Confusion comes before order.

This universe is governed by specific laws, requiring perfect understanding before handling survival issues. A civilized person observes before understanding reasons for the existence of other species that may appear as unacceptable. What benefits can men draw from other species and how can those species benefit from humanity?

As created to manage Earth, humanity’s perfect understanding is required before handling all matters of survival. For instance, when capitalizing on grape provision without understanding the anatomy of grapes the grape-eater is susceptible to causing the extinction of those grapes. The study of grape anatomy would, therefore, be a prerequisite, for such grapes to continue existing.

Enjoying eating grapes before understanding how to sustain their continued existence is disastrous, as reversing the predictable maxim: “Confusion comes before order”. Grapes would be decimated, due to knowledge deficiency in grape-handling. Uncivilized communities are known to have caused deforestation, endangering their existence and globally threatening others.

Ignorance is therefore the worst enemy of humanity. The considered civilized cultures disregard uneducated cultures, whose effects spread worldwide. Understanding humanity before understanding the existence of other species is vital. The greatest setback is the blame game. Pitfalls arise from failure to take responsibility for problems in the environment.

Ignorant people cannot take responsibility for the environment. The stack challenge is that uneducated people can be extremely violent. The apartheid laws were blamed for poor African conditions in countries like South Africa. In other words, apartheid laws left a legacy of assuming that attaining a good life requires enslaving other people.

The children of Israel experienced similar conditions. From this can be observed that humans lose dignity when under slavery. A culture of inability to control things comes from the condition of slavery. Mental slavery remained with Israel in the Promised Land. Due to having been under slavery, the Israelites could not understand survival laws. God had to institute laws to control their behaviour. Their story paves the way for fundamental principles of survival.

God’s laws prepared the groundwork for the greatest teacher of all time to later reveal principles of living. Before humans take control of the environment, it is impossible to instil order, designed for survival conditions. Understanding the principle of livingness requires understanding the story of physical creation, leading to human creation.

Nothing exists without having been created. Humanity was created in God’s image, implying that in humanity God Created a Creator, equipped with the ability to instil order in the environment. The underlying principles are provided in Genesis, Chapter 1. That story is commonly known for the physical universe origination, but more is revealed, as exposing the mystery of humanity:

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5 NKJV).

The first line of the above Scripture is understandable. However, the second line: “The Earth was without form,” requires scrutiny. Logic dictates that God cannot create what is laden with confusion. The correct translation ought to have been rendered as: “The earth became formless,” buttressing other Biblical prophesies describing Satan’s fate:

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High’ (Isaiah 14:12-14 NKJV).

Isaiah’s prophesy reveals Satan’s fate, before human creation. Satan’s encounter with Adam and Eve reveals Satan’s deviation from God. This suggests that God deliberately put humanity on the planet Earth, fully aware of the Earth being infested with the condemned Devil.

Isaiah’s prophesy reveals the casting down of Lucifer, which caused the confusion mentioned in Genesis 1:2. In 1 Corinthians 14:33 Satan is described as the author of confusion. That Scripture suggests that Satan had caused the chaotic condition described in Genesis 1:2.

Genesis 1:1 is packed with the entire Creation of the physical universe. What follows, thereafter, is not necessarily creation, but the restoration of order, after Satan’s chaotic activities. The chaotic condition included darkness, but with God’s Spirit hovering above, suggesting the granting of hope for the restoration of order.

The first, in the restoration of order, is light. What does that mean, when considering that the Sun, moon and stars, understood as providing light, had not yet manifested? How could light appear without those stellar objects? The depicted light represents a condition of understanding, whereas darkness represents ignorance.

From this can be deduced a chaotic Earthly condition being restored by the Holy Spirit providing necessary information, for understanding. Also, from this began the process towards restoration of order, in the figurative six-day period. The information given in Genesis is parabolic and does not translate into actual weekly days as known today.

Parables represent a figurative communication designed to reveal hidden Heavenly secrets. This agrees with Peter’s rendition that to God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years means one day (2 Peter 3:8). Unless God leads, understanding can be impossible. In the spiritual realm, timing is out of the question.

Time has no effect in the spiritual realm, as applicable only in our physical universe. When God decides, conditions ensue according to His decision. This could be after trillions of years according to human viewpoints. The applicability of time in the physical universe is not similar to the spiritual universe. God uses these terms, only in His communication with humanity.

This is why prophecies include revealing things way ahead of time. The free moral agency provided to humanity implies that God does not control people’s individual decisions, at any given time. Each person makes a calculated decision without God’s manipulation, suggesting that God values the self-determination of the individual.

