Someone asked the question, “If God knew that he was going to send his eternal Son to become human so that he could die for our sins (Hebrews 2:9) why didn’t he just do it from the start?
Actually, from the start God did supply everything we need for life and godliness. First of all, God created us in His image to be like Him. “Then God said, let us make man in our image to be like us.” (Genesis 1:26)
Then, in the middle of the garden God placed the Tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:9)
And God warned Adam “You may freely eat the FRUIT OF EVERY TREE in the garden – except thee tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
God offered Adam the Tree of Life in the middle of the garden. He was free to choose to eat of it. But instead, believing the devil’s lie, he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which caused sin to enter into him and his spirit died as a result. (Genesis 3:4-7) And (Ephesians 2:1) “You were dead in your transgressions and sins.”
It is interesting the lie was they wouldn’t die and that they would be like God if they did what the devil said (even though they were already together as one, created to be like God).
God was now faced with a dilemma. Man, created in the image of God to be like God was now corrupted by the devil and bearing his image of sin and death. God could not allow this corrupted image to live forever. So access to the tree of life was blocked from man.
And God continued on with his eternal purpose – to have his image in man despite seemingly insurmountable circumstances.
He chooses Noah and works through his obedience to save a remnant of mankind. He chooses Abraham, who believed God is faithful and would perform what he promised. He chose Isaac. He chose Jacob who wrestled with God and overcame.
And finally, he chose the people of Israel and called them out of slavery to be his peculiar people on the earth. He chose Israel to receive his testimony and bear his image by representing God on earth, keeping his commandments, the testimony of who God is.
But as a whole, Israel failed. And God speaks through the prophet, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)
Because all along God knows the end from the beginning, as Peter tells us, “A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. (2Peter 3:8)
So the stage is set for the miracle of miracles. God has set his sights on a young woman and her fiancé, to deliver his Son into this world and raise him according to His standards.
And in John 15:1 Jesus calls himself “the true vine”. And we hear echoes from the garden in his words, “The Tree of Life is in the midst of the garden.”
And Jesus also says, “Very truly I tell you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” (John 6:53) Again, echoes from Genesis to freely eat of every tree in the garden, including the Tree of Life.
And for anyone repulsed by the physical aspect of his words, Jesus says, “The Spirit is the one who gives life! Human strength can do nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are from that Life-giving Spirit.” John 6:63
Eating and drinking Jesus Christ is receiving his words, believing his words, acting on and speaking his words. For Jesus Christ IS the word of God. (John 1:1)
In 2 Peter 1:3-11 We are encouraged to grow in the faith God has given us:
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.
The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.
So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let us encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near! (See Hebrews 10:24-25)