God's standard

Knowing the problems of man, what is God's solution?

In the previous article, we saw that the core problem of man is sin and that through the channel of sin, the Devil steals, kills and destroys. Thus, in solving the problems of man, God goes beyond the stem-level of the problem (steal, kill and destroy) and goes for the root. He addresses the problems by raising a standard.

The problem of Eden

A standard is a system inspired by God’s wisdom that can break the stronghold of the enemy. It can be a spark of knowledge, a display of wisdom or even a series of events that destroys the work of the enemy from the foundation. God raises men/women to be the face(s) of His standard.

Consider the ultimate and global problem of humanity – the disobedience at Eden. A basic or stem-level solution would have just been to forgive man and keep him in Eden. Many have asked why God endured the hassle of sin for ages until Jesus came. To answer the question, we first need to understand the problem statement of what happened in Eden and then consider God’s plan or standard to solve it.

Problem statement of Eden:

1. God had given a verdict that disobedience will lead to death (Gen 2:27) and He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim 2:13). Adam/Eve disobeyed and experienced death. This death is the submission to sin and the absence of the indwelling spirit of God.

2. The door of sin had been opened and man was now vulnerable. Before the disobedience, the mind of man had no ‘knowledge of sin,’ but unfortunately, man now had the liberty to choose good or evil.

3. God could no longer keep Adam and Eve at Eden for if they access the Tree of Life they will live forever (Gen 3:22-23). Imagine Hitler having immortality, God would not allow it!

4. Adam and Eve would produce children with billions to come – how does God keep everyone in sync with Himself now that sin was in the picture?

5. Before now, man’s only enemy was Satan - the jealous accuser of the saints. But after eating the fruit, one enemy turned five with flesh, time, and death arising with one more to come later – money.

Considering the problems stated above, man needed more than forgiveness to address the problems, and God was ready to provide a comprehensive solution AKA a standard.

The solution of God

To address the five problems above, considering the ability of man to choose between right and wrong, God had to bring the law to guide man and show man His ways. He then needed to overcome all the five enemies of man, with Jesus doing this in great fashion by

1. Overcoming all temptations of the devil - making an open show of him and his cohorts (Col. 2:15).

2. Defeating flesh and its longings - the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life (Mtt. 4:1-13, Heb. 12:2). The sin of Adam had no hold on Him.

3. Accomplishing a formidable ministry in three and half years, and became the reference of time and now reigns as king outside time.

4. Overcoming death by the cross, paying the ultimate price for the remission of sin and now holding the keys of Hell and Hades.

5. Showing dominion over money (Mtt 17:27).

The greatest news is that through the victory of Jesus, as stated above, all other sub-problems we have today like hunger, poverty, recession, and wars can be overcome via the standard of Jesus.

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By the victory of Jesus all other sub-problems can be solved

-Sanfo Agyo

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God is still in the business of raising standards today as the devil is not abating in rising. Hear the words of Jesus,

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

I am confident based on this scripture that if men, women, governments, companies, the UN, WHO, NATO, UNICEF etc work with Jesus only then can we overcome all the problems of man – Jesus has got the whole world in his hands.

Shalom!