You are Good
The first law was that, for no reason at all, God declared that Adam and Eve were good.
They had done absolutely nothing to earn His favor, yet God chose to see them as “good,” and worthy of His love, His blessings, His favor and His friendship!
This was the first “law” of the world God created … For no reason at all except for mercy, Adam and Eve were deemed good in God’s eyes and therefore worthy.
But there was that second law, and that’s the one that got us into trouble. The second law was this: "stay away from that tree."
There was just one tree in the garden which God warned them to stay away from, because it would cause death. But it was their choice, and they chose death. After they ate from the tree that caused death, what happened?
Well, you could say that the devil turned Adam and Eve’s world upside down. When Adam and Eve broke the second law, the other law was broken as well.
People were no longer good in God’s eyes.
And they were no longer good in their own eyes. Before Adam and Eve sinned, it never occurred to them that they were naked, because God had declared they were good. They saw themselves through the eyes of God. But after the fall that they saw each other’s nakedness:
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked… (Genesis 3:7 NIV)
Did you notice it said their eyes were opened? It seems that at first, before they sinned, they saw through God’s eyes, and everything was good, just like God said.
But now, they saw things the way the devil sees things, and so everything was bad.
And immediately, Eve began to blame the devil, and Adam began to blame Eve.
Just like Adam and Eve, we too see our faults and we see everyone else’s faults. We accuse each other and we are very judgmental, just like the devil, whose name literally means “accuser.”
In God’s original world, everyone was good for no reason at all but mercy. In the devil’s world, however, everyone is bad. That first law was turned upside down.
In the devil’s world, the law is that you have to try really hard to be good, and even then you will never be good enough.
This is the law of the land in the world that you and I were born into. But praise God- Jesus came to turn the devil’s world upside down and turn our world right side up again!!!
Let’s look at the world at the time that Jesus was born. As you know, Jesus was born into a Jewish family, in the nation of Israel.
In the Jewish Temple where Jesus worshiped, only the high priest was considered good enough to enter the Holy place, and then only once a year.
All the other priests had another court, outside the Holy of Holies.
Jewish men could be in the court right outside the priest’s court.
Further out, Jewish women had their own court.
Gentiles –(non-Jews) – could come to a certain point, but it was pretty far away. If they ever crossed that point they would be killed.
And lame people couldn’t come near at all:
No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores … because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. (Leviticus 21:18-20 NIV)
So there was a hierarchy of perfection in the Jewish Culture - the High Priest was at the top, then came the Priests, then came the Jewish men, then the Jewish women, then the Gentiles, then the lame and the blind. Even the Jewish law came under the devil’s law where no one is ever good enough. It was different than what God had originally wanted, but this is what Adam and Eve chose by eating the fruit.
Hierarchy’s such as this still exist in societies all over the world. Even kids in elementary school are ostracized and made fun of for not wearing name brand clothes. Pecking order begins at a very young age.
God had created everyone to be good, but because of the fall, people who appear more “perfect” in one way or another rule over everybody else.
In the society that Jesus was born into, lame people and blind people were so far from perfect that they were looked down upon and even hated:
As (Jesus) went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1,2 NIV)
What were the disciples saying? These men had grown up under the law, and they believed that if someone was sick, blind, or lame, he did something to deserve it. Blindness, in their eyes, was a punishment from God for sin.
I hate this system, don’t you? Guess what? Jesus hated it too.
And praise God!! Jesus Christ broke the curse!!
Jesus turned the devil’s world upside down and He turned our world right side up again!!!
That’s why, when the disciples asked Jesus, “who sinned, he or his parents?”
What did Jesus say?
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned…” (John 9:3 NIV)
And then He healed the man!!! Praise God- Jesus had mercy on the lame and the blind!! He had mercy on the lowest of the low because Jesus did not “see” them as the lowest of the low. He saw them as good and worthy of ALL the blessings and love and favor of God!!!
Praise God!! Jesus hated the devil’s system of the world as much as we do!!
I will say it again- Jesus came to turn the devil’s world upside down and turn our world right side up again!!!
