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Everyone’s Question:
What is God trying to do?
The bible describes God as an eternal King: “The Lord is King forever” (Ps 10:16). It also declares that He is sovereign over all things (Ps 103:19). Being infinite, He is everywhere. So, at every time and place, in all the vast reaches of his universe, God has been in full control. It is essential to recognize His undiminished sovereignty if we are to have a proper view of His kingdom. His work of creation, with all the apparent risks involved, was the work of His sovereignty.
In the operation of His kingdom, God rules by the principle of delegated authority. He organized the angels as a hierarchy, assigning levels of responsibility and spheres of service. To act as His supreme lieutenant in directing this kingdom, God endowed one specific archangel with striking beauty, wisdom, and power (Ezek 28:12-17; Jude 9). He named him Lucifer and gave him a throne from which to rule (Isa 14:12-14).This angel ruled as God’s prime minister par excellence. Endowed with freedom of choice, the crucial test came for Lucifer when he shifted his gaze to himself and his God-given features of splendor, he asserted independence and presumed himself to be “like the Most High” (Isa 14:14). His decision was final and never repented of. Lucifer, however, was not alone in his choice. He evidently had a following of one-third of the angels of heaven (Rev 12:4-7), which also suggest the great allurement if his leadership. With this crowd of rebels he formed a kingdom of his own, a counterfeit kingdom of darkness. His name was changed to Satan (adversary), in keeping with his behaviour. If God is sovereign, why didn’t He have a mass execution for the whole horde of disobedient angels? Or at least, why didn’t He lock them up forever in the abyss of hell? The answer is that God does have such a plan, but He is temporarily using these rebels to accomplish another purpose. His sovereignty is so deep that He is able to make the wrath of men to praise Him and all His enemies to serve Him (Ps 76:10). The devastating irony of it for His enemies is that they end up serving Him in spite of themselves. Some of the fallen angels He chained until judgement; others He has allowed a limited liberty until His further purpose is accomplished.
The central fact to observe is that God did allow the formation of a kingdom of darkness. This kingdom formed through voluntary forces led by Satan, not through God’s creation, as such. It thus became an opposite pole to God’s kingdom of light and an alluring option for all moral creatures in their exercise of moral freedom. It is a counterfeit kingdom running concurrently with the true kingdom of righteousness. Very often it seems to be dominant, not only coercing men and woman but winning them. This is partly because of its modus operandi. Contrary to many naive opinions, Satan is not a red monster with a pitchfork, but often a do-gooder. His goal in life is to counterfeit the works of God. This has been his prized ambition ever since he went into business for himself. His first recorded intention ended with the words, “I will be like the Most High” (Isa 14:14). This counterfeiting effort is his most effective ploy, for the more closely he can imitate God’s work, the less likely will men be inclined to seek God or purpose His will.
After the fall of Satan, God began another creation: man. He likewise endowed this being with freedom of choice, dangerous though this second venture appears. Freedom of choice was essential to human personality, if man and woman were to be made in the image of God. God’s grand design is to reproduce Himself in human personalities, especially His traits of love and holiness. And these divine characteristics can grow only in the soil of moral freedom. Fellowship involves moral choice. By this freedom, God sought to establish man and woman in a wholesome relationship to His sovereignty. He sought to relate to them by love, not coercion. With this in mind He made Adam and Eve partners in His rule. As an initial test they were forbidden to eat of the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:17).
They were given a choice of compliance or disobedience, clear and simple. The tree was not put there as a teaser or trap, but as an inevitable test. It gave the couple a choice as to whether they could be loyal to God or submit to enticing alternatives presented by the serpent (Satan). Had they turned from his evil suggestion to firm commitment to God, they might have eaten of the “tree of life” and been eternally confirmed in righteousness (Gen 3:24; Rev 22:2). But they disobeyed the direct command of God, and the fall of the human race took place.
By this deliberate action, they declared their independence from the will of god and their affiliation with Satan’s kingdom of darkness. The cause of this disaster was not the tree; nor was it the serpent or Satan behind the serpent (Rev 12:9). These provided only an occasion for two individuals to express their freedom of choice with respect to the will of God. The cause of disaster was in their decision. In this test of allegiance they failed and fell, along with the previously fallen host of angels.
To all outward appearance, this second fall of God’s creation seemed to dash God’s high hopes of extending His kingdom in moral agents. Man was given cosmic responsibilities to have dominion over the earth – but he could not be trusted with a piece of fruit. Was the divine gift of free choice too risky? Would this endowment be the suicidal undoing of the whole race? It certainly seemed to be counterproductive to God’s purpose, for sin appeared to be coming up the victor.
The dilemma at this point may be summarized as two problems which God acquired in the creative process. One was the fact that His trusted lieutenant, Lucifer, defected and started a counter kingdom, stealing also the allegiance of a large contingent of the angels. The second was that man, made in God’s image, also defected and fell into a state of sin and personal disintegration. Thus, God’s kingdom was dissected and partially usurped.
