Did God foresee the fall of man? Definitely. This is because God is the Almighty who knows everything about the past, everything about the present and everything about the future. The question many people then ask is : How come the Almighty did nothing to prevent the fall of man? I dare say that all those who ask this question miss the point.
What many people fail to realise is that man needed to be tested. Adam needed to pass a test of obedience, a test of loyalty and a test of love. God wanted to see if man would obey Him, be loyal to Him and love Him.
Therefore, the whole garden of Eden scenario was a test. However, it was sad that man failed the tests.
Those who say that God should have prevented Adam's fall are simply saying that after the Almighty had set an examination for Adam, He should have helped the candidate to write the examination. Well, that did not happen and with God, it will never happen. Although the Almighty is loving, kind and merciful, the fact remains that He is a righteous God.
However, what God did not fail to do after the fall was to make provision for the rise of man, that is, the rise of the human race from the fall. He promised the coming of the Messiah, that is, the Christ. The Almighty promised the coming of the Messiah who would reconcile man back to God.
This simply meant that the salvation of man was always on the cards. The Almighty told Lucifer, that is, Satan, who was the architect of the fall of man in Gen. 3 verse 15, ''And I will put an enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed (offspring) and her seed; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot and you will bruise His heel.''
It was an indication that the Saviour of the world who would be born of a woman would one day appear on the stage of history.
It must be realised that the fall of man opened the door of human history to Satan. Man was now a sinner and an enemy of God, having taken sides with God's enemy, Satan. With Satan now largely orchestrating and manipulating the story of sinful man, things went haywire. Man thus became a worshipper of nature and things rather than being a worshipper of the one and only true God. Gradually, the worship of nature and things crystallised into organised religions whereby people ignorantly worshipped evil spirits who were masquerading as gods.
For instance, the ancient Babylonians worshipped many gods like Tiamat, Enlil, Enki, Ishtar, Shamash, Nisaba and Ashur. Their chief god however was Marduk. The people of Persia also had many gods and chief among them was Ahura-Mazda. Ancient Aryans worshipped natural elements like fire, the sun, thunder, wind and ocean. The Indians worshipped Hindu gods like Kama, Cupid, Vishwakarma, Vulcan, Indra and Zeus. There were thousands of other gods. Ancient Greeks worshipped the Olympian gods and godesses including Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes and Athena. The Romans worshipped Jupiter, Neptune, Mars, Venus, Pluto, Cupid, Saturn, Janus, Diana, Mercury and Vesta. Hundreds of thousands of other gods were and are worshipped in all other places around the world. Modern versions of these gods are still worshipped around the world. Surprisingly, people still worship the moon, the stars, rivers, mountains, animals and several other things.
The sad thing was and is still that all these religions could not bring people to the only true God. Actually, the people of the world got farther away from God. The real proof that these religions and gods were and are all false is that none of them addressed the real issue.
The real issue is the issue of sin and how man could be delivered from sin.
The tragedy was and is still that millions of people flocked to and are still flocking to all sorts of religions despite the fact that these religions do not deal with the real issue. The truth is that there could be no real reconciliation with the true God without addressing the real issues.
Today, millions of human souls languish in hellfire having been herded there by the religions of the world. All these souls suffering in hell are there because they were never reconciled to God even though they claimed to practise religion.
However, at long last, due to the faithfulness of God, the promised seed of the woman, that is, the Messiah came. This happened in the fullness of time, that is, the time pre-planned by God. This was why the bible says in Gal. 4 verse 4, 'But when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to the Law.'
When the Messiah thus came, His priority was to deal with the real issue, which was the issue of sin. This was why John the Baptist said of the seed of the woman in John 1 verse 29, 'The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!'
Throughout His earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about the deadliness of sin:
1. In John 5 verse 14 He said, 'Afterward, when Jesus found him in the temple, He said to him, ''See, you are well! Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.'' '
2. In Matthew 7 verses 22 and 23 He said, ''Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name? And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly.''
3. In Hebrews 9 verse 22, we also read, '(In fact) under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.'
Now, we are no longer talking about the blood of bulls, goats or other animals that was used under the old covenant to cover people's sins. We are referring to the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. It is only His blood that cleanses from sin.
We could therefore see that Christ had to lay down His life so that those who believe and trust in that death could be forgiven their sins and so that they could be cleansed from their sins with His blood.
Therefore, the true Christ, that is, the promised seed of the woman fulfilled the demands of God in that He gave His life in order to take away sin. This became necessary because a sinner cannot go to heaven and God wants us in heaven. Only the blood of Jesus can cleanse from sin and make people fit for heaven.
The Lord Jesus Christ further said in Matthew 24 verse 5, ''For many will come in (on the strength of) My name ( appropriating the name which belongs to Me), saying. I am the Christ (the Messiah), and they will lead many astray.''
The words of Christ have been fulfilled and are being fulfilled in the world. Many religions and religious founders have claimed to be Christ in that they claim to know the way to God. Their books of religious instruction tell them and their followers that as long as they keep their rules and regulations, they will go to heaven.
However, the truth is that only Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, is able to deal with sin in human life.
We are thus convinced that the real persons behind the religions are Satan himself and his evil spirits. The devil, that is, Satan, does not want people to know the truth. Millions of people therefore continue to delude themselves thinking that their religions will take them to heaven. This is why the bible says in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, 'For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds (that they should not discern the truth), preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ ( the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.' .
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