Part Two: God’s Ultimate Ethic

Adam’s disobedience in the Garden did not catch God off guard [1]. Adam’s sin separated him from God [2], and through inheritance, all of mankind [3]. Mankind needed forgiveness. For this they needed a savior.

Because of predestination [4], we all are movies God has already seen. God is sovereign [5] but He is not in control, because in Genesis 1:26, He gave mankind control. We learned last time how God will not go against His Word (Covenant), and even puts His Word above His name [6]. Therein lies the reason why God the Father could not bring His Son, Jesus Christ on the scene to redeem mankind from Adam’s sin. If He intervened, He would be interfering in Man’s dominion. However, why did the Father wait 4000 years to send Jesus? How could He redeem mankind without interfering with their free will? Man had to be in the center of the decision.

The whole of the Bible speaks to and is about Jesus Christ, the coming Messiah [7]. So, how would the Father accomplish this? Enter the prophets of old. The prophets were open to God’s leading and thus their free will stayed intact. Every facet of Christ’s entrance into man’s world had to be spoken by and through man. There were literally thousands of prophesies required to bring Christ to Earth via man’s free will, dominion, and decisions.

Many times, in the Bible, the Word says, “This must happen to fulfill the scriptures [8].” Sometimes, Christ gave the prophet’s name and repeated the Scripture [9]. If just one aspect of God’s plan was not spoken by the prophets, two things would have happened: Christ could not come, and mankind would die in their sin and remain unredeemed.

v56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled. [Matthew 26:56 KJV]

Therefore, the Father created His plan for mankind [10], went to the end of His plan checking for decisions [11], and went to the beginning and pushed His Start button [12].

So, to answer our question, “Why did God wait four thousand years to redeem mankind?” God loves us enough to give us free will to run His world and to run our own lives [13]. Consequently, God gave us free will and would NOT intervene in that gift whether the man was good or evil. Man had to make the decision to bring the redemption of Christ, so the prophets spoke for God thereby bringing the spoken word to fruition, and Jesus is the Word [14].

God’s ultimate ethic is love and many people blame God for all the corruption in the world and why Bad things happen to good people. Believe it or not and even sounds contradictory, but God’s love and will is at play. Therein lies the rub, bad people have the same free will. Deuteronomy 30:19 says that God gave us life and death, that we should choose life that we might live. In Jeremiah 17:9 His Word says that man’s heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. He goes on to say, who can know it?

This is due to the sin nature through Adam. But spare not. There is hope [15]. That hope is through Jesus Christ and His Salvation, but to receive His redemption, we must partner with Him using our free will given to us by God the Father. Redemption is God’s part and acceptance of Christ is our part. Our acceptance is the only path to forgiveness from the sin nature [16]. So, choose ye this day whom ye will serve [17]. To choose Christ is life [18], and to choose Satan, is death [19]. These are the only two choices mankind has. (Please don’t shoot the messenger.)
______________________________

[1] Genesis 3:6
[2] Genesis 3:22, 23
[3] 1 Corinthians 15:22; Romans 5:12
[4] Romans 8:28-30
[5] Psalms 8:3, 4; Proverbs 16:9
[6] Psalms 89:34; 138;2
[7] The Old Testament records the preparation for Christ. The Gospels record the manifestation of the Christ. The Book of Acts gives us the propagation of the message of the Christ. The New Testament letters provide the explanation of the two comings of Christ. The Book of Revelation documents the consummation of all things in Christ. Yes, the whole Bible is about Christ. (Cited from https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_204.cfm
[8] Matthew 26:54, 56; 1 Corinthians 15:3. Just three examples of many
[9] The Scripture that Christ spoke of were the manuscripts that eventually became the Old Testament.
[10] Ephesians 1:4-11
[11] 2 Corinthians 16:9
[12] Ephesians 1:11
[13] Deuteronomy 30:19
[14] John 1:1
[15] 1 Peter 3:15; Isaiah 40:30; Jeremiah 29:11; Colossians 1:27; Romans 5:5, 13; 8:24, 25, and more.
[16] 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22; Romans 5:12
[17] Matthew 6:24; Joshua 24:14, 15
[18] Colossians 3:4; John 14:6
[19] Ephesians 2:1-3