The question is often raised as to why God bothered with a salvage operation. Why not destroy everything and start over? This was not in His sovereign plan, nor would it have been a real solution to the deep challenge the double rebellion posed. God not only rose to the insidious challenge of sin, but His great heart of grace initiated an operation that would marvelously redeem sinners. In this plan He addressed Himself to two problems: 1) how to reclaim His usurped kingdom, and 2) how to provide redemption for mankind. The solution God sought could not deal with both problems separately; he thus devised a plan whereby the victory over the counterfeit kingdom would provide salvation for mankind. It could not be achieved by a mere display of divine muscle; the answer was not to crack the whip. Cataclysmic and inclusive judgment would be postponed. It would require action with the depth and power of His greatest attribute: love.
When Adam and Eve first sinned, God began His judgment with the serpent (Gen 3:14, 15). In this judgment He also gave the proto-evangel, announcing His redemptive purpose for men. To the serpent He said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise Him on the heel.” This message was obviously for man as well as Satan, perhaps more so. In it God prophesied that, following a two-way enmity, two bruisings or crushings would take place. The serpent’s head would be crushed by the woman’s seed, and the heel of the woman’s seed would be crushed by the serpent. The two figures in this conflict are later declared to be Christ, who was the seed born of a woman (Gal 4:4), and Satan, called “the serpent of old” (Rev 20:2).
By analyzing these two crushings, we get a thumbnail sketch of God’s program with respect to Satan and man. The first statement, “He shall bruise you on the head,” was a prophecy that Christ would destroy the devil. Christ Himself spoke of His binding Satan, the “strong man” of this world system, and casting him out (Matt 12:29; John 12:31). Christ’s death on the cross provided the ground for Satan’s final destruction, for “he who builds the scaffold finally hangs thereon.” And with his final judgment, the counterfeit kingdom of his making will also be destroyed. This whole process by which God reclaims His authority in all realms and forever stops rebellion can be though of as God’s “kingdom program.”
The second crushing announced in Genesis 3:15 is the heel-crushing of the seed of the woman by the serpent. This devilish assault was fulfilled on the cross, where Satan was the driving force behind the crucifixion of Christ. The heel-crushing suggest the temporary nature of Christ’s death in contrast to the head-crushing of the serpent. Christ’s death on the cross then became the ground for God’s redemptive program, the program by which He provided salvation for men.
Thus in this proto-evangel in Eden, God introduced in outline form His twofold program for His kingdom and man’s redemption. He would ultimately reclaim His total kingdom by destroying Satan and Satan’s kingdom, and would redeem believing men in the process by the death of Christ
The rest of the Old Testament pictures the progressive development of this twofold purpose of God in the earth. The Lord chose two men of faith through whom He inaugurated these programs and set them in motion. The first was Abraham. God made a covenant with him, promising among other things a seed that would bless all nations. Abraham’s seed would bring redemption to men, fulfilling the redemptive program. To fulfill His kingdom purpose, God chose David out of the same lineage and made a covenant about a kingdom and a royal seed (2 Sam 7:12-16). This seed of David eventually would rule over the house of Israel forever, it was later revealed that this anointed One would extend His rule over the whole world (Amos 9:12; Zech 14:9). Through the seed of David, God would fulfill His kingdom program by destroying the rebels and governing the world in righteousness.
It is interesting to note also that each of these two men was given a son who typified the seed that was promised. Abraham’s son, Isaac, typified Christ in His redemptive function, being offered on mount Moriah as a living sacrifice. David’s son, Solomon, typified Christ in His royalty, being a king of glory and splendor. These two sons strikingly typified that seed of Abraham and of David who was looked for with such anticipation throughout the rest of the old Testament period. In this light, it is no wonder that the Spirit of God begins the New Testament by introducing its figure as “the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1).
The old Testament also portrays the redemptive and kingdom functions of Christ by two symbolic animals. The sacrificial lamb typified Him in His redemptive work as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). It portrayed Him as the Lord’s servant who was led “like a lamb….to slaughter” (Isa 53:7).
The other animal typifying Christ in the Old Testament is the lion (Gen 49:9, 10). John, in Revelation 5:5, refers to this Old Testament metaphor when he describes Christ as the “Lion….from the tribe of Judah.” As the king of the beast, the lion represent kingly authority. The point is that out of the tribe of Judah would come a Ruler who would rule Israel and the world.
Though the kingdom purpose is broader, extending to the whole spiritual realm, it could not be accomplished without the redemptive program for man. Notice how John relates the two in his prophetic vision of Revelation 5. After seeing Christ as the Lion and Lamb, he hears the angelic throng loudly acclaim: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev 5:12). He will have shown not only His right but His worthiness to rule as God’s Lion, having been slain as God’s Lamb.
Christ will finally present this reclaimed kingdom back to the Father (1 Cor 15:24). That presentation will constitute the fulfillment of His commission from the Father in His role as the seed of the woman. And, of supreme importance, the process by which He will have reclaimed that kingdom will be through His redemptive love, not His coercive might. This redemptive grace is the genius if His twofold program, and it will also constitute the basis of His eternal fellowship will not be based on fear or force, but on love.
Stanley A. Ellisen was Professor of Biblical Literature and Chairman of the Division of Biblical Studies at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon. The author of eight books and numerous articles, Ellisen also pastored and planted churches the Pacific Northwest and Southwest. He passed away in 1997. From the book Biography of a Great Planet, Chapter 2, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois.
