Wars, oppression, abuse, natural disasters, grief, the pain of betrayal, a crushing medical diagnosis, a phone call that changes everything. No wonder people regularly ask, “What is wrong with the world?” Some have diagnosed the problem in our world as a lack of knowledge, and the solution is education. Some have diagnosed the problem as low self-esteem, and the solution is self-belief. Some have diagnosed the problem as systemic issues in society, and so better systems and governments are the solutions. But as we have gotten more educated, lived through the self-esteem movement, and continually changed leaders, many of the problems of the world have not lessened. As good as education, self-esteem, and better systems can be, they are insufficient.
C.E.M. Joad wrote the book, The Recovery of Belief. He was a well-respected British philosopher and atheist. After seeing the horrors of World War II, he struggled with his own intellectual arguments that evil could be eradicated with better education. Seeing the atrocities convinced him of the doctrine of original sin, and he came to faith in Christ. Beatrice Webb was one of the architects of modern welfare. She kept a diary, and in 1925, she went back, looked at her older diary, and wrote, “In my diary, 1890, I wrote, ‘I have staked everything on the essential goodness of human nature.’ Now, 35 years later, I realize how permanent the evil impulses and instincts in us are and how little they seem to change, like greed for wealth and power, and how mere social machinery will never change that.” The modern explanations of what is wrong with the world are found lacking, even cruel, because they offer no real hope.
The book of Genesis explains what is wrong with the world—our sin, selfishness, and rebellion against God. John Stott stated, “The essence of sin is man subsisting himself for God.” In the Garden, Adam and Eve did just that. Your command is not good. We want to be the ones who decide. We want to be our own gods. While none of the other explanations for what is wrong with this world give us hope, admitting that sin is the problem is actually what leads to good news, because there is a Savior for our sin.
After sin entered the world, God made the announcement that One would come to crush the head of our enemy, Satan. Christmas was announced in the third chapter of the Bible.
When we hid, He hunted us.
…they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. So the LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8-9)
God did not give up on Adam and Eve, and He has not given up on you. He searched for them in the Garden, and when Jesus arrived here, He declared He came to search for you.
When we lost, He foretold victory.
I will put hostility between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.
(Genesis 3:15)
This is known as the first gospel announcement—that One is going to come who is going to strike the head of the enemy. The announcement goes against lineage and genealogy rules of ancient cultures because the offspring is only the offspring of a woman. This is the announcement that Jesus would enter this world. We have the picture below hanging in our home. Mary is comforting Eve because a time is coming when the Child she is carrying will crush the enemy. When Jesus entered our world, He placed Himself on the cross to make a spectacle of our enemy, as we were given life through His death. When He walked out of the tomb, death was defeated. For those of us who have believed in Jesus, we belong to Him now.
When we sinned, He sacrificed
The LORD God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)
In Adam and Eve’s sin and shame, they foolishly attempted to cover themselves with fig leaves. They attempted to cover their own shame to no avail. God, in His mercy, made clothes for them from the skins of an animal. God slew an animal in the Garden to cover Adam and Eve in their shame. The first sin is immediately followed by the first sacrifice, which points us to Christ, who sacrificed Himself to clothe us in His forgiveness and righteousness. John Stott finished his famous quote: “The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, but the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man.”
D.A. Carson beautifully wrote:
“If God had perceived that our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived that our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death, and he sent us a Savior.”
