Imagine it, a world filled with people created to reflect and worship the glory of God . . . and then imagine they’re actually doing it! We have to imagine it in the world we live in because we’re not seeing a demonstration of God’s character, majesty and beauty in the people around us. We are surrounded by evil. The world can look like it’s falling apart at times. So what happened?
What happened is what we call the "Fall." Adam and Eve disobeyed God. The first humans who were created in God’s image and were told to fill the earth with this image made a choice which marred that image and corrupted their nature . . . and ours. The main actors in God’s great story of creation had decided to write their own script. It would appear that His-story of His glory was falling apart!
But this would only be appearance, not reality. The script was not being unraveled. The plot was not taking an unexpected twist. This was actually in the script all the time. Look what Peter declares:
Realize that you weren't set free from the worthless life handed down to you from your ancestors by a payment of silver or gold which can be destroyed. Rather, the payment that freed you was the precious blood of Christ, the lamb with no defects or imperfections. He is the lamb who was known long ago before the world existed, but for your good he became publicly known in the last period of time. (1 Peter 1:18-20 GWN)
This passage is so rich but for our purpose here, we need to focus on one statement, "He is the lamb who was known long ago before the world existed." Jesus, the lamb that paid the penalty for man’s failure and provided for man’s restoration, was "known" before creation! Don’t let the significance of this escape your notice. God planned for Jesus to die on the Cross before He created man! The fall of man into spiritual darkness was not a deviation from the script, it was worked into the script when it was written before any of the script was acted on. Paul declares that the redemption of man and the establishment of the Church were God’s, "eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 3:11)."
God created man with the ability to make choices between two or more possibilities. God did this, knowing that Adam was going to choose to disobey His command. This was all part of His plan. God planned for man to disobey. If not, He would not have created man, or He would not have created man with the potential for choosing to disobey. But in this plan, God also planned to show His glory by providing the solution for man’s sin, recreating man’s nature and ability to glorify Him. God planned for the fall and redemption from the fall before He created anything.
His-story did not fall apart at the fall. His-story continued as scripted.
Soli Deo Gloria
Next: His-story of His Glory Continues.
CONFUSED? HAVING TROUBLE WITH THIS? HERE'S MORE TO THINK ABOUT:
God didn’t panic when Adam bit into the "forbidden fruit." He did not have to come up with a plan B. He created man with the ability to choose to do evil knowing that man would in fact choose evil. From before He began His-story, He planned for this and He planned the solution for evil, the death of Christ. His-story did not fall apart at the fall. His-story continued as it was scripted before it began.
This is probably very new thinking for you. It is, perhaps, difficult to follow and even accept. If so, let me encourage you, go back and read 1 Peter 1:18-20 very carefully and think about the implications of what God is saying here. Ask yourself the question, "Why would God plan for Christ to die on the cross for man’s sin before He created anything?" Isn’t the only answer that He knew man would sin? And when did He know man would sin? The only answer must be that He knew this before He created anything. He created man with this ability to sin (choose to disobey Him) knowing that man would sin. Why didn’t He create man differently, so that man would not sin? He didn’t want to. It is not the way he wanted to write the script of His glory in creation. He created man knowing man would sin but He also planned, at the same time, for the solution. It all fits into His perfect plan for the display and worship of His glory.
So you would say that supralapserinism correct over infralapserinism?
ReplyDeleteI don’t particularly like labels as they mean different things to different people. I would answer this question this way.
ReplyDeleteGod decided to create the universe with precise specifics in its make-up and function. This included creating man, a being God created with the capacity to choose between good and evil, knowing man would choose evil.
I don’t like the idea of separating God’s decrees into an order. I prefer to view it as one decree: Create man that can and will choose evil, some of which will be redeemed by Christ.
I prefer not to separate God’s decree to create from God’s decree to allow the Fall. Rather, I see it as one decree to create a being in His image (man) that would fall and be redeemed. God did not directly decree the Fall, God decreed the creation of a being that would fall.