God delegated. Just look up the definition. He handed over the responsibility of being sanctified to us, His creation. From the beginning, after sin of course, God handed over the responsibility of being sanctified to us. That's the key though-the whole "after sin of course." After Adam & Eve, (for the sake of less arguments, I'll say "we, humanity, sinned" because face it, we would all want that some how dazzling fruit that God told us not to eat), we sinned but God seemed to have not only punished us however given us more freedom. Could we turn around & say more freedom could be more destructive in the long run? Thus, actually in some regards detrimental? Note, I say in some regards not all. I'm not getting all Communist here. Back to the point. We needed to be brought back into the fold of God, back into that friendship, & back to that holiness. How were we going to get there? Well, we didn't seem that concerned until murder entered the scene. Read the first chapters of Genesis & see what I'm talking about. Even then, however, we didn't see how that was related to the "fall" & where God wanted us to be. We did have some concept that God deserved the best, but deep down did we/they really care? Sure we were kicked out of Eden, the most beautiful garden in to world, thrown into the desert with thorns & thistles, given pain during child-birth, yada yada. Maybe we thought, "ok yah my bad. My bad. I shouldn't have done that whole disobeying God thing. I got smacked on the hand, I mean it was a pretty hard smack...but I'll live. I'm doing well for myself. I can do this whole not perfect relationship with God thing for a while." We think everything is a ok, until a few chapters (years/decades/centuries) later the going gets really tough! And again, God only seems to see the real damage done. He even claims at one point that He regretted creating the human race. Why? Because we were screwing up the earth? Because we weren't listening? Because we were hurting each other? Because He knew what our free will/independence would cost in the long run? Maybe. Maybe all of the above. I don't know, I'm not God. Regardless, something had to be done. We acknowledge this in part...a little more than before. We are then introduced to animal sacrifice. Sorry you Animal Activists, but that's how the cookie crumpled. From the laws given to Moses & the new establishing culture of "God's chosen people", we are given something we can do to try & make things better. This was grabbing a livestock, banishing your impurities upon it, slicing its throat & burning it on an altar. Sounds a bit pagan or Satanist doesn't it? Why is it another creature had to take upon our sins? Why couldn't we bare them ourselves? That would entail killing ourselves, which wouldn't get us any where because we would be unfit to enter God's kingdom, that is heaven. God regardless wanted man, although carried out through odd, almost cruel jokes one could say by our own hands= our works. Works that would have no end. Works He would later say meant nothing. So God came down. In Spirit, He dwelt among His believers in a small section of the temple called The Holy of Holies. This, this right here was a huge deal! I mean forget about this whole just one guy on a mountain somewhere talking with God that people were skeptical about & where you had to hide in the clift of the rock because God's presence was too overwhelming for you to bear! God choose to get closer to all the people & travel with them. Still this place was terrifying. Only very, very specific & special people were allowed to enter this place. God seemed to provoke fear more than anything. However, were the people just fearful because in actuality they still didn't understand the severity of their sin & the great holiness of their God? For if they really, really did, wouldn't they have stopped sinning a long time ago & repented night and day? That wouldn't be true living either; not only that, but I'm pretty sure their supplies of cows or whatever they used would run out. Then what? So God moves a little bit closer. He introduces prophets. People whom He'd personally whisper in the ears of regardless if they had entered the Holy of Holies or not. These people spoke with deep conviction & boldness. Their words unlike the ones at the temple were direct to a specific person & consequences. Note consequences can be good or bad things. I should just say the outcomes of our actions. How did "God's chosen people" respond? Oh they absolutely loved it! They rejoiced at some stranger pin-pointing their flaws & telling them what to do! That's why our churches are so packed today, right?! Wrong. The prophets of the Old Testament were the first martyrs so to speak. God knew this message would cost their lives. Yet God longed for all people, for that original deep connection...how foolish some would say. I like the line from the first Twilight movie: "What a sick lion, what a stupid lamb." In the midst of what people called "following God", He dangled something in front of them that they wouldn't come to understand even when it was right smack dap in front of them-Jesus. The trailer to this Good News was like a wade of a thousand dollars attached to a fishing wire. Every time the OT prophets would drop a conviction, there also stood that ray of sun shine only to be snatched away by another era of waiting...but then the time had finally come where God was like, "ok enough you guys, I got this. You obviously can't get this. So let me pay the tab. I know you drank way too much & can't get home. I got you." Jesus, the real star of the whole show, God in flesh came down. And we all know what happened next. If not, read your Bible-yes, that dusty book that you tucked away to the very back of your book shelf because "you went to church & didn't need it." But the question still remains-did God delegate His task of saving us in the beginning? Why couldn't have Jesus come right after Adam & Eve took a bite out of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge (that knowledge being of good & evil)? Was it because our hearts weren't ready? Was it because our punishment of death promised to us if we ate was actually a long, slow, painful fade away from the presence of God our Father? How far gone do we have to be until we get some sense knocked into us? It's like we are/were thrown into a deep, deep dark cave but unaware of how black it was until someone lights a match some several hours later. Except make those hours, into years, in fact, make it thousands of years. Jesus was that light. And the light bulb finally turned on in our heads as we watched God's begotten son beaten & broken all because we thought we could handle things on our own. His body was beaten beyond recognition, all because we found knowledge (man made logic) to be more important than abiding in our Father. Instead of taking the rod to beat us, Jesus bore all the wrath designated for our sins (past, present & future). God didn't delegate salvation to us. He knew before He spoke Creation into existence that this day would come & yet, He still choose it to be so. God knew how to fix the relationship, He had to redeem the heart not just the hands (works/choices) of man. We needed a few thousand years to realize that was the issue-our hearts. And God's timing was perfect! New powers were opposing His people, a new era was beginning, different major religions were about to form, & God came down. God said: "I am not here for you to just please & worship. I am here to know you. I am here to take you back home because I love. I love you to the point of death. Not only that, but I'm going to do what you thought you could but couldn't, that is I'm going to put an end to the power of sin/darkness once & for all. By rising from the dead, I'm am offering you resurrection. Resurrection from this life into the rest, resurrection from your ways of thinking, resurrection from this shame & guilt." You see our God is not only a God of grace but of mercy. If there was no sin, there would be no Good News; & if there was no Good News, there would be no reason to fully love God in return. Sure we would be thankful for creation but our hearts are prone to wonder & we would soon establish a new god like a golden cow...All in all salvation, redemption, sanctification, purification and holiness could not be accomplished by your hands, nor will it ever be. This is a gift. Like the Garden of Eden, except it lives inside of us now-it's called the Holy Spirit. Yes, the same Spirit that killed any animal touching Mount Sanai and filled the whole temple with smoke because one small room behind a curtain couldn't contain God's magnificent glory! Do you understand all of this? Can your "knowledge" wrap around all of this? Can you fathom God's ways, God's goodness, God's justice & God's timing? The tree Adam & Eve ignored was the Tree of Life, the second tree in the middle of the garden. Jesus said: "I am the Way, the Truth, & the Life." Paul later declares Jesus as the second Adam (the one we are suppose to follow). I certainly can not fathom all of these things although I write about them...The Spirit just took me to Hebrews 10 & these where my thoughts... measly composed within two hours. Hebrews 10 concludes by asking us one final question in a way that I leave with you now:
how could you live ignoring ALL OF THIS?
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