It’s called The Why Behind Redemption. The premise is, that by knowing the character of God, we can surmise why he did things the way He did in the plan of redemption. It begins in Genesis and traces through key milestones in the plan of redemption, culminating in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection.
- Introduction
- Beginnings
- The Fall of Man
- God’s Code of Ethics
- God Seeks for a Man
- The Puzzle
- Jesus, the God-Man
- Satan’s Worst Nightmare
- The Enemies of Christ
- The Trial and Crucifixion
- Firstborn From The Dead
- Epilog
Available from
Here’s a sample from the first chapter
Chapter 1
Beginnings
To understand the plan of redemption we need to go back to the beginning, Genesis, and ask some questions: Why did God create Man? What was mankind’s purpose and position under God? And what went wrong that made it necessary for mankind to be redeemed?
Genesis 1:26-28 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Why did God create man? I suspect that the main reason was that He wanted a family. Mankind, more than any other created beings, were to be God’s children. God had the angels, but they have more of a role as servants or workers.
God wanted to be a Father. He could have stopped with creating stars and planets and galaxies, but that would not have satisfied His creative urge. He could have stopped with the creation of the animals, but that still wouldn’t have been enough. Even the creation of the angels did not assuage that desire.
As a father myself, I understand that urge. Where do you think I, or any other father, got it from? From the Heavenly Father., There is a deep joy and satisfaction that comes from watching the children that issued forth from you grow up, learn, and develop their own personality. You can see a part of you in them, and also the part that is uniquely them. Sure, parenting is a lot of hard work. Sure, my kids have given me some headaches (and believe me, we’ve given God His share of “headaches” too!). But if I were starting over, I’d do it again.
God has no need to “propagate His race” as human beings do, but He does have a need to express the love that makes up His being. For a long time in eternity past, it was sufficient to have that love circulate between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But it got so big that He needed to expand it outside of Himself and since He was the only One around, He had to create what was to be the object of His affections.
So God created man in His image, a spirit being similar to Himself. We were not created so far below God that we are like ants to Him, or even like a dog. We were created to be the same class of being as God; enough like Him that He could have fellowship with us.
Psalms 8:3-6 3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
4 What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?
5 For You have made him a little lower than Elohim, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
I purposely put the actual Hebrew word Elohim in verse 5 because it is significant. Literally, Elohim is the plural form for El, which can be translated God or god. Elohim is used all over the Old Testament as a proper name for God (the plural God, who is three in one). Elohim can also be translated gods, as in pagan gods. It is also sometimes used as a reference to angels. In fact, the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, reads “for You have made him a little lower than the angels…”. My New King James bible reads angels, but has a marginal reference to Elohim literally meaning God, and that the Septuagint and Jewish tradition translate it angels.
I believe the proper translation should be God, not angels; i.e., man was made a little lower than God, not a little lower than angels, and here’s why:
There are New Testament references that place angels in a subordinate position to man, but not the other way around. Hebrews 1:14 says that angels are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation”. 1 Corinthians 6:3 says that we shall judge the angels. We are below angels in might and strength, but not in relationship to God.
Does that mean that we can go bossing angels around? Good grief, no. They are God’s servants, not ours, assigned to protect and aid us. Furthermore, the period where men will judge angels is only after we are glorified. Hebrews 2 quotes Psalm 8, translating Elohim as angels, and referencing it to Jesus; i.e., Jesus was temporarily made lower than the angels. When was Jesus lower than the angels? When He was in mortal flesh, in the form as a man. He had emptied Himself of His divine power to become human, placing Himself on the same level that we are now. But now that He is exalted, He is no longer lower than angels, and when we are resurrected, we will be brought up to His level!
Even though the scripture is clear, we have a hard time taking it in – God the Father looks at us and wants the same relationship with us as He has with His Son.
John 17:23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.
God considers us as equals with Jesus, as all the children of a king are royalty. Jesus, as the firstborn, receives the crown and the pre-eminent position as King of kings and Lord of Lords, but we as His brethren are kings and lords!
This is what God had in mind when He created mankind, and the position we will once again be restored to. Sons and daughters to love, to train, to share His secrets with, and to join in the “family business” of running the universe. I don’t know about you, but that is a very humbling thought to me. I can understand the sentiments of the psalmist when he said, “what is man, that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him? For You have made him a little lower than God….”
Man’s Purpose on the Earth
When God created mankind in the image of God, He created them as spirits (Jn 4:4, God is a Spirit). According to Genesis 1:27, God created both the male and female spirit at the same time. Previous to that, He created a physical place for them to live in, the earth. But in order to have contact with the physical world, Man had to have a physical body.
Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
The word created in Gen 1.21 and the word formed in Gen 2:7 are two entirely different things. In Gen 1:27, the word translated create means to make something out of nothing. The word form in Gen 2:7 means to squeeze together, to mold (very much like making pottery). Man, the spirit in the image of God, was created in Genesis 1:27. Genesis 2:7 describes the formation of man’s physical body out of the dust of the ground (did you know that the elements that make up the human body can all be found in the dirt?). But at this point it was just a lump of hamburger – there was no life in it.
