No story works well without a villain or without a dark trial to overcome. The Gospel is the greatest story ever told, and the reason why so many of these great epic stories resonate with us so well is because they actually encompass the Gospel and reflect the true epic of the Gospel. I have discussed the author of this epic (God) and the setting of this epic (creation which includes mankind), and now I’ll deal with the villain (sin).
Many debate who the original sin was done by, Adam or Lucifer, but this misses the Gospel. The Gospel is for man. Only man can be redeemed; the angels cannot. God gave no provision for the salvation of the angels because the angels were not made in God’s image. So even though Lucifer fell before Adam sinned, his sin does not count when considering the Gospel. Lucifer’s sin makes him the primary villain of the whole Gospel account for being the instigator, and his final judgment will be executed as prophesied in Revelation 20. However, Lucifer (Satan) is just an instigator. He has no real power or authority. He has no legal right to rule anything. He is called “the god of this world” or “the prince of the power of the air,” but he actually has no official position. He is a lowly worm, and when God fully exposes him for who he truly is, we will all gape in awe as to how this little worm could wreck the whole world so well with his craftiness and deceptions. And yet it was this craftiness and deception that tricked Adam and Eve to rebel against God and thus bring all of mankind into sin and rebellion against God.
I am not going to go into the whole account of Genesis 3 here, but I want to emphasize what their sin did. Adam and Eve’s original sin was more than just a personal choice. That is why we are not held responsible for their actual, physical decision to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We are instead held under a “federal headship” law that is passed down to us. We understand this notion in government where decisions not made by us are imposed upon us by our government. Adam acted as our federal head, our “governor” in this regard, and when he sinned, he submitted all his progeny to the law of sin of death. We each have this propensity towards sin that we inherit from Adam. This propensity towards sin is actually not full-blown immorality as many tend to think. It can more accurately be described as the desire and longing to do things your own way and to replace God as the ruler of your life. And because sin is the desire to go against what God says, all immoral ideas and actions are full game.
Because our nature is to sin, God will deal with that one way. However, we are directly responsible for our own transgressions. We know full well what God’s standards and His commands are, and we intentionally defy them anyway. That is why Adam’s sin was so treasonous. It was not a mere eating of a fruit; it was a direct defiance of God. As we discussed a couple of weeks ago, God is holy, righteous, and just. He will not and cannot let that go without dealing with sin. And deal with it, God did. That very day. He confronted Adam and Eve, cursed them for their sin, and yet did not slay them on the spot. He instead gave a promise for a Savior and then demonstrated how that Savior would do His work by slaying an animal and using its skins for clothing, giving the first picture of the substitutional atonement.
God did not leave Adam and Eve to their own devices. However, sin had entered the world, and it would be permanently cursed. God will destroy the whole universe and rebuild it when all things are said and done. Sin escalated quickly with Cain and Abel, the first prototypes of the reprobate sinner and humble believer. Cain sought to do things his own way, and when that did not go his way and Abel was doing things right, it burned him and he murdered Abel over it. The world would get excessively worse to the point where only Noah and his family would be spared when God chose to wipe out all life except for those on an ark that Noah built.
As we continue through the Old Testament and world history, we see continual depravity growing and a departure from God’s ways. But we always see a group, a remnant, some who submit to God and His ways. It started with Abraham and continued through Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Moses continued the line of faith but as we get into the Judges and Kings, again, only a few of God’s people would remain walking with Him. Everyone still sought their own things, their own ways, doing what was right in their own eyes, and rarely giving God a second thought. As a whole, it has only gotten worse with each generation, however, with each generation there has been a group loyal to God. God has brought nations to judge other nations, used natural disasters to destroy armies, and made generals commit horrible blunders they would never make otherwise to steer the course of history and to protect His people. And the day will come when God will return in His glory and put an end to the rebellion once and for all.
Man is desperately wicked. I know personally what my own propensities are, and I am at the mercy of God to restrain them because I cannot. I know if God were to turn my sin loose and let it run its full desire, I’d easily have people seeking my head for the things I’d do. I am not the hero of my story. I may be a “protagonist,” but I am no hero. I can hardly call myself a damsel who needs to be rescued. I am a villain. I am an anti-hero. My story on my own will only bring death and destruction. And no one is different. Our hearts are so wicked and deceitful and beyond saving that it is simply a miracle of how the patience of God and His longsuffering to save us. But didn’t I say we cannot be saved? Yes, I did, and that is the Gospel. That sinful heart has to be put to death, removed entirely, and replaced. This is why Jesus said we have to deny ourselves to follow Him. The sinful self is judged and will be judged, and yet, God still seeks mercy and restoration. How does he do that? Though Jesus Christ. That is for next week.
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