The Problem and the Solution

After God made the "heavens and the earth, which are now" (2 Pet. 3:7), He "saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Gen. 1:31). But as we look at the world around us we see MANY things that are very bad. The world is full of trouble, suffering, sorrow, and death. What happened? Who's to blame? 

The Devil (that name means slanderer) wants man to blame God for his problems. After all, if God was so loving why would He allow all this suffering? Have you ever noticed the stark contrast in the way the book of Genesis opens and closes? It opens with a man walking with God in paradise but the last verse of the book refers to a dead man in a coffin in Egypt (Gen. 50:26)! How did that happen? The third chapter of Genesis reveals the answer. Suffering and death are the results of SIN (Rom. 6:23) and sin entered the world through MAN (Rom. 5:12). Man is to blame. 

The failure to believe the pure word of God brought about the fall of man. After casting doubt on what God said the serpent added just one word to what God said ("ye shall NOT surely die") and that LIAR (Prov. 30:5-6) decieved the woman who in turn tempted the man and he willing disobeyed the word of God. But God, in amazing grace, has provided a way of salvation and He has revealed it in His word. 

As by one man came death, so by one man comes life (Rom. 5:12-21; 1 Cor. 15:22, 45-49). The first Adam brought ruin through disobedience. The last Adam brought redemption through obedience. The last Adam was tempted while fasting in a wilderness (contrast with the first Adam in the garden surrounded by food). Satan also tampered with the word of God when he tempted Christ (misquoted Ps. 91:11-12). What audacity to tempt the Word of God (Rev. 19:13) with a misquote and misapplication of the word of God! Thank God the Lord Jesus was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross! He perfectly accomplished what the Father sent Him to do. Because of His death, burial, and resurrection God offers salvation as free gift to any sinner that will simply BELIEVE the gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4). We are instantly and permanently justified by "the faith of Christ" (Gal. 2:16). The faith of Christ is perfect and proven. We become children of God by our faith in Christ (Gal. 3:26). 

So, just as the fall came by unbelief, so salvation comes through believing God (Rom. 3:22). Faith is believing the word of God (Rom. 10:17). We are saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9) and as Christians we are to walk by faith (2 Cor. 5:7). We must grow spiritually by feeding on the pure word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17). While our outward man is perishing our inward man can be renewed day by day through the word of God (2 Cor. 4:16). The Bible is not everything that God knows but it is everything He wants us to know and that we need to know. God has a great plan for the ages and it is revealed in His word. As we learn the Bible and believe the Bible we can walk by faith in this fallen world with a peace that passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7). The word of God reveals reasons that God allows His people to suffer in this life "which is but for a moment". We are "more than conquerors" in the suffering that we must face (Rom. 8:35-39) and we know the best is yet to come (Rom. 8:26-34). The "sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). Thank God for the "comfort of the scriptures" (Rom. 15:4)!