All it takes is the truth of death to make it obvious that something is wrong with the world. Everybody knows it, because we all have something within us that cries out for longevity. Something in us knows we weren’t made for this short of a life. Many people choose to not think about it because it is a daunting fact that we all will die. All we have is today, and we live for today and act like death will never come.
I could tell you that the problem is sin, that it has caused death, despair, hatred toward one another, selfishness, every evil thing in this world, and at its core separation from our Creator. But this truth doesn’t seem to affect many people today. They don’t believe in a good Creator because of the suffering and death that exists in this world; maybe there is sin and maybe we have rebelled against God and brought this all upon ourselves, but who cares? If God is good, he could have fixed that and stopped it all from happening.
In order to understand the real weight of our problem, we must know how things were meant to be and how they will all end up. If this world isn’t the way God created it, how was it created? And what why has God allowed it to go down the drain? And what will be its end?
God created the world perfectly. He created humans as image bearers of himself, which brings him glory and brings his creation joy and fulfillment. By enjoying the Creator above all else, we are able to enjoy all his creation the way he intended us to. But we decide to enjoy created things the way we want to rather than the way God intended. We take good things and put them in the place of God, and try to enjoy them in a way they were never meant to be enjoyed. When we understand how God meant things to be, we can begin to see how evil sin really is. It isn’t just breaking a rule, it is replacing God with things he has made.
But God is bigger than sin, bigger than our rebellion against him. He allowed sin and evil into the world, having a greater plan in store. God did not create the world and check out; he will not let the earth spiral down an endless vortex until it will eventually destroy itself.
God allowed sin and death and is currently working his redemptive plan in the world. He started this work the moment sin entered the world, and he planned this work before the world was even created. Death still exists, for God’s work of redemption has not reached its completion. But we can be assured he is working.
He paid the price for our sin through the life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus; Jesus is the solution to the problem of sin and death. In Jesus, we see how far God would go to redeem the world. He was so intent on redeeming the world that he sent his Son to die and pay the price. It is because of Jesus that the redemption of all things is possible; God thought redeeming the world was worth more than the life of his own Son, and Jesus thought it was worth it to give up his own life.
And all this will be resolved when Christ comes back to finish this work of redemption. He will come back and recreate the whole world. He will give new bodies that don’t die to all those who have faith in him, to live on a new earth, forever enjoying him. Jesus is coming back to reclaim the world for himself, to put in place his perfect kingdom which will never be overthrown again. There will be no evil, no sin, no selfishness. Death will be absolved forever. Mankind will exist to enjoy God, one another, and all his creation perfectly on a never-dying earth.
If this is God’s plan for the world, is the problem still unclear?
It is in light of God’s plan that we truly see the problem. And when we see the problem clearly, we are able to find even more joy and hope in the solution God has given and resolution God will bring.
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