God then breathed the breath of life into that lifeless body. The word breath is the Hebrew word nephesh, which in some other places in the Old Testament is translated spirit. In other words, God took that spirit of man He had created, breathed it into the body, and when they came together, a living soul (another translation for being) came into being. Spirit, soul, and body – this is the three part makeup of man as outlined in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. We are a trinity, even as God is a trinity.
Here’s a thought – where was Eve, or the female spirit, when Adam’s body was created? We have seen that Genesis 2:7 speaks of the formation of man’s body. In a similar fashion, Genesis 2:22 outlines the making of the female’s body.
Look at Genesis 1:27 again: “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Male and female were created, the spirits. Now look at this verse:
Genesis 5:1-2 1 This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.
2 He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created.
The Hebrew word for mankind is adam (pronounced ahdahm). God created them male and female, and called them both Adam. It was the male, whom we call Adam, who named his wife Eve (see Gen 3:20).
So I ask the question again, where was Eve, the female spirit who was created at the same time as the male spirit? I have a theory: that when God breathed the breath of life into Adam’s body, He placed both the male and female spirits inside.
Now this is not so farfetched. Did you know that God has both the attributes of masculinity and femininity in Him? I’m not talking about sex or gender here, but of feminine and masculine characteristics. In Genesis 17:1, God reveals His name El Shaddai to Abraham. When God revealed a new name for Himself, it was always to illustrate one of His attributes, or a relationship between Himself and man.
El we already recognize as meaning God. Shad is Hebrew for breast. Literally, when God told Abraham that He was El Shaddai, He was saying He was the God with the Big Breasts (honestly, that’s what it means!). Is God saying He is a female? No, because we only have to look at the rest of the Bible to see that God is always referred to in the masculine gender. What He is saying is that God has characteristics of a mother. A mother who creates and brings to birth, who nurtures her young, cares for them, protects them, provides for them, and always has enough. God not only is our heavenly Father, He also acts like a heavenly Mother: El Shaddai. In Abraham’s case the name El Shaddai was most significant since the thing he wanted more than anything was for his wife Sarah to become a mother.
So Adam was originally like God in that he had both the male and female attributes within himself. But God soon decided that wasn’t a good idea (Genesis 2:18), most likely because Adam was not only a spiritual being, he was also a physical being, and needed a companion who would be comparable to him physically (actually it was in God’s plan for man to be two genders from the beginning. How could man multiply otherwise?).
Genesis 2:18-25 chronicles the search for Adam’s helper, and the creation of Eve’s body. On a surface reading, it looks like God is proposing that one of the animals He creates be his “helpmeet”. I think it’s safe to assume that God knew better than this; rather I think it was to show Adam the contrast between himself and the beasts. One thing he would notice is that there were two of the animals, and only one of him. Therefore the only solution was to have someone made that was like him.
God causes Adam to fall asleep, takes a rib (did you know the male skeleton has one less rib than the female?), and builds a woman from it. This is a different word than the one used to describe the formation of Adam’s body. Adam was “squeezed together” from the clay, but Eve was skillfully hand-crafted (meaning of built) from a piece of Adam. Is that why we say “Boy, she’s really built!” when we see a well shaped member of the female persuasion?
The Commission and Commandment
Adam and Eve were given the commission to subdue the earth, replenish or fill it, and exercise dominion. Subdue means to bring under subjection. This was God’s commission for man to learn about the planet placed in our care and put it to use (not abuse).
The earth was made for man, not man for the earth. We were told to multiply and fill the earth, and to have dominion over all other creatures. I’m going to make a statement, then I’m going to explain it: God made Adam the “god of this world”.
If you take the idea of what a god could be from Greek or Roman mythology, Adam fit the description. He was not born of a man and woman. He had the capacity of being immortal (would have been, if the Fall hadn’t occurred). He was clothed with a supernatural glory (that’s why they didn’t know they were naked). He was the absolute ruler of the whole earth, and had the ability to enforce that rule, including the ability to communicate with the animals. The phrase “the god of this world” is found in 2 Corinthians 4:4, and refers to Satan. Adam was originally the god of this world.
God also gave Adam a job. He planted a garden, then:
Genesis 2:15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
Tending the garden would involve cultivating it. Now there weren’t any weeds to pull, because these came with the curse. But Adam would be involved with planting, and trimming, raking, and the like.
The second part of Adam’s job was to keep it. We don’t often use the word keep in modern language as it’s used here, so we miss the full import of what’s being said. To keep means to guard against intruders. Intruders? In the garden of Eden? Adam probably wouldn’t have understood it then, but it would become very significant later.
Adam was also given a commandment:
Genesis 2:16-17 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;
17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
(end of Chapter 1)
