Christian Israelite’s believe that part of the way the redemption of the body is achieved in the end times is through overcoming the power of sin. Sin is the act of straying from, disobeying, or defying God’s will or law (1 John 3:4). It first came into the world through the devil or Satan, who ‘sinneth from the beginning’ (1 John 3:8). Satan was one of God’s chief angels in heaven until he decided he wanted to become more powerful than God, saying, ‘I will exalt my throne above the stars of God’ (Isaiah 14:13). This sin led to a great battle, after which Satan was cast out of heaven and to the earth (see Revelation 12). Having failed in his attempt to overpower God, Satan then became determined to drive God’s greatest creation – man and woman – to death through sin.
Unlike Satan, God is inherently holy (without sin) (Isaiah 6:3). As such, he is unable to tolerate anything impure or unholy in his presence:
‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.’ Romans 1:18.
Created in God’s image, Adam and Eve were initially perfect and without evil or sin, and God was therefore able to commune with them in the Garden of Eden. They were holy, but only until they disobeyed God’s instruction to not eat of the tree of good and evil, after which they were separated from God’s spiritual presence (symbolised in their removal from the Garden of Eden) (see Genesis 3). Sin always leads to our separation from God (Isaiah 59:2) and it was what made Adam and Eve subject to death for the first time:
‘For the wages of sin is death.’ Romans 6:23.
Christian Israelites believe that through Adam and Eve’s sin, evil entered their bodies, or what the Bible sometimes calls ‘the flesh’, thereby causing them and their descendants to forever struggle with sin:
‘By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.’ Romans 5:12.
The Bible tells us that God is the God of the living, not of death (Mark 12:27), and death was not part of his original plan. Adam and Eve would have lived forever had they not been corrupted by sin. Death, however, is part of Satan’s plan. While it was Adam and Eve’s choices that led to sin entering the world, it was Satan who gave them the idea to sin in the first place:
‘And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?’ Genesis 3:1.
Satan caused Eve to question God’s will, which led to her then disobeying God’s will. He drew her and then Adam into sin. He is continuing to do the same with God’s people today, often with the help of his demons, as his main purpose is still to draw us away from God and to tempt us towards sin and death:
‘The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.’ John 10:10.
God has called us to stand against Satan, and thankfully has provided us with help to do so as ultimately he wants us to be ‘cleansed from all unrighteousness’ (1 John 1:9).
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