Genesis Series Part 4: Rest Broken by Sin

After God created the heavens and the earth, He rested because all His work was finished.But when man sinned, God once again had to work to deliver that man from sin.

When God created the heavens and the earth, He made man last. When human beings were born into this world, the work of creation was already complete. Although man had done nothing at all, God blessed him as He Himself entered into rest. Man could rejoice and learn rest from God, who said that everything was good.

So why was this rest broken inside man? One day the serpent approached Eve and made her feel as though something was wrong with her, as though something was lacking, even though God had made her perfectly. The serpent lied, telling her that if she ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she would become complete, and in this way he kept her from believing that God had already made her complete. Thus he drew man into the desire to do something, and through that desire man lost both rest and life.

Just as in Genesis 3 Satan deceived Eve with the lie, “You need to do something more in order to become better and complete,” today, as we live the life of faith, Satan uses the same method to deceive us. And people are easily deceived by him. One clear example is the matter of being saved from sin.

From childhood I attended church. After going to church for many years, I came to realize that I was a sinner who had committed many sins. But I did not know the exact way for my sins to be washed away. If you do not clearly know the way for your sins to be washed, how could your sins actually be washed?

What I should have done was go before Jesus Christ, who washes our sins, and entrust everything to Him so that, whether I was good or not, He could work for my sins. Instead, for a long time I tried hard and struggled to wash my sins by my own efforts. The more I tried and struggled to wash my sins, the heavier the burden of sin grew.

I also tried very hard not to commit sin, but I could not become a good person who does not sin. I tried every possible method I could think of. I served at church, cleaned the church, and helped people in need. When I did those things, my heart felt a little lighter and happier, but they did not give my heart true rest or lasting peace.

I confessed my sins. I even went to my pastor and confessed my sins to him one by one. But at that time I had not yet realized that my efforts not to sin were useless, and that after committing sin there was absolutely nothing I could do to wash it away. So although I could not do well, I was still bound by the thought that I must at least do something to wash my sins.

On top of the heavy burden of sin itself, I was trapped in the thought that I had to solve my sins by myself, so there was no rest in my heart. I was in pain and anguish.

God created man perfectly, but Satan deceived man, telling him, “You are not perfect. If you eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will become perfect,” urging him to do something. Even now Satan whispers to sinful humans, “If you pray harder for your sins, sing hymns, read the Bible, repent, give alms, serve, and do good works, your sins will become lighter,” and plants in them this vague idea.

Committing sin is a problem, but he also leads them so that they never learn the precise way to solve the problem of sin. Today, countless people want to deal with their sins, yet because they do not know the correct way of forgiveness, they are trapped in suffering and confusion.

After I suffered greatly because of my sins and then received the forgiveness of sins and was born again, I spent many years searching the Bible for passages that speak about the forgiveness of sins. To my amazement, I discovered that from the Old Testament onward the Bible speaks of forgiveness of sins in great detail and in many places.

Among these, there is one particularly interesting fact.

When Moses went up Mount Sinai and spent forty days with God, he came down carrying the two stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. But when he came down, the Israelites had made a golden calf. Since the law had now been given, Moses was truly afraid that the Israelites would be destroyed for their sin of making the golden calf.

The sad fact was that there was no way for the sin of making the golden calf to be forgiven. In Exodus chapters 32 and 33, because there was no way for their sins to be forgiven, about three thousand of the Israelites died that day. Then Moses went back up before God and said, “Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” He went to plead with God for forgiveness, just in case their sins might be washed away.

Even today, for people who do not clearly know the way to receive forgiveness of sins, there is no other way than to try not to sin, and then when they sin, to confess and repent with tears and beg for forgiveness.

But in Leviticus chapter 4 we see the way to receive forgiveness of sins by offering a sin offering. And in the Old Testament we can also see how David, after he sinned, had that sin washed away. Just as the Bible tells how Naaman the leper was cleansed and made clean, the Bible shows in many places how sins are washed.

When you do not know these truths, whenever you commit sin you can only go down the path of condemning yourself, weeping, confessing, and begging for forgiveness. But those who clearly know the way of forgiveness of sins have their sins washed according to that way. Just as the hymn says, “He pardoned all my sins and remembers them no more…,” their sins are washed whiter than snow.

Satan hides from us the way to receive forgiveness of sins by grace, through the blood of Jesus, apart from our own efforts or works. Instead, he traps us in the illusion that we must do something ourselves to wash our sins. In this way, he keeps us from entering into the precious blessing of the forgiveness of sins.

If Jesus has perfectly accomplished the work of washing your sins, then there is nothing left for you to do. This is just like God creating the heavens and the earth in six days and then, having no more work to do on the seventh day, entering into rest. Because Jesus was crucified on the cross and completely blotted out our sins, there is nothing for us to do about our sins. We only need to believe that He has already made us perfect.

Our sins are not forgiven by our efforts or our toil; they are forgiven through the blood of Christ. Our part is simply to believe that by that blood our sins have been washed away.

Adam and Eve did not believe that God had created them perfectly, and because they tried to do something, they fell into deep sin. In the same way, if we try to do something to wash our sins, we can only fall into a deeper mire.

All we must do is come before Jesus and believe the fact that He has already washed all our sins forever.