One Year Bible, Friday, January 2, 2015
Genesis 3:1-4:26; Matthew 2:13-3:6; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 1:7-9
You can’t really solve a problem until you know the nature of the problem. It is universally agreed that humankind needs help.
“Houston, we have a problem.”
Myriad fake solutions to the human predicament surround us. The Apostle Paul calls them false gospels — different gospels (Gal. 1:6). They range from pop psychology to Eastern mysticism to corrupted Christianity.
Hedonism says escape by pleasure. Materialism says bury your problems with “stuff.” Rugged individualism says give up on everyone else and just look out for Number 1. Self-help and self-medication are huge business in our day.
But, there is a something wrong at the core. In the words of Hamlet, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” — and in the state of the human heart.
Genesis 3 describes our basic problem. The Bible tells us that the basic problem of man is
rebellion against God. After two chapters describing the beauty of CREATION, we run smack into an unbelievable train wreck. Adam and Eve had everything right where it needed to be. It was ALL GOOD.
Then the wheels came off.
We all love happy endings. But, it seems the early pages of human history is filled with stories GOING BAD. Eden is polluted. Cain kills Abel. Abraham has to rescue Lot. On and on throughout history.
We won’t find the HAPPY ENDING to the human story until the Seed comes (Gen. 3:15). Satan has slithered into the human story and wreaked havoc. The story doesn’t turn good until Someone comes to crush Satan’s head. That Someone is Jesus, the Messiah, the Promised One.
We live in a “Genesis 3” world. It is fallen. But we also live in a “Genesis 3:15” world. The Seed has come and crushed the head of the serpent.
Sin is the problem of mankind. Not politics or poverty or plague; not ISIS or terrorism or drugs. James 4 sums it up. “Where do wars and fights come from among us? Do they not come from the desires that war in our hearts?” (James 4:1)
When one man turns from sin to serve God, it is like a beachhead from the Kingdom of God reclaiming lost ground. Let’s reclaim territory for Jesus this year! That solves the real problem!