Category: Genesis 03

God Has Obligated Himself to Save All

On By TimIn Genesis 03, LoveLeave a comment

I made this statement recently. My thoughts are that from Genesis 3:15 and onward through the Bible, that this truth is self-evident. Imagine when I was challenged to defend the claim that God obligated Himself to save humanity.

As odd as that demand is, the Bible clearly reveals His plan. It was to humiliate Himself under the bondage of death for people… All of them. He says of Himself that He is Just and Justifier. And He is doesn’t choose between people. All have the same invitation to come. That’s the reason Jesus was born, as promised in Genesis. He is the Promised Seed.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:15

I can almost hear the doubts. But this was a promise given to the entire human race. (There were only two at the time.) The promise was that a Human would triumph. I said it.

It was not well veiled in the text of the Tanakh. From that beginning, the idea was taught that death was necessary to cover sin. The inference would be that the Seed would also die. And with that, defeat death.

With all of that in mind, let’s check it out.

There are precise passages in the Tanakh where God plainly shows He does things to protect His reputation.

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their way was before Me as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. Therefore I poured My fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land and for their idols with which they had polluted it. And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries. According to their ways and according to their deeds, I judged them. When they entered the nations, where they went, they profaned My holy name, because they said of them, “These are the people of the Lord and have gone forth out of His land.” But I had pity for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

Ezekiel 36:16–21

Here, His rescue of Israel would be to protect the reputation of His Name.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the sanctity of My great name which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified among you before their eyes.
For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. Also, I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you will be My people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleanness. And I will call for the grain and increase it and lay no famine upon you. I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field so that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the nations.

 Ezekiel 36:22–30

This regathering of Israel has not happened as of yet. In my understanding of the text, we are watching Him restore Israel presently.

This portion of the Scripture fascinates me. Especially the last portion. All of those things of restoration promised to Israel are given to us believers today. If we are doing right, and the Israelis really knew their Tanakh, this should provoke jealousy.

I digress.

Back to the subject at hand, that God protects His own reputation. It follows that since man bears the image of God, He is going to protect that image. Here, it is again established.

For My name’s sake I will defer My anger,
and for My praise I will restrain it for you
so that you are not cut off.
See, I have refined you, but not with silver;
I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
For My own sake, even for My own sake, I will do it;
for how can My name be polluted?
And I will not give My glory to another.

Isaiah 48:9–11

He even says that we do not immediately die, and it is for His reputation. Adam did not die when he sinned. (And it wasn’t the contrived spiritual death, either.) The inference in the fall in the Garden, animals died to provide coverings for humans. By inference, this leads to the necessity of a substitute or stand-in. One that will take the rap, so to speak.

Of course, we know it was the death of Jesus at the cross that satisfied the wages of sin effectually and unconditionally for all humanity. Nobody dies immediately when they sin, not me, not even Adam. The death of Jesus provides a respite from the wages of sin. The debt is satisfied.

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, all whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world.

Revelation 13:8

This proves the timelessness of the plan, from the Lamb Who was slain from the foundation of the world. He is protecting His reputation.

God had told the Israelites these things. This is a doctrine that spans the entire Bible. God elaborates elsewhere through the Apostle. Consider what he said here in this passage

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we must also love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us.
We know that we live in Him, and He in us, because He has given us His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way God’s love is perfected in us, so that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in love.
We love Him because He first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar. For whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? We have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

1 John 4:7–21

He gives a detailed explanation for His actions. He gives the motivation, it is not a selfish protecting His name, but a selfless love for others. He defines how He acts because of Who He is.

Love suffers long and is kind; love envies not; love flaunts not itself and is not puffed up, does not behave itself improperly, seeks not its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7

God is indeed obligated to save humanity. Not for our sake, but for His, His great love for us.

God is Love.

He extends to all the same invitation, “Come.” The responsibility for your eternity falls only to you. You are free to do so or not.

But… Love never fails.

God doesn’t fail.

