The gospel: good and evil mixed up
Ever since the fall, when man ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, we have developed quite large, complicated mind-egos. Our concept of good and evil is, to say the least, flawed. I could write an extensive theological article proving God is not the originator of evil, yet there forever remains simple, child-like proof: the cross of Jesus Christ. God sending His Son into the world was to save the world from its evil. Save the world by destroying its evil power. Jesus Christ was going to the cross to put a permanent end to evil. When Jesus was at the cross, He was not merely bearing only the sins of the whole world; He was also bearing the whole of the old creation, the whole of the fallen man, the place of human evil.
Jesus was condemning Satan’s dominion over the earth and condemning human evil, evil which rests in the flesh (the fallen nature). Jesus Christ, as God and as a man, represented the old Adam at the cross and destroyed its evil life by His death. Not only was Jesus Christ destroying the old creation and evil, but His blood has the power to atone for all sin and reconcile us back into our proper connection with the Father. Jesus Christ physically rose from the dead on the third day. His justification proved His innocence and that He truly fulfilled the work of salvation and ushered in a new humanity by His resurrection.
But, you say, well, how come there is all this evil still? How come there have been genocides, wars, famines, hate crimes, terrorism, violence, and corruption since the advent of the cross and resurrection of Christ? If Christ completed the work at His cross, then how come this stuff still goes on? It is quite simple:
Unbelief…
“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
God has sufficiently provided for humanity the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. The Father has demonstrated His pure love and mercy for mankind in sending His Son for the whole of mankind. The cross of Jesus stands for the whole world to be healed of its evil, to be restored to a new creation able to walk in righteousness and love. The body of the gospel has been printed all across the world, and the soul of the gospel has been proclaimed. But, the problem is that mankind remains in disbelief of the gospel and God’s love.
Look at the implementations of the cross,
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again” (John 10:17)
“God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
“And He Himself is the atonement of our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
God sacrificing His only Son for the whole world is the world’s salvation, but they must believe in it. The world remaining in evil is not God’s fault, and while Satan is pulling the strings of this world, Christ has crucified this present world; it is still man, opposed to the cross of Christ, that is held accountable and contributing to the evil of this world. So, I can boldly say that evil, suffering, and pain were defeated at the cross of Jesus Christ. Evil, suffering, and pain that came from the fall. And for those of you who want to blame Adam, and you say to yourself, “Well, if I were Adam, I would have never done that, I would not have sinned.” But you, oh man, are an Adam. It could have been any one of us; we all would have made the same sin.
God wanted free creatures with their own free will. He does not want robots. The cause for human evil has never been because of God’s will but because of His creations using their free will for evil, and God constantly and sovereignly provides a plan to save them (while being slandered and blamed for evil by the humans He so loves). I think this is the revelation of the cross. The innocent and the guilty are mixed up. The confusion of good and evil. God falsely accused of evil, man self-righteously excused. God is blamed for evil, and man is right in his own eyes. Man does not want to see that their deeds are evil.
We often want to lift up the world’s tragedies, the abuse of children, slavery, diseases, and cancer, causing children to die. We look at all the innocent lives that suffer from evil, but the last place we lift our eyes to is the cross of Jesus, who suffered the curse of all our evil. The Innocent, the Creator of every blessing and everything good, is now taking the punishment of our sin and evil. You can’t argue the cross! God dying and shedding His blood, saving us from condemnation, tasting mortality, pain, and suffering unjustly for every single human being, the entire world, that is who God is. One who saves face and covers shame, and includes everyone in His world of love.
Christ has finished it, and soon enough, a time will come when all evil and demonic influences will be locked up; God and His redeemed saints by faith will rule the world in flawless perfection, in love and truth. And there truly will be no evil, suffering, or pain, because Christ has ended it all at His cross.
The cruelest thing that ever happened in human history was the cross of Jesus Christ. That is the spirit of the gospel. You are guilty. God is the innocent. And you must face the cross, no longer calling Christ the criminal, but acknowledging you are the one guilty before the cross.