Kingdom Come

Although Adam joining his wife in death saved her from the dreadful isolation that defines death, that didn’t reconcile her to a spiritual relationship for eternal life with the Creator.

God can unilaterally forgive sinners but even He can only offer restoration of relationship, which must be accepted by the sinner.

And the LORD God said…Because thou hast done this…thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Genesis 3:6-16)

There is a direct connection between

• the woman’s desire for tasty food, pleasure, and wisdom getting her in trouble and dragging her husband down into her trouble,
• and God’s response by putting her desires under her husband’s oversight.

It’s to prevent a recurrence!

It is also to reconcile her broken relationship with her husband. How could he ever trust her in the future if she didn’t admit her weakness and allow him to protect himself as much as her from a recurrence?

YHVH wasn’t setting up a tyrannical marriage system. Adam had proven his love for his wife by dying for her. If the rest of us women screened prospective husbands for Adam’s qualifications we wouldn’t find ourselves desperately backing out of slavery.

1. “while Mrs. Adam / we were yet sinners, The Chosen Human / Christ died for us.
   • Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
2. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,
   • much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
   • And not only [grudgingly with a permanent bad reputation], but we also [have] joy in [a completely restored loving relationship with] God
   • [How?] through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Atonement provides leadership-driven boundaries in order to restore relationship.

Hello! We love that word “boundaries” in psychology, don’t we?

When you hear the phrase ‘setting boundaries’ you might think it’s all about putting up walls or barriers between you and your loved ones. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Essentially, setting boundaries…shows just how much you care about the other person, because you’re willing to put in the effort to nurture and sustain that relationship.

1. Acknowledge the damage done by his / her actions. Honestly, most relationships just limp along at this level, with continued trauma and apologies, harbored resentment and anger, and increasing distance between the parties.
2. Offer to repair the damage done to the extent possible, also called repairs / reparations.
   • In politics, monetary reparations are often imposed on the countries that started, but lost, a war.
   • In a court of law, a monetary fine is often imposed on the offender, which puts a value on the damage caused by the wrongdoer’s actions.  This allows the judge to maintain his integrity (honesty, righteousness, faithfulness to the law).
3. Take action to prevent a recurrence. Stop drinking. Get counseling. Stop interacting superficially with with co-workers and online resources and engage instead in the hard work of building a relationship with your family.

I think we all agree that the woman whose boyfriend destroyed her life – as detailed in the post Forgiveness – could only begin to consider getting re-involved with him if he restored all he took from her. And then set some serious boundaries until he proved himself, right?

In ancient Israel, the Day of Atonement laid the foundation for God to forgive the people of any sins committed since the previous year’s feast…

Today, the ten days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days of repentance, when Jews express remorse for their sins through prayer and fasting. Yom Kippur is the final day of judgment.

Expressing remorse is utterly meaningless if you have no intention of changing your behavior. Ask anyone who’s been been in an unfaithful marriage.

David’s restoration of relationship with God vividly demonstrates that atonement is harder to do than breaking up.

King David committed multiple sins against 1) God who had entrusted the kingdom to him, 2) his subjects, 3) his faithful general Uriah, 4) Bathsheba, and 5) their innocent child.

However, God forgave him, and in the process, God suffered the loss of his own authority and credibility.

“And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit…by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme…Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me…Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house…I will do this thing before all Israel… (II Samuel 12)

Next, because David repented and pleaded for it, God allowed him to make atonement in order to restore their relationship and God’s reputation.

“thou shalt give life for life” (Exodus 21:1-30)

In King David’s case, because this case was so extreme, God required the greatest sacrifice any parent can make – the death of his children. David called for a judgment of paying four times restitution in the parable of a man who killed another man’s lamb, and God held him to it. David atoned for the Uriah’s life with the lives of four sons.

1. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick…And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died…Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped…” (II Samuel 12:7-23)
2. “Amnon…is dead: for by the appointment of Absalom this hath been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar.” (II Samuel 13:32)
3. “ten young men…smote Absalom, and slew him…And the king was much moved…and wept…”O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (II Samuel 18)
4. “Then king Solomon sware by the Lord, saying…[my rebel brother] Adonijah shall be put to death this day. And king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah the son of Jehoiada; and he fell upon him that he died.” (I Kings 2:23-25)

David didn’t actively kill his children, but he did sacrifice his children when he gave them up to God to do as God willed. You can best be sure that David realized that each time one of his sons died he knew it was in his place. Listen to his heart-wrenching scream “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” This isn’t just an abstract wish. This is for real. David would much rather have pleaded guilty in a court of law and have been executed for his crimes to end his emotional pain. But he was needed to govern this new nation or Israel would have collapsed even earlier than it did into chaos and potential obliteration.

