Gods OT Strategy (2)

God created a beautiful world in a wonderful universe. Evil came (we do not know how) and messed it up. The following took hold on the earth.

• barren ground
• animal corruption
• distorted universe
• earthly disasters
• political power
• evil spirits
• sickness and disease

Jesus died and was raised to life. He paid penalty for sin and destroyed evil. He then sent the Holy Spirit to clean up the mess. This leads to an important Question. Why did God take so long to send Jesus to earth? Why did he not send Jesus straight after the fall? Why did he muck round with Israel, if he knew it could not do the job.

When Adam and Eve sinned, things went seriously wrong on earth. God could not just send Jesus straight after the fall, because he did not have permission. Evil might have destroyed Jesus before he had completed his full work. God has to slowly start rolling back evil and putting a long time strategy in place. He needed tools to constrain evil and release good. He needed loyal people in place on earth that he could work through.

1. God needed people on earth to give him authority to act.

2. He needs place free from evil, where is free to move.

3. He needs people to carry the Holy Spirit He can only act through people.

God put in place a long-term strategy to put the things he needs in place. The first few thousand years were a hard struggle. During this period, God only received a few small opportunities have an influence on earth. He used each of these very wisely, but was not able to make much progress. He was only able to make real ground when Noah came on the scene.