Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Redemption's Ratio

There's a lot to unpack before we celebrate the Lord's resurrection this coming Sunday. I'll only hit a few highlights, so if, by blog's end, your interest is piqued you can dive deeper into these ideas in What If The Cross Changed Everything?

The principles that were to be found at the Tree of Life were kicked to the curb when the unfortunate choice established the course for all humanity.  The planet's inhabitants would govern and be governed by the principles found at the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Principles that came to be known as the law of sin and death. And God's pre-ordained plan began to take root.

We're going to explore answers to a few questions the next couple of days. 

How could God:
   1.  Re-insert Himself into the creation He had commissioned with authority and dominion in the Earth?
  2.   Secure the redemption of all humanity?

Question #1  Covenants

God will not (contrary to some folks' thinking) force His will on anyone. Doing so would violate the Laws of Love.  Here is where faith and promises a.k.a. covenants come in.  

Adam and Eve witnessed the declaration of that promise when God said to Satan:

"And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."  Genesis 3:14 & 15

An ensuing result of that promise is learned in verse 16.  Sorrow will accompany conception. Why?  Because Satan would be targeting human offspring from that moment on, in his attempt to destroy the promised seed before it had a chance to take a breath.  But in spite of the potential heart-break, women were going to willingly bring new lives into the Earth.


I am fairly certain Cain had heard the story, and fancied himself to be the promised enemy head crusher.  But his delusion resulted in the crushing of his brother's head instead.  Hindsight being what it is, we now know that the authentic enemy head-crusher wouldn't come on the scene for another 4,000 years.  


Question #2 A sinless man AND a dedicated nation


This is where Abraham and Sarah come in. God needed a person who would give not only himself, but would entrust his posterity to God's plan. Genesis 18:19

For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him. 

What was He going to do with a nation? Use it to bless all the other nations of the world. Genesis 22:18

Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.  

How could one nation bless all others?  

Deuteronomy 32:8 & 9
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) is the lot of his inheritance.

Now this nation wasn't simply made up of the offspring of of Abraham.  No! They had to walk in the laws of God.  Jacob (a.k.a. Israel) had 12 sons. And God had to have 12,000 from every one of those son's tribes who were proven to have only ever served The Lord God, never had they worshiped a god of the enemy.   144,000.   This took 2,000 years to complete but John records in Revelation chapter 7 verses 1-8 the day in Heaven's court when the count was made and the required number fulfilled.   

In verse 9 we see this happening:

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

How many righteous are needed to protect the unrighteous? 

I don't know where to find the Heavenly statute but we get a glimpse of it in Genesis 18:32 I like to call it Redemption's Ratio... When God said if there were 10 righteous the entire doomed region would have been spared.  

Ten righteous would have bought more time for the unrighteous of the "5 cities of the plains" including Sodom and Gomorrah to have righted their ways.  Which begs the question, how much time was bought by the 144,000 righteous members of God's nation?  It appears to be the means by which God formed a legal loop-hole to rescue those who died before Christ's sacrifice.  

That is the purpose of mercy.  To extend time before a final, irreversible judgment is made.  I know this might sound far fetched, but I believe we have a mind blowingly brilliant God Who loves, loves, loves His kids.

We'll look at some answer ideas for a few more questions  in the near future.

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