Part two of two: Man Said

We last left Adam and Eve just outside the entrance to the Garden of Eden and away from God’s presence, with quite an adventure to look to, namely, a vast and lonely world to populate and to build, whether they wanted to go. . .or not. We also left them with a question hanging in the air, “Why did God wait 4000 years to send Christ to deal with the problem?”

This one question brought a few other questions to light as well. Like, why didn’t He just give man’s authority and control back [1]? Why didn’t He send Christ to Earth many years earlier and relieve some of the suffering of mankind, all because of Adam’s disobedience? Why does one man have to suffer and pay for another man’s sin?

One man paying for another man’s sin doesn’t seem fair until you learn about God’s plan of incarnation, redemption, and salvation. God could only accomplish this through repentance of sin, his acceptance of Christ, and rebirth. However, this is why man was born with two feet, one step at a time.

For God to send Christ to return mankind’s authority and control, He had to come to Earth as a flesh and blood man. Remember that God gave dominion to man [2]. Because of that dominion, man also had free will [3]. So God’s word and covenant were set. Christ was to come as man to have His free will, albeit, a divine incarnation and intervention.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. [John 1:14 KJV]

So. . .let’s get back to our question. Why did God wait 4000 years to send Christ? In a nut shell, Words are Creative and Powerful. God created man with His spoken words and in His image. God needed to create Christ with His spoken words like He did with man. Since God gave dominion to man and He wouldn’t go back on His word, which He places above His name, God wouldn’t come down and violate His oath (covenant) with man. God had to abide with what He told Adam, “. . .Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion. . . [4]”

Since all men were corrupt [5], man could not get back mankind’s authority and control. (If he could have, he’d of done it a long time ago and we wouldn’t need Jesus.) Therefore, Christ had to become flesh and come to Earth to get man’s authority and control back. How would He do that without interfering with man’s free will?

Now here’s the tricky part of God’s plan. Mary had to conceive Christ naturally for Him to become a man, which meant that God needed to plant a seed, not man, lest Christ receive the sin nature as well.

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. [1 Peter 1:23 KJV]

God didn’t wait 4000 years to send Christ, it took man 4000 years to speak through prophetic utterances to create the words (from God) to bring Christ into the world. It took literally hundreds of prophecies to speak the words for Christ’s incarnation. God had to plan and execute many aspects to bring His plan to fruition.

When would He be born? Where would He be born? How would He be born, esp in keeping with God’s Word and holiness. Why would He die and when? How would He die esp according to prophecy? What would be His mission? How would He. . .? Yes, it took many aspects, prophecies, and words to bring Christ to us. All of this was contingent on one thing. . . conception.

Christ did NOT come into the world through conjugation but by the Word of God through a virgin birth. John 1:14 says that the Word became flesh. John 6:63 says that . . .the Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. James 1:21b says, . . .and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. Mary received the Word of God from Gabriel with meekness and conceived Christ by the implanted Word of God [6] from all the prophets of old given to them by God.

There you have it, the reason that it took 4000 years for Jesus to come and dwell among us. God’s plan of redemption is ALLOT more involved than this but this should give you a great start to study about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and His time here on Earth.

God bless each and every one of you. I’ll see you in a couple of weeks.

__________________________________
[1] Because of Psalms 89:34 and Psalms 138:2
[2] Genesis 1:26, 28
[3] Deuteronomy 30:19
[4] Genesis 1:28 KJV
[5] Jeremiah 17:9
[6] Matthew 1:20-23; Luke 1:26-31