Deceit and Usury

On By TimIn Genesis 031 Comment

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”
And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:13 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

That word deceived. It is the Hebrew word nasha (Strong’s H5377.) The King James Version translates that verb to beguile. Other translations of this primitive word are to impose, seduce, or lead into error.

I think the idea is clear.

Yet, there is an identical Hebrew word nasha (Strong’s H5378.) It means to exact, as in a price or to place under debt. To better understand, it is to lend on usury (charge interest.)

Another lexicon says that the idea conveyed by the word is to give false hopes.

What does that mean for a society that is based on debt instruments?

Almost all modern economies are managed by central banks and loans. Modern money policy is established by usury. Just let your mind wander with all that that entails.

As this is the first usage of nasha in the Bible, it requires attention.

Usury is enslavement.

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Proverbs 22:7 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

After the law came into existence, usury was considered a sin. It was forbidden (except for a limited case.)

If you lend money to any of My people who is poor among you, do not be a creditor to him, and do not charge him interest. If you take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering; it is his garment for his body. In what else will he sleep? And when he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.

Exodus 22:25–27 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

I am convinced that usury is the root cause of all suffering on this planet. It started with that first rebellion when the Shining One enslaved Eve.

God doesn’t take kindly to this kind of debt slavery. That’s clear. From another portion of Scriptures, we see the idea in a narrative form. As Nehemiah led the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the exile, the gentry was busy enslaving their brothers.

Now there was a great outcry of the people and their wives against their fellow Jews. Some were saying, “We and our sons and our daughters are many. Therefore, let us acquire grain so that we may eat and live.”
Others were saying, “We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and houses so that we might acquire grain because of hunger.”
Still others were saying, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute against the value of our fields and vineyards. Now our flesh is the same as the flesh of our countrymen. Our children are like their children, but we are subjugating our sons and our daughters as servants. Indeed, some of our daughters are in bondage already, and we are powerless to do anything because our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. So I contemplated about this for myself and, as a result, I rebuked the nobles and officials and said to them, “Based on the claim of each against his brother, you are exacting usury.” Then I convened a great assembly against them, and I said to them, “By whatever means we had, we purchased our Jewish countrymen who were being sold to the nations. So, will you once more sell your countrymen so that they might again be sold to us?” Then they kept silent, because they found nothing to answer. Also I said, “What you are doing is not good! Should not you walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? Moreover, I, my relatives, and my servants are loaning them money and grain. So, I urge you, cease from this practice of usury. Please restore to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, along with a hundredth part of the money, the grain, the wine, and the oil that you had exacted from them.”

Nehemiah 5:1–11 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

What I find thought-provoking is the actual percentage rate given. It’s 1%. Nehemiah called that usury!

The idea of enslavement by debt instrument is also a theme alluded to by Jesus and Paul.

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.

John 8:34 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves to obey, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

Romans 6:16 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

The transaction from the shining one (the serpent) to Eve was a transaction of usury. He indebted her by sin, sin unto death.

What does that mean for us?

Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:8 (MEV):

First… Don’t take loans at interest. This is crazy, even for me to think about. Yet I owe, I owe. That’s the part of being enslaved.

The second point is even harder. How many of you save and invest your money hoping to reap a return?

Well, that’s the part of being one who enslaves others. That’s hard enough to hear. But then…

He who by usury and unjust gain increases his substance will gather it for him who will pity the poor.

Proverbs 28:8 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Clearly, a 1% return is usury and extortion (unjust gain.) And as is clearly being modeled, our modern rigged system benefits the nobles and the gentry, who will have “pity” on the poor. You won’t own anything and will like it, living on the subsidence (basic income) they offer. That’s the promise of the new world order. And it was prophesied centuries beforehand.

