In Adam we see the relationship that God desires to have with each of us, and the consequences of our choosing another way. In Israel we see the relationship that God desires to have with every nation of the world, and the consequences of them choosing another way.
God chose the Israelites, and through them He revealed the benefits and the responsibilities of founding/operating a nation on His Word. But even they, who received such tender and intimate blessings, turned away time and again so that, eventually, He removed their nation from the face of the earth for almost two thousand years. Since that time all nations have had the freedom to set up their governments on the principles they choose, for their good or their ill.
You might think of it as Israel being founded on the Law and operated under tight reins, while other nations are founded in freedom, the freedom to choose without immediate condemnation. But those founded in the most noble intentions of freedom – freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom of speech – still end up in the same destination: rebellion against God. The problem is not God, nor is it the particular system of government man chooses. The problem is man himself, and man’s problem is sin. There is only one solution to man’s problem, and that solution is the Way, the Truth, and the Life: that solution is Jesus. Not a Jesus we create in our own image, but God Who became man in order to provide that solution. In so doing He revealed the Father to us, that same Father Who sent the Holy Spirit to be with us and live in us and make possible for us to choose obedience over rebellion.
The real Jesus is revealed in the Bible – the Bible as it was transmitted, not as it is being reinterpreted in our age. If you wonder about the inerrancy of the Bible, consider this: Jesus was always quoting the (Old Testament) Scriptures. Despite their being written over thousands of years by multiple people, the earlier ones recorded long after the actual events they describe … at no time did He ever indicate that they were in error. The (New Testament) Scriptures about Him were written over the space of a mere hundred years, and we have multiple sources for most of them. We can be certain that the God Who ensured the Old Testament Scriptures were preserved with integrity did the same for the New Testament Scriptures. What the Bible indicates Jesus said, He said. What it indicates He did, He did. What it meant is defined by the people who experienced it, who knew Him, who died to pass on the faith that was delivered once and for all to the apostles.
That is the faith we stand upon by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the blood of Jesus Christ the Son, for the glory of God the Father. We can do no other.