Notice that David also made atonement to Bathsheba. Most sinners shift the blame, claiming exculpatory circumstances with claims like “she shouldn’t have tempted me.” David accepted responsibility and, highly unusual for a man in a powerful position, made reparations to the woman he had wronged by giving her a son to care for her when David was no longer able. And didn’t Solomon live up to that task.

“And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.” (II Samuel 12:7-24)

Like David, the Woman was responsible for restoring her relationship with her God. She did this when she admitted she was a sinner, believed God when he said he had transferred her sin to Adam, and – importantly! – submitted to the new rule giving Adam dominion over her – a BIG change from being created equals!

“…be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (II Corinthians 5:20-21)

We can put the Adams in that exact context.

This is not some abracadabra invisible magical transformation!

The Woman was “made” righteous over a grueling, time consuming process of submitting herself to Adam’s rule over her!!

This is spelled out in the New Testament.

• “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad…
• because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead…
• that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
• Therefore IF any [hu]man [think the Woman] BE IN in Christ [think in submission to Adam], he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And [for the new creature] all [his/her] things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.” (II Corinthians 5:10-18)

Becoming a new creation requires focusing on what the Lord – be he Adam or the Word of God or any godly authority – tells us not to do instead of what our instincts and bodily cravings for pleasure drive us into doing against our better judgment. Look in a mirror. Anyone besides me see a need to be less self-indulgent?

“we all, with open face beholding as in a glass / mirror reflecting back to us the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image…by the Spirit of the Lord.” (II Corinthians 3:18b)

Ask any homeless drug addict who has prayed the Sinner’s Prayer countless times at rescue missions but still steals and lies to feed his drug habit, dying a little more every day. He / She has not experienced transformation to new life in this world – nor in the world to come.

This is not just philosophical logic. This is spiritual law.

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free…Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin…Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth…Then took they up stones to cast at him.” (John 8:31-59)

Thereby immediately proving Jesus’ point and establishing that a Christianity that preaches that salvation is a “gift, nothing further is required except simple faith in Him” is a lie of the devil.

The Romans Road is basically a set of key verses that take us through Paul’s Gospel presentation in the book of Romans and explains in a simple, shorthand form, the Gospel…

1. The first part…confirms the state of every human as sinful and the state of God as holy…
2. The second part…explains the hope we have in the love of God expressed through Christ…
3. The third part…If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…
4. The fourth part…believers are gifted eternal life with God.

A Roman’s Road Prayer

God, I know that I am a sinner and that the wages of sin are death. I believe that you sent your Son, Jesus Christ, as a payment for my punishment. I declare that Jesus is my Lord and profess my faith for salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Thank you for your grace, forgiveness, peace, and gift of eternal life. Amen!”

Every bride and groom understands that just because you’ve been gifted doesn’t mean you value or will use the gift. That kitchen appliance will not be incorporated into that recipient’s way of life unless chosen to do so.

By itself, God’s gift of forgiveness does not provide eternal life through connection with him any more than a human forgiving an abusive spouse restores a marital relationship.

A Christianity that transposes the Christ’s nature onto a sinner by “transmogrification” rather than the imitation of his obedience to the Father has no more power to save than Calvin’s Hobbes.

The reality is that anyone who is “made” righteous does so by applying the Savior’s LIFE – the Force – to align one’s own lifestyle choices in the same obedience to the Father.

Someone who has truly embraced the free gift of salvation, i.e. is connected to God’s Spirit, will show it in their conversion from sinfulness / disconnectedness to a righteous life in healthy relationships with God and his children. This is clearly stated to be terminating fulfillment of physical desires for short-term sensual pleasures obtained at the cost of long-term self-destruction. It is equated with crucifixion because it is acknowledged to be painful and takes time to kill.

• “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized [by the Spirit / merged] into Jesus Christ were baptized / fully immersed into his death...
  • that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
• For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
  • we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
• Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed…Now if we be dead with Christ,
  • we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more…
• Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,
  • but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof…
  • but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God…
• Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
  • whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?,,,
• What fruit [productive results]  had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?
  • for the end of those things is death…” (Romans 6)

“For the flesh / body lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other…Now the works of the flesh are manifest / obvious, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God…And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” (Galatians 5:17-24)

So-called Christ-one/ians who do not in fact personally apply Christ’s death to the flesh do not therefore attain his resurrection to new life, obviously not in this world, and neither in the world to come.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death…Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Romans 8:2-3, 9-14)

“know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (James 4:4)

These passages make it clear that just as death is a consequence of sin, so eternal life is a consequence of righteousness.

Righteous proceeds beyond believing God to acting in accordance with what pleases God. It’s like a marriage relationship. You can go through the ceremony and say the words “I do”, but unless you actually “do” and consummate the marriage you are not in a marriage relationship and it is legally nullifiable – it never existed.

Faith in action by our bodies is what transforms the neuronal physical structure of our souls, transforming us into the likeness of Christ / The Promised Redeemer.

“present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)