The Debt, and the Perfect Satisfaction

On By TimIn Genesis 03, SinLeave a comment

Way back at the beginning, we have the short account of Adam and Eve. God made both of them and placed them in His garden to tend it. They were welcome to eat of every tree in the garden save one, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

As the account goes, the woman is beguiled and deceived and eats. She gives to Adam and he eats. It’s that action that is the source of suffering in this world.

We pick up the account here…

Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Genesis 3:7 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Something immediately changed. Though it’s not explicit in the text, they lost a covering they had before. That will be for you to explore.

Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

Genesis 3:8–9 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

I love when God asks a question. He’s not looking for information. The question is intended to get to the root of the problem.

He said, “ I heard Your voice in the garden and was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself.”
And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

Genesis 3:10–11 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Adam answers with a confession. God follows up with two other questions.

The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:12 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

Adam again confesses what he did. There are those that read it only as a sort of blaming… I used to think the same way. Now I view it as a confession of the truth. One that comes encumbered with the knowledge of suffering and how to alleviate it. Adam transferred the attention from him to Eve.

God then asks Eve a question. She answers.

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”
And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:13 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

It’s that answer that needs examination.

The word deceived is the Hebrew word nasha which means to cheat, to deceive. To dig beyond the text, we need a Hebrew lexicon. In examining the word, there is another identical word with a different meaning. That word nasha means to lend on interest or to credit someone.

If we look at it that way, Eve became a debtor at interest. The Bible has another word for that kind of transaction… Usury. The English word comes from a Latin root that means to use. It makes sense.

Eve was in a debt only satisfied by death. As long as she lived, she was a debtor to her sin. And she was used to getting to Adam and placing him in the same predicament.. Both became indebted to sin.

Think about debt and how it enslaves. Our whole modern existence is based on debt. But that is an advanced topic for another post.

The Perfect Satisfaction

Of course, we reap what we sow, and it was no different for Adam and Eve. They were expelled from the garden. But God left a hint in the curse to the deceiver.

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:15 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

The pronouns are important, and for our purposes, I only point out that the woman’s Seed is a singular He… Not her, not they.

That He is Jesus.

His whole life was purposed for one thing. To satisfy the creditor. That happened at the cross. It is John who tells us clearly what happened at the moment Jesus died.

After this, Jesus, knowing that everything was now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst.” A bowl full of sour wine was placed there. So they put a sponge full of sour wine on hyssop and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

John 19:28–30 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

There is a Greek word that appears here two times. It is tetelestai. In the above text, the first usage is translated as accomplished. The second by Jesus… Translated to “It is finished.”

Yes, tetelestai means those things. But there is an expanded idea. In the times the New Testament was written, the word tetelestai was written on business receipts to show they were paid in full.

When Jesus cried “tetelestai!” It signaled that the debt had been completed and satisfied.

Because Eve was the way to Adam. Adam ate, enslaving himself to sin that only death could satisfy. The enemy’s hope was that God would exact justice and humans would be gone. Yet, there was a reprieve of justice… A reprieve from the last Adam, Jesus.

Jesus is the Perfect Satisfaction of the debt of death incurred by every single sin that humans do.

When the enemy tries to shame you and hold the claim you to sin… Tell him “Paid in full by Jesus.”

The Next Forbidden Tree

On By TimIn Creation, Genesis 03, The FallLeave a comment

The Lord God said, “The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. And now, he might reach out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”

Genesis 3:22 — Modern English Version (Thinline Edition.; Lake Mary, FL: Passio, 2014)

After the fall, God set aside access to another tree. It was the tree of life that was now forbidden. Again, as we have seen previously, maybe it is the enemy that wants us to think God is keeping something from us.

It’s not so. He doesn’t keep good things from us.

Had Adam and Eve partook of that tree of life they would indeed live forever. It wouldn’t be a good thing for them or us. We would have remained corrupted.

God has a better plan. That would be the Offspring to bruise the head of the serpent. As the prophet Daniel would reveal, He (this Offspring) would make an end of sin. Corruption would be no more.

His Way is how and why we must be saved. To put off this body of corruption, and be raised anew incorruptible.