Crossed Out part 4
Before the cross the people of Israel were under a covenant that dealt with good and evil. "If you do good, you'll be rewarded. If you do evil, you'll be punished." It was an eye for an eye. But that was never what God wanted. That was what man--with his carnal, unregenerated mind--wanted. Because it made sense. We see this mindset all the way back to the garden of Eden. The serpent said, "If you eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, then you'll be like God." That's the cosmic lie that man was so eager to swallow. Because we never see ourselves as good enough. But we like the idea that if we try hard enough maybe some day we can become good enough. Man was made in God's image. We didn't have to do anything in order to be like Him. We were already like Him! We just didn't know it. It was dark, and we couldn't see clearly. Couldn't see God clearly, and couldn't see ourselves clearly. So of course we jumped at the chance to "be like Him." Unfortunately, that was a lie. And because man believed the lie, instead of believing God (which is sin, by the way. Sin is unbelief.), God cursed the ground. He gave us the world we wanted. Do good and be rewarded. Do evil and be punished. Work hard and earn everything by the sweat of your brow. Get what you deserve. He gave that to us... until the appointed time. Until the cross. He let us experience what we THOUGHT we wanted so that when He offered a more excellent way (Jesus, love) we would be able to choose correctly. It wouldn't seem like the grass is greener on the other side, because we'd BEEN on the other side and we KNEW it wasn't any fun over there. Psalm 90:3 says it like this, "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men." The choice was never to stay with God or leave Him. God knew we were going to leave. HAD to leave. The choice was the same choice the Prodigal Son had when he "came to himself." When he realized, "It's no fun out here, I'm going back to Daddy's house." And now, on this side of the cross, the tree of knowlege of good and evil has been completely crossed out. Jesus cursed the fig tree because it couldn't produce any fruit. Now, on this side of the cross, we are no longer under performace based, man-centered religion. The curse has been reversed. There is no longer anything to fear. God's not mad at you, He's mad ABOUT you. Madly in love with you! It's not yes or no. It's not pulling flower petals trying to figure out if "He loves me, He loves me not." It doesn't depend on what you DO. It depends on WHO YOU ARE. And who you are is His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased! It's not yes or no anymore. No was crossed out. "For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us" (2 Corinthians 1:20). It's not bad and getting worse. It's ALL good. ALL of the promises of God were fulfilled in Jesus. We have all of the promises because we have Jesus! Because He gave His life for us on the cross... and because He gave His life TO us on the cross! The old man died and the New Man came forth. The curses no longer apply. Generational curses have turned into general blessings! Fear not. It's all good. There's no condemnation. No punishment. (There IS correction, but that's another Rant entirely.) Everything that's not God (Jesus, love) was burned away by the consuming fire that IS God (Jesus, love)!