Glad to write again! I just woke up about two and a half hours ago (I wasn’t in the mood to use this laptop earlier), but I think the things Moses (the author according to tradition) writes about here are so good it’s not even funny! Here, we see that creation was not only good, but that no one had ever sinned before. The second chapter is mostly dedicated to God fashioning man out of dirt (and the first woman ever from the man’s rib), but I don’t want to talk too much on either chapter here, for I want to be, for the most part, balanced in what I write. And you’ve noticed that I’m writing on some of the same chapters more than once. Spoiler alert: it won’t be the last time I do this. I won’t make the same note on the exact same Scriptural passage more than once per round of Bible notes, but I will cover different Bible verses each time.
Anyway, creation was not only good, but blessed by God Himself and was literal paradise on Earth! I think that’s really hard to pull off nowadays, seeing that sin had entered the world and, since we’ve all sinned before (Romans 3:23), whether we have Jesus and Lord and Saviour in our lives or not, a good, trusting scenario can easily be obliterated. Just think of Laish that people of Israel invaded in the later verses of Judges 18: the people that had lived in Laish were all living securely, and I imagine they enjoyed peace across the community. But when Israel pillaged the town, everyone was killed, and they renamed it Dan. And I don’t think God had commanded them to eliminate those people, either. Those awesome people had no suspicion of any ruthlessness attacking them. They just wanted to promote something good. But what did they believe? I don’t have an answer to that, but the Lord God knows, so I think you can ask Him. Also, Newtown, Connecticut suffered a similar fate in December 2012 when a gunman mercilessly killed over 20 children (most of whom being kindergarteners) and a teacher that, if I remember correctly, was protecting some students in her classroom. I can’t even begin to think how super-mad I was and how much of a train wreck I felt when this happened. And here’s another thing: the gunman worshiped Satan, so I don’t think he’s interested in Jesus (though He does not command to attack anyone — I know I’m not interested in hurting any souls). None of us suspected that he would do this sort of thing, I think. As for what the people wanted after that, though, I don’t want to address that now. A third scenario I can bring up is this: God even prophesied in Ezekiel 38 that people from Gog (the land of western Russia) would attack others (probably the Israelites) who dwell securely and without borders. I think they would be driven into a panic if that happened. You notice a pattern? Satan loves to attack those who want peace across the entire planet, and the kind that the world doesn’t give, but Christ’s (John 14:27) — for Jesus alone can give the kind of peace and love that lasts, and forever, too.
I can talk all day about how the security and trust can be established, but can also be broken very easily. Too often it never recovers. I think the people just don’t want to risk any beautiful blessing being broken again. Thankfully, we won’t have to even think about bad stuff happening in the future when New Jerusalem is established and creation renewed, if anyone is in Christ, of course. Maybe when I’m further along in this round of Bible notes and can bring up some Scriptures that will help me (and you) understand what’s going on, I’ll explain it to you further, but for now, I’ll just conclude this with the fact that the story begins here, in Genesis 1. Many people who have read the Bible would say that because sin has entered the world, we can’t live out a good or even a decent life where the scenarios of communal trust and security can happen. I say different! For sin didn’t predate anything in creation, as we can see here (though 2 Corinthians 4:6 is an interesting paraphrase of Genesis 1:3, according to a comment in the New Oxford Annotated Bible I had discovered). Not even Satan, when he was known as Lucifer, was created with any sin, but as you might be aware, fell from heaven when he led a rebellion with a third of God’s angels that he had convinced to join him. It was only God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, before He created anything. Funny enough, He’s thought of all of us (that includes you, the reader) before even that happened. I’m glad He’s had me in mind before time began. It’s the same for you, too.
Well, I go to work in a little over three hours, so I’ll get back on here later.
Be encouraged,
Ron Outland
P.S. I forgot to mention that I’m still using the NKJV, NASB (1995), the VOICE, and the Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) for this note, and these chapters are in pages 1-2 (NKJV and NASB (1995); these are pages 1-2 in the Old Testament for the latter), pages 2-4 of the VOICE (including notes in that one, which I won’t get to now), and pages 1-4 of the Amplified Bible (also with notes, which I won’t get to right now, either). Forgive me if I lose track on some of them; it’s a big load of work. I guess it’s a good thing I’m not doing more than four at once! 😅
Ron And His Stories 