives one heart at a time.

Some of the very first believers in Jesus were so transformed by the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives that when a needy person was found among them, they sold their lands and houses just to care for them (Acts 4:32-35), thus following in the way of Jesus who became poor so that we could become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). When a person truly knows God’s love, it leads them to do radical acts of love just as God does.

While this world is still broken due to sin, there will come a day when God will judge the world in righteousness and restore complete shalom once and for all. Those who love sin and living a life apart from God will be handed over to the ultimate fruit of their desires- that is, eternal separation from God’s presence and consequently his blessings we enjoy on earth. This ultimately ends in self destruction by their own sin (Revelation 20:11-15). However, those who admit their sin, turn from it and receive God’s gift of eternal life through Jesus’ blood shed for us- these will receive the fruit of Jesus’ work; that is eternal life through Jesus’ indestructible life imparted to us (John 3:16-21). They will be restored back to the shalom of the Garden of Eden, but this time to a new and better garden in the new Heavens and new Earth (Revelation 21:1). In Heaven the Bible says there will be a new tree of life “whose leaves are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2), and where all wrongs will finally be made right. A new world will come where evil, death and shame will be no more; and just as in the first garden, God will dwell with his people face to face in intimate relationship with them forever. This free gift of God is available to all who turn from their sins and put their faith in Jesus for eternal life. Even now, Jesus calls and says, “Come! Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life” (Revelation 22:17).