3.
What You Don't Know About Sin Just to recap, it is by God's sustaining
presence that the heavens, the stars, and the earth are held together.
Apart from His presence, all things would cease to exist.
Understanding this reality is critical for grasping the nature of sin and its profound
consequences.
It is this reality that helps us understand why sin inevitably leads to death.
See Romans 6 verse 23.
The death brought about by sin is not merely physical death or sleep.
The ultimate consequence of sin is what some refer to as the second death, the permanent,
irrevocable separation from God which results in the death of the soul and the end of existence.
This is eternal separation, a fate far more devastating than any earthly passing.
As Jesus warns, Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10 verse 28.
Sin entered this world through Adam and Eve, but its roots run deeper than their disobedience.
Sin is far more than that, and it is imprudent to reduce it to a mere issue of moral failure.
Sin is a greater issue than morality alone.
It is separation from God.
It is anything that comes between you and God, anything you prioritize over Him.
Sin is a rejection of God, and apart from God there is no existence.
This is something not always understood even by other created beings, until the resurrection
of Christ, even Satan, the adversary of God, failed to comprehend the full significance
of separation from his Creator.
At the moment Jesus died on the cross, Satan believed he had achieved the ultimate victory.
What he failed to recognize was that his actions revealed to all the rest of creation the depth
of his deception and his defeat.
Before his rebellion, Satan was known as Lucifer, the brightest and most magnificent of all
created beings.
He was so impressive that he was called the Son of the Morning.
As a pinnacle of God's creation, Lucifer was adorned with beauty and splendor almost
beyond our ability to imagine.
He is described in Ezekiel 28.
You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
You were in Eden, the garden of God.
Every precious stone adorned you.
You were appointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.
You were on the holy mount of God.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found
in you.
Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because
of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth.
Lucifer was the highest of all created beings, but ultimately he chose to reject his Lord
and Creator.
At some point, in his pride, he persuaded himself that he no longer had any need or
love for God.
He looked at the magnificence God had bestowed upon him and convinced himself that he was
equal.
He allowed a thought to take root.
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.
I will make myself like the Most High.
Isaiah 14, verse 14.
In his arrogance, he rejected God.
This was the origin of sin.
But why would God allow any created being to turn against Him?
The answer lies in one of the greatest gifts God has given to us—free will.
God is love, and love cannot be forced.
It must be freely given and freely received.
Without the power to choose, love is meaningless.
God did not create robots programmed to obey.
He created beings capable of experiencing the fullness of His love and reflecting it
back to Him and to creation.
The most important thing that God gives to all intelligent, created beings is free will,
the power to choose.
He wants your love and relationship with Him, but love cannot ever be forced.
True love is given and chosen willingly.
Lucifer chose not to.
He persuaded himself that he no longer needed God.
This is what corrupted his understanding.
He convinced himself, God is holding me back.
God doesn't love me.
I can be my own God.
In his rebellion, Lucifer became the father of lies, spreading his deceit to others.
A third of the angels in heaven believed Lucifer's lies and sided with him and chose to reject
God themselves.
See Revelation 12 verse 4.
It was rebellion rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of who God is—not only the Creator, but
also the sustainer of all that is.
Everything that exists does so because of God.
God's will and presence.
Apart from Him, there is nothing.
The rebellion in heaven was also a clash of ideas and beliefs,
trust versus distrust, love versus pride,
truth versus deception.
I believe that until then, all of creation
had lived in perfect harmony with God's will.
But the rebellion introduced doubt, jealousy, and unbelief.
For the first time, created beings
questioned the motives of their creator.
Satan would have the world, indeed all of creation,
believe that he is God's equal, that good and evil are
two opposing forces of comparable power.
But this is just another of his lies.
The enemy is not in any way God's equal.
He is a created being, subject to God's authority
and bound by the limitations of his nature,
as Paul reminds us about God.
For by him all things were created,
things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities,
all things were created by him and for him.
Colossians 1 verse 16.
The enemy's falsehoods and misrepresentations
have been perpetuated through the ages,
designed to keep God's children from understanding
the depth of his love and the truth of his character.
But our heavenly father's love is unyielding.
He has allowed the rebellion to continue for a time,
not because he lacked the power to end it,
but because he desires to reveal
the fullness of his love and justice.
God's response to the rebellion and humanity's fall
was not immediate destruction, but divine patience.
He has allowed the conflict to unfold
so that all creation can see the truth of his character,
the result of sin and the consequences
of separation from him.
It is for the enemy and his rebellious cohorts,
just as Nahum prophesied to the people of Nineveh,
whatever you plot against the Lord,
he will bring to an end.
Affliction will not rise up a second time.
Nahum 1 verse 9.
Throughout the history of the universe,
through Christ's life, death, and resurrection,
through Pentecost, namely the sending of the Holy Spirit,
and through so much more,
God demonstrates the lengths he goes to
to redeem his children.
His love is incomprehensible, his patience unfathomable,
and his justice perfect.
He invites you to choose him,
to reject the lies of the enemy,
and to walk in the truth of his love.
For in him, and only in him,
will you find abundant life, purpose, and eternal joy.
We'll discover why in the next chapter.