6997 - Blemished, Broken - John 1:3c

We are now engrossed in a study of the Gospel of John.

Verse 3 of chapter 1 tells us: “Through him [that is Jesus Christ] all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”

The subject of creation has led us back to Genesis, plus some other verses of Scripture.

We’ve discussed that original creation was perfect when completed – perfect God had established a perfect environment. The material world was beautiful and stable. Creatures enjoyed the environment.

Mankind was chosen by God to rule over every living creature upon the earth. In the state of perfection as originally created this was not as large a responsibility as today. Hostility did not exist. This was true between the people, and was likewise true among the creatures. There were no carnivorous creatures at this time.

This type of harmonious relationship and well-being on earth was a portent of what heaven will be like when we get there.

Mankind was very special to God. He had a very special plan for them. They were to rule over the creatures, but people were also to experience a close relationship with God. Scripture conveys God’s desire for mankind to seek after Him, to reach out to Him (Acts 17:27). In Genesis (third chapter) we find that the Lord God was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. We can sense that this was something which occurred more than this one mention. It is believable that God enjoyed fellowship with His human creatures and they enjoyed His presence.

In the first two chapters of Genesis we had the story of God creating Adam. Later God made a woman from a rib of Adam and put them together as man and wife.

The New Testament gives more explanation regarding man’s make up. We are told (1Thes. 5:23) that man’s being is composed of spirit, soul and body.

His body was material in being. His soul, his inner being, was eternal. The human spirit was to be the center for spiritual life where God would dwell within man.

We have pointed out the perfection of original creation. What happened to blemish and destroy this perfection?

Here’s the reason. God established for Adam one limitation on his conduct. He told Adam that he was free to eat from any tree in the garden EXCEPT you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “When you eat of it you will surely die.” So death was established as the penalty of disobedience to this command.Satan, through a crafty serpent in the garden tempted Eve with much argument, that she should eat of the tree of knowledge. Satan’s cunning argument deceived Eve and she took of this fruit and gave some to Adam as well. Eve was deceived (1Tim. 2:14; 2Cor. 11:3), while Adam knew what he was doing when he took the fruit and ate. He knowingly and willingly disobeyed God.

God withdrew His Holy Spirit from Adam’s human spirit. This is viewed as spiritual death. Physical death also became their destiny.

The shame, disgraceful, costly burden of sin was passed to the human race. The original sin of mankind – to disobey God – brought far reaching consequences.

God told Adam that he had been shaped from dust of the earth, and that he would return to dust because of his sin. This indicated that the curse of physical death had passed upon mankind.

Another horrible consequence of sin was that creation itself was subject to change because of the entry of sin. The ground was cursed, and would in the future bring forth thorns and thistles and require much effort to till. Creatures became carnivorous. Romans (8:22) tells us that the whole creation has been groaning since that time because of frustration and futility which had been placed upon them.

These consequences account for the blemishes to God’s perfect creation.

We will study more about this in our next study.