Some find it hard to grasp how it’s possible to enter the Kingdom of God without works. How can we possibly not prove to God how “good” we are, to enter His kingdom? One thing we need to understand is that the world is not a test. The world isn't set up to see how “good” or “bad” we are. No one is truly “good” (Luke 18:19), and therefore, objectively, we are all “bad”. In reality, as a consequence of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6), the world became saturated in sin.
God With Us:
Understanding God’s original plan will show us that God has always wanted fellowship with us. He has always wanted to be in our presence, among us. We see this at the beginning - as God walks around the garden in Genesis 3:8. We see this at the end in Revelation 21:3 as God promises that in the New Jerusalem He will live among us. Both in the beginning and end of the Bible, we see a glimpse of God wanting to live amongst humans. The earth that God created had essentially been the Kingdom of God until sin entered the world - and as a result, God in His holy state could no longer live within his creation. This was the spiritual death.
The Immortal Man:
Humans and God walked side by side (Genesis 3:8), man and woman were both positioned to tend and work in the garden, they were meant to live for eternity - the consequence of sin meant that human life was shortened. Humans once lived extensive lives, with the oldest living human noted in the bible being Methuselah - who lived until the grand old age of 969 years. However, as humans lived their lengthy lives, the prominence of sin increased, and therefore life expectancy was shortened to 120 years (Genesis 6:3). In Genesis 2:17, God had told Adam that if he ate from the tree of good and evil, then he (Adam) would die. Therefore, we see that death was never in the original plan. If Adam and Eve had obeyed God’s commands, then we would have experienced physical eternal life. We were meant to live alongside God for eternity. Eternal life with God has always been the goal and thankfully, that opportunity is still being offered in the picture of Jesus Christ.
When Sin Entered the World, so did Death:
Genesis 3:20-24 recounts the story of the events that followed after Adam and Eve sinned.
Humans had become like God, in the sense that they knew the difference between good and evil (experientially). Now, not only did they know the difference between good and evil, they had also now experienced and understood it (by sinning against God). In sinning against God, their “eyes opened” (Genesis 3:7) and now had realised they were naked. The realisation of their nakedness was down to the fact they now felt guilt - due to their disobedience. They were exposed and vulnerable and thus now felt shame. Prior to their sin, they were truly innocent, as both were naked but had nothing to be ashamed of (Genesis 2:25).
Instead of allowing Adam and Eve to remain in the garden and have access to the tree of life, God banished them from the garden. Initially, before their sin, they had the opportunity to live forever as they had free access to the tree of life. Now, in their sin-stained flesh, God was adamant that they would not eat this fruit and live for eternity. However, even in this situation, we see God’s grace, kindness and greater plan for mankind. At a quick glance, in the last few verses of chapter 3, we conclude that God’s actions were solely based on punishing man and woman. Nevertheless, God actually in part, led Adam and Eve out of the garden in love. If they had stayed in the garden and eaten from the tree of life, they would have remained in their state of sin for eternity. By leading them out of the garden, He was already leading them on the path of redemption. They were being led towards eternal life without the consequence of sin. This again highlights how God, in His love, has always worked to fellowship with us. We now have the opportunity to have eternal life through Christ. This means that one day, we will be taken from this earth and taken into the kingdom of God where there is no sin, death, sadness or suffering (Revelation 21:4). So in leading them out of the garden, he allowed for us a second chance.
Relationships over Rules:
When we look at God’s creation as the initial Kingdom of God where everything was very good (Genesis 1:31), we see that Adam and Eve didn’t have to “work” or do “good deeds” to be created and live in the garden. There were no set rules, no law to keep. They only had one command from God - not to eat from the tree of good and evil. They were literally just created to be and to live. To live life, work and enjoy the world as it was given to them. God had given this to man, by His own choice. No contract, no loopholes. So by coming to understand our true purpose of fellowship with God, we see that He didn’t create us to see how ‘well’ we can stick to rules, He created us to have a relationship with Him. This aligns with the “New Jerusalem” spoken about in Revelation 21. In this new heaven and earth, which God had intended from the very beginning, there will be no sin and He will live among us.
In Conclusion:
So that’s why keeping the law doesn’t save you. The law exposes your sins and shows you how unrighteous you are in the eyes of God (Galatians 3:19). The law did not establish man's faith in God, but it acted as a guardian until Jesus came - and it showed us how we can truly be made right with God - by faith (Galatians 3:24). When abiding by God's law, we should do it because we love God, not because we have to. When we follow Christ’s command to love, then automatically we would be obeying the commandments. The law was there to expose our sinful nature, prove to us that we are in need of a saviour and remind us that we are unable to be saved by our own works and good deeds. Christ came to set us free from the bondage of the law, the bondage that removed our focus from God and directed it towards ourselves, making us believe that we can come to God by what we do. Working for our salvation is impossible because the standard for God is absolute goodness and holiness, and as humans, we are inherently sinful and unable to abide by that standard.
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