WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

                            ‘Guernica’ by Picasso hbp-pix is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0                                                     

Pablo Picasso painted ‘Guernica’ shown above in 1937 as a reaction to the Nazi’s devastating bombing practice on the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.  It shows the tragedies of war and the suffering it inflicts upon innocent civilians. 

There is ‘something wrong with this picture!’  Very wrong.  This was not the world God originally intended us to live in, a world filled with ‘killing, stealing and destruction.’

Look at the Genesis account of the world God originally created for man to live in!
He called it the ‘Garden of Eden.’
It was a garden with ‘all kinds of trees, trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food’. Adam and Eve were put there to ‘till it and keep it’.  They were given ‘complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, and over the entire earth, and over everything that creeps and crawls on the earth.’  
They were to ‘be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [putting it under their power]; and rule (have dominion) over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.’ 
It was a place where ‘all the animals on the earth and every bird of the air and everything that moves on the ground—everything in which there is the breath of life were given every green plant for food.’
The Garden of Eden was a place where they ‘heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day.’  A place where they heard Him calling, ‘Adam, where are you?’ 

BUT!

In the middle of the garden God had planted ‘the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’  And He told them, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’ 

Well, they did eat from it and they were KICKED OUT OF THE GARDEN! 

And because they disobeyed God, they died spiritually, not physically.
He said Eve would experience, ‘painful labor when she gave birth to children. 
Her desire would be for her husband, and he would rule over her.’ 
To Adam He said, the ground would be cursed.  ‘Only through painful toil would he eat food from it.  It would produce thorns and thistles. 
And, by the sweat of his brow he would eat his food until he returned to the ground!’
They would experience death.
They also lost their authority!  
And, almost immediately, we find their first- born son Cain killing his brother Able.  
Genesis 4.
It had begun.

This is the earth we live in.
Born separated from God with no authority over anything and only through painful toil do we grow something to eat.  And the killing continues!  

Notice that there was NO KILLING in the Garden.

But God has a plan!  In Isaiah 65:17 He said, ’I will create new heavens and a new earth’, essentially returning us to the ‘Garden’!! 

And Isaiah 11:6-9 gives us a picture of what the ‘new heaven and this new earth will look like.

‘And the wolf will dwell with the lamb,
And the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
And the calf and the young lion and the fatted steer together;
And a little child will lead them.
And the cow and the bear will graze [together],
Their young will lie down together,
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the nursing child will [safely] play over the hole of the cobra,
And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den [and not be hurt].
They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.’ Isaiah 11:6-9 Amplified Bible.

Notice again that there will be no more killing!

So, what happened in the middle, or the time after the before and before the after?

Why is there so much ‘Guernica’, killing, stealing and destroying in the in-between or on the earth today?

Can you see clearly that there is something ‘WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?’ or do you think that life on this earth was meant to be the way it is? 

Life in the world today is a picture of the attributes of God, beauty, love etc., but also of the attributes of the one who ‘comes only to steal, kill and destroy.’ John 10:10. The scriptures call him Satan.  He talked Adam and Eve into disobeying God because he wanted what God had given them; authority over the earth and dominion over the fish, birds and everything that moves on the earth.  And he got it.  He is now called the ‘prince of the power of the air.’ Ephesians 2:2. Because of who he is he uses this authority over the earth to ‘steal, kill and destroy’ and pervert what God has made and called good. 

If you think about it, I believe that you would agree with me that a tornado, hurricane, hailstorms, floods and earthquakes are not of Gods making.  THEY STEAL, KILL AND DESTROY! Not what God intended.  

Please don’t blame God for what Satan has perverted.  And what about all the killing.  No one really enjoys the fact that animals kill each other, the human animal being the worst offender.  (The ‘What’s wrong with this picture).  It wasn’t that way in the beginning and will not be that way in the end because Satan, ‘the ruler of this world’ will be judged and cast out and the before and after will be the same.

‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 
Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Revelation 21:4-5.

WILL YOU BE THERE?

HOME

I don’t belong here!

Where love erodes 
Rust corrupts
And darkness prevails

In my home
Love and light collide
Dispersing all darkness
And fear

Hope envelopes
And I live within 
God’s eternal sphere.          MRB