Question 23. In what condition did this fall bring mankind?

 

Question 23. In what condition did this fall bring mankind?

Answer. This fall brought mankind into a condition of sin and misery.

 

God has made all humans born into the world with sin repent and return to the kingdom of God, like the parable of the prodigal son. However, humans born into the world do not know God, and they live their lives as masters of the world, opposing God. The story of Noah's flood and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah tell us that humans are in such a miserable state that they deserve to die.

The Bible tells us that all humans were destined to drown in the days of Noah. In 2 Peter 2:4-5, it says, "For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of darkness to be kept until the judgment; and if he did not spare the old world, but preserved Noah with eight others, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly."

Peter connects the time of Noah with the angel who sinned in the kingdom of God, and says that it was because the Son of God (the sinful angel) took the daughter of man (the image made of clay) as his wife. So, the two were combined and became fleshly people. Humans in the flesh, without exception, want to become like God and show their righteousness. Everyone must die.

In Lot's time, all people were meant to be burned to death in fire and brimstone (pyur kai deion πῦρ καὶ θεῖον). The reference to fire and brimstone also appears in Revelation 20:10. In "ten timnen (lake) to pyros (fire) kai deiu (the word of God)", deiu is translated as brimstone, but it is the word of God (ho logos). In the lake of fire, fire signifies the Holy Spirit.

The saints are those who have already received the judgment of water and fire. The body of sin has died in water, and the clothes of the old man have been burned in fire. In other words, they are united with the death of the cross. And they are clothed in the clothes of the new man through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, believers who are not in Christ will go to Hades of the second death and be judged by the fire of the Word and the Holy Spirit.

Only those who realize the meaning of the end can enter into new life. The end is that for those who are in Christ, a temple is built in their hearts, Jesus returns and they become one, and the kingdom of God is realized, but for those who are not, the second coming of Jesus is judgment. The end is not a point in the future, but something that is happening right now. Right now, saints are entering heaven, but believers under the law live in hell every day. This is because they are caught in the net of the law. Even though Jesus gives believers freedom, false prophets prevent them from escaping.

 

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