God's Work with Planet Earth

In God’s Work with Planet Earth, Stage 3 begins where the New Testament began. At the beginning of each of these 5 Stages, God does something massive and world changing. He created the world and humans to begin Stage 1, and nearly destroyed the world with the Flood to cleanse it of evil, starting Stage 2. And to kick off Stage 3, Christ the Son of God becomes born as a human. There are multiple reasons or purposes which the Bible gives us, and I want to briefly touch on some in this post.

“the gift of God”

Speaking about the Israelites/Jews, the Apostle Paul wrote, “to them were committed the oracles of God”. (Romans 3:2) Oracles meaning the scriptures. But there were MANY other tribes descended from Noah’s three sons and grandsons and so on. So while the descendants of Jacob (Abraham’s grandson) were given the light of truth in a special way, the other tribes had stories and tradition passed down through their generations. This is why so many cultures around the world have some version of the Flood story, and some version of an evil god who seeks the deception and destruction of humans (the Devil).

But even though the Israelites were given the Old Testament scriptures full of moral lessons and prophecies, they failed to consistently keep God’s laws, which by definition is sin (1 John 3:4). And “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23). Not the first death waiting for a resurrection (John 5:29, Hebrews 9:27), but the second death of Revelation 20 & 21, which is permanent and everlasting.

This is not an earthly system of justice, but a universal one. This left humanity in a hopeless condemnation. The only way to make salvation possible for humans was for Christ to take their place and their punishment. If the law could be changed or exceptions made, Christ would not have needed to become human and die for us.

“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,” Romans 8:3

Because humans are “weak through the flesh”, they could not keep God’s law of love. “Do not murder”, and yet there are many accounts of murder, and God complaining about murder and violence in the Old Testament. “Do not bear false witness”, but there are many times God’s people were deceptive, and lost justice and peace in their society.

So now, beginning Stage 3, God did for humans what they could not do by just trying to follow a rulebook through human willpower. He sent “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh”. Jesus was born into a sinful world, in a fallen and degraded body (compared to Adam before he fell into sin). He had no advantage over other humans outside of His connection to God the Father, and that is available to us if we seek God in the way Jesus did during those 33 years.

Our Example

Christ didn’t just come sacrifice Himself, He lived the life of a poor human carpenter. He experienced disappointment, rejection, being criticized and made fun of. And then His ministry in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John was an example to us of how a godly person should live in a sinful world.

One of the shortest but most profound things Jesus ever said was “be wise as serpents but harmless as doves”. He was not a doormat or a pushover, but there were times when He challenged bad theology, and other times He simply moved on to another region to avoid confrontation. Sometimes Jesus was so incensed that He called the religious leaders “hypocrites”, “blind guides”, and a “brood of vipers”, and other times He was extremely patient with people who were slow to understand.

What a contrast between the scenes of

• Jesus driving the merchants and money changers out of the Temple
• Jesus gently touching and healing people who no one else would

And between

• Jesus commanding a violent storm to stop with authority and power
• Jesus keeping His mouth shut as people were accusing Him with lies

Only the wisdom of God can guide a person this way.

One of the things Jesus demonstrated through meeting the Samaritan woman at the well, and the Phoenician woman whose daughter had an “unclean spirit”, was that God’s power and salvation were for Gentiles just as much as for Jews. By eating with tax collectors and prostitutes, Jesus violated Jewish laws about staying ritually clean, but He showed that ANYONE who comes to God can be cleansed of sin.

Winning back the Dominion

The next reason Christ became human was to win back the right to rule the world He had originally created. The “dominion” He had given to Adam.

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:27-28

Adam was given “dominion” over the earth Christ had just created. The Hebrew word “radah” means to “tread down” or “subjugate”, to prevail or reign/rule over. But Adam lost that right to rule Planet Earth and have dominion when he gave in to Satan’s temptation through Eve. This was the purpose of the Devil tempting Jesus in the desert. Jesus resisted Satan’s temptations that Adam and Eve gave into. But that was just the beginning.

“Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.” John 12:31

“I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” John 14:30

“… the ruler of this world is judged.” John 16:11

• Paul referred to Satan as “the god of this age” in 2 Corinthians 4:4 (“of this age” implies this rule is temporary)

Jesus is referred to as the “last Adam” and the “second Man” in 1 Corinthians 15:45, 47. And in Romans 5, Paul explores this teaching in more depth.

“For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)” Romans 5:17

Through one man (Adam) sin and death came to “reign” in the world, but also by One Man (Jesus) grace and righteousness and life will come to recover and restore the world from the rule of Satan and sin.

“so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:21

“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.” 1 Corinthians 15:24

So it is a Man who will take over this world in the end, but it won’t a president or king or any other world leader. All of their authority and power will be ended by the King of kings Who said “My Kingdom is not OF this world” (John 18:36). We see the same prophecy in Daniel 2:44.

“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.” Daniel 2:44

Christ, through the cross, won back the right to rule Planet Earth, and He will soon return to make that a reality. This is good news, because He already showed us what kind of leader He is by His life in the Gospels of the New Testament. He doesn’t compromise on truth and righteousness, but He is understanding, flexible, fair and just, caring and loving… He said the kingdom of Heaven would belong to the humble, meek, persecuted, poor people by worldly standards. The leader should be a servant, according to Christ.

Exposing the Enemy’s True Character

“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” Colossians 2:15

We learn from Ephesians 6:12 that the “principalities and powers” are not human, but they are “the rulers of the darkness of this age” and “spiritual hosts of wickedness”.

We also learn from 1 Corinthians 4:9 that “we have been made a spectacle to the [kosmos], both to angels and to men”. It’s not just humans and this world, but the whole universe, who see what’s going on in the battle between good and evil in this world.

So when the fallen angels stirred up the pride and hate of the Jewish leaders, and the rage of the crowd in Pilate’s courtyard when they shouted “Crucify Him.” “His blood be on us and on our children”, the holy angels saw this. Think about it: Parents do NOT call down curses on their own children. This was demonic.

If there was any doubt in the minds of the holy angels about the character and possible redemption of their former leader, Lucifer, and their old friends who were cast out of Heaven (Revelation 12:7-12), those doubts were put to rest. They saw the once heavenly angels inspire and foment the crucifixion of the beloved Son of God.

This is how Christ won the largest victory of this world, by appearing to lose by worldly standards. According to the world, when your enemy kills you, you lost. But what an amazing thing, that by laying down His life, Christ won a victory for God and humans against the forces of evil and darkness!

So as Christians understand, Christ died to pay the debt for sin (a universal law), for fallen humans. But He also lived a life of poverty and hardship, while still keeping God’s law as a demonstration and an example for us. AND He also exposed how the perfect character God created in angels had become rebellious, vindictive, violent, hateful enough to inspire humans to torture and kill their own Creator in His human form.

The End is a New Beginning

“Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.” 1 Corinthians 15:24

For a relatively short period of time, in the scope of eternity, a dark speck of evil exists in God’s perfect universe. But when all of God’s Work on behalf of us and our world is complete, that black speck will be eliminated, and the whole universe will be in harmony again.

In this way, Christ will deliver the kingdom to God the Father. We know Christ as a human is our High Priest and advocate in Heaven (Hebrews 7), but He is also the righteous Judge (John 5:22), and the King of Kings (Revelation 19:16). Jesus will rule the New Earth, and a broken and sinful planet will be restored to the Father’s bright and sinless universe.

I am sure we’ll learn much more after Jesus returns, but for now we can see that He accomplished some hugely important things by his birth, life, death, and resurrection.