The Repair Plan
Once again AR has asked some excellent questions,
following my last post, "After the Fall,
What?"
"But Christianity specifically does say that there was once a world with no evil, and also that in the future that there will be such a world. So God will eliminate evil in a future world, and will do so without eliminating humans. Why has he not done so already?
[Quoting an earlier post of mine] "'If God intends to eliminate evil in the world, he has to do something about me.'
"He could forgive you your past sins (though I am also told that Jesus has already taken on their burden) and prevent you from committing any more.
[Quoting that post again] "'What if he gives persons a choice as to whether they'll participate or not?'
"Doesn't he also punish those who don't participate with eternal suffering?
"But Christianity specifically does say that there was once a world with no evil, and also that in the future that there will be such a world. So God will eliminate evil in a future world, and will do so without eliminating humans. Why has he not done so already?
[Quoting an earlier post of mine] "'If God intends to eliminate evil in the world, he has to do something about me.'
"He could forgive you your past sins (though I am also told that Jesus has already taken on their burden) and prevent you from committing any more.
[Quoting that post again] "'What if he gives persons a choice as to whether they'll participate or not?'
"Doesn't he also punish those who don't participate with eternal suffering?
(There was one more question in AR's set that needs
to be treated separately. I have to put it off for a time in order to do justice
to the first ones.)
Why hasn't God already taken care of evil and suffering? Because of his patience. As I wrote last time, the quick answer would be to eliminate it, but he would have to take every one of us out to do that. We're all much more part of the problem than of the solution. When the first humans rebelled against God, death resulted. Evil multiplied very quickly. God did take the course of eliminating evil once, in the flood, when only one family was spared.* The rest perished, all together at once, in the single most decisive act against evil ever taken in history, save one (I'll get there soon). Is that the kind of solution we're looking for these days?
In fact, it didn't solve the problem for long. There are hints in Scripture that the pre-flood evil was even greater than what we see today, so we can't say that God tried a failed experiment in the flood. He very explicitly knew, in fact, that evil would return, because Noah and his family were of the same marred race that had been there from the start.
What follows through the rest of the Old Testament is a progress of revelation. In the Abraham account (Genesis 12 and following) we see God revealing himself as a personal God, a covenant maker, who made an entry point for his knowledge in the world, through the descendants of his promise to Abraham. The nation Israel spent hundreds of years in Egypt, developing a national identity, before being rescued. During that rescue, the Exodus, they saw God acting as a deliverer and provider, and they were taught his moral character through the Law of Moses. At that time, too, a system of animal sacrifices for sin was instituted.
The nation's record of following God was spotty at best over the next several centuries. They turned away from the true God, the God who had built and delivered them, to serve idols made of wood and stone. From this distance that looks really ignorant; but we have the advantage of centuries of learning. When God sent them into exile for their idolatry, they did indeed learn, and they came out of it as fiercely monotheistic as one could ever ask. (That there is one God was taught from the start; finally, they also believed it widely.)
That set the stage for the great turning point. The Old Testament sacrifices could never really take away sin, but only "cover it over." In reality they were a foreshadowing of the real sacrifice. Jesus Christ came at the right time, as it says, and died for the ungodly. He became the means by which our repair could be effected. He took our sins upon us, dying for them, making restitution for our errors. Romans 5 says
For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. For it is rare for anyone to die for a righteous person, though somebody might be brave enough to die for a good person. But God demonstrates his love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
That was God's true greatest stroke against evil. Through Christ there came forgiveness, and that opened the door for God not only to overlook our sins but to work within us to grow out of them, gradually, imperfectly, little by little in this life. This is the beginning of the repair: the forgiveness of sins and the possibility of a changed life.
As AR says, God could forgive our past sins (he has, for those accept it) and prevent us from committing more. That is indeed the plan, and it has been fully accomplished for those believers who are finished on earth. It is the future for every believer, and at some time to come, for the entire world. God has not brought it all to a close already, though, because of God's patience:
Don't forget this fact, dear friends: With the Lord a single day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a single day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some people understand slowness, but is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to perish, but wants everyone to come to repentance
God is waiting--he's waiting to give you a chance.
For there is yet that question about those who refuse to participate in repair. There is only one way God has provided to solve our own problems of evil, and if we decline it--if we reject Jesus Christ--our problem remains unsolved. The future for such persons is death, with no recovery. The Bible does seem to say that it involves eternal suffering.
C.S. Lewis put it something like this, in The Great Divorce.
"Ultimately there are two kinds of people in the world: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'Thy will be done.'"
