What was Lost, Is Now Found: Picture of Redemption

Well what is crazy is that God already has this figured out in His abundant wisdom how to redeem mankind. “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ( Gen 3:22)

If the story ended with us sinning against God and that’s about it, man that story would be devastating and hopeless. Thankfully, God in His mercy and grace begins to reconcile the two biggest things that were lost at the fall: an ability to know and fear God without unbelief and stand before Him without dying.

So what God does in the Old Testament, although I’m finishing Deuteronomy, God reveals who He is and His desire to abide and care for mankind through adopting the Israelite's as His own. He highlights His steadfast love and faithfulness through His promise to Abraham and His heirs. Then shows His might, power, nearness, justice, and mercy in deliverance of Israel from Egypt. Then for the vast majority of Leviticus to Deuteronomy, we see His holiness and His heart in the laws and commandments He sets before them. Then you see God use Israel’s mistakes, wars, and all these other things to portray God’s constant faithfulness to His promise despite their rebellion ( think teens versus parent). And although I can’t go through it all, I wanted to focus on God’s laws and commandments in Deuteronomy that portray God’s heart for bringing mankind to Himself.

First, all that God is, is holy, holy, holy. All the laws, commands, and even this idea of exclusion was meant to point to Himself [1]. Although not an exhaustive list. It points to His perfect standard as a Holy God and reminds us that we are just dust, even worse than dust because dust doesn’t talk back and rebel against its creator. And a lot of people, including myself, sometimes don’t get it and may even have a bad taste in our mouth when it comes to holiness. But if God wasn’t holy then that means He would be like us and what a freaking disaster that would be. That would mean God is not the perfect creator, the perfect redeemer, the perfect judge, perfect in love, perfect in grace, perfect in mercy, etc. And I honestly think part of us may not really like holiness because there’s something deep within us that knows we can’t stand before it. There’s at least a part of me that understands my brokenness and knows it can’t stand in the midst of perfection. What was lost at the fall was this ability to stand faultless and guiltless before a holy God, because we were no longer holy. But sin not only deterred our ability to stand confidently before God, but it also tainted our ability to see God as good, the source of life, and our very purpose in life.

So like a father knowing what is best for His children, He lays out laws and commands so that the Israelite's may obey. And again, it is completely for the purpose of showing how Holy God is and how much higher His thoughts and His ways differ from us (Isa 55:8-9). But what caught my eye was that it also displays this heart for God to dwell with His people. But the only way He could do so without killing what is unholy is giving the Israelite's a way to be holy( Deut 4:7-8). God desired to live in a tent among His people ( side note: isn’t it crazy how God lives in a tent and not say a palace with His people. It shows a humility even in that He is in the “dirt” with them). And it was just this constant big picture of God continuing to love and give them so much, even in His discipline, and continue to remind them how much He has done for them and will continue to do in His promises toward them. And it’s not as if He is dependent on their love for Himself, but as their creator He knows what’s best for them- Himself. So if they remember who He is, trust and obey His commands then in faith, they will be righteous before God, and thus be able to dwell with Him inside the camp. But if they don’t, then they are either consumed and destroyed or God takes Himself away. This is most clearly seen in Deut 28. Like many of us, the Israel people also had that deep sin issue that made them prone to wander to other gods and idols. If you read the passage closely, people have the exact same circumstance but one with blessing ( obedience) and one with curse ( disobedience). And God according to His promise would never forsaken them, but He does remove His presence. And we can see that even the good gifts of the world, they too become a curse. That’s why Moses didn’t want the promised land if God wasn’t going to be there (Ex 33:15). But I think it is so key to see how Moses continues to push obedience so much. It’s not out of a legalistic perspective of being holy for the sake of being holy, but a severity of life or death. Life or death? Isn’t that kind of harsh? It’s because God who not only gives them life by his very word, but His presence is life (Deut 8:3/ 30:19-20).

Through God’s discipline and mercy and faithfulness to His promise, it was clear that no amount of sacrifices and obedience from man would ever be a sustainable source of holiness. We on our own cannot put the broken pieces together- we can’t stand and stand in God’s presence let alone worship, love and be loved by Him. That’s why Jesus chose to come because nothing but His blood would be ultimate and final enough to reconcile man to their God.

[1]https://youtu.be/eni9KAkNwzI