The validity rests in how one responds according to the individual’s calculated consideration. A typical example is that of the two thieves on the cross with Jesus, who had prayed for both of them. God was not in control of the mind faculty of the first thief, just as He was not in control of the second thief. God does not interfere when anyone chooses between the two philosophies—self-centeredness on one hand and altruism on the other.

In His activity of salvaging humanity, God knows those deciding against Him as to be condemned into the lake of fire. But the gospel is availed indiscriminately, for purposes of making informed decisions. To Jeremiah God said: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV). Jesus understood things as well as God understood them, but Jesus expressed being surprised at the behaviour of some people:

When Jesus heard it, He marvelled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!  And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:10-12 NKJV).

Each human was known by God at creation, regardless of how many trillions of years long that might be. The timing factor is immaterial. What is important is what a person chooses, at any given time. Christians are currently being judged (1 Peter 4:17). Accessing God’s truth during this dispensation can be an advantage, but also a great disadvantage to the proud, as interested in preserving their dignity.

The most important datum is the awareness of having been created in God’s image, unlike other species in the physical universe. While humans are entangled in the physical universe, they are not part of it. The Prodigal Son parable perfectly illustrates the condition of humanity having gone astray. See [The Prodigal Son Parable].

At the end of the sixth Day, God created Man in His image. The earthly objects had become chaotic, describing a condition of confusion that is unfeasible to handle. But the six-day period describes a sequential order restoration, after which God then declared:

“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26-27 NKJV).

Humans were created to replace Satan, to whose scenes humans were exposed. Although created in God’s image, the Man is caught up in confusion, similar to Genesis 1:2. Darkness represents ignorance. The parabolic mystery of Genesis 1:2-5 includes the condition of confusion, depicted in Genesis 1:2.

God’s Spirit, hovering above the water, provides the light that is projected in Genesis 1:3, enjoining John’s recording: “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (John 1:4-5 NKJV).

Darkness refers to ignorance, while light represents knowledge, brought by Jesus. While Jesus shines as the world’s light, humanity wallows in darkness. The blessed ones accept the light, which the majority will never accept. The blinding factor is pride, causing most people to despise Christianity.

The seven-day week ended with a Sabbath rest. While some people are religiously committed to Sabbath-keeping, the Sabbath’s rest is symbolic. The truthful are those now perpetually enjoying the Sabbath rest and will be with Christ at his second coming. The evolutionary trend started with Adam, through Abraham, culminating in Jesus. The millennium Sabbath rest comes after six millennial-year days of human civilization.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labour and do all your work,  but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11 NKJV).

The Israelites were not expected to do their works but expected to rest on Sabbath Day, which symbolises the millennium when Jesus reigns. This agrees with Peter’s exhortation letter to his followers: “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8 NKJV).

While knowledge seems attainable in other areas of learning, understanding Jesus’ teachings appears unattainable. The hardening of hearts is unbelievable. But there is nothing difficult about Jesus’ teachings, except when embracing pride in one’s life. Over the years I have learnt that understanding God’s word is not, necessarily a gift, but it is as easy as avoiding pride.

Jesus never advocated for theological colleges to train theological students. His followers were simply advised to apply everything He taught. As for those coming after the disappearance of the apostles, the written word is the primary guide. But the Holy Spirit is available to take the lead in teaching and directing Christians. Sadly, a careful observation reveals the unbelievable departure from Jesus’ teachings.

The reason for such a departure has been two-fold. The first was initiated by the Roman Catholic Church, assumed to have been the authentic Christian establishment, after the dark ages. Catholicism surrogated a human leader for Jesus, in clear violation of Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 23:8-12. The Protestant movements, thereafter, may have had genuine complaints against Catholicism but remained attracted to the idea of pontifical leadership. Down through the ages, this is what has been sustained.

Prophetic Scriptures reveal that the restoration comes before Jesus’ second coming. As to how this will happen, remains mysterious. But there is nothing prophetic that has ever gone unfulfilled. One thing is certain: Confusion comes before order. Regardless of how confusion manifests itself, order comes to replace it, bringing peace at last.

Andrew Masuku is the author of Dimensions of a New Civilization, laying down standards for uplifting Zimbabwe from the current state of economic depression into a model for other nations worldwide. A decaying tree provides an opportunity for a blossoming sprout. Written from a Christian perspective, the book is a product of inspiration, bringing relief to those having witnessed the strings of unworkable solutions––leading to the current economic and social decay. Most Zimbabweans should find the book as a long-awaited providential oasis of hope, in a simple conversational tone.

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