He broke the hierarchy… in Christ, all of us are once again good!!! In fact, in Christ, we are perfect. Perfect is a pretty strong word, and the Bible says it a couple of times:
In John 17, the night before Jesus died, He prayed, “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.” (John 17:23 KJV)
And in Colossians 1, Paul wrote, “... we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus (Colossians 1:28 KJV)
In that same chapter, Paul also says that when the Father looks at us we are holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight…
… and why? Because you are a priest, or you are stronger than someone else, or you are healthier, or you never sinned, or you are perfect in some other way in the eyes of the world?
No- you are holy and unblameable and unreproveable because you are in Christ and you have been washed with the precious blood of Jesus!!! I like the way the Living Bible puts it:
…through the death on the cross of his own human body…Christ has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are standing there before him with nothing left against you—nothing left that he could even chide you for;
the only condition is that you fully believe the Truth, standing in it steadfast and firm, strong in the Lord, convinced of the Good News that Jesus died for you, and never shifting from trusting him to save you. (Colossians 1:22,23 TLB)
Halleluiah!! We still live in this world but we don’t have to live under the devil’s law anymore!!!
Being in Christ is a lot like being in the Garden of Eden again because in Christ, we are good!! Paul says:
… There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28 NIV)
And Paul also says this:
Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. (Colossians 3:11 NIV)
You are perfect in Christ…
Whether you are a man or woman,
gentile or a Jew,
slave or free,
or sick or healthy
… you are perfect in Christ Jesus. There is no caste system in Christ.
In the book of 1 Peter, Peter was writing to the Gentiles and he said this:
…you have been chosen by God himself—you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own—all this so that you may that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9 TLB)
Once you were not a people but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy; but now you have received mercy. (1 Peter 2:10 NIV)
Once you were not a people. Peter was talking to Gentiles. In the Jewish world, Gentiles were so low – so “not perfect” – that they were not even considered people.
Imagine that- if you were a Gentile, you were not even considered human! As I said, there was no mercy for the less than perfect people.
Praise God- He hated that system so much that Jesus died to break it and now, in Christ, even the "unclean" Gentiles were chosen by God, Priests of the King, holy and pure, God’s very own! I want to recap again what Jesus did:
In the world Jesus was born into, Gentiles were told they were unclean and to not pass a certain mark in the temple or face death. Jesus loved them. He died for them, and offered to forgive them, adopt them as His own children, and give them eternal life.
In the world Jesus was born into, the lame and blind were told to stay out of the temple, but they followed Jesus into the temple and what did He do? He healed them. He loved the lame and the blind. He loved those that the world rejected!!!
In the world Jesus was born into, women were treated like the servants and property of men. Jesus loved them, he spoke kindly to them, He healed them, and He elevated them to their original equal status as humans.
Do you see that God sees things so differently than the world does? It doesn’t matter who we are or where we came from- in Christ, we are perfect!! And in Christ, we are people!!! Real human beings, equal to any other human being.
Let me ask you a question…
Do you see yourself as good?
Because God does! If you’re in Christ…
You are free from the law of sin and death (see Romans 8:2)
You are holy and without blame before Him in love (see Ephesians 1:4 & 1 Peter 1:16)
You are a joint-heir with Christ (see Romans 8:17)
You are an overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of His testimony (see Revelation 12:11)
You are part of a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people (see 1 Peter 2:9)
You are forgiven of all your sins and washed in the Blood of Jesus (see Ephesians 1:7)
You are redeemed from the curse of sin, sickness, and poverty
(see Deuteronomy 28 & Galatians 3:13)
You are healed by the stripes of Jesus (see Isaiah 53:5 & 1 Peter 2:24)
You are greatly loved by God (see Romans 1:7, Ephesians 2:4, Colossians 3:12 & 1 Thessalonians 1:4)
We’re all born into the devil’s caste system, but we don’t have to stay there. Just like in the Garden of Eden there was a tree and it was their choice to eat from it or not, in our world there’s a cross and it’s also our choice to come to it or not. How are we made perfect in God’s Kingdom? We come to Jesus. In Christ, we are perfect.
It’s being in Jesus that counts.
If you need to repent of a sin then repent!! But once you repent and you are once again in Christ, you are good in God’s eyes and you are worthy of every blessing.
Stop looking at your faults and failures. Look at Jesus. He says you are worthy; therefore, you are worthy!!! You are good!
Don’t ever feel unworthy for any reason. Jesus doesn’t work like that. That’s the way the devil works, that’s the way the world works, but it’s not the way Jesus works.
Let Jesus turn your world right side up again.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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