“For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” Ps. 33:9

This phrase perfectly illustrates the one the bible calls the Word. The word spoken from our mouth has for instance the power to encourage, hurt and instruct. Similarly, God’s Word is the means God uses to create, execute and command. Through the Word, what we see and cannot see(the spiritual world) came to be. The Word is the Creator. This Creator is a person – God. That person became a human (John 1:14) and was called Jesus.

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone….So the Word became human and made his home among us” John 1:1-14

A Roman officer who understood well the power of words (commanding, giving orders) said to Jesus “Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed” Mat. 8:8

In Hebrews 1 we can read that not only the earth but the whole universe was made by the Word. God spoke and said “Let there be light” and it came to be. God spoke and the sea and land appeared. God said “Let the land sprout with vegetation” and it happened. God spoke and stars, the moon and the universe were formed. God spoke and the sea and land animals existed. God spoke and created the human being (Adam) after his own resemblance and it came to be.

We read in the book of Lamentations 3:37-19:

“Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission? Does not the Most High send both calamity and good? Then why should we, mere humans, complain when we are punished for our sins?“

This is an interesting verse when we consider the state of this present shipwrecked world. This lead us to understand why we are in such a mess.

When God initially commanded the earth to produce its fruits and the sea to respect its limit (the shore), there was a perfect order in the world. Nothing happened without God’s permission when He was in entire control. This is not to say that God lost control when Adam sinned, it rather means that God ceased to have a close fellowship with man due to His holiness. The absence of God’s bright presence eventually led darkness to took over. When God stopped to dwell among man, the one who works outside the presence(in darkness) of God, the devil, took control of the world at all levels. The devil had dominion and was hence called the prince of this world.

Man differed from animals since he was gifted with a spirit – a fundamental characteristic that animals and plant do not have. Man was created in God’s image i.e. man is a trinity as God with a soul, a body and a spirit and could fellowship with God – another privilege animals and plants did not have. Man was not created as a robot but was gifted with the freewill to decide whether he would choose to respect God’s established orders. The freewill of man and will of God therefore perfectly co-existed. Man ruled the whole world and had dominance on everything. What would man ask that God would not grant him? God also gave man something he did not know he needed – a woman to help him. It was literally paradise on earth for Adam. God was pleased with all He created and was even more satisfied when He created a human being – Adam. Adam was a gardener before Eve came into existence and was warned by God:

“You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Gen. 2:16

Angels worship God and it was similarly necessary for man to demonstrate respect to God through thanksgiving, respect and obedience. Obedience is better than sacrifice, it is in fact a form of worship when we choose to obey God instead of doing what we want. Adam did well and knew only doing what was right. It was not because there was a famine in paradise that Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Eve ate it because she was not satisfied with what she already had and wanted to cross the line and experience something which was forbidden. It is not wrong to desire increase our knowledge but I have witnessed that at times it is better to remain within the boundaries and refuse to know more. It is true that unless we test something we cannot know whether something is really bad or good. However, if there is something that we should not afford to test, it is God’s command. Listening another word than God’s Word will surely lead to evil. If we believe that disobeying God’s command is without consequence, then we’re living in illusion. The upside down world we’re living in is a perfect witness of disorder and chaos.

God wanted humans to know only good and never touch or taste evil. This is a sad truth of human nature, they always strive to have what they do not have (Maslow’s theory). A millions of fruit they had but only one God forbidden them. If God has placed them in a situation where they could eat only 1 fruit and never eat a million then we could surely understand the dilemma.

Why did God place the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the garden such that it could easily be noticed and reachable by man?

Why did not God restrict access to this tree and disallowed the evil one to tempt them?

I believe that it all pertains to freewill. When man intentionally refuses to satisfy what he craves for and accept to trust and have faith in what God said instead of having his own way, is not it submission to God? If God controls our will to obey him, worship him and have faith in him, how then could there be ever a genuine love and relationship?

