JC Blog

"In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him" ( Hebrews 2:5-8 ).

I started out by asking if you had ever wondered why there is so much suffering in the world. Many wrongly assume God causes it or at least allows it. But through understanding this amazing truth of how the world works, hopefully you see that God cannot be blamed for sin, pain and suffering. The real culprit is Satan and the kingdom of darkness. When he gained control from Adam, he had the right to do whatever He wanted. Since he hates us he did not hold back with the evil that we see and this is why all of it exists today.

Now Jesus has regained control and God has placed everything under his feet. But Hebrews tells us that "at present we do not see everything subject to him" ( Hebrews 2:8 ). We still live in a fallen world because the world hasn't been restored and recreated yet. As believers, our spirits have been born again and restored to the state they were in before the fall, but the world is still suffering from the effects of sin until Jesus returns.

The good news is that Satan no longer has power over us unless we give it to him. Jesus broke that power and freed us from it ( Colossians 2:15 ). Peter gives us the key to understanding how we have been freed, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings" ( I Peter 5:8-9 ). The King James Bible says that he is looking for someone he may devour, which means he has no power unless we give it to him. James gives us the key to resisting him, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" ( James 4:7 ). Understanding this simple truth will put the devil in his place and he will be afraid of you!

In the end, when Jesus comes the second time, He will restore creation. Then we will no longer see sickness, suffering and death. When the end comes all of that will physically be destroyed and removed from our presence. Then we will be offered the tree of life which was present in the garden with Adam and Eve and now resides in heaven with God ( Revelation 22:14 ). Imagine what it would have been like if they would have eaten of this tree in the first place instead of the other one. We would have skipped all of this and would be enjoying paradise right now. Thankfully Jesus offers us a second chance. Thankfully He became our second Adam to restore us back to God where He waits to for us to join Him for eternity.

Tomorrow we look at Hebrews 2:9: Jesus is the Only way to Heaven

"What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet" (Psalm 8:4-6).

Jesus came to get it all back! Have you ever wondered why Jesus came as a human to redeem mankind? It is because the world was given to Adam, man's representative. When it passed to Satan in the garden, the only way to lawfully get it back under the system that God ordained, was for mankind to win it back. This is why God said in Isaiah, "The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. He put on righteousness as his breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak" (Isaiah 59:15b-17). God was waiting for a righteous man to interview, but as he looked he knew sin had defeated us and we were hopeless and condemned. So His own right arm, Jesus, was sent to regain what was lost to the kingdom of darkness in the fall.

From the time of Adam, sin snowballed and each generation became more and more defeated by it. This is why Jesus had to become flesh and blood, so that He was subjected to the same rules that applied to mankind. He had to be born under Satan's kingdom in order to redeem it lawfully. This shows the amazing grace and love that God has for us to subject His only Son to humanity.

Jesus regained full authority and dominion from Satan at Calvary. He did this by living a perfect, sinless life. All of the rules that applied to mankind, applied to Jesus and yet sin never defeated Him. Satan tried to tempt him and cause Him to stumble but Jesus looked toward the cross as the goal. The goal was to die in our place as the perfect sin sacrifice in order to restore mankind. Jesus became the second Adam. He became mankind's representative before God just as Adam had been initially. The same law that plunged the entire world into sin was the very law that allowed Jesus to undo it. This is called the Law of Substitution. "Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:18-19).

True to God's nature and character, as soon as the world was redeemed by Jesus and authority and dominion returned, he once again gave it to us. "Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20). As believers we now have authority on earth. The kingdom of Satan has been destroyed (Colossians 2:14-15) and we have been raised and seated with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). Now we are co-heirs with Him (Romans 8:17). He has once again has turned over authority on this earth to believers. What an amazing truth!

Tomorrow we look at Part 4: Everything is Subject to Jesus

It didn't take long before sin ruined paradise. Satan deceived Eve and Adam followed suit in disobeying the one command from God not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. With that, Satan lawfully became the rightful owner of the world. He used the system that God set up to take dominion and authority from Adam. God being just and true to the system He ordained didn't take it back simply because mankind had failed.

Now, I must point that God was completely merciful to Adam and Eve. First, because even thought they knew right away the difference between good and evil, they never fully understood the gravity of their mistake. God could have given them full revelation of what the world would become because of sin, but He didn't. They knew they were naked, but they didn't know the pain and suffering that exists today because God was merciful and loving toward them, protecting them from fully understanding the consequences of their sin.

Secondly, even as He announced their punishment, he promised them Jesus. "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel" ( Genesis 3:15 ). In order words, God told them the redemption plan was already in place. Jesus was chosen before sin entered into the picture to crush the head of Satan. Eve must have breathed a sigh of relief knowing that the plan was already in place to regain full control and dominion of the earth and to reconcile mankind back to God. What a marvelous loving God who promised that redemption through their offspring.

As His most important act of mercy on Adam and Eve, he banished them from the Garden of Eden. Not because He was angry and wanted to remove them from His sight like we have always been taught, because they still fellowshipped with God after this. But if they stayed, they could eat of the tree of life and live forever in the condition of fallen man. Think about all the suffering and disease we have today, what if we couldn't die? What if a person with cancer had to live forever in that condition, imagine how horrible that would be. So in an act of mercy the Lord banished them from the garden. "The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life" ( Genesis 3:21-24 ). He banished them from the Garden so that He could send Jesus to restore mankind back to the sinless condition we were in before the fall. Now that this has been done, when we get to heaven God will once again invite us to partake from the tree of life and live forever in our perfect redeemed condition ( Revelation 22:14 ). How amazing and gracious is that!

Tomorrow we look at Part 3: Full Authority and Dominion Was Won Back By Jesus at Calvary

"It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything under his feet."  In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him" ( Hebrews 2:5-8 )

Have you ever wondered why there is so much suffering in the world? A common question that I hear both believers and nonbelievers ask is why does God allow it? Why is there pain and suffering? How can a loving God permit such things to happen? Or my personal favorite, why does God cause sickness, disease, natural disasters and tragedies in our lives?

Many wrongly assume that these things are sent from God or that He somehow approves of them. There is an underlying doctrinal teaching assumed in such questions, that God controls everything in our lives, whether good or bad. He lets the bad happen to teach us a lesson. Or He uses them to make us reliant on Him. Even some churches teach that He will put sickness on us so that we submit to him and repent of the sin that got us punished in the first place. But none of these ideas are scriptural.

Complete Authority Was Given to Adam in the Garden

When we ask how God can allow such suffering to take place, we are blaming God for our mess. He's not at fault. In the garden God gave complete authority and control of creation to Adam.

"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so" ( Genesis 1:26-30 ).

God created everything but as soon as it was done, he turned the keys over to Adam as humankind's representative. Why else do you think that Adam had the power to plunge the entire world into sin? He had it, because it was given to him by God. This is also evident in the fact that God brought the animals to Adam to name them. It wasn't because God couldn't think up two thousand plus names, he did it because they fell under the authority of Adam, not God. "Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name" ( Genesis 2:19 ). He turned over creation to mankind, lock, stock and barrel.

Over the next four days we will look at Hebrews 2:5-8. We will look at the transfer of authority to Satan during the fall.  We will look at how Jesus won it back at Calvary. And we will look at how everything is now subjected to Jesus.

Tomorrow we look at Part 2: Authority and Dominion Was Transferred to Satan during the Fall