Heaven & Earth 1: In the Beginning

Heaven & Earth 1- "In the beginning"
1 "In the beginning"

1.1 Adam & Eve had commission right from the start

1.2 Perfect world when humans placed?
yes- "it was v good!" Gen 1
hints Gen 1
’darkness’ ’the deep’ chaos. Ps 29. Leviathan Is 27:1
1:28 "fill & subdue"
clear in Gen 2, 3
serpent
Eden is ’protected’. Perfect- so outside is .... imperfect

1.3 Ewen & CS Lewis lone voices?
apart from some catholic ancient traditions
now joined by: Cafe theology, Bill Johnson. Alvin Plantinga. Others!
& more as gives task for reclaiming earth
but offer this humbly and tentatively. Much divergence on this. Can’t be dogmatic

1.4 What happened?!
2 falls. First was angelic.
Rev 12:7 Satan + 1/3 of angels
over issue of worship Is 14 (Bab king)
1/3 of stars? What are stars?
Where was he cast down to? Is earth his capital city?
this was enemy occupied territory
Quote Lewis
It seems to me, therefore, a reasonable supposition, that some mighty created power had already been at work for ill on the material universe, or the solar system, or, at least, the planet Earth, before ever man came on the scene: and that when man fell, someone had, indeed, tempted him. .... If there is such a power, as I myself believe, it may well have corrupted the animal creation before man appeared. .... If it offends less, you may say that the ’life force’ is corrupted, where I say that living creatures were corrupted by an evil angelic being. We mean the same thing.... If this hypothesis is worth considering, it is also worth considering whether man, at his first coming into the world, had not already a redemptive function to perform. ... It may have been one of man’s functions to restore peace to the animal world, and if he had not joined the enemy he might have succeeded in doing so to an extent now hardly imaginable. C.S. Lewis. ’The Problem of Pain", in the chapter ’Animal Pain’. Macmillan, New York, 1948. pp122-144

1.5 incredibly important
science = theories & flawed but there WAS suffering before humankind
God didn’t cause it (’an enemy did this’ Mt 13:28)
We see God’s plan... our call right from the start
to fight against the chaos, entropy, dog-eat dog, survival of the strongest "evolutionary" tendencies through ways ’not of THIS world/kingdom"

1.6 God’s agents
God’s subversive agents! Planted into territory
to reclaim. Bring rule, KOG
Simple beings of huge authority
given keys
a species of agents, priests,


2 In the interim

2.1 problem is they made it worse
And because they didn’t SOLVE the prob by fulfilling their role- there is a sense in which it is ALL their/humankind’s fault

2.2 Fell. Cast out. OUTSIDE becomes their experience
everything falls still further
INCREASE pain in childbirth
Ground fights back

2.3 They fumble... reject... the call. Hand over the keys
slaves hand over keys to new master- the prince of this earth Jn 12:31, ruler of the Kingdom of the air (Eph 2:2), god of this age 2 Cor 4:4
but God has a plan!

2.4 next in line: Abraham & descendants
invited to be nation of priests. ’come up the mountain!’
Ex 19:6 "you will be for me a kingdom of priests"
turned it down Ex 20:19, Dt 18:16
Prophets whispered and shouted- more, Day of the Lord, coming

2.5 So you see- God’s plan has not changed or failed


3 In the ’end times’

3.1 God visits earth & the battle ensues in earnest
kingdoms