Four times in the Book of Judges, it says, “There was no king in Israel” (Jud 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25) and in two of those, “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Liken that to Adam’s original sin; he denied God as King and did what was right in his own eyes. He knew the “King” but made himself “as god” (Gen 3:5), and learned evil. Adam knew the Law (Do not eat of the Tree of Knowledge) and in spite of the threat of dying, he ate anyway.
Ultimately all “sin” is the same, in the beginning, in the time of the judges, in Jesus’s day, and now. People do what they want to do without regard to God’s will. That is sin. We think of “sin” as transgressing the Will of God. The root definition is “to be” (Online Etymology Dictionary). When Moses asked God’s Name, he replied “I Am.” I Am and to be are essentially the same “existence.”
Therefore, “doing what is right in our own eyes” is indeed presuming to be “as god.” The Israelites never abandoned God, and Adam didn’t either, but original sin is basically presuming to be as God.
Adam didn’t actually commit the first sin; Lucifer did, as it is written: “Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.” Lucifer presumed to be “as God” and he knew quite well that Adam and Eve also presumed to be “as gods.” People, when they sin, presume to be as God is, but in actually, they are as Lucifer!
Jesus even made the comparison when he said:
Ye are of your
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the
father of it. (John 8:44).
When people sin, they mimic Lucifer who is the Devil. They are not as God but as the Devil. The Devil cannot make you do anything. It is you who willingly sins – or presumes to be your own god. The Devil does not control you. As a “devil” you damn yourself to the place wherein devils are cast downward. In other words, Satan doesn’t send anyone to Hell, and neither does God. As the Devil, you condemn yourself to Hell (unless you are born again.) Satan’s role is always to tempt by providing the evil choice rather than the good one. Thus sin, because you do as you want to do, is always a choice. Jesus indicated that no one can serve two masters (Mat 6:24) and gave the two: God and Mammon, or the Lord and “gain.”
Christians are to serve the Lord. That diminishes themselves and elevates God. Seeking gain is elevating oneself and diminishing the Lord. It’s not Satan who is made the “master” but sinners become the “existence” (sin – “to be’). God will not Be as you sin and assume for yourself the “be.” To be “born again” means that God is your existence, and you exist by His grace.
Yes, God’s first act of grace for his human creature was creating him and allowing him (and her) to continue to exist although they still sin and assume His Authority as their own. “Born again” is when we hang our existence on the “tree” and give it to THE Existence, who is God. “Born again” is relinquishing the esteem of oneself and esteeming Christ. (New Agers are all confused about “self-esteem” and the Church has bought into that lie.) Everyone’s problem is that they esteem themselves too highly and God not enough. Scripture says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (Jas 4:10).
God does the lifting-up, not us, and if we are to “be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness” (Jas 4:9). Does that sound like self-esteem or Christ-esteem? You know the answer!
As part of presuming to be God, people want pleasure. In Gibeah the men of the tribe of Benjamin wanted pleasure with men: “As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him” (Jud 19:22). That is carnal pleasure or homosexual sexual intercourse. “As gods” people always seek to pleasure the flesh, and it may be that original sin included sexual intercourse, not for “multiplication” but for pleasure. A further aberration of carnal sin is wanting to pleasure with the flesh of those of the same sex. In the Book of Judges, they again tried to do the same as the men of the city of Sodom in Lot’s time.
The men of Benjamin were satisfied with less than what they wanted: “The man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning” (Jud 19:25). They were bi-sexual in that any carnality was okay, but they preferred the flesh of men.
There was no law in those days… they did what was right in their own eyes. After all those years and harsh punishment, nations still do as they want to do without fear of the law. The same situation existed in Noah’s time, and near the end, it will be as in the days of Noah (Mat 24:37). The Benjaminites were wiped out under God’s direction. All the women were killed, and by grace, the Israelites found the few remaining Benjaminites wives so they would not perish.
Benjaminites represent today’s sinners as well. They were found new brides. Sinners are not “as gods,” they are as Benjaminites. Israel found for us a bride as well. It is the Church. As we are not truly gods, and don’t deserve the Church, Jesus is the Bridegroom, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17), and we know that, that “Spirit” is Jesus and the “Bride” is the Church from the gospels.
Furthermore, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). Jerusalem was the harlot of the tribe of Benjamin. The man whose concubine was raped, cut up her dead body and distributed it to all Israel – twelve pieces for twelve tribes. She had been the harlot against that man, and paid the price by perishing. The division of her parts was a re-consecrating of Israel to God because that was a mode of sin offerings. Likewise, God will clean up the “harlot Babylon” (Jerusalem, I believe) and New Jerusalem will come down out of Heaven to a re-consecrated foundation (Jerusalem). The tribe of Benjamin were given wives by grace, and in the end, they will be given a new bride – Holy Jerusalem.
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