Paradise lost and regained

The English words "in the beginning", found in the first chapter of Genesis, do not do justice to the Hebrew. One may be tempted to ask "the beginning of what?" But the meaning of the Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:1 is not the common Hebrew word for "beginning". According to Christian doctrine, worked out after centuries of debates, "in the beginning" there were the Father, the Word and the Spirit.

They decided to create Adam and allow him into their friendship circle. There is no indication that Eve was excluded from the harmonious relationship between God and man. Their unity was due to the fact that God is love and love is not self-centred. Humans were still to demonstrate that they would not upset this peaceful order. Adam and Eve proved not to be completely trustworthy. They decided to "go it alone" by excluding their Creator from their decision to do the one thing that would be fatal to their fellowship with him. On that day they died spiritually (Genesis 2:17). They felt exposed and inadequate to talk to the Lord. Instead of crying out to him for help they ran away and hid. This is still the knee-jerk reaction of humans when we sin.

God was not unprepared for the turn of events. He promised that "the seed of the woman" would crush the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15). By triumphing over principalities and powers, the Deliverer would restore fellowship between the Creator and those who accepted his terms (Colossians 2:15). He seems to have made a covenant to this effect with Seth (Genesis 4:26).

In John's first pastoral letter he invited his readers to have fellowship with him and his fellow believers. He claims that their fellowship was with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. John implied that it was up to individuals to respond to the proclamation of the Word of Life which he equated with "that which was from the beginning" (1 John 1:1-3). In John's gospel he identified the Word, which was in the beginning, with Jesus. On the night he was delivered to the Sanhedrin Jesus claimed that, amongst others, he was "the Life". Before Adam sinned, fellowship with the Word of Life was automatic; after all, it was God's own breath which made Adam into a "living soul".

One of the capabilities humans have due to being created in the image of God, is the potential to procreate humans after our own image (Genesis 5:3). Sin caused God's image in us to be distorted and we reproduce the distortions in our children. They are born self-centred, "dead to God". That is why they need to be born from above to see the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3:3). The tragic story of Cain and Abel illustrates the painful consequences of the desire to "know good and evil". Cain allowed himself to be ruled by his emotions of anger and resentment. He did not seem to have any remorse for his action, only fearful of its consequences (Genesis 4:13-14).

Nevertheless, Jesus said we need to become "like little children". He could not have referred to the predisposition of children to sin. A hint at what he meant is found in Matthew 18:6 where he pronounced a curse on anyone who would cause a "little one" who believed in him  to "stumble". Although children are born in sin, they have a natural tendency to be naïve and trusting. I think God created Adam and Eve with that same characteristic. The snake sowed distrust in their minds regarding the Lord. That was the seedbed for the first sin.

Was Adam's conscience sufficient to keep him from doing evil? It would seem from the Lord's conversation with Cain that it was possible for the early humans to choose good (Genesis 4:7). Man's conscience was not yet so polluted that "every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually (Genesis 6:5). But our default tendency is to want to be "free" to make our own decisions. Since we have different preferences, there has to be rules to govern our behaviour. We refused to obey the single command which was given in Eden. Now we need guidelines to help us live in harmony with each other.

After the flood the remnant of mankind was given the Noahic covenant (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Laws_of_Noah). The instructions contained in it have not been repealed. Later God made a covenant with Israel at Sinai in which he gave them the ten commandments and elaborate instructions based on them. Laws and courts are essential for a functioning society. The scribes and Pharisees codified the laws into 613 commandments. They also amplified the laws with traditions which made life for ordinary people onerous (Matthew 23:23).

If we make love our aim (1 Corinthians 14:1) we would not violate any law, since there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). If this mindset had prevailed in Adam and Eve, there would have been no Fall - the world would not have been cursed. But those who become citizens of the Kingdom of God through the new birth receive the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15) which enables us to love God and our neighbour. He promises us freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17), something human beings instinctively crave. Christians are free from the ceremonial laws prescribed by Moses (Galatians 5:1-5).

While we are in this world we cannot expect to be completely free of sin (1 John 1:8-9). We mature as we learn to discern good from evil (Hebrews 5:14). Our desire for independence is clearly not from God who made us to be in relationship with him (Revelation 21:3).

End Times - the Jews

There are different opinions today about who the Jews are. The State of Israel has criteria which it uses to determine the eligibility of a person to immigrate to it. Some wisecracks have decided to use DNA tests to prove that most Jews are not descended from Jacob. For the purpose of this discussion I assume that people who say they are Jews, had a bar mitzva or bat mitzva and celebrate Passover are in fact the Jews of the last days. Although the word Jew originally meant someone from the tribe of Judah, all the other 11 tribes are also included in this designation today.

Because the Israelites broke their covenant with JHWH, he raised up the Assyrians and Babylonians to take them into exile. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. The exiled Israelites could no longer offer sacrifices. They retained their religion by establishing synagogues in the towns they lived. In these the scriptures were read and community events organised.

Pagans who were interested in the one true God could attend meetings in synagogues and even convert to Judaism. Those who preferred not to follow the ceremonial laws of Moses were given the title God-fearers. Cornelius was such a person (Acts 10:1-2) and Paul met many of them in his apostolic journeys (Acts 13:50; 17:4; 17:17; 18:7). In this way the pre-Christian gospel became available to non-Jews of the empires whether Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek or Roman.

Tragically, when the Messiah arrived, a large amount of Jews did not recognise him. However, there were tens of thousands of Messianic Jews (Acts 21:20). Believers in Jesus were called Nozerim (Nazarenes) by the anti-messianic Jews who discouraged them from attending their synagogues. They did so by introducing a benediction which the Pharisee congregations would recite when they met. Believers would in effect invoke a curse on themselves if they were to join in reciting it (https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/birkat-ha-minim). Those Jewish believers in Jesus who joined gentile churches had another problem. The churches discouraged them from continuing to observe Jewish feasts.

Over the centuries such a rift emerged between Jews and gentiles that Jews who wanted to convert to Christianity were compelled to deny their Jewishness. The words "Messianic and Christian are in theory interchangeable, but in actuality, miles apart because of the history between so-called Christians and the Jewish people" (https://www.roncantor.com/post/why-i-don-t-call-myself-christian). 

Since the middle of the 20th century things have changed for Jewish believers in Jesus. Many Messianic congregations have been established all over the world. Members of these assemblies believe in Jeshua (his Jewish name) and continue to follow Jewish traditions. Also, since the establishment of Israel in 1948, Israeli congregations have been founded. They sing, preach and teach in Hebrew. John also prophesied that 144000 Israelis would play a key role in the end times. God is keeping a record of the tribe from which each of them would come (Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1). 

The statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (see End Times: A prequel) is eventually pulverised (Jeremiah 51:24; Revelation 17:4-5; 17:16). The statue represents the empires that ruled and will rule from the time of the Babylonians until it gets replaced by an everlasting Kingdom. The demolition of the statue comes from a stone cut out without hands (Daniel 2:34-35). That Kingdom will have its capital in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:3; 60:14). The cornerstone of that Kingdom is the One which was rejected by the rulers of the Jews (Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16; Matthew 21:42).