God allowed the devil to move around knowing that he could tempt man. This was not a mistake of God but rather a demonstration of His wisdom. Why should I shut myself in my house to minimize the chance of committing adultery when I could move freely around by simply not transgressing God’s commands? God has created man free and always wanted them to freely choose to do what they want:

“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and it is not beyond your reach…“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster…Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life.” Det. 30:13-19

Remember that Adam and Eve were sinless when they were being tempted. They did not have a sinful corrupt nature which was leading them to crave to do what was wrong. Wanting to know evil, questioning or testing what God declared evil is a gross sin. For instance, man has become tolerant on homosexuality in the name of being open-minded. Sin is not subjective or relatively wrong. God is absolute and there is no grey areas in His decrees.

When man sinned, God cursed the earth and God ceased to dwell in the sinful presence of man. The absence of God caused disorder. God is light and the absence of light leads to darkness. Sinfulness is synonymous to darkness for sin can subsists only outside the presence of God.

“This is the message [of God’s promised revelation] which we have heard from Him and now announce to you, that God is Light [He is holy, His message is truthful, He is perfect in righteousness], and in Him there is no darkness at all [no sin, no wickedness, no imperfection].  If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness [of sin], we lie and do not practice the truth;  but if we [really] walk in the Light [that is, live each and every day in conformity with the precepts of God], as He Himself is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another [He with us, and we with Him]” 1 John 1:5

Jesus is the light of the world that came to take men out of darkness. The absence of Jesus’ is darkness. With no captain on the ship, the fallen world has actively been under the influence of obscure forces dragging it at its mercy in a sort of the Bermuda triangle(also known as Devil’s triangle by the way) – hell. God will not save the earth and he has already decreed that He will destroy it on judgement day.

However, God has sent the Light, Jesus, to save humans from sinful behaviors. Following Him, is the only way out of darkness. God sent calamities (e.g. the deluge at Noah’s time) and still sends calamity as an expression of his anger against sin. In His compassion, he has also equally send blessings such as rain, sun and food.

Scientists are either fixing their own mess (e.g. global warming) or battling to survive in a crashing world. The world is like a wrecked ship taking water at every side. You never know when a tsunami, pandemic, war or financial crisis may struck anew against that ship. Engineers, economists, scientists, politicians and armies actively join forces to patch and repair cracks of that ship. This problem of this world is spiritual and this is why using non-spiritual means will only be imperfect solutions to man’s problem (e.g. psychology, meditation, drugs). This spiritual shipwreck happened when Adam sinned against God. Since then, it has become a never ending activity for man to try to keep that ship afloat. This world is corrupted and obviously not submitting to God’s leadership. It is just a matter of time for this ship to sink definitely. The problems this world is facing is more serious than it was thousands years ago(with cracks everywhere). But due to advance in science and technology, man has become more sophisticated and is able to fix problems faster. There will reach a point(and we are not far) where the great minds will be taken by surprise and find themselves powerless against the calamities it will face.

In Luke 8, we read that Jesus commanded a storm to stop and there was a perfect peace which followed. He commanded an unclean spirit to come out of the man and it came to be.

I do not know about you, but I would prefer to listen to the One who once created the earth, commanded it and still have power to command it.

“Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the sea, and they obey Him?”

Not only does Jesus have power over the physical world but he also have power over the spiritual world:

“Now He was [already] commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man“

The world is messy, there’re murders, rapes, theft, lies and adultery everywhere. Does these things happen without God knowing? Has God lost control? Did God permit these things to happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? Well, again, the absence of God is the reason of the world disorder. These things will happen and no one is spared from being struck from accidents and calamities because the ruler of this world, the devil is actively at work.

God has not promised that this world would be better if we turn to Him(through Jesus), He rather promised that we would be living eternally with Him in a new heaven and a new earth. This world has no future and it is on the brink of destruction. Therefore as Jesus said:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Mat. 6:19

Shall we obey God’s command?