Advanced Level, Block 1—Result of Fall
Week 1
Rebellion and Restoration
Point to Emphasize: When we overthrow authority, we must confess our actions.
Reference Reading: Genesis 1:1-2; Jeremiah 4:23; Isaiah 24:1; 45:18; Job 38:7
Memory Verse: Let every person be subject to the authorities over him, for there is no authority except from God… (Romans 13:1)
Story Sample
In this new set of stories, we want you to see some of the key outcomes in the entire Bible. The Bible is filled with stories or events that show that in the whole universe, as well as in our own lives, there are actions and there are outcomes. Outcomes can also be called consequences. If a child brings home a report card with straight A’s, there might be a reward. But if a child brings home a report card with all F’s, there may be a punishment. Both the reward and the punishment are outcomes, or consequences.
So, let us begin by reading the first two verses in the Bible. Genesis 1:1 states that God created the heavens and the earth. Another verse in the book of Job tells us that the angels sang and shouted for joy because of God’s beautiful creation of the earth (Job 38:7). Earth was then a marvelous place! So green and lush with a sky so clear and so blue. The waters were sparkling clean and beautiful to behold. The earth was really a place to rejoice about.
Now let us go to read Genesis 1:2. It shows us that something, some event, caused this marvelously created earth to become “waste and emptiness” with only “darkness on the surface of the deep.”
I think this little story may help us see what happened between verses 1 and 2 of the book of Genesis. Recently, in the city of Paris, France, people got together and marched around the city to demonstrate or protest what they thought was unfair. The gas tax went up really high last year, so thousands of people went out to demonstrate. They shouted slogans and waved signs with their complaints about the government’s new gas tax, and they were peaceful, up to a point. But then some in the crowd started throwing things at the police, smashing the windows of stores and running in to loot, burning cars on the streets, etc. The crowd was now out of control. Their actions were to overthrow law and order on the streets. It was a rebellion against the authority of the government. Quickly, riot police came with tear gas to disperse the crowd and to restore order. Many demonstrators were arrested. By the time it was all over, the streets were left empty, except with charred cars, smashed windows, and damaged property showing a wasteland. Everywhere you looked things had been destroyed. Rebellion always destroys and must be punished.
And this is what happened between the first two verses in Genesis. God’s enemy, Satan, came to overthrow God’s authority. He and the other angels that followed him in his rebellion tried to overrun the law and order of God in the heavens and the earth. But God would not let the rebellion continue. He judged this rebellion, and the earth, which was once a wonderful place, became waste and empty. There was now deep water covering the surface of the earth and only darkness upon the water. There was no light and no living thing.
So what does this story have to do with you? You may think that you are not rebellious. But you probably have experienced this kind of rebellion in your heart. Sometimes when your mom tells you it is time to do your homework, you get mad and think, “I can do just what I want! I don’t have to listen to you! I won’t do my homework until I am done playing.” Maybe you only thought it in your mind, or maybe you have said something like this to your mom. In your thinking or speaking, you are overthrowing your mom’s authority.
Or maybe your siblings told you to do something and you hit them and said, “You’re not my boss, I’m way smarter than you.” When you storm back to your room, don’t you feel like you’re a mess, and so empty inside? Many of you have experienced darkness in your heart after this kind of rebellious behavior.
I know I have. Once we had a substitute teacher. A classmate told us all to make noises when she turned her back to us to write on the chalkboard. We all did as he said. That substitute got so upset at us. She could not do a thing to stop us. By our noises we were overthrowing her authority. We were rebelling. I went along with everyone else, but deep down I felt dark inside. Finally, the teacher called the principal in to the classroom, and we received a very severe punishment. I just hung my head. I was so ashamed. I felt so awful and so terribly sorry for taking part in the rebellion against my teacher’s authority. [Storyteller, use your own example.]
This is the way we should feel when something like this happens. Even if we are just thinking those rebellious thoughts about our mom or dad, it is right to feel ashamed and dark inside. If we speak disrespectfully or yell at our parents, we should hang our head in shame and feel so awful inside. God has given them authority and not you. So then, what must we do? We must tell our mom or dad how awful we feel and how heavy our heart is that we would yell at either one of them like that.
You know, after his rebellion Satan never did apologize to God. He was never sorry for his rebellion to overthrow God’s authority, but we are different! We can tell others how awful we feel when we say rebellious things. We know better, and we know that these really are attempts to overthrow the rightful authority.
I am so glad that the Bible does not end with waste, emptiness, and darkness in Genesis chapter one, verse two. At the end of verse two, God is planning to do something to change the situation. He will restore the earth.