If your choice or mine is to live apart from God, then God will grant us that choice for keeps. That's what hell is about. God is the source of all love, all good, all joy and friendship and gladness. Hell is where that is absent. Thy will be done. God is patiently waiting for each of us to say that to him, rather than having to hear him say it to us.
This is running long, so even though it's sketchy and incomplete I'm afraid I should leave it as it is for now. I'm sure it will raise further questions, which I look forward to seeing.
*Don't believe in the flood? Then take it as an illustration of a point, at least. We don't need to resolve that controversy in order to work through what I'm trying to say here.
Why hasn't God already taken care of evil and suffering? Because of his patience. As I wrote last time, the quick answer would be to eliminate it, but he would have to take every one of us out to do that. We're all much more part of the problem than of the solution. When the first humans rebelled against God, death resulted. Evil multiplied very quickly. God did take the course of eliminating evil once, in the flood, when only one family was spared.* The rest perished, all together at once, in the single most decisive act against evil ever taken in history, save one (I'll get there soon). Is that the kind of solution we're looking for these days?
In fact, it didn't solve the problem for long. There are hints in Scripture that the pre-flood evil was even greater than what we see today, so we can't say that God tried a failed experiment in the flood. He very explicitly knew, in fact, that evil would return, because Noah and his family were of the same marred race that had been there from the start.
What follows through the rest of the Old Testament is a progress of revelation. In the Abraham account (Genesis 12 and following) we see God revealing himself as a personal God, a covenant maker, who made an entry point for his knowledge in the world, through the descendants of his promise to Abraham. The nation Israel spent hundreds of years in Egypt, developing a national identity, before being rescued. During that rescue, the Exodus, they saw God acting as a deliverer and provider, and they were taught his moral character through the Law of Moses. At that time, too, a system of animal sacrifices for sin was instituted.
The nation's record of following God was spotty at best over the next several centuries. They turned away from the true God, the God who had built and delivered them, to serve idols made of wood and stone. From this distance that looks really ignorant; but we have the advantage of centuries of learning. When God sent them into exile for their idolatry, they did indeed learn, and they came out of it as fiercely monotheistic as one could ever ask. (That there is one God was taught from the start; finally, they also believed it widely.)
That set the stage for the great turning point. The Old Testament sacrifices could never really take away sin, but only "cover it over." In reality they were a foreshadowing of the real sacrifice. Jesus Christ came at the right time, as it says, and died for the ungodly. He became the means by which our repair could be effected. He took our sins upon us, dying for them, making restitution for our errors. Romans 5 says
For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. For it is rare for anyone to die for a righteous person, though somebody might be brave enough to die for a good person. But God demonstrates his love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
That was God's true greatest stroke against evil. Through Christ there came forgiveness, and that opened the door for God not only to overlook our sins but to work within us to grow out of them, gradually, imperfectly, little by little in this life. This is the beginning of the repair: the forgiveness of sins and the possibility of a changed life.
As AR says, God could forgive our past sins (he has, for those accept it) and prevent us from committing more. That is indeed the plan, and it has been fully accomplished for those believers who are finished on earth. It is the future for every believer, and at some time to come, for the entire world. God has not brought it all to a close already, though, because of God's patience:
Don't forget this fact, dear friends: With the Lord a single day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a single day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some people understand slowness, but is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to perish, but wants everyone to come to repentance
God is waiting--he's waiting to give you a chance.
For there is yet that question about those who refuse to participate in repair. There is only one way God has provided to solve our own problems of evil, and if we decline it--if we reject Jesus Christ--our problem remains unsolved. The future for such persons is death, with no recovery. The Bible does seem to say that it involves eternal suffering.
C.S. Lewis put it something like this, in The Great Divorce.
"Ultimately there are two kinds of people in the world: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, 'Thy will be done.'"
If your choice or mine is to live apart from God, then God will grant us that choice for keeps. That's what hell is about. God is the source of all love, all good, all joy and friendship and gladness. Hell is where that is absent. Thy will be done. God is patiently waiting for each of us to say that to him, rather than having to hear him say it to us.
This is running long, so even though it's sketchy and incomplete I'm afraid I should leave it as it is for now. I'm sure it will raise further questions, which I look forward to seeing.
*Don't believe in the flood? Then take it as an illustration of a point, at least. We don't need to resolve that controversy in order to work through what I'm trying to say here.
Third in a Series
3. The Repair Plan
Posted: Mon - May 15, 2006 at 12:00 PM |
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Published On: Dec 06, 2007 01:04 PM
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