The God Effect – Chapter 13: Escape from Darkness
A good part of the last chapter was fairly grim, but it ended with a much-needed note of hope. The relationship between mankind to God was ruined a so long ago but the situation is not a dead end. If God is all that we have found Him to be, He is not one to leave us stuck in the darkness that was caused by our first parents (Adam and Eve). So, this chapter is not only going to wade into the darkness and everything it infects and ruins (what the Bible calls “sin”) but will also pull everything that we have talked about over the last 12 chapters together so that anyone who decides to follow through will know the path to the end of the tunnel, the God-given way into life in the light.
Anemic Answers, Disappointing Results
I am sure that there are all kinds of ways to explain the miseries and malfunctions that all of us live with from the first day we are born. A lot of them sound pretty good. What’s not attractive about the claim that loving yourself will radiate love to others? Or does it not sound logical that the weaknesses and disfunctions in us can be solved if we can map out the offences against us by parents, stepparents, foster parents, or guardians? Maybe it is just a matter of finding your true self.
Now, even if, for the moment, we go with one of these explanations, there are still huge stubborn problems. How did my supposed self-love get messed up? If others in my life ruined mine, how did they get in such bad shape themselves? If you believe that you don’t know who you are inside, how did you get so disconnected? The truth of the matter is that anything the world offers as an explanation never really gets to the root of the sicknesses and evil.
The Depth of the Darkness
So how bad is it? It is bad. The corruption of our bodies is probably the thing that feels the harshest to us personally and death is the worst part of that. It is a strange situation. Death is a normal part of life, but we never get used to the pain of it.
According to the book of Genesis, we were actually originally created to live forever physically. It makes perfect sense. If the Creator of life is Himself eternal, why would He not make our bodies fit for eternity in a material paradise? Clearly something went wrong and that is where sin comes in. It was at that point of the rebellion against the holy and eternal God, because of the break from Him, the creator of life, that the power of physical eternal life in us was broken.
The results didn’t end there. From the day we are born, we begin a journey toward death and along the way it is spiked with sickness, injuries, and deterioration. Before Adam and Eve’s fall, there was not even the possibility of such things. Behavior and relationships didn’t escape either. With the alienation from God, all of the problems that “The Most Basic Problem” section talked about in chapter 12 became the stuff of everyday existence on Earth. The first murder happened between two brothers not long after our first parents were evicted from paradise.
But there is something else we live with that is a little less obvious. The death that we inherited included the spiritual part of us – our souls. If the Bible is to be believed as we talked about before, it means that that brokenness includes our spiritual side. The great spiritual relationship our first parents began with was lost when they rebelled, sinned against God, and we all inherit the same condition. To put it bluntly, the spiritual relationship we could have had with God became dead. Yes, everyone still has their spiritual part which gives life to the body, but having a soul does not bridge the divide of spiritual death between man and God.
Rescue – If You Want It
Let’s get personal now. It is a heavy weight and an impossible-looking situation to think that God is out there, watching and waiting for us to figure out how to deal with our hidden struggles and corrupt heart, not to mention our outward failures and offenses. The good news is that there is a rescue, if anyone wants it. It centers on Jesus Christ. Because, according to the Bible, He was both God and man sent by the Father, He has to be the way. For now, I am going to deal with the absolutely critical results of that. A later chapter will get more in depth about Jesus Himself.
This is where, once again, God’s character (chapter 5) and His reaching out to us (chapter 8) comes into play. He works it all together (chapter 6). Because He loves perfectly, is perfectly righteous and just, and the only one with the power (chapter 4) to step in, He made the first move. Since the case has been made that the Bible is God’s communication (chapters 8 & 9), let’s use it (chapter 10).
The Bible says that there is only one mediator between us and God, Jesus Christ and that God’s love caused Him to send Jesus to pay for the sin of mankind in general and for our individual sin in particular. The shocking thing is that even Satan knows all this. There is certainly a big difference between him and us!
The difference is submission and allegiance. In other words, it is one thing to know that Jesus is the way, that His sacrifice is the payment, and that He was resurrected to finish the process (even Satan knows those facts and hates them), it is quite another thing to personally accept what He did and ask Him to take over our life.
God only asks a few things of us so that the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our offenses (sins) can give us peace with Him and an actual living relationship with Him. The crazy thing is, all anyone has to do is ask. Prayer, just talking to God, is the way to ask. The Bible says that we need to tell Jesus that we understand and accept what He did for us. We also need to ask Him for His forgiveness for our sin. Finally, we need to tell Him that we want Him to take over our life. It sounds so simple, but for a lot of people it can be hard to do if they really mean it.
Now, anyone can say words and pray, but it is important to understand that, as the Bible also says, it is only the prayer of a sincere heart that God will answer. We know that we can’t play games with God. He knows the hearts of men and, as the Bible says, judges their intentions.
Life On the Other End
There is beautiful fruit from sincerely praying to Jesus the way we have just talked about. At the moment of that prayer, there is, in our souls, what Jesus called being born again and what the book of First Corinthians says is the making of a whole new inner person, a “new creation”. Also, the book of Romans says that at the same time as that, the judgement of God over us that would have condemned us is paid for forever. Then, as new “creatures”, the Holy Spirit starts helping with the power to fight and win over sin.
But the blessings are not done. The promise of God through Scripture is a life after our physical death that will last for all eternity. Our Heavenly home will be in the very presence of God with no more “tears, death, crying, or pain!