Yet He Still Made Man

 The question has been asked in many circles: if God knew that man would be disobedient to Him and sin, why did He still make man?

After all, God knew how everything would turn out in this world. He knew what He was doing when He created this world. He knew that when He created man that they would exercise their free will and choose to disobey His command in the Garden of Eden. 

God also knew that as a result of that, there would be pain, hard labour, destruction, violence, sickness, and death. He knew that He would have to send His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, to die for our sins, so that we can be saved. And He also knew that some people would accept Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and some would not.

Yet He still made man. And so the question is why?

The answer is in The Bible.

John 3:16-18, reading from The Message Version. ““This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”

So in His great foresight, knowing what would happen, God also created a plan offering man the opportunity to repent, be forgiven and to be redeemed and saved into His eternal kingdom.

So the answer to this most profound question: why did God, knowing humanity would sin, choose to create us, lies in understanding God's nature and His plan for creation.

There could also be the question: why did God create humans with free will, this ability to choose between right and wrong, knowing that many would choose to do wrong?

The answer again is because God loves us with a great love. 

Let’s go back to the beginning when free will was given, and come through the ages, as God showed us that He also made provision for those who did not choose right.

Genesis 2:16-17 “God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.””

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God, your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God, your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Joshua 24:15 ““If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today. Choose one of the gods your ancestors worshiped from the country beyond The River, or one of the gods of the Amorites, on whose land you’re now living. As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.””

Romans 5:6-8 “Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”

And 2 Peter 3:8-9 “Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change.”

So we can understand that this freedom God gave us, is necessary for true love and obedience. 

After all, God is love and so why would He force us to do what he says? 

Imagine being in a relationship with someone, could be husband and wife, parent and child, or best friend, and you are under siege as it were, to do what this person says, or else? How would you feel?

Most likely you would be fearful, afraid, nervous, always on edge for fear of upsetting this other person, right?

So in our own experiences, we know that a love that is forced or predetermined is not true love. 

Our Great God, in His infinite wisdom, wanted and wants to have a relationship with us, one where we freely choose to love Him in return. 

Unfortunately, with God giving us this right to choose, many in fact chose to sin.

Yet God still made man.

Why? Because He also had a plan of redemption ready to kick in, catch this, for whoever chose to accept it.

By sending His Son Jesus to die, He was giving us an opportunity to live. 

Such love. What a display of grace, justice, and mercy. 

Family, ultimately, good will triumph over evil. That is a part of God’s great plan for our lives…because in spite of it all, He absolutely and deeply loves us.

I may or may not have shed some light on this question. You may or may not have studied this for yourself. 

In any event, there are just some questions and some aspects of God's reasons that will remain beyond our understanding. 

In the Bible, we are reminded that our understanding of God is limited, but we ought to trust Him where we cannot trace Him. This is important for our journey of faith.

And we can read when you get a moment later on, from Job 36 verse 5 all the way down to chapter 42 verse 6.

So yes God knew that making man would lead to sin, but He also knew it would lead to the possibility of genuine love, redemption, and moral and spiritual growth. 

Today, let us reflect on the depth of this love. Let us use our free will to choose God. Let us ask Him to strengthen our faith in Him as we go through the challenges of life. 

And let us allow God to guide us in our daily walk with Him, as we await the soon return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

aub - 23 July 2024

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